Everything & Anything...and a bit gay Podcast

Fighting for Their Lives: Jenn Garofolo on Mental Health & Raising a Trans Son

Fellow Bostonian Jenn Garofolo joins Zach to talk about her book Fighting for Their Lives, a mother's account of two separate but overlapping journeys: her son Daniel's severe mental health struggles, which began when he was a toddler, and his coming out as nonbinary and then as a transgender young man at 11.

Jenn has an Ivy League education, two master's degrees and a career in biotech, and it still took her a decade to navigate the mental health system for her child...

Zach sits down with Damian Pelliccione (he/they), co-founder and CEO of Revry, the free, ad-supported LGBTQ+ streaming network, and co-creator and Kings' Court judge of the hit competition series King of Drag. As Revry nears its 11th year and King of Drag returns for season 2, Damian opens up about the Apple keynote that sparked the whole idea, the years of pitching a drag king show to advertisers who didn't know what a drag king was, and the stories that remind him why this work matters.

In this episode:

This Friday on The Gay Bit, Zach comes clean about one of his most embarrassing and most beloved talents. From junior high through college, and let's be honest, still today, he was the undisputed crank call king of his Miami friend group. Armed with a landline, a phone book, three-way calling, and a voice that could pass for a blonde teenage girl, Zach led up to ten friends at a time on late-night prank calling expeditions.

He introduces Barbara Midnight, his fake DJ from "97.3 Coast FM," who promised strangers $500 if they could sing three lines of their...

What happens when a couple married for 40 years finally says something out loud to each other for the first time? Certified sex therapist Keri Green, LMFT, CST has seen it, and she says nearly every relationship problem comes down to one thing: communication.

Zach and Keri cover a lot of ground. They talk about the three C's she looked for while dating as a single mom in her 40s. They get into why opening a relationship rarely works when only one partner wants it, and the unusual kinks that have come up in her practice. Keri explains...

What happens when you track down every person you've ever kissed, dated, or hooked up with and ask them what really happened? Zach sits down with comedic actor, writer, and fellow podcaster Miriam Katz, the creator of The Ex Appeal Podcast. Her show is built around exactly that premise, and it caught the attention of The View and the New York Post.

Miriam's list runs to 112 people. So far she's interviewed about 20 of them, from her fifth-grade first date in Boston (she asked him out on the swings) to a six-year entanglement she calls "Mr. Mayhem." She...

Zach sits down with psychic medium and mentor Alysa Conger — a working model of nearly 17 years who also teaches people how to access their own intuition. They dig into what it actually looks like to build a mediumship practice, how Alysa's own psychic path was catalyzed by her father's suicide in 2022 (three days before her birthday), and the eerie "signs" she picked up in the days before it happened.

Alysa opens up about surviving a serious car accident that same year — including a brief out-of-body experience and a traumatic brain injury she believes sharpened her intuitive abilities — and sh...

In this week's "This Is Everything" segment, Zach digs into the history of the Boy Scouts of America — now rebranded as Scouting America — tracing it from its 1910 founding through a devastating sexual abuse scandal that led to a $2.46 billion settlement and 2020 bankruptcy filing. He covers the organization's slow evolution on LGBTQ+ inclusion (gay youth in 2013, gay leaders in 2015, transgender youth in 2017) and girls joining Cub Scouts and the flagship program. The episode culminates in a breakdown of a 2026 controversy: pressure from Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and the quiet elimination of dedicated spaces for girls, scouts of color, LGBTQ+ scouts, and...

Zach sits down with his friend of 27 years, Justin Schiefner, a ten-time Burning Man attendee, to unpack everything the HBO Max documentary doesn't fully capture. Justin walks through his evolution from a broke first-timer in a canvas tent to a seasoned burner with a full RV setup, breaking down the real costs, the gifting economy, and the radical inclusion that defines the Black Rock City experience. The conversation covers lighter territory — meeting his partner Will at a Burning Man-adjacent party, bringing his dad to the Temple, and the infamous 2:2:2 Tuesday tradition — alongside more candid topics like the Orgy Dome, drug...

Guests: Nicholas Molencupp (writer, co-director, star) and Cameron Moir (actor, producer) of the upcoming film In Between

Episode Overview:
Zach sits down with Nicholas Molencupp and Cameron Moir ahead of the world premiere of their film In Between at the Out on Film festival (an Oscar-qualifying festival) on September 26th. They dig into how the two met — Cameron cold-emailing Nicholas after seeing his Indiegogo campaign — and how a two-year writing process, a $20,000 crowdfunding push, and a scrappy four-month sprint to production turned into a finished feature.

