Ira and Louis answer listeners’ pop culture questions and discuss the NYT’s reporting on bubbling under pop stars and gays sending birthday nudes. Film critic Kyle Turner joins to discuss his book The Queer Film Guide. Plus, legend Idina Menzel joins to discuss her new album Drama Queen and her past on Broadway.

 

TRANSCRIPT

 

[AD]

 

Ira Madison III And we are back with an all new episode of Keep It. Ira Madison, the Third.

 

Louis Virtel I’m Louis Virtel, and I just want to say to people who are watching us on YouTube, which you can do every week, this is the last bit of Kylie merch I own. I will return to returning to my normal clothes next week. But anyway, I’m Louis Virtel and it’s a sad week here at Keep It because after years in the biz, Ira and I are separating from Scooter Braun and I am sorry we have to report on this. But after such a fruitful and productive partnership.

 

Ira Madison III His bills have been affected. The girls are leaving. Here’s my thing. I am like, What’s going on?

 

Louis Virtel I would love to know.

 

Ira Madison III Bcause.

 

Louis Virtel It’s in droves.

 

Ira Madison III I could get someone leaving Scooter Braun. But my thing is Justin Bieber, Demi Lovato, Ariana Grande. Girl wants to run a fair report drop.

 

Louis Virtel You know, it really feels like some publicist got in a little caucus, said something is up, something’s about to come out because these are the cream of his crop. Right?

 

Ira Madison III I know.

 

Louis Virtel Maybe someone also told them that he’s an adult named Scooter and they should just get away. Girlfriend, this isn’t The Muppet Show. Don’t be trusting people named Scooter.

 

Ira Madison III I’m sure something messy will come out, but actually, something messy should come out now.

 

Louis Virtel Meaning?

 

Ira Madison III Listen, I had, like, so much fun last. First of all, I was rewatching the YouTube channel and, like, seeing your face when Punkie was like, a girl. What’s going on in your relationship? And you’re like. Uh, Uh.

 

Louis Virtel I was wondering if they edited that together. Me gulping 15 times. I sound like an idiot.

 

Ira Madison III I mean, it was probably like the big brother producers, like, making like high some look evil. Let’s make Louis look goofy. But we do have a guest of guests this week. Like, she is an icon. She’s a legend. She’s currently the moment. And like sometimes when people say that, it’s like they’re overexaggerating because they’re gays on the Internet and like, this is a real Keep It icon.

 

Louis Virtel And also just like one of these people, like many of the guests we’ve had, where you can jump to any era of her career and just do an entire interview about that. We did our best to jump around. We have Idina Menzel with us today.

 

Ira Madison III We do. We do. She is. She has a new album coming out. Listen, she’s she’s one of the pop girls now.

 

Louis Virtel Which, of course, she has that capability. She’s sung everything else before. Of course, she can handle, you know, a disco tune or two.

 

Ira Madison III Bebe Rexha, watch out. Yeah. No, like, I’m, like, such a big fan of Idina Menzel, so we’re very excited to have her on the show. And also this week we asked all of you to ask us pop culture questions like an AMA because, one, we’re lazy.

 

Louis Virtel I have to say, when you provide the content, the show is easier.

 

Ira Madison III We were like, Should we play a game again this week? Now you know what? Ask us anything. And you know what? People love asking us anything. And I felt like this was very attuned to you because I feel you do like an AMA on Instagram every week.

 

Louis Virtel I do it about once a month. And I again, I have the delusion that people want to ask me questions and it takes no.

 

Ira Madison III Well, they do.

 

Louis Virtel Yeah. Well, right. But like, it’s probably the percentage of people who actually reach out compared to who doesn’t, you know, like, I’m not really taking that into consideration. I’m not really going into metrics on this. But yeah, it’s also it’s just like you and I will sit here and bring up the same three names again and again. It’s nice to have like other names thrown into the fray from strangers, and friends alike.

 

Ira Madison III Eric Roberts.

 

Louis Virtel Oh, have you seen Star 80 recently? It’s so good.

 

Ira Madison III Oh, by the way, I was thinking that I was listening to someone who was one of our regulars that like you bring up. But it wasn’t Sandy Dennis. It was Cathy Dennis.

 

Louis Virtel Cathy. Dennis is the person who wrote Can’t get You Out of My Head and Toxic. And she was a pop star at her own right who did Touch Me All Night Long. And Just Another Dream.

 

Ira Madison III Right.

 

Louis Virtel Yes. Mm hmm.

 

Ira Madison III So I had some friends watch A Nightmare on Elm Street 2 for the first time. And there is a different song that uses sort of, like, the same chorus. But it led me to the Cathy Dennis, and I was like, I forgot how fucking good that song is.

 

Louis Virtel That album. She has an album called Move to This. Here’s a little secret about me. About ten years ago, I did a freelance assignment for VH1 where they just wanted us to pitch shows all day to them, and then they would, if they were good, they would buy them off you for like no money at all. It was like, I don’t want to call it a scam, But it wasn’t like.

 

Ira Madison III That’s why we’re striking.

 

Louis Virtel Yes. That’s right. Precisely. It was a money making operation for people that weren’t me. And I pitched a show about choreographers and I called it Move to This based on that Cathy Dennis album because it’s one of my favorite albums.

 

Ira Madison III Well, you could you got to have it are like very own platinum hit.

 

Louis Virtel Yes. Oh my God. You can’t be bringing up lesser Bravo shows right here, like a platinum hit of Kara DioGuardi.

 

Ira Madison III Which also Cathy Dennis wrote, Can’t get You Out of my Head and toxic and I feel like maybe she should have been in the room during Padang because let me tell you something. Being here, like, as I said, like I’m on Fire Island, like I’m like towards the end of my tenure here, the song is still going.

 

Louis Virtel I was.

 

Ira Madison III And some gays are still getting into it.

 

Louis Virtel I’m wearing a necklace that says Padam Padam right now

 

Ira Madison III But I’m just sort of like, you know, who is not feeling Padam Padam? Anyone who does not suck today a dick.

 

Louis Virtel No, I recently I was in a car with my friend Nico, and I put on an older Kylie Minogue song called Like a Drug from her album X, which is one of my favorite songs of hers. And he just goes, Do you think any straight person has ever heard the song? And I said, Absolutely not.

 

Ira Madison III That reminds me of. So earlier, when I had first moved to New York, I had my close friend Dan. He hadn’t come out yet  to like his fraternity brothers. And I remember I posted Kylie, like, when In Your Arms, like, dropped like the video drop, I posted on his Facebook page just how long ago this was. And I remember he deleted it off his page because it was like, I don’t need people in like knowing that I’m gay, etc.. But thinking about it in retrospect, can you imagine a single one of his fraternity brothers seeing a Kylie Minogue song on his Facebook page and knowing who the fuck she was?

 

Louis Virtel No.

 

Ira Madison III And then deducing that he’s gay?

 

Louis Virtel No, that’s just it. You have to have the first coordinate of even knowing who she is to be able to make that deduction. So no, I think they probably saw like pig Latin. I don’t know what they saw on the screen, not even her face.

 

Ira Madison III So we’re going to do our AMA this week. But also, Louis, you did see Passages?

 

Louis Virtel I did, Yes. Yes, yes, yes. I decided to be like a gay person in the cultural space. Yes.

 

Ira Madison III So we’re going to talk about that. And we also have Kyle Turner here to talk about queer film.

 

Louis Virtel And he has compiled an incredible list going back to the 19 tens all the way up to these days. But fabulous movies like Carol and Can You Ever Forgive Me and things we’re familiar with, but we’ll dig into that whole anal with him.

 

Ira Madison III Yeah. You know, King Kong is suspiciously missing from that book. And that is a that is a a queer film.

 

Louis Virtel Yeah, well.

 

Ira Madison III Queer canon.

 

Louis Virtel He will be at Folsom this year, trust me on that.

 

Ira Madison III So we will be right back with more Keep It.

 

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Ira Madison III One thing about our listeners is that you all have recognized that Louis and I have impeccable taste and have never been wrong except about Barbie.

 

Louis Virtel And I’m learning. I’m listening to everybody’s critiques and I will get the right opinions sson.

 

Ira Madison III They are still lightening you up about Barbie.

 

Louis Virtel Well, I wish they would find something else to do. Barbie always does. She went, became a doctor, an astronaut.

 

Ira Madison III Adventure Barbie. Yeah. She’s doing she’s in the woods. So we decided to do a pop culture AMA. Ask us anything. Technically, AMA’s ask me anything, but it’s two of us, so it’s like. I guess it’s a AUA?

 

Louis Virtel Sure. It doesn’t roll off the tongue. I don’t like to say it.

 

Ira Madison III Yeah, it doesn’t. But we’re going to go with some of these questions.

 

Louis Virtel So can I start with one of my own?

 

Ira Madison III Please go.

 

Speaker 2 Okay, good. Because, of course, my questions are equally as fascinating. Name a beloved song you never want to hear again.

 

Ira Madison III Hmm.

 

Louis Virtel Can I start?

 

Ira Madison III Please go.

 

Louis Virtel Girls Just Want To Have Fun. I simply don’t want to hear it ever again. I First of all, girls are not a monolith. I think she she made a leap. She said now, but that’s all. And then secondly, when it comes on, I’m just like, it feels like we’re at a carnival. I can’t stand the the clamor of it. It’s too annoying. And she’s not an annoying vocalist. Like, I love Time After Time. I love Change Of Heart. I love Holding My Heart, All The Way To China, All Through The Night

 

Ira Madison III It is wild that you picked that Cyndi Lauper song because I wouldn’t say that’s my pick.

 

Louis Virtel Yeah.

 

Ira Madison III But if I ever hear fucking True Colors again.

 

Louis Virtel Particularly at an emotional moment.

 

Ira Madison III It’s like, okay. And people are always like, Oh, doing like an emotional cover of True Colors for like Pride or something. I got Want to hear that shit?

 

Louis Virtel No, unless you’re doing unless you are literally the Crayola pride campaign. I do not want to hear that.

 

Ira Madison III Beloved song that I never want to hear again. You know, maybe it’s that. Maybe it’s also. Oh, you know, I love Hall & Oates.

 

Louis Virtel Uh huh, Yes. This is. I’m already shocked that you’ve brought up Hall & Oates.

 

Ira Madison III Right? Because, like I heard it the other day and it was like, oh, there was like, I was like, oh, I have my, like, tattoo, my like Hall & Oates tattoo. And it was like, Here’s my thing. I love a lot of their songs, but I actually don’t need to hear Rich Girl ever again.

