Feast of Fun : Gay Talk Show

A contemporary of RuPaul and Lady Bunny in Atlanta, DeAundra Peek's cable access show ran for years and although she was loved by many, DeAundra mysteriously disappeared, never to be heard from again, until now. Today, we’re talking to the fabulous DeAundra Peek about her early days in drag and her friendships with all these glorious drag queens.

After our podcast with DeAundra Peek, remained on the line to continue talking about how she got her start on the cable access program “The American Music Show,” which also featured a very young RuPaul. Listen as we chat at about the incredible drag scene of Atlanta in the 80s that gave birth to such legends as RuPaul and Lady Bunny, and lots of juicy behind the scenes tea.

Since the origins of house music in Chicago in the early 80s, Screaming Rachael Cain has been its most vocal champion. And throughout the 90s, Rachael was a big part of the famed Club Kid scene in New York City, where many gay icons got their start. Today Screamin’ Rachael joins us along with her protogé Jorge Cruz to take a look at the legacy of house music and her remarkable life.

The club scene in New York City in the 80s was an incredible time for live music: Punk, Pop, the second British Invasion, and Heavy Metal bands dominated a scene where people had plenty of free time and lots of great drugs to take it all in. At the center of this incredible world was Michael Alago, a music superfan who became one of the biggest names in music, despite being a young queer Puerto Rican from Brooklyn. Today Michael Alago joins us to talk about his new book “I am Michael Alago” where he recounts his amazing life in the music business.

When people think of hypnotism, they often conjure up the idea of a malevolent force like Dracula trying to get them to do their bidding. But in reality people turn to hypnotism to live better lives, from quitting smoking to forced feminization: the art of transforming yourself into a beautiful creation of your dominatrix’s imagination. It seems like hypnosis could unlock the limitless potential of the mind, but is it possible to go too far? Today comedian Chelsea Myers joins us to look at all the wild things people turn to hypnotism for help. Besides being a fabulous queer comedian in Chicago, as a teenager Chelsea was hypnotized at a party and wasnt able to break the spell.

It’s Madonna’s birthday and it’s also the anniversary of the day Elvis Presley died. But does their connection go deeper than that? Today we take a look at the mysterious photo of a young woman trying to meet Elvis. Is this an example of the Mandela effect: the phenomena where large groups of people can recall something that did not happen or remember it very differently from the way it actually occurred.

James St. James talks about his book "Freak Show" which is now a movie on Amazon Prime.

It’s been a huge year for drag queens and their fans, not just with RuPaul’s Drag Race’s move to a major cable channel, but also with the many web series and reality TV shows featuring drag artists. So why are people saying drag is not the shiny happy party it promised to be? As Morgan McMichael says “why you mad girl?” Today, one of New York’s hottest drag queens, Miz Cracker, joins us to talk about the way drag queens have taken over media and what that means for the goils who grew up pounding the pavement in heels to perform at the local queer watering holes.

In the world of female impersonation pageants there is no title more coveted than being crowned Miss Continental. The new documentary film, The Queens, looks at the allure of the decades old Miss Continental contest and what it takes to win the one crown that rules them all. Today, The Queens’ filmmaker, Mark Saxenmeyer, joins us to talk about how the documentary showcases the Continental Pageant system with a behind the scenes look at the run up to the competition and interviews with the legends who run the prestigious contest.

Kalloo kalay, Kamala Harris has been selected by Joe Biden as his running mate for the 2020 U.S. presidential election. Harris makes history as the first Black woman and the first Asian American woman to run as a vice presidential candidate on a major US party ticket. Today comedian Lindsay Shaw joins us to take a look at the announcement of Kamala Harrris as Vice President and how Republicans are already sharpening their knives.

One of the hardest gigs on reality television is to be the first queen sent home on RuPaul's Drag Race because you never get to show the world everything you have to offer. Today Naysha Lopez, the first gal to go home from Season 8 of RuPaul’s Drag Race joins us to talk about winning the prestigious Miss Continental 2013, and how it compares with being on Drag Race.

One of the most influential LGBT documentaries of all time is The Queen, Frank Simon and Flawless Sabrina’s 1968 film that takes the viewer behind the scenes of a tumultuous drag pageant held in New York City two years before the Stonewall riots. Today, Miss Gay U.S. of A pageant winner, Aurora Sexton, joins us to look at drag pageants over the decades and what it takes for a gal to make it big in the pageant circuit.

With the weekend coming up, we thought today we’d kick back, put a pizza in the oven and take a look at the goodies from the week and all the hot news-- ➤ A medical miracle: doctors grow a dong on a man’s arm to replace it. ➤ Jennifer Hudson wows the internet with her powerful and dizzying musical tribute to the late Civil Rights Leader John Lewis.

Celebrities have always been welcome in our homes for their ability to entertain and help us escape the troubles of the world. But during the Covid pandemic, there’s a reckoning, and many celebrities that we adored before all hell broke loose are now facing their own crisis over their inability to relate to people and at worse, spreading misinformation that can cost people’s lives. Today we’re taking a look at Ellen, Madonna and RuPaul: three beloved gay icons in crisis.

Folks fell in love with the she-larious Varla Jean Merman in the iconic camp film Girls will Be Girls but she stunned everyone when she recently took off her top and showed the world that the beauty is also a beast- a stunning, muscular hairy beast, with a fish tail! Today, Varla joins us to talk about how folks react to her rocking bod and how she alters her drag to make room for bodybuilding.