Dennis is joined via Zoom by Hugh Nini & Neal Treadwell, the real-life couple behind the remarkable new book Loving: A Photographic History of Men in Love 1850s to 1950s , a gorgeous collection of vintage photos they've collected of male couples in love. Hugh and Neal talk about the day they discovered their first photo, the rush of discovery that comes with every new find, the way their collection quietly grew without anyone else really knowing about it, and what went into choosing the cove...
Dec 07, 2020•1 hr 21 min
Dennis connects via Zoom with Sean Dwyer, an L.A.-based writer-producer whose Christmas-themed movie Holiday Rush is currently streaming on Netflix. The film is about a successful New York radio personality and father of four who, just a few years after the death of his beloved wife, abruptly loses his job and has to reimagine his whole life. Sean talks about the origins of the story, shooting a holiday movie in the spring, casting Romany Malco from A Million Little Things as the lead...and scor...
Dec 01, 2020•39 min
Dennis connects via Zoom with his yoga pal and author Paria Hassouri to talk about her new memoir Found In Transition: A Mother's Evolution through Her Child's Gender Change. which documents her journey and her family's journey through the process of her teenage daughter Ava's gender transition. She talks about her initial reaction to her daughter saying she was trans, which was skepticism, and recalls the family Thanksgiving dinner early on when Ava wanted to wear a dress. She talks her own res...
Nov 12, 2020•1 hr 4 min
Dennis connects via Zoom with director Jon Lawrence Rivera and producer Jon Imparato, two of the creative forces behind the new play "March." "March" is not a Zoom-happening. It's an actual live theatrical experience presented in the parking garage of the LA LGBT Center to an audience watching safely from their cars. The play is set in a post-Trump, dystopian, anti-queer future and focuses on three LGBT characters running and hiding and fighting for their lives. Jon and Jon talk about what made ...
Oct 22, 2020•31 min
While driving cross country, actor and filmmaker Nicol Paone joins Dennis via Zoom to talk about her debut film as writer-director, the ensemble holiday comedy Friendsgiving. She talks about the getting the inspiration for the movie from a real-life experience, how she got the movie made and working with the cast, which includes Malin Akerman, Kat Dennings, AIsha Tyler, Jane Seymour, Christine Taylor and Chelsea Peretti. She also talks about how getting to step behind the camera changed her appr...
Oct 20, 2020•22 min
Dennis talks via Zoom with actor-singer-writer David Pevsner about his film "Musical Comedy Whore," which is now available on DVD and streaming. It's a filmed version of his stage show about the period of time when he was working as both a musical comedy performer ( Party, Naked Boys Singing, When Pigs Fly) and an escort. He talks about what it was like to live that double life, what turned him of about it and the feeling of connection he would often feel with his clients. He also talks about ge...
Oct 03, 2020•1 hr 11 min
Dennis connects via Zoom with singer-songwriter-actor Levi Kreis from his home in Knoxville, Tennessee to talk about his latest EP Bad Habit and his upcoming series of virtual concerts (October 20th, November 18th and November 15th). He talks about drawing from his experience as a recovering addict in writing the song "Bad Habit" and shooting its accompanying video. He also discusses his cover of George Michael's and the controversy it stirred up on line. He talks about being outed as gay at his...
Sep 10, 2020•1 hr 18 min
Dennis connects via Zoom with Neon Trees frontman Tyler Glenn to talk about the band's terrific new album I Can Feel You Forgetting Me . Tyler talks about the inspiration for the record, his songwriting process, the delicious retro sound of the record and what it’s like to drop a new album when no one can leave the house. Tyler and Dennis also talk about their shared background in the Mormon church. Tyler recalls the crisis of faith that inspired his 2016 solo album Excommunication , the church'...
Aug 31, 2020•1 hr 32 min
Dennis welcomes to the Zoom room comedian Misha D to talk about his debut comedy album Dolphin of the Land , which has just dropped on streaming services like Spotify and iTunes. Dennis and Misha recall the talking-head pop culture TV show they met on Ultimate Countdown that never aired in the states. Misha talks about being drawn to standup after the 2016 election, finding humor in dark subjects, how he deals with homophobic material from other comics and that time he bailed on show and wished ...
Aug 13, 2020•1 hr 16 min
Dennis connects over Zoom with author Byron Lane to talk all about his delicious new novel A Star Is Bored , which is inspired by his 3-year stint as personal assistant to actress-author-intergalactic princess Carrie Fisher. He talks about deciding to write the book in the wake of Fisher's passing, what he thinks Carrie would think of the book and recalls how working with Carrie changed his feelings about life and himself. He also gives us and inside look at the lingo and protocols of the celebr...
