Dennis welcomes A. Ashley Hoff to his condo to talk about his new, 499-page book Match Game 101 , a textbook-sized tome all about the classic TV game show and the delightful celebrities who appeared on it. Ashley talks about how he first got the idea to do a Match Game book, interviewing stars like Marcia Wallace, Brett Somers and Charles Nelson Reilly, why the show means so much to him snd who Earl was when host Gene Reyburn would say "Slide it, Earl!" during the super-match round. He also give...
Nov 12, 2019•58 min
in this episode, Dennis connects via Skype with Dave Quantic, creator and host of the new podcast Fruitbowl, an Oral History of Queer Sex . He talks about where the idea came from, the queer humor and self-compassion he discovers in his subjects and the questions he asks in his interviews, like 'What's your best move in the bedroom?' and 'What's the most embarrassing thing that's happened to you during sex?' He also talks about living in Seattle vs. Los Angeles, the award-winning movie that led ...
Oct 29, 2019•51 min
Dennis visits the L.A. home of Matthew Lynn, creator of the new TV series The Third , which is about a romantic relationship between three gay men living in Palm Springs. He talks about the two triad relationships he's been in that inspired the story, the pros and cons of being part of a throuple, the various reactions of people in his life and why it sucks to be the person sleeping in the middle of the bed. He also talks about his Southern Baptist background, going through electroshock conversi...
Oct 22, 2019•56 min
Dennis heads to the LA LGBT Center's Village to talk to writer, actor and comedian D'Lo about his new one-man show To T or Not to T? D'Lo is trans and his show documents his decision whether or not to take testosterone as well as how his journey has and continues to impact his parents. D'Lo talks about the inspiration for the show, what it's like to perform his parents as characters, the tough talk he had to have with his father on the eve of his commitment ceremony and what it's been like to sh...
Oct 13, 2019•58 min
Dennis heads to Burbank to interview playwright Erik Patterson and actor Stephen Guarino about "Handjob," Erik's about a gay writer who hires a shirtless cleaner. Erik talks about the time he hired a real shirtless cleaner, how he realized it could be a play and later inviting the real cleaner to see the play he helped inspire. Stephen talks about what appealed to him about the project, the challenge of finding flawed, three-dimensional roles, and performing the title act in front of an audience...
Sep 30, 2019•59 min
Dennis heads to Sherman Oaks to talk with photographer DS Craze about his debut photography exhibition "Bridges and the Peace Between," which is opening this Saturday, September 14th and runs through September 30th at The Whole 9 Gallery in Culver City. DC talks about his inspiration for the photographs, falling in love with taking pictures, finding beauty in things that are abandoned and dilapidated and why he loves to take pictures. He talks about the locations for his shots: Desert Center in ...
Sep 10, 2019•49 min
Dennis heads to his friend Don Cummings' place in Hollywood to play You Don't Know My Life! with four up-for-anything authors. Vanessa McGrady's book is called Rock Needs River: A Memoir About a Very Open Adoption . Career coach Barbara Deutsch wrote a book about communication called Open Up for Shut Up: How to Talk Your Way Into or Out of Anything. August McLaughlin's book is called Girl Boner: The Good Girl's Guide to Sexual Empowerment. She also has a podcast of the same name. And finally, ou...
Aug 27, 2019•1 hr 11 min
Dennis visits the Burbank home of actor and writer Kimleigh Smith a week after seeing her searing, inspiring and hilarious one-woman show T-O-T-A-L-L-Y! The show documents her real-life journey of being gang raped in college, completely repressing it for eight years, recalling it again through hypnosis and then working through the pain of it to reclaim her body, her sexuality and her life. She talks about how donating a kidney led her to start writing, the men with the nicknames that helped her ...
Aug 20, 2019•1 hr 23 min
Dennis welcomes filmmaker Doug Spearman to his condo to hang out with Enzo and talk about his film From Zero to I Love You , which he first discussed with Dennis in 2014 when he was launching the crowd-funding campaign. He talks about the 4-year odyssey to getting the film finished, how he went crazy, the life events that came along and made things tougher and how good it feels to finally show it to audiences. Doug expresses his gratitude to his cast and crew for sticking it out, describes the m...
Aug 12, 2019•1 hr 9 min
Dennis borrows his pal Danny's West Hollywood apartment so he can interview writer-director-actor Mike Doyle about his new ensemble comedy Sell By , which screened at Outfest in L.A. He talks about where the original inspiration came from, how he found his actors, why it was important to him to hire out gay actors Scott Evans and Augustus Prew to play the central gay couple and how he got to shoot on the Highline in NYC for free. He talks about getting killed off on Law and Order SVU after being...