 

Louis Virtel Interesting.

 

Ira Madison III I don’t like it.

 

Louis Virtel I was wondering if maybe you were going to say the one that went viral in that video like 15 years ago. Making My dreams come true or whatever.

 

Ira Madison III Oh, I love that one.

 

Louis Virtel Okay, you can keep that one going. All right.

 

Ira Madison III I love one thing about one. One thing about my dreams. I’d like them to come true.

 

Louis Virtel Okay. That’s what I’ll remember about those. No, I was going to also say, speaking of them, after last week, when I said I’m still a fan of Charlie Puth, even in this hall announcing as he came out with the song, that is good.

 

Ira Madison III Lipstick.

 

Louis Virtel Yeah, love it.

 

Ira Madison III It’s a very good.

 

Louis Virtel He doesn’t call women bitches. Unfortunately, he he’s in a genre I call Rhythm and douche. And you just have to expect that sometimes misogyny is part of the game. I’m sorry.

 

Ira Madison III You know, like, he’s like, you know, like he’s trying to be like, you know, like a white Tupac, like a white Biggie. You know, he’s like, you know, you.

 

Louis Virtel Know, acceptable to be the white Tupac.

 

Ira Madison III These bitches be doing it. You know, these bitches got to know. I was, one of the funniest, like tweets I saw about it was he he had like tweeted, like Llipstick out now and someone was like Rihanna when you want new music from her.

 

Louis Virtel Are so good.

 

Ira Madison III But it is good. It’s like sultry. It’s sexy.

 

Louis Virtel I like it. He lost the sultry ness before and he’s gotten it back. Anyway, let’s get back to these questions. One of them is from one of my favorite followers on Twitter, WonderKid89, hi, Yannick. What are the best, worst TV shows based on a movie and best worst movies based on a TV show? Best worst TV shows based on a movie. God, that’s really hard. The other way. I think The Fugitive is one of the best movies based on a TV show. It’s also a Best Picture Nominee, which it was the first at the time that kind of adaptation Get a best Picture nominee.

 

Ira Madison III Yeah, I would say that I feel.

 

Louis Virtel The Mission Impossible movie of course, too.

 

Ira Madison III Yeah, that’s amazing. And also, I mean.

 

Louis Virtel I mean, it’s based off a martin Landau Barbara Bain series that we have a blockbuster universe based off that I should be very thankful about.

 

Ira Madison III Listen. My friend. My girl was on the show and the show got canceled for a reason because I will say a TV version of True Lies. What were we doing?

 

Louis Virtel Who was in that? Oh, no. No. Yes, yes, yes, yes, yes. I saw it.

 

Ira Madison III What were we doing? She was like What am I doing? She was just like, it is. I can’t know that because it’s, like, true. It’s just like the thing about True Lies for me. Here’s the thing about, like, adapting a movie into a TV show. A movie like the movie is sort of like the movie can be good and the movie can have a good concept. But the thing about a movie is that, like, it also captures like a cult, like Barbie. So because it’s like a cultural moment, right? You know, and like, the reason True Lies is so big news because it involves like Jamie Lee Curtis is like doing like the strip tease and like that sexiness there is just like it’s interesting and fun because Jamie Lee Curtis is in it doing this part. Like you sell movies based on the movie star who you’re going to see doing something. So when you adapt a movie that people famously liked for a certain reason into a TV show with like other actors were like in that thing. It’s like it’s never going to translate because you’re never going to be able to recreate that moment. That was it, you know? And like.

 

Louis Virtel Yeah, that movie was defined by star power, for sure. Definitely.

 

Ira Madison III Heathers. Need I say more?

 

Louis Virtel Yeah. I thought the direction Heathers was the worst part, actually. It’s like you could hear the funny jokes in there, but they weren’t landing. It’s like every joke was in outer space or something. Let’s see here. Here’s a good one from TheProfessal. Your favorite song from an artist you overall don’t like. Don’t. I mean, this is shady right off the bat. I’m trying to think of somebody. Who do I hate? And yet tolerate every once in a while. Well, I’ll say this. I obviously don’t roll with like, dad. Music, generally speaking, or rock music is not really what I listen to. That said, if you put I Do It Again by Steely Dan Honey, I feel like dancing and put like flipping burgers and, you know, shaking it in the yard.

 

Ira Madison III You don’t like Steeky Dan?

 

Louis Virtel I mean, I like some I like Brooklyn. The song Brooklyn by Steely Dan, but I’m not like a career as dumb there as I don’t know everything they’ve ever done.

 

Ira Madison III First of all. And whenever we get on this podcast, you’re basically reelin in the years. Ricky, you say three, who can I talk about? Okay. And it’s like, oh, so that brings bring bringing up Charlotte Rampling. You’re like, Do it again. Okay, Here I will say like and listen, she’s like, These are some bops, huh? A couple. But like Meghan Trainor.

 

Louis Virtel I was going to bring up her.

 

Ira Madison III Not really. Listen. Not really our girl.

 

Louis Virtel Yeah.

 

Ira Madison III But the song No.

 

Louis Virtel No, I was going to say No is definitely her best song. And you put that on. I’m on a treadmill.

 

Ira Madison III It’s about and that’s a saga. It’s like, give it to like any of the other pop girls. I’m like, People would have been stanning it.

 

Louis Virtel Can I say something just provocative? I know people don’t want me to be. I’m Taylor Swift. I know they’ve had it. In the Reputation era when she has that song, is it End Game? And she’s like, Oh, you and me. I got a big reputation now.

 

Ira Madison III She does.

 

Louis Virtel I heard a big rapper.

 

Ira Madison III Big Reputation. Big Reputation. Oh, you and me we got big conversation. Oh, and you heard about me.

 

Louis Virtel How is that different from Meghan Trainor? How is that different. The, the.

 

Ira Madison III Meh=gan Trainor’s never booked Future.

 

Louis Virtel Okay. I’m just saying it feels like the thing that people consider cringe about her is like rad about Taylor Swift. Okay, moving on. I don’t want to get in there. I’m going to be shot. Okay.

 

Ira Madison III Also, Meghan doesn’t have a reputation.

 

Louis Virtel Right?

 

Ira Madison III Because no one talks about her.

 

Louis Virtel Like a nice girl. She’s A Mother, remember that song? Here’s an interesting one. Ungraceful. UngracefulJee says, Who are the most boring celebrities that Hollywood keeps pushing? I mean, my answer would be most of them People are like perpetually boring now. You know, people don’t want to they’re not pot stirrers. They’re not going to give you an interview like Noah Galvin did that one time where he’s like, Let me call out every bad person in Hollywood, Noah Galvin, bring that back.

 

Ira Madison III I love Noah. And that was honestly one of the worst crimes against a celebrity that was ever committed. Like when you said all that wild shit in that vulture interview and then everybody was like, Oh, no, you need to walk that back now. It was like someone was finally being fucking interesting and talking about like, what you all say anyway. And it’s like, Oh, okay, you can’t drag Bryan Singer Right? I’m looking for a Valkyrie sequel.

 

Louis Virtel You know, I’ve been waiting. I think something really nail it this time.

 

Ira Madison III It’s boring celebrity. You know why? I don’t know. This is boring, but. They’re like a couple of songs that I sort of have liked a Phoebe Bridgers. But I will say that overall, so it’s kind of boring. And I saw a tweet the other day where someone was like, people have been sort of getting like misogynistic with her because, like, she broke up with like a beloved actor, like Paul Mescal. And it’s just sort of like, honestly, he’s kind of boring, too. And I feel like the Internet likes him because he’s like, he’s ha. I like this Irish accent. And we saw him like, fuckin normal people. Sure. But like, other than that great actor.

 

Louis Virtel Yeah.

 

Ira Madison III Great. But listen, you know. Young actor. Yeah. Young performer.

 

Louis Virtel Yes.

 

Ira Madison III Aftersun.

 

Louis Virtel Of course.

 

Ira Madison III Was ready to turn it off yet? I did turn it off because it wasn’t good and I didn’t like it. And I think that both of them are kind of boring and people are like, Oh, before judging her kiss, like maybe she, like, broke up with Paul Mescal. So like, be with Bo Burnham or whatever. And I’m like, it’s the maybe of it all that is so boring. Okay Like Ariana Grande is out here is like, you know, tip top tip on, you know, cheater floor. Okay Like, like she’s adulterated all over the place and.

 

Louis Virtel Stepping out or in.

 

Ira Madison III Yeah, right. So people were like stanning her and I’m like people are stanning Angelina Jolie and it’s like, yes, I understand that like this bullshit misogyny that is always like thrown at celebrity and stuff, but it’s also just like the entire thing about her and Paul like that maybe releases or whatever. It was just like all a lot of maybes and those are really confirmed and it all just felt very like, Oh, you’re sort of interested because these people are pretty and like, whatever. And it’s like, I don’t know. Bridges over Troubled Water. I’m bored.

 

Louis Virtel Phoebe Bridgers Sorry, What’s the name of that? Boygenius Right. She’s in that.

 

Ira Madison III But yes.

 

Louis Virtel Okay. That album was put to me 100,000 times. I’m not saying it wasn’t like good, and I think the three of them have a fun dynamic together. They performed on Kimmel one time. I watched them in the audience. I don’t know that I was obsessed with it. I sort of. I didn’t really get it. That’s all I’ll say.

 

Ira Madison III Boygenius The only Boygenius I know is the smart guy.

 

Louis Virtel I would say, What about Dexter, honey? Yeah.

 

Ira Madison III Oh, well, welh him, too.

 

Louis Virtel Yeah, honey. We’re in the laboratory now. It’s Cartoon Network, and it’s 1999. Besh Here’s one from Instagram that I basic. But what is your favorite TV show over the past five years? You know what? I think I would say first of all, my mind immediately goes to a limited series space, which I don’t know if that’s a good or bad thing. I feel like maybe that’s where the best TV has been and limited series over the past few years. I think I would say Mare of Easttown is my favorite show of the past five. Just a traditional mystery with one exceptional performance that I did not expect that I ever expect Kate Winslet to go to Pittsburgh. Know what that is? Be able to spell Pittsburgh? No, she’s she’s married to somebody whose last name is Rock and roll. She her life is crazy. So for her to make this show and I thought it was so good, I even like the end of the mystery, which if you look at the history of the mystery genre in movies, rarely are there good endings to mystery movies.

