Author Abdi Nazemian Part 2 ("Only This Beautiful Moment"): "My Books Aren't About The Fact That They've Been Banned. My Books Are About What They're About"
DENNIS ANYONE? with Dennis Hensley
Release Date: 03/21/2024
Author Brian Schaefer (Town & Country): "I’m Very Excited That It’s A Physical Thing Now That’s On My Own Bookshelf"
DENNIS ANYONE? with Dennis Hensley
Dennis is joined via Zoom from Manhattan by Brian Schaefer to talk about his wonderful debut novel Town & Country. The book is about a congressional election in a small rural town called Griffin between Chip Riley, a conservative bar owner who's lived in Griffin for decades, and Paul Sands, a young ambitious liberal gay man who bought a house in Griffin with his rich husband about a year earlier. Brian talks about taking inspiration from the Hudson Valley town where he and his husband have had a second home for 12 years, the long road to getting the book published and how it feels to...
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Actor and Interior Designer Francisco Chacin (Matlock): "Oh, I Have To Go Be Mean To Kathy Bates"
DENNIS ANYONE? with Dennis Hensley
Dennis is joined via Zoom by actor and interior designer Francisco Chacin who plays Beau Bridge's fastidious assistant Stuart on the hit CBS drama Matlock. Francisco talks about the thrill of booking the gig, getting paid to be mean to Kathy Bates, basing Stuart on certain "clipboard gays" he's observed in the real world and his dream that maybe Stuart can coach pageant contestants as a side business. He also talks about growing up in Venezuela then moving to Canada with his parents, at 20, when the political situation in Venezuela got too dangerous. He recalls his bold decision to leave a...
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Filmmaker Yen Tan (All That We Love): "Just Be Grateful That You’re Still Doing It"
DENNIS ANYONE? with Dennis Hensley
Dennis is joined by filmmaker Yen Tan whose latest movie All That We Love starring Margaret Cho and Jessie Tyler Ferguson is opening Outfest Next this week and hitting cinemas and streaming soon after. The film is about a woman in midlife who loses her dog and how she carries on after that loss and how she manages the relationships in her life, including her grown daughter, gay best friend and estranged ex-husband. Yen talks about the real life experiences that inspired the film, shooting in Los Angeles after making most of his previous projects like Ciao, 1985 and Pit Stop in Texas. Other...
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Writer Dennis Osborne & Author Barry Joseph (Matching Minds With Sondheim): "He Had The Youngest Energy Of Anyone In The Room"
DENNIS ANYONE? with Dennis Hensley
For the second part of Dennis's conversation with Matching Minds With Sondheim author Barry Joseph, Dennis invites his old friend Dennis Osborne to join the Zoom. Dennis was a good friend of Stephen Sondheim's for the last 35 years of his life and spent a lot of time playing games with him. In this conversation, Dennis and Barry talk about Sondheim's obsession with computer games like OXYD and Myst, that time Sondheim was on Password and crushed it, Sondheim's feelings about the escape room craze and they both delight each other with show-and-tell moments. Other topics include: Stephen...
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Author Barry Joseph (Matching Minds With Sondheim): "This Whole Book Was a Puzzle For Me To Solve"
DENNIS ANYONE? with Dennis Hensley
Dennis is joined via Zoom by Barry Joseph, author of the new book Matching Minds with Sondheim, which is all about the legendary Broadway composer and lyricist's love of puzzles and games. Barry talks about being inspired to write the book in 2022, a few months after Sondheim's passing, and how writing the book became like a puzzle for him to solve. He also talks about his love of Sondheim's musicals, from listening to the West Side Story cast recording as a kid to going to see Passion on Broadway during its first previous (and not appreciating it much at the time.) He goes into detail about...
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Candied Camera Live! Creator & Star Nora Burns: "I Don't Let People Go"
DENNIS ANYONE? with Dennis Hensley
Dennis is joined by his queer sketch comedy queen friend Nora Burns to talk about her new stage show Candied Camera Live!, which is based on a real public access TV show she produced and hosted back in the 1990s. Nora talks about the material on the show that would definitely get her cancelled today, using a sex club with a camera in it as a studio and thinking for decades that the Candied Camera tapes been lost forever only to find they had been donated to a NY library and she could access them Nora also shares her excitement about returning to LA for the first time since before the...
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Poet Steven Reigns (Outliving Michael): "I'm Comforted Every Time I Remember Him"
DENNIS ANYONE? with Dennis Hensley
Dennis is joined by his friend Steven Reigns to talk about his new collection of poetry, Outliving Michael, which is about a friend of Steven's named Michael Church who died of AIDS in 2000. Steven talks about meeting Michael first as his drag persona Blanche before getting to know him out of drag and becoming close friends. Steven reads several poems and talks about what made Michael so unique, from his withering wit to his love of gay nightlife (Michael was a bottle boy at Studio 54 for a summer) to his support of Steven as a writer. Steven also talks about what it was like to be a caretaker...
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My Buffet-Style Birthday Bonanza
DENNIS ANYONE? with Dennis Hensley
In this special Birthday Crossover Episode of Dennis Anyone and Dennis Hensley's Happy & Gay, Dennis breaks down his five days of birthday activities, which included two films (Almost Famous & Magnolia), one museum excursion (the Queer Lens exhibit at the Getty Center), one game day at Lawless Brewery and one marvelous outdoor play; Wine in the Wilderness by Alice Childress at the Will Geer Theatricum Botanicum. Dennis also sings the praises of the returning TV shows The Morning Show and English Teacher as well as his friend David Kittredge’s wonderful new feature film documentary...
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A Jaded Gay Podcast Host Rob Loveless: "I Hope It's Creating a Conversation"
DENNIS ANYONE? with Dennis Hensley
Dennis is joined via Zoom by Rob Loveless, host of the A Jaded Gay podcast and one of Dennis's fellow nominees for Best LGBTQ Podcast at this Sunday's Podcast Awards. Rob talks about what inspired him to start the podcast, why he loves doing it and how he balances it with going to grad school and working full time in the corporate world. He also talks about deciding how open to be when it comes to sharing details about his life. Other topics include: crying on the pod, having killer seats to Kylie Minogue, the difference between a Demon Twink and a Chaotic Twink, why he starts every episode by...
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Filmmaker Spencer Cohen (The Compatriots): "This Is a True Bromance"
DENNIS ANYONE? with Dennis Hensley
Dennis is joined via Zoom from Boston, MA by writer-director Spencer Cohen to talk about his film The Compatriots, which is about young undocumented gay man from Peru named Javi and his quest to be who he is. Spencer talks about how he based the story on his real life best friend since middle school Beto, who is a gay, Peruvian and undocumented Dreamer, just like Javi in the film. Spencer recalls not knowing Beto's immigration status until several years into their friendship and how that knowledge explained so much about Beto's behavior and the things he was not able to do. He also talks...
info_outlinePart 2 of Dennis's conversation with author Abdi Nazemian focuses on his latest book Only This Beautiful Moment, which recently won the Stonewall Award from Young Adult Literature. Abdi talks about drawing inspiration for the multigenerational story from his own family, how he was able to write scenes set in Iran despite having left there when he was a child and the longing he feels for the country and it's people. He also talks about what it feels like to have his two most recent books banned in many schools, how that affects his bottom line and how he learned the hard way not to engage with online trolls. Other topics include: being an Associate Producer on the film Call Me By Your Name, going back to school to get his MBA, the power of telling the truth instead of chasing what you think the market wants, why young people give him hope, the perils of social media and why he chose to set a scene in the men's room of the late great Silver Lake piano bar The Other Side. https://www.abdinazemian.com