Jul 30, 2019•1 hr 15 min
Dennis sits down in an L.A. apartment with professor and Andy Scahill to talk about the new documentary he appears in Scream Queen: My Nightmare on Elm Street about the maybe gayest horror movie ever made Nightmare on Elm Street 2 . He talks about how he came to be involved in the film, the tumultuous and poignant life journey of the film's gay lead, why LGBT people are drawn to horror as a genre, his book The Revolting Children about kids in horror movies. He also talks about his work in academ...
Jul 23, 2019•59 min
With this episode, Dennis does his first remote podcast...a crossover episode with Vegas-based blogger Randy Slovacek who writes The Randy Report blog and its companion podcast of the same name. On Dennis's recent trip to Vegas, Randy generously offered to talk Dennis through recording remotely...and here's the result. Randy talks about how he started the Randy Report blog, his favorite subjects--and studs--to write about, getting recognized by a reader on a gay cruise and why he loves doing it....
Jul 15, 2019•1 hr 1 min
Just in time for the 4th of July weekend, here's a special YOU DON'T KNOW MY LIFE! episode featuring filmmaker/playwright/performer Del Shores (Sordid Lives, Southern Baptist Sissies) and three of his frequent collaborators: actress Ann Walker (LaVonda in Sordid Lives ), actor-producer Emerson Collins ( Southern Baptist Sissies, Rent Live ) and actor-filmmaker Mat Hayes ( Cognitive ). Game co-creators Dennis Hensley and Jeb Havens also play. The questions they answer include: When was a time tha...
Jun 29, 2019•1 hr 8 min
Dennis visits the Silver Lake home of filmmaker P.J. Castellaneta to talk about the renaissance his early 90's gay indie film "Together Alone" is experiencing this summer in France...with special screenings and a re-release in theaters. He talks about shooting the film in his Hollywood apartment while working full time as a clerk at Warner Bros., how he found his actors, and why the film still resonates today. P.J. talks about his follow-up film Relax, It's Just Sex starring Jennifer Tilly, Lori...
Jun 17, 2019•1 hr 18 min
Dennis visits the stuck-in-time rehearsal space in North Hollywood called The Madilyn Clarke studios to chat with Mary Birdsong who is stepping into the role of Melania in the musical review The Trump Family Special , which plays as part of the L.A. Fringe Festival starting June 7th. Mary talks about her how the show came to her, her take on Melania, her facility for developing voices and characters, loving to sing and her hope that one day Melania will just crack and tell all. Mary talks about ...
Jun 06, 2019•49 min
Dennis welcomes returning champion Drew Droege to his North Hollywood condo to talk about the new one-man show he's writing and starring in called "Happy Birthday Doug," in which he "celebrates and eviscerates gayness." He talks about the show's themes like aging, hetero-normativity, partying, the Peter Pan-ness of it all. He talks about the challenge of playing nine characters in one show...as well at the challenge of playing drunk and/or on molly. He shares his experience with his last one-per...
Jun 03, 2019•1 hr 21 min
Dennis heads to the Hudson Theater in Hollywood to interview his longtime friend actress Karole Forman and writer-producer Florian Klein on the eve of the opening of their show Shooting Star, a musical love story set in the world of gay porn. Florian talks about getting the inspiration for the show from his own experience as porn star Hans Berlin, finding his composer Thomas Zaufke and lyricist Erik Ransom. seeking producers and then ultimately deciding to just produce the damn show himself. He ...
May 29, 2019•1 hr 10 min
Dennis visits the peaceful, Sunland, CA home of recording artist and actor Jack Nathan Harding to talk about his recent string of in your face gay country music videos, including the just-dropped "Fed Up." Jack talks about the inspiration behind the music, being a one-man show and doing everything--composing, singing, recording, shooting the videos, editing, getting up online, even the T-shirt shredding. He talks about having to give himself permission to present himself in a sexy way, the McGyv...
May 16, 2019•1 hr 38 min
Dennis visits the Glassell Park neighborhood of Los Angeles to talk with writer-director Stewart Wade about his new film Say Yes , about a very unconventional love triangle. He talks about where he got the idea of the script, finding the right actors to bring it to life, shooting much of it in his own home, making a lead character an atheist, finding a cute waterfall in L.A. and getting the film on Amazon. He also shares stories from his years in the trenches of gay-indie filmmaking and shares o...
May 09, 2019•1 hr 7 min
Dennis visits the Irvine, California apartment of Cal Iseminger, founder of Cal's Game Night, a company that facilitates kick-ass game nights in people's homes. He talks about growing up in a game-loving family, how his hobby of hosting game nights turned into a business, his first paying party with a guest list full of celebrities, the types of games his company offers, the two celebrities that are the most competitive, doing corporate events for places like Warner Bros. and Disney and the most...
