The Spark Parade

What makes sad music feel so deeply cathartic? Adam is joined by rising singer-songwriter and pop talent Jessie Mazin to break down her Spark: Phoebe Bridgers’ landmark 2020 album, Punisher.

Jessie shares what it was like discovering Punisher as a 15-year-old in lockdown, how Phoebe’s hyper-specific lyrics and unique vocal delivery create an intimate connection with listeners and why tracks like "Punisher," "Chinese Satellite," and "I Know the End" remain masterclasses in emotional storytelling.

They also explore the complex parasocial relationships between artists and fans, the genius of Rob Moose's string arrangements and how leaning into sorrow can offer real release.

In This Episode:

• How Phoebe Bridgers turned lockdown isolation into a universal emotional sanctuary.
• Deconstructing the "boyish," emo-influenced, and androgynous qualities in Phoebe’s voice.
• The dual perspective of the title track "Punisher" and the nuance of artist-fan dynamics.
• Existential dread and searching for meaning in "Chinese Satellite."
• The apocalyptic grandeur and raw energy of "I Know the End."
• Behind the scenes of Rob Moose's legendary string arrangements.

About Jessie Mazin: Jessie Mazin is a singer-songwriter known for her crisp vocals, confessional lyrics, and viral live performances (including her breakout Medium Sized Backyard sessions). Having earned praise and shares from artists like SZA, Lady Gaga, and Gracie Abrams, Jessie has toured with the Indigo Girls and Kevin Atwater, and is set to support SOMBR’s 2027 tour. Her new EP let the feeling die is out now!

The Spark Parade is a podcast that dives deep into the films and albums that have inspired today’s creative icons. Hosted by Adam Unze, each episode features a unique conversation with an artist about their chosen film or album, and how it sparked their artistic journey.

Follow us on social media:

Instagram/Bluesky/TikTok: @sparkparade

Subscribe, rate, and leave a review wherever you listen!

For more info, visit: www.thesparkparade.com

Copyright © 2025 The Spark Parade. All rights reserved.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

What happens when two drag icons dive deep into 1980s creature-feature camp? In this episode of The Spark Parade, host Adam is joined by the legendary BenDeLaCreme and Jinkx Monsoon to discuss the ultimate dark-holiday classic: Gremlins.

Tune in as BenDeLaCreme shares how the film sparked her lifelong love of horror-comedy and trauma processing through laughter, while Jinkx Monsoon acts as an ally of the "Gremlin community" and explains the monumental drag/trans icon status of Greta the Gremlin. From practical effects and Phoebe Cates's unforgettable chimney monologue to the chaotic brilliance of Gremlins 2 and planning anti-holiday stage shows, this conversation is packed with laughs, nostalgia and plenty of camp.

Highlights Include:

• Why Gremlins is the ultimate anti-holiday movie for people who hate Christmas.
• Deconstructing Phoebe Cates's jaw-dropping childhood trauma monologue.
• Jinkx and Dela on how Gremlins 2 serves up meta-humor, world-building, and early drag representation.
• The secret to mixing bubblegum pop with filthy, subversively festive humor (like "Krampus Daddy").
• Hopes, fears, and apocalyptic timelines for the upcoming Gremlins 3.

Connect with the Guests:

• Follow BenDeLaCreme and Jinkx Monsoon at jinkxanddela.com and catch their latest theatrical holiday spectacular on tour!

The Spark Parade is a podcast that dives deep into the films and albums that have inspired today’s creative icons. Hosted by Adam Unze, each episode features a unique conversation with an artist about their chosen film or album, and how it sparked their artistic journey.

Follow us on social media:

Instagram/Bluesky/TikTok: @sparkparade

Subscribe, rate, and leave a review wherever you listen!

For more info, visit: www.thesparkparade.com

Copyright © 2025 The Spark Parade. All rights reserved.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Indie-folk trio Tiny Habits (Judah Mayowa, Maya Rae and Cinya Khan) join host Adam Unze for the mini-season finale of The Spark Parade!

