[SPEAKER_00]: Have a gay up name for a gay up podcast.
[SPEAKER_01]: Gay as podcast listeners, you're eating good tonight because Dylan Skips is here to dish on, yes, the stunning jump rope videos, some big life changes and all of my invasive questions, Dylan Skips, how do you feel about being on that's a gay as podcast?
[SPEAKER_01]: Honestly.
[SPEAKER_00]: Super excited to be here, excited to meet you and excited to share a little bit more about my life.
[SPEAKER_01]: Hell.
[SPEAKER_01]: Fooking.
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah.
[SPEAKER_01]: Now, Dylan Skips are the rumors true.
[SPEAKER_00]: That is true.
[SPEAKER_00]: We're going to be exact.
[SPEAKER_01]: Okay, so this is an interesting part of your lore because you post these incredible videos and if anybody does not already follow Dillon Obviously your handles are links in the description.
[SPEAKER_01]: You've become one of my favorites not only because of your like charisma Confidence the handbook handy work is absolutely mind-boggling But also like you said we don't know a ton about you
[SPEAKER_01]: outside of your tiny shorts.
[SPEAKER_01]: So we're going to get to know that.
[SPEAKER_01]: So what part of Brooklyn?
[SPEAKER_01]: Are you getting Brooklyn hipster?
[SPEAKER_01]: Are you getting Brooklyn, Park Slope, Mom?
[SPEAKER_01]: What's the vibe?
[SPEAKER_00]: Well, it kind of evolved.
[SPEAKER_00]: I've been here in the same townhouse apartment for 12 years.
[SPEAKER_00]: I moved here in, I guess 2012.
[SPEAKER_00]: When I first moved here, it was like,
[SPEAKER_00]: Man, it was it was a little rough.
[SPEAKER_00]: I'm in sorry.
[SPEAKER_00]: I mean, like bedstye crown heights border.
[SPEAKER_01]: Are you still in very close to you in Brooklyn, close to ground heights?
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah.
[SPEAKER_01]: And I too know the journey she's taken.
[SPEAKER_01]: Can you tell me what subway line you're off of?
[SPEAKER_01]: I don't need to do it.
[SPEAKER_01]: To do it.
[SPEAKER_00]: To do it.
[SPEAKER_00]: There's the Eastern Parkway in Franklin,
[SPEAKER_01]: So you're kind of close to the museum of it all.
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, it's like a five minute bike ride over there.
[SPEAKER_01]: Okay, gorgeous.
[SPEAKER_01]: Well, I used to love living there.
[SPEAKER_01]: I now live in LA, but when I first met my husband, I was in that neighborhood.
[SPEAKER_01]: He was in a story.
[SPEAKER_01]: It was a long distance relationship.
[SPEAKER_01]: We did it for two years.
[SPEAKER_01]: And then the rest is her story.
[SPEAKER_01]: Now before I
[SPEAKER_01]: ask you who's fault is it that you're gay?
[SPEAKER_01]: I just since we brought up my husband for a second.
[SPEAKER_01]: He went to the University of Alabama and you have been seen in shirts with the Alabama logo.
[SPEAKER_01]: I'll say a roll-tod because I'm contractually obligated to what is your relationship to Alabama as a gay guy?
[SPEAKER_00]: Um, it's funny.
[SPEAKER_00]: I stopped wearing that shirt because everyone thought I went to Alabama, but it was just like a vintage shirt and I thought, like, look really nice.
[SPEAKER_00]: I mean, I have family and friends that went there.
[SPEAKER_01]: So I don't mind supporting it, but No, I did not get a politically aligned with the University of Alabama.
[SPEAKER_01]: No, I too have also been in trouble by wearing those that merge.
[SPEAKER_01]: And when people talk to me about a football game, I say, you're barking up a wrong gay tree.
[SPEAKER_01]: Dillon Skips, I do think it's important for me to ask you the gay ass podcast question as a jumping off point for a long time.
[SPEAKER_01]: Dillon Skips that question is, who's fault is it that you're gay?
[SPEAKER_01]: Who do we blame, babe?
[SPEAKER_00]: I've been thinking about this question a lot lately and I don't know.
