This 1987 filmed monologue changed the way mainstream media considered autobiographical performance art. We discuss how Gray made the film with director Jonathan Demme and the emotional themes throughout that resonate after his suicide.

Interested in the media we discussed this episode? Please support the show by purchasing it through our affiliate store:

• Swimming To Cambodia (film)
• Swimming To Cambodia (book)

Additional Resources:

• Georgakas, D., & Porton, R. (1993). The art of autobiography. Cineaste, 19(4), 34.
• Through a Lens, Intently. By: Salomon, Andrew, Back Stage East, 19305966, 5/25/2006, Vol. 47, Issue 21
• Johnson, B. D. (1992). The talking cure. Maclean’s, 105(28), 44.
• FILM: SPALDING GRAY'S 'SWIMMING TO CAMBODIA'
• Swimming to Cambodia: A Channel for Spalding Gray’s Seismic Prose
• Theatrical Cinema: How Stop Making Sense, Swimming to Cambodia, and Bronson Combined Two Art Forms
• The Mask Behind the Voice
• Everything You Need to Know About the Movie That Inspired “Parker Gail’s Location is Everything”
• Demastes, W. (1989). Spalding Gray's "Swimming to Cambodia" and the Evolution of an Ironic Presence. Theatre Journal, 41(1), 75-94.