May 31, 2024 • 43 mins
Welcome to Franchise Friday! In this premiere episode, join CryBaby as they welcome this season's EXTRA SPECIAL GUEST Co-Host Donnie Cianciotto. We’ll dive deep into his life and experiences as a Trans actor, chat about his love for horror movies, and answer some quick-fire questions. And the best part? We’re finally going to reveal which horror franchise we’ll be covering this season!
Love the show? Send CryBaby a sexy text.
Want the visuals? Catch Whorror Icon on Youtube and make sure you follow us on Instagram and support us on Patreon
You can catch CryBaby on Instagram and TikTok
Whorror Icon is a GirlSoup concoction. Follow us on Instagram to stay up to date on all of our projects.
Intro music by ERK2 (thanks a bunch, dude!) catch his Soundcloud here
Special thanks to Chel B Lockie, Michael Lamarra, Julia Maldonado, Jeff Gorcyca, Raymond Corrado Knutsen, Paige Vice, and Donnie Cianciotto! With out y'all, I would lose my damn mind.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 5 (00:00):
What is your podcast about?
Hanging out with your smartestand funniest friend.
You know me, I'll kill
Speaker 6 (00:09):
anybody but um, Baby
Hey cuties.
Welcome to Whorror Icon, yourqueer playground for all things
scary, sexy, and stupid.
(00:29):
My name is CryBaby and you knowme, I'm the spooky slut from
your wettest nightmares.
And with me today, we have avery, very ultra special guests,
ultra special, the most specialhi, I'm Donnie Cianciotto.
say it with me.
Cianciotto.
So I'm going to pull back thecurtain here already.
(00:50):
We're like 30 seconds in, I'mpulling back the curtain.
That was fast.
So we already recorded somestuff and.
Even now I'm still, there'ssomething about your last name.
That my brain does not hold onto Ci-an-ci-ot-to.
Right.
Ci-An-Ci-Ot-To Okay.
I do practice.
I believe you.
(01:10):
I'm not even like, I'll be onthe train and I'm like, okay,
we're recording on Sunday.
And so like on Friday, I'll belike, Cianciotto.
Cianciotto.
Cianciotto.
So you have it until the momentthat you need it.
And then it just leaves mybrain.
That's how it happens, butanyway, hi.
Hi, so welcome to our first everfranchise Friday.
First ever franchise Friday.
(01:31):
Yes.
Alliteration.
I'm a big fan of alliteration.
Actually, I use it a lot.
Spooky, sexy, stupid franchiseFriday.
All that fun stuff.
So for those of you who arelistening and or watching at
home, you guessed it on Fridays,we're going to be talking about
horror movie franchises.
Which is such a huge market ofthe horror genre absolutely has
(01:51):
been for 30 years.
And longer than that.
Oh my God.
I'm so much older than I like togive myself credit for.
Let's say 50 years.
Oh, yeah.
You know, be fun.
We should look into like thefirst ever franchise.
The first ever franchise, mybrain is going to like
Halloween.
Well, I, well, but there must'vebeen stuff before that.
Right.
Like I'm thinking of theuniversal monsters.
(02:13):
Oh yeah.
I mean, that's even older than Iam.
Just a little bit.
Just a little bit.
Just a little bit.
This much..
No.
Yeah.
Cause I'm thinking you have likethe bride of Franken-.
You had.
Frankenstein.
And then the bride ofFrankenstein.
And then there was probably likeCurse of Frankenstein and
Frankenstein's monster, all thatstuff.
Frankenstein goes to school,Abbott and Costello meet
(02:33):
Frankenstein.
I was one of them.
So yeah, we'll just say thatlike the universal monsters, I
think are like the O G.
Franchises, but that makessense.
We're talking about a super gayone.
This time.
And I'm so excited that you'rehere for this one.
I'm always excited to be herewhen it's super gay.
When it's always, yeah, we'rehere.
(02:53):
We're queer and we are full offear.
Oh, I like it.
Did you just come up with that?
I did.
That's a good one.
Since the inception of thispodcast, you know, this, you
have been like number one with abullet on my list of people to
come onto this show for amultitude of reasons.
So.
We're going to spend some timegetting to know Donnie.
(03:15):
Of course, we're going to haveplenty of time to talk about the
franchise.
Perfect.
But it's also important that theaudience gets to know who you
are, what you stand for, how weknow each other and all that fun
stuff.
So cool.
All that fun stuff.
All the fun stuff.
And I'm ready.
Let me have it beautiful.
So the first thing, I mean,Let's just, we've known each
other for how long now it's beenthree years.
(03:38):
Little over three years.
Yeah, just a little over threeyears, we used to work together.
And the first thing that webonded on.
Was horror was horror.
Well, actually the first thing Iclocked was that you were a
Scorpio.
How did you, how did you know.
I couldn't be the tattoo or thenecklace.
Yeah.
We love Scorpios on thischannel.
(03:59):
Yes.
I feel horror podcasts.
You have to love the Scorpios.
I feel like Scorpios are one ofthe other Zodiac signs that get
as much heat as Geminis dopeople do not like us.
I don't know why.
Why are you here?
Now we just lost everybody.
I know.
The subscriptions going down.
So, yeah, one of the firstthings we bonded over was
horror.
And I just feel like that was98% of our conversations.
(04:24):
Oh, yeah.
Yeah.
So that's why, of course youwere the first one that came to
my mind here.
But before we go even furtherinto that I just want to give
you some space to introduceyourself to the audience and the
listeners and tell us aboutyourself.
um, let's see.
I am a New York city native.
I live in Queens right now.
(04:45):
Um, I work as an actorpredominantly, so I do a lot of
theater, musical theaters.
When I went to school for I runa cabaret troupe called a trans
voices, cabaret that highlightstransgender and nonbinary
performers who are either likebeginning their careers or like
rising stars or Broadwayperformers.
You know, we kind of tosseverybody up on that stage and,
(05:06):
and let them do their thing.
it's been, How long has transvoices cabaret been going on?
It's been going on in New Yorkcity since 2017, 2017.
I'd love to take a moment totalk about how and why trans
voices cabaret came to be.
Sure.
Trans voices cabaret startedbecause I was constantly going
on auditions for shows, andseeing these incredible
(05:29):
transgender and non binaryentertainers that were all there
to compete for like one role,you know, as an audition is.
And I thought, wouldn't it befun if instead of fighting one
another for a role, we all justworked together and did a show.
So I know, right?
What.
What a concept.
So we produced the first transvoices cabaret in November of
2017.
And it was supposed to just bethis one off thing that I was
(05:52):
doing and Everybody enjoyed it.
The audience, the actors enjoyedit so much that here we are.
What six years later, and we'restill doing it.
And now we have trans voices,cabaret chapters, all across the
country.
And one in London.
I did not know that we do.
We have one in Chicago, LosAngeles, Portland's Minneapolis
and London.
That's so exciting.
(06:13):
Congratulations on that.
That's a huge accomplishment.
It's pretty cool.
And I'll say for those of youlistening at home, I went to my
first uh, trans voices cabarettwo months ago now.
It was back in, back in March.
And the talent that you curateis insane.
No.
Like the, these performers arereally just powerhouses.
(06:36):
Oh yeah.
Every single one of them.
And they're all bookable.
So put them on that stage.
Exactly.
Correct me if this is a.
Not correct opinion, but I'mcertain.
That.
A lot of trans folks are eagerto get cast in roles that are
not just because they are transor not just trans roles.
(06:59):
Yeah, for sure.
I mean, it would be so excitingto be able to just play the fun
guy or the brother or the dad,or, you know, the next door
neighbor without it being thetrans next door neighbor, you
know?
Whereas trust us, we still wantto be cast for those trans
roles, but it would be nice tojust be able to be cast as an
actor instead of a trans actorto exactly without that
(07:20):
qualifier on it, because at thatpoint, It's just a check mark
for diversity or whatever, youknow, definitely, definitely.
It's not at least from myperspective, it's not true
inclusion at that point.
It's just like, all right, we'refilling a box or.
I feel like a lot of transactorshave definitely been tokens.
Yeah.
And I've been tokenized.
No, no tokens.
(07:41):
Just cash that's right.
Just.
Take tokens here.
Well, that's awesome.
Trans voices, cabaret.
How can our listeners learnmore?
You can find out about transvoices cabaret on Instagram at
trans voices cabaret.
I'm going to have you on thebottom.
Exactly.
Yes.
Follow cause the great, anothergreat thing about the show is
(08:03):
like, yes, you can come andsupport in person, which is
always wonderful just to havethat energy and that presence in
the room, but there's anotherway to support and watch the
show, right?
Absolutely.
We live stream every singleshow.
So you have no excuse anywhereyou are.
You can be watching it at home.
I'm telling you right now, youwill not be disappointed.
thank you so much for the.
(08:24):
The plug.
Of course, here's the thing.
We will shamelessly plug on thischannel.
Absolutely a thousand percent,every single person that comes
on.
If I have things going on.
That's right across the bottom.
If you're listening at home, Iam gesturing across the bottom
of the screen because their forcertain will be Instagram
(08:45):
handles.
Shameless, self promotions,product placements.
I don't know.
Yeah.
Let's get to that point.
Oh my goodness.
If I can get sponsored by.
I don't know, Shudder Shudder,if you're out there.
That's right.
There you go.
That's like a dream of minebeing sponsored by Shudder.
Yeah.
First off, I would hope thatthey would give me a free
membership.
Yeah, I would hope so.
(09:07):
Cause like 5 99 a month orsomething, they can definitely
afford it.
Here's the thing, like, ofcourse, 5 99 a month.
Isn't a big deal.
It is for me.
I can't afford I'm an actor.
That's true.
That's your book?
Donnie.
Y'all.
Book Donnie.
So Donnie can get Shudder.
Shudder sponsor Donnie.
So I can get Shudder.
So you are a I almost saidVegas.
(09:30):
Oh, where are we?
We're in New York.
I'm from Vegas, from Vegas.
Where did that come from?
Wow.
Wow.
So you are.
You are a New York native livein Queens.
You are an actor, you producetrans voices, cabaret, all
wonderful things.
