[SPEAKER_00]: We really gave podcasts that we called that's a gay ass podcast at the gay out name for a gay out podcast Luke Monday is recording on a Tuesday on that's a gay ass god damn podcast so Luke the rumor has it that you are in the Mulan Rouge National Tour but you're currently not onset tour can you tell listeners where the hell are you? [SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, the rumors are true. [SPEAKER_01]: We just wrapped up our engagement in Denver. [SPEAKER_01]: It was amazing.
[SPEAKER_01]: The audiences were stellar. [SPEAKER_00]: So we went up Denver are so hot. [SPEAKER_01]: Oh, yeah. [SPEAKER_01]: I mean, Beards and tattoos galore, which hurt me for me as a, yeah, it's a weakness. [SPEAKER_01]: So Denver was amazing. [SPEAKER_01]: Doing the Lung Rouge at Altitude was really, [SPEAKER_01]: challenging. [SPEAKER_01]: There were several occasions where my classmates were using oxygen backstage. [SPEAKER_01]: Like, the theater went, no, I'm serious.
[SPEAKER_00]: It's like, I believe you are just laughing because like people think theater is like, you know, you just put on a wig and do a five six seven eight, but it is the most athletic. [SPEAKER_00]: And especially that fucking show.
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah. [SPEAKER_01]: There are wigs and there's a lot of five, six, seven, eight, but it's like really, I mean, we're talking like, these people are big level, breaking their bodies to do this show not so I'm a little bit of a different situation with what I do in the show and I'm happy to talk about that later, but yeah, it's very, very physical. [SPEAKER_01]: So anyway, we wrapped up our Denver engagement and then our show is on a, we call them layoff switch.
[SPEAKER_01]: kind of freaks people out because it makes a sound like we've been late all right, but it's it's basically just a hiatus. [SPEAKER_01]: So the show is not booked in any venues for the next five weeks. [SPEAKER_01]: Oh, that gives us time to like let our hair down and like be normal humans in the world because tour life is great, but it is not. [SPEAKER_01]: real life like I've missed I've missed weddings. [SPEAKER_01]: I've missed birthdays.
[SPEAKER_01]: I've missed all kinds of stuff. [SPEAKER_01]: So it's nice just for five weeks. [SPEAKER_01]: I can just be a normal human civilian in the world. [SPEAKER_01]: And where are you now? [SPEAKER_01]: So I drove from Denver to Northern Utah, where I'm originally from, and currently chilling at my parents place in Northern Utah. [SPEAKER_00]: Shout out to them. [SPEAKER_00]: There's someone on the hack because you're going from like one of the horniest.
[SPEAKER_00]: musicals on the road right now to Northern Utah in your parent's basement. [SPEAKER_00]: Yeah. [SPEAKER_00]: I guess I have a couple of followups. [SPEAKER_00]: Question number one, did you grow up Mormon? [SPEAKER_01]: That is a great question and I'm asked that often. [SPEAKER_00]: I can imagine. [SPEAKER_01]: I was not raised Mormon.
[SPEAKER_01]: So funny thing about my childhood and just like my whole existence in Utah is that like my parents [SPEAKER_01]: They are like, I'm purely from here, just based on circumstances, I don't have any ancestry in Utah, I don't have any ties whatsoever. [SPEAKER_01]: My parents are their music teachers and so they met in grad school in Louisiana.
[SPEAKER_01]: And then they subsequently my dad got a teaching job out here in Utah to be the junior high like band teacher and they had just a rest of her story. [SPEAKER_01]: Yes, and they came and my mom shortly thereafter got a teaching job and so we just grew up in this. [SPEAKER_01]: really charming little valley in Utah. [SPEAKER_01]: It's very idyllic. [SPEAKER_01]: Like being back here is kind of wild because I'm just like, I mean, that probably is gorgeous.
[SPEAKER_01]: Oh, it's unbelievably beautiful. [SPEAKER_00]: But it's also funny to me that you are in this like, again, torn between two worlds. [SPEAKER_00]: Because you know, have a five week break. [SPEAKER_00]: Are you going to spend the entire five weeks, sort of connecting with the fam? [SPEAKER_00]: Are you going to slotted up elsewhere? [SPEAKER_00]: What's your plan? [SPEAKER_01]: I think I'd probably lose my mind if I wasn't Logan is the town where I'm from.
