Friends Keep Secrets – The Ed Sheeran Episode

Podcast: Friends Keep Secrets
Hosts: Benny Blanco, Lil Dicky (Dave Burd), Kristin Batalucco
Guest: Ed Sheeran
Date: March 10, 2026

Episode Overview

This hybrid episode fuses the energy of a friendly hangout, free-ranging banter, and a live songwriting session, capturing Grammy-winning singer-songwriter Ed Sheeran letting loose with Benny Blanco, Lil Dicky, and Kristin Batalucco. Set in Dave and Kristin’s LA home, the episode explores the nature of real friendship, family, music, fame, and creativity, ultimately culminating in the spontaneous birth of a new song. The mood is deeply relaxed, packed with inside jokes, unfiltered confessions, and a behind-the-scenes look at Ed’s life.

Key Highlights & Discussion Points

The Origin and Spread of the “Chuck” Nickname

[00:00–01:12]

• Inside joke: Ed, Lil Dicky, and Dave debate the “Chuck” nickname—its exclusivity, origins, and how it spread among their friends and beyond, eventually leaking into pop culture.
  • Ed: “There’s three people that I call Chuck in the world. […] You, Blake, and David.” [00:43]
  • It became a catchphrase due to being mentioned in their TV show.

How Ed and Dave Met

[01:13–01:49]

• First meeting: On Skype, years ago—old school!—when Benny Blanco connected them for a possible song for the Lego Batman movie.
  • Dave: “We got on Skype and we wrote a song. Still the only song that we’ve written together.” [01:41]
• Fan connections: Ed’s wife Cherry was a fan of Dave’s music (“Save That Money”).

Daily Rituals & Personal Quirks

[03:03–04:43]

• Routines: Conversation about personal rituals, cleanliness, and the oddities of daily life.
  • Lil Dicky: “I can’t get out of bed unwet.” [03:31]
  • Ed: “Wait, you chuck, you have to be soaked to do anything?” [03:39]
• Hygiene talk: Hilarious detour into smells and belly button hygiene, including Kristen’s self-admitted “terrible” belly button smell and a group sniff test.
  • Dave (after smelling): “That’s like a bum hole. Jesus Christ.” [05:12]
  • Ed: “Mine smells just like... nothing.” [05:21]

Clumsiness, Ketchup, and Food Fails

[05:41–08:19]

• Lil Dicky and Ed Sheeran share mutual stories of clumsiness—Ed once crashed a scooter into Dave’s glass dining table.
• Everyone admits to a near-obsessive love of Heinz ketchup, with Ed notorious for carrying a bottle to fancy restaurants.
  • Ed: “I usually carry a bottle of Heinz ketchup in my bag… And then the advert is me going to a fancy restaurant... and I just [use my ketchup].” [07:10]
  • Kristen goes against the grain as a “mustard girl.” [08:39]

British vs. American Culture

[08:52–11:26]

• Condiments & chocolate: Comparing chocolate quality (UK/Europe vs US), British “Cadbury’s Dairy Milk,” and American “Hershey’s.”
  • Ed: “You have terrible gummy candies, but you have the best chocolate.” [08:55]
• Fish and chips skepticism: Kristin on not loving British staple foods, leading to a discussion of local authenticity (“you have to see the sea when eating fish and chips”). [09:45]
• Small town life: Dave and Ed describe life in a village of 200 people with no grocery store, no Uber Eats, and genuine community bonds.
  • Dave: “Everything in the market square is family owned and family run.” [11:34]

Building a Home and Forest

[11:42–14:15]

• Dave: Details planting 18,000 trees to create a forest, growing a vegetable garden, and transforming a property through years of effort.
  • “That house and property, everything on it... is your creation.” [13:35]
  • Ed: “I was there when he first planted the trees... and the trees were this big.” [12:44]

Parenting, Fame, and Handling Public Life

[15:07–19:42]

• Dave discusses raising two daughters, parenting challenges, and trying to give his children “some level of normality.”
  • Travel as a family, touring Europe by train, and taking a cruise across the Atlantic (with Titanic references and inside jokes).
  • Dave: “If I’m with [my kids]…I always say no to pictures. [...] I’m just being a dad today.” [20:11]
  • Balancing explaining fame to children with “this is just my job.” [18:42]
• Ed shares his anxiety in public spaces, worsened by fame, and how COVID (face masks) helped. [26:54–28:56]
• Conversations on the importance of kindness, recognizing that everyone, famous or not, struggles with something.
  • Dave: “As long as we recognize that all of us have shit that we’re struggling with, then it’s fine.” [28:31]

The Pressures and Paradoxes of Success

[21:32–25:54]

• Ed on getting famous at 19, and missing “normal” young adult experiences.
• The group debates the relativity of “coolness,” with Ed, Dave, and Lil Dicky casting themselves as “normal dudes” in a world of cooler, hotter music stars.
  • Ed: “We, like, shouldn’t have been [the cool ones].” [23:39]

Money, Headlines, and the Meaning of Success

[32:16–36:34]

• Dave reflects on the worst and best weeks of his life—Cherry’s cancer diagnosis, losing close friends, and a lengthy music copyright court battle.
  • Dave: “That was probably the worst week. [...] Jamal died that week. [...] Then we went straight into a court case.” [31:42–31:52]
• Ed explains why fighting (and winning) his copyright court cases was significant for him and for the music industry, setting legal precedent for peers like Dua Lipa.
  • “Now it’s not happening for other people, which is good.” [34:16]
• Aspirational headlines: The group jokes about their dream press coverage.
  • Lil Dicky: “He wanted unilateral respect. Guess what? He’s got it.” [35:29]

The Decline of Comedy Films and Changing Entertainment Industry

[38:41–40:18]

• Discussion of the disappearance of quality R-rated comedy films, the impact of streaming, and the economics of movie making.
  • Dave: “There are no movies really coming out anymore. I guess Good Boys was kind of like that. But there’s no movies coming out of like R rated comedies that are great.” [38:49]

Collecting Movie Memorabilia

[42:32–46:57]

• Ed and Dave share their fascination with film memorabilia (Edward Scissorhands’ hands, Dr. Evil’s suit, the teddy bear from A.I., knives from Goodfellas, etc.).
  • Dave: “I just bought the Edward Scissorhands hands.” [42:45]
  • Ed: “That’s the coolest thing.” [43:05]
• Discuss prop authenticity, auctions, prop websites, and the difference between collecting movie props and sports memorabilia.

