These two Oklahomans have had it — and they're taking their hit podcast on tour
From Instagram profiles for pets to overbearing parents in school PTAs, these two Oklahomans have had it. They've had it with gender reveal parties and the concept “The customer is always right,” and they're letting everyone know about it on their hit podcast "I've Had It."
Interior designer Jennifer Welch and Angie "Pumps" Sullivan, an Oklahoma City divorce lawyer, are taking their show on the road with a national tour making stops in Atlanta, Philadelphia and Washington, D.C.
The show launched in October 2022 and is among the top 50 podcasts in the United States. Each week, Welch and Sullivan air out their grievances with various topics, including toddlers and prenups.
The pair starred on the Bravo reality TV show “Sweet Home Oklahoma” from 2016 until 2019. Although the show ended, their children believed their hilarious banter still deserved to be shared, and suggested they start a podcast.
“We thought, you know, we'll try it. Nobody's gonna care what we say," Welch said. "So, we started it and it was kind of a slow start. Then, around February of this year, it just started exploding.”
Their popularity recently landed them an interview on the "Today" show where they discussed their podcast with hosts Hoda Kotb and Jenna Bush Hager.
“When (Sullivan) dropped me off in the car from New York, I hugged her, and I said, ‘I can't believe we were on the 'Today' show, and she squeezed me back,” Welch said. “We just looked at each other and I was like, ‘Who would have ever thought?’”
How Jennifer Welch and Angie 'Pumps' Sullivan of 'I've Had It' met
The chemistry between Welch and Sullivan creates a comfortable environment making it easy to express their opinions, which seems to gel with their listeners, Sullivan said.
“I went on a trip with some girls, and they were like, ‘How long does it take you to write the script for the episode?’ And it was like, ‘We don't write a script for the episode. It's all just us talking,’” Sullivan said.
The connection between them was sparked almost 30 years ago when Sullivan hired Welch to decorate her house. Welch's snarky comments regarding Sullivan’s decorating ended up leading to their long friendship.
More: From small talk to babies in restaurants, 9 things the hosts of 'I've Had It' are just done with
“(I told Jennifer), ‘I just really liked what you do so just whatever you want to do, I'm fine with. I just have really bad taste,’” Sullivan said. “And she pipes up, ‘Well, I know you have bad taste because you have the two worst things you can have in decorating. You have silk flowers on your table and then a picture of silk flowers on your dining room wall.’”
Sullivan said Welch’s comment caused her to erupt in laughter, and since then, they have been joined at the hip. Their kids also have became inseparable and the pair continues to be there for each other, including during Sullivan’s divorce and Welch’s husband’s struggle with addiction.
“Adulthood comes raining down on you, and it rains down hard and fast," Welch said. "You find people, and relationship partners that fit your dysfunction. We were there for each other during that time. It's that bond from that from the good times and bad times to now.”
Would they do reality TV again?
Fans who missed the pair on their two-season run of “Sweet Home Oklahoma,” can still watch the docuseries that followed the life of Welch, Sullivan and other members of their friend group on streaming services, including Amazon Prime, Apple TV, Youtube, Vudu and Google Play Movies and TV.
Welch said the show was a lot of fun, but they were content when it ended in 2019. Welch added that although she’d never say no to a business opportunity, she and Sullivan are too busy with the podcast to consider a return to reality TV anytime soon.
“The podcast is so fun because we control the content. We create the content. We edit the content,” Welch said. “When you do reality TV, you film for hours and hours. … They cut it up in different orders than you filmed it. It was a positive experience, but it’s a lot of work and you have no control over the outcome.”
A young, queer audience
Their transition from reality TV to podcasting attracted a surprising audience to “I’ve Had It”: young, queer people.
When they launched their podcast, Welch and Sullivan assumed their audience would primarily be middle-age white women, however, their analytics show the majority of their listeners are young members of the 2SLGBTQ+ community from blue cities, Welch said.
More: 'Queer Joy' displayed at OKC PrideFest, bringing awareness, support to community
American cities containing large amounts of their listeners include Chicago, Toronto, New York City and Seattle, Welch said. She said they even chart in other countries like Australia, South Africa, Ireland and the United Kingdom.
