BRIDGET EVERETT: I do feel like that there is an excitement about writing something that feels like just two people talking, two people sitting in a room, and talking and not trying to like bump set spike jokes and not trying to say like the really cutie cutie thing, you know, it’s just people talking, and that it works a lot of the times.
And then there’s other times like where the improvs are like, we have something that Tricia says, and it’s the title of one of our episodes cause it was so funny. It’s like, I never saw it coming. I was like, what the fuck? You know, so everybody’s very funny, so you want to be able to embrace that too.
GABE GONZÁLEZ: Welcome to We Disrupt This Broadcast, where we interview the creative minds behind the television that captivates us, while we dig a little deeper into where these stories come from and how they’re made. I’m your host, Gabe González, and today, we’re speaking to two of the biggest stars in Manhattan.
Sorry, to be clear, I mean, the city of Manhattan, Kansas, where the Peabody Award-winning comedy series Somebody Somewhere takes place. Today, we’ll sit down with Bridget Everett and Jeff Hiller, the stars of the series to talk about what makes this show so one of a kind. It’s a story set in a small town that doesn’t flatten its characters, or the place it depicts, while balancing a refreshing earnestness and razor sharp wit that lets the humor and emotion come naturally.
After the break, we’ll be talking to Jeff and Bridget about churches in malls, making new friends in your 40s, and why growing up in the Midwest isn’t always what it looks like on TV.
GABE GONZÁLEZ: Welcome back. Today, I’m sitting down with comedian, singer, and actor Bridget Everett, as well as comedian, actor, and improv legend Jeff Hiller, both of whom are the stars of Somebody Somewhere. Today, we’re going to talk about finding community in unexpected places, the big comedic payoff from honing in on small moments, and figure out where all the queer people who don’t live in New York or LA have been hiding all this time. Bridget, Jeff, welcome to the show. Thanks for joining us. How are you all doing today?
BRIDGET EVERETT: Hi!
JEFF HILLER: Good, thanks for having us.
BRIDGET EVERETT: Happy to be here.
GABE GONZÁLEZ: Let’s get right into what makes Somebody Somewhere so special, because we’ve seen a lot of stories about friendships set in the borough of Manhattan, but never in the town of Manhattan, Kansas. Bridget, I’m wondering why this place is so key to telling this story.
BRIDGET EVERETT: When Paul and Hannah came up with the idea and sort of pitched the world, I was like, I was just so in love with it, because I felt like, when I think of like found family, like the people that I found in New York, it was exciting to me to think of those people, but in Kansas and how everybody might exist in that world. And the truth is, you know, we all exist everywhere.
GABE GONZÁLEZ: We are everywhere, whether people like it or not. Okay. So, of course, earlier there, you were referring to show creators, Hannah Bos and Paul Thureen. What about you, Jeff? What feels important about the show setting?
JEFF HILLER: I think sometimes I’ve done interviews and they’re like, so tell us about this fantasy of gay people being in the Midwest. And it’s not a fantasy. It’s also not a fantasy for queer people who are, you know, members of faith communities. And you do find each other. And if anything, you find each other and you hold on even tighter when you’re in a place where it’s not as common to find someone like you. So I think that the idea that there are just no queer people between LA and New York is dumb.
GABE GONZÁLEZ: Yeah, there’s a few in Chicago, right? No, I’m kidding.
JEFF HILLER: Boys town, exactly.
GABE GONZÁLEZ: Boys town, just boys town. Yeah.
BRIDGET EVERETT: But Manhattan, Kansas, where I’m from, is like really conservative, and there wasn’t like a lot of queer presence, you know, when I was growing up. I guess I’ve just sort of feel more comfortable around a queer community. So I don’t know. I think it’s also good for people that are from there to see other lives are presented,
JEFF HILLER: But you know, I grew up in Texas and I went to college in Seguin, Texas, which is actually smaller than Manhattan and this was in the early nineties. And like, I found a group of Christian queer allies. And, you know, we found a community. So I think that it might not be underlined or bold, but…
BRIDGET EVERETT: it’s there.
