In a hot car outside one of D'Lo's regular stand-up venues in Echo Park, Dennis talks to the Transgender Queer Tamil Sri Lankan performer about his one-man show "D'FunQT" which is currently showing at the LA Gay and Lesbian Center. D'Lo talks about the inspiration for his show, growing up in Lancaster, California and his mother's reaction to his onstage depiction of her. D'Lo also talks about the various reactions he gets from audiences, what it's like to visit Sri Lanka, his appearance on HBO's...
Apr 30, 2015•37 min
Dennis visits the home studio of Christopher Lloyd Bratten, co-creator, musical director and arranger for the "For the Record" series of musical stage extravaganzas to talk about the evolution of the series, the thrill of performing for a live audience and the famous names who have popped up both in the cast and in the audience. Christopher also talks about the insane hotness of the cast, wearing skin tight silver spandex pants and what it's like to have Quentin Tarantino in the audience when yo...
Apr 28, 2015•1 hr 4 min
Dennis visits the North Hollywood home of Dudley Beene, the executive producer and one of the stars of "First Period," a hilarious 80's-set comedy about two girls and their quest to become popular. Dudley talks about setting a shoot date for the film before they had a finished script, cast or crew and working backwards. He talks about showing the film in his hometown of Shreveport, Louisiana, shooting the film's martial arts scene and the lessons he learned producing his first feature. Other top...
Apr 24, 2015•1 hr 9 min
Dennis visits the Hollywood Dell home of writer-director Darren Stein to talk about the Lifetime TV movie he wrote, "Seeds of Yesterday," the latest in "Flowers in the Attic" series, which premiers Sunday, April 12th. Darren talks about the challenges and joys of adapting a beloved book and what drew him to the project. Also on the docket is Darren's last feature film, the gay teen comedy "GBF" and its unique distribution model, his cult classic "Jawbreaker," and the secret of shooting the iconi...
Apr 10, 2015•1 hr 11 min
On the eve of the debut of "The Comedians" on FX, Dennis visits the home of his old sketch comedy friend from the 90's Ben Wexler, who is the series' showrunner and one of its exec producers. Ben talks about getting to work on his dream project, "The Comedians" after many years in the TV comedy trenches, what it's like to ask his childhood idol Billy Crystal if they can make a joke at his expense in the show, and the thrill of seeing ads for his baby all over LA. Ben and Dennis also recall many ...
Apr 07, 2015•1 hr 14 min
Dennis visits the Hollywood apartment of writer and performer Bryan Safi, who Dennis first met thanks to his hilarious "That's Gay" segments he created for Current TV. Since then, Bryan has written for "Ellen," for which he won and Emmy, "Fashion Police" and Funny or Die where he has come up with genius videos for actors like Jane Krakowski, Michael Shannon, Jessica Pare and countless others. Bryan recalls his favorite "Ellen" guest (Hint, Dennis is totally enjoying her current Jen-aissance), sh...
Mar 30, 2015•1 hr 16 min
Dennis visits the Fox lot to chat with screenwriter Ron Nyswayer during his lunch break from the series "Homeland," which he is currently writing for. Ron talks about his new documentary "She's the Best Thing In It" which is about Tony-winning actress and acting teacher Mary Louise Wilson. He also talks about the upcoming film "Freeheld," a feature film Ron wrote about a real life lesbian couple played by Julianne Moore and Ellen Page. Other topics include: the inspiration behind the famous "Phi...
Mar 24, 2015•48 min
Dennis visits the West Hollywood home of actor-writer Tom Lenk to discuss his new dorkumentary "Nerdgasm" and his one-man show "Heavy Petting," which hits LA March 29th. Tom talks about the inspiration for "Heavy Petting," which is about all the pets he had growing up, including a homophobic parrot named Sarah. He talks about performing his previous show "Nerdgasm" at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival and realizing that he is, in fact, a nerd, not just someone who plays nerds on TV. Other topics inc...
Mar 16, 2015•1 hr 24 min
Dennis visits this Los Feliz home of documentarian Jeffrey Schwarz whose films include "I Am Devine," "Spinetingler! The William Castle Story," "Vito" and "Wrangler: Anatomy of an Icon." Jeffrey talks about his brand new film "Tab Hunter Confidential," which is having its world premier this month at the South by Southwest Film Festival in Austin. Topics include the thrift shop purchase that first got him hooked on Tab, how he got the iconic star to open up and Tab's lifelong passion for horses. ...
Mar 09, 2015•1 hr 15 min
From Dennis: For this special episode, I'm skipping my usual interview format and presenting and audio performance of my recently completed pilot script of "Misadventures in the 213," based on my novel of the same name. The script recently landed me a spot in the WGA West's Writers Access Program, which showcases writers from diverse backgrounds--I ticked the gay box--and touts their work to showrunners, producers, executives, agents and managers in an attempt to make TV writing rooms for divers...