Their hysterical commentary has the potential to attract audiences from multiple backgrounds, but their unapologetic commitment to supporting the 2SLGBTQ+ community and people of color especially invites these listeners, they said.
Welch said, when they first started the podcast, podcasting networks suggested they avoid talking about politics on their show, but she said they weren’t capable of that because politics are a big topic in their conversations. They decided to go all in with their left-leaning, more progressive viewpoints to show people who they were, which, Welch said, garnered them more support than hate.
“For us, a lot of these issues are not political, they're moral,” Welch said. “It's a moral issue for us to support marginalized people and lift them up, especially as mothers. I just think it's really inhumane to judge people based on their sexual orientation and gender identity.”
Welch said if a listener didn’t like their political opinions, she’d tell them not to listen to the podcast because she and Sullivan would rather stand with those marginalized communities than attempt to appeal to people who didn’t agree with them.
They’ve recently experienced backlash and even lost support for hosting and drag queens, including Delta Work and Trixie Mattel, on their podcast.
Welch said they lost thousands of Instagram followers after posting their support for drag queens, but a week later, they regained those numbers and added 10,000 more than before.
Welch said she’s confused by the recent controversy surrounding drag queens.
“Why are we talking about drag queens when we have children dying every day in schools?” Sullivan said. “I can't even think about talking about a drag queen as a problem when we've got guns everywhere.”
Welch said she and Sullivan have been too busy defending drag queens and queer people to touch on another issue the pair plans to discuss during their podcast: their disappointment with Oklahoma’s abortion ban and the political climate it has created in the state.
“It is embarrassing. It's not modern. It is this Puritan mindset,” Welch said. “As much as I love Oklahoma, I'm incredibly disappointed in the state's decision with women's health care. It’s indefensible. It's the year 2023, and that is just ... it's so unacceptable.”
What have you 'had it' with today, and what would you 'hit?'
While Welch and Sullivan don’t hesitate to remind their audience of their progressive political stances, most of the show is spent discussing light-hearted topics, especially those they’ve “had it” with.
On the show, the pair do a segment where they introduce topics and debate whether they’ve “had it” with the subject, or if they’ve “hit it,” meaning they favor the topic.
Welch said she’s “had it” with crowded parking lots, specifically when people take too long to pull out of a parking spot when someone is waiting to pull in.
“The parking lot’s full, so you're going and then you see a couple and they're walking to get in the car and you're like, ‘OK, I'm gonna get their spot,’ and you wait, and they put their bags in the car, and then they get in and sit down and they just take about 10 to 15 minutes jacking around on their phone,” Welch said. “I hate that, and there's no self-awareness.”
Sullivan said she’s “had it” with anything related to do with driving, but she tries to keep the honking to a minimum.
“Yesterday, I was trying to turn and (someone) was behind the entryway where I was trying to turn into, so I just gave a little tiny Karen honk,” Sullivan said. “They doubled down and would not move so I had to wait for the light to change so that I could enter the strip. I was furious about it.”
Where is the 'I've Had It' pair going on tour?
The pair said they’d “hit” their upcoming tour where they’ll take their show on the road making stops in Atlanta, Philadelphia, Washington, D.C., New York City, Toronto and Chicago.
When their agent initially suggested they go on tour, they thought it was a crazy idea and that nobody would bother to buy a ticket to see them. However, on the first day of ticket sales, half of the seats in the first venue were sold, then a few days later, their D.C. show was completely sold out.
Sullivan said they're most excited to interact with their listeners.
What’s next for 'I've Had It'?
Fans of “I’ve Had It” can expect to continue listening to Welch and Sullivan hash out their grievances on their podcast, but the pair also plans to launch another series dedicated to documentaries, or a documentary club.
The series, set to launch in mid-August, will feature commentary on documentaries related to homicide and cults — topics Welch said she and Sullivan both love.
“The more screwed up, the more we’re in because it makes us feel normal and healthy,” Welch said.
For more information about the “I’ve Had It” podcast and their multi-city tour, visit their website at https://ivehaditpodcast.com/.
This article originally appeared on Oklahoman: 'I've Had It' podcast hosts talk Oklahoma, new national tour
