Filmmaker Sav Rodgers (Chasing Chasing Amy): "Every Day Is A School Day"
DENNIS ANYONE? with Dennis Hensley
Release Date: 09/14/2023
Holiday Gift Guide 2023 w/ Michael DeMartino, Eddie Shapiro, Dudley Beene & Patrick Marks
DENNIS ANYONE? with Dennis Hensley
Dennis is joined via Zoom by four different guests, each of whom have products that are perfect for holiday give gifting. First up is Michael DeMartino from Pillow Top, a line of queer-centric pillows and accessories. Michael talks about why he went into pillows, the thrill of having his leather harness pillow featured on Netflix's How To Build a Sex Room and the sexy hunk bowling ball he designed himself. Next up is author Eddie Shapiro whose third book of Broadway interviews Here's To The Ladies is perfect for the musical theater lover in your life. Eddie talks about what he's observed about...
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Author Mark S. King (My Fabulous Disease) Part 2: "I Am, By The Way, A Ginger Daddy And I'm Hanging On To That"
DENNIS ANYONE? with Dennis Hensley
Dennis is joined via Zoom by Mark S. King for Part 2 of their conversation about Mark's new book My Fabulous Disease as well as his previous memoir A Place Like This. In Part 2, Mark talks about building massive box kites with his father, how his father encouraged risk-taking in life and how surviving the AIDS crisis prepared him to deal with his father's passing. Mark also talks about one of his most widely-read columns; about the popular 2004 bareback porn film Dawson's 20-Load Weekend and what it said about gay culture at that time. He also talks about the column where he imagined going...
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Filmmaker Billy Luther ("Frybread Face & Me"): "I Just Knew I Had a Story To Tell"
DENNIS ANYONE? with Dennis Hensley
Dennis is joined via Zoom by filmmaker Billy Luther to discuss his film Frybread Face and Me, which comes out in select theaters and on Netflix on the day after Thanksgiving, November 24th. The film is a coming-of-age story set on the Navajo reservation in Northern Arizona and is based on Billy's own experience of going to stay with his grandmother on the reservation when he was about 11. Billy talks about the parts of himself that he put into his lead character of Benny, how he was able to assemble the perfect cast, developing the project through the Sundance Lab and transitioning to...
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Author Mark S. King (My Fabulous Disease): "I Grew Into My Top-hood"
DENNIS ANYONE? with Dennis Hensley
Dennis is joined via Zoom from Atlanta by author Mark S. King to talk about his new book My Fabulous Disease: Chronicles of a Gay Survivor, which he describes as his "greatest hits" from years writing columns for outlets like Poz, Frontiers and Windy City Times. In the interview, Mark expounds on some of the experiences he shares in the book, like the time he won a car on The Price is Right at 18 while his 26-year old boyfriend cheered from the audience and his audacious, loud-and-proud coming out as a senior in high school in Bossier City, Louisiana. He also recalls the time when he was...
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Mad Magazine & Match Game writer Dick DeBartolo Part 2: "If I Come Up With Something Stupid, I Can Just Put It Up on Facebook"
DENNIS ANYONE? with Dennis Hensley
In Part 2 of Dennis's interview with Dick DeBartolo, the writer talks about what it was like to juggle two dream jobs; writing for Mad Magazine and The Match Game TV show...at the same time! He also shares story after story of the good will he receives when a stranger finds out he's "Mad's maddest writer." He's gotten everything from airplane upgrades to house seats at a sold-out show. Dick also talks about his current work as a gadget expert on various TV shows as well as his own podcast The Giz Wiz. And on the subject of The Match Game, Dick shares stories about all the regulars; Charles...
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Mad Magazine & Match Game Writer Dick DeBartolo: "Yes, Alfed E. Neuman Is Running For President"
DENNIS ANYONE? with Dennis Hensley
Dennis is joined via Zoom by one of his heroes, comedy writer Dick DeBartolo who worked for both Mad Magazine and The Match Game TV show...at the same time! Dick talks about how he landed both jobs, how they actually complimented each other and what it was like to go back and forth between the two offices in Manhattan. Recalling Match Game, Dick describes how dry the questions were when he started and how it was his idea to make the questions silly, which basically saved the show. Dennis also has lots of questions for Dick about his beloved Mad magazine, like who exactly was it for? And...
