DENNIS ANYONE? with Dennis Hensley

Dennis is joined via Zoom by TCM host Dave Karger to discuss his new book, 50 Oscar Nights: Iconic Stars and Filmmakers On Their Career Defining Wins, which features delicious new interviews with icons like Nicole Kidman, Jane Fonda, Martin Scorsese and Mel Brooks as well as lesser-known winners like Precious screenwriter Geoffrey Fletcher, documentarian Jessica Yu and sound mixer Kevin O'Connell...

Dennis is joined via Zoom by Glenn Gaylord, Senior Film Critic at  The Queer Review, and actor-writer-film enthusiast Drew Droege to talk about the movies of last year; their favorites, the moments that have stuck with them and the movies they just weren't that into. The films discussed include Barbie, Anatomy of a Fall, Dicks: The Musical, A Good Person, Cassandro, Oppenheimer, NYAD, Poor Things,...

Dennis is joined via Zoom by Glenn Gaylord, Senior Film Critic at  The Queer Review, and actor-writer-film enthusiast Drew Droege to talk about the movies of last year; their favorites, the moments that have stuck with them and the movies they just weren't that into. The films discussed include The Zone of Interest, American Fiction, M3GAN, Bottoms, All of Us Strangers, Somewhere In Queens, May De...

Dennis is joined via Zoom by playwright and director Luke Yankee whose new play  Marilyn, Mom, and Me will have its World Premier on   February 16th at the International City Theatre in Long Beach, CA. The play is about Luke's mother, Oscar-winning actress Eileen Heckart and her close friendship Marilyn Monroe while they were shooting the movie Bus Stop together in the mid-1950's and how that rela...

Dennis is joined via Zoom by author Curtis Chin to discuss his new memoir Everything I Learned, I Learned In A Chinese Restaurant, which is about his upbringing as one of six kids raised by parents who owned a Chinese restaurant in downtown Detroit called Chung's. Curtis talks about what a magical place Chung's was and what it was like to visit it recently when it was sealed up and abandoned. He a...

Dennis is joined via Zoom by novelist Tim Murphy to discuss his latest novel  Speech Team , which he describes as a book about "small T trauma." The book is about four friends in their 40's who were on their high school speech team who reunite and decide to confront the teacher who led the group and said some f-ed up things to each of them back in the 80's. Tim talks about how this is his most aut...

Dennis is joined joined via Zoom by the Fab Five from the new gay webseries  Open To It , which is about a happy Weho couple named Greg and Cam who decide it might be fun and exciting to open things up sexually,...and hijinks ensue. Playing the game with Dennis are writer-director-EP Frank Arthur Smith who plays Greg, EP-director Greg Wolf, EP-director Matt Hartman, actor Tim Wardell who plays Cam...

Dennis is joined via Zoom by Adam Sank, the star and writer of the one-man show Adam Sank: Bad Dates, which plays Oscar's in Palm Springs on January 11th and 12th. Adam talks about how the show grew out of his stand up act and evolved into a much richer, more theatrical experience than anything he had done previously. He also talks about people always asking him why he's single at 52 and he's come...

For his first episode of 2024, Dennis is joined via Zoom by his pals actor-writer Craig Chester ( Swoon, Adam & Steve ), writer-showrunner Jack Kenny ( Warehouse 13, The Book of Daniel ), author Byron Lane ( Big Gay Wedding, A Star Is Bored ) & Terry Ray (actor and co-founder of The Bent Theater Company) for a few rollicking rounds of You Don't Know My Life! Apart from all being brilliantly talent...

For his final episode of 2023, Dennis is joined by filmmaker Todd Verow and actor Guillermo Diaz from the new gay thriller You Can't Stay Here, which is about a repressed photographer who becomes obsessed with visiting the gay cruising area the Ramble in New York's Central Park. The producing team recall how they first connected over Instagram, with Guillermo sending Todd a message that said "I li...

In this special holiday episode, Dennis shares excerpts from the comedy game show Dennis Hensley's The MisMatch Game from December 9th and the LA LGBT Center's Renberg Theatre. The panelists are Nadya Ginsburg (Cher), Dante (Christopher Lloyd), Nicole Parker (Celine Dion), Rebekah Kochan (Jennifer Coolidge), Felix Pire (Silverlake Santa) & Tom Lenk (Heidi Klum). Enjoy questions about celebs that a...

Dennis is joined via Zoom by writer-performer John Hill to talk about his show  Wellness Check , which is a mix of standup comedy and original songs, all overseen by John's chihuahua Pete who sits atop the piano and judges both John and the audience. John talks about the real life events that inspired the show, like getting sober during the pandemic, and the hot mic moment that nearly cost his job...