But the most important questionI have for you, Donnie is.
(09:50):
Do you love horror?
Oh, my God.
I love horror.
Yeah, baby.
What got you into horror?
I think I was just born thatway.
You know, The first horrorexperience that I remember
having where I was like, this isreally fun.
Was at a slumber party in like1988.
(10:10):
You know, forever ago.
And the movie evil dead two wason and none of us were supposed
to be watching this.
I was seven or eight years oldand we all snuck.
You know, into the den to watchthis movie.
And everybody was terrified.
You know, all these girls at theslumber party were just
screaming their heads off andhiding behind pillows.
And I was focused and thinking,this is fantastic.
(10:32):
Not only was I able to tell thatthe movie was scary, but I also
knew that it was funny.
And I was hooked instantlyhooked by that.
Classic melding of horror andcomedy that you know is done so
well in those movies.
So that was an early experiencewith horror and I just kind of
have been riding that train eversince.
That's awesome.
(10:52):
I.
Have a confession to make.
I know what you're going to say.
I've never seen evil dead two.
I knew it.
It's also on my ever-growinglist.
Well, watch that first.
Really even before the firstone.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Oh, you mean?
Oh, just like on my list.
Okay.
Okay.
Okay.
Well, what I'm thinking of doingis including it on franchise
Fridays as well.
(11:13):
There you go.
But also having it be like anice little, like a virginal
moment of like, oh, I've neverdone this before a Virgin.
I've never done this before.
A virginal moment for CryBaby.
So just kind of like my firstkill kind of thing.
So, I might be saving that forsaving it for marriage no.
I might be saving that for thepodcast and maybe I'll have you
cycle back on for that one too.
(11:34):
That'd be great.
I'd love to talk about evildead.
Absolutely.
We're going to put a pin in thatone, put a pin in that.
So you can pop my evil deadcherry, if you want, I'm here
for it.
Yes.
Another thing that we've talkedabout a lot is that relationship
between horror and comedy andlike how.
I honestly, I don't, I feel likeyou can't have one without the
other.
(11:55):
I kind of agree with you.
I mean, you know, horror in andof itself is.
Kind of campy.
So yeah, it's really difficultto separate the two.
And I think they both, you know,when done.
Well, and when I say, well, Imean, when done to my taste in
my liking, Specifically.
I think that both comedy andhorror really Excel when there's
(12:18):
this sense of like, Surrealwhimsy like this perverse,
cleverness to it.
Either one of the, those genrescan benefit from like that kind
of.
Qualifier.
Yeah.
Kind of characteristic or thatperspective.
Absolutely.
And I think one of the thingsthat we do when we get scared is
(12:42):
we laugh.
You know, so even if you'rewatching a movie that, that
isn't particularly funny andthere's a great jump scare in
it, what do we do?
We scream.
And then we laugh becausethere's kind of a relief that we
weren't actually being attackedin that moment, you know?
So you laugh at yourself for thereaction that you're having.
So I think fear and laughter canreally, you know, go hand in
(13:03):
hand a lot with horror movies.
Yeah.
And I think they're both you,you said it like they both are.
Um, release valves in a way,like screaming.
And or laughing like in both ofthose scenarios.
At least from a carnal humanexperience, you are.
Emitting something that is.
Unfiltered and I don't know,necessary to express and
(13:26):
experience, I think absolutely.
And your, your dopamine and youradrenaline are going.
And, you know, I think that the,the.
Fear that we feel when we knowthat we're actually not in any
danger.
Is kind of exciting and that'skind of the same thing as if you
were.
Like you were saying, if youwere laughing a lot, you know,
the, the same.
(13:47):
Bodily reaction.
I agree.
Oh God, isn't horror.
Fucking great.
It's just so great.
Oh, I fucking love horror.
You know what I'm not going togo like fully off book.
What kind of off book?
I just want to know, just offthe cuff, like of course, evil,
dead, you said is one of yourlike core horror memories, but
like, what are some of yourother favorite horror?
(14:08):
Films, some of your favoritecharacters tropes even.
Sure.
You know, my, my absolute handsdown favorite horror movie is
called the descent.
I love that movie.
And all women cast.
Absolutely terrifying.
And it does just enough point ofview shooting, like Blair witch
(14:29):
project, which I also happen tolove.
Um, That it's this nice back andforth between like being able to
watch the actors and then beingable to see from the actress
point of view.
And I think it's just so welldone and it's utterly terrifying
if you haven't seen the descent.
Tell him Donnie sent you and gowatch the Descent.
I will second that I'm going tothrow that out there.
(14:49):
Yeah.
If you can watch it in theaters,if there's ever an opportunity
for it to be a theater goingexperience, definitely fucking
do it because that in theaters,just the.
Immersion in that the world thatthey build is insane.
And I think what makes it soterrifying?
And the sequel is pretty goodtoo.
I mean, as far as sequels go,which are not always fantastic,
(15:11):
it's pretty good.
I would agree with that too.
Other horror movies that I like,you know, I, I obviously love
the scream franchise.
I know we've talked about that.
ad nauseum.
So, that's one of them.
I mean, all of the old, whilethe old school, eighties
franchises from a nightmare onElm street and Friday the 13th.
(15:33):
Obviously evil, dead.
I, and I really enjoy Do youever watch creep?
Creep.
That's kind of, it's in like thefound footage-ey kind of realm
to right.
It is.
And it's like kind of horrorkind of drama.
I think.
So with the guy that, he haslike the wolf head.
he's got the mask.
Yeah.
I saw creep maybe two years ago.
I think.
(15:53):
Yeah.
Creep is creep is up there.
So is this totally random moviecalled as above, so below.
That one is see more foundfootage type stuff.
I really liked that stuff.
As above so below.
I did not like the first time Iwatched it.
I watched it when it first cameout.
But that was also, I think Iwas, maybe I was in my early
twenties and fun fact CryBaby inher early twenties was kind of
(16:19):
not a total asshole, but.
I was in a completely differentpoint in my life.
I wasn't as connected withhorror then.
I will admit there was in, it'skind of funny seeing me like
this now.
But there was this point in mylife where I was very like Masc
for Masc kind of gay.
I was.
(16:40):
I was a Masc for Masc queen,which is weird now.
I mean, obviously I don't care,but anyway, that version of me
did not appreciate.
As above so below, like I, Iwalked out I'm like, that was
stupid.
That's a movie that's trying tobe too smart for blah, blah,
blah, blah, blah.
I was a total Dick head aboutit.
And then I rewatched it maybelike two years ago.
(17:04):
And I'm like, mama.
Yeah, it's pretty good.
It's quite good.
That's so interesting that youropinion of it changed as you
changed as a person.
huh?
Yeah, we'll see if that makes itinto the podcast.
I don't know if I want peopleout there and knowing that I
used to be one of those gays.
That was like, I'm not one ofthose guys.
One of those gays that said I'mnot one of those gays.
(17:25):
And now here I am.
One of those gays.
One of those gays.
No longer one of those gays.
Oh, my goodness.
You could.
You could drive a person crazywith all that.
I feel like I need some red yarnand like, Yes, found footage is
always fun.
Always when Blair witch cameout, that was kind of the, you
know, the first found footagemovie.
(17:46):
It's not the first found footagemovie.
It was the first that gotcritically acclaimed really.
And I was in my early twenties.
I could have been maybe 22 whenit came out.
you know, we were kind ofconvinced that it was real.
You know, I mean, they marketedit that way, which is part of
the brilliance of that movie ishow they marketed it.
It marketed.
(18:07):
That's how they marketed it.
Yeah, it was, it was brilliant,you know, using the actors real
names and the website that theyhad and everything like that.
And so I remember seeing it inthe theater with a group of
friends.
And then we went out to thiscoffee house.
And sat around talking about itfor like three or four hours
until the coffee house closed at2:00 AM.
And then on my drive home.
(18:29):
I was just absolutely convincedthat there was something in my
backseat.
Oh, wait the whole way home.
And I had just moved out.
Got my own apartment.
Maybe I was a little bityounger.
I don't remember.
And I was so scared that nightthat I got back in my car, drove
to my mother's house.
And when she woke up in themorning, she found me on her
couch and was like, what are youdoing here?
(18:51):
And I said, I saw a really scarymovie last night.
Like it scared me so much that Ihad to go home.
I love that so much.
That's fucking hilarious.
It was.
It was hilarious to everybody inthe, at that moment.
So, I understand how ridiculousit was to wake up on my mom's
couch.
But that movie really, reallygot me.
(19:12):
Yeah.
And I wish people would give,give it more of its flowers,
like, okay, sure.
Since Blair witch came out, likewe've seen found footage, done a
million ways.
And a lot of people say, oh,Blair, which isn't that scary
Blair, which isn't that scary?
And I'm like, bitch, just sitdown and like watch the movie
without looking at it through.
(19:34):
20, 20 lens or without comparingit to like paranormal activity
or grave encounters or whatever.
Fuck.
All.
You know, movie, you'recomparing it to you because it
is like, if you sit with it, itis genuinely scary, especially
like the last, I think 10minutes.
Are absolutely terrifying.
Yeah, I think, you know, it, ittakes a certain kind of person
(19:55):
to find that movie frighteningbecause so much of it is left up
to you.
You know, it's, it's what youthink is going to come jumping
out of the bushes or what youare imagining that this
potential witch or murdererlooks like, you know, Because
it's never really shown.
And I have such a activeimagination, an overactive
imagination that I was terrifiedthrough the whole thing, because
(20:18):
I was scaring myself.
You know, they just set up asituation in which you could
freak yourself out.
And I was like, I will take thisopportunity to scare the crap
out of myself.
Challenge accepted.
I am your perfect audience.
I was, I was, I still am.
Yes.
What else?
You know, I enjoy this kind ofthis new trope of not burrying
(20:39):
your gays.
You know, because for so long,if there was a gay character in
a horror movie, you knew thatthey were going to get yep.
At some point, you know, And nowit's like horror movies or are
trying to say like, Hey, we'resorry.
And, you know, letting the gaycharacter survive.
So, I'm into that.
That's nice.
We do want to live.