The group shares the story behind their Spark: James Taylor’s 1976 classic album, In the Pocket, featuring iconic tracks like "Shower the People" and "Woman’s Gotta Have It".

Together, Adam and Tiny Habits break down:

• What it was like spending a summer touring with James Taylor and listening to his music on his tour plane
• The hilarious (and surprisingly candid) career advice James gave them about record labels
• The warm analogue sonics, tape hiss and vocal arrangements of 1970s studio production
• How James Taylor's vocal phrasing directly inspired the arrangements on their debut album All Is Yes
• The emotional power of music that connects across generations

Check out Tiny Habits' fantastic new sophomore album Keepers!

The Spark Parade is a podcast that dives deep into the films and albums that have inspired today’s creative icons. Hosted by Adam Unze, each episode features a unique conversation with an artist about their chosen film or album, and how it sparked their artistic journey.

Follow us on social media:

Instagram/Bluesky/TikTok: @sparkparade

Subscribe, rate, and leave a review wherever you listen!

For more info, visit: www.thesparkparade.com

Copyright © 2025 The Spark Parade. All rights reserved.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Actor, writer and podcaster Angourie Rice (The Nice Guys, Mare of Easttown, Mean Girls) joins host Adam Unze to launch a brand-new mini-season of The Spark Parade!

Angourie explores her Spark: Ben Stiller’s iconic 1994 Gen-X classic, Reality Bites, starring Winona Ryder, Ethan Hawke and Janeane Garofalo.

Together, Adam and Angourie break down:

• Discovering Reality Bites in Melbourne and tracking films on Letterboxd
• Why the film’s quarter-life crisis and early-20s career anxiety hit just as hard for Gen Z today
• The brilliance of Winona Ryder, Janeane Garofalo and Steve Zahn’s performances
• 90s cinema aesthetics, vintage tech and the cultural obsession with nostalgia

Be sure to check out Angourie's fantastic new romcom Finding Emily, out in the US on August 28th!

The Spark Parade is a podcast that dives deep into the films and albums that have inspired today’s creative icons. Hosted by Adam Unze, each episode features a unique conversation with an artist about their chosen film or album, and how it sparked their artistic journey.

Follow us on social media:

Instagram/Bluesky/TikTok: @sparkparade

Subscribe, rate, and leave a review wherever you listen!

For more info, visit: www.thesparkparade.com

Copyright © 2025 The Spark Parade. All rights reserved.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

What happens when an eight-year-old kid sees the opening shot of Mike Nichols’ 1988 classic Working Girl for the very first time? If that kid is Emmy-winning comedian, actor, and podcast host Bryan Safi (9-1-1, Ask Ronna, Attitudes!), it sparks a lifelong dream to move to New York City and a career built on unapologetic, sharp comedy.

In this episode of The Spark Parade, host Adam Unze sits down with Bryan Safi to chat about his Spark: the iconic 80s romantic comedy Working Girl, starring Melanie Griffith, Sigourney Weaver and Harrison Ford.

They gush about the genius of Mike Nichols, the cultural impact of Carly Simon’s Oscar-winning anthem "Let the River Run" and the absolute madness of late-80s hair styling.

• The Iconic Opening: Why the Statue of Liberty opening sequence remains one of the greatest movie intros in cinema history.
• 80s Aesthetics & Staten Island Hair: The outrageous bangs, crimping and fashion that defined an era of film.
• Sigourney Weaver vs. Melanie Griffith: How Working Girl subverted corporate tropes and delivered two masterclasses in comedic performance.
• The Power of Creative Authenticity: Bryan on overcoming early industry homophobia in comedy and learning to lean into his signature camp sensibility as his greatest strength.
• Behind-the-Scenes Movie Trivia: Why the studio almost replaced Carly Simon with The Eagles' "Witchy Woman" and how Harrison Ford took a back seat to let the women shine.

