Japheth Franco — the TikTok creator gay men (and everyone else) are calling their "gay big brother" — is back for round two. This time he and Zach get into the messy middle of modern dating: the catfish who never shows up on FaceTime, the guy who vanishes after weeks of daily texting, and why ghosting does more psychological damage than a direct rejection ever could.

Japheth breaks down his core dating rule — get clear on what you want and say it upfront, because clarity saves everyone time — and explains why time, once wasted, is the one thing you can never get back. The conversation moves into friendship: why Japheth did a hard audit of his social circle in his thirties, the case for quality over quantity, and the "pen pal" texting pattern that kills a connection before it starts.

They also cover the DMs Japheth gets now that his following is growing (feet pic requests included), his new weekly gig on a Hartford, CT FM radio show, and his bigger vision for turning his advice into something more than content. Then Zach fully commits to matchmaker mode, pitching Japheth three real prospects on the spot — because apparently this podcast now does that too.

Follow Japheth:

https://www.tiktok.com/@japhethfranco

https://www.instagram.com/japheth__franco/

Podcast song by SIXFOOT 5: https://www.sixfoot5prod.com

Apple: https://music.apple.com/us/artist/sixfoot-5/1551774977

Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/artist/5rHMzoU0G0fLhaBsrQiOOY?si=laSZ5hiKTYubJJyhrzf2JQ

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Happy Friday! This week's Gay Bit is a personal one — Zach digs into the real, decades-long backstory of how he became an interviewer, long before "podcast host" was ever the plan.

It starts in childhood, filming home movies on VCR cameras and later mini-DVD cameras, a habit inherited from his father, who Zach describes as the family historian. Those tapes — now digitized — capture a teenage Zach already doing mock interviews with friends, including one memorable bit where he played Barbara Walters interviewing a very reluctant, very shy friend.

From there, Zach revisits his high school prank-call era as "Barbara Midnight," a fake radio DJ character he used (with a group of friends on three-way landline calls) to run a fake singing contest promising $500 to anyone who could belt out a few lines of their favorite artist. Most of it was harmless fun — until one call to a woman who genuinely believed she'd won money for her kids' Christmas presents left the group too guilty to keep going for months.

The episode's centerpiece is Zach's story of Phoenix, a bar in NYC's Lower East Side where he and his friend group — including his now-husband Andrew — spent years of nights out. Zach describes literally pulling strangers into a side room, sitting them down, and running impromptu, unscripted "talk shows" for an audience of friends, often turning the questions into an on-the-spot matchmaking game. He reflects on how many of those pairings turned into real connections, and how the instinct to find "interesting people who aren't selling anything" still drives how he books guests today.

He closes with two future dreams: a live local AM/FM radio show — potentially exploring this with AM host Philip Anthony — and a proper in-person studio setup, styled after shows like Amy Poehler's, instead of remote interviews from his home studio. Along the way, he gives his husband credit (reluctantly) for his podcasting notes, and jokes about wanting to be the next Oprah — money included.

Podcast song by SIXFOOT 5: https://www.sixfoot5prod.com

Apple: https://music.apple.com/us/artist/sixfoot-5/1551774977

Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/artist/5rHMzoU0G0fLhaBsrQiOOY?si=laSZ5hiKTYubJJyhrzf2JQ

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Nathan spent years climbing the corporate ladder at L'Oreal, eventually reaching senior vice president level across brands like Kiehl's and Baxter of California. But the more success he found in corporate beauty, the more disconnected he felt from what stylists and their clients actually wanted — so he walked away to start his own company from scratch.

That company became Filament Sciences, home to the haircare brand Filament. Unlike most beauty startups that lean on contract manufacturers or repackaged formulas, Nathan self-funded years of custom molecular research and development, building a patented technology that repairs broken bonds inside damaged hair — bonds broken by color, heat tools, sun, and chemical services — and holds that repair in place for weeks at a time.

Nathan talks through what it actually took to build the company solo: designing his own packaging and logo, going through hair and aesthetics school while still working in corporate, and deliberately avoiding paid influencer marketing in favor of building credibility directly with elite stylists, dermatologists, and aestheticians. He also opens up about the brand's roots as an LGBTQ-owned company, his approach to hiring and representation on his team, and his exclusive launch partnership with retailer Violet Grey.