(21:00):
You know, like we don't need tobe killed off anymore.
Not that we ever needed to be,but like Hollywood was like, oh,
we need to punish this personfor being gay.
So we got to get rid of them,you know?
It is now time for our rapidinterview questions, baby.
Bring it.
Each co-host that joins me for afranchise Friday will be asked
(21:21):
this series of questions.
Rapid fire.
Don't think about it.
Are you ready?
I'm ready.
We're starting off easy.
Are you hydrated today?
Moderately moderately.
Is that water?
No.
That's an IPA.
Yeah.
We're not allowed to say thebrands probably, but it's an
IPA.
I love that.
Drinking on this channel.
(21:41):
Oh, my goodness.
I feel like that's going to be amonthly thing.
Yep.
All right.
So we're moderately hydrated,moderately inebriated.
Fuck.
Yes.
What's your favorite color?
My favorite color is black.
Wonderful.
What's your favorite season ofthe year?
It's definitely autumn, autumn.
We love an autumn.
We love an autumn it's mybirthday season.
That's true.
It has to be, that's probablywhy I'm partial to like spring
(22:03):
and summer.
That's because Gemini season'sapproaching and we all know
that's the best season of theyear.
Anyway enough about me.
This is about you, right?
Who is your horror crush?
Oh, it's Eliza Dushku.
Yes, I will.
Co-sign that?
And seal that with a kiss.
Yup.
Yup.
Definitely Eliza Dushku.
Absolute hot sauce.
Your most recent binge-watch.
(22:23):
Well, with the exception of thefranchise that we're talking
about today.
It was Friday the 13th.
The entirety of Friday, the 13thand the reboot, that's a long
binge.
It was a long.
It was an endeavor, but I, Imade it through.
Yes, you did.
What's your love language.
My love language is probablyphysical touch, physical touch.
(22:45):
I'm a Scorpio.
Yes.
That checks.
What's your hate language?
How do people know that youdon't like them?
My hate language is, is cuttingyou off completely like a, like
a limb with necrotizingfasciitis, just you're gone.
Yep.
Perfect.
That's efficient.
(23:05):
Yes, it's efficient.
And it leaves.
Very little room for argument.
You know, it's like, Nope,that's it.
Goodbye.
That's also a very Scorpiothing.
Certainly is Donnie Cianciottoyou got it?
Yeah.
Maybe.
Our quintessential Scorpio.
Perfect.
Ooh, this is one of my favoritequestions.
If you were a movie theatersnack.
(23:29):
What snack would you be, andwhy?
I'd be something chocolate.
And fattening.
So, Probably like Reese'spieces.
That's peanut butter.
But has the chocolate coating onthe inside of the shell?
Oh, just a little bit.
Am I completely wrong.
So we're giving chocolate tease.
Just a little chocolate.
Just the little chocolate.
(23:49):
And then a whole lot of fat.
The fat is the most importantpart, the fat and the sugar.
That's the satis-.
Well, I don't even, I don't wantto say satisfying cause like
your body within like 30 minutesis like more.
But that's the part that likeall of your bells and whistles
go fuck.
Yeah.
It's the happiest thing.
All right.
So Reese's pieces final answer.
Or Reese's peanut butter cups.
(24:10):
It's definitely in that genre.
A combination.
That just goes so well together.
Oh, God, they do chocolate andpeanut butter.
If you had to be.
A character in a horror movie.
What character would you be andwhy?
Let's see, I think I'm a newtrope.
Okay.
I do.
I think I'm, I'm a newrelatively as of yet unwritten
(24:33):
trope.
Which is, you know, veryegotistical, but here's why.
Because, as I mentioned earlier,the bury your gays trope is kind
of, being dissolved.
So it still happens.
But I think that as a transperson, once we start seeing
more trans people and in moviesin general, especially horror
(24:53):
movies.
We'll see.
We'll see us make it to the end,but.
You won't think we're going tomake it to the end because we
become so accustomed to think,oh, this is a queer person
they're going to get killed off.
So I think that I'm this tropethat's going to start happening.
Once we start to see more equityand diversity in films where the
trans person is like there.
And you're like, oh, obviouslyyou're going to die, but we
(25:15):
don't.
We make it to the end.
Maybe you were even like thefinal person or one of the
heroes.
So I like to think of it likethat.
I love that.
It's almost like, um, I don'tknow what, like the opposite of
a red herring is, but it's justkind of like, The red herring
victim.
I don't know.
What's the word for that?
Is there a phrase for that forlike the person that you think
(25:37):
is going to die?
That doesn't die.
I know what you mean, but Idon't know that there is a term
for that.
I don't know.
I like red herring victim.
I mean, that makes sense.
Yeah.
Perfect.
Okay.
Well, that's what it's going tobe for now.
Wonderful.
That's great.
I think I would love to seethat.
I would absolutely love to seethat.
Cause I think, I mean, of coursethere's like They-Them, Which.
(25:58):
It was okay.
He was all right.
It was all right.
That's all right.
It was still great to see themovie.
And there were a lot of peoplein it who are fantastic.
Um, Who, you know, deserve moreopportunities as actors, but you
know, It's all right.
It was all right.
Yeah.
Anyway.
Yes, we are the trans characterwho is not only in the movie,
(26:21):
but survives.
The movie supported.
Co-sign also sealed with thekiss.
So this one, I personally haveno filter and no care about what
I share on this podcast.
And I will project that attitudeonto you right now.
I would love to know the mostembarrassing moment of your
life.
(26:43):
Okay.
I know when we shot this thefirst time I said one thing.
But I've been thinking about it.
Okay.
When I can't sleep, which isoften like, you know, what was
the most embarrassing moment ofmy life?
And there are a couple.
One of them comes to mind when Iwas 13 years old.
And I was doing a musicaltheater review at this community
(27:04):
theater for kids in Tucson,Arizona.
And the song that I was assignedto sing is called, let me
entertain you from a musicalcalled gypsy.
Okay.
Which is sung by a stripper.
And Here I am 13 and I waswearing my mom's red sequin
dress.
Kind of like this backdropbehind me here.
Oh, I borrowed this from yourmom.
Oh, that's amazing.
(27:24):
Tell her, I said hi.
Um, that was fascinating.
Why is it over your face?
I don't know.
I did a thumbs up and it did aface right over my face.
Interesting.
Yeah.
Well, we were going to keepthat.
Why is there.
I'm pulling back the curtainagain, we're going to get back
to your story.
I'm sorry.
I'm going to pull back thecurtain again.
The last time we tried recordingsomething, I was using OBS.
(27:45):
Which I'd never used before.
And at one point.
Like Donnie was talkingballoons.
Just just came up on the screenand.
I didn't see them.
I was so confused when Donniewas like, why are there balloons
on this screen?
Um, so now this time a bubblewith a thumb popped up.
(28:06):
While you were talking rightover my face, right over your
face.
Donnie, why are you, what kindof witchcraft is.
No, no.
It's witchcraft that I'm noteven aware of Technomancy or
whatever that is.
Oh, Technomancy.
The Technomancer anyway, I'msorry for that interruption.
It's very important.
Um, So yes, you borrowed a redsequin dress from your mom to
(28:28):
sing a stripper song.
Stripper song.
At 13 years old.
And the, the crazy old lady whoran the company.
At.
At this point, wanted me to gosit on the lap of some man in
the audience.
Like just pick one, whomever wasclose by and go sit on some
person's lap.
And me being the actor that Iam, I was like, yeah, sure.
(28:50):
No big deal, whatever, you know,Probably this, none of this
should have happened.
This is where the story veersinto a different direction.
Um, It's getting, it's going toget even stranger.
So, we're doing the show.
We did it a couple times, maybelike Friday, Saturday, Sunday.
And I see this young person, Ithought they were probably in
(29:10):
their twenties and they wereclose.
They were in the right chair.
You know, they were close by me.
So I'm singing my littlestripper number and went and sat
on this person's lap.
And you know, was singing tothem and being all flirty and
stupid and then got up andfinished my song.
After the show, somebody came upto me and said, Hey, Why did you
(29:31):
choose to sit on a girl's lap?
And I said, what.
And they were like, yeah, that,that girl's name is Samantha.
She's.
You know, like 16 and, and hisin one of the other acting
classes.
And I was like, Oh, no.
So I had unwittingly.
This was before I'd come out,picked the one lesbian.
(29:54):
In the theater and sat on herlap and um, you know, embarrass
the crap out of her and, andthis, again, I hadn't even come
out as a lesbian yet.
So my gaydar was just like thisone.
And I went and I sat on thegirl's lap and did my stripper
number of her.
And that was probably one of themost embarrassing moments and
yet also foreshadowing quite alot about my life.
(30:19):
Well, first off, I'd love to saythat.
That did not go where I wasafraid it was going to go.
Right.
Of course it could've gottenreally, really bad.
So.
Thank you.
You're welcome.
But also, yeah, just like yourbody knew what to do in that
situation.
Yeah.
Nobody took over.
I love that.
I feel like that's yes,embarrassing at the time, but
liberating, liberating now.
(30:40):
And very funny to look back on.
At the time though, I was soafraid of being read as gay that
I was mortified that I had donethat.
You know, and then like sixmonths later, I was like, oh
yeah, I'm a super Dyke.
Yeah, absolutely.
That was unintentional butnecessary.
Yeah, that was nature, right?
Learning moment.
And the last question to keep itoptimistic.
(31:02):
What are you looking forward toright now?
Well, there is a trans voicescabaret coming up on June 22nd.
Then I'm looking forward to.
And then there's a drag showthat I happen to be doing like
this variety show on May 31st.
Oh, A little, a little dragvariety show on May 31st.
You know, it just this littlething happening in, in Brooklyn.
(31:24):
At 9:30 PM.
That maybe somebody else wantsto.
Absolutely.
This.
Oh yeah.
Right there.
Once again for those listening,it's at the bottom of the
screen.
And I'm just going to prefacethis by saying this information
is only important to you.
If you are watching slashlistening to this podcast, the
day that it comes out.
(31:45):
Because if if this is the dayafter or beyond, This does not
mean anything to relevant.
Irrelevant.