 

Ira Madison III You know that’s true. That’s true. They’re usually bad. They’re usually bad. Honestly. I know there’s like a lot of limited series and things that if I’m talking like a series that, you know, have like a couple of seasons and like, more is to come. P-valley. I fucking love it. I fucking loved it. And I think it’s really good. And I would like more people to be watching it. Like where I’m with the strike, like the writers strike. It’s like more people should be watching. P-valley. Evan Ross can’t watch P-valley and like puts a memes up from that. Okay. Like, and so it’s just like White Lotus and Just Like That because I’m tired of them white women. Like P-valley the girls are poppin their pussy and serving.

 

Louis Virtel People don’t know the show. It’s on Starz and it’s got a strip joint and the characters are fabulous. We had the creator on years and years ago.

 

Ira Madison III Katori Hall Yeah, right.

 

Louis Virtel Yes, the great Katori Hall.

 

Ira Madison III I just think it’s like a really good show and I think it’s just like it’s written beautifully. The characters feel very real. And then also like there’s the athleticism I was just seeing, like, you know, the women, you know, like doing their thing.

 

Louis Virtel Uh huh, uh huh. Which, you know, I don’t get to see in real life because I don’t go to those kinds of clubs. So it’s actually an anthropological show for me.

 

Ira Madison III Yeah.

 

Louis Virtel Uh, let’s see here. Most disappointing celeb industry encounter. I can think of one because I thought it was going to be amazing. So is that the TCAs. Which is where I’ve explained this before. It’s where twice a year TV shows trot out their cast, and then, like, the media gets to interview them, ask questions of the creators, whatever. It’s when shows are introduced to the universe. It’s sort of an old model of television. But anyway, one time, years and years and years ago, Maimie Gummer, the daughter of Meryl Streep, was in a Shonda Land show called Off the Map. And, you know, I’m excited to talk to Mamie Gummer, whatever, Right. Because, you know, as a reporter, shockingly, I’m walking through the hallway and Mamie Gummer sees me and walks up to me. She’s walking at me. This is the daughter of Meryl Streep.

 

Ira Madison III Okay. She’s gunmen.

 

Louis Virtel Yeah, she’s got. But she’s smacking her gums together.

 

Ira Madison III Yeah.

 

Louis Virtel She comes up to me, puts her hand on my shoulder and goes, Your fly is down. That was among my worst moments. And by the way, you know, my underwear was like fruity and faggoty. So, like. So she got a glimpse, and I was like, Wait, stop. Your mom is 21 Oscar nominations. Talk to me. Mm hmm. How about.

 

Ira Madison III You? Honestly. Okay, so this is going to be messy. Whatever. Oh, right. Oh, kidding. That’s who we are. So, like, I was at the SNL afterparty once, and I met Jon Hamm.

 

Louis Virtel I was short, and I was like.

 

Ira Madison III You know, I’m friends with Kiernan. You know, So, like, we chatted about it. We like we like like a video and sent it to her, you know? Yeah. And I was like, a few months before, like then I did while. While happens time.

 

Louis Virtel Oh, right.

 

Ira Madison III Yes. And Jon Hamm was on it with John Slattery.

 

Louis Virtel And then you were the bartender. Yes.

 

Ira Madison III Just to just stab me and my ego. Jon Hamm came up to me and said, Nice to meet you.

 

Louis Virtel Oh, that’s too bad. You can’t expect celebrities to remember people, though.

 

Ira Madison III You know, I know you can’t expect to remember, but I was like, we turned up.

 

Louis Virtel You should’vr burst into tears right then. You’re like I said, I was happy for you.

 

Ira Madison III Honestly, I did watch Tag.

 

Louis Virtel Is it okay?

 

Ira Madison III It’s good. I like to Tag. You know, and also I watch it. I watch. I watched that Fletch movie.

 

Louis Virtel Right. No, but.

 

Ira Madison III I watched it on Delta. Listen, I watched it on Delta, four vodka- cranberries in, and on an edible so that. Honey, I was living.

 

Louis Virtel No way. Jeremy Renner was in that?

 

Ira Madison III It could have been Tar. Yeah, it could have been Tar.

 

Louis Virtel I do. Wow. You know, movie I had never seen. And I finally watched last week, you know, North Country with Charlize Theron and Frances McDormand. Anyway, it’s about like women. And they work in mines in Minnesota and they’re being harassed on the job by these.

 

Ira Madison III I know of it.

 

Louis Virtel Okay. Right.

 

Ira Madison III Never, never film that. I intend on watching.

 

Louis Virtel I had a couple of hours and I went for it the other day.

 

Ira Madison III I love Charlize Africa.

 

Louis Virtel Right.

 

Ira Madison III But I don’t I don’t want to watch her doing that.

 

Louis Virtel Jeremy Renner, as in it being absolutely disgusting, it’s actually an awesome performance. But his he’s so gross. It’s like, oh, like, I can’t I can’t believe that was the Jeremy Renner we got pre Hurt Locker. Like he really transformed in the public eye.

 

Ira Madison III You know it’s kind of wild. I feel like maybe he took like a different turn with like his public persona and like doing like the Hawkeye ness of it all. But like, he really could have been, like, eating Casey Affleck’s food.

 

Louis Virtel Right, right, right. Yeah.

 

Ira Madison III Very Casey Affleck. And I honestly think they’re like in a world where, like, he was putting a bit more effort into it, like Jeremy Renner would be like with you, he he’d be better than Casey Affleck. Because the problem is that like, he’s the actor’s like actually a really good actor. And you’re like.

 

Louis Virtel He’s great.

 

Ira Madison III He’s fucking amazing. And I feel like Jeremy Renner could have really been doing that. But, you know, he was busy making apps.

 

Louis Virtel Yeah, what a mysterious trip. And of course, he’s recovering from a serious accident also. But you’re right. He could be playing like blue collar heroes, you know? Right. Your turn, Ira, do you have a question?

 

Ira Madison III I do. This one is just for you, Louis.

 

Louis Virtel Okay.

 

Ira Madison III The best. I’m trying to pronounce that correctly. The Bethest wants to know top five Jane Fonda performance. I mean, and for me, I’m gonna be like, girl Monter In Law.

 

Louis Virtel I know, right? So, as Jane herself said, whenever black people come up to me, it’s Monster in Law. Didn’t she say that?

 

Ira Madison III She was doing it. Yeah, she was doing it. She was doing it. Okay. Oh, come on.

 

Louis Virtel I would say my favorite Jane Fonda performance is her first nomination, which is They Shoot Horses, Don’t They? I talk about that performance all the time in this podcast, which is takes place in a dance marathon in the thirties. She comes in, she’s this hardened bitch who needs to, like, compete in this horrible pageant in order to make money. And it’s one of the most cynical movies ever, but it’s my favorite performance of hers. Second favorite, I would go Klute, which she won for her first Oscar for She’s a Call Girl in New York with Donald Sutherland, another actor we love. Next one would be Julia, which is where she plays Lillian Hellman, one of the playwright and renowned liar who just made up this entire lark about her life that turned into this movie where she goes and has this childhood friend who becomes this kind of revolutionary. And it’s about their friendship. Lillian Hellman, to never found like that.

 

Ira Madison III I heard that as our was actually only 20 minutes.

 

Louis Virtel But you exaggerate and it becomes an hour.

 

Ira Madison III Yeah, sure.

 

Louis Virtel Let’s see. I love Jane in the China Syndrome next, where she plays a TV reporter who stumbles on a big nuclear meltdown. And then the last one, she was in a movie a few years ago where she reunited with Robert Redford, called Our Souls at Night. So Good. It’s on Netflix and it’s written by the people who did. I think the disaster artist Scott Neustadter, whom I love, isn’t going to. Yeah. So I think that’s the five I would pick.

 

Ira Madison III Okay, great. Film.Sorbet wants to know what movies deserve to have their own themed restaurant.

 

Louis Virtel Wow. Let’s see here. A movie I’m obsessed with recently. Have you ever seen Party Girl with Parker Posey? Have we talked about this?

 

Ira Madison III Come on, baby. You know, and you know, I’m. I’m at the park. Okay. Like I’m. I’m parking post okay. I have I have my parking pass.

 

Louis Virtel I just think it’s one of the funniest performances ever. So that immediately came to mind so.

 

Ira Madison III Early in our career.

 

Louis Virtel Yeah. But also during that like indie time where she’s doing like 14 movies a year. Mm hmm. That just came to mind because I want like a nineties queer themed restaurant with, like, a dizzy hostess who’s drunk and getting arrested. How about you?

 

Ira Madison III Um, you bringing a Parker? It’s funny because, like, you know, I was recently rewatching Scream III because the original unedited cut leaked online and so I was watching that and it’s fucking great. Basically, it’s like it’s the same movie, but it’s longer and there’s like The kills are more brutal, like. They spend more time in like the scenes and stuff it like it feels like a real lived in movie that Wes Craven would have made and then it would just fucking edit it to hell. So it could be like, you know, 30 minutes shorter.

 

Louis Virtel But that movie feels very chopped to me. Yes.

 

Ira Madison III Yeah. But I feel like a scream restaurant would be fun.

 

Louis Virtel Oh, of course. How could this. How does this not already happened? How am I not walking down Universal Citywalk? And Ghostface is ushering me to my table.

 

Ira Madison III Also a Dick Tracy restaurant would be great.

 

Louis Virtel I mean, it would be better than the movie, which I famously do not like, though I do wish.

 

Ira Madison III We don’t have to go.

 

Louis Virtel I do love Madonna in it. Yeah.

 

Ira Madison III You know, I love that movie.

 

Louis Virtel I just think it’s like The Simpsons, one of the ugliest things we’ve ever put on TV. Whatever you do, don’t yell out in front of me.

 

Ira Madison III While I’m doing it. I thought you were talking about all the gangster villains in it because they are ugly.

 

Louis Virtel Oh, my God. I just saw some promo shots of Al Pacino and Madonna, like, bogging down together in there, and he’s in all the prosthetics. Wolf Guys, I mean, I can’t just look at that. It’s just so ugly. It’s so ugly.

 

Ira Madison III Girl, look at Gridr at 4 a.m.. Yes, it is.

 

Louis Virtel And that’s giving Steve, what’s up?

 

Ira Madison III Okay. Give me another question.

 

Louis Virtel Okay. Sure. And here’s our last question. This is from LuxuryTrash. What often maligned Oscar win will you defend with your dying breath? We haven’t talked Oscars yet. This is a good question.

 

Ira Madison III I know. Maligned Oscar win, actually. Someone had asked, and one of the questions that we didn’t get to, they had asked. Why has Tom Wilkinson never won?

 

Louis Virtel And fabulous is.