JEFF HILLER: It’s there. Exactly.
GABE GONZÁLEZ: Getting back to Somebody Somewhere, one of the first events in the show that Jeff, your character Joel invites Bridget’s character Sam to is a sort of karaoke night at a church in a mall. And to me it’s like this kind of wild twilight zone where art and capitalism and religion all collide, but manage to like coexist in this like beautiful setting for what feels like a very queer and rambunctious kind of gathering.
CLIP: Somebody Somewhere
What is this? I thought this was like choir practice.
Well, that’s what the church gave me keys for. So that’s what I call it. This isn’t like officially sanctioned.
Good evening. I’m Fred Rococo, and welcome to the fourth ever choir practice, y’all. Come on! It’s gonna get better, I promise. Now, Joel, remind me the theme of tonight’s sermon.
Choose the right way!
Ah, alright. Well, would you get over here and get behind the keys and tickle me something? Come on! Okay.
GABE GONZÁLEZ: So I’m curious, did any of either of your lived experiences, both of you, influence how you shaped that sort of mall church karaoke night, or how you were envisioning what that little pocket of queerness could look like?
JEFF HILLER: This role was not written for me, but when I read the script, I just felt like, Oh, my God, this role is written for me, like, because it did mirror so much of my growing up because I really did find a lot of my sort of self and community through the church. And at first, you know, I was closeted, but then in college, I went to a Christian college and I came out when I was studying abroad.
And so when I came back, I started telling people just secretly here and there, and then I was invited to this, like, it wasn’t all gay, it was very much like choir practice where it was like gay people were totally welcome there, but it was also just people who were a little bit left of center and were wanting to, we didn’t do karaoke or like we just weren’t that musical, but we, like, I remember like on Easter, we would pop champagne as a celebration, like that was, for me, I was like, What! At church we’re drinking! This is crazy!
So for me, when I read it, it felt exactly like that. But I think like, I know Hannah and Paul were just really obsessed with the idea of like old malls, because of ecommerce, like there’s not as much space needed for retail. And they were sort of obsessed with this idea that churches had taken it over. Is that right, Bridget?
BRIDGET EVERETT: Yeah. I think so. You know, churches popping up at malls and whatnot. You know, I think like that part of the, also the idea of the show is like, you know, what if like Bridget or somebody like me didn’t come to New York and found your people, but found them in Kansas. And, and so when the show was being developed, it was like the only sort of offer part was for Murray to play Fred Rococo and Murray is, was one of my very first friends in New York.
And like, it sort of felt exactly right. Because you know, Murray’s like one of my closest friends, but also my showbiz ally, you know, and we have connected that way. We’ve connected through, you know, I did my first shows with Murray downtown and, and we’ve really sort of helped keep each other afloat during the last 15, 20 years.
And I think having somebody like Fred Rococo, who’s like, so, um, vital and, and exactly who he is. And it felt perfect to put him in Manhattan and host choir practice and to sort of be the ringleader because that’s who Murray is, you know, Murray inspired Fred Rococo and he’s an important person in my life and he needed to be an important person in Sam’s life too.
GABE GONZÁLEZ: Yeah. I love that. And Fred does channel these great qualities about Murray that, feel like midwestern but also have a universal appeal which is like the pizzazz and the tenderness. And I think that comes through beautifully in the show it’s just like it’s so much fun. And I do love hearing how much you know these characters are based on kind of like your shared lived experiences right it’s like okay what if Bridget’s people were in Manhattan, Kansas? Because every small town however quiet they are does have a Fred Rococo, does have a Sam and Joel, right? Like folks reconnecting after a while. And I love seeing that. I think it’s really exciting.
