DENNIS ANYONE? with Dennis Hensley

On a rare rainy day in LA, Dennis visits the L.A. home of Steve Gizicki, Music Supervisor of one of the buzziest movies of the year, "La La Land." They talk about how he got the gig, what his job as music supervisor actually entailed and what it's like to be part of the year-end awards conversation. Steve also shares lots of behind-the-scenes details from the shoot, like where he was positioned du...

Dennis visits his old college theater buddy Garrett Anderson at the Christmas-themed store he co-owns with his partner on 3rd Street in Los Angeles to talk about the hot Christmas decorating trends--upside down Christmas trees!--selling to Dance Moms and the one ornament in the store he's not that crazy about. He also talks about the chocolate they sell direct from his brother-in-law's farm in Ecu...

In this episode, Dennis heads to Westwood for the premier of the new gay thriller Kiss Me, Kill Me to interview cast members Van Hansis (As the World Turns), Jai Rodriguez (Queer Eye), Kit Williamson (Mad Men), Yolanda Ross (The Get Down), Jonathan Lisecki (Gayby), Matthew Ludwinski (Going Down in La-La Land), Allison Lane (See You Next Tuesday on YouTube) and Craig Robert Young (Hawaii 5-0) as we...

Dennis visits the Echo Park home of screenwriter David Michael Barrett to talk with Barrett and director Casper Andreas about the new gay thriller they produced together "Kiss Me Kill Me." The pair talk about the inspiration for the script, the demands of the Kickstarter campaign, shooting at Pink Dot, and landing their cast, which includes Queer as Folk's Gale Herold and As the World Turns' Van H...

Dennis goes to the Hollywood studio/workspace of drag superstar Willam Belli to discuss his hilarious and informative new book "Suck Less: Where There's a Willam, There's a Way." Willam talks about how the book came about, getting Neil Patrick Harris to write the forward and the one thing his publisher asked him NOT to include in the book. He also talks about his experience on RuPaul's Drag Race,...

By popular demand, radio host Derek Hartley from "Derek and Romaine" is back for a special episode that's all Observation Deck all the time...complete with a blooper opening.  He talks about what he was picked on for as a kid, ruining a take on "Ed Wood," the scar on his head, his idea of a perfect day, what kind of driver he is, the movie he's seen more than any other, the most bullshit thing a s...

Dennis welcomes writer-producer Chris Lisotta to the condo to talk about Chris's recent trip to the exotic land of...wait for it...Greenland! Chris talks about how the trip came about as well as the food, the landscape, the population, the people, the landscape, the gay life, the lack of trees and more. He also talks about his work as a reality producer and his days as a print journalist and his f...

Dennis visits the Burbank office of Doug Ross, founder of Evolution Media, the company behind such hit reality shows as Botched, The Real Housewives of Orange County, The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills, Vanderpump Rules and many others. Doug talks about how Botched came to be, the teens-at-camp show Bug Juice that started his career, working on the first seasons of Big Brother and Fear Factor th...

Dennis heads to Anaheim to chat with radio host Romaine Patterson about her recently launched radio show with Derek Hartley, Derek & Romaine 2.0. She talks about her first meeting with Derek, the pain of being let go from Sirius/XM, the hard work of launching DNR 2.0 and meeting her wife Iris through the show. She also talks about her terrific book "The Whole World Was Watching...Living in the Lig...

Dennis welcomes dog trainer Gregg Sokolsky to his condo to talk about his work as a dog trainer with his company Affordable Dog Training & Anti-Aggression. He talks about growing up with animals, working for the government's Animal Regulation Agency, his training philosophy and his first job as a trainer. He also discusses different training collars, the Dog Whisperer, therapy dogs, pitbulls, pure...

Dennis visits the L.A. apartment of best-selling author Steven Rowley to talk about his debut novel "Lilly and the Octopus," about a gay and his dog. Steven talks about the real-life inspiration for the book, how his boyfriend encouraged him to make it more than a short story and how he went from thinking he's going to self-publish it to scoring a reported $1 million advance from Simon and Schuste...

Dennis welcomes filmmaker Steve Balderson to his condo to discuss the FOUR films he has coming out on various platforms: "Hell Town," "El Ganzo," "Firecracker" and "Elvis Lives." He talks about shooting "El Ganzo" in Mexico near Cabo San Lucas, getting hired to direct "Elvis Lives" by the same folks who make the "Sharknado" films, getting Karen Black to star in "Firecracker" and the fun of staging...