Mar 04, 2015•38 min
Dennis joins actor and writer Steven Fales on the stage of the Zephyr Theater in Hollywood where he had just performed his hit one-man show Confessions of a Mormon Boy. They discuss their shared Mormon background, what they loved about it and how Steven keeps his show fresh after logging 1,000 performances all over the world. Steven also talks about his family's reaction to the show, performing the show in front of one of his former NYC escort clients (yes, he escorted for a while in New York......
Mar 02, 2015•1 hr
Dennis sits down with writer and actress Nora Burns, one-third of the sketch comedy group Unitard. She talks about their new show, "Unitard: House of Tards," the Madonna scandal she caused with her previous comedy group, The Nellie Ollesons and skewering people who live their lives on Facebook in the new show. She also talks about living in Maui and hating it, zipping around Manhattan on a Citibike, and the PETA fundraiser where she dressed as a giant carrot. Her memories of her early years in N...
Feb 24, 2015•54 min
Dennis visits the Weho apartment of stand-up comic and writer Guy Branum a few days before Guy heads to NYC to write for "Billy on the Street." Guy talks about graduating from law school but choosing comedy over law, his teenage crush on Mario Lopez, and what would most delight the small town farm kid he used to be about his life today. He also opens up about working on Chelsea Lately, why he left and the fallout from that experience. As one of the few writers who's worked with both Joan Rivers ...
Feb 16, 2015•1 hr 13 min
Dennis visits the West Hollywood home of costume designer Daniel Orlandi who is currently nominated for a Costume Designers Guild Award for his work on the HBO movie "The Normal Heart." He talks about the emotional experience of working on the project, putting Matt Bomer and Mark Ruffalo in the old Levis he'd been storing in his garage since the 80's. He also talks about all the huge stars he's costumed, including Julia Roberts, Tom Hanks, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Will Farrell, Emma Thompson, Jul...
Feb 10, 2015•1 hr 23 min
Dennis visits actress Maile Flanagan in the San Fernando Valley home she shares with her wife Leesa to discuss Maile's appearance in the February revival of Justin Tanner's stage smash "Voice Lessons" with Laurie Metcalf and French Stewart. Other topics include growing up in Hawaii, Thailand and Germany, the fact that her father was a spy, her one-woman version of The Sound of Music, having tea with Julie Andrews, struggling with her improv pals early on and winning an Emmy for "Jakers! The Adve...
Feb 02, 2015•1 hr 12 min
Dennis visits the San Fernando Valley apartment of the very funny stand-up comic, actor, musician and writer Julie Goldman, who's doing a show February 7 called "Take a Walk on the Softer Side" at the LAGLC's Renberg Theater. Julie talks about her favorite sketches on "The Big Gay Sketch Show," appearing on Bravo's "The People's Couch" and her recent guest spot on "The Mindy Project." She also talks about her Chanel bag of a cat, the word games casting directors play, seeing a dirty magazine for...
Jan 26, 2015•1 hr 24 min
In this special Friday episode, Dennis visits the Los Feliz home of Daniel and Ben Barnz, the married couple behind the new movie "Cake." Daniel (center in the photo) directed, Ben (left) produced. They talk about how they met, how they work together without going crazy and how they used Scrabble tiles to create the name Barnz out of their original last names. Daniel also discusses the elaborate look books he creates when developing a new project, what it's like to shoot Jennifer Aniston climbin...
Jan 23, 2015•1 hr 24 min
Dennis sits down with actor Mark Indelicato who is best know for playing Justin Suarez on the ABC comedy "Ugly Betty" and recently appeared alongside Shailene Woodley in Gregg Araki's "White Bird in Blizzard." Mark talks about the coming out as Justin and in real life, adjusting to life after "Ugly Betty," and the cool stuff he took from the set on his way out the door. He also discusses his experiences as a student at NYU, studying International Relations and shares his dream of one day working...
Jan 19, 2015•1 hr 13 min
Dennis visits the Los Feliz apartment of the hilarious Drew Droege, who is perhaps best known for his name-droppy viral videos as Chloe Sevigny. Drew talks about the first time he performed on stage, doing drag with his dad in high school and working in the fish department of a grocery store. Also on the docket: working with Amy Poehler in a recent Old Navy commercial, meeting Chloe Sevigny after his video parodies as her had gone viral, his audition for Saturday Night Live, playing Rose Nyland ...
Jan 12, 2015•1 hr 30 min
For his first show of 2015, Dennis sits down with comedy writer and stand-up comic Eliza Skinner who has written for Funny Or Die, Fashion Police and Totally Biased. She talks about how moving to L.A. helped her career, the tweet that got folks all-riled up, the yogurt commerical audition she purposely blew and what it was like to get retweeted by President Obama. Also on the agenda, her fascination with Tyler Perry, the genius of The Comeback finale, her biggest clown nightmare, working with Ch...
