DENNIS ANYONE? with Dennis Hensley

Dennis is joined via Zoom by author Jon Imparato to talk about his new memoir The Good Inside the Grief , in which he writes about everything from his Catholic childhood to his challenging relationship with his father to volunteering to man the shaving cart and shaving AIDS patients at the height of the pandemic. Jon also talks about the moving and surprising reactions he's gotten to it so far and...

In this episode, Dennis is joined via Zoom by his friend Bob Merrick who pens the Substack newsletter Magnificent Obsession where shares sweet, sassy and occasional sad stories about everything from his tumultuous childhood and family life, his wide circle of friends and his star-studded misadventures in Hollywood. Bob talks about why he started writing the newsletter, how people have been reactin...

For this final episode of the year, Dennis flips the script and appears as a guest on the Behind the Book Cover podcast hosted by his friend and past Dennis Anyone guest Anna David. He also weighs in on the miracle that is Heated Rivalry during the So This Happened segment at the end of the episode. Here are the official show notes Anna wrote about the episode: Dennis Hensley was the very first re...

In this episode, Dennis is joined via Zoom by visual artist & production designer Nino Alicea whose larger-than-life installations  Got Framed and Atebay's Treasure are currently on display in San Francisco's Embarcadero as part of the city's year-long Big Art Loop initiative. Nino talks about the inspiration for both pieces. Got Framed , with it's 91 roses, is inspired by his grandmother Rosameli...

In Part 2 of his annual Holiday Gift Guide, Dennis talks to creative entrepreneurs Scott Willams and Cam Clarke. Scott discovered a passion for ceramics during the pandemic and has since launched a side business called SEW Ceramics, based in Cambria, California. His Strata line of clay lamps are his most popular items to date. Each is one-of-a-kind because, as Scott quips, "I couldn't duplicate th...

In Part 1 of his annual Holiday Gift Guide, Dennis talks to creative entrepreneurs Jackie Beat and Brian Gryphon. First up, is drop dead gorgeous, larger than life, world famous drag superstar Jackie Beat who, earlier this year, happened upon an artistic side-hustle in the most unlikely of places: Grocery Outlet Bargain Market. The discount store was selling 12" by 12" art prints featuring an oddl...

Dennis is joined via Zoom by Maria Friedman director of the Broadway musical  Merrily We Roll Along as well as the new filmed version of that Tony-winning stage production (which hits theaters on December 5th). Maria talks about her long history with the Stephen Sondheim musical as both actor and director, the themes that were on her mind as she approached this new version and what it was like to...

Dennis is joined via Zoom by Greg Cope White to talk about the Netflix series  Boots , which is based on Greg's memoir about joining the marines as a young gay man The Pink Marine . Greg talks about the long journey of getting the show on the air, working with his mentor Norman Lear on the project, the thrill of finally having it out in the world and the amazing reactions he's gotten from viewers...

Dennis is joined via Zoom from Manhattan by Brian Schaefer to talk about his wonderful debut novel Town & Country. The book is about a congressional election in a small rural town called Griffin between Chip Riley, a conservative bar owner who's lived in Griffin for decades, and Paul Sands, a young ambitious liberal gay man who bought a house in Griffin with his rich husband about a year earlier....

Dennis is joined via Zoom by actor and interior designer Francisco Chacin who plays Beau Bridge's fastidious assistant Stuart on the hit CBS drama Matlock . Francisco talks about the thrill of booking the gig, getting paid to be mean to Kathy Bates, basing Stuart on certain "clipboard gays" he's observed in the real world and his dream that maybe Stuart can coach pageant contestants as a side busi...

Dennis is joined by filmmaker Yen Tan whose latest movie All That We Love starring Margaret Cho and Jessie Tyler Ferguson is opening Outfest Next this week and hitting cinemas and streaming soon after. The film is about a woman in midlife who loses her dog and how she carries on after that loss and how she manages the relationships in her life, including her grown daughter, gay best friend and est...

For the second part of Dennis's conversation with Matching Minds With Sondheim author Barry Joseph, Dennis invites his old friend Dennis Osborne to join the Zoom. Dennis was a good friend of Stephen Sondheim's for the last 35 years of his life and spent a lot of time playing games with him. In this conversation, Dennis and Barry talk about Sondheim's obsession with computer games like OXYD and Mys...

Dennis is joined via Zoom by Barry Joseph, author of the new book Matching Minds with Sondheim , which is all about the legendary Broadway composer and lyricist's love of puzzles and games. Barry talks about being inspired to write the book in 2022, a few months after Sondheim's passing, and how writing the book became like a puzzle for him to solve. He also talks about his love of Sondheim's musi...

