Out With Suzi Ruffell podcast review: Confident queer joy
Suzi Ruffell’s light-hearted chats about growing up queer are tender, intimate and inspiring
Times are not easy for the LGBTQ+ community, with opportunistic/bigoted politicians using them once more as a convenient punching bag. Which is why this podcast from comedian Suzi Ruffell comes as welcome respite and a safe haven from the hateful fearmongering. In her easy-going manner, Ruffell talks to queer writers and musicians, politicians and comedians, actors and activists, discovering what made them who they are.
Writer and star of Smoggie Queens and The Dickie Show, Phil Dunning bonds with Ruffell over their Edinburgh Fringe origins. Dunning laughs as he recalls dragging his mum to see Tom Allen in an attempt to get tacit approval of his sexuality and watching out of the corner of his eye to see her reaction to queer people on TV such as Lily Savage. It’s a charming chat as he reveals asking for a long blonde wig when he was six and being a ‘little camp lad’ who went into his shell in high school. Thankfully, he found safety in the drama department and later on in Middlesbrough’s queer scene.
Dan Gillespie Sells, frontman of The Feeling and composer of hit musical There’s Something About Jamie, is erudite and entertaining as he shares great tales of growing up with lesbian parents and meeting his bandmates at The Brit School where he went from being an outsider to ‘the normal one among a lovely little gaggle of weirdos’. His insights into the music industry and falling out of love with indie as laddishness took hold are fascinating. Ruffell navigates these interviews with deft balance, bringing just enough of her own life story into the mix without detracting from her guests. In the current hostile environment, there’s something uplifting about a podcast that can inspire and reassure younger LGBTQ+ people, as well as simply entertain.
New episodes of Attitude Presents Out With Suzi Ruffell available every Friday.