Georgia Hardstark (born June 8, 1980) is an American television host and podcast personality. She is the co-host of the true crime-comedy podcast ''

My Favorite Murder ''My Favorite Murder'' is a weekly true crime comedy podcast hosted by American comedians Karen Kilgariff and Georgia Hardstark. The first episode was released in January 2016. The podcast debuted at #25 on the iTunes podcast charts and peaked at ...

'' along with comedian

Karen Kilgariff Karen Kilgariff (born May 11, 1970 in Petaluma, California) is an American writer, comedian, singer, author, actress, television producer, and podcast host. She began her career as a stand up comedian in the early 1990s and later became a televis ...

. In 2018, Hardstark and Kilgariff co-founded the

Exactly Right Podcast Network Exactly Right Podcast Network is an American podcast network founded by Georgia Hardstark and Karen Kilgariff in 2018. It produces 16 podcasts including ''My Favorite Murder'' which Hardstark and Kilgariff have co-hosted since 2016. History T ...

. Together, Hardstark and Kilgariff also wrote a joint memoir published in May 2019 called '' Stay Sexy and Don't Get Murdered.'' Hardstark initially achieved notoriety while collaborating with

Alie Ward Alison Ann "Alie" Ward (born November 6, 1976) is an American writer, actress, and television and podcast host. Born in California, Ward graduated from the University of California, Santa Barbara with a degree in cinema. In 2016, she won an Emmy ...

on Cooking Channel programs ''Tripping Out with Alie & Georgia'', ''

Unique Sweets ''Unique Sweets'' is an American television series on Cooking Channel about various eating establishments across the United States and their signature or most popular desserts. The series features interviews with guest pastry chefs and food criti ...

'', and ''Classy Ladies'', as well as the Feral Audio podcast ''Slumber Party with Alie & Georgia''.

Early life

Hardstark was born in

Irvine, California Irvine () is a Planned community, master-planned city in South Orange County, California, United States, in the Los Angeles metropolitan area. The Irvine Company started developing the area in the 1960s and the city was formally incorporated on ...

, to parents Martin and Janet Hardstark. She has two older siblings, Asher and Leah. At age 5, her parents divorced. Growing up, Hardstark lived with her mother, while her father had custody every other weekend and two weeks out of the summer. She is quite open about her past struggles growing up. At age 13, she started regularly doing meth and developed an eating disorder. One day, she was caught doing

meth Methamphetamine (contracted from ) is a potent central nervous system (CNS) stimulant that is mainly used as a recreational drug and less commonly as a second-line treatment for attention deficit hyperactivity disorder and obesity. Methamphe ...

at school and was sent to rehab. She spent two weeks there, including her 14th birthday. After being discharged, she started using again but quit on her own, crediting

Ray Bradbury Ray Douglas Bradbury (; August 22, 1920June 5, 2012) was an American author and screenwriter. One of the most celebrated 20th-century American writers, he worked in a variety of modes, including fantasy, science fiction, horror, mystery, and r ...

's book ''

The Martian Chronicles ''The Martian Chronicles'' is a science fiction fix-up novel, published in 1950, by American writer Ray Bradbury that chronicles the exploration and settlement of Mars, the home of indigenous Martians, by Americans leaving a troubled Earth that ...

'' as what saved her. Hardstark graduated high school in 1998 and promptly moved to

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...

to live with her grandmother. She attended beauty school for three months before dropping out. She then attended community college for a while before discovering blogging and decided to drop out of college and quit her receptionist job to pursue a career in entertainment.

Career

Hardstark and Ward

In 2009, while still working at her receptionist job, Hardstark and her friend,

, created a drink called the McNuggetini. She blogged about it on a website called This Recording, and shortly after, Hardstark and Ward recorded an instructional video on how to make the drink. According to Hardstark, after the video blew-up on YouTube, someone from the Cooking Channel sent the pair a

Facebook Facebook is an online social media and social networking service owned by American company Meta Platforms. Founded in 2004 by Mark Zuckerberg with fellow Harvard College students and roommates Eduardo Saverin, Andrew McCollum, Dustin M ...