 

Ira Madison III There like is great and in the bedroom and Michael Clayton right. But I will say, the In The Bedroom year was the Training Day year and I will defend Denzel for winning for Training Day any day of the week. I think he fucking kills in that role and I think people are like, you know, it was one of those like, we’re going to give him the Oscar because like he didn’t get it for Malcolm X, but I was just like, He is living that fucking wrong. Like Training Day is his movie.

 

Louis Virtel Good answer. Good answer. Because you’re right. That did feel like a career win at the time, even though, of course he had won for Glory. But that’s a supporting one and therefore it doesn’t matter. No, I will go.

 

Ira Madison III Julia was like, You’re going to give that man another Oscar, my Denzel? Look.

 

Louis Virtel Man, I love them together. Can we get that going again?

 

Ira Madison III She, girl where’s The Pelican Brie two?

 

Louis Virtel Please, your lips to God’s ears.

 

Ira Madison III The Pelican Briefs, The Pelican Boxers.

 

Louis Virtel That was among the dumbest comments I’ve ever heard. And believe me, I’ve ranked them. I’m going to go with Elizabeth Taylor’s first win in Butterfield eight. That’s a movie that talk about him. She had been through it by that time. Famously, her husband died in a plane crash. She was sick. People thought we might be nearing the end of Elizabeth Taylor’s life. Were they wrong? But after this movie is basically considered a camp classic, and the reason it’s considered campy is because of the opening scene where she’s writing on this mirror and lipstick. And at the end of the movie, it culminates in this chase scene that feels very tonally disparate from the rest of the movie, but the rest.

 

Ira Madison III Which by the way, that lipstick scene has influenced so much of gay culture. Oh, yeah.

 

Louis Virtel Definitely. It was on RuPaul’s Drag Race. Yeah.

 

Ira Madison III RuPaul’s Drag Race. And then also which which Diana Ross film is it?

 

Louis Virtel Mahogany?

 

Ira Madison III I think it may be Mahogany where like she’s writing on there. Yeah, like that is just like the lipstick writing on like the mirror like that is iconic total. It’s just like it’s in there and people don’t really know. It’s from Butterfield eight.

 

Louis Virtel And also but in the movie, her line readings are so deadly and she is so funny. It really is a reward for a star performance. And really, when you look back at the history of Oscar wins, not too many wins that are oh, here’s just a star giving us everything as opposed to like a compelling or gritty or real performance. You know, like you don’t get like an Oscar win for like a Julia Roberts and Pretty Woman. You get an Oscar win for Julia Roberts, you know, fighting for a community and Erin Brockovich. So I really applaud not just the performance itself, but the kind of performance it is. You know, it’s like if Tom Cruise won an Oscar or something.

 

Ira Madison III I mean, listen, I mean, like, listen, know, I will always advocate for like time winning, you know, for like, obviously, you know, like his best role all like Magnolia like that. But like, I would have advocated for time winning an Oscar for, like, Jerry Maguire to, like, totally always on the side of awarding an actor for a star performance. I don’t think it always needs to be a very serious like we’re doing like a film, you know, I’m like, You are. You’re a star, you are delivering. You are also like the reason why this movie is a hit, the reason why people love it is your performance. Like you made the movie.

 

Louis Virtel Yeah, right.

 

Ira Madison III The hit you made the box office. That is what we should be rewarding, right?

 

Louis Virtel And weirdly, that year, Geoffrey Rush, a best actor winner. It’s just so interesting like that, you know? And so, like.

 

Ira Madison III Girl.

 

Louis Virtel You don’t talk about Shine that much. Why?

 

Ira Madison III We don’t talk about her. Geoffrey Rush. Geoffrey, slow down, okay? She’s still making, um, Pirates movies.

 

Louis Virtel He’s really good at Shakespeare In Love, though.

 

Ira Madison III He is really great. As long as I’m not dragging Geoffrey Rush down. I mean, he’s a great actor, but, you know, like, I think we talked about this on the show before. No, don’t nobody give a fuck about Shine. And no one cared about it when when that came out. That’s giving Payola. It’s giving slander. It’s giving attack against Tom Cruise. It’s like no one was watching Shine. Who has seeing that movie?

 

Louis Virtel It’s like, you know, there are a couple of Oscar wins back there, like James Coburn winning for Affliction. Are we sure that’s a movie? Because I haven’t seen it.

 

Ira Madison III They’re like, okay, before we wrap up like this, like give me like another one where it’s like, true, and someone won like one for a movie. And like, I mean, like, I’m sure you’ve seen it because, like, you know, like you have.

 

Louis Virtel Yeah, I have a disease.

 

Ira Madison III Constitution. I just saw it. You’re supporting it, but it’s just like it’s.

 

Louis Virtel Like Jim Broadbent, another.

 

Ira Madison III Movie, I guess. Sure. Okay. Right. Yeah. Yeah. Movies where it’s like nobody saw that shit.

 

Louis Virtel Right? Okay. Well, we’ll be on the case for this next time. Movies that turned out not to be real. But anyway. Yeah. Shall we introduce our guest now?

 

Ira Madison III Yes. We will be right back with the Wild Party League talented. Indina Menzel. You see what I did there?

 

Louis Virtel Yeah. Yeah.

 

<AD>.

 

Louis Virtel Our guest today is an actress, singer, songwriter, uncut gem, Broadway icon and a voice your kids can’t, get ready, Let Go of. Her new album, a Dance album, Drama Queen, is out now. Welcome to Keep It, The Magnificent and Incomparable. And of course, Tony winning Idina Menzel.

 

Idina Menzel Thank you. Thank you. Can I bring  in here with me for that introduction?

 

Louis Virtel Sure. Oh, please. I’ll be like a little carnival barker for Idina Menzel. That’d be fun. Now, I want to say I first saw you perform a song off this new album at the Cloud Awards a couple of months ago. I mean, not that this would be a new experience for you, but what is it like performing for, you know, a roomful of I’ll say it haughty and elite gay people?

 

Idina Menzel Now, did you say hottie or haughty?

 

Louis Virtel You know what? It’s a little bit of both. I have to say, there’s a Venn diagram there and it’s.

 

Idina Menzel Thrilling to perform for. Hottie, haughty and hilarious. And another. That’s really good.

 

Ira Madison III Yeah. Heartfelt.

 

Idina Menzel The thing about the Pride festivals, like it’s different than from doing a Broadway show or something where even singing at high Performing Arts Center because everyone’s packed up against the stage. You know, I can literally touch people right there and see them. They’re not like sitting politely in their seat, you know, ready for the overture to begin. And they’re rowdy and they’re beautiful and they’re emotional. And I can, you know, hold the mike out and they sing the songs. And and I’ve had dancers now, which I held, held off on having dancers for a long time. I thought, I’m not really a good dancer, and I don’t really see myself as like the next Janet Jackson or whatever, I don’t think. But there’s something about having a few dancers around you that brings some good stuff out of you. And if you. If you’re a singer. People don’t expect me to dance a certain part because they want me to. Ground and light ground myself and sing the big note. So the expectations are low. It’s kind of like when Whitney Houston was doing it, you know, like not to compare myself to my total idol when. But, you know, like, when you’re singing, you don’t have to be the winner. That she wasn’t the best answer, you know, So you can just do a little like sides that step together, set together with a bunch of hot dancers doing stuff around you and you look you look like a goddess.

 

Louis Virtel There’s also something actually about pop singers doing less dancing and the people around them. That’s a little bit glamorous, too, right? You know, like, I deliver the message and somebody else performs the.

 

Ira Madison III Great Jessie Ware, you know?

 

Louis Virtel Yes, definitely.

 

Ira Madison III Yeah.

 

Idina Menzel Yeah. But I leaned into it, you know, like this new album called Drama Queen and one of my favorite songs on it’s called Dramatic. And and I leaned into it. I were. A rainbow colored, colored puffer jacket. It’s like 15 feet long. The guys were kind of like my bridesmaids, and they held it out behind me and I worked it. It was 100 degrees out, and I wore that pepper.

 

Ira Madison III I mean, I guess it’s not shocking to hear, you know, that you’re like, you know, like you’re not a dancer. Dancer. But did you ever find that dancing was something that you were like, is this something I want to be interested in? When you were doing Broadway or were you just like, You know what? I’m going to be the singer and I am never going to do a show where, like, you required me to, you know, be dancing. You know, I’m not doing anything.

 

Idina Menzel Goes okay, So I dance. And I took I was on toe shoes for one year when I was 12. And I realize emotions are loud and not graceful sounding at all. But you can’t hear. You can’t hear it when there’s an orchestra or it’s on PBS special or whatever, but it’s like clang, clang, clang, clang, clang. It’s not you don’t feel graceful. That and my boobs coming out with like, I’m done with this. And then. And then yeah, then I was always just, you know, I could move. Okay, But. I if I’m going to, I will serve. I never say never. I, I will do what anyone needs me to do. And if the role is great, but I also don’t want to, you know, be delusional. But if it’s something I need to do, I will require and I have required tutoring from that. Usually the assistant choreographer who has a wonderful job, it is to take me into the room, the B studio on the side and try to get me to learn eight talents in 4 hours.

 

Ira Madison III You know.

 

Idina Menzel I don’t have I can’t get the memory thing, you know what I mean? I just can’t pick it up that. Even even when I was younger, I couldn’t. I don’t like five, six, seven, eight. You got it. Everybody. Now go. Life course left. That gives me some.

 

Louis Virtel I know there’s a real like the fluency factor to dance that is different I feel like than other forms of entertainment.

 

Idina Menzel Yeah not good, but it’s funny in a lot of bios I see about myself. It always calls me a triple threat to things. So funny because I’m not, but. I sometimes if to say I’m a triple threat because I write my own music. So that’s like my other end and Broadway terms. That’s B.S. You know.

 

Louis Virtel I was thinking about how your new music, which is dance music, some of the producers on this album, including like Nile Rodgers, I mean, you really got like the mavens of Dance involved in this. If I had to connect it to what I consider your familiar catalog, I guess it would remind me most thematically of life of the Party from the Wild Party. And I’ve always wondered if that song specifically spoke to you and you know your spirit when you’re performing.

 

Idina Menzel It’s funny that you brought up that song because I. I used to perform it a lot with orchestras and my own concerts, and then I haven’t sung in in years. And then I. The first single was coming out when it was a bar that we went to out in Brooklyn. What was it called? And we showed up and we hung out with everybody. And we play the new music we’re getting right now. And I get it. And I’m. One of the performers that night lip sync to Wild Party and try to get me up there to sing it. I couldn’t remember any of the words of it, couldn’t even sing the high notes. I didn’t know what I was, but that was random that you just brought that up. And so I recall that character, Kate was quite a drunk and. That’s probably super depressed if it was the 1920s or so. So she didn’t have. Her Prozac. It’s her fault.