Catch Bryan live in NYC in Are You Mad At Me? at the HERE Arts Center, watch him on ABC's 9-1-1, and listen to his hit podcasts Ask Ronna and Attitudes!.

The Spark Parade is a podcast that dives deep into the films and albums that have inspired today’s creative icons. Hosted by Adam Unze, each episode features a unique conversation with an artist about their chosen film or album, and how it sparked their artistic journey.

Follow us on social media:

Instagram/Bluesky/TikTok: @sparkparade

Subscribe, rate, and leave a review wherever you listen!

For more info, visit: www.thesparkparade.com

Copyright © 2025 The Spark Parade. All rights reserved.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

What happens when a major Hollywood studio trades gritty, nitty-gritty realism for hyper-stylized queer camp and neon aesthetics? Host Adam Unze sits down with the brilliant comedian, RuPaul’s Drag Race Season 14 finalist and performance artist Bosco to dive deep into her Spark: Joel Schumacher’s 1995 cult-classic superhero movie, Batman Forever.

Bosco shares how growing up with a well-loved VHS of Batman Forever permanently shaped her comedic consciousness and approach to drag showmanship.

She break down why the world wasn't quite ready for Joel Schumacher’s overtly gay-tuned iconography in the mid-90s—including the infamous rubber bat-nipples, tight leather suit-up and latex capes.

Plus, Bosco reveals how the maximalist, scenery-chewing villainy of the film directly inspired her upcoming live comedy show.

Note: This is our final episode before our scheduled hiatus! The Spark Parade is taking a short summer break to recharge the batteries, but we will see you right back here with fresh episodes in the autumn!

• Childhood Lore & Delta Binging: How a lifelong obsession with Batman Forever culminated in an adult flight marathon of the entire Joel Schumacher filmography.
• The Gay Lexicon of Gotham: Decoding the homoeroticism of the mid-90s bat-suit, rubber nipples and the iconic "twink and daddy" dynamic of Batman and Robin.
• The Hollywood Feud: The legendary behind-the-scenes tension between Tommy Lee Jones (Two-Face) and Jim Carrey (The Riddler), and the art of chewing the scenery.
• Pedestrian vs. Adonis: How Val Kilmer and George Clooney shifted the cultural paradigm to demanding that Batman must be "super duper hot."
• Drag Inspiration: How painting with broad, loud and powerful strokes influenced Bosco's performance style and upcoming theater production.

• See Bosco Live: Don't miss Bosco's spectacular new live comedy and drag show, The Marvelous Misgender!

The Spark Parade is a podcast that dives deep into the films and albums that have inspired today’s creative icons. Hosted by Adam Unze, each episode features a unique conversation with an artist about their chosen film or album, and how it sparked their artistic journey.

Follow us on social media:

Instagram/Bluesky/TikTok: @sparkparade

Subscribe, rate, and leave a review wherever you listen!

For more info, visit: www.thesparkparade.com

Copyright © 2025 The Spark Parade. All rights reserved.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

How did a short-lived 2005 TV satire accurately predict our modern obsession with social media and internet culture?

Host Adam Unze sits down with brilliant comedian, writer and performance artist Morgan Bassichis to dive into their Spark: Lisa Kudrow and Michael Patrick King’s cult-classic comedy masterpiece, HBO’s The Comeback.

Morgan tells Adam how the iconic Valerie Cherish profoundly shaped their comedic consciousness. They unpack the deeply queer themes of Valerie's survival in the "economy of attention," the beautiful emotional anchor of her relationship with her hairstylist Mickey and how the culture finally caught up with the show's dark prophecy of fame.

Plus, Adam shares his second and final round of unfiltered movie reviews from the Tribeca Film Festival, tracking the top new documentaries and indie features to add to your watchlist.

🎧 Inside the Episode:

Early Adopter Status: Why The Comeback has spent twenty years acting as a cultural litmus test.

The Queer Legacy of Valerie Cherish: Subverting tropes, camp culture and navigating precarity.