Dennis is joined via Zoom by four different guests, each of whom have products that are perfect for holiday give gifting. First up is Michael DeMartino from Pillow Top, a line of queer-centric pillows and accessories. Michael talks about why he went into pillows, the thrill of having his leather harness pillow featured on Netflix's How To Build a Sex Room and the sexy hunk bowling ball he designed...

Dennis is joined via Zoom by Mark S. King for Part 2 of their conversation about Mark's new book My Fabulous Disease as well as his previous memoir A Place Like This . In Part 2, Mark talks about building massive box kites with his father, how his father encouraged risk-taking in life and how surviving the AIDS crisis prepared him to deal with his father's passing. Mark also talks about one of his...

Dennis is joined via Zoom by filmmaker Billy Luther to discuss his film Frybread Face and Me , which comes out in select theaters and on Netflix on the day after Thanksgiving, November 24th. The film is a coming-of-age story set on the Navajo reservation in Northern Arizona and is based on Billy's own experience of going to stay with his grandmother on the reservation when he was about 11. Billy t...

Dennis is joined via Zoom from Atlanta by author Mark S. King to talk about his new book  My Fabulous Disease: Chronicles of a Gay Survivor , which he describes as his "greatest hits" from years writing columns for outlets like Poz , Frontiers and Windy City Times. In the interview, Mark expounds on some of the experiences he shares in the book, like the time he won a car on The Price is Right at...

In Part 2 of Dennis's interview with Dick DeBartolo, the writer talks about what it was like to juggle two dream jobs; writing for Mad Magazine and The Match Game TV show...at the same time! He also shares story after story of the good will he receives when a stranger finds out he's " Mad's maddest writer." He's gotten everything from airplane upgrades to house seats at a sold-out show. Dick also...

Dennis is joined via Zoom by one of his heroes, comedy writer Dick DeBartolo who worked for both  Mad Magazine and The Match Game TV show...at the same time! Dick talks about how he landed both jobs, how they actually complimented each other and what it was like to go back and forth between the two offices in Manhattan. Recalling Match Game , Dick describes how dry the questions were when he start...

Dennis is joined via Zoom by Dion Labriola, the filmmaker and the subject of the documentary  Dear Ike: Lost Letters to a Teen Idol , which is screening on World Animation Day on PBS SoCal and is also available for streaming on PBS.org. The movie documents Dion's teenage obsession with the child actor Ike Eisenmann from Escape to Witch Mountain and also a Doublemint gum commercial that was ubiquit...

  Dennis is joined via Zoom by actor-singer-writer-restaurantuer Mitchell Anderson to discuss his new autobiographical play Y ou Better Call Your Mother , which takes its title from something a producer said to him backstage after he came out publicly onstage at the 1996 GLAAD Media Awards. This was while he was playing a gay character on the hit TV series Party of Five and made Mitchell one of th...

Dennis is joined via Zoom by Ryan Raftery, the star and creator of Mother of the Year: The Kris Jenner Musical , the latest in his series of musicals about complicated celebrities. Ryan talks about what drew him to exploring Kris, the nine months he spent researching her, what surprised him in his research and the words of wisdom from Kris that he's taken to heart. Dennis and Ryan also discuss the...

Dennis is joined via Zoom by cartoonist Carlo Quispe, one of the creators of Uranus Comics, who will be showing his work at the New York Queer Zine Fair on Saturday, October 7th. Carlo talks about when he first realized he could draw, winning a prestigious art contest as a kid with a little special help from mom and what it was like to move to the U.S. from Peru at 13. He also talks about his ment...

Dennis is joined via Zoom by singer and American Idol alum Jim Verraros on the day he releases his first new music in 12 years, a dance-pop single called "Take My Bow." Jim talks about what inspired him to step in front of the microphone again, how putting out music is different now than it was in the mid-2000s and why he loves a good double entendre. He also talks about his life post-Idol, being...

Dennis is joined via Zoom by Leonard Hyman, the emcee and a story producer for the L.A. stage show  Mortified. Mortified is a long running stage show where performers get on the mic and share things they created as kids or teens, like diary entries, poems, home videos, things that were never intended to be shared with a roomful of stranger. Leonard recalls how he first learned about the show then...

Dennis is joined via Zoom by filmmaker Sav Rodgers to discuss his documentary  Chasing Chasing Amy , a coming-of-age story set again the backdrop of Kevin Smith's controversial 1993 film Chasing Amy, which is about a lesbian (Joey Lauren Adams) who falls in love with a straight guy (Ben Affleck). Sav recalls how the documentary sprung from a Ted Talk he gave called "The Rom-Com That Saved My Life,...