Yeah, I'm looking forward tothat too.
So.
On Friday, May 31st.
I'm hosting a drag show.
It is CryBaby's first everpublic breakdown.
Yes.
Yes.
It's going to be at this cutelittle space called nook in
(32:07):
Brooklyn and the owner has beenwanting me to do a drag show
there for two years.
Yeah, you've been talking about,I've been talking a long
forever, and I've just been soinsecure in like my hosting
abilities and like, I didn'tknow what kind of show I wanted
to produce.
And then for this podcast, I'mlike, I need to have a launch
party.
(32:27):
Like even, even if it's thedinkiest little launch party, I
want to have a launch party.
For this show and it has to be adrag variety show and it just so
happens to also be on mybirthday.
Look at that.
So a coincidence May 31st, we'regoing to be kicking off pride
month.
We are celebrating the birth ofa monster.
(32:50):
Both.
Both me and the podcast and justhaving a great time.
Thank you for plugging my thing.
You're welcome.
Wow.
Gosh, I don't have to do anywork around here.
This is great.
I too am looking forward totrans voices cabaret on.
June 22nd, June 22nd at nine 30at caveat in Manhattan.
(33:10):
Or online if you're not in NewYork.
That's right.
Go.
Let's go, please.
Excellent.
So I think it's now time to letthe cat out of the bag for those
astute observers who arewatching, you probably know what
franchise we're talking about.
For those of you who are onlylistening.
I'm sorry for edging you thislong.
I don't think that's right.
(33:31):
I didn't even tell you.
We've just been like, yeah, thefranchise we're talking about
the franchise we're talkingabout.
I never said like, we're gonnalet you know.
But now it's time that workingon I'll let you know when you're
ready.
Donnie, I'm going to let you dothe honors of what franchise are
we talking about this season?
This season we are talkingabout.
Child's play.
One of the gay is franchisesaround.
(33:52):
Absolutely.
I fucking love Childs place somuch.
The whole, the entire series isbrilliant.
I mean it, I think child's playis one of those series.
That you either absolutely adoreor you hate so much that you're
going to turn this off rightnow.
Yeah.
And it's also, it's sointeresting because I feel like
Chucky is.
I would say probably the mostrecognizable horror icon to non
(34:19):
horror.
People for sure everybody.
You know, horror fan or notseems to know this little doll.
Chuckie was everywhere in thenineties so I feel like
everybody knows Chucky.
Not everybody loves Chucky.
That's true.
And I feel like only the realones love Chucky only.
The real ones.
Yeah.
That's that's true.
(34:40):
In the nineties, I actuallyworked at a Spencer's.
At the mall.
Spencer's.
That's a throwback.
I miss Spencer's I would spendso much time in this.
So a couple of Spencers around,but there are few and far
between now I feel like it's notthe same.
It's not the same.
They, back then it was calledSpencer gifts.
Now it's called Spencer's.
It's a, I think universalstudios bought them out.
(35:01):
Something like that.
Yeah.
But we used to sell all sorts ofChucky merchandise, including
the regular size good guy dolls.
Oh really?
Yeah.
And Chuckie masks and Chuckycoffee mugs and all sorts of
things.
And people were just obsessed,obsessed with Chucky.
I'm still stuck on the doll.
I'm sorry.
(35:21):
I had no idea.
Spencer's had, like, we'retalking like real, like just the
straight-up Chucky doll.
Oh my God.
If anybody out there wants totreat me for my birthday, please
send me.
A good guide.
All.
I would love to have one.
My roommate would hate it, but Idon't care.
I would love it.
I'll find something to do withit.
But yeah, you're right.
Yeah.
And even like a hot topic, likeall of those kind of I don't
(35:44):
even know if I want to call themcounter-culture cause it was
like mall.
Culture counterculture.
They were at first.
Yeah.
And then very quickly.
Sold out.
Yeah.
I mean, as soon as you'reopening up next to like a hot
dog on a stick, I don't know.
I don't know if you can say thatyou're like subculture.
He used to work at hot topictoo.
(36:04):
That was my, that was my earlytwenties.
Once again, Scorpio.
What a surprise.
Well, for those of you who maynot be familiar with the overall
story of Chucky, it's the killerdoll, you know, Chuckie, the
killer doll.
Started in the eighties in 1988,I believe is when the first one
came out and is still goingstrong today with a TV series.
(36:28):
So this has been like what?
30, some odd years?
Yep.
Yep.
It's got a lot of longevity.
Let me see if I can do the mathreal quick.
Came out in 88.
So.
So that's 30 years.
Carry the one that's 30 plus.
Hold on.
We're in 2024 now.
So 36, 36 years, 36 years.
(36:49):
That's fucking embarrassing.
I'm 43.
Yup.
Yup.
Yeah.
Yeah.
It's got it.
How old I am.
It's do you want me to edit thatout?
No, no, I suppose that's fine.
I just, I mean, I've been likealluding to my age and this
whole time.
That's true.
Yeah.
Some people are just like, wow,you remember movies from the
eighties?
It came out.
(37:09):
You must've been one.
Wow.
What a great memory.
Speaking of actually so evildead you said is like your first
horror.
That I can remember.
Yeah.
Mine is child's play.
Specifically, Childsplay three.
Specifically the opening titlesequence, the child's play
three.
I've I personally find itterrifying just like blood and
melted plastic all over theplace.
(37:29):
And then just like just thisBrad Dourif amazing.
Just.
bellow.
And it used to scare the shitout of me all the time when I
was a kid.
Will actually.
The nightmares that I had wereprobably before Childsplay three
came out.
Cause I had a nightmare.
When I was a baby, we're talkinglike I was, I was in a diaper.
(37:51):
Like that's how young I waslike, I was in my crib.
And I looked up into the pictureframe that was hanging above my
crib and a little miniatureChucky crawls out of the picture
frame, jumps into my crib andclimbs into my diaper.
That's like my earliest horrormemory, like, it's both not
(38:11):
funny and hilarious.
Exactly.
Scare the crap out of me, evenas a fucking baby, my
imagination was lit.
Wow.
So yeah, Chucky has a specialplace in my heart and my pants.
So that's one of the reasons Iwanted to talk about it.
But also like we talk aboutChucky all the time.
Yes, we do.
(38:31):
We both loved Jennifer Tilly,Jennifer Tilly.
Jennifer Tilly.
Yeah.
And another crush.
Oh, a big time crush, JenniferTilly.
Is such a wonderful addition tothis series and we all know,
well, you know, And you all areabout to know how I feel about
Chucky's daddy.
(38:52):
Don Mancini.
Yes.
Yes.
We, we are about to hear a lotof this.
Yes.
We're gonna probably turn itinto a drinking game.
We should.
How many times I say.
Don Mancini is hot I think DonMancini is so attractive back in
the eighties and now like ahandsome guy.
(39:12):
He is a handsome guy.
And his mind, like my attractionto Don Mancini.
And he goes beyond the physicalappearance.
And it has everything to do withthe fact that I just think he is
funny.
And hilarious and brilliant.
And funny and clever, veryclever.
And bold.
I just.
Go ahead.
Say it again.
(39:33):
I love Don Mancini.
He is so I'm so attracted to DonMancini.
And so.
Yes.
That's why we're talking aboutthis.
Cause I'm trying to get Don'sattention.
That's right.
come here Don.
I would love to have you on thepodcast.
You can also cast me if you wantto, you need a drag queen and
Childsplay and cast Donnie caston and cast.
(39:54):
Drag queen and a transactor,please do.
We'll keep this series gay.
Yes, we will.
Which is of course, another mainreason why we're talking about
super gay, super queer, supertrans.
You may not catch it in thefirst, like the first one.
I don't think there's as much ofit.
Because Don Mancini, he had onlywritten the script and then it
was picked up and worked on by.
(40:16):
Another team, but when Don comesback and has his hands in the
series from then on out.
Like it gets increasingly morequeer.
As it goes along.
The first one was notparticularly queer, you know, it
was also 1988.
So everything that had any kindof queer vibe was an undertone.
(40:37):
As opposed to like how in yourface it gets eventually.
Oh, it slaps you in the face andcalls you a faggot, like.
It gets pretty overtly queer.
But no, I think you're right.
And you know, in the eighties,of course you can only fight.
So many things like people werealready freaking out over the
fact that it was a killer toy.
Right.
In this decade of like satanicpanic and family values and
(40:59):
fucking Reagan and all that.
So yeah.
Don just put it in his backpocket and waited until later.
So.
Is there anything else that youwant to say about the franchise
before we wrap up and send ourlisteners off to.
The next episode.
Now let's see.
The only thing that I want tosay about the franchise is if
you haven't watched it yet, youhave a joyful.
(41:22):
Experience ahead of you.
I will second that.
This is one of those serieswhere I would enjoy.
Erasing it from my memory.
Oh, that would be.
So I could watch it again.
So you can do it again.
Like it's just, and it just getsso much more.
As you progress, just unhingedand fun and wild and crazy.
(41:43):
Oh, I'm so excited to talk aboutit.
I am too.
Yeah.
So, with that said, we're goingto wrap up and the next episode
we will be talking about thefirst installment.
Simply child's play.
Yep.
Yeah, that was it.
That's the first episode.
That's the first episode.
Wow.
We did it.
How do you feel about that?
I feel fantastic.
I'm shaping a little bit.
So I think I might have to putsome gold bond on the inside of
(42:06):
this corset here a little bit.
That's why, if you're watchingthis at home, you're probably
watching me for.
I'm doing this a lot, becauselike these pits for hold on, I'm
going to do, I'm going to dolike the hot thing that like gay
men love, even though like, I ampainted like this.
That's it.
everyone loves the armpit.
Everyone loves it.
Into it, mom, we get into thispit that's chafing right here.
(42:27):
So.
And the people who are justwatching are like running to
YouTube to pull up the videoright now.
I hope.
Yes, I just showed Pitt on air.
I'm like, we're doing a send offand next thing you know, it's
just armpits, chafing and armHair and armpit hair anyway.
Donnie work in our listeners andWatchers find you.
You can find me on Instagram atthe Donnie Cianciotto.
