To all the people who are saying to you, it's like really unhealthy and like a little messed up to be interested in death.

We say nope, no, wrong, lie.

No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no.

I'm Greta Johnson.

I'm Trisha Bobita.

And from WBEZ in Chicago, this is Nerdette.

Coming up, our favorite mortician, Caitlin Dowdy, is here to nerd out about death, and I promise it won't be depressing.

Come back bright-eyed and bushy-tailed each time, believing that it's important.

So your favorite mortician isn't morticia, huh?

It used to be.

And then I met Caitlin.

Fair enough.

All that plus your nerd confessions.

Right here on Nerdette.

You're listening to Nerdette.

Caitlin Dowdy is a Los Angeles-based mortician.

And I don't know about you, Trisha, but when I come across someone who is in her early 30s and is a mortician,

I kind of assume that maybe it was her family trade, and that's why she ended up doing this seemingly random thing.

But for Caitlin Dowdy, that is definitely not the case. She has had some very interesting experiences as a mortician. She writes about them in her new memoir, Smoke Gets in Your Eyes, and other lessons from the crematory. She's also a founder of the group of funeral professionals called the Order of the Good Death, which I just love. It kind of reminds me of the Order of the Phoenix.

Yes, it does sound like they would have excellent meetings.

She's also host of the hilarious Ask a Mortician series on YouTube.

Here's one of my favorite clips from those YouTube videos. I get emails every day from high schoolers who are really interested in death,

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