372: Katherine Blanford | The HoneyDew with Ryan Sickler #372 | Full Episode

Summary

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The HoneyDew with Ryan Sickler #372

Guest: Katherine Blanford

Release Date: February 9, 2026

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Episode Overview

This episode features comedian Katherine Blanford sharing the "lowlights" and wild stories that have shaped her journey. The conversation ranges from her Kentucky upbringing, the impact of losing her mother young, the ways she coped (and didn't), and an uproarious telling of heartbreak, grief, and truly absurd moments—true to The HoneyDew's focus on finding humor in hardship. Katherine and Ryan riff with warmth, irreverence, and rare honesty.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

Katherine's Kentucky Roots and Family Background

• Raised in Louisville, Kentucky to a large Catholic family, Katherine shares the blue-collar, rural foundation of her parents and their “city” migration.
  • "Our cousins were like, I see y' all went to the big city." (06:11)
• Her parents were the first of their generation to pursue higher education and move off the tobacco farm.
• Unique family dynamic: Katherine is the middle child of three (“Oldest kids raise youngest kids kinda thing.” 05:25).

Early Loss of Her Mother

• Katherine lost her mother, Rita, to lung cancer at age 22 (07:03).
• Illuminating the dissonance between small-town stoicism and personal trauma:
  • "They never wanted to tell us that it was bad. They never wanted to say it was terminal. So it was always just like, well, you know, we just got to go get some medicine for your mom. Go on and live your lives." (12:09)
• Discusses the surreal way others interact with grief when she returns home:
  • “You're like a walking grief billboard... they see you and they go, ‘Rita,’ and it's just—you know what I mean? And you're like, hey... you're the reminder that your mother's dead.” (08:07)
• Candid about delayed grief and the misdirection of both family and self.

"Hospice Confessionals," Family Secrets & Kentucky Folklore

• Katherine describes the period before her mother’s death as a time when relatives felt compelled to confess old scandals and family secrets:
  • “It was like confessional time for people. Like, they came in like my mother was the priest.” (17:42)
• Explains the “Cornbread Mafia” (Kentucky’s rural drug-running ring) as a thread in her family's past (16:31).

A Raunchy, Loving Relationship With Mom

• Rita was both sincere and riotously funny—sometimes in a hilariously inappropriate Southern nurse way.
• Memorable moment:
  • Quote: “I called her and I was like, my vagina's on fire... My mom was a nurse, but she’s still hillbilly. She’s like, ‘You want to take a round brush up there?’” (21:04)
• Katherine carries a tattoo of a round brush in Rita’s memory (21:56).

Processing Grief: Performative, Delayed, and Messy

• Katherine admits she got “obsessed with the attention” post-loss, milking social media sympathy.
  • "I could post anything, and if it was about my mom, it would get so many likes." (30:53)
• Realizes later that none of this was real grieving.
  • "I didn’t grieve for the first six months because I was in my prime... I was peaking." (31:18)
• True emotional reckoning hits months later, triggered by Derby Day and missing her mother’s encouragement. (37:14)

Career Detours & Mothering as a Nanny

• After her mother’s death and brief stints with “hell gigs” in event management, Katherine becomes a nanny for 8 years for the same Atlanta family.
• She grapples with shame around being a nanny while her sorority peers pursued traditional corporate success:
  • "Do you ever have a job where you hope your friends don't see you at it?" (46:10)
• Finds unexpected insight:
  • "I'm so glad I saw what it takes...because now I don't want kids." (49:50)
• The experience ultimately leads her to the best of both worlds: caretaking and the freedom to pursue comedy.

Turbulent Romantic Life & Comedy Beginnings

• Katherine details a disastrous relationship with a fellow comic, supporting him financially and emotionally—he cheats, she finds evidence in her car.
• Another relationship ends epically: after a confrontation over flirty texts, her boyfriend drives off with her phone and she jumps on the side of his moving Tahoe in pajamas. Police become involved.
  • "I have a picture of the bruise on the side of my hand." (65:16)
  • "There was, like, a spark of joy. Like, I was so excited to have an excuse to do that." (70:49)
• Humor filters the chaos, and the pair agree to break up after the Tahoe incident.
• Ryan notes: "We all grieve in different ways." (35:01)

Humor as Survival & Comedy as Healing

• Eventually, Katherine leaves her “old life” behind and throws herself into the standup scene, making new friends, dating “freaks,” and finally, finding her form of healing through comedy.
• She never grew up on standup but instead discovered her love for it directly through performing.

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments (with Timestamps)

• On Kentucky and early crushes:
  • "My first three crushes: Tubby Smith, George W. Bush, and Bob Baffert. So listen, I know how to pick them." (03:47)
• On grief culture:
  • "You're like a walking grief billboard...you walk in the room and they’re like, ‘How are you?’" (08:07)
• On family secrets before her mom's passing:
  • “We’re talking about casserole recipes while the men are in the room next door talking about what they’re going to do with the body.” (17:34)
• On her own performative grief:
  • "I didn’t grieve for the first six months because I was in my prime...I had so many hospice bits. We were in there for, like, four days." (31:14)
• On being an awkward public mourner:
  • "The merch line, it's like I'm back at the funeral home." (09:52)
• On realizing she hadn't really grieved:
  • “When does it dawn on you that you haven't grieved at all?” “It’s bad. I know.” (37:03)
• On being motherly as a nanny after losing her own mom:
  • "It's also interesting to me that you take on a motherly role after you lose yours...I don't know that you'd have liked any job you were doing right after your mother died." (47:41)
• On why she doesn't want kids:
  • "I'm so glad I saw what it takes to, to like, what commitment it takes for...to raise a kid early on. Because now I'm not. I don't want kids." (49:50)
• On comedy and shifting social circles:
  • "I was bridesmaid 14 times...I haven’t talked to [most] of those girls in five years...I just, like, switched over into this freak life where I had a job everybody else had at 12 as a babysitter and was going into gross basements and making no money..." (55:20)
• On the infamous Tahoe breakup:
  • "One hand on the thing...makeup, Zoom top, sweatpants, house slippers...Driving down his residence." (64:01)
  • "We get pulled over by the cops...I could take this down, right? But I didn’t." (68:08)
  • "You get pulled over, and...they're like, what do you do if there's a human on your feet?" (69:51)
• Advice to her 16-year-old self:
  • “Fuck it all up as early as you possibly can. Do the dumb ugly shit early so it’s out of your system.” (74:17)

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Important Segment Timestamps

• [03:03] – Katherine's Kentucky roots and early crushes
• [07:03] – Mother's illness and family dynamic
• [12:09] – The family's avoidance and hiding the terminal diagnosis
• [17:42] – Family secrets and the cornbread mafia
• [21:04] – Hilarious, irreverent advice and memories from her mom
• [30:53] – Social media “performative grief”
• [37:14] – Realization of not grieving, triggered by Derby Day
• [47:41] – Transition from event work to nannying
• [55:20] – Leaving her old life and switching to standup comedy
• [64:01] – The dramatic "Tahoe incident" breakup story
• [74:17] – Katherine’s advice to her younger self

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Tone and Style

The episode is raw, candid, and frequently outrageous—balancing the dark with the absurd. Katherine is disarmingly forthright about her failures, grief, and the hilarity in life’s worst moments. Both she and Ryan keep things light, self-deprecating, and supportive, finding laughter and self-acceptance in what could otherwise be heavy material.

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Final Takeaway

Katherine Blanford’s story is emblematic of The HoneyDew’s ethos—finding humor and meaning in our lowest moments, and sharing the messy, unglamorous, human side of growth. Listeners will be left laughing, moved, and oddly reassured that “fucking it all up” is all part of the journey.

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Transcript

[Katherine Blandford]

Foreign.

[Ryan Sickler]

I'm headed back your way. Valentine's weekend. That's right, Valentine's weekend. I'll be there. February 13th and the 14th, Connecticut. Come see me at Comics Roadhouse March 13th and 14th. Get your tickets now at ryancickler.com.

[Katherine Blandford]

The Honeydew with Ryan Sickler.

[Ryan Sickler]

Welcome back to the Honeydew, y'. All. We're over here doing it in the Night Pants Studios. I am Ryan Sickler. Ryan sickler.com and Ryan Sickler, on all your social media, starting these episodes like I start them all by saying thank you. Thank you for supporting anything that we do here. All right? I don't care how, what it is. Thank you. Thank you for all your support. And if you gotta have more than you gotta check out the Patreon, all right? Our Patreon channel, we got two tiers. We got the Honeydew with y' all over there. And it is this show with y'. All. And I promise you, I say it every week. It is the wildest show on patreon. It is $5 a month. It's a cup of coffee for hundreds of wild episodes with you guys. So if you or someone you know has a story that has to be heard, submit it to honeydew podcastmail.com would love to do an episode with you. All right, that's the biz. You guys know what we do here? We highlight the low lights. I always say that these are the stories behind the storytellers. I am very excited to have this guest here with us today. Ladies and gentlemen, please welcome Katherine Blandford. Welcome to the Honeydew, Catherine.

[Katherine Blandford]

Did you see? I'd missed a button, and I was frantically buttoning it while you were doing the intro.

[Co-host or Guest]

I was doing my bit.

[Katherine Blandford]

I was like, are you?

[Ryan Sickler]

Well, it's great to have you here.

[Katherine Blandford]

You're going to see my big fake tits.

[Ryan Sickler]

You look straight. You look good over there.

[Katherine Blandford]

Thank you.

[Ryan Sickler]

Welcome. And before we dive into whatever we're gonna talk about today, right there, promote anything you'd like, please.

[Katherine Blandford]

KathrynBlaver.com for tickets. I'm coming to. Well, can we insert that after? Just kidding. I think I'm coming to Washington, D.C. soon. Vancouver, Tampa, New Orleans, Charlotte, etc. It's Katherine Blandford on all social medias. And I have a new podcast with Shane Tor called Coastal Idiots. We have a loose theme every episode, and we do little sketches on there. We bring in characters. It's silly Billy time on YouTube and all the podcast platforms. Special out Catholic cowgirl.

