Welcome back to Trigger Warning, the podcast for people who like their conversations the way we like our martinis: strong, unfiltered, and possibly a bad idea. This week, Adam and I return to bless your ears with another round of “Should we say this publicly?” and the answer is always a confident yes.

We’re joined by the broadway icon, the legend, the PhDiva herself, Michelle Dowdy—who casually drops stories about playing Tracy Turnblad in Hairspray while I try not to combust from jealousy. We spiral from John Waters gossip to Michelle’s honorary doctorate (because apparently everyone but me gets one), and then straight into some truly feral stories from nightlife, including an adult party performance so vividly described it may haunt you.

Michelle also spills about her upcoming wedding, theater gigs, and the glamorous struggle of dealing with straight men in musical theater. We touch on Drag Race, pageant villains, cabaret dreams, and my unhealthy attachment to British Bake Off contestants.

Basically: it’s camp, it’s chaos, it’s Trigger Warning.

Your timestamp survival map:

• 00:00 — Welcome to the chaos
• 00:49 — Burning Man but make it unhinged
• 03:13 — Enter Dr. Michelle Dowdy, Beyoncé of Hairspray
• 03:30 — Michelle’s life as Tracy Turnblad
• 04:19 — John Waters lore we absolutely should not know
• 05:34 — Michelle’s doctorate and our collective jealousy
• 15:08 — Wedding bells and straight men behaving suspiciously
• 20:38 — Drag Race, gay culture, drama: the holy trinity
• 24:38 — Pageant divas and their villain origin stories
• 25:20 — Bianca’s beauty tips you cannot trust
• 26:22 — Straight men in musical theater: a sociological study
• 28:01 — Starstruck meltdowns and cabaret fever dreams
• 29:17 — Trash TV appreciation hour
• 30:53 — New Orleans, chaos, and the world’s wildest performance
• 38:22 — Trigger warnings and manners (who are we?)
• 48:10 — Goodbyes and questionable wisdom

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Write to us at: Questions@TriggerWarningPod.com