What they discuss:

In this week's Gay Bit, Zach finally unpacks a story he's been sitting on since 2004: the time his husband Andrew talked him and their friend Tony into a week at "Camp Camp," an adult LGBTQ+ sleepaway camp in rural Maine.

What followed was less "magical queer retreat" and more survival horror — rusty sink water, a shower shared with granddaddy long-legs spiders, a toilet that wasn't bolted to the floor, zero cell service, and a camera-happy stranger who wouldn't stop photographing Zach and Tony. Add in mandatory "rainbow group" sharing circles, a camper who burst into tears on da...

Zach continues his real-talk series on surviving a 28-year relationship — from moving in together and fighting over furniture to the terrifying night his husband said "I'm not happy." Honest, funny, and unfiltered relationship talk.

Guest: Matt Freeman — theater educator, arts administrator, and founder of Change Arts

Zach sits down with writer, fashion industry veteran, and unlikely viral sensation Brenda Cullerton — a woman who spent decades writing for major publications and working alongside Anna Wintour before reinventing herself as an internet personality in her seventies. They cover Brenda's accidental path to virality through TikTok's "subway takes" and her Instagram series "I Don't Know," her solo show "Jay-Z and Me" (born from a concert injury and staged at the Edinburgh Fringe), her stand-up comedy bombing stories, and her decades of friendships in gay fashion circles. The conversation turns candid on New York's gentrification, the generational divide in ho...

In this episode of Everything & Anything…and a Bit Gay, Zach sits down with Juan Gallen — a digital nomad, spiritual mentor, and coach who helps gay men break cycles of compulsive hookups and anxious attachment by getting to the root of their trauma.

In this episode of The Gay Bit, Zach recaps the final days of his Provincetown getaway with his friend Greg. The centerpiece is Ryan Landry's Showgirls — a raunchy, hilarious variety show Zach has been attending for 25 years — featuring co-host Dina Martina and a surprise performance from Latrice Royale of RuPaul's Drag Race fame. Zach also details a guerrilla sticker campaign promoting his podcast, Greg's LGBTQ event-finder app Gathery, and his own friend-finding app Gay BFF, plus a comically disastrous overpacking situation and a mercifully smooth ferry ride home. It's a lighthearted, personal wrap-up to a joyful trip.

Zach sits down with Karen Kendra Holmes — U.S. military veteran, TEDx speaker, author, and longtime transgender advocate — for a wide-ranging conversation about her decades-long path to living authentically. Karen shares that she began privately exploring her gender identity at age 13 but didn't transition until 53, describing the internal and religious struggles that shaped those "40 years of wandering." She discusses her 24-year military career (including roles with the Maryland Defense Force and U.S. Veterans Reserve Corps), the carefully planned rollout of her transition across a 47-office federal agency, and her work bridging the transgender community and law enforcement through the...

In this episode, Zach sits down with Mike Wood — COO of a $100M company and founder of a 10-week anxiety and depression recovery program — for a raw conversation about what it actually takes to quiet a mind that won't stop running.

Mike traces his anxiety back to a single moment at age five: struggling to spell his name in front of his kindergarten class due to undiagnosed dyslexia. That moment programmed a core belief — "I'm not as smart as everyone else" — that ran in the background for the next 35 years, even as he built outward success: a thriving...

In this special, more serious episode of Everything & Anything...and a Bit Gay, Zach steps away from the usual campy interviews to talk directly about the 2026 midterm elections — and why he believes this is one of the most consequential votes of our lifetime.

Topics covered:

Zach sits down with antique dealer, picker, and bestselling author Duane Scott Cerny (Selling Dead People's Things) for a conversation that swings from delightful to deeply human. Duane recounts his most treasured find — a photo of three-legged circus performer Frank Lentini, discovered by chance in a pile of picture frames — and opens up about his love of John Waters and Divine memorabilia. The conversation turns thoughtful as Duane and Zach discuss the overlooked history of gay antique dealers, what belongings reveal about the people who owned them, and the harder side of the business: hoarding, home shopping addiction, and the...

In this episode of The Gay Bit:

Zach kicks things off with a slightly chaotic morning — a physical, low blood pressure, a failed Starbucks latte experiment, and a reaffirmed loyalty to homemade Cuban coffee. Then it's straight into the real topic: his friend's very active dating life.

Zach plays relationship detective on three guys currently in rotation — Benji (a non-texter who's fading out), Kevin (mysteriously gone quiet), and Rob (four dates in and cooking dinner together next). Zach interrogates the details the way he always does with his friends' new prospects, admitting he can be "a lo...