[Ryan Sickler]

What's it called?

[Katherine Blandford]

Catholic Cowgirl? Yeah, it's on YouTube.

[Ryan Sickler]

Well, I'm very. I'm excited to have you here. We've been trying for a while. I tell everybody this is the hardest part about podcasting is getting two people to sit down in the same room for 60 minutes. I know, but we got you here.

[Katherine Blandford]

Thank you.

[Ryan Sickler]

So let's start from the beginning. Where are you from originally?

[Katherine Blandford]

Louisville. Kentucky.

[Ryan Sickler]

Yeah. Louisville, Kentucky.

[Katherine Blandford]

You did it.

[Ryan Sickler]

Are you. Yeah. Are you Lamar Jackson fans?

[Katherine Blandford]

No. Oh, you're Baltimore. Of course. I bleed blue.

[Ryan Sickler]

How blue?

[Katherine Blandford]

I like.

[Ryan Sickler]

Who's your NFL?

[Katherine Blandford]

One of my first crushes was Tubby Smith.

[Co-host or Guest]

Okay, that's very Tommy Smith.

[Katherine Blandford]

My first three crushes. I love that man. I love his wife.

[Co-host or Guest]

Give me your first three. Tell me who else.

[Katherine Blandford]

George W. Bush. George W. And Bob Baffert.

[Co-host or Guest]

What a mix.

[Katherine Blandford]

So listen, I know how to pick them. Okay, wait, hold on.

[Co-host or Guest]

Let me make sure I'm laughing at the right guy.

[Ryan Sickler]

Baffert's the horse guy, is he not? The sunglasses inside Silver Fox. Yeah, I see him at the Preakness all the time in the derby. I know.

[Katherine Blandford]

Yeah.

[Ryan Sickler]

So you got Bafford W. And Tubby, huh? Those are the three that fired you up early on?

[Katherine Blandford]

Yeah.

[Ryan Sickler]

All right.

[Katherine Blandford]

Catherine, I like. I like a man with a.

[Ryan Sickler]

Do you have an NFL team? Would you. Bengals there like who you like? You know, the whole town's Lamar now. They. They. You know, they. They run Ravens games in your town now. Because everybody loves Lamar. That's what you get locally.

[Katherine Blandford]

I was gone. Yeah, I was gone by the time Lamar was there. I was probably in South Carolina then, and we. What was I saying about. No, I had something about Tubby Smith.

[Ryan Sickler]

You bleed blue.

[Katherine Blandford]

Oh, I bleed blue. I don't remember what I was about to say.

[Ryan Sickler]

You have an NFL team? I was asking.

[Katherine Blandford]

Oh, yeah. My brother was obsessed with Eddie George when he was at the Titans, so. And by the way, our NFL team is Kentucky men's basketball.

[Ryan Sickler]

Yes, it is. I know. The Wildcats, of course.

[Katherine Blandford]

Obsessed. Obsessed. I.

[Ryan Sickler]

Historically good.

[Katherine Blandford]

I remember the first time we. I went to Rupp Arena. I was in high school, and I cried almost the whole game. I think we lost, too. It was Billy Gillespie era, if you remember who he was real drunk. I skipped prom junior year because my friend was already at UK and was a player on the football team, and he was like, I got you tickets. You can sit next to Randall Cobb and watch a home game. So I skipped prom.

[Ryan Sickler]

I went. Watch the home game.

[Katherine Blandford]

Huh.

[Ryan Sickler]

All right, so Louisville. Mom and dad are from Louisville originally. Like, tell me about your parents from.

[Katherine Blandford]

Tobacco farms, Dad's Bargetown area, Marion County, Holy Cross, if you want to get really real. One to ten farm home, three bedrooms, parents room, boys room, girls room. Oldest kids raise youngest kids kind of thing. And mom, three brothers, want single dad. Mom died early. All Catholic as all get out. Everybody was altar boys and, you know, very. And my parents were like the first parents. Like, my dad went to UK and got. His was a pharmacist. My mom was a nurse. And we were like the city family from moving to Louisville and living on a cul de sac.

[Co-host or Guest]

Our cousins were like, I see y' all went to the big city. Yeah, I got it.

[Katherine Blandford]

Like, yeah, we've gotten.

[Ryan Sickler]

How did you meet, though? How'd your parents meet? I think they met in college at Kentucky.

[Katherine Blandford]

Yeah, my mom was a. I think she'd graduate. I went to Murray Murray in Kentucky. She was a racer and she ownsborough, Kentucky. She. I don't know. I think somebody told me they met because somebody was like, rita, meet Steve. Rita's meeting or looking for a husband. You know how it worked back then. And then they just immediately got married. They had three kids, and then they were like, maybe we should get to know each other.

[Ryan Sickler]

And who's the oldest.

[Katherine Blandford]

Oldest brother? So I'm the middle. I have an older brother and then a younger brother. And we've all escaped Kentucky. So my mom passed when I was 22.

[Ryan Sickler]

What happened to mom?

[Katherine Blandford]

Lung cancer. Wasn't a smoker. Just.

[Ryan Sickler]

I hear this, like, too much that it makes me worried. Like, what was here? Did she work in anything? Like asbestos? Is there any other reason why this. How old was she? Also?

[Katherine Blandford]

She. Was she. Six days after turning 51. I mean, I. You know what's crazy? I went home. Well, I was in Lexington doing shows. I was doing comedy off Broadway there. And my mom was a nurse. And one of her last jobs, she worked for a plastic surgeon. And the plastic surgeon, she came to my shows right before I go on stage. She's like, kevin, hi, my guy. Also, by the way, when you. Like when you. Somebody die and you don't live in your hometown, when you go back, it's so annoying because you just. You're like a walking grief billboard. Because people forget, right? They forget that somebody died, and then you walk in and they haven't seen you in 10 years, and they see you and they go, rita. And it's just. You know what I mean? And you're like, hey, I don't like that. I just, you know, you're the reminder.

[Co-host or Guest]

That your mother's dead.

[Katherine Blandford]

It's horrible. Horrible. I walk into a room, hey. And I was like, we miss Rita.

[Co-host or Guest]

Was such a good woman.

[Katherine Blandford]

That's all we talk about. You walk in the room and they're like, you, how are you? So good.

[Ryan Sickler]

Yeah, Your mom would be so right back to that.

[Katherine Blandford]

Yeah, I know. And you're like, I know, I know. Yeah. And right before I go on stage, right, she comes up to me and she's so sweet and she's like, you know, I miss your mom. And I'm talking the features wrapping up.

[Co-host or Guest]

Yeah, you're back.

[Katherine Blandford]

I mean, like, they're playing my intro music. And she goes, by the way, she's like, I have another nurse now. And she's. You know how much I love your mom, Rita. She is my new Rita. I just love her so much. She has the same cancer your mom has.

[Co-host or Guest]

Gather Blandford, everybody.

[Katherine Blandford]

I shit you not. And I go, I go. I literally go. And she goes, well, and. Oh, also two things. She goes, and you know, they're more advanced with how they're treating it now, so she might have a fighting chance. Your mom didn't. And then she goes. And I go, why are you like.

[Co-host or Guest]

Shut the fuck up.

[Katherine Blandford]

And they're giving my credits right now. It's terrible now, you know, and she literally goes. And I go, well, you know, you think it might have something to do with the work environment then? And she goes, absolutely. There's a lot of radiation and other things we work with. And I was like. She was like, you know, you have to have the. The gene or whatever, but if you have the gene, good luck to you.

[Co-host or Guest]

That lead vest ain't worth the shit anyways.

[Katherine Blandford]

Have a great show.

[Co-host or Guest]

Kill him, girl.

[Katherine Blandford]

It's like, it's. Yeah. And also. Yeah, yeah, yeah. When Also. If I ever do shows in Louisville or Lexington, the. The merch line is. It's like I'm back at the funeral home. It's a line of people.

[Ryan Sickler]

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[Katherine Blandford]

I was senior in college. I went to South Carolina for college. I had to get out of Kentucky. I was a senior in college. And I. Dude. I remember my dad called me and was like, your mom? My mom had just visited with her best friend Mary Jo.

[Ryan Sickler]

I don't mean to interrupt. Were they, Were your parents still together?

[Katherine Blandford]

They were. They shouldn't have been. They were.

[Ryan Sickler]

Okay.

[Katherine Blandford]

Gotcha. And my dad calls me and says that they found a mass in my mom's lungs. Do you ever. When you got hard news, it's truly like a movie. Do you remember like the, you know.

[Ryan Sickler]

Like the sound slows down?

[Katherine Blandford]

It's like a. And you're like. You have time stops and you hear that, like the, the lifeline go flat and it's like a piercing in your ear. And you always have that, like, you're like, not me. Sad stories happen to other people. Not me. What are you talking about? And I just remember the entire. My mom was sick for a little bit over a year and I, you know, graduated within the month and moved to Philadelphia with an internship to work with the pga. Then had gone with that company and moved to Orlando and was working at the Lando Magic. I was in venue management and. And then had moved to Atlanta for like the next, you know, job move up from. With that same company for a small venue in Atlanta. Like, and I. The whole year. This, this is like so quintessential. I feel like boomer stuff. My. The entire time my mom was sick, my dad was like, they never wanted to tell us that it was bad. They never wanted to say it was terminal. So it was always just like, well, you know, we just got to go get some medicine for your mom. Go on and live your lives, you.

[Ryan Sickler]

Know, Catherine, can I just tell you, like, every person in my life that mattered and. And did care, and there were, like, three of them.

[Katherine Blandford]

Yeah.

[Ryan Sickler]

Were always like, we'll tell you when you get older. You're too young. And you know where they are now? Dead. And you know what?

[Co-host or Guest]

They never told us any. Just tell.

[Katherine Blandford]

We'll never talk about hard things. You let me tell you. Let me.

[Ryan Sickler]

They're all dead.