(42:49):
If you're not watching this,you'll have no idea how to spell
that last name.
So good luck.
I'll throw it in the show notes.
Okay.
Perfect.
Yeah.
I'll throw it in the show notesfor sure.
And you can find me CryBaby atcryin_in_public.
Because that is what I do.
And of course you can follow thepodcast, horror icon, pod that's
(43:12):
w H O R R O R icon pod on both.
Instagram.
And the Twitter, the Twitter,the Twitter.
So until next time cuties, don'tbe scared.
Unless you're into that sort ofthing.
Bye.
What is your podcast about?
Hanging out with your smartestand funniest friend.
You know me, I'll kill
Speaker 6 (00:09):
anybody but um, Baby
Hey cuties.
Welcome to Whorror Icon, yourqueer playground for all things
scary, sexy, and stupid.
(00:29):
My name is CryBaby and you knowme, I'm the spooky slut from
your wettest nightmares.
And with me today, we have avery, very ultra special guests,
ultra special, the most specialhi, I'm Donnie Cianciotto.
say it with me.
Cianciotto.
So I'm going to pull back thecurtain here already.
(00:50):
We're like 30 seconds in, I'mpulling back the curtain.
That was fast.
So we already recorded somestuff and.
Even now I'm still, there'ssomething about your last name.
That my brain does not hold onto Ci-an-ci-ot-to.
Right.
Ci-An-Ci-Ot-To Okay.
I do practice.
I believe you.
(01:10):
I'm not even like, I'll be onthe train and I'm like, okay,
we're recording on Sunday.
And so like on Friday, I'll belike, Cianciotto.
Cianciotto.
Cianciotto.
So you have it until the momentthat you need it.
And then it just leaves mybrain.
That's how it happens, butanyway, hi.
Hi, so welcome to our first everfranchise Friday.
First ever franchise Friday.
(01:31):
Yes.
Alliteration.
I'm a big fan of alliteration.
Actually, I use it a lot.
Spooky, sexy, stupid franchiseFriday.
All that fun stuff.
So for those of you who arelistening and or watching at
home, you guessed it on Fridays,we're going to be talking about
horror movie franchises.
Which is such a huge market ofthe horror genre absolutely has
(01:51):
been for 30 years.
And longer than that.
Oh my God.
I'm so much older than I like togive myself credit for.
Let's say 50 years.
Oh, yeah.
You know, be fun.
We should look into like thefirst ever franchise.
The first ever franchise, mybrain is going to like
Halloween.
Well, I, well, but there must'vebeen stuff before that.
Right.
Like I'm thinking of theuniversal monsters.
(02:13):
Oh yeah.
I mean, that's even older than Iam.
Just a little bit.
Just a little bit.
Just a little bit.
This much..
No.
Yeah.
Cause I'm thinking you have likethe bride of Franken-.
You had.
Frankenstein.
And then the bride ofFrankenstein.
And then there was probably likeCurse of Frankenstein and
Frankenstein's monster, all thatstuff.
Frankenstein goes to school,Abbott and Costello meet
(02:33):
Frankenstein.
I was one of them.
So yeah, we'll just say thatlike the universal monsters, I
think are like the O G.
Franchises, but that makessense.
We're talking about a super gayone.
This time.
And I'm so excited that you'rehere for this one.
I'm always excited to be herewhen it's super gay.
When it's always, yeah, we'rehere.
(02:53):
We're queer and we are full offear.
Oh, I like it.
Did you just come up with that?
I did.
That's a good one.
Since the inception of thispodcast, you know, this, you
have been like number one with abullet on my list of people to
come onto this show for amultitude of reasons.
So.
We're going to spend some timegetting to know Donnie.
(03:15):
Of course, we're going to haveplenty of time to talk about the
franchise.
Perfect.
But it's also important that theaudience gets to know who you
are, what you stand for, how weknow each other and all that fun
stuff.
So cool.
All that fun stuff.
All the fun stuff.
And I'm ready.
Let me have it beautiful.
So the first thing, I mean,Let's just, we've known each
other for how long now it's beenthree years.
(03:38):
Little over three years.
Yeah, just a little over threeyears, we used to work together.
And the first thing that webonded on.
Was horror was horror.
Well, actually the first thing Iclocked was that you were a
Scorpio.
How did you, how did you know.
I couldn't be the tattoo or thenecklace.
Yeah.
We love Scorpios on thischannel.
(03:59):
Yes.
I feel horror podcasts.
You have to love the Scorpios.
I feel like Scorpios are one ofthe other Zodiac signs that get
as much heat as Geminis dopeople do not like us.
I don't know why.
Why are you here?
Now we just lost everybody.
I know.
The subscriptions going down.
So, yeah, one of the firstthings we bonded over was
horror.
And I just feel like that was98% of our conversations.
(04:24):
Oh, yeah.
Yeah.
So that's why, of course youwere the first one that came to
my mind here.
But before we go even furtherinto that I just want to give
you some space to introduceyourself to the audience and the
listeners and tell us aboutyourself.
um, let's see.
I am a New York city native.
I live in Queens right now.
(04:45):
Um, I work as an actorpredominantly, so I do a lot of
theater, musical theaters.
When I went to school for I runa cabaret troupe called a trans
voices, cabaret that highlightstransgender and nonbinary
performers who are either likebeginning their careers or like
rising stars or Broadwayperformers.
You know, we kind of tosseverybody up on that stage and,
(05:06):
and let them do their thing.
it's been, How long has transvoices cabaret been going on?
It's been going on in New Yorkcity since 2017, 2017.
I'd love to take a moment totalk about how and why trans
voices cabaret came to be.
Sure.
Trans voices cabaret startedbecause I was constantly going
on auditions for shows, andseeing these incredible
(05:29):
transgender and non binaryentertainers that were all there
to compete for like one role,you know, as an audition is.
And I thought, wouldn't it befun if instead of fighting one
another for a role, we all justworked together and did a show.
So I know, right?
What.
What a concept.
So we produced the first transvoices cabaret in November of
2017.
And it was supposed to just bethis one off thing that I was
(05:52):
doing and Everybody enjoyed it.
The audience, the actors enjoyedit so much that here we are.
What six years later, and we'restill doing it.
And now we have trans voices,cabaret chapters, all across the
country.
And one in London.
I did not know that we do.
We have one in Chicago, LosAngeles, Portland's Minneapolis
and London.
That's so exciting.
(06:13):
Congratulations on that.
That's a huge accomplishment.
It's pretty cool.
And I'll say for those of youlistening at home, I went to my
first uh, trans voices cabarettwo months ago now.
It was back in, back in March.
And the talent that you curateis insane.
No.
Like the, these performers arereally just powerhouses.
(06:36):
Oh yeah.
Every single one of them.
And they're all bookable.
So put them on that stage.
Exactly.
Correct me if this is a.
Not correct opinion, but I'mcertain.
That.
A lot of trans folks are eagerto get cast in roles that are
not just because they are transor not just trans roles.
(06:59):
Yeah, for sure.
I mean, it would be so excitingto be able to just play the fun
guy or the brother or the dad,or, you know, the next door
neighbor without it being thetrans next door neighbor, you
know?
Whereas trust us, we still wantto be cast for those trans
roles, but it would be nice tojust be able to be cast as an
actor instead of a trans actorto exactly without that
(07:20):
qualifier on it, because at thatpoint, It's just a check mark
for diversity or whatever, youknow, definitely, definitely.
It's not at least from myperspective, it's not true
inclusion at that point.
It's just like, all right, we'refilling a box or.
I feel like a lot of transactorshave definitely been tokens.
Yeah.
And I've been tokenized.
No, no tokens.
(07:41):
Just cash that's right.
Just.
Take tokens here.
Well, that's awesome.
Trans voices, cabaret.
How can our listeners learnmore?
You can find out about transvoices cabaret on Instagram at
trans voices cabaret.
I'm going to have you on thebottom.
Exactly.
Yes.
Follow cause the great, anothergreat thing about the show is
(08:03):
like, yes, you can come andsupport in person, which is
always wonderful just to havethat energy and that presence in
the room, but there's anotherway to support and watch the
show, right?
Absolutely.
We live stream every singleshow.
So you have no excuse anywhereyou are.
You can be watching it at home.
I'm telling you right now, youwill not be disappointed.
thank you so much for the.
(08:24):
The plug.
Of course, here's the thing.
We will shamelessly plug on thischannel.
Absolutely a thousand percent,every single person that comes
on.
If I have things going on.
That's right across the bottom.
If you're listening at home, Iam gesturing across the bottom
of the screen because their forcertain will be Instagram
(08:45):
handles.
Shameless, self promotions,product placements.
I don't know.
Yeah.
Let's get to that point.
Oh my goodness.
If I can get sponsored by.
I don't know, Shudder Shudder,if you're out there.
That's right.
There you go.
That's like a dream of minebeing sponsored by Shudder.
Yeah.
First off, I would hope thatthey would give me a free
membership.
Yeah, I would hope so.
(09:07):
Cause like 5 99 a month orsomething, they can definitely
afford it.
Here's the thing, like, ofcourse, 5 99 a month.
Isn't a big deal.
It is for me.
I can't afford I'm an actor.
That's true.
That's your book?
Donnie.
Y'all.
Book Donnie.
So Donnie can get Shudder.
Shudder sponsor Donnie.
So I can get Shudder.
So you are a I almost saidVegas.
(09:30):
Oh, where are we?
We're in New York.
I'm from Vegas, from Vegas.
Where did that come from?
Wow.
Wow.
So you are.
You are a New York native livein Queens.
You are an actor, you producetrans voices, cabaret, all
wonderful things.
But the most important questionI have for you, Donnie is.
(09:50):
Do you love horror?
Oh, my God.
I love horror.
Yeah, baby.
What got you into horror?
I think I was just born thatway.
You know, The first horrorexperience that I remember
having where I was like, this isreally fun.
Was at a slumber party in like1988.
(10:10):
You know, forever ago.
And the movie evil dead two wason and none of us were supposed
to be watching this.
I was seven or eight years oldand we all snuck.
You know, into the den to watchthis movie.
And everybody was terrified.