Have either of you found yourselves, while you were growing up, part of communities and spaces where they felt like they shouldn’t fit? Like Jeff, you talked a little bit about being like queer and finding queer community in a faith space, which is like, I mean, for me growing up, Catholic is very incongruent.
I was like, how did you do that? Like we drank at church, but we didn’t have any fun. You know what I mean? Like the closest we got was like a man moaning on a cross right before Easter. Like that was it. That was my queer representation. Um, but Bridget, I’m curious, did you have like a choir practice growing up or any friends who were in a choir practice-esque kind of scenario?
BRIDGET EVERETT: Well, I mean, to some degree, like I was in show choir and I did all that, you know, but I always felt like kind of similarly to Sam, like, like, I didn’t really fit in. You know, because I was kind of a little too, um, blue sense of humor, foul mouth and, you know, like to talk about tits, I guess, but, um, so…
JEFF HILLER: You guess?
GABE GONZÁLEZ: Star making qualities, your drama teacher should have seen it.
BRIDGET EVERETT: Right, right. But I don’t know, I kind of felt like I was friends with everybody, but friends with no one in a way. So I found my people when I moved to New York, when I met, you know, Murray and Justin Vivian Bond and Erin Markey and Cole Escola and like all those people that I felt like, Oh my God, this is what I’ve been waiting for.
I certainly love the people I grew up with. And, you know, my mom was a music teacher. So a lot of my favorite things to do were just like, being home and singing with my family. And like as much as we, you know, probably didn’t like each other, we did connect when we were singing together. So that and, and, you know, show choir. Pops choir, yeah. Jazz hands, all of it.
GABE GONZÁLEZ: The jazz hands, the box step, the step ball change. Yeah, for sure. We all know the drill. I love that. Um, Jeff, I wanted to go back to your character Joel and his relationship to his faith and ask a bit about how, how your life kind of informs that. Somebody Somewhere makes a very distinct and unexpected choice, which is to showcase the church as a welcoming institution to all. Does this mirror the role that you’ve seen faith based communities play in your own life?
JEFF HILLER: For me, it’s just like, I know a lot of queer people who have found family through the church, and I know a lot of churches that are progressive and that are like, the only outlet for social justice in a small community. You know, like if you need help with your rent, you go there. If you need food, you go there. If you need asylum, you go there. Like, it’s kind of, you know, edgy.
And I think this one is just really interesting and one that is actually quite common in my life. And it’s surprising to me that it’s so surprising to so many people to think about that, because I did grow up in a church that was slightly progressive. And we’ve seen the story of the church oppressing the queer person, and it’s just kind of nice to see another side of it, too.
GABE GONZÁLEZ: Bridget, I want to ask you a bit about the vibe of the show and the storytelling. As we mentioned earlier, Somebody Somewhere is very much about human interactions, right? It’s really grounded in reality, and its narrative structure is character focused, it’s kind of loose, and it relies on these really small story arcs that feel intimate but have like a really big emotional payoff.
So I’m wondering, why do you think it was important to kind of disrupt this very like, aggressively plot-driven narrative format that we see a lot on TV where it’s like, our A, B and C plots are packed. How did we turn towards simplicity? And why is that the route for this story?
BRIDGET EVERETT: Well, I think part of it is because Sam moves at a glacial pace. So it’s sort of, that sort of was part of the reason that the structure sort of worked the way it does. But Paul and Hannah and I are all Midwestern. And I think we just kind of kept responding to slower, you know, anytime anything felt like a plot, it just felt like, ugh, like you just, I guess, you know, in Hollywood, they say that bumps for me, you know, it just never felt right.
You know, everything just, you know, sort of at the speed of life has always just felt good. It gives you more time to like, we didn’t want it to show to just be about Sam. You know, it’s like, you know, you have Jeff who’s incredible as Joel and then you had Fred Rococo and then we had, you know, Mike Hagerty and Mary Catherine who plays Trisha, like really talented, versatile actors and the richer their lives are, the richer their show is going to be.
