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For over a year now, I’ve been working on something I’m so excited to finally reveal to you: my new podcast I Think You’re Interesting.
Every week, I’m going to talk to somebody from the worlds of arts, entertainment, and the media, in wide-ranging discussions about their work, their influences, and the way they see the world. These figures will range from the very well-known — our premiere guest was Ryan Murphy, the man behind Glee, American Horror Story, and FX’s new series Feud — to the largely unknown. (Next week I’ll be talking to the producers of one of my favorite web series.)
You can listen to our latest episode, with You’re the Worst’s Desmin Borges below:
I know there are lots of interview podcasts out there, and you might be rightly skeptical about adding another to your subscription list. What I’ll say is that in all of the episodes I’ve recorded so far — five and counting — my subjects have been open, honest, and revealing. I’ve heard stories from them I’ve never heard them tell before, and I’ve learned fascinating things about how they think about the world.
In the debut episode, for instance, Murphy told me about breaking into show business in the 1990s as a gay man, a story that’s both heartbreaking and illuminating when it comes to his commitment to depicting LGBTQ characters on television.
Murphy told me:
I was very pained by [the homophobia]. I’d never understood it. But right from the beginning of my career, interestingly enough, I did feel homophobia and I did feel, “no,” and I remember one of my early agents was fired for being gay. This was in the mid-’90s, if you can imagine. …
I kind of was like, fuck it, I just have to do what I’m going to do … and then I had Nip/Tuck; I really just leaned into everything that people were telling me not to do.
I don’t think I would ever do that now — I think looking back on it in a career it was my teenage rebellion phase. But I think it only came about because I was made to feel so bad about my sensibility and writing gay characters at my WB experience, which was painful.
And in the latest episode, Borges and I talk about all of the research he did into PTSD to portray a veteran who struggles with the condition, and all of the remarkable military veterans he met along the way.
You can subscribe to I Think You’re Interesting through all the usual channels — iTunes, CastBox, assorted other apps — or you can check it out at its official site. If you enjoy it and have a few moments, I’d deeply appreciate a rating and review on iTunes. It helps get the podcast in front of other people who might be interested.
But even if you’re just listening, thank you for doing so. We have so many great guests coming up, from Broadway composers to documentary directors to set designers to some of your favorite TV and film stars. Every week it will be somebody different, from all levels of arts and entertainment, but one thing will be the same — I’ll always think they’re interesting. I hope you will too.