 

Ira Madison III Right?

 

Louis Virtel You’ve done the dramaturgical research on this.

 

Ira Madison III Yeah. Yeah.

 

Idina Menzel I’d like to say they’re connected, but I think they’re actually on opposite sides of the spectrum. So because I saw that character as being kind of dark and. And wounded and very desperate, and Drama Queen is like a celebration, I hope. And it’s joyful and it’s party and in that way. And it’s also an album where I’m trying I’m thinking less about I spent less time overthinking and trying to contemplate what was the expectations people had of me and what kind of music I just want to do because I want to do it and I love it and it’ll be fun to perform. And if I if I’m being honest, the only thing I give real thought to or deliberated was that this music, dance, disco music really lends itself to big voices. So I could really sing the way I love to sing. I don’t need to hold back and make it more vibey or to fit in with the pop sounds of today or whatever. If you embrace the nostalgia and the retro of that time, you know, it’s Donna Summer. It’s it’s Gloria Gaynor, it’s Diana Ross, it’s Barbra Streisand. When she did her, you know.

 

Louis Virtel No more tears. Oh, yeah, Yeah.

 

Idina Menzel So so we can do that, you know, and we can bring the drama and it can still cross over and be cool and you can still dance to it. And then when Cher came back later with her whole dance album, you know, I mean, so that was sort of what gave me. I felt like I had permission to do that. And I called Nile Rodgers honestly, and said, Do I have permission? Is this okay? And he was like, Let’s get let’s get started.

 

Ira Madison III I was angry at Louis for bringing up the wild party before I cut. I love the lip version, obviously. And what was interesting is we recently had Toni Collette here and I asked her like if she remembered anything from that era where she was in the other wild party where there are two wild parties going on in New York. Do you remember, like anything from that moment of just, you know, like either friends or like people being like, wait, am I sure I’m going to see yours? Did I accidentally go and see this other one, like across, you know, eighth Avenue or something? Like, what was that like just being in a show where, like, there’s also literally another one happening now. I remember.

 

Idina Menzel Feeling badly for the for the creators for Andrew Lepa and for Michael Jon, because, you know, they were making they were creating their own thing for years. And then all of a sudden it comes out at the same time. You know how that happens every once in a while it’s like, yeah. And so I just felt badly for them. But we were like the little off-Broadway lower budget version and and they were the big Broadway version. And all of us got bad reviews, so it didn’t really matter. And my my fondest memory of that time was my relationship to the cast, because it was, you know, off-Broadway. We were all girls were in one side, one one dressing room like like a chorus, dressing room, everybody together. And the guys were like, just a curtain away and a. I guess it wasn’t very gender friendly. But then was that girls and boys dressing room. But. I remember that we all were super close because of that, because we were sharing the space together and and we said, okay, if we don’t get a rave from Ben Brantley and the Times and we’re not moving to Broadway, then let’s all go book a a Star Trek together that we all get on a plane. Two days later, in case, you know, and, and we did we booked ship to the Dominican Republic and we all went away to Cairo. We just we drank our sorrows and. Yeah. And I remember that review. I don’t know why I’m bringing it up in this interview, but I remember what he said about me in that review, and it always bothered me, obviously, because I’m bringing up now on me. He called me shrill. I’m always bothered me because I thought, Well, there’s a difference between being. Projecting having a big belted voice in Shrill. And and so I think that stuck with me. And I. I don’t know whether I really believed it was true in that show or not, but I always sort of think about that and how to make sure that. Really like. Coming from a grounded place, no matter what dynamic it is. You know, that like. You’re not just angry or expression too. Like these are cashed in or angry. That’s always coming from a. A warmth, an experience. I don’t know. I’m not really expressing this very well. I kind of feel like shrill means disconnected. And and you can like when you when you’re match and when, you know, they hear you and you can say it really loud. You can say like, are we allowed to curse on this?

 

Louis Virtel Oh, yes.

 

Ira Madison III Yeah, we do all the time.

 

Idina Menzel You fucking asshole. Don’t walk out the door, you know. But if you’re like, you know, whatever. Nah, that’s very shrill and nobody’s listening. So I kind of put that into singing, too, man. You fucking asshole. Don’t put up with that. You know, I’m not making any sense. Well, delirious, but there’s something to that.

 

Louis Virtel I associate you with. Of course. Broadway. And now, like, all these, like, dance stages you’ll be taking over the summer promoting this album. But I also, of course, think of you as you perform so many times that, like the Oscars or the Tonys, are all these times are these one off moments where everybody is watching? Do you have a favorite one off performance you’ve ever done that maybe was on TV or something and just the reception you got? Was there any one like award show, for example, that stands out?

 

Idina Menzel The one off moments are the worst because you never can feel completely comfortable in your surroundings. The sound that you’re hearing, your microphone, what’s slapping the accent, you know, when you’re on the road or you’re on doing shows a week or whatever you play, you’re used to what you hear, you know, and he can get start to get comfortable and everything and have fun. But and you know what you’re wearing and you’re used to if you’re wearing heels, you know, in heels and you’re in your tight dress and you’re not or a weird costume, I’m used to it. You know, the one off things, usually I wear something, so I feel really good, really high heels, tall, so I can feel thin. And then I’m like, teetering my heels and then the sounds weird and you just not you just can’t, like, enjoy yourself, you know? So that was the first thing that came to my mind when you asked me was, No, never like, like another time. What I did with Wicked, I was on David Letterman and first time David Letterman my whole life, I always watched him growing up and. They put me up and now we have this levitating device thing, you know. On Broadway, it was this hydraulic thing, and you get it and you strap yourself into this thing. The mixture. The computer said, Oh, she’s safe. She’s then she’s locked. Now it’s going to go up. And on Letterman, it was thanks. It was a they just used like one of those camera cranes. Now they put me in and just like, move, which in a way, it kind of worked. And it was a probably a lot less money than what the producers ended up using for for Wicked all these years. But, but I remember being hoisted up going its me and going up there and then they just left me up there and then it go in. You know how Letterman usually comes over and shakes your hand? He couldn’t shake. I couldn’t even shake his hand because I’m up in this thing and I’m like, Hey Dave, you know? It’s like every time is just something a little unexpected. And then, you know, the Oscars, that was a fiasco for me. So it’s like trying to think of a good experience. Another time I was doing New Year’s Eve. They’re all bad experiences. New Year’s Eve in Times Square, I decided I was not going to lipsync a song for that. And I want to people know I don’t lipsync to do it even though it’s zero degrees and a lot of people seem to track because it’s just so cold on New Year’s Eve at Times Square. And I said, No, no, no, I’m going to do it in its original key. People going to know. And then I got up there, I was wearing those heaters you wear when you’re skiing and on like under my boobs and on my back and on my hands. And I and I looked heavy because I had so many layers on. And then I got to the last note and I totally cracked. And then everyone wrote about how bad I was. So thanks for bring that back.

 

Louis Virtel An I’m a huge fan of The Carpenters, for example, and they like what they performed at the Oscars once a song called For All We Know And like, historically, that’s like one of the lowest moments for them. Like, it sounded so bad ultimately. And then they say they just like it said, the sound was horrible. They couldn’t hear themselves. And the next time they performed at the Oscars, it was a complete lip sync. But you never think about with Karen Carpenter.

 

Idina Menzel Yeah.

 

Louis Virtel So you’re in good company.

 

Idina Menzel You feel bad for Milli Vanilli. I mean, look at those sports

 

Louis Virtel They looked amazing, you know what I mean?

 

Idina Menzel But they got such shit for that. And now everybody does it.

 

Ira Madison III What I want to ask too, about this album is obviously I feel like the thing that everyone’s talking about is are. You make. You’re making Tiktoks for the album. Sure are. And they are. You are. You are on the app. Every time I’m scrolling, you’re popping up at my for you page and I want to know, are you coming up with like. Like, were you just like, I actually like making a TikTok or are you just like, you know, I’m doing this to promote the music, You know, it’s what I got to do. Are you like, you know, are you like on TikTok Daily now that you’re making content for it? Like, are you scrolling? Are you watching?

 

Idina Menzel Because it’s a little of all of that. I would say it’s the first reaction was what? Nobody cares about what I’m doing in my refrigerator, taking out a gallon of milk and then seeing my song. Like, What is that? That’s how you want me to promote the music. Or like. You know. But then. But I end up having fun doing it. Then I get a little too to care too much about whether it’s being seen. See, that’s the thing about it. You get sucked into this, you know? Who likes me, Who doesn’t like me. How many people decided to, you know, all that. So. But then I also want to see what actually. What actually is more viral or what just sinks. You know, it’s the weirdest thing. The ones I spend the most time on and get them and then the ones they’re just like. Hey, you know, in my kitchen and my dog walked by. It’s like millions.

 

Ira Madison III It’s like, seriously? So I feel like it rewards that though. Like, I feel like the ones that I always see and maybe even the ones that I feel like I’m stopping at watching of anybody or Tick Tock, it’s always just someone like they’re walking down the street and they just decided to say so big quickly or like, you know, like they’re in their car or something. It feels like it rewards very like leading them off the car. Yeah.

 

Idina Menzel Yeah, That’s so, um, I can’t think of the word, but it’s contradicted to the idea of needing to make sure things are perfect. Everybody sees you at every minute of the day, so it’s like, not only is everyone seeing you, but you have to not have make up and make mistakes in order for it to be good. But. But if you do do something that’s a little wrong, or you spell your caption wrong or do something like that, in some ways I’m again, she wrote a vein and said, A vein? Yeah, I am snippy. You know, it’s this. So I can’t I can’t even caption it without spending 3 hours on my grammar, you know? And then by that time, I just handed over to Joe Sierra. My good friend is my hair and makeup. I’m like, Can you please tag whoever seems to be fit and tag on this? Because by the time I do it. And then my son thinks it’s all lame, he thinks like that. All the stuff I’m doing just that he needs to be paid to be my my checked out, you know.

 

Louis Virtel Advisor So do you at all, miss, like the Broadway world before social media? Like, I feel like that’s a time that’s now extremely romanticized to me, you know, just like it was a community and you went to go hang out and it really didn’t have anything to do with I’m watching this like video of you at a bar or whatever. You know, it was it was really upbeat with each other thing. And that’s how you experience Broadway? Well.