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Filmmaker Dion Labriola (Dear Ike: Lost Letters to a Teen Idol): "Thanks for the Smile! - Carrot Top"
DENNIS ANYONE? with Dennis Hensley
Dennis is joined via Zoom by Dion Labriola, the filmmaker and the subject of the documentary Dear Ike: Lost Letters to a Teen Idol, which is screening on World Animation Day on PBS SoCal and is also available for streaming on PBS.org. The movie documents Dion's teenage obsession with the child actor Ike Eisenmann from Escape to Witch Mountain and also a Doublemint gum commercial that was ubiquitous is the late 1970's. As a teen, Dion had a vision for an animated movie that he wanted to make and he was determined to convince his iold Ike to be one of the voices. In fact, he was so...
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Writer-Performer Mitchell Anderson (You Better Call Your Mother): "I Owe It All To My Dirty Laundry"
DENNIS ANYONE? with Dennis Hensley
Dennis is joined via Zoom by actor-singer-writer-restaurantuer Mitchell Anderson to discuss his new autobiographical play You Better Call Your Mother, which takes its title from something a producer said to him backstage after he came out publicly onstage at the 1996 GLAAD Media Awards. This was while he was playing a gay character on the hit TV series Party of Five and made Mitchell one of the first--if not the first--leading man types to come out as gay. It was a huge deal and Mitchell talks about what led him to make that decision, the phone call he made to his mother afterward and...
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Writer-Performer Ryan Raftery (Mother of the Year: The Kris Jenner Musical): "It's Like Having Your Brain Stroked To A Low-Grade Orgasm"
DENNIS ANYONE? with Dennis Hensley
Dennis is joined via Zoom by Ryan Raftery, the star and creator of Mother of the Year: The Kris Jenner Musical, the latest in his series of musicals about complicated celebrities. Ryan talks about what drew him to exploring Kris, the nine months he spent researching her, what surprised him in his research and the words of wisdom from Kris that he's taken to heart. Dennis and Ryan also discuss the Kardashians generally, with Dennis sharing his impressions of their appearances on Fashion Police when he was a writer there and Ryan voicing his wish that they'll show up when Mother of the Year...
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Cartoonist Carlo Quispe (Uranus Comics): "Stop The Car! Stop The Car! Elizabeth Berkley Is Right There!"
DENNIS ANYONE? with Dennis Hensley
Dennis is joined via Zoom by cartoonist Carlo Quispe, one of the creators of Uranus Comics, who will be showing his work at the New York Queer Zine Fair on Saturday, October 7th. Carlo talks about when he first realized he could draw, winning a prestigious art contest as a kid with a little special help from mom and what it was like to move to the U.S. from Peru at 13. He also talks about his mentors and inspirations, the corner he often cuts in his drawing that comes back to bite him in the as and why he believes cartooning is one of the most intimate art forms. Other topics include: the...
info_outlineDennis is joined via Zoom by filmmaker Sav Rodgers to discuss his documentary Chasing Chasing Amy, a coming-of-age story set again the backdrop of Kevin Smith's controversial 1993 film Chasing Amy, which is about a lesbian (Joey Lauren Adams) who falls in love with a straight guy (Ben Affleck). Sav recalls how the documentary sprung from a Ted Talk he gave called "The Rom-Com That Saved My Life," which was about how his adolescent viewings of Chasing Amy made him feel less alone at a time when he was being bullied for his queerness and battled thoughts of suicide. He also recalls what it was like to interview Kevin Smith and Joey Lauren Adams, whose brutal honesty in discussing all the dark stuff around the film--Harvey Weinstein was a producer-- was not was Sav was expecting to get from her at all. Other topics include: the awesomeness of his wife Riley, passing as a cis-straight couple when they go out together even though he's trans and Riley identifies as a lesbian, the parallels between the themes of Chasing Amy and his own life and marriage and the day from the shoot that he'll always remember. www.chasingamydoc.com