80-year-old grandma and granddaughter team up to give the best and on-point dating tips

This grandma is becoming an internet favorite for sharing her wisdom about dating and relationships for the modern generation. 80-year-old Gail Rudnick had initially never thought about becoming the start of a popular podcast show that she hosts along with her granddaughter, 27-year-old Kim Murstein. The "Excuse My Grandma" podcast was kickstarted by the grandma-granddaughter duo during the pandemic lockdown era and the project has bloomed into something they couldn't have imagined ever.

Rudnick, who is now popular as "Grandma Gail" on social media, talks about generational differences between dating, sex and relationships. The culture of dating may have changed over the decades but Rudnick still manages to give her two cents on the newer generation's dating decisions. The podcast was started by the duo three years ago when Murstein moved from New York to Palm Beach, Florida in order to live with her grandma.

The quarantine did not stop Murstein from dating as usual. Since the duo were always open with each other while sharing their life experiences, it wasn't difficult for either of them to ignite conversations about intimate topics. "We were under the same roof and basically I was seeing what was going on, the actual dating scenario, not just from a distance," the mother of two and grandmother of four told TODAY.

It didn't take long for Rudnick and Murstein to discover that they had polarizing standards when it came to dating. "It’s a very different kind of dating situation than it was in the 50s and the 60s," Rudnick said. As the grandma continued to banter with Murstein on their different ideals surrounding dating, the 27-year-old came up with the idea of a podcast which she eventually launched in January 2021. "My grandma is very outspoken, she says it how it is, she doesn’t hold anything back," Murstein said. "I do find myself sometimes saying, ‘Oh, excuse my grandma, she doesn’t know.’ But she really does know everything."

"Not everything, but 90 percent of the things," Rudnick quips. Their podcast which resonated with people from multiple generations, also found fame when they stepped into the TikTok territory. The pair continued to release podcast episodes every Thursday and discussed various topics, answered the questions from their audience and even suggested people to watch certain movies from the 1950s. Their TikTok page @excusemygrandma has over 400,000 followers as of now.

Murstein is not surprised to see that the netizens find the pair entertaining. "I’m not even showing the half of it. If you came to family dinner with us, you’d be like, 'This should be on television,'" said Murstein, who has a background in entertainment as a producer and reporter. It's not only the boomers and millennials who are hooked onto this podcast but they have a fair share of Gen Z audience as well.

"I must honestly say I think they could learn something from the older generation," Rudnick continued. "They’ll say after one or two dates, ‘That’s enough for me.'" The veteran believes that it is not possible to know someone closely on a first date within an hour and a half. "I would never have accepted that. I would not have gone on a date if someone said, ‘Let’s have a drink someplace.’ That was just not in the format of dating in those days," she adds.

As expected, Rudnick and Murstein's dating preferences are poles apart. Rudnick has met her husband on a blind date whereas Murstein detests the idea of it and prefers to pick her own date on apps while trusting her gut instincts. "My favorite thing that I probably get from people more in my age demographic and a bit older is, ‘It reminds me so much of my relationship with my grandma who’s either still their best friend, not around anymore or going through something.’ It’s very nostalgic and relatable to people and that’s exactly why we’re doing this," Rudnick reveals.

"I don’t have anything to gain from giving the advice and I don’t expect everyone to listen to my advice. I expect my granddaughter and my other grandchildren to listen to me because it’s coming from the heart," she concludes. Some of her tips for younger generations are shared through a series of multiple TikTok videos. Rudnick advises people to meet over dinner, not chase after anyone, not take ghosting over social media seriously and jokes about having only one drink on a date or else you might forget about them afterward. Rudnick's old-school wisdom and no-nonsense approach to relationship and dating tips continue to attract a huge fanbase consisting of people from all genders and age groups.