The conversation moves well beyond business, too — Nathan shares his skincare and skin-resurfacing routine (no Botox, ever), his years living and working in China, his fluency in Mandarin, and how he met his husband of over 16 years. It's a wide-ranging conversation about building something real in an industry full of shortcuts, and doing it without losing yourself along the way.

Learn more about Filament: https://filamentsciences.com/

Follow Nathan on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/nathaninthelab/

Podcast song by SIXFOOT 5: https://www.sixfoot5prod.com

Apple: https://music.apple.com/us/artist/sixfoot-5/1551774977

Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/artist/5rHMzoU0G0fLhaBsrQiOOY?si=laSZ5hiKTYubJJyhrzf2JQ

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Zach welcomes Philip Anthony, host of Downright Upright on Minnesota's AM 950 — "the Progressive Voice of Minnesota" — for a conversation that moves from career origin stories all the way to the heart.

Philip shares how he went from teaching and legal work to becoming a flight attendant, landing (unexpectedly) in Minneapolis-St. Paul, where he found a tight-knit community, met his husband, and eventually turned a pandemic-era podcast into a full progressive radio show. He and Zach swap first-date stories, laugh about the "Craigslist romance section" era of gay dating, and reflect on coming out to their mothers in very different decades.

The conversation turns serious as Philip opens up about childhood physical and emotional abuse from his stepfather and from teachers who looked the other way — and what he wishes he could tell his eighteen-year-old self. He and Zach also discuss how interviewing transgender guests personally deepened their understanding and allyship, and they talk candidly about the current wave of anti-trans legislation, misinformation in right-wing media, and the emotional toll of watching political violence hit close to home in the Twin Cities.

They close on a lighter note, previewing Philip's upcoming live shows at Golden Valley Pride and Twin Cities Pride, where he'll be handing out Downright Upright swag and meeting listeners in person.

Topics covered:

Listen to Philip's radio show here: https://www.am950radio.com/category/podcasts/phil/

Podcast song by SIXFOOT 5: https://www.sixfoot5prod.com

Apple: https://music.apple.com/us/artist/sixfoot-5/1551774977

Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/artist/5rHMzoU0G0fLhaBsrQiOOY?si=laSZ5hiKTYubJJyhrzf2JQ

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Neyla Pekarek spent eight years as the cellist and vocalist for The Lumineers, joining the band just weeks after graduating college in 2010 after answering a Craigslist ad. What started as a way to get out of her parents' house turned into Grammy nominations, a Saturday Night Live performance, opening for U2, playing Madison Square Garden and Red Rocks, and an invitation to perform for President Obama at the White House.

In this conversation, Neyla talks about why she eventually left the band to pursue her own songwriting and return to her musical theater roots, and how being the only woman on tour with two men shaped that decision. She and Zach dig into the imposter syndrome that follows creative people even after real success.

The heart of the episode is the story of Rattlesnake Kate, a real Colorado folk hero Neyla discovered in a small-town museum while in college. Kate killed 140 rattlesnakes in a single afternoon in 1925 while protecting her young son, then made a dress out of the snakeskins. Neyla turned Kate's story into a concept album and eventually a full musical produced at the Denver Center for the Performing Arts in 2022. She also discusses her follow-up project, "Queen of Magic," inspired by Adelaide Herrmann, the first woman to headline her own magic show during the Victorian era, and why she keeps gravitating toward overlooked women in history.

Neyla also shares details about her new five-song EP, her collaborators including jazz pianist Annie Booth and Broadway performer Mary Kate Morrissey, and her upcoming vaudeville-style "extravaganza" shows — August 13th in New York City at the Green Room 42, and August 27th at Cat's Crawl in Los Angeles.