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah. [SPEAKER_01]: a small little Mormon town. [SPEAKER_01]: I probably go absolutely fucking insane if I stayed here for five weeks. [SPEAKER_01]: No disrespect to Logan. [SPEAKER_01]: But so I'm here for just like tonight actually and then I have plans to actually do some press for Mulan Rouge.
[SPEAKER_01]: Like fly me to Georgia to do this press thing and to sing a song [SPEAKER_01]: To promote the show there, which I'm very excited about, and then I'm going to New York, and I'm going to go to Fire Island for the first time ever, and I'm so excited. [SPEAKER_00]: Luke, that is such a letter rate. [SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, that's a great segue into the sluddy part of our conversation, because on this series for the pod, we love to ask about that word slut.
[SPEAKER_00]: The word slut to me is a compliment. [SPEAKER_00]: It is a beautiful way of life. [SPEAKER_00]: It is something that I embrace and give it a positive connotation. [SPEAKER_00]: Luke, does the word slut apply to you? [SPEAKER_00]: absolutely yes. [SPEAKER_00]: Hell yes and now we're gonna get into it. [SPEAKER_00]: So since you have this interesting Utah to Broadway pipeline, can I ask you my first study question which is what was your first gay kiss?
[SPEAKER_00]: Where were you and who was it with? [SPEAKER_01]: Okay, his name was Terran, he was one year ahead of me in school and like, you know, as like a gay kid who's in someone to closet, you're very aware of the other gay kids at your school, absolutely, whether they're out to or whether they're not you're kind of just some like, okay, there's that one and there's that one.
[SPEAKER_01]: And then you kind of assess like, is that something I want to pursue or not, well, I found out that this boy that was in choir, like, you're ahead of me, who I always already thought was cute come to find out he had like just come out. [SPEAKER_01]: And because it's high school or college, this was high school. [SPEAKER_01]: So this is like I'm a junior in high school. [SPEAKER_01]: I'm a senior in high school. [SPEAKER_01]: He just graduated. [SPEAKER_01]: hit him up on my space.
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, you did. [SPEAKER_01]: I hit him up on my space and was like, I just framed it like, hey, Darren, like, I'm still in the closet. [SPEAKER_01]: Like, I saw that you just came out and like, you were got a lot of support in like, we're just love to like, pick your brain about like, and all of this is true, but like, there was also, you know, of course, say, alter your motor because I pick your brain, but you're right, [SPEAKER_01]: Exactly.
[SPEAKER_01]: So one thing led to another and we were hanging out and we were gay kissing a lot like oh wow it was the kissing was I want to say it was really good. [SPEAKER_01]: It was so long ago, but like My memories of it were like this is the most amazing thing that's ever happened to me. [SPEAKER_01]: So oh my god. [SPEAKER_01]: I still kiss was very very good. [SPEAKER_00]: It sounds excellent, and I think we all remember our first skate kiss and how electric it felt.
[SPEAKER_00]: I mean, I make a joke about it. [SPEAKER_00]: I'm doing a show right now where I say, you think I'm going to say something very romantic, but I say, and I was rock hard. [SPEAKER_00]: And that's the truth. [SPEAKER_00]: I was just like, it was the first time that I... [SPEAKER_00]: Kiss someone and I actually wanted to kiss and it felt like electricity through my body. [SPEAKER_00]: What did you do with them, Darren?
[SPEAKER_00]: Did you go beyond kiss into other physical forms of energy? [SPEAKER_01]: We sure did. [SPEAKER_01]: I don't never forget this. [SPEAKER_01]: He was a smoker. [SPEAKER_01]: And he, before we would kiss, he would always put in a piece of like fruity gum. [SPEAKER_01]: This is so crazy to even say this out loud because I haven't thought about this in such a long time.
[SPEAKER_01]: But I remember his mouth tasted like a combination of like fruity tropical gum and like cigarette smoke.