Jul 29, 2020•1 hr 23 min
All the way from London, author Matthew Todd joins Dennis via Skype to talk about his beautiful new coffee table book Pride: The Story of the LGBTQ Equality Movement . Matthew talks about how the book came about, some of the unsung heroes he writes about in the book, the similarities between the US and the UK in terms of the movement and how moments in pop culture like gay characters on soap operas and shows like Will and Grace helped move the mainstream culture forward. Matthew also talks about...
Jun 29, 2020•1 hr 42 min
Dennis chats with author Brent Hartinger via Skype from Port Washington, Washington about his career about his 14th novel The Otto Digmore Decision, a sweet and funny a gay burn victim trying to make it as an actor in Hollywood. He also talks about his breakout first novel Geography Club, one of the first YA novels to feature gay teens, how it tapped into a market no one knew was there and went on to become a film in 2013. He also talks about growing with his young readers, going to self-publish...
Jun 18, 2020•1 hr 13 min
Dennis chats via Skype with Jeffrey McHale, the filmmaker behind You Don't Nomi , a film about the afterlife of the 1995 camp classic Showgirls . He talks about what inspired him to make the movie, his choice to have his interviewees appear on audio but not video, how he was able to include so many clips and the thrill of being at the Hollywood Forever Cemetery screening with Elizabeth Berkley showed up at thanked the crowd for embracing the movie. Dennis and Jeffrey discuss the elegant look the...
Jun 08, 2020•39 min
Dennis connects via Skype with filmmaker John Paul Su whose debut feature film Toto , about a hotel worker in the Philippines who dreams of moving to America, is currently screening on Amazon Prime and ITunes. He talks about infusing his own experiences as an immigrant into the story, shooting the film in the Philippines, how he financed the film, how the film was received in the Philippines, shooting the comedic sex scenes and how proud he was that his father didn't fall asleep watching the mov...
May 11, 2020•50 min
Dennis chats via Skype with author, actor and activist Maulik Pancholy about his debut novel The Best at It , which tells the story of Rahul Kapoor, an Indian-American sixth grader in suburban Indiana who sets out to become the best at something. He talks about where the idea to write the book came from, the bidding war that erupted when the book went to publishers, the parameters he faced when it comes to talking about LGBT issues in books for young people and getting emotional while recording ...
Apr 28, 2020•1 hr 23 min
Dennis connects via Skype with Brian Mahan a Somatic Experiencing Practitioner based in Los Angeles who Dennis saw for treatment back in 2016. Brian explains what exactly Somatic Experiencing is, the difference between stress and trauma and the car wreck on the 10 Freeway that led him to this work. He also talks about the work he's doing around the issue of shame, toxic shame vs. healthy shame, shame in the LGBT community, how shame impacted him growing up and how he became a chameleon in order ...
Apr 20, 2020•1 hr
In this new social distancing era, Dennis connects via Skype with his longtime friend, actor and filmmaker Jack Plotnick, to talk about Dennis's current online obsession; Jack's epic musical short Alien Mini Mall Tetralogy, in which he plays two different aliens as well as several alien clones who wrestle with life's big themes at a mini-mall on Santa Monica Boulevard. Jack talks about what inspired him to start the journey, shooting at his neighborhood mini-mall, why he chose the music of Styx ...
Mar 23, 2020•45 min
Dennis visits the Hollywood Hills home of Anthony Meindl the writer-director and one of the stars of Where We Go From Here , a new film that just hit Hulu about people in three different places--Orlando, Paris and Binghampton, NY--whose lives are affected by gun violence. Anthony talks about what made him sit down and write the film, putting his own experiences into the film's gay relationship, appearing nude in the film and shooting in Paris in French without speaking the language himself. He a...
Mar 11, 2020•1 hr 29 min
Dennis ventures to a near-empty house in Hollywood to talk with previous guest, writer-actor-author David Dean Bottrell about the new Random House audiobook of his one-man show David Dean Bottrell Makes Love . He talks about the genesis of the show, bonding with audience members after the show, how the show intersects with his Hollywood career, being gay married before it was national, having it all and losing it all overnight, getting over heartbreak, dating in Los Angeles, what his current boy...
Mar 03, 2020•1 hr 15 min
Dennis sits down in a Studio City Airbnb with filmmaker / actor / casting director Chad Darnell the day after Chad wrapped directing a film that he also wrote called The Undertaker's Wife . Chad talks about his inspiration for the film and his experience directing it and why Parasite got him excited to shoot it. He also talks about his longtime passion project, a biopic about the life and death of the bad boy of 90's porn Joey Stefano. He talks about all the moments of serendipity that kept coax...
Feb 27, 2020•1 hr 16 min
Dennis goes to the Hollywood home of playwright Del Shores to talk to Del and actress Dale Dickey about their just-opened play This Side of Crazy, which is about an egocentric gospel diva and her three estranged daughters. Del talks about the show's themes of forgiveness and reconciliation, writing for specific actors, sitting behind one of his idols Horton Foote in the theater, what it's like when one of his actors hits it big in Hollywood and having your plays published by Samuel French. Dale ...