You know, all these girls at theslumber party were just
screaming their heads off andhiding behind pillows.
And I was focused and thinking,this is fantastic.
(10:32):
Not only was I able to tell thatthe movie was scary, but I also
knew that it was funny.
And I was hooked instantlyhooked by that.
Classic melding of horror andcomedy that you know is done so
well in those movies.
So that was an early experiencewith horror and I just kind of
have been riding that train eversince.
That's awesome.
(10:52):
I.
Have a confession to make.
I know what you're going to say.
I've never seen evil dead two.
I knew it.
It's also on my ever-growinglist.
Well, watch that first.
Really even before the firstone.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Oh, you mean?
Oh, just like on my list.
Okay.
Okay.
Okay.
Well, what I'm thinking of doingis including it on franchise
Fridays as well.
(11:13):
There you go.
But also having it be like anice little, like a virginal
moment of like, oh, I've neverdone this before a Virgin.
I've never done this before.
A virginal moment for CryBaby.
So just kind of like my firstkill kind of thing.
So, I might be saving that forsaving it for marriage no.
I might be saving that for thepodcast and maybe I'll have you
cycle back on for that one too.
(11:34):
That'd be great.
I'd love to talk about evildead.
Absolutely.
We're going to put a pin in thatone, put a pin in that.
So you can pop my evil deadcherry, if you want, I'm here
for it.
Yes.
Another thing that we've talkedabout a lot is that relationship
between horror and comedy andlike how.
I honestly, I don't, I feel likeyou can't have one without the
other.
(11:55):
I kind of agree with you.
I mean, you know, horror in andof itself is.
Kind of campy.
So yeah, it's really difficultto separate the two.
And I think they both, you know,when done.
Well, and when I say, well, Imean, when done to my taste in
my liking, Specifically.
I think that both comedy andhorror really Excel when there's
(12:18):
this sense of like, Surrealwhimsy like this perverse,
cleverness to it.
Either one of the, those genrescan benefit from like that kind
of.
Qualifier.
Yeah.
Kind of characteristic or thatperspective.
Absolutely.
And I think one of the thingsthat we do when we get scared is
(12:42):
we laugh.
You know, so even if you'rewatching a movie that, that
isn't particularly funny andthere's a great jump scare in
it, what do we do?
We scream.
And then we laugh becausethere's kind of a relief that we
weren't actually being attackedin that moment, you know?
So you laugh at yourself for thereaction that you're having.
So I think fear and laughter canreally, you know, go hand in
(13:03):
hand a lot with horror movies.
Yeah.
And I think they're both you,you said it like they both are.
Um, release valves in a way,like screaming.
And or laughing like in both ofthose scenarios.
At least from a carnal humanexperience, you are.
Emitting something that is.
Unfiltered and I don't know,necessary to express and
(13:26):
experience, I think absolutely.
And your, your dopamine and youradrenaline are going.
And, you know, I think that the,the.
Fear that we feel when we knowthat we're actually not in any
danger.
Is kind of exciting and that'skind of the same thing as if you
were.
Like you were saying, if youwere laughing a lot, you know,
the, the same.
(13:47):
Bodily reaction.
I agree.
Oh God, isn't horror.
Fucking great.
It's just so great.
Oh, I fucking love horror.
You know what I'm not going togo like fully off book.
What kind of off book?
I just want to know, just offthe cuff, like of course, evil,
dead, you said is one of yourlike core horror memories, but
like, what are some of yourother favorite horror?
(14:08):
Films, some of your favoritecharacters tropes even.
Sure.
You know, my, my absolute handsdown favorite horror movie is
called the descent.
I love that movie.
And all women cast.
Absolutely terrifying.
And it does just enough point ofview shooting, like Blair witch
(14:29):
project, which I also happen tolove.
Um, That it's this nice back andforth between like being able to
watch the actors and then beingable to see from the actress
point of view.
And I think it's just so welldone and it's utterly terrifying
if you haven't seen the descent.
Tell him Donnie sent you and gowatch the Descent.
I will second that I'm going tothrow that out there.
(14:49):
Yeah.
If you can watch it in theaters,if there's ever an opportunity
for it to be a theater goingexperience, definitely fucking
do it because that in theaters,just the.
Immersion in that the world thatthey build is insane.
And I think what makes it soterrifying?
And the sequel is pretty goodtoo.
I mean, as far as sequels go,which are not always fantastic,
(15:11):
it's pretty good.
I would agree with that too.
Other horror movies that I like,you know, I, I obviously love
the scream franchise.
I know we've talked about that.
ad nauseum.
So, that's one of them.
I mean, all of the old, whilethe old school, eighties
franchises from a nightmare onElm street and Friday the 13th.
(15:33):
Obviously evil, dead.
I, and I really enjoy Do youever watch creep?
Creep.
That's kind of, it's in like thefound footage-ey kind of realm
to right.
It is.
And it's like kind of horrorkind of drama.
I think.
So with the guy that, he haslike the wolf head.
he's got the mask.
Yeah.
I saw creep maybe two years ago.
I think.
(15:53):
Yeah.
Creep is creep is up there.
So is this totally random moviecalled as above, so below.
That one is see more foundfootage type stuff.
I really liked that stuff.
As above so below.
I did not like the first time Iwatched it.
I watched it when it first cameout.
But that was also, I think Iwas, maybe I was in my early
twenties and fun fact CryBaby inher early twenties was kind of
(16:19):
not a total asshole, but.
I was in a completely differentpoint in my life.
I wasn't as connected withhorror then.
I will admit there was in, it'skind of funny seeing me like
this now.
But there was this point in mylife where I was very like Masc
for Masc kind of gay.
I was.
(16:40):
I was a Masc for Masc queen,which is weird now.
I mean, obviously I don't care,but anyway, that version of me
did not appreciate.
As above so below, like I, Iwalked out I'm like, that was
stupid.
That's a movie that's trying tobe too smart for blah, blah,
blah, blah, blah.
I was a total Dick head aboutit.
And then I rewatched it maybelike two years ago.
(17:04):
And I'm like, mama.
Yeah, it's pretty good.
It's quite good.
That's so interesting that youropinion of it changed as you
changed as a person.
huh?
Yeah, we'll see if that makes itinto the podcast.
I don't know if I want peopleout there and knowing that I
used to be one of those gays.
That was like, I'm not one ofthose guys.
One of those gays that said I'mnot one of those gays.
(17:25):
And now here I am.
One of those gays.
One of those gays.
No longer one of those gays.
Oh, my goodness.
You could.
You could drive a person crazywith all that.
I feel like I need some red yarnand like, Yes, found footage is
always fun.
Always when Blair witch cameout, that was kind of the, you
know, the first found footagemovie.
(17:46):
It's not the first found footagemovie.
It was the first that gotcritically acclaimed really.
And I was in my early twenties.
I could have been maybe 22 whenit came out.
you know, we were kind ofconvinced that it was real.
You know, I mean, they marketedit that way, which is part of
the brilliance of that movie ishow they marketed it.
It marketed.
(18:07):
That's how they marketed it.
Yeah, it was, it was brilliant,you know, using the actors real
names and the website that theyhad and everything like that.
And so I remember seeing it inthe theater with a group of
friends.
And then we went out to thiscoffee house.
And sat around talking about itfor like three or four hours
until the coffee house closed at2:00 AM.
And then on my drive home.
(18:29):
I was just absolutely convincedthat there was something in my
backseat.
Oh, wait the whole way home.
And I had just moved out.
Got my own apartment.
Maybe I was a little bityounger.
I don't remember.
And I was so scared that nightthat I got back in my car, drove
to my mother's house.
And when she woke up in themorning, she found me on her
couch and was like, what are youdoing here?
(18:51):
And I said, I saw a really scarymovie last night.
Like it scared me so much that Ihad to go home.
I love that so much.
That's fucking hilarious.
It was.
It was hilarious to everybody inthe, at that moment.
So, I understand how ridiculousit was to wake up on my mom's
couch.
But that movie really, reallygot me.
(19:12):
Yeah.
And I wish people would give,give it more of its flowers,
like, okay, sure.
Since Blair witch came out, likewe've seen found footage, done a
million ways.
And a lot of people say, oh,Blair, which isn't that scary
Blair, which isn't that scary?
And I'm like, bitch, just sitdown and like watch the movie
without looking at it through.
(19:34):
20, 20 lens or without comparingit to like paranormal activity
or grave encounters or whatever.
Fuck.
All.
You know, movie, you'recomparing it to you because it
is like, if you sit with it, itis genuinely scary, especially
like the last, I think 10minutes.
Are absolutely terrifying.
Yeah, I think, you know, it, ittakes a certain kind of person
(19:55):
to find that movie frighteningbecause so much of it is left up
to you.
You know, it's, it's what youthink is going to come jumping
out of the bushes or what youare imagining that this
potential witch or murdererlooks like, you know, Because
it's never really shown.
And I have such a activeimagination, an overactive
imagination that I was terrifiedthrough the whole thing, because
(20:18):
I was scaring myself.
You know, they just set up asituation in which you could
freak yourself out.
And I was like, I will take thisopportunity to scare the crap
out of myself.
Challenge accepted.
I am your perfect audience.
I was, I was, I still am.
Yes.
What else?
You know, I enjoy this kind ofthis new trope of not burrying
(20:39):
your gays.
You know, because for so long,if there was a gay character in
a horror movie, you knew thatthey were going to get yep.
At some point, you know, And nowit's like horror movies or are
trying to say like, Hey, we'resorry.
And, you know, letting the gaycharacter survive.
So, I'm into that.
That's nice.
We do want to live.
(21:00):
You know, like we don't need tobe killed off anymore.
Not that we ever needed to be,but like Hollywood was like, oh,
we need to punish this personfor being gay.
So we got to get rid of them,you know?
It is now time for our rapidinterview questions, baby.
Bring it.
Each co-host that joins me for afranchise Friday will be asked
(21:21):
this series of questions.
Rapid fire.
Don't think about it.
Are you ready?
I'm ready.
We're starting off easy.
Are you hydrated today?
Moderately moderately.
Is that water?
No.
That's an IPA.
Yeah.
