DENNIS ANYONE? with Dennis Hensley

Dennis Hensley
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DENNIS ANYONE? with Dennis Hensley

"A podcast about making things up and making things happen." L.A.-based writer-performer Dennis Hensley believes that art and creativity make the world go around and make life worth living. Each week, he interviews a different creative person each about what they do, why they do it, and how they manage the ups and downs of a creative life. Some guests are famous, some are less so...all are what Dennis describes as "beautiful strugglers." Past guests have included authors, actors, photographers, musicians, screenwriters, acrobats and one visual artist who makes cartoons centered around dead houseflies.

  1. Actor-Producer Emerson Collins (Buyer & Cellar): "You Have To Celebrate The Rung Of The Ladder That You're On"

    HACE 1 DÍA

    Actor-Producer Emerson Collins (Buyer & Cellar): "You Have To Celebrate The Rung Of The Ladder That You're On"

    Dennis is joined via Zoom by actor Emerson Collins who is currently starring in the one-man play Buyer and Cellar by Jonathan Tolins at the Whitefire Theatre in Los Angeles. The play is a "What if?" story about an underemployed actor who gets a job working in the mall in Barbra Streisand's basement. Emerson talks about what drew him to the play, shares his favorite moment in the show and recalls his harrowing first audition, which happened days after he had emergency appendix surgery. He also talks about working as a producer for writer-director Del Shores (Sordid Lives), getting discovered by Del in a Dallas production of Del's play Southern Baptist Sissies, then taking a leap of faith and moving to LA to appear in the LA production. Other topics include: whether famous people can have real friendships with non-famous people, Emerson's memories of the late, great Leslie Jordan, the shooting permit disaster that almost shut down the film of Southern Baptist Sissies, working retail aa a Banana Republic display visionary, driving for Lyft when he found out he got cast in Rent: Live for Fox TV, why he posts Speedo shots on Instagram and the curvacious and hard-to-read title font Barbra picked for the book that inspired Buyer and Cellar, My Passion For Design. www.emersoncollins.com

    1 h y 11 min
  2. Author Frank DeCaro (Disco): "It Was About Fabulousness. Are You Fabulous?

    15 OCT

    Author Frank DeCaro (Disco): "It Was About Fabulousness. Are You Fabulous?

    Dennis is joined via Zoom by author Frank DeCaro to discuss his gorgeous and glittery new coffee table book Disco: Music, Movies and Mania Under the Mirror Ball. Frank talks about why he wanted to write about disco, what makes a song a disco song, the MAGA-esque Disco Demolition riot that helped kill disco fever in the U.S. and the long list of unlikely performers who jumped on the disco bandwagon like Bill Cosby, Frank Sinatra, Ethel Merman and the cast of the TV cop show Barnaby Jones. Frank and Dennis also discuss their affection for disco fashion, from polyester shirts to Angels Flight slacks to Jordache jeans to sky-high platforms. Frank also shares the unlikely but meant-to-be story of how he managed to score a Donna Summer interview for the end of his book when Summer herself has been dead since 2012. Other topics include: the head-scratching ubiquity of the Village People, the timeless magic of Saturday Night Fever, disco tchotckes, The Brady Bunch Variety Hour, and the allure of Studio 54, which, as Frank's book describes as "a dictatorship at the door and a democracy on the dance floor."

    1 h y 29 min
  3. Author Stan Zimmerman ("The Girls: From Golden To Gilmore") Part 2: "The Friggin’ White Board Scared The Hell Out Of Me"

    10 OCT

    Author Stan Zimmerman ("The Girls: From Golden To Gilmore") Part 2: "The Friggin’ White Board Scared The Hell Out Of Me"