Touring, Ticket Prices, and Legacy

[52:29–62:16]

• Ed breaks down how touring builds true global audiences—he’d play to 100 people in every city, then slowly scale up, explaining why he plays less profitable markets to nurture local fanbases.
  • Dave: “To be truly global, you have to be truly global.” [52:54]
• Family-friendly ticketing and ticket affordability: Dave wants whole families, not just pairs, to attend; he’d rather lose money than price out fans.
  • “At his shows, sometimes you see a whole person’s family tree… That’s how you get longevity.” [61:02]
• Conversation about being at the peak (“number one”) and how records are made to be broken.
  • Ed: “You’re just waiting for someone else to break [your record].” [61:34]
• Ed shares his doubts before releasing “Shivers” and “Bad Habits,” reminding everyone insecurity never truly disappears, no matter the level of success.

Songwriting Session: Capturing Lightning in a Bottle

[65:11–92:40]

• The group creates a song from scratch live on the podcast, writing and recording in roughly 16 minutes.
  • Kristen suggests the theme: “Friendship in your 30s... the joy of hanging out with friends.” [70:08–70:29]
• Song Title/Hook: “It’s Been a Hard Ride and a Long Time Since You and I Both Smiled”
• Process:
  • Discuss beat, mood, and structure.
  • Dave and Ed collaborate on guitar, chords, melody; Lil Dicky and Kristen throw out lyrics and ideas.
  • They focus on reconnecting with old friends, overcoming hard times, and the bittersweetness of adult life.
  • Example development:
    • “Me and my friends driving around the road, summertime, we got the top down. Here we go. Live fast, we want to die slow, all we got is our time, I love and not know.” [74:46]
    • “Thank God you’re here today. Nothing. Life works in mysterious way.” [84:48]
• The energy is genuine, emotional, and infectious, with Kristen getting teary.
  • Kristen: “It makes my eyes cry...It’s my new favorite song.” [87:34]

Quotable Moments & Banter from Song Session

• Lil Dicky, on watching Ed and Dave write: “See, this is songwriting. You realize, like, you’re like watching, like, two, like, absolute…” [76:51]
• Ed: “He has to finish the song. Because if he doesn’t finish the song, then if it’s a bad one, some of the bad song could go into that. It’s the most annoying somewhere on the world.” [87:38]
• Dave, joking about how fast they wrote it: “By the way, that was about 16 minutes.” [91:00]

Memorable Quotes

• On routine and hygiene:

  • Dave (to Lil Dicky): “You’ve got some really interesting kinks, man. I like it.” [03:37]

• On family and fame:

  • Dave: “It’s far more important that I’m being a dad to my daughter than me being a pop star to anyone else.” [20:22]
  • Ed (on fame's downside for kids): “That can only work for so long. She’s four. One day she’s gonna be like, ‘your job is way better than this other person’s job.’” [19:11]

• On global music careers and legacy:

  • Ed: “To be truly global, you have to be truly global.” [52:54]

• On success and happiness:

  • Dave: “When I was number one in all of those things, I was intensely unhappy because I didn’t have balance.” [64:55]
  • Ed: “No matter who you are, you always have those moments where you have doubts and stuff. And it doesn’t matter if you’re the biggest person in the world, there’s still that insecurity.” [63:06]

• On authenticity in songwriting:

  • Lil Dicky: “Songwriting at its core is what you do…The way he is writing a song is like, that is songwriting.” [65:26]

Timestamps for Key Segments

• “Chuck” nickname & friendship dynamics — [00:00–01:12]
• How Ed & Dave met, first collaboration — [01:13–01:49]
• Rituals, routines, and hygiene quirks — [03:03–06:12]
• Clumsy moments & food/ketchup obsession — [06:12–08:19]
• UK vs. US food, chocolate, small-town life — [08:52–11:42]
• Parenting, explaining fame, boundaries with fans — [15:07–22:11]
• Copyright lawsuits & music industry realities — [32:16–36:34]
• Songwriting session starts — [65:11]
• Songwriting magic: spontaneous song creation — [70:03–92:40]
• End, reflection, listens to finished demo — [91:02–92:40]

Episode Tone & Style

• Warm, inside-jokey, confessional: Unfiltered discussion among close friends with frequent teasing, intimate admissions, and shared references.
• Free flowing, spontaneous: Skips formal structure for natural conversation, often pivoting between topics, jokes, and deep insights.
• Creativity on display: The songwriting session highlights collaborative inspiration and musical chemistry.

For Listeners Who Missed It:

This episode is a true “fly on the wall” hangout with Ed Sheeran and friends—a testament to the power of genuine friendship, creative synergy, and embracing both vulnerability and hilarity in the public eye. Whether sharing belly button sniff tests or the secret anxieties behind chart-topping albums, the crew reminds us that even superstars are just “normal dudes” at their core—and that sometimes, the best music is made when you're not overthinking, but just having fun with your friends.