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One morning last summer, Griff Stark-Ennis 鈥�14 awoke to find a once-in-a-lifetime congratulatory text flashing across his phone鈥檚 screen. A bleary-eyed scan through his friend鈥檚 excited message revealed that Time magazine had just named Petty Crimes, the year-old podcast that Stark-Ennis cohosts with his friend Ceara O鈥橲ullivan 鈥�14, as one of the best of 2023. 鈥淚t was a nice way to wake up,鈥� Stark-Ennis recalled. But the good news didn鈥檛 stop there. A couple of weeks later, the New York Times named Petty Crimes one of 鈥�6 Podcasts to Help You Take an Actual Break This Summer.鈥�

The podcast is a witty examination of everyday social transgressions and faux pas. It employs dramatic production elements typically found in the popular true-crime podcast category, but gives the whole thing a lighthearted twist. O鈥橲ullivan, a comedian whose short comedy videos had already gained hundreds of thousands of fans on TikTok, came up with the idea for a podcast that investigated 鈥渃rimes鈥濃�攚hich would be its listeners鈥� gripes about inconsequential slights from their lives and relationships. The tone would be snarky and fun, like her favorite reality shows, and each episode would end with the hosts weighing the information provided and ultimately deciding which party was 鈥済uilty鈥� of the 鈥渃rime鈥� in question. O鈥橲ullivan and Stark-Ennis, friends from their days at Boston College, fleshed out the idea during long walks in Los Angeles, where they both live. The podcast launched in March 2022 with O鈥橲ullivan and Stark-Ennis as cohosts.聽

In the year and a half since, O鈥橲ullivan and Stark-Ennis have dissected dozens of trivial dramas submitted by their listeners, and determined who was at fault in each of them. One episode, for instance, centered on a listener who was shamed by fellow airplane passengers for not giving up her seat so a young family could sit together. The hosts reviewed the situation from the point of view of all the involved parties, as they do in every episode, and decided that everyone was guilty, including the airline for not having assigned seats. 鈥淚 dabble in true crime, but I like the light true crime that doesn鈥檛 keep you up at night,鈥� O鈥橲ullivan said.

Crimes covered by the podcast have included a post-breakup custody battle over houseplants, a dog that was being allowed to go to the bathroom on a shared rooftop deck in O鈥橲ullivan鈥檚 building, and the inequitable sleeping arrangements at a bachelorette party. (Why would a bridesmaid who had agreed to sleep on the top bunk sneak away from the festivities early and fall asleep in a better bed?)

For those new to Petty Crimes, O鈥橲ullivan recommends an episode called 鈥淏lueberry Hoarders.鈥� It was inspired by a listener who wrote in after she鈥檇 been asked by the owner of a blueberry bush to stop taking berries from the plant. Surely, the listener argued, inflated berry prices at the grocery store made her behavior acceptable. Stark-Ennis and O鈥橲ullivan disagreed, taking the neighbor鈥檚 side instead.聽

Listener submissions account for most of the crimes discussed, but the hosts have learned that podcast ideas can come from anywhere. For example, when someone once asked Stark-Ennis for his opinion about a dispute over a parking spot at the gym where he worked, he brought the matter onto the podcast and had O鈥橲ullivan make the final ruling. (She determined that the guilty party was the person who鈥檇 asked for Stark-Ennis鈥檚 opinion in the first place.) 鈥淭he perfect petty crime is something that couldn鈥檛 matter less,鈥� O鈥橲ullivan explained, 鈥渂ut to the people involved, it matters so much.鈥� Sometimes, though, there isn鈥檛 a clearly guilty party鈥斺�渢he situation is in the gray zone,鈥� Stark-Ennis said.

Each episode ends with a segment called 鈥淐riminal or Minimal,鈥� a kind of lightning round in which the hosts quickly cycle through submissions and decide whether the situations are really offenses, or whether the injured party should just get over it. (Sending voice memos instead of texts was deemed criminal, while rejecting a friend鈥檚 invitation to share an entree at a restaurant was found to be minimal.)

The bond between Stark-Ennis and O鈥橲ullivan dates back to their days on the Heights. As he tells it, Stark-Ennis was a fan of O鈥橲ullivan鈥檚 before he was her friend. He used to watch her perform with the 51茶馆 comedy troupe My Mother鈥檚 Fleabag, and they eventually grew close. After graduation, they each worked in Boston for a few years before deciding to pursue careers in Hollywood. Stark-Ennis moved in January 2018 to look for modeling and acting work, and O鈥橲ullivan followed in 2020. Late last year she was hired as a staff writer on Saturday Night Live. The Writers Guild of America strike has shut down the show鈥檚 production, but Petty Crimes has given O鈥橲ullivan and Stark-Ennis a sense of creative control amid the dispute. They released new episodes throughout the summer, and hope to eventually perform live shows as well. 鈥淭alking about what is going on in your life and is driving you nuts, and having someone else say, that would drive me nuts too鈥攖here鈥檚 comfort in that,鈥� O鈥橲ullivan said.聽

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