 

Idina Menzel That’s what I mean. You know, it’s about live performance. And live performance isn’t perfect all the time. That actually makes it so thrilling and and, you know, compelling and and really speaks to you and deep in your soul or you get goose bumps. It’s not because it’s perfect. So. That I resent it because I feel like now everyone’s phones. Even if they sneak, you know, they hear you on a matinee on a Wednesday. And my kid had a fever the night before and he’s snotty and I decide I’m going to snuggle with my kid and not, you know, quarantine myself because I know what I do. And then I come down and I’m congested as can be and losing my voice. But I’m up there because I don’t want to call in sick. And then someone hears a bad note and then it’s everywhere. And then I say, she’s not really someone so can do the role better than her. But, you know, it’s just it’s it’s it’s not for the faint of heart, you know? And I’ve never been one that really could say, I don’t care what people think of me, because I do so.

 

Ira Madison III I will say, though, as not social media adverbs, but you know, as a, you know, solid with a theater degree who grew up like, you know, like loving theater, being in Milwaukee and then Chicago. I first was introduced to you from like, they definitely weren’t South pilots at the time. They had to be someone to use, like a small camcorder, but a rent bootleg at a wicked bootleg. And he sounded great on the ones that I had.

 

Idina Menzel I don’t know. That’s the other thing with Auto-Tune being this. Thing that everyone uses, no matter what. Now in the studio, just it’s a producer’s tool. I think people’s ears are there. They’re hearing perfection of a note. I don’t mean to get to like it inside, you know, record it, but. It’s just things have to be right down the middle. There’s a little flower, a little sharp, which is what makes us human. I think people just their ears are not they don’t hear that anymore. They’re used to this very specific sound. And so. I don’t know. Maybe it’s because I go back and I listen. I think, Oh, my God, how did I sing like that? But no one would have heard it that way back then because it just was normal. Now everything’s like Kanye West’s album when he did that, was that when he first came out with all that Autotune stuff on it?

 

Ira Madison III Oh, 808s and Heartbreaks.

 

Louis Virtel Yes

 

Ira Madison III Yeah. I want to ask one last question. Speaking of I brought up Red. I first discovered that in high school. And then obviously, you know, I saw the bootleg like I said it and I saw was finally able to see a touring version. And then I was able to see the film and I feel like it’s had such a long life and people still love this show and there’s so many iconic songs in it. But what would you say is the song that maybe from Bret that you that pops into your head the most, or you see that people maybe bring up the most? I feel like I feel like usually it’s like seasons of love. Like you’ll have like at like maybe like an important moment, you know, like someone’s performing at a show or something. But I have to tell you, like, take me or leave me. I see all the time. People are always performing that. And I feel like, Is that the one that like you hear about from people the most, or is that what comes into your mind the most from the show?

 

Idina Menzel It’s hard for me because when I go on tour, I do that song. I don’t have any and that’s one of the songs I do. And I go in the audience and I recruit people. And for better or worse, you know, we discover some amazing people and then some we don’t. But I do that. I do it all the time. So it’s it’s in my I mean, it was in my DNA because we create it. But, you know, it’s just always around me. The song that I also do all the time that I never get tired of singing is I came up with my own arrangement of No Day but Today, which song. I wasn’t a part of that scene. And my character, I was in the finale part of it, but in the actual show. But I just always loved that song so much was one of my favorite songs. And so I do an arrangement of that and, and for me, it’s my it’s kind of like a mantra for me or am sort of a touchstone every night when I go out there to kind of ground me, It kind of it gives me an opportunity to sort of express gratitude to John Larson, to the audience, to the people that knew me from when, you know, but, you know, tickets for the front row and stuff that side to who. Meeting my first husband like. I mean, it’s just the time in my life that was, you know, so, so deep for me and also really speaks to. Trying to stay in the moment, you know, and stay present for things. And I think especially in in our industry, it’s just you just can lose sight of that and lose perspective. And I think the greatest gift that Jonathan gave us. Was to be able to slow down and realize how fleeting life is and to really try to not take things for granted. And so. That’s. I don’t know. I just I’m not great at it all the time. But I am I, you know, I, I try to incorporate that into my my world as much as possible.

 

Louis Virtel Well, thank you so much for being here. One thing that is a guarantee here in our future, as we will always have exciting Idina menzel material, whether she’s performing live or in some rad movie or in some rad show. So it’s nice. It’s nice to catch you just in the middle of it before you springboard to your next 50.

 

Idina Menzel Amazing things all by yourself. I’m a fan of you both and thank you for asking me. Those are good questions you asked me.

 

Louis Virtel Oh, we don’t always nail it, so that was nice.

 

Ira Madison III It was an honor to have you.

 

Idina Menzel All right, let’s do this again.

 

Louis Virtel Oh, yeah, yeah. You come back whenever you want.

 

Idina Menzel Okay. I’ll come back when I have my new musical that I’m working on. It’s a brand new thing that’s super and it’s nation stages, but.

 

Ira Madison III We can’t wait.

 

Idina Menzel To talk about it.

 

Ira Madison III Please. Okay. Yeah, please. Please do. Let’s. Can’t wait to see it. All right. Yeah, right. Thank you so much.

 

Idina Menzel Bye.

 

Speaker 1 <AD>

 

Ira Madison III We have a special guest with us this episode. He’s a writer and film critic whose book, The Queer Film Guide, chronicles the history of queer storytelling since the beginning of motion pictures. It’s an incredible archive of history that we’re so happy to shed light on. Please welcome to Keep It, Kyle Turner and I have a question. Why is salt not in your book?

 

Louis Virtel Yeah. What? What gives?

 

Kyle Turner Salt is not in the book because there’s not enough latex.

 

Ira Madison III Tea, tea. There’s really that. There’s a lot of weight. Yeah, but there’s no latex. Yeah.

 

Kyle Turner I have Portuguese film, Oh Fantasma, which has a gimp suit in it. So if there was a gimp suit, then it would be in the book.

 

Louis Virtel I have to say about the list of movies, you compiled this. First of all, it goes all the way back to 1918 and the famous German film. Different from the Others. The best title all the way up to it looks like Fire Island here, which came out just last year. Are there titles in here, first of all, that you’re surprised made it into it or are surprised didn’t make it into it? And how just impossible was it to compile all of these movies into a book? It just feels like an unbelievable task and I don’t envy any of the work you had to do.

 

Kyle Turner It was it was a really I felt like a great deal of gratitude for being able to have the opportunity to make a book like this and to compile a list. And I obviously am indebted to Vito Russo, who wrote The Celluloid Closet. It was originally like a lecture series that he sort of took on the road and then made into a book and two different editions. But then I also consulted friends who are really incredible archivists and programmers like Juan Bakken, who’s based in Miami, and Phuong La, who’s based in London and has a Elizabeth Percheld, who’s an activist, especially of like gay porn cinema. They all had like really interesting input. The original list was like 186 films, and I wanted it to be idiosyncratic enough so that, like, you can google your best queer movies and come up with 100 lists on the Internet any time. But if I was, like trying to encourage people to have something in their home that they could refer to, I want it to be like a little weird and a little fun so that you have things like like desert hearts and bound next to Jennifer’s body and seed of Chucky, next to my Hustler and Scorpio Rising. And I wanted to really, like, examine how queerness could manifest as different things, esthetically or narratively or within character or within point of view. And I guess the things that I was most surprised to that that did end up in the book was I feel an incredible amount of gratitude that they let me put boys in the sand in there, which is the Wakefield Pool porn film that came out in 1971, I think 1970.

 

Louis Virtel Early 70s.

 

Kyle Turner And and that was that came out before Deep Throat. And it was one of the films to launch this idea of porno chic and that porn cinema could be something that was like an event that like it was it was the first point film that was reviewed by Variety.

 

Ira Madison III Wow. Mm. Okay, come on. Variety.

 

Louis Virtel They’re like the box office, and this is going to be boffo.

 

Ira Madison III They scream are actually have a question about like how you were even deciding to comprise of because like like you said, like you had like a larger list and then like you cut it down, like in creating a queer film guide. Was there ever a point where you’re like, okay, here are some films that have maybe gay moments or elements in them that are maybe like, now we look back on them. They’re like, maybe like gay panic moments or like, awful, you know, I’m thinking of like, something like soap dish or something like, for example, you know, where there were there moments where you were like, is that a film that you considered maybe even including or films like that where you’re like, it is sort of an awful moment Like that represents queerness, but it is also representative of like the attitudes of people towards like trans people in 1991, you know?

 

Kyle Turner Mm hmm. I know exactly what you’re talking about. And I, I think there are definitely examples of films that I think are important to queer cultural and queer cinematic history that are controversial or problematic where you have to wrestle with. So this is not. One of them because I even though like their pipes that I’m going to do, like I don’t think it is, I don’t think it it like contributes to queer film history in a productive way.

 

Ira Madison III Of course, it’s like a gotcha twist.

 

Kyle Turner Yes. Yeah. Whereas something like the Boys in the Band, the William Friedkin film that’s based on the Mark Crowley play is very much an artifact of its time. I know that some people like it. I like the play, but it like is very much and mashed in a sort of like velvet preto, velvet rage, self-loathing. I don’t know how to deal with the fact that I’m gay and I’m beating myself up about it. And so I’m trying to buy into, like, bourgeois middle class. America isn’t working for me because they didn’t want me anyways. I know that some people, like, don’t don’t care for confronting that aspect, even though I think it’s very much a reality for a lot of people. And then there’s something like Cruising, which is also directed by William Friedkin, which was protested upon and its announcement and during its release, so much so that they had to rerecord a lot of the dialog. And so some of the disembodied voices within cruising, it sort of adds to like the the surreal effects. But like that film was coming out at a time where it does show the attitude that especially the police have towards queer people. That New York anti-violence project was created within a year or so during its production to combat like real antiquated violence within the city. But I think that film is interesting enough and I think has enough good faith or at least ambivalent faith to examine like the structural issues of like where white queer people especially fall into positions of power because it’s about Al Pacino who’s playing a rookie cop, and he goes into that New York BDSM leather scene to investigate a series of savage murders. But during this time, like, as he’s going through these, like, leather clubs that really existed at the time, like the ramrod and the anvil and whatnot, he sees the way in which these social spaces are using the iconography of fascism, of Nazi ism, and fetishizing them. And while, like you can’t say writ large that all people who are into leather or into BDSM are also into fascism, it is undeniable that, like the esthetics of kink and leather are derived from various similar places as fascism Nazi ism. That’s just like that’s just the reality. And although, like, it’s tricky to conflate those things with like the sort of rise of power within white gayness, I think the I think it’s a really instructive object or artifact to consider, like where, how, how queer people interact with power and to what degree trying to attain that power is even worth it. If it means like selling your soul and becoming a cop, it’s like very a cop movie.

