Every day is a holiday when you spend it with Danny Pellegrino!
The writer, comedian, and podcaster is known for his love of the Christmas season, but manages to infuse all of his work with a jolly, celebratory spirit that’s just hard to resist.
Whether it’s his love of Real Housewives, the Muppets, or The Rosie O’Donnell Show, Pellegrino just wants to share a few of his favorite things with the world—he’s the gift that keeps on giving! All year long, he channels that seasonal spirit into Everything Iconic, his weekly podcast that dives into all the pop culture moments, new and old, that we can’t stop talking about, and regularly welcomes in some truly iconic guests (everyone from Cameron Diaz to Miss Piggy!).
In 2022, he penned his first book, How Do I Un-Remember This?: Unfortunately True Stories, which became a New York Times bestseller. In the warm and witty collection of real-life stories, Pellegrino recalls growing up gay in small-town Ohio, and how pop culture helped him find his place in the world.
Now—because it’s never to early to start celebrating Christmas—he’s getting ready to release his followup, The Jolliest Bunch: Unhinged Holiday Stories (available Oct. 24 via Sourcebooks), which takes a similar approach to some of his most unforgettable yuletide tales and beyond.
While we all eagerly anticipate Queen Mariah Carey to ring in the season the minute October’s over, we’re getting a head start by inviting Pellegrino to be the latest guest in our rapid-fire Q&A series, Dishin’ It. In the fun and festive conversation, he touches on his hometown Halloween memories, the least romantic thing about the holidays, and the Muppets x Scream movie he’s dying to see.
Is there a piece of media—whether a movie, TV series, book, album, video game, etc…—that you consider a big part of your own coming-out journey, or that has played an important role in your understanding of queerness? Why does it stand out to you?
Aside from Cruel Intentions showing me Ryan Phillippe’s bare caboose at a pivotal age…
Early reality TV was important because I was able to see gay people living authentically and sharing their own stories. Specifically, Danny on The Real World: New Orleans, I remember watching him and being so blown away that he was open with his sexuality and romantic relationships.
There’s also a book called Swish by Joel Derfner that I read when I was in my early 20s. It’s an essay collection by a gay author, and reading it was so mind-blowing because he was so comfortable talking about his experiences in a public way when I felt so much shame around my own gay life. I had only ever read story collections by heterosexual writers before then, so I don’t know that I would’ve been able to write The Jolliest Bunch or How Do I Un-Remember This? without reading Swish all those years ago.
Your new book, The Jolliest Bunch, is a nostalgic trip through hilarious and heartfelt holiday season stories, but since Halloween is rapidly approaching, do you have any particularly “unhinged” stories you can share from celebrating that holiday?
When I was young, the northeast Ohio neighborhood dads would all get together to take the kids trick-or-treating. One of the dads would fill up his kid’s red wagon with beer, and they would all drink and smoke cigs as they followed along with their cans on wheels.
By the end of the night, they were tipsy and eating our candy, but what I remember most is how much fun they had. When the trick-or-treating was over, the dads would meet their significant others on someone’s driveway, and they’d all continue drinking on cheap fold-up chairs while the sugared-up kids got into mischief. It was all innocent fun, but I can’t imagine Halloween looking the same in 2023.
You’re a huge fan of holiday movies, and there are thankfully a ton of great queer ones now! But what we want to know is: what do you think is the gayest of the otherwise straight, classic holiday movies and why?
Does The Family Stone count? There’s technically a (fantastic) gay couple in the movie, but most of the main storyline revolves around the straight characters, and yet, it’s gay canon. Diane Keaton playing a liberal mother who is dying at Christmas? Play it at the Pride parades in June! Plus, Dermot in a turtleneck! Rachel McAdams at the height of her powers!! Luke Wilson with morning wood!!! Claire Danes!!!!
The Miracle On 34th Street reboot is also a gay classic because the lighting on that movie is flawless and only gay people and Mariah Carey truly understand how to properly stay away from overhead lighting. I can only assume a gay man or Queen Mariah herself lit this picture because literally everyone glows. It looks like there was a full bottle of Vaseline on the lens every time they shot a scene. Elizabeth Perkins radiates, not a hair out of place the entire time, and Dylan McDermott wears cozy sweaters and turtlenecks that shine. I think we need to move away from HD in filmmaking and start doing whatever they did on the 1994 Miracle On 34th Street.