And if you’re just constantly like volleying around, like plot points, you don’t get a chance to, to feel them. And we want to feel them, you know, we want to feel what they’re going through. And we spent a lot, a lot, a lot of time just, you know, combing through scenes and tweaking them until it really feels good. And we just sort of fell into it. I don’t think it was like on purpose. It was just, we fell into this way of telling the stories and, um, I happen to love it very much. It really worked out well.
GABE GONZÁLEZ: I do too. I truly didn’t know what to expect. It’s just really beautiful to like, find those like quiet moments and those small relationships, because those are the things that punctuate your day, right? It’s like the look, the little giggle. The like thing you looked at on the drive home and you’re like, was that a dead turtle? Or did someone drop their bag on the road? Like, should I turn around? Like, it’s stuff like that, that like, I’m thinking about all day. Like I loved it. You know what I mean?
JEFF HILLER: That’s my season three arc, by the way. Dead turtle or bag on the road.
GABE GONZÁLEZ: I cannot wait for that storyline. I’m excited to unravel the mystery of the turtle together. I’m curious, Bridget, earlier, you talked about really tweaking the scenes. to make sure that the dialogue sounds right, that it feels very spontaneous and conversational, but there’s a lot of writing involved to this. I would love to ask both of you though, how much improv and how much play do you feel that you as performers also bring to the dialogue in the scenes?
JEFF HILLER: Well, I mean, the show is scripted, but like a lot of times after you get what’s on the page, you’ll get to, you know, like, freestyle some things. And we do improvise, but it’s often just to make it seem more real or more authentic. It’s not ever to be like outrageous or wild. Paul one time told me, we don’t ever want jokes, we just want it to be like, the kind of laughs you would have if you were hanging out with your friends.
BRIDGET EVERETT: I do feel like that there is an excitement about writing something that feels like just two people talking, two people sitting in a room and talking and not trying to like bump set spike jokes and not trying to say like the really like cutie cutie thing.
You know, it’s just like, it’s just people talking and that, you know, that it works a lot of the times. And then there’s other times like where the improvs are like, we have something that Trisha says, and it’s the title of one of our episodes. Cause it was so funny. It was like, I never saw it coming. I was like, what the fuck? But it’s just, you know, so everybody’s very funny. So you want to be able to embrace that too.
GABE GONZÁLEZ: Right. Absolutely. And you’re both such seasoned performers when it comes to improv and being able to embrace those offers that other performers give you on stage. I am curious, a lot of people sort of pinpoint recognizing moments or one moment in their life when they’re like, Oh yeah, this is the kind of performance I want to do. I’m wondering what moment, if any, you can pinpoint where you had that realization. You were like, Oh, this is the thing. Bridget, let’s start with you.
BRIDGET EVERETT: Well, I don’t know if I should say this on, you know, with the Peabody awards…
GABE GONZÁLEZ: You already won. They can’t take it back. So yeah.
BRIDGET EVERETT: When I wrote a song called “Titties,”
GABE GONZÁLEZ: Perfect.
BRIDGET EVERETT: And I thought, I was like, I have found, this is what I want. This is what I want to do. So, you know, sort of cabaret and all that, but that was like one of the very first original songs from my band. And when I would sing it, I was just like, I felt liberated and I felt happy and I felt powerful. And I was like, this, this is what I’ve been looking for.
GABE GONZÁLEZ: Amazing.
BRIDGET EVERETT: I felt like I always wanted to do something kind of that honored my mom in a way. And we used to call her beaver tails because of her, the way her boobs are shaped. Anyway, I just felt like there’s, there’s like a, she had such a great attitude because she used to walk around the grocery store with no bra on and stuff like that. And I just always thought I had the coolest mom in the block. So guess what? I wrote her a song and now I’m on HBO and now I have a Peabody. So I guess it all starts with tits, doesn’t it?
