HBO Docs Club

HBO

HBO documentaries keep us up at night, captivate our imaginations, and make us ask the big questions about what it means to be human. On HBO Docs Club, hosts Brittany Luse (For Colored Nerds) and Ronald Young, Jr. (Solvable) pull back the curtain on a wide variety of HBO Documentary Titles. Through in-depth conversations and interviews with filmmakers and experts, Brittany and Ronald unpack these stories with new context, exploring what they can teach us about the past, find out where these stories stand in the present, and how they may impact our future.

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Episodes

The Apollo

The Apollo is a documentary that explores the historical and cultural significance of Harlem’s landmark theater of the same name. Brittany and Ronald unpack some of the most memorable performances highlighted in the film and discuss the role the Apollo has played in Black culture writ large. They also have an engaging conversation with the film’s director, Roger Ross Williams, and Kamilah Forbes the Apollo Theater’s creative head who directed the stage production of Ta-Nehisi Coates' “Between th...

Jun 06, 2022•40 min

George Carlin’s American Dream

George Carlin’s American dream is a two-part documentary that follows the life and work of legendary comic George Carlin, dubbed the “dean of counterculture comedians.” Brittany and Ronald talk with co-directors Judd Apatow and Mike Bonfiglio about Carlin’s trajectory from variety show schtick, to incisive social commentator, to nihilistic comic. They unpack why his brand of humor still resonates today and how his bits, like “Seven Dirty Words You Can Never Say on Television,” opened up the worl...

May 30, 2022•41 min

The Lady and the Dale

The Lady and The Dale is a docuseries about the trans woman who tried to revolutionize the auto industry with a three-wheeled car at the height of the 1970’s gas crisis. Brittany and Ronald discuss the life and story of Liz Carmichael, and how the haunting legacy of transphobia muddied the waters of her fraud trial. The Lady And The Dale co-director Zackary Drucker and historian Susan Stryker join Brittany and Ronald to talk about telling the story of this complicated woman and what the spirit o...

May 16, 2022•48 min

Mommy Dead and Dearest

Mommy Dead and Dearest is the 2017 documentary about the toxic dynamic between Dee Dee and Gypsy Rose Blanchard that ended in murder. In this episode, hosts Brittany and Ronald discuss the provocative documentary that began with a murder and uncovered a lifetime of deception, mental illness, and child abuse. Brittany and Ronald interview director Erin Lee Carr about the making of the film and where Gypsy Rose is today. They also talk with medical child abuse expert Dr. Mary Sanders about the psy...

May 02, 2022•49 min

The Invisible Pilot

In this episode, hosts Brittany and Ronald discuss The Invisible Pilot, a three-part docuseries that begins with a mysterious disappearance and dark family secrets, and ends up inside one of the biggest political scandals of our time: The Iran Contra Affair. After a conversation about the questionable morals of the crop-dusting, drug-running pilot at the center of the series and what his story says about America, Brittany and Ronald interview director Phil Lott and executive producer Todd Schulm...

Apr 18, 2022•53 min

How To Survive a Pandemic

How to Survive a Pandemic documents the global response to the Covid-19 outbreak and the race for a vaccine. In this episode, Brittany and Ronald unpack the unique experience of watching a film about an issue that has consumed our lives since March 2020. They talk with the documentary’s director David France (How to Survive a Plague) about making a film about a pandemic during a pandemic (which he’s done twice). They also interview one of the most compelling people in the movie – pastor and acti...

Apr 04, 2022•51 min

Atlanta Missing and Murdered: The Lost Children

HBO Docs Club’s first episode dives into the critically acclaimed five-part docuseries Atlanta’s Missing and Murdered: The Lost Children, chronicling the Atlanta Child Murders, which occurred between 1979 and 1981, when at least 30 African-American children and young adults disappeared or were murdered in Atlanta. Hosts Brittany Luse and Ronald Young Jr. interview director Sam Pollard about his filmmaking philosophy, discussing deeply traumatic experiences with subjects, and the impact of the fi...

Mar 21, 2022•53 min

Introducing HBO Docs Club

Political scandals, psychological thrillers, family secrets. Big cultural moments and public figures who live forever in our imagination. Hosted by Brittany Luse (For Colored Nerds) and Ronald Young Jr. (Solvable), HBO Docs club will pull back the curtain on a different documentary film or series each episode — think DVD bonus features, but with a 2022 podcast twist, and with expert cultural critics as your guides. Get comfy, dim the lights and get ready to learn that sometimes true life is even...

Feb 17, 2022•4 min

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