DENNIS ANYONE? with Dennis Hensley

Dennis is join via Zoom by documentary filmmaker Jeffrey Schwarz to discuss his newest film Mineshaft: The Cruising Murders, which is about the making of the controversial William Friedkin film Cruising , the real life murders it was inspired by and the gay activist movement it inspired. Jeffrey talks about the first time he saw the film, why he was inspired to make the doc, star Al Pacino's feeli...

Dennis is joined via Zoom by actor Tim Cummings who is currently starring as Arnie in the hit play Grangeville by Samuel D. Hunter (The Whale) at the Rustin Group Theatre in Santa Monica, CA. The play is about two estranged half-brothers, one in Idaho, one in Holland, who connect to discuss the care and finances of their ailing mother but end up reckoning with a whole lot more. Tim talks about see...

Dennis is joined via Zoom by his friend Nadya Ginsburg to talk about her latest one-person show Feral Fatal, which is hitting LA, New York and the Berkshires in July. The show features her genius imitations of Cher and Madonna but also has plenty of surprises, including a lovely Tom Waits song as well as some thoughtful musings about how we're all just primates.   She also talks about getting sobe...

Actor-Writer-Producer Paul Witten ( You Are Here ): "My Pinky Is So Extended And I'm Guzzling"   Dennis is joined via Zoom by Paul Witten, the creator and star of a new TV pilot called You Are Here , which is having its world premier on June 20th at the Dances With Films festival in Los Angeles. The story centers on a 50-something gay man in Los Angeles and three of his friends who all feel like t...

Dennis is joined via Zoom by writer-director Elliot Tuttle to talk about his debut feature  Blue Film , which is about a 20-something camboy who takes a lot of money to spend the night with an anonymous client, who ends up being a former school teacher and convicted sex offender from his small hometown. Elliot talks about why he wanted to tell this story, the knockout performances he got from his...

Dennis is join via Zoom by Linus O'Brien to discuss his new documentary  Strange Journey: The Story of Rocky Horror, a joyful and inspiring recounting of the journey of the cultural juggernaut that is  The Rocky Horror Picture Show . Linus's father Richard O'Brien created the original show and played Riff Raff both on stage and in the movie and watching father and son interact in the film and try...

Dennis connects via Zoom with his friends Oscar Quintero, Danny Casillas & Kurt Koehler to talk about the return of their long-running drag comedy-musical Chico's Angels 2: Love Boat Chicas , which returns to the Cavern Club Theater this June. The trio talk about what audiences can expect from this installment--Disco music! Forbidden love! Charo!--how drag has changed since they started doing the...

In this episode, Dennis connects via Zoom with Peter Cervantes to talk about his book The Road Back to Me: Six Sacred Tools for Queer Healing Through Shadow, Breath, and Truth , in which he shares his journey from severe physical and mental health crises to healing through therapy, meditation, breath work, EMDR, shadow work and more. He also talks about having severe heart palpitations and anxiety...

Dennis is joined by renowned British photographer Brian Aris to discuss his new book Celebrating George: Three Decades which showcases the many photographs Brian took of George Michael throughout his career. Brian talks about the first time he shot George, as part of Wham, at the end of a day that included earlier shoots with Billy Joel and Mick Jagger. He also talks about why George was one of hi...

Dennis is joined via Zoom by three of the artists behind the Echo Theater Company's new play For Want of a Horse; playwright Olivia DuFault, director Elena Luo and actor Griffin Kelly. The play is about a romantic and sexual triangle between a married couple and Q-Tip (played by Kelly) who happens to be a horse. Olivia talks about the New York Magazine article that first inspired her to write the...

Dennis is joined via Zoom by actor-writer Michael McHale to talk about his one-person show  Searching For Robert Hennessey , which recounts the decades-long search Michael went on for his biological father after his single mother told him the man's name on his 18th birthday. It's an odyssey that involves making out with a guy he met at the Eagle and discovering they may be related, spending years...

In this episode, Dennis is joined via Zoom by singer-songwriter and author Mike Maimone to talk about his new memoir--as well as its companion album--both called Guess What? I Love You, which documents the most extraordinary year of his life. A few years back, Mike met the well-known Hollywood publicist Howard Bragman on Scruff and within a few messages, they both knew it was something real. A whi...

Dennis is joined via Zoom by Gabe Rivas Gomez, the writer of the visually stunning and very moving new play Level Up! which is about a trans tween named Desi whose quest to be who she really is takes her into a spectacular and dangerous video game world. Gabe talks about where the original inspiration came from, finding the trans actress to play Desi, Mathias Brinda, several workshop productions a...