GABE GONZÁLEZ: It’s amazing the doors beaver tails opened for you. That’s really incredible. It’s true. I love that. Um, around what time did you write this song? Uh, how old were you when you wrote it?
BRIDGET EVERETT: 40? I don’t know. Like, no, it would be like whatever, you know, the math is minus, you know, like probably around 40 years old. So I’m a late bloomer, you know, but as LL Cool J says, “Dreams don’t have deadlines.” So, uh, And now I say it all the time. Now I co-opted that.
GABE GONZÁLEZ: Jeff, how about you? I’m wondering, did your career start with an homage to your mother’s breasts or have we gone a different route?
JEFF HILLER: You know, my family did not have a nickname for my mom’s boobs, but, um, I was a social worker in Denver, Colorado, and I’d always wanted to be a performer, but I just didn’t think that was possible. And I went with my friend who was auditioning for an improv team because she thought it might be a trap. You know, like a cult or something.
And I just went with her. And I just decided to audition too, but I kept thinking like, ugh God, I could never do improv. It’s so hard. And, um, I killed. And, and then I was like, everybody get out of my way. I’m doing this. And, uh, I left social work to do improv. It’s a hard thing to spin to not come off looking like a jerk, but whatever, I hope they got good. I had to, I had to follow my dreams.
GABE GONZÁLEZ: I’m sure your former clients got a great discount on tickets. It’s the least you could do for them. Yeah.
JEFF HILLER: If it’s any consolation, I was a really bad social worker.
GABE GONZÁLEZ: Don’t go anywhere. When we come back, we’ll keep the conversation going with the stars of Somebody Somewhere.
GABE GONZÁLEZ: Welcome back. Here’s part two of our conversation with Bridget Everett and Jeff Hiller.
I want to turn now to the sort of central relationship of the show, the friendship between Sam and Joel and how it sort of forms after they reintroduce themselves to each other in season one. Bridget, you’ve described their friendship as helping each other come back to life. So I’m curious for both of you, what do you think that means? And how do they do that for each other throughout the course of seasons one and two?
BRIDGET EVERETT: Well, the way I picture it is that Joel is really like sort of the pads on the chest for Sam. Like he’s always like thu-thung, thu-thung! He’s helping sort of awaken her and welcome her back in life.
And he is, he’s undeniably charismatic and charming and loving. And like, she really can’t help but fall in love with him. And like, How they value each other is, is really special. I really love the care that Joel takes of Sam, like he has for Sam, and Sam, you know, just adores Joel and what they give to each other. Like, I think that Sam probably doesn’t understand what she gives Joel, but I know that she appreciates what Joel gives her.
JEFF HILLER: He gets the validation. This is a woman that he’s been worshipping since he was 14 years old, and she represents that freedom in her performance style that, you know, that’s sort of oxygen for him.
CLIP: Somebody Somewhere
Hey, do you miss this?
Fucking high school?
No.
No,
Performing.
No.
I used to love watching you sing. You were so joyful. It like soaked into me. Nothing made me happy in high school and that made me so happy.
Thank you.
Your voice, it was like next level.
Come on…
It is! That Peter Gabriel duet you did at the Sadie Hawkins dance? That killed me. God!
JEFF HILLER: You know, she didn’t even remember him, so it’s not like they were close before. So it’s like a big deal that she’s like now one of his closest friends.
BRIDGET EVERETT: And then they’re pooping on the phone together. I mean, come on.
GABE GONZÁLEZ: I love it. And I think they kind of embolden each other to do the things that they’re almost too fearful to dive back into. They’re like sort of like the safety net that you can land on and be like, I can totally take the leap because if I fall flat on my face, like I’ve got that net beneath to catch me kind of.
BRIDGET EVERETT: Totally. Yes.
JEFF HILLER: They’re family.