[SPEAKER_00]: I feel like I was exposed to so much like camp culture growing up with like
[SPEAKER_00]: You know, like, the Brady Bunch movie and John Cuesak, but I really think it might have been the Gargoyles TV show when I was a kid.
[SPEAKER_00]: I don't know if you remember that.
[SPEAKER_00]: I do.
[SPEAKER_01]: And I'm going to tell you something you're breaking new ground here because the Gargoyles television series has never been brought up on this podcast.
[SPEAKER_00]: I was wondering.
[SPEAKER_01]: Same or Dylan, same or what did you do to you?
[SPEAKER_00]: Oh my god, I mean, you said you've seen it, right?
[SPEAKER_00]: Oh, yeah, it's uh, there was Gargwell as man.
[SPEAKER_00]: They're just like with a huge chest and the loincloth and there was something, you know, still so kind of camp about it and it had like this sort of like Batman Gotham City vibe and, um,
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, like everyone was so hot and I'd even the guard oils see I love that you're going in for the big packs of it all because you could have gone and I they're like I just love the sort of lore of a group of I don't know you could have gone the like cartoon Sort of narrative arc route, but no you went big tits and I'm thrilled that you did that.
[SPEAKER_01]: Um, so you've always been a man who enjoys a perky breast.
[SPEAKER_00]: Oh, for sure.
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah.
[SPEAKER_01]: Do you think that that is partly why you have grown your own
[SPEAKER_00]: Um, I feel like for me, that's just like the one muscle that grows easiest.
[SPEAKER_00]: Uh, my legs are already like kind of, just they have like a mast to them that um, I don't have to like, upkeep too much.
[SPEAKER_00]: But the chest, I feel like I love the pump.
[SPEAKER_00]: I get with the chest and uh, yeah, it's just if I ever, if I were to call your legs,
[SPEAKER_00]: Sure.
[SPEAKER_01]: You got that chalk still in.
[SPEAKER_01]: Well, don't worry over on the subject side.
[SPEAKER_01]: We will be we will be talking about your chalky thighs, your big tits and maybe if anybody has been able to enjoy them and I will wait though to ask those invasive questions.
[SPEAKER_01]: No, I love the gargoyles of it all, especially because it gives us some of the lore into like a Dylan nerdy dumb as a kid.
[SPEAKER_01]: because Garcol is is giving a little nerdy.
[SPEAKER_01]: Where G graphically speaking did you grow up?
[SPEAKER_00]: So I was raised in a military family.
[SPEAKER_00]: My parents, my dad grew up in Florida and Michigan in my mom.
[SPEAKER_00]: group in Pennsylvania, but I never lived in either of those places.
[SPEAKER_00]: So I was born in Germany, and then I lived in, then we're not always still a baby.
[SPEAKER_00]: We moved to North Carolina, and lived out in the boonies, like the sticks,
[SPEAKER_00]: It was fun though.
[SPEAKER_00]: We had like a like a pasture with horses and a lot of farm animals and I got to like, you know, explore.
[SPEAKER_00]: We had like this massive just like forest surrounding our house.
[SPEAKER_00]: So my friends and I would go and explore every day.
[SPEAKER_01]: I mean, that doesn't sound pretty magical, but I think a gay journalist would probably ask you, hold the phone, farm of North Carolina, when you were to come out, was the only non-homophobic being the horsies, or were you actually in Bracet?
[SPEAKER_00]: So this is, and then so when I was, my parents split up when I was young and my dad was stationed overseas, but then when he returned, he was stationed back and he was stationed in Washington State when I was 12, and I decided I wanted to go live with him.
[SPEAKER_00]: So that's kind of like when I started even dissecting, like those feelings, and it was much more liberal out there, that's kind of like when I was exposed to like real,
[SPEAKER_00]: You know, culture and art and kind of exploring that side of my sexuality.
[SPEAKER_00]: So it was kind of a great place to move to when as a teenager or like a teenager.
[SPEAKER_01]: Was that what part of Washington state was it?
[SPEAKER_01]: Was it giving like a Seattle?
[SPEAKER_01]: Was it giving a gay metropolis?
[SPEAKER_00]: E, Aleppo, Aleppo, Washington.
[SPEAKER_01]: So let's be a metropolis, I don't know anything about Olympia, but it sounds like it would be teeming with.
[SPEAKER_00]: But yeah, it's sort of like Courtney Love grew up.
