Show notes
Episode 51 and Wendi and Dfernando's guest interview is actor, writer, improvisor and comedian Sam Pancake.
Sam Pancake grew up in Romney, West Virginia. For over thirty years, he has been one of the very few openly gay continuously working character actors of his generation.
He is known for numerous recurring and guest-starring television roles on countless popular television series. Currently, he can be seen on the ABC drama A MILLION LITTLE THINGS and HBO Max’s SEARCH PARTY. Some of the other television shows he’s appeared on include: THE MICK, Amazon’s TRANSPARENT, MAJOR CRIMES, DOCUMENTARY NOW!, WILL & GRACE, FRIENDS, PUSHING DAISIES, HBO’s CURB YOUR ENTHUSIASM, COUGARTOWN, ARRESTED DEVELOPMENT, THE WEST WING, THE KING OF QUEENS and WINGS, among many others.
Sam was a regular on two back-to-back critically acclaimed series: FOX TV's KITCHEN CONFIDENTIAL (with Bradley Cooper), as well as Lifetime's improv-based sitcom, LOVESPRING INTERNATIONAL with Jane Lynch and Wendi McLendon-Covey, which he also helped develop.
On film, Sam was seen in Netflix’s DUMPLIN (with Jennifer Aniston); YOU’RE KILLING ME; SPACE STATION 76 - which he co-wrote and which starred Patrick Wilson, Matt Bomer and Liv Tyler; THE HUNGOVER GAMES; OUT WEST; LEGALLY BLONDE 2; BEVERLY HILLS CHIHUAHUA 3; OVER HER DEAD BODY; STRAIGHT JACKET; WIN A DATE WITH TAD HAMILTON; HBO’s acclaimed GIA (with Angelina Jolie) and the cult drag hit GIRLS WILL BE GIRLS.
Sam has performed for years on L.A. stages in sketch, improv, storytelling and a wee bit of stand-up. He has written and regularly performs four different one-man shows: THE HEAD IS NOT RELIABLE, about this unusual Appalachian childhood as a Pancake; WASTED ON A BOY, which covers his last thirty years as an out working actor in Hollywood; HOT STICKY AND SWEET, a broad three-character comedy show; and FRITZIE ZIMMER in WHAT’S LEFT OF ME!, in which he plays the world’s oldest openly gay stand-up comedian and cabaret singer, Fritzie Zimmer.
He also hosts the weekly podcast series THE MONDAY AFTERNOON MOVIE, where his love for the made-for-TV movies of the 1970s prompted him to start this podcast. Every Monday afternoon, Sam focuses on a different too-good-to-be-forgotten TV movie, plus he announces in advance which film he will be covering the following week so listeners can watch the films ahead of time, making his coverage all the more fascinating.
In the first season, Sam sat down with eight friends to discuss such campy but captivating TV movies such as SOMETHING EVIL, TRILOGY OF TERROR, BAD RONALD and others.
And yes, Pancake is his real last name.
Also on Episode 51, Wendi and Dfernando catch up on Wendi’s 3 weeks filming the movie PAINT in Saratoga Springs, NY as well as her visit with Dfernando in Brooklyn and Manhattan.
On the RIPE & ROTTEN REPORT there’s Jet Blue Mint, the 1 Hotel Brooklyn Bridge, weirdos on the NYC subway, the return of movie theatres post-COVID, the film LIMBO by Ben Sharrock and the trend of series on streaming platforms like Netflix and Hulu only being 8, 10 to 12 episodes per season.
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