Author David Ambroz (A Place Called Home): “I Think Of No As A Request for More Information”
DENNIS ANYONE? with Dennis Hensley
Release Date: 10/27/2022
DENNIS ANYONE? with Dennis Hensley
Dennis is joined via Zoom by singer and American Idol alum Jim Verraros on the day he releases his first new music in 12 years, a dance-pop single called "Take My Bow." Jim talks about what inspired him to step in front of the microphone again, how putting out music is different now than it was in the mid-2000s and why he loves a good double entendre. He also talks about his life post-Idol, being the first Idol finalist to come out, landing a record deal and and appearing in films like Eating Out and making the decision to leave LA and the business and return to Chicago. He talks about getting...
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Dennis is joined via Zoom by Leonard Hyman, the emcee and a story producer for the L.A. stage show Mortified. Mortified is a long running stage show where performers get on the mic and share things they created as kids or teens, like diary entries, poems, home videos, things that were never intended to be shared with a roomful of stranger. Leonard recalls how he first learned about the show then went on to perform on it multiple times. He also talks about how he's kept a diary for most of his life and how he read one passage of it as part of his wedding vows--he reads that part for us,...
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Dennis 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...
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Dennis is joined via Zoom by Tom Gustafson & Cory Krueckeberg, the men behind the new gay movie-musical, Glitter and Doom. Tom directs, Cory writes and edits and they produce together. The film is a loosely autobiographical love story between two young men, a broody down-on-his luck musician named Doom (Alan Cammish) and a sunny aspiring circus performer named Glitter (Alex Diaz) In the interview, Cory recalls how he wrote the script on his own and then presented it to Tom on their 20th anniversary as a couple. Tom talks about the decision to shoot in Mexico City and recalls the...
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Dennis is joined via Zoom by author Manuel Betancourt to discuss his new book The Male Gazed: . In the book, which he describes as a memoir in essays about masculinity and desire, Manuel writes about such subjects as Ricky Martin's thirst traps on Instagram, Mario Lopez's wrestling singlets on Saved By The Bell, Antonio Banderas's tighty-whities in Law of Desire and why flamboyant Puerto Rican TV astrologer Walter Mercado used to make him squirm. Manuel also talks about getting rejected by a number of publishers and nearly giving up before his eventual publisher called to say they were...
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To promote this Saturday's Hot August Night Edition of The MisMatch Game, here are some clips from June's two Pride-themed shows. The panelists are Dante as Christopher Lloyd, Danny Casillas as Reba Areba, Richard Halpern as Austin Powers, Tom Lenk as M3GAN and Zooey Deschanel, Felix Pire as The Mad Hatter, Rebekah Kochan as Jennifer Coolidge, Jackie Clarke as Ginni Thomas, James Adomian as Elon Musk, Nadya Ginsburg as Cher, Lory Tatoulian as Queen Camilla & Marc Samuel as Morgan Freeman. The questions take on such subjects as Rihanna's missing toe ring, Dorothy's stolen ruby slippers and...
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Dennis is joined via Zoom by actor-writer-director Craig Chester to discuss the upcoming 18th Anniversary screening of his gay rom-com Adam and Steve, which is happening on August 31st at the Mary Pickford Theater in Palm Springs. Craig shares memories of making the movie, including how he had to take over as director just a few weeks before filming, how he burst into tears after shooting the film's big, show-stopping western-themed dance number and what it was like to work with Malcolm Gets, Parker Posey and Chris Kattan. He also talks about his career as a TV writer, working on the...
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Dennis is joined via Zoom by historian JD Doyle to discuss his new book, "1981: My Gay American Road Trip, A Slice Of Our Pre-AIDS Culture." The book is comprised mostly of diary entries JD kept during a road trip he took in 1981 that spanned 24 states,180 gay bars and lots of hot hookups. In the interview, JD discusses how his father encouraged him to take the trip after he got laid off of his chemical engineering job, the '77 Skylark he took the journey in by himself with no air conditioning, using his background in gay media to network and how the entire experience changed him. He...
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Dennis is joined via Zoom by writer-performer Alex Alexander whose show Perception vs. Reality 101 returns to Los Angeles on August 12th. The show is about how sometimes the stories we tell ourselves about our lives and our pasts aren't actually true. Alex talks about getting inspiration for the show from her high school yearbooks, why she changed her name from Debra to Alex, getting caught up the Fatal Attraction backlash after changing her name to Alex and what her Southern Christian family thought when she decided to move to Los Angeles to pursue a career in entertainment. She also...
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Dennis is joined via Zoom by Andy & Danny Vallentine, the husband-and-husband team behind the new movie The Mattachine Family, which is about a gay male couple in L.A. and their multiple attempts to becoming fathers. Screenwriter Danny talks about getting inspiration for the script from his and Andy's real life journey. Andy talks about working with the stellar cast, which includes Nico Tortorella (Younger), Juan Pablo di Pace (Fuller House) and Emily Hampshire (Schitt's Creek). The pair also talk about getting Zach Braff to sign on as Executive Producer, the day on set they'll never...
info_outlineDennis connects via Zoom with author David Ambroz to discuss his memoir A Place Called Home, which David describes as “Forrest Gump meets Hillbilly Elegy with a heavy dose of Precious.” It documents his childhood, growing up homeless on the streets of New York City, struggling to survive with his mentally ill mother and two older siblings, then takes him through multiple group homes and foster families as a teenager, as well as a life-changing year abroad in Spain when he’s 17. He survives it all, goes onto college and eventually becomes an accomplished professional, working in community outreach for companies like Disney and Amazon, and advocating for better treatment for homeless and Foster kids all along the way. He talks about the emotional crisis he experienced a few years back which prompted him to finally put his story down on paper and how being perceived as gay early on made his foster experience even harder. Other topics include: his favorite memory of working on Hilary Clinton’s first senate campaign, going twenty plus years without crying, becoming a foster father himself, the magic of queer Mickey Mouse ears, and what all of us can do to be part of the solution. www.davidambroz.com