[SPEAKER_00]: Oh, great.
[SPEAKER_01]: Which is sort of like giving grunge, but you are presenting right now sort of straight-laced, maybe dare I say prep, which is set with a huge compliment.
[SPEAKER_01]: But I guess the real question that needs to be asked is, did you come out while you were still living with your dad or did you wait until you scoffade?
[SPEAKER_00]: I came out to my very close friends, like two or three of them when I was 16.
[SPEAKER_00]: because we were going to, we were like sneaking out and going to Seattle raves like on the weekends.
[SPEAKER_00]: And that's where I was, and you know, doing things we shouldn't have done and going to parties we shouldn't have been going to.
[SPEAKER_00]: And that's where I was like really able to experiment with my sexuality.
[SPEAKER_00]: And you know, my those good friends that I was with,
[SPEAKER_00]: for there to kind of like see that part of me come out and support me and I didn't really officially come out until I joined the military after high school.
[SPEAKER_01]: Jesus Christ, Dylan, your Lord is insane.
[SPEAKER_01]: Okay, so Dad was military parents split up.
[SPEAKER_01]: You moved to Washington State.
[SPEAKER_01]: You graduated high school and then you go to
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, I, so my dad was Air Force, my step-dad was Army and, you know, I have a history of, you have family members being in the military, but you know, my dad was very much like, I'm not going to pay for college.
[SPEAKER_00]: Like, he's very much like, I want you to make your own way in this world.
[SPEAKER_00]: And so I was kind of bitter about that and said, fine, I'm going to join the Navy, not the Air Force.
[SPEAKER_00]: But no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no,
[SPEAKER_00]: which was really nice actually.
[SPEAKER_00]: I got to scuba dive like every day.
[SPEAKER_01]: Okay, I love that.
[SPEAKER_01]: But do you also know understand that you are kind of referencing the plot line of Book of Mormon, which is that they want to be stationed somewhere amazing and exotic like Orlando, and then they go to Rwanda.
[SPEAKER_01]: You wanted to go to Iceland, you went to Gwam and to any of my Gwamis listeners, I'm sure it's stunning over there, but were you devastated to find out it was Gwam?
[SPEAKER_00]: No, I chose it out of bootcamp.
[SPEAKER_00]: We had basically based on our ranking in the class.
[SPEAKER_00]: We took turns on choosing orders from a list, came out.
[SPEAKER_00]: And I was like number five in the class of like 40 something.
[SPEAKER_00]: And so there were a couple orders to Japan and Italy, which went first.
[SPEAKER_00]: And then Guam was like the one of the only other choices that was overseas.
[SPEAKER_00]: And I was like, all right, I don't know anything about Guam.
[SPEAKER_00]: I don't even know what was.
[SPEAKER_00]: I thought it was like in South America at that time.
[SPEAKER_00]: But I chose it.
[SPEAKER_00]: And, no, it was really cool.
[SPEAKER_00]: I loved it.
[SPEAKER_00]: I definitely go back.
[SPEAKER_00]: The Scooby-Dye thing is some of the best in the world.
[SPEAKER_00]: I mean, the islands, like, don't unearth and wow.
[SPEAKER_01]: It's just, it's so crazy to me that we know with so many of us can follow you.
[SPEAKER_01]: And yet, not know so many big parts of your lore, which is that you were in the literal navy station and Guam of all places.
[SPEAKER_01]: And yet, I just thought we were going to be talking about you throwing a jump rope in Brooklyn.
[SPEAKER_01]: you were in Guam for how long.
[SPEAKER_00]: Two years, two years.
[SPEAKER_01]: Damn.
[SPEAKER_01]: And then from Guam you went to San Diego.
[SPEAKER_01]: And you were still in the Navy in San Diego?
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, four years in San Diego.
[SPEAKER_01]: Jesus, H, and then, okay, four, I'm so sorry to be quick find questioning you, but this is so interesting to me.
[SPEAKER_01]: So four years in San Diego, Navy, then we're still in Navy after that, or did we call it a day?
[SPEAKER_00]: So it's funny because so my rate within the Navy was a corpsman, which is basically like medicine, like a doctor's assistant, an MT, and so basically what you do with your duty stations, it's a rotation of green side and blue side, which green side, blue side is Navy and green side is Marines because the Marines don't have their own medics that the corpsman gets stationed between the two and so,
[SPEAKER_00]: I, after one, that was my hospital tour, and then you're supposed to go either with a navy ship or with the Marines.