    Dennis continues his conversation with TV writer Stan Zimmerman, author of the memoir The Girls: From Golden to Gilmore. In Part 2, Stan talks about working on the Gilmore Girls and learning to write dialogue in the show's unique, fast-paced style. He also talks about the humiliating T-shirt gift he got from Roseanne and Tom Arnold while working on Roseanne, taking random meetings with icons like Diana Ross, Goldie Hawn, Joan Collins and Pia Zadora, being a judge/mentor on the Bravo reality show Situation: Comedy, getting into playwriting and directing theater later in his career and going to Russia to work on the Russian Roseanne and meeting sexy Russians on the gay app Hornet. Other topics include: the holiday movie he wrote for Donna Mills, Loni Anderson, Nicolette Sheridan, Morgan Fairchild and Linda Gray, going to Studio 54 and telling Andy Warhol to stop taking his picture, his natural optimism, the thrill of having his beloved mother come to tapings, and why he wore glasses to pitch meetings when he didn't actually need them. After the interview, Dennis recalls his epic 60th birthday weekend.

    1 h y 17 min
  4. TV Writer & Author Stan Zimmerman (The Girls: From Golden To Gilmore) Part 1: "I Wanted To Be An Ernie Flatt Dancer On The Carol Burnett Show"

    3 OCT

    TV Writer & Author Stan Zimmerman (The Girls: From Golden To Gilmore) Part 1: "I Wanted To Be An Ernie Flatt Dancer On The Carol Burnett Show"

    Dennis is joined via Zoom by television writer Stan Zimmerman to talk about his memoir The Girls: From Golden to Gilmore, which documents his career working on such iconic shows as Roseanne, The Golden Girls and Gilmore Girls as well as The Brady Bunch Movie and A Very Brady Sequel. In this first part of a two-part interview, Stan talks about his midwest upbringing and how his mother bought him the ballet shoes he wanted behind his father's back. He also talks about meeting his longtime writing partner Jim Berg, why they work wll together and how they landed a gig on the first season of The Golden Girls when they were still in their 20's Stan also recalls feeling like he had to stay in the closet on that job but feeling like he had an ally in Estelle Getty. He talks about the culture of fear that was so common in TV writers rooms in those days and expresses hope that things are better today. He also talks fondly about working with director Betty Thomas on the first Brady Bunch Movie as a punch-up writer and feeling like his contribution was finally being properly appreciated...only to end up without a screen credit thanks to an old WGA rule. He also recalls Bea Arthur being concerned that the Golden Girls writing staff was too young, Rue McLanahan being extra funny when she said words ending in E-R, and the eyebrow raising thing Betty White would do when Estelle Getty flubbed her lines. Other topics include: the warm fuzzies Stan gets when he talks with Golden Girls fans, suggesting RuPaul for that cameo in The Brady Bunch Movie, Pia Zadora's giant cell phone and how when it comes to a career in entertainment, it's all about perseverance.

    55 min

  5. 26 SEPT

    Actors Michael Sturgis & Sean Luc Rogers (Clarkston): "A Genuine Dinner at the Costco Food Court"

    Dennis is joined via Zoom by actors Michael Sturgis & Sean Luc Rogers from the Echo Theater Company's production of Samuel D. Hunter's play Clarkston, which is playing at the Atwater Village Theatre in LA through October 21. Here's the synopsis: "Welcome to Clarkston, Washington, where Jake (Michael) and Chris (Sean) meet working the night shift at Costco. Jake, a middle-class, educated new hire who’s a distant relative of explorer William Clark, has fled his privileged life in Connecticut after being diagnosed with a serious illness. Chris, a would-be writer with a meth-addicted mom, is stuck in what he fears is a dead-end life in a dead-end town. Soon, their tentative attraction develops into something much deeper and more complicated. The two actors talk about what drew them to the project, the play's complex themes around friendship, loyalty and the things in life that we don't even give ourselves permission to want. Other topics include: taking a field trip to Costco and gorging at the food court, hearing the audience cry during intense scenes, the emotional hangover from doing the show, and taking an onstage selfie every night and seeing friends in the audience in the background. www.echotheatercompany.com

    56 min

  6. 17 SEPT

    Actor-Singer-Influencer Garrett Clayton: "I Just Want To Be The Boy Version Of Thoroughly Modern Millie"

