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 married and divorced and remarried, meeting his current husband Sean on Tinder and taking Sean to Vegas for his birthday to Kelly Clarkson perform. Jim also reveals that he hooked up with another contestant on the Idol tour bus, insists that Brian Dunkleman was way cooler than Ryan Seacrest and agrees with Dennis that Paula Abdul is a national treasure. Other topics include: how having deaf parents made him grow up fast, getting fan letters from prison inmates, getting slagged off in Simon Cowell's book, giving up gymnastics as a teen because he was getting bullied, getting married in Playa Del Carmen, the moment he realized Idol was a phenomenon and why he decided to pose in a jockstrap on Twitter. 

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, too, on the podcast! Other topics include: the fulfillment he gets with helping nervous performers craft their pieces, working a day job as a government auditor while doing Mortified on the side, the Tony-winner that may or may not have hit on him as a college student and the power of Mortified's credo: "We are freaks and we are fragile but we all survived." www.getmortified.com

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 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

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 international casting process, the duo's commitment to casting two openly queer leads and reveals that there were  a few straight actors who claimed to be gay in the hopes it would get them cast. The pair also describe their interactions with the Indigo Girls who lent 25 songs to the film and also appear in it. Other topics include: shooting a sex scene in a tent, casting bad-ass women like Tig Notaro, Missi Pyle and Kate Pierson from the B-52s in supporting roles and the time a festival rejected the movie because the programmer felt that it "appropriated lesbian culture." 

Dennis is joined via Zoom by author Manuel Betancourt to discuss his new book The Male Gazed:  On Hunks, Heartthrobs, and What Pop Culture Taught Me About (Desiring) Men. 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 interested. He also discusses watching American TV when he was growing up in Columbia, writing a thesis on queer fandom for his doctorate and whether straight actors should play gay characters. Other topics include: the difference between a hunk and heartthrob, his childhood obsession with Maleficent, the joy of wearing crop tops, the power of "phantom nostalgia," Judy Garland at Carnegie Hall and why we'd both let Jonathan Groff spit on us whenever he wants.

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 what happened when homophobic televangelist Pat Robertson arrived at the pearly gates.

Tickets for Saturday's MisMatch Game: 

https://ci.ovationtix.com/36684/production/1173193?performanceId=11333330

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 series True Blood--where an episode he wrote pissed off both Ted Cruz and Sarah Palin--and he also shares his thoughts on the current writers strike. Dennis and Craig also share memories of working together on Logo's The Big Gay Sketch Show in 2009. Craig also opens up about his journey to sobriety last year after losing virtually everything to crystal meth addiction. Other topics include: the power of dream boarding, the wisdom of Wilson Phillips, living in a 55+ community in Palm Springs, oversharing on Facebook, how getting Monkey Pox saved his life, getting help when he really needed it from folks like Stephen King, Jackie Beat, Illeana Douglas and Kate McKinnon, what it was like to be a 90's indie darling in films like Swoon, Grief and Frisk, and how he sometimes feels like a gay Forrest Gump.

 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 also talks about the matter-of-fact way gay men would hook up back then, his attraction to clones and how you could send a message that you were DTF by unbuttoning the bottom button of your Levis 501s. He also talks about his work as a historian and the founder of the Queer Music Heritage radio show, which is how Dennis first met JD in 2000. Other topics include: how the specter of AIDS hangs over the book, staying at the Coral Sands hotel in LA, encountering icons like Vito Russo, Armistead Maupin, Liza Minelli and Sylvester while on his journey, falling in love with and in Houston, Texas and his obsession with sassy T-shirts.

www.jddoylearchives.org

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 talks about how her 17-year marriage ended when her husband came out as gay and then later transitioned and how they both managed to navigate those changes and remain best friends. Other topics include: Alex's book The Line At Which I Stopped Reading The Online Dating Profile, dating montages in movies, her first impression of L.A., the worst costume she had to wear for work, working in the art department at Movieline magazine where Dennis got his start as a writer and the importance of setting boundaries. 

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 forget, why there's no blatant homophobia in their film and how they both turn to art when they need answers to life's big questions. Other topics include: what it's like to be named Vallentine, the shirtless kissing on MTV's Undressed, meeting each other in the Michigan State marching band, the timeless rumpled sex appeal of Billy Crystal in When Harry Met Sally and what it was like to become fathers in real life just one month after wrapping their film.