This week’s guest is Noah Adams, a researcher investigating the experiences of people who are trans and autistic. Noah’s understanding of himself began with cartoons in childhood, with characters that drew his interest in ways that he wouldn’t fully understand until years later.
By the way, in our conversation, Noah mentions a fundraiser that he’s doing to help queer people relocate to safety — here’s the link for...
2022-12-01 17:01:01 +0000 UTC
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Hello! In this week's bonus video I've got the story of Leslie Jordan's ~incident~ at a Starbucks, when he stood up to a literally-raging homophobe. Also the unfortunate time he was on Star Trek and couldn't quite drop his accent. We're taking a look at a fascinating little TV artifact featuring an unexpected guest star on a game show, and gathering some tantalizing research about Kevin Conroy, the voice of Batman (and an altercation with Brian Bedford, the voice of Robin Hood).
2022-11-27 17:01:00 +0000 UTC
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My guest this week is Ben Sander, creator of the character Brini Maxwell, a drag hostess who’s helmed shows about crafting, cooking, and homemaking, for decades. It all started with a little cable access show that he produced with some help from his mother, before becoming a cable TV series, with live shows that continue to this day — with Brini the character continuing to evolve as Ben her creator explores new artistic frontiers.
(Also: if you’re a fan of pop culture history — ...
2022-11-25 17:01:01 +0000 UTC
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This week we’re concluding the United Federation of Style podcast with one of my favorite episodes, “City on the Edge of Forever,” which features some particularly unusual set decoration purely because someone in the prop department misheard their instructions. Also, Joan Collins (the mean mom from Dynasty) as a pacifist with a wonderful collection of hats, and Kirk and Spock get to live out their lumberjack roommate fantasy.
Also: Now that we've reached the end ...
2022-11-23 17:00:13 +0000 UTC
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My guest this week is Edgar Gomez, author of the book High Risk Homosexual. Edgar spent years trying to figure out who he was, bouncing from one group to another — which took him from skater cliques to an encounter with a sex worker in Nicaragua to enrolling in school to become a cop, until he was expelled after being falsely accused of being a drug dealer. Edgar auditioned a lot of identities before he found one that felt right — one that allowed him to continue infiltrating and explorin...
2022-11-18 17:00:11 +0000 UTC
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Hello Patrons! Welcome once again to United Federation of Style, a podcast miniseries with me and fashion expert Samantha Rei in which we dissect the bonkers attire of Star Trek. This week’s adventure is “Taste of Armageddon,” which I picked mostly because of the absolutely NUTS headwear, but on closer inspection also includes some particularly hastily-assembled costumes that look very much like something a parent had to put together for a kid who only told them the night befor...
2022-11-16 17:00:08 +0000 UTC
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Hello there! Welcome to another bonus video. This week I'm responding to feedback about last week's weird Rosalind Russell joke, and also sharing some more fun stories about the great Leslie Jorden -- including the time he got into a bit of a wrestling match with Paul Hogan, aka Crocodile Dundee. Also, the story of what happened when Betty White hit him on the head with a frying pan, and how Carrie Fisher helped him get out of a fight with his mother. And! We're remembering Kevin Conroy, the ...
2022-11-13 17:00:10 +0000 UTC
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Here we go! It was only a matter of time before we got to “Space Seed,” the episode of Star Trek in which a group of frozen criminals from the 1990s are awakened and decide to conquer the universe. This is episode 5 of United Federation of Style, a podcast miniseries in which fashion expert Samantha Rei and I joke our way through Trek’s weirdest couture. There’s lots to talk about in this one, not least of which is Ricardo Montelban’s outrageously muscular chest.
2022-11-09 17:00:08 +0000 UTC
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Hello there! Oh wow do I have a fun clip for you in this week's bonus video. An interview with Angela Lansbury where she reveals the director who cast her because he had a THING for pretty actress' feet. Would you believe it was Cecil B. DeMille??? I guess now we know why he made all those sandal pictures. Also this week -- another reading from the works of Joan Crawford, and Angela performing a goofy song at the Oscars with Joan Collins and Dana Wynter. And then Angela performing a goofy dan...
2022-11-06 18:00:06 +0000 UTC
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My guest this week is Josh Weed, who ten years ago became a minor online celebrity after writing a blog post about how he was gay, Mormon, and happily married to a woman. Well, things have changed a bit since then. In 2018, Josh and his now ex-wife decided that it just wasn’t working, and they parted ways to pursue new relationships. Since then, they’ve both re-married, and remain close friends. And Josh has had some space to reflect on the cultural forces that gave them a distorted view ...
