Review: ‘The Gays Are Revolting’ – live!

“We put the G in LGBTQIA+ and we are here to help you be the best G you can be,”  announces podcast host Luke Forester.

The Gays Are Revolting is a LGBTQIA+ podcast that reaches over 40,000 listeners a month and was nominated in two categories for the Australian Podcast Awards in 2019. On Friday, Feb. 28, fans of hosts Thomas Jaspers, Kyle Dowsett, Luke Forester and Mykii Rangi pack the Giant Dwarf Theatre for their first live show in Sydney. The crowd? Lots and lots of well-dressed men in ironed button up shirts.

The Gays Are Revolting is the brainchild of producer Dan Gregg. “I wanted to create a contemporary, local, queer voice that was meaningful, hilarious, insightful and comforting for listeners.” The result is a weekly podcast that is equal parts hilarious and informative.

The formula is simple. Every week the hosts discuss current hot topics in the LGBTQIA+ community – “the stuff we talk about with our friends,” Luke explained. Gregg selected all four of the boys himself. “I cast the show with diversity in mind, but the most important quality I looked for was kindness.” Every episode they agree, disagree and make each other laugh.

Their podcast has tackled everything from anal bleaching to the side effects of PrEP. No topic is off limits and the live show was no different. While the boys had the audience laughing as they discussed role-playing during sex, they also had a special guest, using the pseudonym Sultan Jamal, to discuss his experience as a homosexual refugee.

When the show recorded its first episode in 2018 Thomas Jaspers had low expectations, “I thought it would last four weeks, but it’s had this huge reach. Once we started getting messages from people in rural communities saying how much the podcast meant to them, I knew we were making something special.” Thomas isn’t wrong. The Gays are Revolting attracted an enthusiastic and delighted audience. The boys and their podcast translated well to the stage – and were clearly very special to the LGBTQIA+ crowd that attended.

You can listen to The Gays Are Revolting via your favorite podcast provider or at the group’s website, at lipp.media/podcast/the-gays-are-revolting