We're not allowed to say thebrands probably, but it's an
IPA.
I love that.
Drinking on this channel.
(21:41):
Oh, my goodness.
I feel like that's going to be amonthly thing.
Yep.
All right.
So we're moderately hydrated,moderately inebriated.
Fuck.
Yes.
What's your favorite color?
My favorite color is black.
Wonderful.
What's your favorite season ofthe year?
It's definitely autumn, autumn.
We love an autumn.
We love an autumn it's mybirthday season.
That's true.
It has to be, that's probablywhy I'm partial to like spring
(22:03):
and summer.
That's because Gemini season'sapproaching and we all know
that's the best season of theyear.
Anyway enough about me.
This is about you, right?
Who is your horror crush?
Oh, it's Eliza Dushku.
Yes, I will.
Co-sign that?
And seal that with a kiss.
Yup.
Yup.
Definitely Eliza Dushku.
Absolute hot sauce.
Your most recent binge-watch.
(22:23):
Well, with the exception of thefranchise that we're talking
about today.
It was Friday the 13th.
The entirety of Friday, the 13thand the reboot, that's a long
binge.
It was a long.
It was an endeavor, but I, Imade it through.
Yes, you did.
What's your love language.
My love language is probablyphysical touch, physical touch.
(22:45):
I'm a Scorpio.
Yes.
That checks.
What's your hate language?
How do people know that youdon't like them?
My hate language is, is cuttingyou off completely like a, like
a limb with necrotizingfasciitis, just you're gone.
Yep.
Perfect.
That's efficient.
(23:05):
Yes, it's efficient.
And it leaves.
Very little room for argument.
You know, it's like, Nope,that's it.
Goodbye.
That's also a very Scorpiothing.
Certainly is Donnie Cianciottoyou got it?
Yeah.
Maybe.
Our quintessential Scorpio.
Perfect.
Ooh, this is one of my favoritequestions.
If you were a movie theatersnack.
(23:29):
What snack would you be, andwhy?
I'd be something chocolate.
And fattening.
So, Probably like Reese'spieces.
That's peanut butter.
But has the chocolate coating onthe inside of the shell?
Oh, just a little bit.
Am I completely wrong.
So we're giving chocolate tease.
Just a little chocolate.
Just the little chocolate.
(23:49):
And then a whole lot of fat.
The fat is the most importantpart, the fat and the sugar.
That's the satis-.
Well, I don't even, I don't wantto say satisfying cause like
your body within like 30 minutesis like more.
But that's the part that likeall of your bells and whistles
go fuck.
Yeah.
It's the happiest thing.
All right.
So Reese's pieces final answer.
Or Reese's peanut butter cups.
(24:10):
It's definitely in that genre.
A combination.
That just goes so well together.
Oh, God, they do chocolate andpeanut butter.
If you had to be.
A character in a horror movie.
What character would you be andwhy?
Let's see, I think I'm a newtrope.
Okay.
I do.
I think I'm, I'm a newrelatively as of yet unwritten
(24:33):
trope.
Which is, you know, veryegotistical, but here's why.
Because, as I mentioned earlier,the bury your gays trope is kind
of, being dissolved.
So it still happens.
But I think that as a transperson, once we start seeing
more trans people and in moviesin general, especially horror
(24:53):
movies.
We'll see.
We'll see us make it to the end,but.
You won't think we're going tomake it to the end because we
become so accustomed to think,oh, this is a queer person
they're going to get killed off.
So I think that I'm this tropethat's going to start happening.
Once we start to see more equityand diversity in films where the
trans person is like there.
And you're like, oh, obviouslyyou're going to die, but we
(25:15):
don't.
We make it to the end.
Maybe you were even like thefinal person or one of the
heroes.
So I like to think of it likethat.
I love that.
It's almost like, um, I don'tknow what, like the opposite of
a red herring is, but it's justkind of like, The red herring
victim.
I don't know.
What's the word for that?
Is there a phrase for that forlike the person that you think
(25:37):
is going to die?
That doesn't die.
I know what you mean, but Idon't know that there is a term
for that.
I don't know.
I like red herring victim.
I mean, that makes sense.
Yeah.
Perfect.
Okay.
Well, that's what it's going tobe for now.
Wonderful.
That's great.
I think I would love to seethat.
I would absolutely love to seethat.
Cause I think, I mean, of coursethere's like They-Them, Which.
(25:58):
It was okay.
He was all right.
It was all right.
That's all right.
It was still great to see themovie.
And there were a lot of peoplein it who are fantastic.
Um, Who, you know, deserve moreopportunities as actors, but you
know, It's all right.
It was all right.
Yeah.
Anyway.
Yes, we are the trans characterwho is not only in the movie,
(26:21):
but survives.
The movie supported.
Co-sign also sealed with thekiss.
So this one, I personally haveno filter and no care about what
I share on this podcast.
And I will project that attitudeonto you right now.
I would love to know the mostembarrassing moment of your
life.
(26:43):
Okay.
I know when we shot this thefirst time I said one thing.
But I've been thinking about it.
Okay.
When I can't sleep, which isoften like, you know, what was
the most embarrassing moment ofmy life?
And there are a couple.
One of them comes to mind when Iwas 13 years old.
And I was doing a musicaltheater review at this community
(27:04):
theater for kids in Tucson,Arizona.
And the song that I was assignedto sing is called, let me
entertain you from a musicalcalled gypsy.
Okay.
Which is sung by a stripper.
And Here I am 13 and I waswearing my mom's red sequin
dress.
Kind of like this backdropbehind me here.
Oh, I borrowed this from yourmom.
Oh, that's amazing.
(27:24):
Tell her, I said hi.
Um, that was fascinating.
Why is it over your face?
I don't know.
I did a thumbs up and it did aface right over my face.
Interesting.
Yeah.
Well, we were going to keepthat.
Why is there.
I'm pulling back the curtainagain, we're going to get back
to your story.
I'm sorry.
I'm going to pull back thecurtain again.
The last time we tried recordingsomething, I was using OBS.
(27:45):
Which I'd never used before.
And at one point.
Like Donnie was talkingballoons.
Just just came up on the screenand.
I didn't see them.
I was so confused when Donniewas like, why are there balloons
on this screen?
Um, so now this time a bubblewith a thumb popped up.
(28:06):
While you were talking rightover my face, right over your
face.
Donnie, why are you, what kindof witchcraft is.
No, no.
It's witchcraft that I'm noteven aware of Technomancy or
whatever that is.
Oh, Technomancy.
The Technomancer anyway, I'msorry for that interruption.
It's very important.
Um, So yes, you borrowed a redsequin dress from your mom to
(28:28):
sing a stripper song.
Stripper song.
At 13 years old.
And the, the crazy old lady whoran the company.
At.
At this point, wanted me to gosit on the lap of some man in
the audience.
Like just pick one, whomever wasclose by and go sit on some
person's lap.
And me being the actor that Iam, I was like, yeah, sure.
(28:50):
No big deal, whatever, you know,Probably this, none of this
should have happened.
This is where the story veersinto a different direction.
Um, It's getting, it's going toget even stranger.
So, we're doing the show.
We did it a couple times, maybelike Friday, Saturday, Sunday.
And I see this young person, Ithought they were probably in
(29:10):
their twenties and they wereclose.
They were in the right chair.
You know, they were close by me.
So I'm singing my littlestripper number and went and sat
on this person's lap.
And you know, was singing tothem and being all flirty and
stupid and then got up andfinished my song.
After the show, somebody came upto me and said, Hey, Why did you
(29:31):
choose to sit on a girl's lap?
And I said, what.
And they were like, yeah, that,that girl's name is Samantha.
She's.
You know, like 16 and, and hisin one of the other acting
classes.
And I was like, Oh, no.
So I had unwittingly.
This was before I'd come out,picked the one lesbian.
(29:54):
In the theater and sat on herlap and um, you know, embarrass
the crap out of her and, andthis, again, I hadn't even come
out as a lesbian yet.
So my gaydar was just like thisone.
And I went and I sat on thegirl's lap and did my stripper
number of her.
And that was probably one of themost embarrassing moments and
yet also foreshadowing quite alot about my life.
(30:19):
Well, first off, I'd love to saythat.
That did not go where I wasafraid it was going to go.
Right.
Of course it could've gottenreally, really bad.
So.
Thank you.
You're welcome.
But also, yeah, just like yourbody knew what to do in that
situation.
Yeah.
Nobody took over.
I love that.
I feel like that's yes,embarrassing at the time, but
liberating, liberating now.
(30:40):
And very funny to look back on.
At the time though, I was soafraid of being read as gay that
I was mortified that I had donethat.
You know, and then like sixmonths later, I was like, oh
yeah, I'm a super Dyke.
Yeah, absolutely.
That was unintentional butnecessary.
Yeah, that was nature, right?
Learning moment.
And the last question to keep itoptimistic.
(31:02):
What are you looking forward toright now?
Well, there is a trans voicescabaret coming up on June 22nd.
Then I'm looking forward to.
And then there's a drag showthat I happen to be doing like
this variety show on May 31st.
Oh, A little, a little dragvariety show on May 31st.
You know, it just this littlething happening in, in Brooklyn.
(31:24):
At 9:30 PM.
That maybe somebody else wantsto.
Absolutely.
This.
Oh yeah.
Right there.
Once again for those listening,it's at the bottom of the
screen.
And I'm just going to prefacethis by saying this information
is only important to you.
If you are watching slashlistening to this podcast, the
day that it comes out.
(31:45):
Because if if this is the dayafter or beyond, This does not
mean anything to relevant.
Irrelevant.
Yeah, I'm looking forward tothat too.
So.
On Friday, May 31st.
I'm hosting a drag show.
It is CryBaby's first everpublic breakdown.
Yes.
Yes.
It's going to be at this cutelittle space called nook in
(32:07):
Brooklyn and the owner has beenwanting me to do a drag show
there for two years.
Yeah, you've been talking about,I've been talking a long
forever, and I've just been soinsecure in like my hosting
abilities and like, I didn'tknow what kind of show I wanted
to produce.
And then for this podcast, I'mlike, I need to have a launch
party.