[Co-host or Guest]

We took all that with them.

[Katherine Blandford]

Let me tell you the level of like. Like, how resistant my dad was to telling us how bad it was. I remember my mom was. I went over Thanksgiving and. And everybody's, like, coming over to our house to visit our mom to say their goodbyes. You know, I'm still not. I'm like, why are people coming over? And then I go back to. To work in Atlanta, and my dad calls me, and he goes. So I just want to let you know. You know, mom is moving into hospice because I just need a little bit of extra help with her. I don't know what hospice.

[Ryan Sickler]

Oh, no, you don't.

[Co-host or Guest]

I'll tell you what hospice is.

[Ryan Sickler]

The beginning of the end.

[Co-host or Guest]

That's the. About to wrap it up.

[Katherine Blandford]

You know what I heard when he said that? I was like, I didn't know. We're so wealthy. We have helper nurses. Oh, we're doing good.

[Ryan Sickler]

Oh, so you think people are coming to your home to help Mom?

[Katherine Blandford]

Yeah.

[Ryan Sickler]

You don't understand that she's going to a facility.

[Katherine Blandford]

Yeah.

[Ryan Sickler]

Okay.

[Katherine Blandford]

But I had some, like, something in my gut that was like, you should come home. My dad didn't even tell me I should come home, but I did. And by the time I got there to the hospital, she wasn't even talking anymore.

[Ryan Sickler]

Can I ask you from that time that you're back to visit her now and prior to that, what's. How long in between had you, you know, gone without seeing her?

[Katherine Blandford]

Well, I'd gone. Luckily, like, Thanksgiving had just happened.

[Ryan Sickler]

Okay.

[Katherine Blandford]

So, like, I'd gone home for that, and everybody was coming home to say their goodbyes, you know, should have been a telltale sign for me that she was really about to go. I hope I'm not in trouble saying this. My. My other favorite aunt, my, like, my dad's brother's wife that I. It was. She was just a wrecking ball like my mom. Like, so funny. The black sheep of the family. I don't think she Realized I was sitting in the room with my mom when she came in. My mom was like sitting in her bed kind of sick, and she. I'm just gonna say it because she's passed now since she's like telling my mom that her husband, she married before my Uncle Paul, he was involved in what you would call the cornbread mafia, which is like Kentucky, West Virginia, Indiana, these places, they have big farms in small towns and they, you know, grew a bunch of weed and they moved cocaine and everything. And they own the police because it's small town. There's. There's a sheriff, Sheriff and one other police officer. And these guys could kill their whole family. Right. So they're running the town and. And he was involved in the cornbread mafia and ended up.

[Ryan Sickler]

That's the first time you never really.

[Katherine Blandford]

You know, heard of that.

[Ryan Sickler]

Never heard about cornbread mafia.

[Katherine Blandford]

Cornbread mafia.

[Ryan Sickler]

So that's just some little bit of drug running in that pocket of the US there, huh? Yeah, yeah. Because you got everything going. You got Cincinnati, right in that area, Indy, you got Louisville, Lexington, Nashville's all.

[Katherine Blandford]

Close, but all the little. Little rural agriculture about is where they are. And they can move into the big city.

[Ryan Sickler]

I see.

[Katherine Blandford]

And she was married to him.

[Ryan Sickler]

And so she just starts telling your.

[Katherine Blandford]

Mom this, telling her that. She's like, I left him because I had the two girls and it wasn't safe. She's like, but I gave him one more chance. And I got back to him with him for a minute and. And I just remember we go over to someone's house for barbecue. One of the other families, couples involved. And I just remember the wives are all in the kitchen and we're talking about casserole recipes while the men are in the room next door talking about what they're going to do with the body. And she's like, rita, I had to go. I couldn't do it anymore. Rita, also.

[Co-host or Guest]

Poor Rita, for grace sake, you know.

[Katherine Blandford]

Also, my mom's so sick.

[Co-host or Guest]

She's like, she just. You're hitting her with that right now, for Christ sake.

[Katherine Blandford]

Dude, I swear to God. It was like two or three. It was like confessional time for people. Like, they came in, like, my mother was the priest. Yeah.

[Ryan Sickler]

And they're like, what else are you hearing?

[Katherine Blandford]

I was a little kid. I just remember.

[Ryan Sickler]

Well, 22 you said, right?

[Katherine Blandford]

Yeah, yeah, No, I guess not a little kid to me. Little kid.

[Ryan Sickler]

You're young.

[Katherine Blandford]

I was young. Wasn't understanding what was happening. I would remember, like, you know, like my mom's best friend. Coming in and admitting how much she hates her husband. And really, they're saying this shit? Yeah. Oh, yeah.

[Ryan Sickler]

Not your dad. Her own husband.

[Katherine Blandford]

Her own husband. And how she. She, you know, has the hots for another guy. And I don't read. I'm not going to do anything, but. But I want to, you know, And. And God damn it, if he. If he gives me another reason to leave him, I'm gonna. And I'm, like, crawling under the bed.

[Ryan Sickler]

They don't know you're there?

[Katherine Blandford]

No.

[Co-host or Guest]

How do they not see you?

[Ryan Sickler]

Are you just out of the way?

[Katherine Blandford]

I think I was, like, in. I was. I was in her bathroom, like, and then I just stayed.

[Co-host or Guest]

Yeah, fuck it. I was 100%.

[Ryan Sickler]

Yeah.

[Katherine Blandford]

I would do. I was like, that should be a thing. You know, they just set up, like, hospice confessionals.

[Ryan Sickler]

You're on to something. Like, if people didn't know and you just had a camera sitting up there and what ends up pouring out of the people who are still alive?

[Katherine Blandford]

Because it's like, you're like.

[Ryan Sickler]

Maybe you're. Maybe. Because maybe you're. Sure. It could be a Breaking Bad style thing where you're telling these people your confessions and that cancer gets away. And now this person knows you killed this. Knows this. The cornbread mafia. Oh, man, that's interesting.

[Katherine Blandford]

Yeah, that. That's another undercover.

[Ryan Sickler]

They're sending their. They're. They feel like they can confess something to someone who's gonna take it with them, so to speak.

[Katherine Blandford]

Yeah. I think it's just like, I. I've always loved you. I. I don't know what it like, it's just like, here's my. Here's. Here's me bearing my soul. I wanna. I want you to know everything before the end.

[Ryan Sickler]

So what it sounds like to me is that your mom was a good woman who was really liked.

[Katherine Blandford]

She was the best.

[Ryan Sickler]

Yeah.

[Katherine Blandford]

Yeah.

[Ryan Sickler]

People were coming to see her and say goodbye.

[Katherine Blandford]

Yeah, dude, she was hilarious. I mean, this is. But this is the. Though she's like, this was kind of. I'm actually talking about it on stage now. This is my mom, like, raunchy, but in the most heartfelt way. I give you an example. When I was in college, I was at South Carolina and summertime, I was probably running around in my bathing suit all the time, and I called her and I was like, my vagina's on fire. It's melting in my underwear. My mom was a nurse, but she's still hillbilly from Owensboro, Kentucky. So she was trying to figure out UTI or yeast infection. One's itchy and one's not. So she was like, you want to take a round brush up there? You know the hairbrush that goes all the way around? And I was like, yeah, is that. Can I do that? Is that. Is that safe? Is that healthy? She's like, no, but she's like, you gotta. I think UTI is the. Is the itchy one. So I. She was like, you gotta go get monostat. Whatever. And I remember driving to the cvs, and I got pulled over because I wasn't wearing my seat belt. And I remember the officer pulled me over in a bathing suit.

[Co-host or Guest]

Of course, it's another five minutes longer.

[Katherine Blandford]

This poor officer, this is probably the day he quit. He pulls me up, and he walks up and he goes, do you know I pulled you over? I'm like, I don't know, but I don't even have enough money for monostat. And it's so itchy. I want to take a rat and brush up there. And I. No, you did not say. Are you crying, bawling? I don't have enough money for Monistat. I want to take a rat brush up there. And I remember.

[Co-host or Guest]

You'Re telling him it's burning.

[Katherine Blandford]

You're telling him, I want to take a round brush up there. This man is young. Young. And he's. I remember. He goes, well, I should write you a ticket, but I'm not gonna pour. Watering on a sinking ship and just let me go. I have a tattoo right here. A round brush right here. My inner thigh. Now, in memory of Rita.

[Co-host or Guest]

I just can't read it.

[Katherine Blandford]

I can't.

[Ryan Sickler]

I can't do it.

[Co-host or Guest]

Rita.

[Katherine Blandford]

Yeah. I can't read casseroles. What they're doing with the body. Maybe we should put it in the damn casserole. Rita. See how Gerald tastes.

[Co-host or Guest]

Oh, man. Poor cop. Poor you, for God's sake.

[Katherine Blandford]

Yeah.

[Ryan Sickler]

Oh, okay, wait. I want to talk more about Mom. Do you. Do you get any real conversations with her before she goes?

[Katherine Blandford]

Yeah, she.

[Ryan Sickler]

Because you're coming home to her in hospice, right?

[Katherine Blandford]

Yeah, I came home during hospice before I left town over Thanksgiving. She, like, sat me down, and the. The only. I'm not registering that this is a goodbye conversation, but she was like, you know, don't. Don't sit and cry if you think about me, just make. I want you to be laughing. I. And she's like, you know, you're. You're. You. To the point that she was just kind of like. I think what she was trying to tell me Was, I am smart, I'm witty. And my mom was. She always loved being a mom. She wanted to be a mom, but she got married young, had kids. She was smart and witty, but my dad was kind of an. And would always kind of like, you know, he. He had his thumb on her neck. It was kind of like, rita, keep it down. Kind of be quiet. And she was just like, don't lose your. What? Don't. Don't dim your light for anything. And she said her best friend was Mary Jo, who she grew up with. She lived in Louisville. We'd go over to her house all the time. Mary Jo never had kids, never got married. And she's like, mary Jo will be there for you. Quick story before I go back to this. When I did my first Tonight show set, I had a bit in there about my mom, about how she used to. She worked for a plastic surgeon, and she always said I needed a Botox when I was in high school because I had a line over my head. And she'd a few times chase me around the house with a syringe full of Botox. And I was like, we called it freeze tag. And I had this whole other bit about how I would fake pass out during cross country. And my mom believed me. So my set was about my mom at the Tonight show, and so I brought Mary Jo, and she got to come watch me do a set about my mom. That's nice. Yeah, it's really cool.