 

Louis Virtel I’m also super interested in how you chose the movies from like the past ten years because obviously we have way more movies to choose from nowadays. Whereas like, you know, if you’re going back to the 1960s, you’re picking like, like a movie like Victim, which is very out of step at the time in terms of how like blatantly gay and kind of pro-gay it was. But was it hard searching through the past ten years of movies? I imagine it was just impossible to pare down.

 

Kyle Turner It was a lot of fun paring down, and it was a matter of like, Do I want to pick the thing that is obvious and that has made like an enormous contribution to queer culture and the way that queer representation, whether in front of the camera or otherwise, is most easily seen. Or do I might have picked something that maybe people haven’t heard of or don’t necessarily think it’s queer, Something like Seed of Chucky, which I think was like relatively popular at the time, but I don’t think a lot of people would necessarily think, Oh, that movie has like a non-binary and slash by gender person. So as a main character, right.

 

Ira Madison III That one was for me. Okay. Seed of Chucky is that girl.

 

Kyle Turner Yes yes. Swed of Chucky is just icon. Icon Glen or Glenda. And it was. And also like there you have something like the buck also has 200 movies technically because you have 100 main entries and then each film has a sidebar recommendation and wine pairing, if you will. And so it was it allowed me to say like slip in things like if I, if I were going to highlight something like Brokeback Mountain, which I which I need. You write about. Like, regardless of my own personal feelings about that film, it’s fine. The wedding banquet is better. But it really did open the floodgates for for queer representation and queer filmmaking and Hollywood and mainstream filmmaking in a way that very few films have. But it also means that I get to pick something like The Wedding Banquet, which comes in the early nineties, so I get to have both of those so complement each other because if you’re not familiar with one, you get to look at the other, see how it so sets up a blueprint for what queer movies can look like in the future. And then you have something like. Professor Marston and the Wonder Women, which is by the same director of Debs. Both. Professor Marston is a main entry in Debs as a sidebar entry, but I get to cheat a little bit and still pick a bunch of movies from the last couple of decades to show like the wide breadth that where cinema can encompass, especially now that we have we have a slightly more democratized access to those filmmaking tools. We have more slightly more democratized access to these movies in general set that they can inspire other queer Irish and filmmakers and creatives.

 

Louis Virtel Mm hmm. We should say that the reason you bring up the wedding banquet is because Ang Lee also directed that.

 

Kyle Turner And yes, yes.

 

Louis Virtel Just to say some of the movies he chose from recent years, it’s everything from Brokeback Mountain, as you said, to Carol to Spa Night. Andrew Ahn also directed Fire Island, which is on this list. Zola, Can You Ever Forgive Me? Now, see, that’s a movie where I would say, oh, that’s like a, you know, a mainstream movie that people have heard of. But honestly, do people remember that movie? That to me is part of the hard but like, what’s hard about compiling a list like that is what feels obvious to us is like, yeah, like people don’t remember at all or whatever. Even though Melissa McCarthy was obviously nominated for an Oscar for it and Richard E. Grant.

 

Kyle Turner Yeah, yeah, yeah. And, and for those of whom that are in L.A, I will be screening. I’m sorry for plugging in something, but I will be doing a double feature of can you ever forgive me and happy together to Wong Kar wai film, which is also in the book at the American Cinematheque Los Feliz on September 1st at 7 p.m..

 

Louis Virtel Oh, well, you have to go to that one. Both those movies. Fabulous.

 

Ira Madison III Yeah. I want to ask too, about you know, I think you were talking about, you know, the democratization, too, of like, you know, queer films now and especially like now as you get into like the present, you know, there’s a lot more queer films that we sort of can get, but also there for different audiences, you know, obviously, you know, have like Fire Island and, you know, you have like a Brazilian, like last week Louis and I talked about Red, White, and Royal Blue and like Louis also just during the week off of my recommendation, like he watched Passages, which you know I love, you know, and sort of like where do you think we are right now in terms of queer cinema and where it’s going to be going in terms of adding things substantive to the canon?

 

Kyle Turner That’s an interesting question, and I think it is reflective of an even broader idea of like where we are in cinema and pop culture, generally speaking, because we don’t really have as white guys anymore. We don’t have a monoculture anymore. And even within these subcultural communal spaces like the queer community, those things are being split up even more. And on the one hand I think it is very good that we have more options for more audiences for people to engage with different kinds of things. On the other, I do think that it is frustrating that a lot of the ways in which streaming platforms especially are inclined to make a certain product. To cater to an audience that is that wants to consider queerness within a more limited idea. I do find that personally frustrating just on, you know, an esthetic level like yet Red, White, Red, White and Royal Blue, totally fine. I as much as I wanted to hate that movie, I was actually quite charmed by it. But I what I hope is that with these platforms that there will at some point be a prioritization of there being like a I’m a central hub for people to be able to look at these things. Like I know that like when I was younger and getting into queer film, I had to actively search for these things. And I, I liked the process of looking for, for kinds of representation or kinds of reflections or different stories that didn’t reflect my experience and could expose me to other kinds of experiences of queerness. And my worry is that these platforms are d incentivizing that process and incentivizing more holistic way of engaging with queerness as a creative point of view or a political point of view. And I hope that at some point something comes along where all these different experiences are are not only more readily available, which they appear to be, but will encourage their audiences to seek out other things beyond just red, white and royal blue or beyond just prose or something that they are so willing to place themselves within this broader lineage of queer cinema and and creativity. But I’m glad things I’m glad that there are these alternative venues and channels, like a movie that releases passages or even a strand releasing which has a long history of, of really seeing things by like Rocky and Andrew Ahn and whatnot. They just released Mutt, which is pretty solid. Yes. So I hope that answers your question. I have hope. I have hope that the kids I actually just spoke to a group of students at Barnard recently and the movies that they listed as their favorite were like really interesting. And I do have hope for the show. And Whitney Houston was right. The children may be our future. I’m on board some of them with and some of them listed like Merry Christmas, Mr. Lawrence, which is the Nekesa Oshima film with David Bowie. Someone mentioned Butterfly, the Dam, the David Cronenberg.

 

Louis Virtel Film, Two and a half star movie for me. But good attacks. I enjoyed it. Good that Jeremy Jeremy can do whatever he wants. He messes up sometimes, but he was good.

 

Ira Madison III Yeah. Yeah. You’re not a tornado girl that Louis.

 

Louis Virtel No, I. As you know, I think something’s wrong with that man. But.

 

Kyle Turner There are some things so right. With. Wait, wait. Louis, how do you feel about Crash?

 

Louis Virtel Oh, that’s his best movie, I think.

 

Kyle Turner Yeah.

 

Ira Madison III Do you like Videodrome?

 

Louis Virtel Less. Less. So I like the idea of Videodrome. No, I was going to say, though. Well, I think something a problem with streaming platforms is I mean, they’re thinking in terms of demographics. And when they first of all, there would be it would be conspicuous if they had no queer content. So they’re going to have to produce some of it. But I think most of the time those people produce queer content for women. For women, it’s like for like, like that’s the demographic that would actually consume that. So when you’re watching something on streaming that’s about gay people, you have to be thinking about like women who are 35 and up. I think that’s who they’re marketing it towards, you know, which is different than queer content for queer people, you know?

 

Kyle Turner Yeah, Yeah. Oh, absolutely. I completely agree with you. And the way in which these things are like hyper categorized and broken down into different genres and whatnot, I don’t think that is necessarily conducive to exploiting, like the fluidity and the expansiveness, like where identity and experiences and queerness and have to offer.

 

Louis Virtel I think we’re all the same. You’re wrong. No, go ahead.

 

Ira Madison III I feel like that’s sort of a thing that I had brought up online once, you know, when people were discussing, you know, whether or not, you know, like whether you agree that like looking was like good or not, like a show like that, you know, like you think about like the success of RuPaul’s Drag Race and like, you know, there’s been a contingent online where it’s just sort of like, well, this show isn’t really for us anymore. And you’re like, like it started as being for us, like with RuPaul, sort of like doing his thing, but then, you know, like to be like a successful show, to be on this many seasons. Like, you have to have a female audience, a demographic watching it, you know, and, and like, I think about the way that. So many women on TV historically, like Sex and the City, you know, like Golden Girls, you know, it’s like these things have been written by men. Ally McBeal, you know, they’ve been written by men for the consumption of women. And so it’s just so interesting that, like the queer stories that we see on television and, you know, like film and like, especially on these streaming platforms now are going to be largely created, you know, for the consumption of a larger demographic, which includes women. You know, I always say that like or it’s not something that’s all right. Look, was it really successful? Because, you know, like you look at that show and it’s like Andrew High is like, you know, his make it very pretty look, you know, But like, are are women like are the masses like watching that show and being like they want to talk about it every week, you know? Mm Mm hmm.

 

Kyle Turner I had a conversation with a friend years and years ago in Provincetown, and we were talking about how there wasn’t this sense of, you know, exciting danger to queer ah, and queer film, which is like very broad generalization, of course. But we joked to each other that maybe it was a little better when we were a little bit more marginalized.

 

Louis Virtel But yeah, just like you had, you were up against less, I guess. So you were just like, Yeah, you had nothing to lose. Sort of feeling.

 

Kyle Turner Yeah. Yeah. You could just you could make something that was full of, like, fury and anger and anguish, like a living and or like a place and or whatever. And, like, it would be its function was to be provocative. And while I do believe that, like, there’s still work out there being created in that vein, I don’t know that it is. I don’t think it’s necessarily the same attention. I do think that there is like somewhat of an acceptable, anesthetized and a satisfies version of like what queer movies are like really exciting for, you know, Oscar season and whatnot. Very. They’ve got lens flare and and kind of faux naturalism about them. But I am happy and excited for, like, whatever comes next, hopefully.

 

Ira Madison III Mm hmm. Well, you know, Maestro, that nose is LGBTQ. So famously.

 

Kyle Turner The Maestro nose was seen adhesive.

 

Ira Madison III Thank you so much for being here, Kyle.

 

Kyle Turner Thank you so much for having me. I just want to say, Ira, I’ve been a huge fan of your writing since you were at MTV News.

 

Ira Madison III Oh, thank you.