Apr 30, 2019•56 min
For this episode, Dennis brings together four of the personalities from the popular, long-running Sirius / XM OutQ radio show The Frank Decaro Show to play the party game he co-created You Don't Know My Life! On hand for the hijinks are: host-with-the-most Frank Decaro, his delightfully dry co-host Doria Biddle, Must-Hear TV Guy Jim Colucci and Great-White-Gay-on-the-Great-White-Way Ken Kleiber. Also playing the game are Dennis and YDKML co-creator Jeb Havens. The questions that come up include:...
Apr 21, 2019•1 hr 38 min
Dennis visits the San Fernando Valley apartment of producer Lotti Pharriss Knowles, co-producer of the upcoming documentary Goddess: The Fall and Rise of Showgirls. The film is all about the making, the flopping and the re-appreciating of the 1995 movie Showgirls . She talks about her longtime obsession with the film, how the film brought her together with her husband, their Showgirls themed wedding in Vegas, her favorite scenes and characters and the thrill of dressing up as "Revenge Nomi" for ...
Apr 11, 2019•1 hr 10 min
Dennis visits the Los Angeles home of Jeremy Bernard, former White House Social Secretary under President Obama and co-author of the book Treating People Well, which he wrote with Lea Berman, Social Secretary under George W. Bush. Jeremy talks about how the idea of writing the book came about, being the first man to serve in the position of Social Secretary, interviewing for the job with Michelle Obama and the running joke he has with the Obamas about his dancing. He also discusses the Obama's g...
Apr 03, 2019•1 hr 46 min
Dennis visits the Hollywood home of author Don Cummings to talk about his new memoir Bent But Not Broken. It's about his experience with Peyronie's disease, which is a painful and sexually limiting condition that affects over 7% of men. He writes and talks humorously and honestly about the emotional fallout brought on by having a suddenly curved penis, how it affected his relationship with his husband Adam and how it made him feel about himself. Other topics include: that time Meryl Streep did a...
Mar 26, 2019•1 hr 33 min
Dennis meets David Dean Bottrell at a coffeehouse in Hollywood to talk about David's new book "Working Actor: Breaking In, Making a Living, and Making a Life in the Fabulous Trenches of Show Business." David talks about the L.A. Times review that inspired him to write the book, how he sold it and some of the topics the book addresses, like social media, networking and the role luck plays in building a career in entertainment. He also talks about the role on Boston Legal that changed the game for...
Mar 16, 2019•1 hr 25 min
Dennis visits the Hollywood home of writer-producer Ryan Copple, one of the creative forces behind the new Earwolf comedy podcast "Voyage to the Stars" about a group of misfits (Colton Dunn, Felicia Day, Janet Varney and Steve Berg) who accidentally board an alien spaceship and end up going through a wormhole and having crazy misadventures in space. Ryan talks about the origins of the show, selling it, the recording process and the themes at the heart of the zaniness. He also talks about the pop...
Feb 17, 2019•1 hr 11 min
For the third year in a row, Dennis visits the Hollywood apartment of film lover Michael Dougherty to talk about last year's movies with Michael and film reviewer Glenn Gaylord from Glenn On Film. Glenn and Michael share their favorites of the year and celebrate specific "Moments Out of Time," specific scenes or images from films that will stay with them for years to come. Some of the movies discussed include: Roma, The Rider, The Sisters Brothers, Leave No Trace, Mind the Gap, BlackKklansman, S...
Feb 10, 2019•1 hr 30 min
On a rainy Wednesday, Dennis visits the West Hollywood apartment of singer-actor Blake McIver to talk about his cabaret show Blake Sings Barbra the Concert in which he pays homage to Barbra Streisand's iconic 1994 comeback concert, . He talks about the genesis of the show, how he became obsessed with the HBO concert at 9, the one time he met her, the challenge of singing Barbra and of course, finding the perfect tea set. He talks about his first break in the industry; competing in junior Star Se...
Jan 18, 2019•1 hr 25 min
Dennis visits the Hollywood apartment of author Anna David, whose novel Party Girl --about a girl who gets hired to write a party column as she's getting sober--has just been released on audio. Anna talks about the inspiration for the book, her dream of creating an audio version, her hopes for a TV or film adaptation and who she'd love to see play the lead. (Hint: it's Lohan) She also talks candidly about her own journey to sobriety, hitting rock bottom, what makes coke addicts different from ot...
Dec 29, 2018•1 hr 7 min
Dennis visits the West Hollywood apartment of writer-director Michael Selditch to interview Michael and Stephanie Jenz, the Executive Producer of the new Wondery podcast "Imagined Life." Dennis and Michael have both written multiple episodes of the show's first season, which wraps up this coming Sunday. Stephanie talks about where the original idea came from, casting the hosts Virginia Madsen and Robbie Daymond, the importance of iTunes reviews and ratings, nailing the music and sound design and...
Dec 18, 2018•1 hr 4 min