Dennis is joined by his queer sketch comedy queen friend Nora Burns to talk about her new stage show Candied Camera Live! , which is based on a real public access TV show she produced and hosted back in the 1990s. Nora talks about the material on the show that would definitely get her cancelled today, using a sex club with a camera in it as a studio and thinking for decades that the Candied Camera...

Dennis is joined by his friend Steven Reigns to talk about his new collection of poetry, Outliving Michael , which is about a friend of Steven's named Michael Church who died of AIDS in 2000. Steven talks about meeting Michael first as his drag persona Blanche before getting to know him out of drag and becoming close friends. Steven reads several poems and talks about what made Michael so unique,...

In this special Birthday Crossover Episode of Dennis Anyone and Dennis Hensley's Happy & Gay , Dennis breaks down his five days of birthday activities, which included two films ( Almost Famous & Magnolia ), one museum excursion (the Queer Lens exhibit at the Getty Center), one game day at Lawless Brewery and one marvelous outdoor play; Wine in the Wilderness by Alice Childress at the Will Geer The...

Dennis is joined via Zoom by Rob Loveless, host of the A Jaded Gay podcast and one of Dennis's fellow nominees for Best LGBTQ Podcast at this Sunday's Podcast Awards. Rob talks about what inspired him to start the podcast, why he loves doing it and how he balances it with going to grad school and working full time in the corporate world. He also talks about deciding how open to be when it comes to...

Dennis is joined via Zoom from Boston, MA by writer-director Spencer Cohen to talk about his film The Compatriots, which is about young undocumented gay man from Peru named Javi and his quest to be who he is. Spencer talks about how he based the story on his real life best friend since middle school Beto, who is a gay, Peruvian and undocumented Dreamer, just like Javi in the film. Spencer recalls...

Dennis is join via Zoom from Sitges, Spain by writer Jon Kinnally to talk about his new memoir  I'm Prancing as Fast as I Can , which features stories about his life, from his childhood in Syracuse, New York through his career in Hollywood as a longtime writer on Will & Grace , the original incarnation and the reboot. Jon talks about where his title comes from, having "book envy" over other writer...

Dennis is joined via Zoom by author Stephanie Elizondo Griest to discuss her latest book Art Above Everything: One Woman's Global Exploration of the Joys and Torments of a Creative Life, which is so up Dennis's alley. (Actually, a listener reached out to Dennis and said, "You need to check out this book. It's what you talk about all the time.") Stephanie talks about the through line that many of t...

This week, Dennis shares his thoughts on the finale of And Just Like That ...and also sharing quotes from an interview he did with Carrie Bradshaw herself Sarah Jessica Parker for British Premier magazine in 1995. He also talks about his recent day trip to the Film Out San Diego LGBT Film Festival where he caught two very different movies; Sauna from Denmark and #300Letters from Argentina. He also...

Dennis is joined via Zoom by Bryan Cooper who is one of the producers of Cinecon 61, a Labor Day weekend film festival in Los Angeles dedicated to rarely-seen classic films and the people who love them. Bryan talks about this year's honorees who will be appearing in person: Ann-Margret, Mamie Van Doren and Juliet Mills whose award will be presented to her husband Maxwell Caulfield from Grease 2 ....

Dennis is joined via Zoom by actor Jeff Hiller to discuss his new memoir Actress of a Certain Age as well as his recent Emmy nomination for Best Supporting Actor in a Comedy for the HBO series Somebody Somewhere . Jeff talks about being completely surprised by the nomination, his plan to enjoy every moment of the Emmy experience and how happy he is to get to share it with the series' star Bridget...

On the eve of Xanadu 's 45th Anniversary, Dennis is joined by six of his fellow Xanadu superfans--the XanaCrew--to preview the events they have organized for this coming weekend in Los Angeles. The events include a sold out screening on Saturday, August 9th featuring a Q & A with Michael Beck and multiple muses...bookended by a tribute concert on Friday, the 8th and a picnic on Sunday, August 10 f...

In this episode, Dennis describes reuniting with his former cruise ship dancing colleague Monica who he hasn't seen in 35 years, sings the praises of the HBO Max movie Mountaintop , the classic rom-com Pretty Woman and DTLA's Summer Dance Nights. He also talks about the importance of friendship in his own life and shares insights from the famous Harvard Study on longevity and well-being and touts...