[Ryan Sickler]

You don't hear names like that anymore. Or Mary. We had a lady named Mary Blair. It was always a Mary Blair.

[Katherine Blandford]

That's hard. Mary Blair.

[Ryan Sickler]

Yeah.

[Katherine Blandford]

Oh, that's fun. It's always. I always, like, love a name that's fun to yell. My mom, Rita Ann.

[Ryan Sickler]

Rita's a good.

[Katherine Blandford]

Get in the house right now. Rita Ann. Yeah.

[Ryan Sickler]

What's your middle name?

[Katherine Blandford]

Worst. I hate it. Lynn.

[Ryan Sickler]

Catherine Lynn. It's a lot of Anns and Lynn's.

[Katherine Blandford]

Yeah. I. I thought Lynn was the stuff in your pocket when I was growing up. It's Lynn, but I thought it was Lynn because my parents always had an accent. So I thought they named me after the crumbs in your pocket.

[Ryan Sickler]

Gotcha.

[Katherine Blandford]

But yet she had this. She had this talk with me, and, you know, again, I didn't realize she was saying goodbye. I don't even know if she realized she was saying goodbye. I remember she gave me one last. When I was right before I moved to Atlanta, I was in Orlando working at the Orlando Magic Serena Amway center. And she came and visited me it was over my birthday and I think she knew it was our last like one on one time together. I don't, I didn't realize it. And we got into this.

[Ryan Sickler]

She came to visit.

[Katherine Blandford]

Yeah, she just started losing her hair.

[Ryan Sickler]

Okay.

[Katherine Blandford]

And I remember like being so mad that her hair was everywhere in my bedroom and in my shower, which in hindsight I just like, was a kid that didn't. Was probably sad.

[Ryan Sickler]

You're. And terrifying.

[Katherine Blandford]

Yeah.

[Ryan Sickler]

That lady's losing her hair and yeah, you know damn well what's gonna happen. And yeah, freaking.

[Katherine Blandford]

But nobody's telling you. And you're just kind of like feels up, but everyone's acting like it's fine. We got this huge fight because I, I was like, I was new at the job and we were running the ushers and ticket takers and I was like, oh, it was a Kiss concert. And I was like, I'll get you in, but you. I just have to like, you know, it'll be within the first 20 minutes of the show, but I'll call you. And my. I think she was kind of out of it also. She was a little bit of an alcoholic. And so I'm getting like calls over the radio with my boss. They're like, catherine, your mom's at the gate saying you're letting her in. I'm like, shut the off. And I'm like, mom, you can't do that. And I just remember like getting in this knockout blowout fight screaming with her after the show, and she's crying and I'm crying and. And then it was just like after she passed, I was always really mad at myself about like being. Getting in that big fight with her. But I think it was just like, I was just sad and scared and didn't. Was just turned, it turned into anger. But it was like really beautiful because we made up. And then the rest of the trip we like, I don't know, we just, it was, we just like laughed and, and hung out and it was awesome. And I'm kind of happy. We went through like a, like a big fight because it was like really honest and raw and we'd fought most of my teenage years.

[Ryan Sickler]

You did?

[Katherine Blandford]

Yeah, it was pretty bad. She was a, she was an alcoholic. But again, nobody admitted it. You know, I would just come from, from school and I'd like, she has glossy eyes again. And I was like the only girl in school or the only girl in my family. And so I was like, we understood each other, so we fought too. And I think I was always mad at her for, like, letting my dad kind of talk down to her and because I knew just how funny and she was, and I think my dad was a little insecure that she was the star of the show, so you.

[Ryan Sickler]

Got to see more of the real her. Yeah, I see.

[Katherine Blandford]

Yeah. Yeah. So it was kind of beautiful. And I remember she. When I dropped her off at the airport, she was, like, falling crying, and I was like, why is she so sad? And I. She knew it was our last trip together.

[Ryan Sickler]

How long after that was she gone?

[Katherine Blandford]

Four months.

[Ryan Sickler]

Four months?

[Katherine Blandford]

Yeah.

[Ryan Sickler]

And so you go back when. Right before it happens?

[Katherine Blandford]

Yeah, yeah, yeah. She died the very beginning of January.

[Ryan Sickler]

What year?

[Katherine Blandford]

So January 6th. Stole my date. Stole my mom's birth or death date. Insurrectionist. Rude. The insurrection of my heart. Sorry. I'm sorry. Yeah. I have January 6th.

[Co-host or Guest]

As I stormed your heart.

[Ryan Sickler]

January 6th.

[Katherine Blandford]

Right. Here I go.

[Ryan Sickler]

It's not what you think.

[Katherine Blandford]

Is that what she said?

[Co-host or Guest]

You know what? I've never thought about that. There are probably plenty of people that have January 6th for another reason. Prior to that, they're like.

[Katherine Blandford]

They're like, my baby girl's born. Then, hey, honey, we've never done this, but we're changing your birthday.

[Co-host or Guest]

Yeah. We're gonna push it one day.

[Katherine Blandford]

You are January 5th. Wait, they started lying to him. I remember when you were born. January 5th.

[Ryan Sickler]

Oh, man. Okay, so how does mom want to be buried? Cremated. Like, what is her. What's. How does she want to go out?

[Katherine Blandford]

This is. This is up. She wanted to be buried. This is. I've never been. I've always, like, wanted to write bits about this, but I. It's always so dark. When she. She died, I was 22 years old, and I was just a monster of a person. I remember I kind of got obsessed with the attention I was getting from after she passed. Like, I talk about. You see people when they're grieving on Facebook and they'll. They're writing, like, the long posts about.

[Ryan Sickler]

Somebody that turns it on him. And crying, openly weeping is always interesting to me.

[Katherine Blandford]

I know. I. I get it. But I remember I was 22. Instagram really just started to pop off, and I started to be like, I could post anything, and if it was about my mom, it would get so many likes. Like, I would just post, like, a rose petal, and I'd be, like, missing her. And it was more likes and more comments.

[Ryan Sickler]

Yeah, yeah, of course. Yeah.

[Katherine Blandford]

And I was like, okay, crack knuckle. Posting quotes in magazines.

[Ryan Sickler]

How often are we doing.

[Katherine Blandford]

Every day. Every day. Oh, my God, I was. Dude, everything Holy. The. My Instagram stories at hospice. I mean, I was popping off. I was killing. I always say, like, I didn't grieve.

[Co-host or Guest]

The first that I was killing it.

[Katherine Blandford]

I was. I had so many hospice bits. We were in there for, like, four days.

[Co-host or Guest]

Listen, it's your job.

[Katherine Blandford]

Dude. I'm telling you. I didn't breathe for the first six months because I was like. I was in my prime. I was peaking. I. I had a. One of my first bits. This is fucked up. I was. I. Talk about. So I was the only girl, right? I only had brothers and a dad. And my dad was like, you gotta pick out her outfit for the casket. And I was like, well, it's gonna be hard because we were, like, close to the same size. So I was like, well, if it's cute, I'm gonna keep it. I'm gonna get more wears out here.

[Ryan Sickler]

Why are we wasting that?

[Katherine Blandford]

I even asked guys. Fucked up. I even asked the funeral director because she was bald. So we were gonna put her in a scarf. But I really like the scarf because I asked if I could get it back before we closed the casket. And she was like, do you want to. Do you want it, like, in memory of her? And I was like, I want to wear it. And she's like, it has embalming fluid on it. You'll die.

[Co-host or Guest]

You'll die.

[Katherine Blandford]

She's. Let me get one Instagram post in it. It will pop off. Dude, I. It was so bad. Like, at the funeral, I just. People were coming back, like. Like high school ex boyfriends were coming there and crying, and I was like, I was the belle of the ball. A bell of the ball. I was boy crazy hungry. I was like, that guy's a doctor. Like, it was. I didn't grieve. I didn't grieve for so long because I. I was getting attention, and I loved it. It's up. I shouldn't have said my mom's eulogy. I didn't even write anything. I was like, I'll riff it. I just wanted to be.

[Ryan Sickler]

You just went up and riffed it.

[Katherine Blandford]

It was. I. I wrote it, but it was. It was about me.

[Ryan Sickler]

What do you mean?

[Katherine Blandford]

I just remember. It was like, the stories were really centered about me. I remember I opened with kind of a joke. My mom used to always say, wakey, wakey, eggs and bakey. I opened with that crush. I was, like, heckling the priest during the burial site.

[Co-host or Guest]

What do you mean?

[Katherine Blandford]

He was kind of giving. He's like, giving a Speech, you know, at the burial site. And I'm like, say. You know, say it again. That's what she said out loud. Yeah. People are laughing.

[Ryan Sickler]

How many, though?

[Co-host or Guest]

How many people?

[Katherine Blandford]

It's like three drunken cousins.

[Co-host or Guest]

It's Kim.

[Ryan Sickler]

It's Kim.

[Katherine Blandford]

It's cousin Kim. It's cousin Kim. Him whose Bob was the casserole lady.

[Co-host or Guest]

I can't read it right.

[Katherine Blandford]

I can't do it no more. I can't leave. Talking about casserole recipes, cornbread, you know, and they're like, should we bury them under the corn?

[Ryan Sickler]

So you're hitting them.

[Co-host or Guest]

You're hitting them at the viewing. You're hitting.

[Ryan Sickler]

You're just. You're on fire. You're hitting them at the. At the hole where they're putting her in the ground. You're hitting the priest there, too.