(32:27):
Like even, even if it's thedinkiest little launch party, I
want to have a launch party.
For this show and it has to be adrag variety show and it just so
happens to also be on mybirthday.
Look at that.
So a coincidence May 31st, we'regoing to be kicking off pride
month.
We are celebrating the birth ofa monster.
(32:50):
Both.
Both me and the podcast and justhaving a great time.
Thank you for plugging my thing.
You're welcome.
Wow.
Gosh, I don't have to do anywork around here.
This is great.
I too am looking forward totrans voices cabaret on.
June 22nd, June 22nd at nine 30at caveat in Manhattan.
(33:10):
Or online if you're not in NewYork.
That's right.
Go.
Let's go, please.
Excellent.
So I think it's now time to letthe cat out of the bag for those
astute observers who arewatching, you probably know what
franchise we're talking about.
For those of you who are onlylistening.
I'm sorry for edging you thislong.
I don't think that's right.
(33:31):
I didn't even tell you.
We've just been like, yeah, thefranchise we're talking about
the franchise we're talkingabout.
I never said like, we're gonnalet you know.
But now it's time that workingon I'll let you know when you're
ready.
Donnie, I'm going to let you dothe honors of what franchise are
we talking about this season?
This season we are talkingabout.
Child's play.
One of the gay is franchisesaround.
(33:52):
Absolutely.
I fucking love Childs place somuch.
The whole, the entire series isbrilliant.
I mean it, I think child's playis one of those series.
That you either absolutely adoreor you hate so much that you're
going to turn this off rightnow.
Yeah.
And it's also, it's sointeresting because I feel like
Chucky is.
I would say probably the mostrecognizable horror icon to non
(34:19):
horror.
People for sure everybody.
You know, horror fan or notseems to know this little doll.
Chuckie was everywhere in thenineties so I feel like
everybody knows Chucky.
Not everybody loves Chucky.
That's true.
And I feel like only the realones love Chucky only.
The real ones.
Yeah.
That's that's true.
(34:40):
In the nineties, I actuallyworked at a Spencer's.
At the mall.
Spencer's.
That's a throwback.
I miss Spencer's I would spendso much time in this.
So a couple of Spencers around,but there are few and far
between now I feel like it's notthe same.
It's not the same.
They, back then it was calledSpencer gifts.
Now it's called Spencer's.
It's a, I think universalstudios bought them out.
(35:01):
Something like that.
Yeah.
But we used to sell all sorts ofChucky merchandise, including
the regular size good guy dolls.
Oh really?
Yeah.
And Chuckie masks and Chuckycoffee mugs and all sorts of
things.
And people were just obsessed,obsessed with Chucky.
I'm still stuck on the doll.
I'm sorry.
(35:21):
I had no idea.
Spencer's had, like, we'retalking like real, like just the
straight-up Chucky doll.
Oh my God.
If anybody out there wants totreat me for my birthday, please
send me.
A good guide.
All.
I would love to have one.
My roommate would hate it, but Idon't care.
I would love it.
I'll find something to do withit.
But yeah, you're right.
Yeah.
And even like a hot topic, likeall of those kind of I don't
(35:44):
even know if I want to call themcounter-culture cause it was
like mall.
Culture counterculture.
They were at first.
Yeah.
And then very quickly.
Sold out.
Yeah.
I mean, as soon as you'reopening up next to like a hot
dog on a stick, I don't know.
I don't know if you can say thatyou're like subculture.
He used to work at hot topictoo.
(36:04):
That was my, that was my earlytwenties.
Once again, Scorpio.
What a surprise.
Well, for those of you who maynot be familiar with the overall
story of Chucky, it's the killerdoll, you know, Chuckie, the
killer doll.
Started in the eighties in 1988,I believe is when the first one
came out and is still goingstrong today with a TV series.
(36:28):
So this has been like what?
30, some odd years?
Yep.
Yep.
It's got a lot of longevity.
Let me see if I can do the mathreal quick.
Came out in 88.
So.
So that's 30 years.
Carry the one that's 30 plus.
Hold on.
We're in 2024 now.
So 36, 36 years, 36 years.
(36:49):
That's fucking embarrassing.
I'm 43.
Yup.
Yup.
Yeah.
Yeah.
It's got it.
How old I am.
It's do you want me to edit thatout?
No, no, I suppose that's fine.
I just, I mean, I've been likealluding to my age and this
whole time.
That's true.
Yeah.
Some people are just like, wow,you remember movies from the
eighties?
It came out.
(37:09):
You must've been one.
Wow.
What a great memory.
Speaking of actually so evildead you said is like your first
horror.
That I can remember.
Yeah.
Mine is child's play.
Specifically, Childsplay three.
Specifically the opening titlesequence, the child's play
three.
I've I personally find itterrifying just like blood and
melted plastic all over theplace.
(37:29):
And then just like just thisBrad Dourif amazing.
Just.
bellow.
And it used to scare the shitout of me all the time when I
was a kid.
Will actually.
The nightmares that I had wereprobably before Childsplay three
came out.
Cause I had a nightmare.
When I was a baby, we're talkinglike I was, I was in a diaper.
(37:51):
Like that's how young I waslike, I was in my crib.
And I looked up into the pictureframe that was hanging above my
crib and a little miniatureChucky crawls out of the picture
frame, jumps into my crib andclimbs into my diaper.
That's like my earliest horrormemory, like, it's both not
(38:11):
funny and hilarious.
Exactly.
Scare the crap out of me, evenas a fucking baby, my
imagination was lit.
Wow.
So yeah, Chucky has a specialplace in my heart and my pants.
So that's one of the reasons Iwanted to talk about it.
But also like we talk aboutChucky all the time.
Yes, we do.
(38:31):
We both loved Jennifer Tilly,Jennifer Tilly.
Jennifer Tilly.
Yeah.
And another crush.
Oh, a big time crush, JenniferTilly.
Is such a wonderful addition tothis series and we all know,
well, you know, And you all areabout to know how I feel about
Chucky's daddy.
(38:52):
Don Mancini.
Yes.
Yes.
We, we are about to hear a lotof this.
Yes.
We're gonna probably turn itinto a drinking game.
We should.
How many times I say.
Don Mancini is hot I think DonMancini is so attractive back in
the eighties and now like ahandsome guy.
(39:12):
He is a handsome guy.
And his mind, like my attractionto Don Mancini.
And he goes beyond the physicalappearance.
And it has everything to do withthe fact that I just think he is
funny.
And hilarious and brilliant.
And funny and clever, veryclever.
And bold.
I just.
Go ahead.
Say it again.
(39:33):
I love Don Mancini.
He is so I'm so attracted to DonMancini.
And so.
Yes.
That's why we're talking aboutthis.
Cause I'm trying to get Don'sattention.
That's right.
come here Don.
I would love to have you on thepodcast.
You can also cast me if you wantto, you need a drag queen and
Childsplay and cast Donnie caston and cast.
(39:54):
Drag queen and a transactor,please do.
We'll keep this series gay.
Yes, we will.
Which is of course, another mainreason why we're talking about
super gay, super queer, supertrans.
You may not catch it in thefirst, like the first one.
I don't think there's as much ofit.
Because Don Mancini, he had onlywritten the script and then it
was picked up and worked on by.
(40:16):
Another team, but when Don comesback and has his hands in the
series from then on out.
Like it gets increasingly morequeer.
As it goes along.
The first one was notparticularly queer, you know, it
was also 1988.
So everything that had any kindof queer vibe was an undertone.
(40:37):
As opposed to like how in yourface it gets eventually.
Oh, it slaps you in the face andcalls you a faggot, like.
It gets pretty overtly queer.
But no, I think you're right.
And you know, in the eighties,of course you can only fight.
So many things like people werealready freaking out over the
fact that it was a killer toy.
Right.
In this decade of like satanicpanic and family values and
(40:59):
fucking Reagan and all that.
So yeah.
Don just put it in his backpocket and waited until later.
So.
Is there anything else that youwant to say about the franchise
before we wrap up and send ourlisteners off to.
The next episode.
Now let's see.
The only thing that I want tosay about the franchise is if
you haven't watched it yet, youhave a joyful.
(41:22):
Experience ahead of you.
I will second that.
This is one of those serieswhere I would enjoy.
Erasing it from my memory.
Oh, that would be.
So I could watch it again.
So you can do it again.
Like it's just, and it just getsso much more.
As you progress, just unhingedand fun and wild and crazy.
(41:43):
Oh, I'm so excited to talk aboutit.
I am too.
Yeah.
So, with that said, we're goingto wrap up and the next episode
we will be talking about thefirst installment.
Simply child's play.
Yep.
Yeah, that was it.
That's the first episode.
That's the first episode.
Wow.
We did it.
How do you feel about that?
I feel fantastic.
I'm shaping a little bit.
So I think I might have to putsome gold bond on the inside of
(42:06):
this corset here a little bit.
That's why, if you're watchingthis at home, you're probably
watching me for.
I'm doing this a lot, becauselike these pits for hold on, I'm
going to do, I'm going to dolike the hot thing that like gay
men love, even though like, I ampainted like this.
That's it.
everyone loves the armpit.
Everyone loves it.
Into it, mom, we get into thispit that's chafing right here.
(42:27):
So.
And the people who are justwatching are like running to
YouTube to pull up the videoright now.
I hope.
Yes, I just showed Pitt on air.
I'm like, we're doing a send offand next thing you know, it's
just armpits, chafing and armHair and armpit hair anyway.
Donnie work in our listeners andWatchers find you.
You can find me on Instagram atthe Donnie Cianciotto.
(42:49):
If you're not watching this,you'll have no idea how to spell
that last name.
So good luck.
I'll throw it in the show notes.
Okay.
Perfect.
Yeah.
I'll throw it in the show notesfor sure.
And you can find me CryBaby atcryin_in_public.
Because that is what I do.
And of course you can follow thepodcast, horror icon, pod that's
(43:12):
w H O R R O R icon pod on both.
Instagram.
And the Twitter, the Twitter,the Twitter.
So until next time cuties, don'tbe scared.
Unless you're into that sort ofthing.
Bye.
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