GABE GONZÁLEZ: Yes. I really love that. And I’m wondering if maybe it’s the great care that they have for each other that drives a little bit of this conflict in season two, right? Because we do see Sam and Joel kind of, not drift, but face maybe goals that are at cross purposes with each other for a little bit season two. So how do you think that conflict kind of manifests between them? And what does it say about how close they are?
BRIDGET EVERETT: I mean, I love that they have conflict in season two and I wanted it because I feel like it’s almost too storybook to like meet somebody like Joel and Sam to sort of like go from like zero to a hundred and, and-cause she’s so rigid in, in many ways. And so it makes sense to me that like, I don’t think of either of them as sort of in the wrong for what happens in season two. I really understand both perspectives, but how they butt up against each other, but what’s the best is how they can find their way through it. And I think it makes our relationship deeper and that Joel doesn’t give up on Sam for sort of holding on a little too tight and all those things.
I think, um, you know, it was like, not fun playing those moments. Like Jeff came out of the trailer after we shot one of those and was like, are you mad at me? I was like, no, I’m not mad at you.
GABE GONZÁLEZ: It’s called acting!
JEFF HILLER: I’m like, Oh no, it’s happened. She knows, she knows I’m unlovable.
GABE GONZÁLEZ: Well, that explains why you won the Peabody. The acting was so convincing even your co stars thought you… I love that. Earlier, Bridget, you mentioned you’re a late bloomer, right? And I think, I think we’re seeing a lot of folks given the space to re examine or explore their course in their thirties and forties. And this is the story about people in their 40s navigating life and kind of rediscovering themselves.
So I’m curious, what has the reception to these themes been? Do you feel like this story about friendship is also different in terms of like where it happens in these characters’ lives? And do people appreciate that for a different reason?
BRIDGET EVERETT: Yes, I absolutely do. I think that like, I have a thing that’s now on the show that, you know, NNP, No New People, that like, it’s like, you know, when you’re at this stage of your life, you know, you’re sort of settled and like meeting somebody this age disrupts kind of what you think that you’re going to be for the rest of your life. You know, I think.
And I really, I love that about this, the Sam and Joel arc that they are like, I think Joel remains open to possibility and to new things and Sam doesn’t, but they do it, they go for it, you know, they like, the., At this age, I think that’s incredible. Like Joel’s reshaped Sam, like he’s given her confidence and he’s helping her believe in herself. And he’s reconnected her with singing, which is the love of her life.
JEFF HILLER: I remember one time I was pitching something and my manager was like, you gotta have somebody young in this show. These people are all old. And I was like, they’re just 40! And so I think it’s rare to see that your life can still be a life post 40 and God forbid post 50, you know.
BRIDGET EVERETT: And not just that, I mean, you know, like, I’m a plus size woman, you know, like, I think we’d look different as main characters than you might see on a lot of television shows. And I think a lot of people really respond to that. I know people do because they. Tell me all the time. And I think it helps it feel more like real life. Like when I look at Jeff and Murray and you know, everybody in the show, I’m like, these are people that populate my life and I want to see them on TV just as much as I want to see, I don’t know, Brad Pitt, I don’t know.
GABE GONZÁLEZ: Let’s say we’re living in a future where Somebody Somewhere has been turned into a jukebox musical. Besides “Gloria,” what are three other songs that would be in your jukebox musical version of somebody somewhere that is opening on Broadway in 2030 something?
BRIDGET EVERETT: Oh God. Well, you got to have a little Manilow, so, you know, “Can’t Smile Without You.” You got to have a little, uh, Chaka. So ‘Life is a Dance,” something, you know, life is a dance and, uh, you know, like just a little good old rock and roll, “Rock You like a Hurricane,” you know?
GABE GONZÁLEZ: Perfect. All right. We got Manilow. We got Chaka Khan. We got “Rock You like a Hurricane.” Uh, all right. So I love those choices. Jeff, it’s your turn to choose three songs for the somebody, somewhere jukebox musical
JEFF HILLER: “Lost in Love” by Air Supply.