2022-11-03 02:48:08 +0000 UTC
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Hello there! Time once again for United Federation of Style, a podcast miniseries with me and my friend, fashion icon Samantha Rei. This week’s romp is the episode “Court Marial,” in which Kirk is put on trial for being a butterfingers who accidentally bonked a button and killed someone. Or did he??? We’ll be discussing the appalling Jello-looking hors d’oevres they serve in space, the lusty gaze Kirk gives a judge, and one of my favorite Star Trek characters – a space-la...
2022-11-02 16:00:07 +0000 UTC
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Hi Patrons! Time for episode three of United Federation of Style, a podcast adventure that I recorded with fashion expert and designer Samantha Rei. We’re taking a rollicking journey through the weirdest costumes of Star Trek and this week we’ve got “Shore Leave,” in which the crew beams down to a vacation planet but then things start going haywire as their fantasies come to life. Why is Kirk’s fantasy that he can roll around in a torn tunic with his college roommate, a lep...
2022-10-26 16:00:11 +0000 UTC
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Hello there! In this week's bonus video we're diving even deeper into the amazing life of Angela Lansbury, including the incredible lengths she went to in order to beat out Bea Arthur for the lead role in Mame. Plus! A collection of beauty and party tips from Joan Crawford -- believe me when I say NOTHING can prepare you for her hair styling technique or her little secret trick for making sure every party is a success (or fiasco, depending on how you look at it).
Backup link if...
2022-10-23 21:05:42 +0000 UTC
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This week I’m talking to Mayor John Bauters — yes that’s right the actual mayor of Emeryville, which are the words on the sash that was made for him by Pixar studios, just one of the constituencies in his East Bay town. John never planned to become an elected official, and he doesn’t care if people vote him out. Which is maybe what makes him such an unusual leader.
2022-10-20 16:00:11 +0000 UTC
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Hello Patrons! We’re back with another episode of United Federation of Style, a podcast miniseries I did with fashion expert and designer Samantha Rei where we dissect the strange outfits of Star Trek. This week, we’re tackling “The Menagerie,” a weird flashback-heavy episode in which Spock steals the Enterprise (what a scamp) and we learn about its previous captain, Christopher Pike. This is the episode that forms the basis – somewhat – of the current series Strange ...
2022-10-19 16:00:08 +0000 UTC
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Hello! I am in nature for this week's bonus video, briefly. Let's talk about some of the incredibly highlight's of Angela Lansbury's career, including her gay husband, a forgotten gay-romance film she made in the 1970s, and all her tireless work to fight HIV. Also this week: A super bizarre connection between one of the gay killers in Hitchcock's film Rope and the world's first robot. Also, a little tease of bonus content to come: I've got my hands on a 1945 gossip column written by Joan Craw...
2022-10-16 17:00:06 +0000 UTC
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My guest this week is Professor Paul Baker, a writer and linguist whose work includes some FASCINATING explorations of Polari, the secret 19-century queer language that existed in England a century ago. He’s also delved deep into the history of British don’t-say-gay laws, gay seafarers, and in an upcoming book about campy queer culture. Given his expertise in campy sitcoms, drag stars, and celebrated actresses, I have a feeling that he speaks a language in which listeners of this podcast ...
2022-10-13 16:00:10 +0000 UTC
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Hello there! I’ve got something new and nifty and a little different from my usual fare to share with you:
Earlier this year, my friend Samantha Rei and I recorded a little limited-run podcast miniseries called The United Federation of Style that’s all about the fashion of the future – specifically, about the weird wild fascinating fashions on Star Trek: The Original Series.
2022-10-12 16:00:13 +0000 UTC
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When Anne Rice originally submitted the manuscript for Interview With the Vampire to her editor, it had a COMPLETELY different ending -- in this week's bonus video, I'm sharing the plot twists that they made her throw out and re-write. Also on the agenda is a discussion of the unfortunate adaptation of a sexy romance into a Rosie O'Donnell buddy-cop comedy (still sexy). Plus! The hidden homosexuality lurking just under the surface in one of Hitchcock's most notorious thrillers. And a little b...
2022-10-09 16:00:09 +0000 UTC
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Over on YouTube, I just released a new video about the long queer history of vampire lore — from Victorian novels about killer lesbians and undead seamen to early motion pictures and then the groundbreaking novel Interview With the Vampire in the 1970s. A new adaptation of Interview just premiered on AMC this week, and so in honor of that we’re diving into the Sewers archives to revisit my 2015 interview with Levi Hastings.