Buy tickets to the NYC show (August 13th at Green Room 42)

https://thegreenroom42.venuetix.com/showdetails/vuFeQ60kMUNB4ZDWbiRo/f0IR4jSqAt5bvbfyv2LG

Buy tickets to the LA show (August 27th at Cat's Crawl)

https://www.eventbrite.com/e/vaudevillian-extravaganza-tickets-1992233653487?aff=oddtdtcreator

The Queen of Magic: https://www.joymachinerecords.com/artists/thequeenofmagic

Podcast song by SIXFOOT 5: https://www.sixfoot5prod.com

Apple: https://music.apple.com/us/artist/sixfoot-5/1551774977

Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/artist/5rHMzoU0G0fLhaBsrQiOOY?si=laSZ5hiKTYubJJyhrzf2JQ

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Support for same-sex marriage in America just dropped six points since 2022 — and Zach wants to know why. In this week's solo episode, he digs into a recent Gallup poll showing acceptance falling from 71% to 65%, even as LGBTQ+ identification among Gen Z and millennials continues to climb. It's a contradiction that's been sitting with him, and he works through it out loud.

The conversation ranges from anti-gay laws spreading across parts of Africa, to Budapest's pride parade defying a hostile government, to the swelling wave of anti-trans legislation moving through U.S. statehouses. Zach pushes back hard on the argument that trans people living authentically has any impact on anyone else's life, and reflects on why the disappearance of DEI commitments across companies and institutions worries him.

He also gets personal — recounting what it was like coming out to his father in his early twenties (and the six months of silence that followed), and to his mother, whose first questions revealed just how little exposure she'd had to LGBTQ+ people. Zach compares that to how differently a coming-out conversation might go today, using his cousin's transgender child as an example of a much more accepting generation of parents.

The episode closes on something more intimate: why Zach, despite 27+ years with his husband, still isn't fully comfortable holding hands in public — a hesitation rooted in something he witnessed growing up in Miami. It's an honest look at the gap between wanting full visibility and knowing when it doesn't feel safe.

Zach also hosts Listen Up Girl, a daily LGBTQ+ news podcast, and The Gay Bit, a weekly Friday dose of campy commentary — both available wherever you listen to this show.

Podcast song by SIXFOOT 5: https://www.sixfoot5prod.com

Apple: https://music.apple.com/us/artist/sixfoot-5/1551774977

Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/artist/5rHMzoU0G0fLhaBsrQiOOY?si=laSZ5hiKTYubJJyhrzf2JQ

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

In this deeply moving episode, Zach sits down with Arnold Dahl-Wooley — a nationally recognized Two Spirit public speaker, advocate, and founder of Two Spirit Advocacy in Minnesota — for a conversation about identity, culture, and survival.

Arnold opens by defining "Two Spirit" for listeners unfamiliar with the term: a sacred identity within Native American culture referring to those within the LGBTQ+ population who are seen as embodying more than one gender, historically honored as leaders, healers, and teachers. He traces how colonization stripped that sacredness away, and explains why the term is culturally specific — not a label for non-Indigenous people to claim, even as its teachings of sacredness and self-worth are for everyone.

The conversation moves through Arnold's own journey of hiding his authentic self as a kid to protect himself, into 25+ years of public speaking and founding Two Spirit Advocacy — the only organization of its kind in Minnesota — offering crisis outreach, healthcare connections, ceremony, drum-making classes, and community nights.

Zach and Arnold also go deep on spirituality: what happens to Two Spirit people after death in Ojibwe tradition, spirit guides and spirit names, and how continuation (not reincarnation) shapes Arnold's worldview.

The episode turns serious as they discuss the MMIW/MMIR crisis, the pain of being "erased twice" through misgendering and disappearance, and what real allyship and visibility can do to save lives. Arnold closes with a message to the wider LGBTQ+ community: Two Spirit people are part of the alphabet too, and walking together — sharing culture instead of appropriating it — is how healing happens.

Arnold also shares his 27-year love story with his husband, and reflects on what it means to live loudly and authentically after years of hiding.