GABE GONZÁLEZ: Oh…
JEFF HILLER: “Don’t Give Up” by um, uh uh,
BRIDGET EVERETT: Peter Gabriel and Kate Bush.
JEFF HILLER: Peter Gabriel, and Kate Bush. And I’m not gonna say why. In fact, there isn’t a reason why, but “The Macarena.”
BRIDGET EVERETT: Yeah. Yeah, yeah.
GABE GONZÁLEZ: I love that.
JEFF HILLER: Just to screw with you all.
GABE GONZÁLEZ: I love that. I feel like either Sam or Joel would play that at one of their birthdays and make everyone do it. That is fully, yeah. I see why now. That’s fantastic.
Bridget Everett, Jeff Hiller, you’ve both been incredible guests. Thank you so much for joining us. Somebody Somewhere seasons one and two are available now to watch on max. They were also nominated and awarded a Peabody this year. So congratulations to the entire team and to Bridget and Jeff again.
BRIDGET EVERETT: Thank you.
JEFF HILLER: Thank you.
GABE GONZÁLEZ: What an amazing interview. Thank you for joining us today and for listening as I spoke to my new favorite platonic couple on TV, Bridget Everett and Jeff Hiller.
Today’s conversation is a good reminder that we are who we are, no matter where we are. I appreciate Bridget talking about the misconception that there are no queer people in the Midwest or that if they are there, they’re itching to leave for a coastal city like New York or Los Angeles. Shedding a light on these underexplored perspectives reminds us that growing up in a small town or a rural area isn’t a singular experience. And the politics we associate with a place may not represent the true diversity and complexity of the communities that live there.
With Jeff, I think people are usually surprised when he says he found a supportive community in the church as a queer youth, but it’s another example that defies stereotypes and reminds us that communities can form in unexpected ways. Ultimately what I most appreciate about Somebody Somewhere is how the show focuses on what Bridget might call late bloomers–folks who aren’t afraid to take the leap toward a dream or a new beginning or even a new friendship in their 40s and beyond. Growth isn’t an opportunity you’re shut out of after your 40th birthday, and I really appreciated a funny, heartfelt story like this one, starring folks like Bridget and Jeff, to remind us of that.
Make sure to catch the new season of Somebody Somewhere on Max later this fall.
The Peabody Awards are decided unanimously. So to close out our episode, I bring you We Disrupt This Broadcast‘s unanimous decision where we unanimously pick the most disruptive line of the day.
JEFF HILLER: They’re just 40!
GABE GONZÁLEZ: Join us next time as we talk to Ron Nyswaner, the creator of the Peabody Award winning show, Fellow Travelers, about why he’s committed to bringing complicated queer characters to the screen.
RON NYSWANER: It’s not a bad thing to struggle. It’s actually where you find yourself. So join the struggle and be joyful in it.
GABE GONZÁLEZ: We Disrupt This Broadcast is a Peabody and Center for Media and Social Impact production hosted by me, Gabe González, with on air contributions from Caty Borum, Jeffrey Jones, and Joyelle Nicole Johnson.
This show is brought to you by executive producers Caty Borum and Jeffrey Jones and Bethany Hall. Producer, Jordana Jason. Writers, Sasha Stewart, Jordana Jason, Bethany Hall, Jennifer Keishin-Armstrong, and myself, Gabe González. Consulting producer, Jennifer Keishin-Armstrong. Associate producer, Bella Green.
Graphic designer, Olivia Klaus. Operations producer, Varsha Ramani. The marketing and communications team, Christine Drayer, and Tunisha Singleton. From PRX, the team is Terrence Bernardo, Jennie Cataldo, Morgan Church, Edwin Ochoa, and Amber Walker. The executive producer of PRX Productions is Jocelyn Gonzalez.