Jan 05, 2015•1 hr 8 min
Dennis brings 2014 to a close with a round-up of check-ins with past podcast guests Jackie Clarke, Patrick Tobin, Jack Kenny, Miss Coco Peru, Jack Plotnick, Glenn Gaylord and Danny Casillas. Also included is a Dickie Goodman-style flashback from Dennis's childhood having to do with Star Wars and Farrah Fawcett...and Dennis's cover of the Sam Harris song "The Rescue," discussed in the Sam Harris podcast in August, which was recorded in a cabin on a cruise ship. There's some Manilow in there, too....
Dec 31, 2014•1 hr 16 min
Name a kick-ass, quality TV show and Jeremy Podeswa's probably directed at least one episode: Game of Thrones, Boardwalk Empire, Walking Dead, The Newsroom, American Horror Story, True Blood, The L Word, Queer as Folk...and the list goes on and on. He's also made his own films: Fugitive Pieces, Eclipse and The Five Senses, which won the Genie Award in his native Canada. Jeremy recalls the show that changed it all for him, Six Feet Under, shooting Rome at Cinecetta studios in Rome and how working...
Dec 22, 2014•1 hr 16 min
After seeing a screening of the new Jennifer Aniston movie "Cake," Dennis tracks down its screenwriter Patrick Tobin to talk about the film and his whirlwind journey from unknown, unrepresented screenwriting contest enterer to produced screenwriter with a movie in the Oscar race. It all turns into a bit of a therapy session for Dennis and is sure to inspire the writers out there tapping away in coffeeshops. Patrick also talks about the day he quit is day job, his fashion faux pas at the Toronto ...
Dec 15, 2014•1 hr 1 min
Dennis visits the one and only Miss Coco Peru in her lovely San Fernando Valley home for an emotional rollercoaster of an interview. Dennis shares the touching coincidence he experienced at Coco's February show "She's Got Balls." He then pulls himself together to discuss other topics like Coco's origin story, her Terms of Endearment catharsis and the power of vulnerability. Her hilarious "Grand Theft Auto" YouTube video is also broken down as her memories of making out with Modern Family's Eric ...
Dec 08, 2014•1 hr 12 min
This week, Dennis welcomes film critic Alonso Duralde to the booth o' truth to discuss Alonso's oh-so-timely book "Have Yourself a Movie Little Christmas," a book all about Christmas movies; some great, some awful, classics and some you've probably never heard of. Alonso talks about reviewing movies for The Wrap and What the Flick?, what it's like to co-host a movie review podcast with your husband (check out Alonso and Dave White's "Linoleum Knife" podcast), teaches college students about film ...
Nov 30, 2014•1 hr 12 min
Dennis visits Emmy-winning actor Leslie Jordan in his L.A. apartment on the eve of his one-man show "Fruit Fly" returning to the L.A. Gay and Lesbian Center's Renberg Theater from December 4th to the 21st. The show's origins and the theme of a gay man and his mother are but one of the many topics on the agenda. Leslie also tells wonderful and outrageous stories about his Emmy night nightmare, how his Emmy for "Will and Grace" got damaged, the "Dancing with the Stars" outing he'd like to forget, ...
Nov 24, 2014•1 hr 2 min
Dennis welcomes singer-songwriter and YouTube sensation Tom Goss to the breakfast nook just two weeks into Tom's relocation to L.A. from Washington D.C. They discuss what it's like to be an independent musician in today's music business; what the day-to-day is like, what's great about it, what sucks and how you make money at it. Tom shares inside scoop about his viral music video "Bears," his Twitter interactions with Taylor Swift and Iggy Azalea and the guy who offered to give him $10,000 to ma...
Nov 18, 2014•1 hr 12 min
Dennis joins actress-singer Kate Flannery in her gorgeous L.A. apartment that's straight out of a Barbara Stanwyck movie to discuss her lounge-singing alter ego Cassie Chew from the duo The Lampshades, who are currently gigging in LA. Kate also talks about waiting tables at Kate Mantalini until getting her big break playing the boozy and floosy Meredith on the hit sitcom "The Office." Other topics include: the most unprofessional behavior she ever witnessed, the secret of playing boozy, her stag...
Nov 08, 2014•1 hr 14 min
Dennis visits the Runyon Canyon home and office of filmmaker Randal Kleiser on the eve of his stage directing debut with The Penis Chronicles at the Coast Playhouse in LA. Also on hand is the show's producer Greg O'Connor. Topics include the difference between directing for stage vs. film, finding the right group of Penis people, and whether or not the title character will actually appear in the show. Randal also shares memories from making films like It's My Party, the Blue Lagoon , and the mon...
Nov 03, 2014•54 min
For this pre-Halloween epsiode, Dennis heads to the Dunny-filled West Hollywood apartment of actor Danny Casillas to talk with Danny and his cohort in comedy Oscar Quintero about their show "Sketchy Queens 3-D", which opens Wednesday, October 29th at the Cavern Club Theater in Silver Lake. They share the origin stories of their drag alter egos, Reba Areba (Danny) and Kay Sedia (Oscar) and discuss their 11 year-old cult hit "Chico's Angels," the Latina drag parody of "Charlie's Angels" that they ...
Oct 27, 2014•1 hr 14 min