Guest: Ricky — painter, sewist, DJ, and host of the podcast Eager to Know
Find Rick: RickyArtist.com

In this episode, Zach sits down with Ricky, a self-described "combination of right brain and left brain" who's built an entire creative second act after a first career in global chemical sales and internet technology consulting. They cover:

Guest: AL, independent singer, songwriter, and dancer

In this episode:

In this episode, Zach sits down with Ditte Young — a Copenhagen-based telepath, animal communicator, licensed therapist, TEDx speaker, and author of four books, including What the Horse Whispers. Ditte opens up about hearing animals speak to her as a four-year-old, the harrowing premonition of her ex-boyfriend's suicide that made her want to shut her gift off entirely, and how three decades of professional readings taught her to master and control her abilities. She and Zach dig into what a telepathic reading actually feels like, how she communicates with her neurodivergent son Philip, and why she believes her gift and hi...

In this episode, Zach sits down with Delilah, founder of Emergence Pathways, who shares the deeply personal story of realizing she was a lesbian at 25 — after years in a loving relationship with her fiancé — and how that discovery led her to the love of her life.

Delilah opens up about:

In this special 300th episode, Zach steps away from the usual format to pay tribute to a true icon: Dolly Parton. This is a personal, heartfelt reflection on what Dolly meant not just to the LGBTQ+ community, but to the world at large.

Zach shares a personal story from a family trip to Dollywood, which led to discovering the Eagle Mountain Sanctuary — one of the first signs of just how much quiet charity Dolly built into her life's work. From there, the episode traces decades of generosity most people never knew about: the Buddy Program that helped cu...

Zach kicks off this week's Gay Bit with a full confessional recap of a Thursday night in Boston that started innocently (Mediterranean food with friends Mark, Sam, and new pal Nick) and spiraled into a seven-plus-drink evening across multiple bars. Highlights include meeting a future pansexual podcast guest at dinner, a karaoke bingo night at Cathedral Station, an awkward-but-harmless flirtation with a female Uber driver, a birthday shot for his friend Patrick, a run-in with a guy from a past Provincetown story, and a full blackout Uber ride home. The back half of the episode covers the brutal two-day...

Dr. Frank Spinelli is a physician, certified health coach, HIV advocate, and author whose new book, The Shame Compass, is the product of decades spent understanding — and living with — shame.

Frank opens up about his early career treating people living with HIV at Gay Men's Health Crisis, and traces how that work connected to his own history: he was sexually abused for three years, from ages 11 to 13, by a Boy Scout leader who was also a decorated police officer. Frank details how, years later, a book tour jogged a memory of his abuser, leading him to track the...

Richard Wilmore grew up in a tiny town at the top of Wisconsin, so far north he says people mistake Green Bay for "northern." He knew he was different by grade school, though he didn't come out until his twenties at UW Milwaukee, where a big, macho freshman-year roommate turned out to be entirely unbothered by it.

The real turning point came in the summer of 1997, when a 12-year-old Richard stumbled on a rerun of The Rosie O'Donnell Show and instantly rewired his life plan from elementary school teacher to talk show host. He describes the show's...

Ryan Landry has been a fixture of Provincetown since 1979, and on this episode he opens up about nearly five decades of camp, chaos, and creative survival. He talks candidly about how the town's architecture and artist-friendly spirit have eroded under development pressure, and why he believes preservation matters as much as any economic argument for growth.

From there the conversation moves into the legend of Showgirls, the longest-running show in Provincetown history. Ryan walks through his prolific output of adapted plays and musicals, his parallel life as a visual artist, and the found-family dynamic of running a...

Richard Wilmore grew up in a tiny town at the top of Wisconsin, so far north he says people mistake Green Bay for "northern." He knew he was different by grade school, though he didn't come out until his twenties at UW Milwaukee, where a big, macho freshman-year roommate turned out to be entirely unbothered by it.

The real turning point came in the summer of 1997, when a 12-year-old Richard stumbled on a rerun of The Rosie O'Donnell Show and instantly rewired his life plan from elementary school teacher to talk show host. He describes the show's...

In this deeply personal solo episode, Zach opens up about a psychic reading he did with medium Tracy Stella, who he first connected with in 2022 and later welcomed as a guest on the show in 2025. Zach walks through the session in detail — his late father coming through with a message about self-love and staying the course with the podcast, and his mother-in-law Irene, who passed away in November, offering comfort about the choices Zach and his husband Andrew made in her final days.

He recounts a string of specific, unprompted details Tracy surfaced that he says she ha...

