For many people, celebrity culture can feel like a superficial spectacle. But what if celebrity culture is actually doing something much more important than most of us realize? Public historian Greg Jenner argues that celebrity culture is where we have many of our moral and ethical debates. Famous people challenge norms, and in some cases they can change the social rules permanently. At the same time, fandom can easily cross over into fanaticism and obsession. So what exactly does it mean to have a healthy relationship with celebrity culture?

Greg hosts the BBC comedy history podcast You’re Dead to Me and is the author of Dead Famous: An Unexpected History of Celebrity. In this Extra Gravy episode, he joins Michael to make the case that celebrity culture stretches back at least three centuries and has helped shape the modern world.

Famous & Gravy is a celebrity biography podcast that asks, “What does a celebrity’s life story show us about ourselves?” If you enjoyed this episode, you may also like Episode 45 Rebel Rebel (David Bowie) and Episode 99 Crikey Inner Child (Steve Irwin).

This episode was produced by Morgan Honaker. Special thanks to Maggie Taylor.

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