Hey happy campers! We're Zachariah Porter and Jonathan Carson, your favorite gay couple and the hosts of Camp Counselors Podcast. After long-distance dating for two years between Massachusetts and Pennsylvania, we moved to Brooklyn, New York together in 2022. At the time, we were both already making content on our own, and things kinda just flowed into making something together. One day while day drinking Aperol spritz al fresco in West Village, the idea of starting this podcast was born. Despite the title, neither of us are particularly out-doorsy, you know, the mosquitos and bears of it all. HOWEVER, after one lady told us we have “camp counselor energy,” we simply had to agree. Yes, we’re a little whackadoo, but all the best people are. Since inception day, we have grown Camp Shady Birch with thousands and thousands of campers, toured the country together for Zachariah’s live show, got engaged on May 31, 2026 in Acadia National Park in Maine, and bought a house in Massachusetts where we currently record our episodes.

Partners on the mic and in Life

Yes, we are a couple! We started dating the summer of 2020 and got engaged in May 2026. We live together with our cat Buffy, and we’ve built this entire community of campers at Camp Shady Birch side by side. When we’re not recording or putting out fires at camp, we are deeply invested in reality TV. We will defend the Real Housewives in any court of law (actually just kidding bc some housewives are actual criminals). We would consider ourselves Disney adults to an extent… like we love Disney World and Disneyland and all, but we aren’t completely lost in that mouses sauce, you feel me? Zachariah is the unhinged chaos, Jonathan is the increasingly unreliable voice of reason, and together we make your favorite podcast that is taking over the world.

What Camp Counselors is really about

Camp Counselors Podcast started with the two of us, but it became Camp Shady Birch because of our campers. We hope this podcast can be a place you come to when life feels a little too heavy. Life can be ruthless. We know. So whether you need a laugh, just want two gay guys chatting in your ear, or an hour where nothing is that serious, there’s room for everyone here.