What would you say is the most romantic thing about the holiday season? What’s the least romantic?
The most romantic thing about the holiday season… twinkle lights. They make everything swoony.
The least romantic thing about the holidays would probably be all the food. I can get a bit overwhelmed when I’m in big crowds, so I tend to hang out by the food tables at holiday parties. Plus, I LOVE passed appetizers. I find it almost impossible to pass up a passed appetizer, so I spend many nights feeling exhausted and way-too-full after the holiday parties, which is not very romantic.
The list of legendary celebrity guests you’ve had on your podcast Everything Iconic is just endless. Of those guests, is there one you were most surprised you hit it off with? In what ways did they surprise you?
Beverly D’Angelo was a guest very early on, and I was surprised at how candid and kind she was. She’s an actress who most people know from the National Lampoon Vacation movies and Hair, but she has so many incredible stories about her life and working in Hollywood in between those hits. I tend to enjoy talking to the women who have been in the industry for a while, they’ve survived in a male-dominated field, and I always end up so motivated by their stories. Drew Barrymore also blew me away by how kind she is on and off air.
We know you’re a big-time fan of the Muppets (some of whom have appeared on the pod!) so, in the spirit of the season, if you could remake any horror/thriller movie with an all Muppet cast (and maybe 1 or 2 human guest stars), what would it be and why?
I would LOVE to see a Scream remake with all Muppets and David Arquette as the only human. Miss Piggy would play Gale Weathers, with Janice as Sidney Prescott, Fozzie as Stu, Animal as Billy Loomis, and Scooter as Randy. The opening kill/Casey Becker role would be the first live action Muppet appearance of a teenage Skeeter (Scooter’s twin from the Muppet Babies universe).
David Arquette would still play Dewey because the character is basically a Muppet anyway (and he’s a Muppet expert after starring in A Very Merry Muppet Christmas). I know people are probably wondering what we’re going to do with Kermit, but I would save him for the sequel, where he would play the Derek/Jerry O’Connell role, only instead of falling in love with Sidney, we would setup a love triangle with Gale and Dewey.
There’s no way we’re the first to ask, but we’re dying to know: What would your Real Housewives tagline be? Also, what’s your personal favorite Housewives tag of all time and why?
“My anxiety is evergreen, and my depression is anything but seasonal.”
I LOVE the season 1 Real Housewives Of Orange County taglines that were just audio clips from the show. Specifically, Vicki screaming “I don’t wanna get old” in her intro. Also have a special place in my heart for Dorinda’s, “If you got a problem with me, it’s your problem.”
Who is a queer or trans artist/performer/creator that you think is doing really cool work right now? Why are they someone we should all be paying attention to?
It’s so important to support queer creators/entertainers because we often don’t have the same marketing muscle that our heterosexual counterparts do. The business follows the money, so it’s critical we’re able to show these big corporations that we can sell so that we can not only support ourselves, but also continue to release art into the world.
Obviously, I’d love it if people spent their coins on my new book (The Jolliest Bunch, available in hardcover or audiobook!), but if you aren’t into me, maybe check out Ira Madison III who is now doing reality TV episodes of his wonderful Keep It podcast (and has an upcoming book), the hilarious Watch What Crappens men who do Bravo reviews, Matt Rogers who has new Christmas music out (in addition to his fantastic Las Culturistas podcast with the brilliant Bowen Yang), Jess Rothschild who conducts incredible interviews with LGBTQIA+ guests on her Hot Takes & Deep Dives podcast, or R. Eric Thomas and Samantha Irby who are great essayists with new books out.
Finally, I think I need to tell all the queer people out there that Rosie O’Donnell is now uploading FULL EPISODES of her daytime talk show on her YouTube channel. Put the episodes on at 5pm and make some pizza rolls, you’ll feel like it’s 1998 again.
Danny Pellegrino’s The Jolliest Bunch: Unhinged Holiday Stories is available October 24 wherever books are sold. New episodes of his podcast, Everything Iconic with Danny Pellegrino, drop weekly on Wednesdays.
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Just.my.opinion
Anyone who loves Real Housewives and Mariah Carey obviously has no taste. Their opinions cannot be taken seriously.
SarcasaticMisanthrope
You’re straight, aren’t you? Or a Homocon.
Thad
^ Says someone with no sense of fun.