[Katherine Blandford]

I was. Had dated. This is right after we graduated from college. My college boyfriend had come, but we'd broken up. But he came up, you know, because it was pretty recent. And I'm like, so you wanna say you want to stay over? I'm at my dad's. I'm at my family home. There's. We have people staying with us because my mom's just passed. And he's like, no, Catherine, I can't. That's weird. And I'm like, come on, no one's gonna know. And then I remember he denied me and I called him and I was like, I just need you here. Cause my mom, it's gone and I'm sad, and I was just trying to get some.

[Ryan Sickler]

And did he come? Yeah, he did. And did you get some?

[Katherine Blandford]

Yeah.

[Ryan Sickler]

Okay. At the house with everybody in it. Anyway. Hey.

[Katherine Blandford]

I am.

[Co-host or Guest]

We all grieve in different ways. You know what I'm saying? We all agree with different ways.

[Katherine Blandford]

Dude, I would milk that.

[Co-host or Guest]

Listen, my dad died when I was 16, and I'm over here right now, pissed. I didn't milk it. Oh, I should have milked it in school.

[Ryan Sickler]

There was no social media for me to milk back then, though. But God damn, you're right, I could have.

[Katherine Blandford]

I go. I mean, now, like, I still get pitched. I get pitched for, like, you know, like the America's Got Talent. I'm talking about this now. You pitch for the. You know, like, there's Star Search is coming back, right? Is it? Yeah, it's coming back on Netflix, Dune. I, like, I've grieved it so long. My mom's been gone for 11 years. You know, it's. It's the fact of life. I don't I don't think of it. When those producers interview for those shows, I'm like. I see my mom looking at me through the lights, you know, like, this is what she always wanted for me. Right before I. She passed, she was just like, one day, I want the whole country to.

[Co-host or Guest]

See the country, not the world, just our country.

[Katherine Blandford]

She wants America to see what I got.

[Co-host or Guest]

She's dancing up there with a scarf right now.

[Ryan Sickler]

Genuinely wish I had, because it would kill on this.

[Katherine Blandford]

It would have been so cute. I would have tied it around my little neck. But I got pores right there.

[Co-host or Guest]

You'll die.

[Katherine Blandford]

It's really fogged up. But I think social media, like, doesn't help, because somebody passes and you put it on social media, and everybody's like, I'm so sorry. Do you need. I would get DMS from people or Instagram or Facebook messages from people, you know, telling me there's stories about my mom. And I remember, like, rolling my eyes and being like, I can't answer all these people. I thought it was fan mail. Mail. When.

[Co-host or Guest]

When does it dawn on you that you haven't grieved at all? When's that hit you? Caverns?

[Katherine Blandford]

It's bad. I know.

[Co-host or Guest]

You like, holy.

[Katherine Blandford]

I. Okay, this was. This at my mom. So we're in Louisville, so we always did derby parties and everything. It was. I was at work in Atlanta, and it was Derby day for Saturday in the May. In May. And I just. My mom would always call me, and she would go. She. The. The horses is go, baby, go. That's like a saying they say about when horses run. Go, baby, go is just, like, a saying in Kentucky. And I would. When I was running cross country, my mom would always be on the sidelines, and my nickname was Sissy. And my family, so she'd always be like, go, Sissy, go. And. And that. That was. I woke up when I was working, and it was derby, and I was, like. Just missed my mom saying that. So it had been, like, three or four months since she'd passed, and that was. And I remember, like, bawling, crying, and I was. Oh, my God. And I was working in a small venue, dude. In Austell, Georgia, right. Right outside Atlanta. Oh, God. Okay. It was a mega church. Had bought and built this entertainment complex next to the church. The church was called Word of Faith, and it was. It was a black church. Okay. And I was one of two white employees.

[Co-host or Guest]

One of two white employees. Who's the other person?

[Katherine Blandford]

My boss, the general manager of the thing. Dude, the guys, the like people from the church would come up to us and be like, you and your dad? I'm like, we're not related. We're just.

[Co-host or Guest]

Yes, listen. Finally, finally black people see two white people, assume they're related. Like we don't even know each other.

[Katherine Blandford]

You and your husband? I'm like, no, it's just, it's just. We're just white. That's it. We're just white.

[Co-host or Guest]

I got to tell you, you survive me.

[Ryan Sickler]

Our. Our friend. My friend Sam, who actually works on the way back, told me a story about his brother one time. It's this accidental racism where he's in. He's on a bus in Jersey. He's sitting, you know, close to the window and in the space next to him is open.

[Katherine Blandford]

Yeah.

[Ryan Sickler]

And this black lady gets on the bus and a black guy gets on right behind her. He goes, do you guys want me to move so you can sit together? That black guy goes, I don't know her.

[Co-host or Guest]

Next to the lady the rest of the ride.

[Katherine Blandford]

Yeah.

[Co-host or Guest]

Dude, I love that. Two white people's the best.

[Katherine Blandford]

Oh, it would be so many. Oh man.

[Ryan Sickler]

Oh man.

[Katherine Blandford]

Let me.

[Ryan Sickler]

They don't believe you either.

[Co-host or Guest]

You know, they all go back.

[Ryan Sickler]

Like, that's definitely her uncle or something.

[Katherine Blandford]

I go, yeah, that's my uncle. I don't care. I. Oh man. It was one of my favorite jobs, cuz. Like they were just like. You could tell they felt bad for me.

[Co-host or Guest]

They did.

[Ryan Sickler]

What are you doing? What's your job?

[Katherine Blandford]

Holy. I was event coordinator, right. So we had like a small theater. We'd. We had ballrooms and there's like a couple little different entertainment things and your.

[Ryan Sickler]

Coordinate like what's going on in each room and when and all that. Oh man.

[Katherine Blandford]

Yeah, a lot of plays. A lot of like Ukrainian weddings in the ballroom. Which I say that because we're like, we can fit 120 people in here and they're like, okay, we're gonna put 312 and we're just gonna cram them in there. And the weird, it was the weirdest things. It was like a one man, like a one man show or something like that. And like. But it was always like religious based a lot of times. And I 22 and my mom just died and I just want to get shit face drunk with my friends in Buckhead, Atlanta. And I'm like having to deal and it's a lot of like youth nights and prayers with the kids and sometimes they want to lay hands on me and pray.

[Co-host or Guest]

You've been saved a few Times.

[Katherine Blandford]

I have been saved.

[Co-host or Guest]

That's nice.

[Katherine Blandford]

I mean, like, like, Dionne Warwick came by one time and Jennifer Hudson came by one time and all. And I don't give a fat. I'm like, there, but I'm there, like on the weekends, in the holidays or whatever else. But I just remember I would, like, it'd be like youth night, and it'd be all these little children running around and praying to Jesus, and I'd be like this. That'd be just running into the ballroom bathroom crying because I miss my mommy.

[Co-host or Guest]

That's when it's hitting you.

[Katherine Blandford]

It was a weird time. Yeah, it was. It was really weird and sucked because I was. I was working like, like office hours and then every weekend and every night too, for. For like, like stuff that's not cool. Like, lame shit, you know? But, yeah, it was weird. I. So I think I just. Just had like a, like a pivotal kind of like eye awakening moment where I was just like, all this. I don't want to do any of this. You can die at any moment. So I got the call from my boss that was like, okay, you. You know, you're doing the hell gig in Atlanta. Do you want to now go move to Dallas and work for the AT T stadium? We need you down there for.

[Co-host or Guest]

Move.

[Ryan Sickler]

You're gonna move and work for the cowboy. Well, all the events in the stadium then, huh? Okay. It was like anything that comes through.

[Katherine Blandford]

It was Jay Z and Beyonce's first on the Run tour. And he was like, we need you down there in four to eight hours. And I said, no, I quit. And I. Oh, I just. I just did my first open mic at comedy and I was like, fuck this, I'm gonna do comedy. So I became a nanny.

[Ryan Sickler]

So you became a nanny.

[Co-host or Guest]

That's the shift.

[Katherine Blandford]

Yeah.

[Ryan Sickler]

Okay. But still in Kentucky.

[Katherine Blandford]

No. So I'm in Atlanta.

[Ryan Sickler]

I mean, I'm sorry. Still in Georgia then. Okay.

[Katherine Blandford]

Yeah, yeah. And I remember this is like. So when I started, I need from one family for over eight years. When I started, they had one baby, nine months old. And I was. Now I'm like, peak grieving, crying all the time. And I would just walk around the neighborhood, pushing the stroller, bawling.

[Co-host or Guest]

There's people that looking out like, this.

[Ryan Sickler]

Poor lady has postpartum.

[Co-host or Guest]

They definitely think you're regretting every decision. You just.

[Katherine Blandford]

Well, the kid's going, kiki, Kiki. There's the playground. We can't stop. I'm still crying. Yeah. Bawling, crying, swinging. Yeah. And listening to. I. I hadn't figured out exactly what I wanted to do in life. So I was watching, listening to, you know, Tim Ferriss. I was listening to his podcast while I was bawling, crying, grieving, listening to different people's careers and trying to figure out what I wanted to do and what my four hour work week would be. And then Jess Glenn. Do you know that she's a singer?

[Ryan Sickler]

I don't know. Jessica Lynn.

[Katherine Blandford]

Just, just Glenn.

[Ryan Sickler]

Oh, Jess Glenn. No.

[Katherine Blandford]

And then here's my, here's my peak grieving media, peak grieving piece of culture. You know the movie Wild Reese Witherspoon?

[Ryan Sickler]

Yes.

[Katherine Blandford]

When she does the hike, the pct. I listened to that on audio tape four times in a row while I took the child on a walk, crying in the neighborhood.

[Co-host or Guest]

How long?

[Katherine Blandford]

Oh, sometimes the mom would come, are you okay?

[Co-host or Guest]

Where are you? With my kid.

[Katherine Blandford]

She'd go, I'm home now. You can bring her home. You can go. And I'd be like, we're gonna keep walking for a while. Just because I was so like crying in red. I couldn't. She. I'd look like a crazy person if I went back to the home. She'd be like, what are you doing with my child?