Dennis visits the North Hollywood apartment of filmmaker Cameron Thrower to discuss the prestigious Jameson First Shot filmmaking contest he just won and the short film that resulted from it, Beauty Mark, which is available for viewing at JamesonFirstShot.com. He talks about working with his leading lady Maggie Gyllenhaal and Executive producer Kevin Spacey, finding out he won in a mind-blowing ca...

Dennis welcomes trans actor-writer-activist Jen Richards to his condo to discuss the Emmy-nominated web-series "Her Story," about the dating lives of trans women in LA.  She talks about the origins of the series, crushing on her co-creator, getting fan mail from places like Estonia and Bangladesh and landing a trans designer to make her Emmy dress.  She also talks about the decision to transition,...

Dennis visits the charming L.A. home of Byron Lane, creator of the webseries "Last Will and Testicle," which was inspired by his own experiences with testicular cancer. Byron talks about making the webseries as the drama was playing out in his own life, getting funds from Kickstarter, asking actor and past podcast guest Drew Droege to play his cancerous lump and the fact that his implant actually...

Here's part 2 of my conversation with professional namer and Crossword constructor Andrea Carla Michaels. This one is basically one long delicious story about playing Scattegories with John Lithgow that takes detours to a Scrabble club in New York and her Harvard reunion. Other topics include being a chaperone for The Dating Game, Barbra Streisand, what her parents about the road she's chosen and...

After a few weeks off, Dennis returns, welcoming his old friend from San Francisco Andrea Carla Michaels into his Noho condo to talk about what it's like to create crossword puzzles for the New York Times. She talks about why she loves it, her long history with Will Shortz, how she gets paid, having her puzzle featured at a crossword contest and making peace with using those 4-letter "glue" words...

Dennis visits the Glendale apartment of award-winning filmmakers Deondray Gossett & Quincy LeNear to talk about their ongoing TV/web series The Chadwick Journals--the second episode premiers at Outfest on Sunday, July 10th. Topics include: the inspiration behind The DL Chronicles, the hit Here TV series that spawned the Chadwick spin-off, the Oprah episode that inspired them to write about the dow...

Dennis visits the North Hollywood home of his old friend, choreographer Fred Tallaksen, to talk about his two Emmy nominations, teaching Madonna to rollerskate for her "Sorry" video ("She smelled great"), bringing laser-ography to Jennifer Lopez's stage shows and taking an elbow to the face on the set of "Modern Family." Fred opens up about his transition from performer to choreographer, the Mount...

Live from San Juan, Puerto Rico! On a press trip for Man About World, Dennis hits the beach with JC Cappas, the LGBT Ambassador of the La Concha resort in San Juan, to learn more about Puerto Rico and all the things that make it so enchanting. JC talks about moving to the island at 18 and not knowing Spanish, getting gay married at the historic EL Morro fort, the gay nightlife scene in San Juan an...

Dennis sits down with New York-based filmmaker Joey Kuhn on a recent visit to LA to talk about Kuhn's film "Those People," which hit DVD and VOD on June 14, 2016. Joey talks about the inspiration for his film, the stress of raising the money, the high and low points of making the film, getting to shoot on the Highline, at Lincoln Center and at his own synagogue and why he wanted there to be no cel...

Dennis visits the Studio City home of actor-singer-voiceover artist Cam Clarke to talk about his life as a member of the inconic King Family who rose to fame through their TV variety series in the late 60's and 70's. Cam talks about growing up on television, his jealousy of the Osmonds and what it's like when the cameras go away. He also discusses his one man show from last year, "Stop Me If I Tol...

Dennis visits the West Hollywood apartment of poet and teacher Steven Reigns, AKA the Poet Laureate of West Hollywood, to talk about how he got that title, what it means and why he's always loved poetry. Steven also talks about growing up in St. Louis, moving to Florida after high school, losing his older gay mentor to AIDS, his love of libraries and his obsession with Anais Nin. Steven reads a co...

Dennis visits the Sunset Blvd office of writer and showrunner Carter Covington a few days after the series finale of his show "Faking It" aired on MTV. Carter talks about the show's groundbreaking intersex story line, the pros and cons of interacting with fans on Twitter and the mixed emotions of having a job that you love come to an end sooner than you would like it to. Carter also shares his rem...

Dennis visits the Los Feliz apartment of actor Brian Jordan Alvarez, the creative force behind the new web series "The Gay and Wondrous Life of Caleb Gallo." Brian talks about the origins of the show, how he got the money to make it, using iPhones to record sound, and the themes of sexual and gender fluidity that are explored in the show.  Brian also talks about working on "Jane the Virgin" and th...