[SPEAKER_01]: So just I'm just trying to give you like a little bit of a little bit of a little bit of a little bit of a little bit of a little bit of a little bit of a little bit of a little bit of a little bit of a little bit of a little bit of a little bit of a little bit of a little bit of a little bit of a little bit of a little bit of a little bit of a little bit of a little bit of a little bit of a little bit of a little bit of a little bit of a little bit of a little bit of a little bit of a little bit of a little bit of a little bit of a little bit of a little bit of a little bit of a little bit of a little bit of a little bit of a little bit of a little bit of a little bit of a little bit of a little
[SPEAKER_01]: No, no, it's fine. [SPEAKER_01]: It's just, it's just such a specific combination of taste, I guess, if you will. [SPEAKER_00]: Oh, yeah. [SPEAKER_01]: But it was still, it was still very positive. [SPEAKER_01]: It was, it's not like the trickering or anything. [SPEAKER_00]: Oh, yeah.
[SPEAKER_00]: Well, you know what I was funny the way you say that is the way that, when you say that it brings up for me a specific memory because we really put smells so specifically with memories and this one's going to be a TMI but that's what the podcast is for. [SPEAKER_00]: Hey, I don't mean. [SPEAKER_00]: One of the first times I like jerked off was with a probably expensive conditioner that was in my parents' bathroom. [SPEAKER_01]: Mine was coconut.
[SPEAKER_01]: She's shade butter lotion. [SPEAKER_00]: Coconut shade okay. [SPEAKER_01]: Coconut scented shade butter lotion. [SPEAKER_00]: I can spell it right now. [SPEAKER_00]: I can smell it right now. [SPEAKER_01]: Smells like masturbation. [SPEAKER_00]: It's really in my, in my like mom's conditioner from all those years [SPEAKER_00]: Part of the reason why I did it is really nasty and like Slotting nasty They said it looked like calm. [SPEAKER_00]: Oh, so I was like.
[SPEAKER_00]: Oh my god. [SPEAKER_00]: I've been drinking off with coms. [SPEAKER_00]: Yeah It really did it's like you're just so horny at that age. [SPEAKER_01]: I mean, yeah I'm still very very horny, but I'm just like just remembering like yeah exactly like this lotion reminds me of that Which makes me horny like that's such a like 17 year old
[SPEAKER_00]: Okay, I think that, and I think actually I can't believe I haven't told you this yet, but part of the reason why I'm interviewing you is because not only do I think you're incredibly talented and incredibly sexy, but I asked on Instagram people to tell me who their Broadway crushes were. [SPEAKER_00]: And Luke Monday was a submission and now here you are.
[SPEAKER_00]: So I just want to affirm that you're doing the Lord's work and there are people who definitely want to hear about your journey. [SPEAKER_00]: One of the things I want to hear about in your journey, part of the reason why I asked you to come on the podcast is because you where I fell out hairy king and body hair representation is very important to me.
[SPEAKER_00]: So Luke, tell me, have you always enjoyed being this furry or was it something you [SPEAKER_01]: I had to learn to embrace it. [SPEAKER_01]: Tell me, it's well, this might be TMI, but like I used to be on the swim team and it was such a huge part of my life and I remember when I started to grow here.
[SPEAKER_01]: like before the other boys started to grow hair like I already had like the beginnings of like a happy trail and then I was starting to grow this is where I kind of drew the line. [SPEAKER_01]: I was excited about armpits because I was like oh my gosh I'm growing up I'm a grown-up now.
[SPEAKER_01]: That was fun because everybody had armpit hair but like the nipple hair that was like I was like literally shaving [SPEAKER_01]: Oh, yeah, me, so maybe because that's where it started to grow and nothing in between. [SPEAKER_01]: And I was just like, oh my god, I've hairy nipples. [SPEAKER_01]: I'm such a freak. [SPEAKER_01]: And so to answer your question at first, I was like, this is not.
[SPEAKER_01]: And my skin is just really fair and my hair is really dark, so it's just like so apparent when it started to happen. [SPEAKER_01]: But as the years have gone by and like throughout my 20s, like hair started to grow in the middle, like on my sternum area and I started to spread and like now I'm 34 years old and I'm just like, [SPEAKER_01]: fucking hairy from head to toe and I absolutely love it.