Feb 12, 2020•1 hr 13 min
Dennis visits the Hollywood apartment of performer John Cantwell AKA Love Connie to talk about his new show A Little More Love Connie , which is inspired by the life and music of Olivia Newton-John. John recalls the road trip to Houston he took recently where he listened to Olivia's entire catalog and didn't repeat a song until he got to San Antonio...and how that trip help inspire the show. Dennis and John then discuss their favorite ONJ tracks, getting to meet her, the unique quality of her vo...
Feb 05, 2020•1 hr 14 min
For the fourth year in a row, Dennis sits down with Glenn Gaylord (Senior Film Critic for The Queer Review) and Michael Dougherty (co-director of the ReelAbilities Film Festival: Los Angeles) to talk about the movies and movie moments they loved from 2019. Films discussed include: Parasite, The Irishman, Hustlers, Long Shot, Dolemite is My Name, Once Upon a Time in Hollywood, High Life, Good Boys, Ad Astra, Portrait of a Lady on Fire, Extremely Wicked, Shockingly Evil and Vile, JT Leroy, Midsomm...
Feb 02, 2020•1 hr 42 min
Dennis visits the dressing room at the Carl Sagan & Ann Duran Theater to talk to Daniele Gaither and Pip Lilly, two of the stars of the new musical "For the Love of a Glove," an absurd and satirical take on the early life of Michael Jackson. They talk about what drew them to the show, going to puppet camp, playing multiple characters (including Emmanuel Lewis!) and how the show fits into a post- Leaving Neverland world. Daniele recalls road-tripping with a friend to the Michael Jackson trial...
Jan 29, 2020•31 min
Dennis visits the gothic-style and possibly haunted Hollywood apartment of Paul Ybarra, a singer and visual artist who has recently started creating tarot card illustrations featuring pop culture figures like Liza Minnelli, Mr. Rogers, Sonny Bono, Josephine Baker, Liberace, The Ronettes, Divine, Al Parker, Leona Helmsley, Joyce DeWitt and Miss Coco Peru...and then posting them on Instagram as @hauntedhollywood. He talks about his creative process, how he matches the tarot characters to the celeb...
Jan 10, 2020•1 hr 13 min
Dennis visits the West Hollywood home of comedian and writer Todd Masterson, the mind and the body behind the red-hot Instagram account @gayfatfriend, in which he photoshops himself into pictures of gay Insta-hotties. He talks about how he first came up with the idea, his daily creative process, what it feels like to go viral, getting dishy DMs from moles inside the gay hottie hive and that time he hurt himself trying to match the crouched and balancing pose of a Insta-gay. He talks about the mi...
Dec 31, 2019•1 hr 4 min
Dennis welcomes to his Noho condo his long-lost friend, singer-performer Jennifer Cihi who is visiting L.A. from Nashville. She talks about the gig she did in the early 1990's--the Japanese anime series Sailor Moon--that has led her to have a whole new career as a guest at anime conventions, the emotional connection she shares with Sailor Moon fans, bringing awareness to mental health issues through her work, how her relationship to singing has evolved over the years, doing Annie at 12, living i...
Dec 23, 2019•49 min
Dennis ventures to the edge of the Santa Monica wilderness to the home of author, speaker and TV showrunner Scottie Jeanette Madden to discuss her new cookbook/memoir Recklass In the Kitchen, a Year of Light, Laughter & Love…Oh, and Food! as well as the charity holiday dinner she's hosting on December 21st. She talks about how, in the years before she transitioned, cooking was her solace and saved her life. She also talks about some of her holiday favorites, like serving pumpkin soup out of ...
Dec 12, 2019•1 hr 54 min
Dennis visits the Silver Lake home of actress Andrea Hutchman to interview Andrea and two of her co-stars from the long-running L.A. stage comedy Bob's Holiday Office Party , which runs December 5th through the 22nd at the Atwater Village Theatre. They talk about the how they came to be in the show, how it's evolved in 24 years, on stage mishaps, drinking warm Coors Light on stage and the fans that come back year after year, sometimes by the busload. They also talk about how they all first met i...
Dec 06, 2019•51 min
Dennis and his game co-creator Jeb Havens head to a fabulous Hollywood high-rise to play You Don't Know My Life! with two of the men behind the new gay porn musical Shooting Star ; Florian Klein, writer and producer and actor-singer Michael Scott Harris, who plays the aging daddy porn star in the show. The guys play a twist on the original YDKML format where each player writes down two answers to every question; one true answer and one that's a lie. It's a great way to play if you only have 3 or...
Nov 30, 2019•1 hr 3 min
