S2, E20: How Eli McCann Became Utah's Favorite Story Teller
The conversation follows Eli’s unlikely path from growing up in an active LDS family in the Salt Lake Valley to leaving the church, coming out as gay, and building a life that still stays close to family. A big takeaway is that an ex-Mormon story does not have to end in scorched earth. Eli explains how support from practicing Latter-day Saint parents and siblings helped him move from anger to something healthier: clarity. He separates “the church corporation,” “the people,” and “the culture,” letting him reject harmful structures while still appreciating relationships and the familiar Utah language that shaped him.
We also dig into what it means to come out with intention. Eli knew he was gay from early childhood, but he avoided telling anyone until he had decided what he would do about faith, because he did not want outside opinions steering a deeply personal choice. That framing resonates for anyone navigating a faith crisis, LGBTQ identity, or both. The hosts talk about how quickly these stories create connection, especially in Utah where Mormon culture is everywhere. The point is not to relive the pain forever, but to unlearn the messaging, protect your mental health, and keep room for nuance like nostalgia for traditions you no longer participate in.
Eli’s creative career is its own case study in modern media. He starts as a kid who loves humor writing, learns blogging in the mid-2000s, and writes for years to an audience of basically family. Then a wrong-number “Snuggies” text exchange goes viral on Facebook, suddenly shifting him from diary-style writing to writing for strangers. A legal job takes him to Palau in the Equatorial Pacific, and the blog grows again through storytelling about place and culture. Later, he launches the Strangeville storytelling podcast and a live show in Salt Lake City, showing how creators can build community without chasing internet fame as the only goal.
A core theme is the creative tension between doing the work and promoting the work. Eli loves writing and storytelling, but describes social media as the trumpet you must learn to play to keep playing the clarinet. He is wary of making content creation a full-time job because it can drain the joy, distort authenticity, and turn art into anxiety about views and monetization. That leads to a practical lesson: audiences are hard to manipulate, and the best growth usually comes when you stop guessing what the audience wants and instead make what feels honest and specific. His Salt Lake Tribune humor column becomes stronger when he stops trying to please both critics inside and outside the church.
The episode also shows why storytelling is powerful advocacy. Eli shares how a simple TikTok about a childhood vocabulary book, The Weighty Word Book, triggered a massive wave of interest that pushed the title to the top of Amazon, without him telling anyone to buy it. He connects that to LGBTQ advocacy with Equality Utah, where sitting with lawmakers and sharing lived experience helped pass a unanimous ban on conversion therapy. The conversation closes with what he is building now: a book of Tribune columns, We’re Thankful for the Moisture, and a forthcoming Utah-set novel, Stitched, about fiercely competitive elderly quilters. It is a reminder that the best Salt Lake City stories blend humor, sincerity, and the courage to be seen.
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