Learn more: twospiritadvocacy.com

Podcast song by SIXFOOT 5: https://www.sixfoot5prod.com

Apple: https://music.apple.com/us/artist/sixfoot-5/1551774977

Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/artist/5rHMzoU0G0fLhaBsrQiOOY?si=laSZ5hiKTYubJJyhrzf2JQ

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

It's Friday, which means it's time for The Gay Bit — Zach's weekly dose of camp, commentary, and community talk on Everything & Anything…and a Bit Gay. This week: summer is officially Zach's least favorite season, and he's not sorry about it. He breaks down why he'd rather be bundled up in a sweater than baking in the heat, why he's never been a beach person despite growing up in Miami, and why his skincare routine comes before his tan.

From there, it's a full tour of gay summer culture: the annual pilgrimage to Provincetown, the joys and exhaustion of tea dance, why the "gay beach" walk is an outright scam, and the very specific rhythm of a P-town week (breakfast, tea dance, dinner, drag show, Spiritus Pizza at 1am, repeat). He ranks the best and worst weeks to visit — skip July 4th, aim for Labor Day — and reflects on how the town has changed over the years, including a tribute to a beloved local performer who's since passed.

The episode closes with a chaotic, hilarious, oddly touching story about "Ann," a P-town regular from summers past who Zach and his friend Tony can't stop talking about — and an open call to the internet to help him find her. Along the way: thoughts on Florida politics, dream towns, and why Boston might just be the right amount of gay.

Podcast song by SIXFOOT 5: https://www.sixfoot5prod.com

Apple: https://music.apple.com/us/artist/sixfoot-5/1551774977

Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/artist/5rHMzoU0G0fLhaBsrQiOOY?si=laSZ5hiKTYubJJyhrzf2JQ

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Kathy Anderson joins the show to talk about her new short story collection, Vamoose, fifteen stories centered on older lesbians standing on the edge of something new. She traces the book's title back to a single line of dialogue that captured the collection's spirit of letting go of the old to make room for the new.

The conversation moves through Kathy's own path: coming out at 17 in the late 1970s, building a career as a public librarian at a time when librarians were among the first professionals to organize an LGBTQ task force, and publishing her first book after 60 following years of writing, mentorship, and contest submissions. She and Zach talk candidly about writing humor alongside loss, why she resists cynical endings, and what it means to finally stop worrying what people think.

They also dig into queer literary history and access, from the 1989 Texas Pride Parade to present-day book bans, and Kathy highlights two resources for readers: the Queer Liberation Library (accessible free through the Libby app) and a new community library opening in Boston. Vamoose is available on Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Bookshop.org, and directly through Vine Leaves Press.

Guest: Kathy Anderson, author of Vamoose (Vine Leaves Press)

In this episode:

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Kathy's Book: 

https://www.amazon.com/dp/3988322067?lv=shuf&channelId=500&plpRedirect=mhFallback

Podcast song by SIXFOOT 5: https://www.sixfoot5prod.com

Apple: https://music.apple.com/us/artist/sixfoot-5/1551774977

Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/artist/5rHMzoU0G0fLhaBsrQiOOY?si=laSZ5hiKTYubJJyhrzf2JQ

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Zach opens up about the relationship people ask him about most: his 28-year partnership with his husband, Andrew. Prompted by the same question on every radio and podcast appearance lately — "how did you two make it work?" — Zach walks through the whole origin story: meeting on AOL in 1998 (dial-up, flip phones, and all), their first date, moving in together, and the honeymoon phase giving way to who they really are.

Along the way: the infamous "unique boutique" closet purge, the DC trip that ended the honeymoon phase, and the birth of the phrase "DC hungry." Zach gets honest about what nobody tells you about long-term relationships — that the hard parts are normal, that the first nine months aren't real life, and that surviving decades together isn't about avoiding conflict, it's about choosing to stay through it.

This is the first in a series where Zach breaks down what to actually expect in a long-term relationship, including a preview of the "seven year itch" chapter of his and Andrew's story, coming in a future episode.

Rate, review, and follow the show — it helps more people find these conversations.

Podcast song by SIXFOOT 5: https://www.sixfoot5prod.com

Apple: https://music.apple.com/us/artist/sixfoot-5/1551774977

Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/artist/5rHMzoU0G0fLhaBsrQiOOY?si=laSZ5hiKTYubJJyhrzf2JQ

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.