Mickey & Jane: Celebrating television's most complex, morally gray supporting dynamics.

Tribeca Part 2 Review Roundup: Adam's honest takes on true-crime documentary Mineshaft: The Cruising Murders, the Jocelyn Wildenstein doc Lion Queen, magician thriller doc Stealing Magic, and Gabriel Basso's influencer drama Iconoclast.

⭐ Connect with the Show:

See Morgan Live: Get your tickets to Morgan’s brilliant New York comedy show, Can I Be Frank!

The Spark Parade is a podcast that dives deep into the films and albums that have inspired today’s creative icons. Hosted by Adam Unze, each episode features a unique conversation with an artist about their chosen film or album, and how it sparked their artistic journey.

Follow us on social media:

Instagram/Bluesky/TikTok: @sparkparade

Subscribe, rate, and leave a review wherever you listen!

For more info, visit: www.thesparkparade.com

Copyright © 2025 The Spark Parade. All rights reserved.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This week, Adam welcomes the ultimate "Broadway Baby" of drag, Ginger Minj, who brings her lifelong passion for musical theater to the parade to break down her ultimate artistic spark: Jon M. Chu’s spectacular 2024 cinematic adaptation of Wicked.

Adam and Ginger dive deep into the Emerald City, exploring how a childhood introduction to The Wizard of Oz at three years old became a brilliant Technicolor metaphor for escaping a claustrophobic small town. They trace the rich, explicit queer and trans history woven into L. Frank Baum's original 1900 book series, celebrate the undeniable, magical chemistry between Cynthia Erivo and Ariana Grande, and swap legendary backstage stories from the Broadway production.

Adam also gives the first part of his Tribeca Festival highlights for this year!

• The Munchkinland Metaphor: Ginger's grandmother, a 1939 baby, and the three miracles of that year (including Tina Turner!).
• The Backstage Tea: Witnessing the legendary, tense, post-Tony Awards energy between Idina Menzel and Kristin Chenoweth on stage.
• The Secret Trans History of Oz: Uncovering the century-old story of Princess Ozma and Tip, and how the source material was ahead of its time.
• Reclaiming the Narrative: How Ginger found her inner Elphaba while handling online critics during RuPaul's Drag Race All-Stars.
• The Subliminal Power of Glitter: Why musical theater is the perfect Trojan horse for sparking vital conversations about inclusion and political erasure.

Ginger Minj is a powerhouse performer, actress, singer, and author who first captured global attention as a finalist on season seven of RuPaul's Drag Race and All Stars 6, before winning All Stars 10. A brilliant theatrical force, she has seamlessly crossed over from the mainstage to major feature films, appearing in Netflix’s Dumplin’ and Disney’s Hocus Pocus 2. She is also the author of Southern Hospitality and an acclaimed recording artist.

• Watch: Catch Ginger starring alongside a runway of drag royalty in the wild new action-comedy disaster movie Stop! That! Train!, hitting theaters June 12th!
• See Her Live This Summer: If you're in Atlanta or Provincetown, grab tickets immediately to Liked: For Gay, a raunchy, hilarious Wicked parody show starring Ginger Minj and Jujubee. Playing at Atlanta’s Out Front Theatre through June 28th, and heading to P-Town this July!

The Spark Parade is a podcast that dives deep into the films and albums that have inspired today’s creative icons. Hosted by Adam Unze, each episode features a unique conversation with an artist about their chosen film or album, and how it sparked their artistic journey.

Follow us on social media:

Instagram/Bluesky/TikTok: @sparkparade

Subscribe, rate, and leave a review wherever you listen!

For more info, visit: www.thesparkparade.com

Copyright © 2025 The Spark Parade. All rights reserved.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

How does a small-town kid from Indiana find the courage to reject traditional pop-star expectations and build a fiercely independent music career? On this episode of The Spark Parade, Adam sits down with indie-pop singer-songwriter Lauren Sanderson to explore the artistic impact of Pink’s multi-platinum 2008 album, Funhouse.