 

Kyle Turner And.

 

Louis Virtel Why? Oh, Go ahead.

 

Kyle Turner I showed my mother Verbal Vogueing. Okay.

 

Louis Virtel Oh, my God.

 

Kyle Turner Like, when I was 12.

 

Louis Virtel Jesus Christ.

 

Kyle Turner And my mother did not understand it.

 

Louis Virtel I was just going to say. Do you guys still have a relationship?

 

Kyle Turner We do not. We do not.

 

Louis Virtel Okay, great.

 

Kyle Turner No, we do not. We do not.

 

Louis Virtel Original recipe Louis. Wow. Yes. Oh, how nice of you. Thank you.

 

Kyle Turner Thank you so much for having me. This was so much fun.

 

Ira Madison III And we are back with our favorite segment of the episode. It is Keep It.

 

Louis Virtel Oh, I’m here. I’m awake. Sorry. I’ll participate. Hi. For me, Louis Virtel. My Keep It This week goes to an article that I actually think I generally liked. Did it have to be this rude? I’m talking about this New York Times article What Happens When A Pop Star Isn’t That Popular? And on the article of Ava Max, Carly Rae Jepsen and Kim Petras, and the subhead says Hubs, middle class enjoys loyal online fan bases for these artists. Pop stardom isn’t a commercial category, but a sound and esthetic and an attitude. It’s literally saying they’re unpopular. What the fuck are they doing? Being alive?

 

Ira Madison III Kill yourselves.

 

Louis Virtel Yeah. From the New York Times.

 

Ira Madison III Yeah.

 

Louis Virtel I mean, at the onset, I thought this was an article that didn’t need to be written. Does it? I mean, what kind of pitch is. What if some people weren’t as popular as other people? Like, that’s always been true since the beginning of time. Some people are superstars. Some people are. But it basically gets into how these people now occupy a space that once belonged to the label indie. You know, people were obsessed with seeing them, particularly at a live shows, etc.. They have moments where they sort of peek through, scratch the surface of stardom. But ultimately, we didn’t have these loyal fanbases.

 

Ira Madison III The solo Debbie Gibson, She’s no Madonna.

 

Louis Virtel But it’s written by someone named Shah de Souza. Basically, if you’re a Carly Rae Jepsen fan, it feels like a slight to you and your identity. So I felt a little bit chosen and a little bit attacked. But at the same time, I think it makes a case that, you know, it’s sort of random who gets to be a superstar and who sort of floats in this middle ground with people like Ava. Max and I did not realize it says Diamonds and Dance Floors, which is Ava. Max’s last album, spent one week on the albums chart. That is sort of surprising for someone who debuted with Sweet but Psycho, which was a top ten hit.

 

Ira Madison III Girl.,That album went triple cardboard and I still love her. Blood, Diamonds and Dancefloors was like the dance floor was evacuated also. That album was so good.

 

Louis Virtel I just feel like it was rags, you know.

 

Ira Madison III Her cubic zirconia and the foreclosure is what it really was. And I love her. But like when we talk about Ava Max is like nobody else. This is like the same thing I was saying, with Padam Padam was like. I’m bringing like Ava, Max and like anybody else who is not like a guy who is up in the club, they’re like.

 

Louis Virtel Who know? Also, you know, Kylie Minogue was counting her lucky stars that she’s not a part.

 

Ira Madison III Of their good old age. I love that I put my girl Charlie in there, but they were like, it was also sort of like it felt like a teacher giving a report card because it was very much like Charlie X was like topping the hits with like, you know, like I Love and like Boom Clap. And then like, she was, you know, experimenting with pop and just sort of like, not charting. But now she’s back with like, speed drive and like her other reasons. And it’s like when she tries, she can get a hit and it’s like, okay, girl, well, leave her alone.

 

Louis Virtel A joy to have in class when she comes in and gets a C-minus. Yeah. Ira, what is your Keep It this week?

 

Ira Madison III You know, my Keep It is also to The New York Times.

 

Louis Virtel Oh. Take it. Take that. The Gray Lady.

 

Ira Madison III Unfortunately, this article comes from a friend of ours.

 

Louis Virtel Oh, which one?

 

Ira Madison III David Mack. But I will say. Okay, so, like, he wrote an article for The New York Times, or just like it was an analysis of, like, you know, like it was breaking down, like new information that like, what gay men do when it’s their birthday and they write send nudes and people send nudes to them. And I was like, one Saturday People’s Business New York Times. And to me, it’s not even really accurate to The New York Times. I have always found that concept wild to me. I have. I mean, I’ve never been a person who’s like, been like, it’s my birthday, send nudes. I’m like, Are you that kind of person? I just, like, feel like when I see someone do that, I’m always like, Girl, go to something else. I also movie.

 

Louis Virtel I just feel like it has extreme loser energy.

 

Ira Madison III It does.

 

Louis Virtel It’s my birthday. Please, for once, consider me attractive. I mean, it’s just it’s not a also it’s like it’s something like your friends are kind of supposed to do. Like send me nudes. Like we’re friends. Like, it’s like, right. There’s just, like, it’s not sexual at all. It doesn’t feel nothing about that. It just creeps me out. I’m sorry.

 

Ira Madison III It’s also your birthday. So you, like, you want, like, Tiffany on Facebook from, like, ninth grade to say you heard nudes, like her tasteful boudoir photos? Is that what you are?

 

Louis Virtel Yeah. No, it’s like. The kind of thing also where I’m like, I guess you would write about it in The New York Times because Send nudes is like a familiar phrase now. So I’m it has legs of some time, but at the same time.

 

Ira Madison III You’re still sort.

 

Louis Virtel Of weird. It’s a little dubious. Yeah, it’s a little like.

 

Ira Madison III 20 years too late.

 

Louis Virtel Right?

 

Ira Madison III They discovered Israel sooner. Yeah. Then they discovered send nude.

 

Louis Virtel By the way, you say IJBOL all the time. And we want to talk about it. IJBOL is this like you put it under a caption it means I just burst out laughing.

 

Ira Madison III Yeah I mean listen I really do burst out laughing. I being like, I have a lot of your commas too. Like, you know, like, I really do burst out laughing journalistically.

 

Louis Virtel It’s true. Yes. One might say this about you.

 

Ira Madison III The other thing I would say about, like, the sad news thing is I’m like, yes, you’re like announcing it for your birthday. But I’m like, if you’re that girl, you’re already getting them. Okay. Like, I got buffoons eating my pussy while I watch cartoons.

 

Louis Virtel Is that a Megan paraphrase?

 

Ira Madison III That’s Lil Kimbaby.

 

Louis Virtel Oh, because.

 

Ira Madison III That’s Hard Core 97.

 

Louis Virtel Right, right, right. Meghan’s as well. I watch anime.

 

Ira Madison III Yeah, yeah, yeah. Meghan watches anime.

 

Louis Virtel You know, my favorite Megan th Thee Stallion lyric is? I don’t stand outside because I’m too outstanding. That’s my favorite one. That’s my favorite Meghan song too, Girls in the Hood.

 

Ira Madison III You, I, I love the idea of you listening to Girls on the Hood.

 

Louis Virtel I love Megan Thee Stallion. I listen to her all the time. This is actually never come up on this show.

 

Ira Madison III Oh, we. I don’t think we’ve ever really talked about Meghan, and I feel like, you know, like I might very. Barbie. Yeah, like, very bizarre. But I feel like. No, I feel honestly, I. I get that because I would say that, like Megan thee stallion, I feel like. With one like. I feel like she has, like, the best of like, you know, like a Nicki, like Lil Kim vibe of, like, like the rap dress, but also like she has the performance element of, like, a pop star that you like. Totally. Like. Also, her songs are very. Because he has so many interests like like girls in the hood. Sounds very much like it almost sounds like nine is like Queen Latifah. Like like salt and pepper. Like is like I feel like she harkens back to like she’s having fun. Yeah. And that’s what I want. I want the girls to have fun.

 

Louis Virtel Witty, good vibes. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. No. So channel. Yeah.

 

Ira Madison III And honestly, it’s like.

 

Louis Virtel I’ve gotten really into Traumazine and I think that I underrated that when it came out.

 

Ira Madison III That was like a really underrated album and I feel like it has like a lot of really good songs on it. And I would also say that like. She and just like Cardi B in general, are just like two really fucking likable female rappers. Like, they’re so fucking funny and they say everything about them when you meet them seems very it seems very genuine.

 

Louis Virtel Yeah, right, exactly.

 

Ira Madison III And it’s not a put on as a celebrity. It’s like, like we said before, it’s like you put, you put Cardi B, like the way that like you’re like you’re watching or like interviews of like, you know, celebrities from like the eighties and nineties on, like talk shows. It’s just like there’s got to be like some tag. It’s like 20, 30 years from now, like watching old Cardi B interviews. She’s just she’s a.

 

Louis Virtel Effortless personality

 

Ira Madison III Effortless. And Megan is too. And I’m actually like on first of all, you know, that that munchkin went to jail. Oh, yes, he was right in jail. Yeah. You know, Tory Lanez. But I feel like I’m really looking forward to this chapter being behind Megan’s life because I just feel like it’s so, like, dark and I’m looking forward to her, like, coming through with, like, that burst of energy and like, you know, joy that we really like in her, you know, and like.

 

Louis Virtel Did L.A. Pride this year. And she was a pure joy from start to finish. You know she can And also that was she’s.

 

Ira Madison III So amazing live. Yeah she’s so fucking amazing. Like, yeah. So I’m looking forward to like, Megan’s next chapter, like, past all this shit.

 

Louis Virtel Likewise. Likewise. All right. I guess that’s our episode this week, and I hope you loved Idina as much as we did. Man, I had a blast with her girl.

 

Ira Madison III She was giving it to us.

 

Louis Virtel I thought so. Yes.

 

Ira Madison III Top guest. Top guest. Yeah.

 

Louis Virtel Totally. Yes, we got into it.

 

Ira Madison III Yeah. Idina Menzel. And also thank you to Kyle Turner for being here with us. And we’ll see you next week. Keep It is a Crooked Media production. Our senior producer is Kendra James. Our producer is Chris Lord and our associate producer is Malcolm Whitfield. Our executive producers are Ira Madison, The Third and Louis Virtel.

 

Louis Virtel This episode was recorded and mixed by Evan Sutton. Thank you to our digital team, Megan Patzel and Rachel Gaewski, and to Matt DeGroot and David Toles for production support every week.

 

Ira Madison III And as always, Keep It is recorded in front of a live studio audience.

 

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