This week on The Gay Bit, Zach takes listeners through a brunch with his friend "Freddie" that spirals into a full breakdown of modern gay dating culture. What starts as harmless phone-snooping and prank messaging turns into a real conversation about Freddie's Grindr profile — outdated photos, a fudged age, and a "grid" full of one very specific physical type.

From there, Zach zooms out into a broader reflection on gay dating culture at large: the elaborate, hyper-specific "type" so many gay men develop, the entire taxonomy of identity categories (bears, twinks, twunks, daddies, otters, and beyond), and wh...

Greg Palmer, known in the community as BabyArm, joins Zach to talk about Gathry, the app he built to help LGBTQ+ people find real events happening around them instead of just defaulting to the same bars every weekend. Greg walks through the origin story, from a themed drag night in London to a game night poster outside his New York apartment, and how those moments revealed corners of queer community he'd never encountered before.

The conversation covers Gathry's rapid growth to 26 cities across North America, with distinct plans to expand into London next. Greg and Zach discuss...

Myles Morel is a Capitol Hill correspondent for The Gateway Pundit who's built a following filming candid, on-the-ground moments in DC — including a viral series of clips from outside Senator Mitch McConnell's home during his prolonged public absence. In this conversation, Myles walks through what he saw there, the theories swirling around McConnell's condition, and the behavior that convinced him something bigger is being kept quiet.

From there, the conversation moves into how Myles got into video journalism (starting with campaign work during the 2024 cycle), how living and reporting in the DC area has softened some of hi...

Guest: Leila, Founder & CEO, RLC Models and Talent Agency

In this episode, Zach sits down with Leila, the powerhouse behind RLC Models and Talent Agency, who has spent 23 years building one of LA's most versatile talent and modeling operations. Leila shares the story of landing her first major client, Budweiser, just months after opening her agency, and how that relationship (along with Tecate) led to years of work sponsoring major sporting events in boxing, football, and basketball.

She talks candidly about working alongside major names like Drake, Enrique Iglesias, Bad Bunny, Snoop Dogg, and Jamie...

In this week's "This Is Everything" segment, Zach gets personal about a question that's been on his mind: what does it actually mean to be a queer person living in a red state right now? Prompted by a wave of anti-LGBTQ+ news alerts and his own family's push to relocate, Zach walks through why he and his husband Andrew have ruled out moving closer to his brother, despite the appeal of buying a house outright and being near family.

He talks candidly about growing up in Miami, the segregation he's noticed living in Massachusetts, and how racism...

Japheth Franco — the TikTok creator gay men (and everyone else) are calling their "gay big brother" — is back for round two. This time he and Zach get into the messy middle of modern dating: the catfish who never shows up on FaceTime, the guy who vanishes after weeks of daily texting, and why ghosting does more psychological damage than a direct rejection ever could.

Japheth breaks down his core dating rule — get clear on what you want and say it upfront, because clarity saves everyone time — and explains why time, once wasted, is the one thing you can neve...

Happy Friday! This week's Gay Bit is a personal one — Zach digs into the real, decades-long backstory of how he became an interviewer, long before "podcast host" was ever the plan.

It starts in childhood, filming home movies on VCR cameras and later mini-DVD cameras, a habit inherited from his father, who Zach describes as the family historian. Those tapes — now digitized — capture a teenage Zach already doing mock interviews with friends, including one memorable bit where he played Barbara Walters interviewing a very reluctant, very shy friend.

From there, Zach revisits his high school prank...

Nathan spent years climbing the corporate ladder at L'Oreal, eventually reaching senior vice president level across brands like Kiehl's and Baxter of California. But the more success he found in corporate beauty, the more disconnected he felt from what stylists and their clients actually wanted — so he walked away to start his own company from scratch.

That company became Filament Sciences, home to the haircare brand Filament. Unlike most beauty startups that lean on contract manufacturers or repackaged formulas, Nathan self-funded years of custom molecular research and development, building a patented technology that repairs broken bonds inside da...

Zach welcomes Philip Anthony, host of Downright Upright on Minnesota's AM 950 — "the Progressive Voice of Minnesota" — for a conversation that moves from career origin stories all the way to the heart.

Philip shares how he went from teaching and legal work to becoming a flight attendant, landing (unexpectedly) in Minneapolis-St. Paul, where he found a tight-knit community, met his husband, and eventually turned a pandemic-era podcast into a full progressive radio show. He and Zach swap first-date stories, laugh about the "Craigslist romance section" era of gay dating, and reflect on coming out to their mothers in very...