Queer podcast The Conner & Smith Show spotlights global creatives through engaging conversations
Matt Conner and Stephen Gregory Smith are nearly as prolific at podcasting as they are writing musicals together
“Auditory geeks really can’t stand us,” says Stephen Gregory Smith. “They say, ‘Oh, God, there was a dog eating a toy!’ And it’s like, ‘There’s nothing I can do about it. They live here. So it is what it is.’ Like Fiona Apple’s album that she made during the pandemic, you sometimes hear the dogs barking in the background.”
Last February, Smith and his husband, Matt Conner, well-known figures in Washington’s theater scene who create original musicals, launched a podcast. During live theater’s downtime, the couple made The Conner & Smith Show their primary focus.
“Stephen and I have always wanted to do a podcast,” Conner says. “And the pandemic gave us a perfect opportunity to really think about it and plan it. Before the pandemic, like everybody, we were just in a hamster wheel. We had some ideas, they just never really manifested themselves.”
Sixty-two episodes have been released so far, most nearly an hour long. Each features the couple engaging a different invited guest in conversation, and the lineup is as impressive as it is diverse and varied.
Pride month included conversations with Norm Korpi from the first season of MTV’s The Real World (“He talks about what it was like being basically the first out gay man in a [reality] TV show,” says Smith) and Kevin Stea, “a backup dancer for Madonna on the Blond Ambition Tour, who is now about to launch his own fashion line.” Other June guests included composer Michael John LaChiusa (The Wild Party), pop star Fred Schneider of The B-52’s, and director Paris Barclay (NYPD Blue, Glee).
With live theater’s imminent return in the months ahead, the pair are busy developing a new holiday musical, expected to premiere later this year. They also intend to keep the podcast running.
“We’re onto something that we really enjoy,” Conner says. “It’s kind of awesome to be in your living room and still be talking to someone on the other side of the world. I think it’s going to keep growing.”
To subscribe or download episodes of The Conner & Smith Show, visit https://anchor.fm/connerandsmithshow. To learn more about Matt Conner and Stephen Smith, visit www.connersmithmusicals.com.
Read More:
1455 Summer Literary Festival is “unique and inclusive” by design
Acclaimed musical “Songs for a New World” streams at Monumental Theatre
Support Metro Weekly’s Journalism
These are challenging times for news organizations. And yet it’s crucial we stay active and provide vital resources and information to both our local readers and the world. So won’t you please take a moment and consider supporting Metro Weekly with a membership? For as little as $5 a month, you can help ensure Metro Weekly magazine and MetroWeekly.com remain free, viable resources as we provide the best, most diverse, culturally-resonant LGBTQ coverage in both the D.C. region and around the world. Memberships come with exclusive perks and discounts, your own personal digital delivery of each week’s magazine (and an archive), access to our Member's Lounge when it launches this fall, and exclusive members-only items like Metro Weekly Membership Mugs and Tote Bags! Check out all our membership levels here and please join us today!
You must be logged in to post a comment.