[SPEAKER_00]: And they were like trying very hard to get me to go with the Marines.
[SPEAKER_00]: I'm like, I will, there's no way I'm going with the Marines.
[SPEAKER_00]: And it's through big fit.
[SPEAKER_00]: And I had, thankfully, I had a chief that was,
[SPEAKER_00]: you know this really cool like you know butch kind of lesbian and she was like kind of my mentor and really took me on her wing and she pulled a lot of strings and got me on a ship in San Diego which was really cool because when I first got there the ship was like you know just out of the yards which is basically when they put it up on stilts and renovated for two years
[SPEAKER_00]: And so we got to go to a couple places, and then the Navy, Big Navy, was like, hey, you have a sister ship in Japan that's falling apart.
[SPEAKER_00]: And I want you guys to go switch out the ship so you can bring it back and fix it.
[SPEAKER_00]: So my C, duty was supposed to be four years of just like,
[SPEAKER_00]: current, like constant deployments.
[SPEAKER_00]: And we ended up doing like a really cool tour at first.
[SPEAKER_00]: And then the rest of the time it was just on stilts in San Diego.
[SPEAKER_00]: So I kind of lucked out and didn't have to deploy a lot, which was great.
[SPEAKER_00]: And in San Diego, I just like lived this sort of like, you know, I worked during the day and then the rest of the time I had this sort of civilian lifestyle, which was nice, and then so I had to answer your question after the Navy, after the six years, you know, my options were to re-enlist or to get out.
[SPEAKER_00]: And I had this, um, this other lesbian friend who was my mentor and she was, uh,
[SPEAKER_00]: She was the first person that really took me aside and said, what are you doing here?
[SPEAKER_00]: And like, what do you mean?
[SPEAKER_00]: And she's like, she said, you do not need to be in the military.
[SPEAKER_00]: You're capable of so much more.
[SPEAKER_00]: And she really made an effort to get me into college classes and get me to start applying to schools when my contract was nearing up.
[SPEAKER_00]: She convinced me to apply to Columbia University because they had a really great program where for non-traditional students.
[SPEAKER_00]: And I applied to that and did a couple tests in L.A. entry tests and I got in.
[SPEAKER_00]: And so I left the military and used my GI Bill and moved to New York and went to school here.
[SPEAKER_01]: Oh my god, I can't wait for the film adaptation of your life, mostly because I want to find out what Broadway productions they had on that Navy ship.
[SPEAKER_01]: I'm picturing hairspray and picturing, um, yep, yep,
[SPEAKER_01]: No, that's really incredible story, Dylan.
[SPEAKER_01]: I'm really, I blown away by your history and I haven't even gotten into the jump-ropping questions.
[SPEAKER_01]: It's cool to see that you've overcome such plot twists in your life and there's still more that we needed to discuss.
[SPEAKER_01]: Over on sub-stuck, I'll definitely be asking about some barracks stuff because being a gay guy and the Navy must be really interesting, but also sort of fraught, if you will.
[SPEAKER_01]: But we'll wait to do that over on the other side
[SPEAKER_01]: I think it's important for us to get into the jump-ropping of it all.
[SPEAKER_01]: For anybody who hasn't yet seen your videos, you are giving us so much incredible movement.
[SPEAKER_01]: I know that you've said that you started jump-ropping because you felt out of shape, and it sort of becomes something very different.
[SPEAKER_01]: It's changed your confidence the way that you move throughout the world.
[SPEAKER_01]: But one of the things that I love about your videos is your music choices.
[SPEAKER_01]: You are such delicious.
[SPEAKER_01]: choices.
[SPEAKER_01]: So let's do a gay ass podcast question, which is who are your devas?
[SPEAKER_01]: Who are you listening to on a road trip?
[SPEAKER_01]: Do you have any songs you're belting in the shower?
[SPEAKER_01]: Like what makes Dylan score musically?
[SPEAKER_00]: Oh yeah, I do have some divas.
[SPEAKER_00]: I would say my number one diva, Sheneto Connor.
[SPEAKER_00]: I love Sheneto Connor.