message asking if they would record more instructional cocktail videos online. Given that message, Hardstark quit her receptionist job to pursue this new career path. The pair appeared on shows such as ''Drinks with Alie and Georgia'', ''

'', and the web series ''Classy Ladies with Alie Ward and Georgia Hardstark''. They were in the travel series ''Tripping Out with Alie and Georgia'' and ''Food's Greatest Hits''. In October 2016, their book, ''Vintage Cocktails with a Twist: 75 Traditional and Reinvented Drinks'', was released by Page Street Publishing. Hardstark co-hosted a podcast with Ward called
Slumber Party with Alie & Georgia
', through Feral Audio. In 2016, the series began airing on Fullscreen. The last episode was posted on January 18, 2017. The pair have not formally acknowledged the end of the show nor the apparent abrupt end to their partnership.

Hardstark and Kilgariff

In 2016, Hardstark and

co-created the podcast ''

''. Beginning in May 2016, it achieved very high ratings on the iTunes comedy podcast rankings, appearing as high as #1. As of August 8, 2017, it was ranked #3 on the iTunes comedy charts. In its 2016 year-end issue, ''

Entertainment Weekly ''Entertainment Weekly'' (sometimes abbreviated as ''EW'') is an American digital-only entertainment magazine based in New York City, published by Dotdash Meredith, that covers film, television, music, Broadway theatre, books, and popular cul ...

'' ranked it the second best podcast of the year. The show was broadcast on the

Feral Audio Feral Audio was an independent podcast network and production company, founded in 2012 as a podcasting collective by Dustin Marshall after Dustin left Earwolf. Feral launched from Executive Producer's Shadi Petosky's apartment in Franklin Village ...

network until September 2017, when it moved to

Midroll Media Stitcher is a media company that specializes in the creation, distribution, and monetization of podcasts. Stitcher creates original shows through networks such as Earwolf and Witness Docs. Stitcher provides ad sales and distribution services to ...

. In 2018, Hardstark and Kilgariff co-founded the podcast network Exactly Right, which now produces their podcast along with several others. A joint memoir by Hardstark and Kilgariff, titled '' Stay Sexy and Don't Get Murdered,'' was released on May 28, 2019.

Personal life

In March 2016, she married comedian Vince Averill, best known for his podcast ''We Watch Wrestling.'' The couple resides in

California California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...

along with their three cats, Mimi, Dottie, and Moses ("Moe") and their dog, Cookie. They previously had another cat named Elvis who died in December 2020. Hardstark considered having children, but decided against it, as she has said on the ''

'' podcast and when she was a guest on the ''Spermcast''. Hardstark is a public advocate of

therapy A therapy or medical treatment (often abbreviated tx, Tx, or Tx) is the attempted remediation of a health problem, usually following a medical diagnosis. As a rule, each therapy has indications and contraindications. There are many different ...

. She has seen a therapist since she was six due to her parents' divorce. Hardstark has also gone to couples therapy with her husband and co-therapy with

to maintain a healthy work relationship and friendship. She has been diagnosed with

generalized anxiety disorder Generalized anxiety disorder (GAD) is a mental and behavioral disorder, specifically an anxiety disorder characterized by excessive, uncontrollable and often irrational worry about events or activities. Worry often interferes with daily function ...

, depression,

ADHD Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is a neurodevelopmental disorder characterised by excessive amounts of inattention, hyperactivity, and impulsivity that are pervasive, impairing in multiple contexts, and otherwise age-inapp ...

, and OCD.

Filmography

References

External links

*
Alie and Georgia

YouTube YouTube is a global online video platform, online video sharing and social media, social media platform headquartered in San Bruno, California. It was launched on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim. It is owned by ...

AlieAndGeorgia.comQ'ing & A'ing With Alie and Georgia!
—

Huffington Post ''HuffPost'' (formerly ''The Huffington Post'' until 2017 and sometimes abbreviated ''HuffPo'') is an American progressive news website, with localized and international editions. The site offers news, satire, blogs, and original content, and ...

interview {{DEFAULTSORT:Hardstark, Georgia 1980 births Living people 21st-century American comedians 21st-century American women American podcasters American women comedians American women podcasters American women television personalities People associated with true crime People from Irvine, California Television personalities from California