[Ryan Sickler]

And when you say nanny, are you living? Like, what's the situation?

[Katherine Blandford]

No, I go there every day.

[Ryan Sickler]

So like a 9 to 5 or whatever. their house?

[Katherine Blandford]

Yeah. And I, I struggle how to talk about it now because I don't. I hated that job. And it wasn't the family, it wasn't the kids. Like, they were great kids and I love them. The parents are great, great parents. I just, you know, it was like, it was. So you went to the same house every day. Do you. Have you ever had a job where you hope your friends don't see you at it? Yeah. Do you know what I'm talking about? Like, sometimes, like, because I'm in Atlanta, I went to South Carolina. I have a bunch of friends that went to Georgia and unc and they're all like, in getting into finance, you know, and the girls are getting into marketing and their parents have all this money and you know, like all the rich kids from all these little cities. And I'm like nannying. And we would go out in Buckhead and I'd be with the mom and I'd be holding another woman's child. And we'd look over and I'd see, you know, Chad, literally his name, that was the president Sae at college, you know, and he's with a bunch of guys and callers Shirts. And I'm like. And I would run and duck and hide, and the mom would be calling me, like, where are you? And I'd be like, we've had a blowout in the bathroom. I'll be back in a second. Because I did not want them to see me as a nanny. And I remember when I, like, came to, like, the big. The most embarrassing part was I'm, like, 29, about to be 30 years old. The pandemic was about to hit, and I was at my friend's baby shower. She's probably her second kid. She's not even working now. She drives a Mercedes, you know? You know what I mean? They're all set, right? These are dumb girls. These are dumb, dumb girls. I'm smart, okay? And I remember sitting at the table at her baby shower, and they're all. She's, like, so stressed, and she's like, I. I think I'm gonna need a nanny soon. And I'm like, I'll kill myself. I'm like, this doesn't remember one time this said that her favorite country is Paris. And I'm like, I'm about to be this bitch's nanny. You know?

[Co-host or Guest]

Dumb.

[Katherine Blandford]

Yeah. Yeah. And I'm like, almost would be 30 years old, and I was still a nanny. And it was.

[Ryan Sickler]

Why'd you take that job?

[Katherine Blandford]

I. Because I could. Around. I. It was.

[Ryan Sickler]

It's also interesting to me, though. I'm just over here diving into my brain and, you know, you lose your mom, then all of a sudden, you become motherly to someone.

[Katherine Blandford]

Yeah.

[Ryan Sickler]

And you hate it. In your defense, I don't know that you'd have liked any fucking job you were doing right after your mother died. It just happened to be that one. So I get it that it's not the family or the kids or whatever. It's like one of the worst times of your life.

[Katherine Blandford]

Yeah.

[Ryan Sickler]

I think it was definitely interesting that you take on a motherly role after you lose yours, at least for a little while. I know as you're grieving.

[Katherine Blandford]

Yeah. And I think you're right.

[Ryan Sickler]

I think I'm just listening.

[Katherine Blandford]

No, it's. It's.

[Ryan Sickler]

It's weird because that's such a shift from everything you've been doing. Event coordinator and all that. Now all of a sudden, you're taking care of a baby or a toddler.

[Katherine Blandford]

I think I was. And I'm. Okay. I feel bad saying how much I hated the job. It was because it wasn't the family. It was just so I. I saw how mundane and slow Your life is with kids and how much like, you know, time you have to commit to a child to, to raise a genuinely good human being. It's not like back in the day, I feel like when my parents were like, well, our, our parents had children and then they were like, just watch us and survive, you know, like now it's like you really have to like be very involved in this child's life for them to grow. And. And I was hated that my life had turned into like some like having to. Having my, my job was not about me, it was about other kids. Right. And I think I just probably hated that. It was very self centered. But like, I don't, I don't know if it was like my mom pushed me that way if, if you are somebody that believes like that. But I'm so glad I saw what it takes to, to like what commitment it takes for. To raise a kid early on. Because now I'm not. I don't want kids.

[Ryan Sickler]

You don't.

[Katherine Blandford]

I was thrown into the trenches.

[Ryan Sickler]

And now you were. In the beginning, I guess is enough.

[Katherine Blandford]

For me right now. Yeah. And I'm so happy.

[Ryan Sickler]

Might also be another reason why it happened then too.

[Katherine Blandford]

Yeah.

[Ryan Sickler]

To show you what you don't like.

[Katherine Blandford]

Yeah. But I'm so grateful because I did still get the chance to like, know what it felt like to watch a kid grow up and raise a kid.

[Ryan Sickler]

I'm sorry, I think if you said when you started they only had one. Did they have more as you work with them?

[Katherine Blandford]

Yeah, when I left their.

[Ryan Sickler]

So you're getting newborns and stuff too?

[Katherine Blandford]

Like, yeah. So it's like I got, I feel like I got the best of both worlds. I got to watch these kids grow up. I got to raise them since they were infants. I was there the two youngest. I was there the day they came home from the hospital.

[Ryan Sickler]

Up until when. How old when you finally stopped?

[Katherine Blandford]

The third one was four.

[Ryan Sickler]

Okay.

[Katherine Blandford]

And. And I love them. They're the coolest kids. The family's the shit. They're awesome. And I'm so glad I got to like, like experience it without having to be tied to it for life. And now I get to go like, live my life and it's about me and I don't have to. I don't have like a kid I have to come back to and feel guilty about. I'm so. I was so depressed in my 20s, like so depressed. Which is why I think now I feel like I'm very lucky and blessed of where my life is going and sometimes I'm like, I shouldn't. This shouldn't be going this great. It shouldn't be going this great for anybody. And then I look back and I go, but I actually went through hell in my 20s, so I deserve it.

[Co-host or Guest]

What?

[Ryan Sickler]

Other than your mom, what else was going on in your 20s that was, you know, you up?

[Katherine Blandford]

I think I just was, you know, this is kind of up to say, but, like, I. I left, like, and abandoned everything that my life was centered around. After my mom died, I was like. I went to South Carolina. I was in a sorority. I was always very much the black sheep, but I was surrounded by these very. Well.

[Ryan Sickler]

Or. Or the white sheep at that church.

[Katherine Blandford]

Or the white sheep.

[Co-host or Guest]

You were one of the white sheep at that church. Church.

[Katherine Blandford]

A few times I had to go to church and praise.

[Co-host or Guest]

Oh, you had to go into.

[Katherine Blandford]

Yeah, dude. Well, sometimes we had, like, church dinners. It would be this round table, and it'd be like, the maiden pastor and. And his wife. And then, you know, I'm the only white person at the table. And I would. I love to pipe in. I would chime in left and right, and you saw these people look at me like, white girl, shut the up. Oh, my God. Yes. I loved that job. That was great, man.

[Co-host or Guest]

I wish I could have been a.

[Ryan Sickler]

Fly on the wall.

[Katherine Blandford]

So fun, dude. Oh, my God. Going back, dude. When I was in Orlando and I was a manager for the ushers and the ticket takes and the security guards, and I would have to, like, man, this is the best. The big security guards, the top dogs. You'd put them backstage, and they'd be on, like, the muscular motherfucker guys.

[Ryan Sickler]

Gu. Look like two human beings.

[Katherine Blandford]

Like the Samoan dudes, dude. I was. I was there. But I would, like, schedule. I would staff them, right? So, like, you know, I. They were always, like, really nice to me because they, you know, they wanted to work, and so we'd flirt a little bit. It was fun time.

[Ryan Sickler]

But they all liked you, huh?

[Katherine Blandford]

Yeah, they all liked me. I was. But, yeah, that was. The thing is, like, I suddenly. They had all these friends, and they're all very, like, you know, cliche, very buttoned up. This is the path in life. You know, we get the job, get the marriage, we have the house, we buy the kids, and. And they're very, like, I. I don't know, you know, these kind of people. Yeah. And I suddenly, like, my mom died.

[Ryan Sickler]

In my company car. Yeah. They got it all set up. Yeah.

[Katherine Blandford]

And I suddenly. And they were my core group of friends. And that was when I started comedy. And I was like, I like these freaks instead. I like going into some crusty ass basement with some nasty dudes and like, I didn't know comedy before I started. I didn't grow up on comedy. I didn't. People were like, my favorite comedian's Pete Holmes. And I was like, I love he. And I would have to. And every night I would go home and Google new people. I didn't know. I didn't watch Carlin. I didn't watch Prior.

[Ryan Sickler]

You go back and watch the Greats?

[Katherine Blandford]

Yeah, I mean, I was obsessed with like, like Dane Cook and Aziz Ansari. That's all I knew. And Kevin Hart.

[Ryan Sickler]

Let me ask you, did your mom have a favorite comedian?

[Katherine Blandford]

No, she was obsessed with I Love Lucy.

[Ryan Sickler]

Okay. I wanted to see because you said she was smart and witty and I was wondering what, like, she liked. So I love these. That's a great one, though.

[Katherine Blandford]

Yeah. And she looked like her great one, acted like her.

[Ryan Sickler]

Did you watch that with her ever? Those still hold up. Those still hold up.

[Katherine Blandford]

Well, then you. You started to, like, watch the. What do you call it? The one with. They made it the. The Desi's. The show about if you go back and like, like, learn the Making of.

[Ryan Sickler]

I never watched anything beyond.

[Katherine Blandford]

So cool. She's just. She was a powerhouse through and through. It's. Yeah, I. I want to get tattoo of her on my leg by the brush.

[Ryan Sickler]

Yeah, the round brush.

[Katherine Blandford]

Yeah. Yeah.

[Ryan Sickler]

Okay. So we're going through all this in our twenties. When do you start to feel better? Like, when do you start to come out of it? Is comedy something that actually ends up helping you?