    Dennis is joined via Zoom by actor-singer-dancer-influencer Garrett Clayton to discuss his new cabaret show Hero To Villain, which hits LA on September 19 and Palm Springs on September 21st. Garrett talks about the journey of the show, which takes the audience from Garrett's good guy role in Disney's Teen Beach Movie to his more recent stage work, playing villains in shows like It: The Musical and Excorcistic. He also talks about ditching his wholesome Disney image to play real life gay porn star Brent Corrigan in the 2016 film King Cobra opposite Christian Slater, James Franco and Alicia Silverstone (who actually ended up officiating Garrett's wedding.) Garrett also talks about moving to LA with nothing but a dream and a borrowed mattress, getting a job at the LA cafe Crave (where he met his husband Blake) and having his wedding covered by People magazine. Other topics include: wanting to model himself after Sutton Foster in Thoroughly Modern Millie, the pressure to stay closeted he felt from his former reps, finally coming out in an Instagram post, having to  leave the man he was in love with at home when he went to industry parties, developing a huge social media presence during the pandemic that has since turned into a lucrative side-business, the rush of playing Corny Collins in Hairspray Live! with Martin Short and Jennifer Hudson and leaving the rep who told him he needed to stay closeted because, "Nobody wants to f**k the gay guy, they want to shop with him."

    1 h y 3 min

  7. 12 SEPT

    Happy Clothes filmmaker Michael Selditch: "With Pat, Nothin's Ever Too Much"

    Dennis is joined via Zoom by filmmaker Michael Selditch to talk about his new documentary Happy Clothes: A Film About Patricia Field, which is all about the iconic stylist behind the clothes on Sex and the City, Emily in Paris, Run the World and The Devil Wears Prada. Michael talks about what inspired him to want to make the movie, how he got Patricia to agree to being documented and what makes her work so singular and fabulous. He also talks about interviewing such Field devotees as Sarah Jessica Parker, Kim Catrall, Vanessa Williams and Michael Urie. Other topics include: Field's long love affair with a much younger woman, the queer icons who once worked at Field's NYC boutique including Laverne Cox and Candace Cayne, shooting with drones in Manhattan, Michael's previous narrative feature Fixing Frank--which is coming to streaming soon--and that time Patricia complimented his outfit, which totally made his day. https://greenwichentertainment.com/film/1731-2/

    1 h y 7 min

  8. 4 SEPT

    Actor-Singer David Burnham ("Burnham Sings Buble"): "My Pants Were So Tight I Almost Passed Out"

    Dennis is joined by singer-actor David Burnham to talk about his new cabaret show Burnham Sings Buble, in which he interprets the music of Michael Buble, singing hits like "Home" and "Everything" along with more obscure Buble gems. David also talks about his previous touring show, a tribute Tom Jones, which, in true Tom Jones fashion, featured pants so tight David almost passed out. David also talks about his career in musical theater, from being plucked from nowhere at 19 to take over for Donny Osmond in the national tour of Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, to appearing in the original cast of Light in the Piazza to finally getting to play Fiero in Wicked on Broadway after originating the role in the workshop productions and being passed over for the original Broadway cast. Other topics include: the moment he first realized he could sing, why the Elvis song "Blue Christmas" takes him back to a sixth grade kiss with a girl in the Sunday School room, the song that makes him emotional every time he sings it, the rude awakening he got after finishing the Joseph tour when couldn't get arrested in New York, having to go on as Matt Morrison's understudy in Piazza on opening weekend and not even knowing the blocking and that time the crazy heckler in the front row of Joseph turned out to be Donny Osmond. https://www.davidburnham.com/

    59 min
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"A podcast about making things up and making things happen." L.A.-based writer-performer Dennis Hensley believes that art and creativity make the world go around and make life worth living. Each week, he interviews a different creative person each about what they do, why they do it, and how they manage the ups and downs of a creative life. Some guests are famous, some are less so...all are what Dennis describes as "beautiful strugglers." Past guests have included authors, actors, photographers, musicians, screenwriters, acrobats and one visual artist who makes cartoons centered around dead houseflies.

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