Welcome to Your Fantasy

By Pineapple Street Studios / Gimlet

Society & Culture

What's Welcome to Your Fantasy about?

In the 1980s the “male exotic dancers” of Chippendales were everywhere, selling the promise of women’s liberation for the price of a few dollars in a g-string. But behind the powerful mullets, oiled pecs, and non-stop parties lies a much darker story of greed, corruption and murder. Historian Natalia Petrzela exposes one of the great, sordid, unexamined stories in American culture.

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9. Where The Butt Ends

08.31.2021

It’s the end of the season, but it’s not the end of the story. Natalia is joined by fellow historians and co-producers Nicole Hemmer and Neil J. Young for a discussion of the things that fascinated them most about exploring ...

Welcome to Your Fantasy episodes:

08.31.2021 9. Where The Butt Ends It’s the end of the season, but it’s not the end of the story. Natalia is joined by fellow historians and co-producers Nicole Hemmer and Neil J. Young for a discussion of the things that fascinated them most about exploring ...
08.24.2021 8. The Final Act Steve Banerjee’s final move leaves the community reeling. But the show’s legacy lives on in the lives of the people who built it, and in the theaters around the world where the Chippendales dancers continue to perform today. Follow us ...
08.17.2021 7. The Golden Goose When a hired hitman flips on his boss, the FBI begins an investigation that turns into a years-long international manhunt. Can the lead investigator—a rookie agent who plays by his own rules—match wits with the paranoid strip kingpin who manages ...
08.10.2021 6. A Tad of Cyanide 1991. The UK. An international muder plot featuring a hitman, cyanide, male strippers, and a kingpin who’s determined to take out his competition at any cost. Hollywood movie plot? Or just another day in Steve Banerjee’s reality? Follow us on ...
08.03.2021 5. 31 Days in February...One Day in April The bigger Chippendales gets, the more paranoid Steve Banerjee becomes, until everything and everyone begins to look like a threat. A confidante creates a rival beefcake calendar, and a printing error of his own becomes a million dollar mistake. Meanwhile ...
07.27.2021 4. Three Men and a Lawsuit In 1982, after being turned away at the door of Chippendales, a UCLA law student brings a racial discrimination lawsuit against the club. His life, and the life of one of the L.A. club dancers, become unexpectedly linked. Follow us ...
07.20.2021 3. Part of the Act Greed. Cocaine. Porn in Times Square. It’s New York in the ‘80s and the destination for Chippendales’ flashy second location. As Chippendales gains national fame and daytime talk show ubiquity, Nick de Noia and Steve Banerjee enter into a fateful ...
07.13.2021 2. The Perfect Man The Chippendales show gets a revamp from Steve Banerjee's latest hire, Nick De Noia. An Emmy Award-winning children's TV producer with a big ego and even bigger opinions, Nick uses his song-and-dance sensibility to turn the show into a full-blown ...
07.06.2021 1. A Disneyland for Adults When Steve Banerjee, a young Indian immigrant, arrives in Los Angeles, he is determined to start a successful business just like his two idols, Hugh Hefner and Walt Disney. And by 1979, he does. With the help of a Canadian ...
02.10.2021 Episode 1 Sneak Peek: A Disneyland For Adults It’s 1987, and the Chippendales dancers are packing nightclubs across America with their sold-out male exotic dance shows. As crowds of women scream for the mullets, the spandex, and the tans...a shocking event about to change the course of the ...
01.26.2021 This Is Chippendales…Revealed In the 1980s the “male exotic dancers” of Chippendales were everywhere, selling the promise of women’s liberation for the price of a few dollars in a g-string. But behind the powerful mullets, oiled pecs, and non-stop parties lies a much ...