Dennis is joined via Zoom by the duo behind the new gay comedy Bookends , writer-star Noam Ash and director Mike Doyle. Bookends tells the story of an aspiring writer named Nate whose life in Manhattan falls apart and he ends up moving in with his grandparents--played by Oscar-winner F. Murray Abraham and Caroline Aaron--in their retirement community. Noam talks about how the story was inspired by...

In this episode, Dennis recounts the recent  MisMatch Game: Bad Luck of the Irish  Friday the 13th Edition, shooting pre-Oscar interview with host Conan O'Brien, attending the early morning taping of  Live with Kelly & Mark  at the Dolby Theater on the day after the Oscars, and have the first-ever table reading of his first-ever play  Trade-Offs  and crying through much of it. At the cinema, Denni...

In this episode, Dennis is joined by author Mark Malkoff to talk about his book Love Johnny Carson about the iconic Tonight Show host and what made him an American institution. Mark talks about how he first became obsessed with Carson as a kid, conducting 400 interviews for his book, celebrities whose careers were made by Carson like Bette Midler, David Letterman and The Potato Chip Lady and what...

Dennis is joined via Zoom by writer-performer Mike Albo to talk about his new audio original Hologram Boyfriends as well as his upcoming appearance as one-third of the comedy troupe Unitard at the Cavern Club Theater in Silver Lake (March 20-22). Hologram Boyfriends , from McMilan audio, is a series of personal essays about love, sex and connection before and after the advent of the smartphone. Mi...

Once again, Dennis is joined via Zoom by Glenn Gaylord, Senior Film Critic at  The Queer Review and star of the YouTube channel Glenn Hates Everything and actor-writer-film enthusiast Drew Droege to talk about the movies of 2025. Part 1 was last week. Here's Part 2 and the films discussed include: Song Sung Blue, Hamnet, Blue Sun Palace, Before We Forget, It Was Just an Accident, The Parenting, A...

Once again, Dennis is joined via Zoom by Glenn Gaylord, Senior Film Critic at The Queer Review and star of the YouTube channel Glenn Hates Everything and actor-writer-film enthusiast Drew Droege to talk about the movies of 2025. The films discussed include Ella McCay, Twinless, Weapons, Plainclothes, The Baltimorons, Final Destination: Bloodlines, Materialists, Rent Free, The Secret Agent, Sorry B...

In this episode, Dennis is joined by the director and cast of the new play Foursome , which is currently running at the Atwater Village Theatre in Los Angeles. The play is about two couples who head to a mountain cabin for a New Years getaway and let's just say...the play isn't called Foursome for nothing. The show's director Tom DeTrinis as well as the cast, which includes Matthew Scott Montgomer...

In this episode, Dennis is joined by singer, actor and American Idol alum David Hernandez to talk about his new single and video "Beautiful 2.0," which features trans artist Mila Jam. David talks about his inspiration for re-recording the song, which he wrote and released in 2016, working with his former Harlem roommate Mila Jam, and how he feels much more comfortable on camera now than he did in...

Dennis is joined via Zoom by playwright Robert Axelrod to discuss his new play Lifeline , which is a dramedy about a group of new volunteers at a suicide hotline. It was inspired by Robert's own experience as a volunteer for The Trevor Project hotline. Robert talks about what it was like to volunteer there, the extensive training volunteers go through and he recalls some of his more memorable conv...

Dennis is joined via Zoom by playwright Justin Tanner whose one-person show, "My Son, the Playwright," is currently running at the Rogue Machine Theatre in Hollywood. Justin talks about his motivation for writing the play, in which he plays a version of his father in Act 1 and a version of himself in 2004 in Act 2. He also talks about how he memorized the 14,000 word script by using a the robotic...

Dennis is joined via Zoom by actor Ron Butler who has narrated hundreds of audiobooks including the current bestseller Baldwin: A Love Story by Nicholas Boggs, which is about the life and loves of the iconic queer writer James Baldwin. Ron talks about how the project came to him, how he approached doing Baldwin's voice and getting so emotional at the end of the process that he cried. He also talks...

For this episode, Dennis is joined via Zoom by the cast of the new film  Adam and Steve Escape From MAGA for a rollicking game of You Don't Know My Life! Writer-Director Craig Chester is joined by his cast mates Nora Burns, Nadya Ginsburg, Ned Van Zandt, Madeline Reed, Mélisa Breiner-Sanders, Cary Curran, David Ilku and Michael Musto to answer these two questions: As your film demonstrates, last y...