Sanderson details her vivid childhood memories of discovering Pink’s music and explains how the pop icon served as a vital guide for self-discovery, identity, and creative defiance. The conversation dives deep into Pink’s unique positioning as a queer-coded mainstream artist, her mastery of balancing vulnerable lyricism with high-octane rock swagger, and her rare ability to use comedic relief to make complex, painful personal trials universally digestible.

What You’ll Hear in This Episode:

• The Catalyst of "Don't Let Me Get Me": Lauren shares the unforgettable emotional breakthrough of hearing Pink as a young tomboy growing up in Indiana.
• Dismantling the Pop-Star Mold: An analysis of Pink's refusal to conform to the hyper-feminine, highly commercialized industry standards of the late 2000s.
• The Power of Radical Authenticity: Why top-tier icons choose to protect their genuine identity rather than over-explaining their artistic choices.
• Queer-Coded Mainstream Spaces: A look back at how Pink fostered inclusive, safe environments for listeners navigating their own sexuality during an era with limited mainstream representation.
• Pacing and Showmanship: Lauren breaks down her deep admiration for Pink's unparalleled athletic live performances and strict professional dedication.
• 
  

About Tonight's Guest: Lauren Sanderson

Lauren Sanderson is a powerhouse indie-pop force recognized for her unapologetic DIY work ethic, boundary-pushing genre blends, and uncompromising vulnerability. Dedicated to creating an inclusive, safe space for her audience, Sanderson has cultivated a global community of fans through her electrifying live performances and raw songwriting. Her latest album Lauren is out now.

About the Album: Pink's Funhouse

Released in October 2008, Funhouse is the fifth studio album by global superstar Pink. Written in the wake of a painful marital separation, the record stands as a masterclass in creative resilience, seamlessly pairing aggressive, defiant rock anthems with quiet, acoustic introspection. The album yielded massive international hits, including "So What," "Sober," and "Please Don't Leave Me".

The Spark Parade is a podcast that dives deep into the films and albums that have inspired today’s creative icons. Hosted by Adam Unze, each episode features a unique conversation with an artist about their chosen film or album, and how it sparked their artistic journey.

Follow us on social media:

Instagram/Bluesky/TikTok: @sparkparade

Subscribe, rate, and leave a review wherever you listen!

For more info, visit: www.thesparkparade.com

Copyright © 2025 The Spark Parade. All rights reserved.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Tony Award-winning actor and acclaimed singer-songwriter John Gallagher Jr. (Spring Awakening, The Newsroom, 10 Cloverfield Lane) joins Adam to chat about his Spark: The Replacements' front man Paul Westerberg’s raw, soulful 1993 solo debut, 14 Songs.

John opens up about discovering the record during a blue period with his own songwriting and how Westerberg’s "not taking it too seriously" studio philosophy became his ultimate creative mantra.

What’s inside this episode:

• The Actor’s Rental Car Epiphany: How a film shoot in California led John to a deep-dive into Westerberg’s post-Replacements catalog.
• The Winona Ryder Vintage Tee: A wild, exclusive story about acting opposite Hollywood icon Winona Ryder and the piece of 1991 rock history she pulled out of a grocery bag for him.
• The Songwriting Mantra: Why "What would Paul Westerberg do?" is the exact framework John uses in the studio to embrace mistakes and stop overthinking the music.

John Gallagher Jr.’s brilliant new EP, Almost OK, officially releases on May 29th.

The Spark Parade is a podcast that dives deep into the films and albums that have inspired today’s creative icons. Hosted by Adam Unze, each episode features a unique conversation with an artist about their chosen film or album, and how it sparked their artistic journey.

Follow us on social media:

Instagram/Bluesky/TikTok: @sparkparade

Subscribe, rate, and leave a review wherever you listen!

For more info, visit: www.thesparkparade.com

Copyright © 2025 The Spark Parade. All rights reserved.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.