Can I tell you the story about the exploding fizzy water bottle? It’s quick: a glass bottle of sparkling water exploded in my kitchen last week and I had to get three stitches in my left thumb, which meant I couldn’t type that well for a few days, which meant last week’s newsletter didn’t happen. 

Don’t worry, the story has a happy ending: I’m fine and this newsletter is back. I should also stop here to let you know that you need not develop a new and irrational fear of glass sparkling water bottles. For the majority of us, they are not explosive. I am just quite often an idiot in the kitchen. 

With that ~explosive~ news out of the way, lemme first steer you to last week’s episode, in case you missed it: It was the most fun I had in a studio in a while. Comedians Cameron Espositio and Jay Jurden joined me to have a most spectacular Pride-themed conversation. The three of us built our very own Queer Hollywood Mt. Rushmore: a list of the best to ever do it, with a lot of wiggle room on qualifications for said list. For instance, Timon and Puumba were nominees. “They raised Simba!” Jay Jurden declared, in support of his nontraditional pick. “That’s a [gay] family!” And Cameron Esposito didn’t just put queer icon Janelle Monae on our Queer Hollywood Mt. Rushmore — she also suggested we make her an astronaut and send her to space. (Could be fun? Imagine the spaceship design!)

Speaking of gay and family: THIS week’s episode. It was heartwarming in ways I didn’t expect it to be. I had the honor and privilege of sitting down with Jeff Hiller, one of the stars of the Peabody-award winning HBO show Somebody, Somewhere, and also the author of a new memoir titled Actress of a Certain Age: My Twenty-Year Trail to Overnight Success. 

When the opportunity for this conversation arose, I was already pretty excited, as I’d admired Hiller for years. But once I started reading his book, I realized I had more than just admiration for Jeff; I also had a lot in common with him. 

We both grew up in Texas, hardcore church kids who were in church maybe five or six times a week in our youth. We both grew up in South Texas, in the San Antonio area, to be exact. Hiller even attended the college my mother went to: Texas Lutheran University (formerly college). We both were noticeably gay as kids. And we both found sanctuary in churches that didn’t actually accept homosexuality. I knew as much from an early age. But Jeff didn’t really figure out his church’s stance until he was close to adulthood and realized that he couldn’t become an openly gay pastor in his faith. “It was a shock,” Hiller told me, “‘You [the church] don’t like me!’ It really was the first time I realized: There’s flaws.” 

But Jeff didn’t stop believing in God, even though he did eventually stop going to church (same for me). And that was a big part of our discussion: how he juggles his beliefs with his life and his job, as a queer man, playing queer roles on TV, writing books about being queer. 

He juggles it all by refusing to juggle. Hiller is just himself in every part of his work. Which has meant that, particularly in his work on Somebody, Somewhere, he’s shown a slice of queer American life not often seen: working class queer people, in “flyover” country, believing in God, and even attending religious services. I asked Jeff why we don’t see more of this type of queer representation onscreen, especially when queer rights are being debated and legislated. 

“Because they don’t make good copy,” Hiller told me. “These are people living their lives. There’s no hook. Can you believe it? Oh, humans.” 

There’s so much more good stuff in our chat: why it’s totally ok to be a late bloomer, in all the ways. What turning 40 and 50, respectively, taught Jeff and I about how to survive a midlife crisis. And which celebrity memoirs he loves the most (really, he loves them all, so much that each chapter of his memoir is named after another celebrity memoir). Take a listen or a look wherever you do those sorts of things. 

With that, I’ll leave you with two recommendations. One: the new Netflix series SIRENS. I’ll admit, when I first saw it pop up on my Netflix homescreen, I thought I was already over it. It seemed like yet another not-great Nicole Kidman vehicle, just without Nicole Kidman. You know the format: a rich white woman in a rich, white setting, who is either in danger, or about to put everyone around her in danger. I’ve seen *this* show so much over the last few years (just google all of Nicole Kidman’s TV work for the last decade or so) that I didn’t want to see it again. But this one is different, and a cut above. For one, it doesn’t star Nicole Kidman. It’s got Juliane Moore, your other favorite redhead in distress. And Kevin Bacon, and Meghan Fahey. And it’s a lot deeper than I expected it to be. It also has Moore playing a quasi-cult leader in a cult that seems to worship… rare birds? You gotta watch. Trust me. 

My second recommendation: the debut novel from food writer Adam Roberts, Food Person. I just whizzed through it in a few days while traveling, which is saying a lot, because I’m usually a slow reader. The protagonist in this book, shy and awkward food writer Isabella, makes you root for her, even when she’s making bad decisions. And the entire book is a meditation and deep-dive into the often crazy world of food writing and the cookbook industrial complex. As a foodie who often hates to cook, I loved the insights into a world I usually just admire from afar. This one’s a perfect summer read. Check it out!

Alright, see ya next week. In the meantime, replay to this email and lemme know what you’re reading/watching/listening to right now, good or bad!

– Sam

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