Levi’s an illustrator who grew up feeling like a misfit i...
2022-10-06 16:01:01 +0000 UTC
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For this week’s episode, I couldn’t decide if I wanted to run an interview about horror movies, since October’s about to begin — or about romantic comedies, in recognition of Billy Eichner’s new rom-com Bros. So I decided to run an episode about horror AND romance. It’s a revisit of my 2018 interview with Michael Varrati, Hollywood screenwriter responsible for such films as From Hell She Rises, and Seven Dorms of Death … and also A Christmas Reunion and A Christmas in Vermont. M...
2022-09-29 18:25:00 +0000 UTC
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Hello there! In this week's bonus video I've got a quick update about my book Hi Honey I'm Homo (yes it will be available internationally, yes there will be an audiobook, yes we're working on a way to do signed copies). Also, thanks to Robin for sending me a VERY bizarre depiction of a gay bar on a British sitcom, with a few too many mustaches. I've got an intriguing clip of Raymond Burr attending a Judy Garland movie premiere with a sailor "friend," and I did a little digging and found that ...
2022-09-25 17:01:01 +0000 UTC
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My guest this week has two lives — his theater life and his law life. By day, you may know Chris Geidner for his reporting and writing on some of the most pressing legal issues of the day. But he’s just as passionate about musical theater, going all the way back to the time he was enthralled by Phantom of the Opera. In fact, it was one little twist of fate that led him to a legal career instead of a life in the theat...
2022-09-22 16:00:10 +0000 UTC
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You might know my guest this week from his saucy art on Twitter, but there’s much more to his work than X-Men in Speedos. Josh Cornillon grew up reading sophisticated graphic novels in his native France, and those books infuse the writing and illustration that he does today.
2022-09-15 16:01:03 +0000 UTC
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Hello there! I was doing some research into the history of sissies and came across this fantastically suggestive gay song from the mid-1930s that I think you will enjoy very much indeed. Also, a little more information about how "Our Hearts Were Young and Gay" would have been (or might not have been) a German code book. I've dug up some interesting stuff about the queerness and gender-flippery of Interview with the Vampire, with more to come. And a question for you: What is the first...
2022-09-11 20:21:36 +0000 UTC
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TJ Klune’s childhood grew up reading books in a forest under the trees, which sounds idyllic … minus the part about how he was mercilessly bullied. Literature and libraries were his safe haven, and in fact a librarian was the first person he ever came out to. In his adult life, TJ found himself working a grueling job in the insurance industry, longing to tell the stories in his head. But nobody was more surprised than he was when, one day, he walked into work and declared the he was quitt...
2022-09-08 16:01:04 +0000 UTC
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Here she is, world: I am very pleased to reveal the title & cover of my new book, hitting shelves next year!
Hi Honey, I'm Homo! is the multi-decade true story of queer characters on American sitcoms -- featuring behind-the-scenes tales about your favorite shows to the impact that subversive queer comedy had on the country, including interviews with folks who worked on All in the Family...
2022-09-06 17:07:37 +0000 UTC
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Hello there! In this week's bonus video, I break down a strange mystery involving a hit novel, a hastily un-gayed sitcom from the 1950s, and a secret German code book. Also, the saucy story behind the song "My Heart Belongs to Daddy," the first time Anne Rice ever saw a lesbian vampire, and an incredible sexy story that I'm pretty sure is not at all true.
Backup link in case the embed's not working:
https://youtu.be/Gh...
2022-09-04 18:10:49 +0000 UTC
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Fifty one years ago this month, a strange and beautiful art film called Pink Narcissus had its San Francisco debut, and went on to forever change the life of my guest Ian MacKinnon. I spoke to Ian back in 2015, and this week we’re revisiting that interview to mark the half-century birthday of one of his favorite films. Growing up in the midwest, Ian couldn't even picture what life as a gay man even looked like. And he certainly couldn't have pictured what his life would become: parading up ...
2022-09-01 16:00:10 +0000 UTC
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Hello there! This week I (and my assistant, Molly the dog) have some stories for you about the time that Charles Nelson Reilly got his revenge on NBC for cancelling his show by running up a HUGE bill at a very pricey hotel. And speaking of hotels, check out this ad campaign from the mid-70s that looks today like it's trying to lure customers into an unusually saucy gay cruising spot. Also, Rip Taylor before he found the confetti is a strange sight to behold.
Backup link if the embed doe...
2022-08-27 17:00:05 +0000 UTC
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