Armstrong & Getty On Demand

Episode: "You Met Gramma At a Kegger?" (August 21, 2025)

Host: iHeartPodcasts (Jack Armstrong, Joe Getty, Michael, Katie)

Overview

This episode dives into the peculiar rise of commissioned family memoirs—often penned for a hefty fee—exploring the motivations, meaning, and potential absurdity behind documenting personal and family history. The hosts mix personal anecdotes, sharp social commentary, and humor as they discuss everything from the value of ancestral stories to the prospect of AI ghostwriting memoirs, all wrapped up in their trademark conversational, witty style.

Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. "Shreking" and the Idea of Dating Down

• [03:25] Michael introduces a recent radio segment on the concept of "shreking" (women deliberately dating unattractive men, expecting better treatment).
  • Michael finds the term and idea highly distasteful:

    "It includes the term dating down, which I find horrific. Anybody who ever uses that term should be...thrown into a volcano." (03:52, Michael)

  • Jack is disturbed by both the concept and the casual attitude toward it:

    "I'm horrified by that." (04:33, Jack)

  • The group agrees that while people may seek security or graciousness, the idea of "dating down" is unhealthy and "evil."

2. Extravagant Family Memoirs: Charming or Cringe?

• [04:35] Discussion of wealthy individuals commissioning lavish memoirs to pass down family history.
  • Jack reads a headline:

    "You met grandma at a keg party. The rich order $100,000 memoirs for family only." (04:55, Jack)

  • Dissects a featured story of a 92-year-old woman who paid $12,000 for her 185-page memoir, lamenting that the sacrifices made by past generations may otherwise be lost.

  • "I wanted my kids to realize the sacrifices made by the family which led to our current lifestyle. I think that could be so lost." (06:08, Jack quoting the subject)

3. Value of Family History & Ancestry

• [06:23] The conversation broadens to family history's impact—does interest fade past two generations?
  • Michael expresses skepticism, citing the daunting math and reduced relevance as branches expand:

    "You don’t have to go back very many generations before you're, like, looking at 1 of 16 and then 1 of 32. It’s just...a minor part of your history. That's where I lose interest." (08:02, Michael)

  • Jack, by contrast, argues that knowing details about earlier generations can be fascinating and offer perspective:

    "If my great great grandfather, even my great grandfather, had written a memoir, I would find that absolutely fascinating." (08:27, Jack)

  • The group mocks celebrities who get melodramatic over distant relatives' misdeeds:

    "It's not that significant that, like, the whole pathetic—and I mean pathetic—celebrity who finds out that 14 generations ago, or whatever it is, one of their ancestors owned slaves, and they're just devastated by it. You have a soft effing head." (08:58, Jack)

4. Personal Anecdotes: Forgotten Memories & Family Contradictions

• [10:59] Jack shares contrasting family lineage—some from Lincoln's Secretary of War, some from pro-secession South Carolinians—and ponders identity.

  > "Which color do I wear in the Civil War reenactment?...You had a hero, you had a villain and everything in between. Just be you." (10:59, Jack)
  

• Hosts discuss how little personal detail survives from generations back, and how even their own memories can be unreliable.
• Michael marvels at the increasing volume of permanent digital memories:

  "You'll have everything that ever happened in their entire lives that was on Instagram or Facebook or whatever it was. So they kind of will have a memoir of everybody starting in like 2010." (10:18, Michael)

5. Memoirs and Future Tech: Can AI Write Your Story?

• [12:12] Katie poses the provocative question:

  "Can you take that part of it out, insert all of that information into ChatGPT and get this done for nothing?" (12:38, Katie)

  • Michael and Jack speculate that with enough interviews or digital data, AI could assemble a full memoir at negligible cost—prompting discussion of the loss of the personal touch and the value of diverse perspectives for a full life story.

6. The Fragmented and Unreliable Nature of Memory

• [13:13] Jack and Michael bond over how little of their own youth they remember, and how friends sometimes have to remind them of major life events.
  • Michael:

    "I recently had somebody tell me a story that I didn't know anything about with me in it because of drinking...I had no idea." (13:46, Michael)

  • Jack shares that he once saved two lives and forgot about both incidents until reminded, suggesting:

    "That's why I have such clarity in an emergency, because I'm unencumbered by like any other thought." (15:34, Jack)

7. Memoir Titles: A Moment of Lighthearted Reflection

• [20:08] As the segment wraps, Jack challenges everyone to name their hypothetical memoir:
  • Michael:

    "Shooting for a B. That's my entire life. Shooting for B. Not excellence, just, you know, slightly above average." (20:41, Michael)

  • Jack:

    "Focus. Try to focus. The Joe Getty story." (20:56, Jack)

  • Katie:

    "Mine would be something along the lines of like more coffee...because I'm always tired. More coffee or IV of caffeine." (21:13, Katie)

  • Jack (quoting Eric Clapton):

    "There's never been a moment of my life I haven't wanted to lie down or felt like lying down." (21:28, Jack)

  • Jack again:

    "Mediocrity, like a warm bath." (21:45, Jack)

Notable Quotes

"It includes the term dating down, which I find horrific. Anybody who ever uses that term should be...thrown into a volcano."
— Michael, [03:52]

"If my great great grandfather, even my great grandfather, had written a memoir, I would find that absolutely fascinating."
— Jack, [08:27]

"You'll have everything that ever happened in their entire lives that was on Instagram or Facebook or whatever it was. So they kind of will have a memoir of everybody starting in like 2010."
— Michael, [10:18]

"Can you...insert all of that information into ChatGPT and get this done for nothing?"
— Katie, [12:38]

"I've saved a lot of lives. Can you refresh?"
— Katie, [15:07]

"Mediocrity, like a warm bath."
— Jack, [21:45]

Important Timestamps

• [03:25] The "shreking" dating trend explained & critiqued
• [04:35] Memoirs as luxury family heirlooms
• [06:42] Rural family hardships; Jack shares his father's lack of plumbing
• [08:02] Debating value of genealogy beyond grandparents
• [10:18] The digital memoir era: endless Instagrams as unwritten autobiography
• [12:38] The prospect of AI ghostwriting memoirs
• [13:13] On forgetting pivotal moments from their own lives
• [20:08] "Title your memoir" round

Tone and Style

True to Armstrong & Getty's signature tone, the conversation mixes sharp social observation, personal storytelling, and plenty of dry, self-deprecating humor. They approach even touchy subjects with irreverence, but ground their arguments in a search for meaning and value in personal stories, both epic and ordinary.

For listeners new and old, this episode is an entertaining meditation on why and how we tell our own stories—and whether it’s worth dropping five or six figures to do so.