[Katherine Blandford]

Yeah, I. So I kind of. At some point, I just, like, I abandoned like, all my. All my friends, everybody I'd ever grown up with, like, move into an apartment by myself. And like, I stopped talking to everybody. I mean, I was probably in. I was a bridesmaid 14 times. What? And I bet you 12 of those girls I haven't talked to in five years, six years. It was like. It truly was. Like, I was like, I'm done with that life. And I just, like, switched over into this freak life where I like, you know, kind of had a job that everybody else had when they were 12 as a babysitter and was going into gross basements and making no money and doing this thing. And everyone's like, okay, she's weird. We gotta go. I dated this gross comic who, you know, he took my car to work every day and I took a bike and I was Paying rent.

[Co-host or Guest]

You took a bike?

[Katherine Blandford]

I took a dude. He would do stuff like this. Oh, my God. He'd be like, do I know him?

[Ryan Sickler]

Tell me later.

[Katherine Blandford]

I will. I will. Dog. I was so. I was so dumb as broken. Broken. He would. Come on. Wouldn't pay rent. And they'd be like, do you think you could help out with utilities? And he's like, man, you wanted me here, I could stay at my mom's house, but you wanted me here. So, like, I don't think that's fair for me to pay utilities because, like, you know, I'm just here because you want me here. And I'm like, yeah, no, you. Yeah, you're right. You're right, you're right, you're right, you're right. He would. He'd come home and with, like, a new pair of pants or Nike these. And he's like, will you try these on? And I'm like, yeah. He's like, I'm gonna give them to Rachel for her birthday. I just want to see if they'll fit her. And I'm like, that's his friend. That's his friend that he goes on dates with. And I go, that's kind of weird because we're all. We're dating. And he's like. He's like, just friend date. Catherine. You. You come from a different world. You don't understand it. You wouldn't appreciate it. So he cheated on me.

[Co-host or Guest]

In your car?

[Katherine Blandford]

Yeah, well, I found her underwear in my car from. Well, they were on a day. They were on a friend date.

[Ryan Sickler]

Oh, okay. Just friendly underwear.

[Katherine Blandford]

Yeah, well, they were having friend sex, I'm sure.

[Ryan Sickler]

Yeah, that's. Yeah.

[Katherine Blandford]

You know. Yeah.

[Ryan Sickler]

What friends do.

[Katherine Blandford]

Sure. I remember. So I was just broken dating all these guys and then finally found this.

[Ryan Sickler]

Dude who had some utility money.

[Co-host or Guest]

At least he.

[Katherine Blandford]

He had. Yeah, he had a home. And he sheltered me for a while. All right. Right.

[Ryan Sickler]

And then was one of the nice guys at least coming to.

[Katherine Blandford]

He was good. He was nice. Now he wasn't in comedy. He didn't really understand my comedy, but he. He provided shelter and, like, a stable life for a while. So we're. We're fast forwarding. This is after Pandemic now, and. And I was still in Nanning for a while, and then, like, things kind of took off, blew up, and so I was like, I'm gonna go to LA half time. I'll come back to Atlanta and live with you half the time. And then I was just kind of like, I get it. I felt bad Because I wanted to move on, but I didn't know how. I was so scared, so I. I didn't cheat on him, but I certainly was sending flirty text messages to somebody else. This is a few years ago.

[Ryan Sickler]

I can't do it anymore. Rita.

[Katherine Blandford]

Rita. I can't do it anymore. More. Okay.

[Ryan Sickler]

We're sexting somebody.

[Katherine Blandford]

Yeah. Just a few. Yeah, a few. Forty text messages now.

[Ryan Sickler]

Are we doing that just for more attention, or is this. Are we planning on seeing this person after?

[Katherine Blandford]

I think I didn't like this guy anymore. I just didn't know how to break up with him. Ending is hard for somebody. After you lose somebody, you know, it's. It you up. And. And I didn't really. Like. I didn't. I have a brother I talked to. I don't talk to my dad anymore.

[Ryan Sickler]

You don't?

[Katherine Blandford]

He's just kind of a shitty guy. So it's kind of hard because you're like, I don't have family, you know? So it's like, well, if, you know, if you live with somebody and you date them and you don't have a close family, it's like, that's my family. Yeah. Yeah.

[Ryan Sickler]

And then when you break up, it's all the feelings of mom dying and loss and pain and suffering, and it all comes back.

[Katherine Blandford]

Yeah. So I was probably, like, trying to get caught, you know, or just doing so many things at some point that it's. I'm creating a point of no return without just being a brave person and ending it. So I. I was at Moon Tower, and I had come home a day later than I should have to Atlanta, and I was pitching a TV show at the time, so we had a. A zoom meeting to pitch this to NBC execs. I'm. I'm still hungover slash drunk from Moon Tower. I don't. It's a. It's a party, right. In Austin. I come home and I put him in makeup on to get ready for the pitch meeting. And I'm looking. I'm going to find my phone for the script. Our pitch script. Right. I can't find it. And I go into his office. He has the door locked. So I go around to the other side. There's another way to get in to the guest bathroom door. I go in there, and he's going through my phone, and I'm like, oh, he.

[Ryan Sickler]

He's like, is he locked in there?

[Katherine Blandford]

Oh, no, he knows the password. He's in.

[Ryan Sickler]

No, I mean, is he locked himself in there? Oh, so you see him doing.

[Katherine Blandford]

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

[Ryan Sickler]

So I can't get in there.

[Katherine Blandford]

I wife. I snuck in. I snuck. I could get into the other way. And he's like, who is this? And I'm like, I. I got a meeting. I. I was like, I promise I will. I will let you look at my phone after the meeting. I'm on the zoom, right? And I can see. And my heart's like. And I remember, like, I'm in the meeting. He's standing over me.

[Ryan Sickler]

I'm sure you're not deleting Y.

[Katherine Blandford]

Yes. Yes, dude. Oh, my God. At one point, I remember, like, they're asking me a question, and I go to grab my phone, and he puts his hand on my hand. He's like, you're not touching your phone. And they're like, asking, you know, I'm. I gotta be present in this meeting. So I'm, like, talking to him while out of screen. We're, like, physically fighting for the phone. I'm like, yeah, so it's just. Essentially, it's a game show between two bachelorette groups, you know, but it's more about the bridesmaids instead of the. The bride. And we're, like, fighting over here off screen. And then eventually, the. The meeting is over. NBC didn't pick it up.

[Co-host or Guest]

You know, they didn't pick that up. Like, your fucking man picked your phone up.

[Katherine Blandford]

I. At the end of the meeting, I should be like, actually, I got another pitch for you.

[Ryan Sickler]

Did you let him go through it?

[Katherine Blandford]

What is cheating?

[Ryan Sickler]

Or you say, I'm not letting you go through it, but here's what's up.

[Katherine Blandford]

Well, here's how it went. He was like, give me your phone. And I was like, dude, you just, like, royally with me in my job, you can't do that. And he was like, give me your phone. And I. You know, I was like, you. No, he grabbed my phone. He. I chased after him. He goes into his car, locks the door, and I'm like, screaming, you know, I'm like, giving my phone back. I'm a redneck at the end of the day, you know, and if you flip the switch, the switch is flipped.

[Co-host or Guest]

All right?

[Katherine Blandford]

And we're going for it.

[Co-host or Guest]

Okay?

[Katherine Blandford]

We. We were the kids. Like. Like, both my parents worked, but, you know, you had siblings, so no one was home, so there was no talking it out. When there was a feud, it was fights. Like, my brothers and I were fist fighting on the lawn in our 20s. Yeah. Like. Like, we didn't have parents to teach. When we fought, if there was a problem, we're fighting about it. You know what I mean? This is just still in my bones. So he's in the car. He's the door locked. I'm screaming, giving my phone back. So he starts driving down the street. So I.

[Ryan Sickler]

So where are we jumping? The hood or a roof? What do we get?

[Katherine Blandford]

Well, it was a Tahoe, so it has the little brackets.

[Ryan Sickler]

You got the luggage racks.

[Katherine Blandford]

Yeah. And the foot. You got the foot. So it's actually built for it.

[Co-host or Guest]

You mean just to stand and hold on nicely. Okay.

[Katherine Blandford]

So one hand on the thing. I'm, you know, by the way, zoom. I'm zoom. Ready? From here up. Makeup. Zoom top, sweatpants, house slippers. You know what I'm saying? Fucking side of the side of the top.

[Co-host or Guest]

At least what he sees is right here. Looks great. He looks great, right?

[Katherine Blandford]

Yeah. We're ready. Action. Yeah. Driving down his residence.

[Co-host or Guest]

It's not fancy. My God.

[Katherine Blandford]

What? 30s? That's. He is like. And he fall off.

[Co-host or Guest]

He could definitely die.

[Katherine Blandford]

He's. He's like.

[Co-host or Guest]

He's trying to throw you.

[Katherine Blandford]

He's trying to throw me off. And I by. I'm like, crack. I, I. But I have a. I have something in me. What do I say? I'm like, you. You. Have you ever been at a point in your life when you're like. I can't feel real joy without it coming from anger first. You know what I'm saying? It's like a. Like, okay. You know when you're like. If I'm in traffic and somebody cuts me off and. And then I. And I retaliate, I go and I cut them off and now. And suddenly they're pissed off. And I.

[Ryan Sickler]

You're like.

[Katherine Blandford]

Do you know what that is?

[Ryan Sickler]

It's like a hug for you.

[Co-host or Guest]

Yeah.

[Katherine Blandford]

And you're. And it doesn't matter how much they flick you off and then they try and cut you off again. The feeling of angering somebody that has wronged you is a. It's a euphoria you can't recreate.

[Ryan Sickler]

No.

[Katherine Blandford]

And I felt like this again. Like, he taking my phone. He was pissed off. And I was like. But now I get to hang onto a side of a car and really go.

[Ryan Sickler]

Are you, like, punching his window? Like, what are you doing?

[Katherine Blandford]

I have a picture of the bruise on the side of my hand.

[Ryan Sickler]

Are there, like, the neighborhood seeing this?

[Katherine Blandford]

So we get. We get pulled over by the cops.