[SPEAKER_01]: The only, honestly, the only downside for me is that when I get out of the shower and I like dry myself off, there's just like a, you know, there's just like hair, it's just fucking everywhere. [SPEAKER_01]: And you know, I just have to like, whoever I happen to be sharing a bathroom with at that time, I'm just like, hey, listen, sorry. [SPEAKER_00]: It is what I have Mariah Carey once said, it is what it is Santa.
[SPEAKER_01]: Right, right, and I'm just like, you know, I'll do my best to like clean up after myself, obviously, but it's it's a tricky sometimes. [SPEAKER_00]: Well, it's also funny. [SPEAKER_00]: I think I haven't talked about this part of the hair experience, but when you're hooking up with someone and I think anybody with a bush. [SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, anybody experiences it, but I think when it gets in their mouth, the only way to deal with it, and I've been very lucky.
[SPEAKER_00]: It's usually how it goes, it's usually take the moment. [SPEAKER_00]: take it off the tongue and then get back to doing whatever you're doing and it's not it's not it's nothing I think some people that like get embarrassed by it on either side whether it's the person who is hairy or the person with it in their mouth there's no need that's just like the circle of gay life oh my god yeah i'm so i'm so done apologizing for
[SPEAKER_01]: that I'm sorry sorry or yeah right like if I'm going down on a guy and I get a hearing out sometimes I'll just be like it's probably mine and we both will give all and then we'll keep going because like sometimes the hair from my own head will end up in my mouth and I'm just like wow that my hair really knows no bounds it's just everywhere oh absolutely [SPEAKER_00]: What was your journey with embracing the slut life?
[SPEAKER_00]: Your sexuality, was it something that you were doing in college? [SPEAKER_01]: No, I actually had a lot of shame around sex in college. [SPEAKER_01]: I remember hearing about my classmates like, oh my gosh, so and so hooked up with so and so with this party. [SPEAKER_01]: And I remember being like, oh, that's that's so gross. [SPEAKER_01]: You know, I was like, unless you want to date the person, it's kind of gross that you're just like, [SPEAKER_01]: so nonchalantly having sex.
[SPEAKER_01]: And this is not even because of anything that my parents like imposed on me. [SPEAKER_01]: I truly believe that just because I grew up in this like Uber conservative environment, sort of just filtered into our household and it kind of filtered into the way I was brought up just because my parents, they were just adapting to the culture that we were in when we were kids.
[SPEAKER_01]: And so we didn't really talk about sex very freely or openly, certainly not [SPEAKER_01]: And so by the time I got to theater school, where everyone's gay and horny and naturally people are starting to like pair off and hook up and this is not. [SPEAKER_01]: What's cool was it. [SPEAKER_01]: So I went to Weber State University in Ogden, Utah. [SPEAKER_01]: It's a state school, but they do have a pretty decent. [SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, you know, I've heard of the W-E-B-E-R.
[SPEAKER_00]: Correct. [SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, I think we burst out for sure. [SPEAKER_01]: So while you had all this shame, you were like, had shame around sex, a few years sort of passed by and I ended up dating the person that became my well, it's complicated, but we are married currently, so he is my husband. [SPEAKER_01]: But [SPEAKER_01]: My first sort of like, oh, this isn't gross or bad. [SPEAKER_01]: This is actually really natural and very okay.
[SPEAKER_01]: Was when he and I started to sort of explore three songs. [SPEAKER_00]: It was like, for the rest of this interview, had to sub-stack linked in the description. [SPEAKER_00]: You can also watch bonus episodes with Mikey Grassefa from Death Becomes her. [SPEAKER_00]: Isaiah Rutledge, Sunset Boulevard's Demon Moon. [SPEAKER_00]: We have Derek Hage, Patrick, Nick. [SPEAKER_00]: on us. [SPEAKER_00]: Mark. [SPEAKER_00]: They're all hot. [SPEAKER_00]: The stories are amazing.
[SPEAKER_00]: And you should go check it out at substact.com slash at Eric Will's linked in the description. [SPEAKER_00]: I love you. [SPEAKER_00]: Bye!