[Co-host or Guest]

How long are you driving before the whale? How far?

[Ryan Sickler]

A couple miles.

[Katherine Blandford]

Yeah. Car. Yeah, it was about 2 miles.

[Ryan Sickler]

And are you only getting pulled over because you're on the side of the car. Or has someone been like, hey, yeah.

[Katherine Blandford]

Somebody, a neighbor, a neighborhood. And well, okay, so two miles in, he finally pulls over and he's rolling down his window and he's like, what are all the. He sees the number of deleted text messages I have and he's like, what are these? You know, and. But. Oh, this is the most embarrassing thing. It was the text message he saw was so bad.

[Ryan Sickler]

Had.

[Katherine Blandford]

I'm not like, I'm not a good. I don't know how to like dirty talk. So I had said, like, I wish I could have laid one on you. Like, AM I in 1920s news laid one on you? You see? Extra, extra, read all about it. That, that's really sad. That's really embarrassing. That's the worst part.

[Co-host or Guest]

I mean, it is pretty bad to lose everything for a. I just wish I could have laid one on you.

[Katherine Blandford]

Like, if I had caught somebody cheating and read, man, babe, I wish I could have laid one on you. I'd been like, I'm glad you're gone.

[Ryan Sickler]

I like, you know what? Here, get the.

[Katherine Blandford]

Yeah, yeah. Are you texting an 82 year old man?

[Co-host or Guest]

Sure is.

[Katherine Blandford]

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Dude. You know, the crazy thing is we got.

[Ryan Sickler]

So you get pulled over.

[Katherine Blandford]

Yeah. And I just remember going to jail. They were like, you could tell in the beginning when we got pulled over, I was kind of looking at my ex like, okay, we're.

[Ryan Sickler]

We need to be honest right now. Yeah, let's not, we'll get to this later.

[Katherine Blandford]

Let's not like go to jail because of this. So I'm like, kind of giving him the look, like, right, like, let's partner up. And as soon as the cop starts questioning us, he goes like, well, she's trying to beat in my window. And I'm like, like, okay, is this how it's gonna go? Game on. And he thinks he's winning, right? And then you see as they're questioning us, they're. They're like asking him like, well, you know, did you know, he. He's realizing it's a, It's a DV situation.

[Ryan Sickler]

Well, no doubt he stole property and then drove with you on his vehicle willingly. So I, I don't know. What is that charge? Is that an attempted man's like, what is that?

[Katherine Blandford]

I don't know. Because, like, you know, no doubt about it.

[Ryan Sickler]

It's domestic violence. It's man, woman, period.

[Katherine Blandford]

Yes.

[Co-host or Guest]

Period.

[Ryan Sickler]

Yeah, it doesn't even matter if you are in the house or live together or not. It doesn't matter.

[Katherine Blandford]

I think so.

[Ryan Sickler]

So now he sees.

[Katherine Blandford]

I'm shocked. I'm shook. If I'm like, there's. I can't believe I'm winning. And I remember. And I remember him. Him, like, being like. He was like. He was trying to throw me under the bus from the get go. So then the cops take me to my side, right? Oh, I remember too. Before they took me to my side. There's three SUVs, too. Smyrna Police force, Cobb county, right outside Atlanta, Georgia. And dude, this one guy, this one guy, as he's telling him that he's going through my phone, this guy starts going like, hey, man, if she's stepping out on you, you throw all of her on the curb and get rid of her.

[Ryan Sickler]

Yeah, his wife did him dirty.

[Katherine Blandford]

I'm like, what are you, Judge Judy? This isn't part of your job, mofo. You know? I know for sure he did. And I think I tripped back for a second. And he was like. I was like. It was like, it. Dude, it was so infuriating. But I remember they took me to the side and he was just like, you know. Did he. Did he put his hands on you? Everything. And for a brief minute, were you.

[Ryan Sickler]

Like, I couldn't get through the window.

[Co-host or Guest]

You rattling on your.

[Ryan Sickler]

Look at my neck.

[Katherine Blandford]

I was like, look at my hands. Yeah, look, he took my hand and beat it on the window.

[Ryan Sickler]

He held my arm.

[Katherine Blandford]

Yeah, I could. It was just a very human moment in my brain. And I was like, I could take this down. Right? But I didn't. And I was like, no, there's nothing. We just. He took my phone, I got mad, I hopped in the car. Cop was like, don't do that. And I was like, I didn't know. And it wasn't in the driver's test. Yeah.

[Co-host or Guest]

There's no question. Not one.

[Katherine Blandford]

Yeah. So then they got one question about.

[Co-host or Guest]

What do you do if there's a human on your feet?

[Katherine Blandford]

Why is there a handle at the top? And why is there a foot rest?

[Ryan Sickler]

Not one. You're right.

[Katherine Blandford]

You know, it looks like it's made for it. It's a Tahoe, you know, it's made for carrying big loads. So I. Is he. Eventually, they sent me back with my phone and my slippers and I had to walk home.

[Ryan Sickler]

How far is that?

[Katherine Blandford]

Two months. Two months.

[Ryan Sickler]

That was the. That was.

[Katherine Blandford]

Yeah, yeah. Big old bruise in my hand. So that's kind of when we amicably decided to break up.

[Co-host or Guest]

That's a good time to call it.

[Ryan Sickler]

Yeah.

[Katherine Blandford]

The crazy thing is you said amicably.

[Co-host or Guest]

Like it wasn't gonna happen anymore.

[Katherine Blandford]

You.

[Co-host or Guest]

There was nothing amicable leading up to that. You're hanging on a moving vehicle.

[Katherine Blandford]

It is.

[Co-host or Guest]

So then we just decided, you know.

[Katherine Blandford]

Hey, I think that this is. I think we're growing into two different people. I. The crazy thing is how. When I knew it, too, when he started taking off and I knew, I was like, I'm gonna jump on that. I. There was. There was, like, a spark of joy. Like, I was so excited to have an excuse to do that. Like, give me an excuse.

[Ryan Sickler]

When a cop showed up, did you. Did it get nervous? Or are you like, oh, this could go. This could go bad? And you're lucky too, you know that? Because out here in Santa Monica, at least. I don't know about all of Los Angeles and maybe a lot more places these days, a lot of times the lady is scared. So they won't press charges. So now the city will do it automatically. So you're. So if a lady's like, no, no, it's okay. It's okay. She could just be saying that because she knows that this guy could kill her when she gets home or whatever. So they'll lie and say things are fine when they're not. So these days, the city will say, okay, well, if you don't want to press charges, then we'll. We'll do that.

[Katherine Blandford]

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[Ryan Sickler]

So you're kind of either way. And usually one person has to go. So you got.

[Katherine Blandford]

Seriously. I mean, yeah, thank God.

[Ryan Sickler]

I think I had a friend of mine in this situation where he and his daughter's mom, they had two kids. They started fighting. She's cussing at him. She's punching him, beating him up. And he's just taking it. He's taking it. So she calls 911 cops show up, same thing. They put him in one room, her in another. They're talking, and they ask him, did you touch her? He's like, I didn't lay one hand on her. Her. Did you cuss at her? I didn't yell. I didn't do anything because I didn't want you guys to show up. They asked her, did you cuss at him? Yeah. Did you hit him? She's like, yep, I hit him. And they go, okay. And they arrested her. They arrested her because she put hands on him. And they're like, one of you is leaving here tonight. He said he didn't hit you. You said he didn't hit you, and you said you put hands on him. And they boom. And then, and then it was hell because it was all this court money, money, money is the real thing, you know? All because she called and said, yeah, no, I pushed him. I hit him. Yeah.

[Katherine Blandford]

Why did she call?

[Ryan Sickler]

Because she's a hothead, that's why. She's a hothead.

[Katherine Blandford]

Yeah.

[Ryan Sickler]

Well, also, why'd you put hands on somebody.

[Katherine Blandford]

Why would you put hands on somebody and then call. And then call that thing? Yeah, I, I, I think ours was, you know, it was very much small town stuff too. And it was, yeah, it was Smyrna. It wasn't, it wasn't Fulton county, it wasn't Atlanta.

[Ryan Sickler]

It was the same cop that had pulled you over when you had the fire going on. Like, it's not this chick.

[Katherine Blandford]

I think, honestly, the man could wait.

[Co-host or Guest]

Is there burning? You better let her.

[Katherine Blandford]

He goes. This man is hurting a neck in his.

[Ryan Sickler]

Blander. Thank you so much for coming, coming on and doing this episode. You have been a treat to talk to. Damn it, you really have.

[Katherine Blandford]

I thank you so much.

[Ryan Sickler]

Before I let you promote everything again, one more time, what about advice you'd give to 16 year old Catherine Blandford?

[Katherine Blandford]

Bad advice.

[Ryan Sickler]

Any advice?

[Katherine Blandford]

Oh, any advice? I.

[Ryan Sickler]

No one's ever given bad advice. You want to intentionally give some bad advice?

[Katherine Blandford]

Yeah.

[Ryan Sickler]

What would that be?

[Katherine Blandford]

Why fuck it all up? Fuck it all up as early as you possibly can. Fuck it all up. Do not go the straight and narrow path because you have the rest of your life to figure it out. Do the, do the dumb ugly shit early as early as you possibly can. So it's out of your system.

[Ryan Sickler]

I don't know if that's bad advice.

[Katherine Blandford]

I guess you're right.

[Ryan Sickler]

It worked for you. Working.

[Katherine Blandford]

I was black, so drunk, addicted to Adderall all of my teens and college years. Quit my job, blew up my life. Here you are and now look at me. I can afford extensions. I have hair extension money. Now it all up.

[Ryan Sickler]

Plug everything one more time, please.

[Katherine Blandford]

Socials, It's Katherine Blandford. Catherineblanford.com for tour dates, new podcast, Coastal Idiots.

[Ryan Sickler]

Great. Thank you so much. Thank you as always, Ryan Sickler on all your social media. We'll talk to y' all next week.