[SPEAKER_01]: Did I see somewhere that you share Sheneto Connor while with someone in your family that I make that up?
[SPEAKER_00]: Oh, my mom, for sure.
[SPEAKER_00]: My mom was listening to her albums when she was pregnant with me and I think I just absorbed that love for shit.
[SPEAKER_00]: But I love shade one because of her voice and her music and her writing, but also that she was just such a, you know, anti-conformity, like she was so politically active and outspoken even when, you know, it just really risked everything for her.
[SPEAKER_00]: And um,
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, I love her.
[SPEAKER_00]: She's so humanitarian at her core.
[SPEAKER_01]: Look at you.
[SPEAKER_01]: It's a great answer, especially because of what she stands for.
[SPEAKER_01]: And I think that you are doing something similar with your work, which is like, you know, leaning into something that might not be a hobby of everyone, but it makes you feel the most like yourself.
[SPEAKER_01]: And I think that's what this podcast is about, too, is like just like,
[SPEAKER_01]: Thank fuck you to the rules of the straight world as being who the food we are Who are you belting to in the car on a road trip outside of Schneida Connor?
[SPEAKER_00]: I mean really any
[SPEAKER_00]: You know, Mandy Moore, Benny's freeze anything like I kind of like take the temperature of whoever I'm with.
[SPEAKER_01]: Well, then I'm going to interrupt you.
[SPEAKER_01]: You say Mandy Moore.
[SPEAKER_01]: I say 100% are we doing only hope?
[SPEAKER_01]: Are we doing candy?
[SPEAKER_00]: Are we doing candy?
[SPEAKER_00]: And it works, of course.
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah.
[SPEAKER_01]: What's yours?
[SPEAKER_01]: My diva or my Mandy Moore?
[SPEAKER_00]: You're many more.
[SPEAKER_01]: My Mandy Moore, I, some of my best girlfriend is in high school who, like, really saved me.
[SPEAKER_01]: We would belt only hope from a walk to remember.
[SPEAKER_01]: And that was huge.
[SPEAKER_01]: Also cry, I mean, both cry and a walk to remember.
[SPEAKER_01]: But candy definitely was huge.
[SPEAKER_01]: I mean, she has so many, I don't know what it was about her when we were younger.
[SPEAKER_01]: Well, first of all, can I ask how old you are?
[SPEAKER_00]: 36.
[SPEAKER_01]: Oh my god, me too.
[SPEAKER_01]: Okay, twin.
[SPEAKER_01]: Oh, so.
[SPEAKER_00]: So September 21st, one's yours.
[SPEAKER_00]: April 2nd.
[SPEAKER_01]: So you are a singer younger than me.
[SPEAKER_00]: Fuck.
[SPEAKER_01]: So you turn 37 next year and I turn 37 this year.
[SPEAKER_01]: Um, do you think that makes me daddy to your son.
[SPEAKER_00]: I, yeah, let's go.
[SPEAKER_01]: But no, thank you for asking me my Mandy Moore lore.
[SPEAKER_01]: I think it's really an important question for every gay guy to answer.
[SPEAKER_01]: Where do you stand in the Mandy Moore spec Trump?
[SPEAKER_01]: Something else I love about your jump-ropping videos is simply the swag and the hand coordination.
[SPEAKER_01]: What the fuck is up with that Dylan?
[SPEAKER_01]: Have you always been able to do that?
[SPEAKER_01]: Were you born with the coordination?
[SPEAKER_01]: Or did you have to grow and develop that?
[SPEAKER_00]: No, no, I mean, I've always been, I've never been a dancer like I've never trained in dance or new any dance moves and I guess I just look a good group or when I'm dancing like I've got weddings but I've always been a bopper so like any time I'm at a music show or a wedding and then just kind of like goofy dance and Rick Ashley kind of moves but I enjoy like feeling the rhythm of the music and sort of trying to
[SPEAKER_00]: Express myself through that and I think jump rope was like the first time that I had like some sort of like direction like
[SPEAKER_00]: I guess move my body, but like a lot of those movements are actually all the the whole time I'm jumping it's really just moving with the music it's not planned out at all, but yeah I guess I never really had that sort of that sort of fake outlet of movement and expression that like looks coordinated until I started jumping.
[SPEAKER_01]: No, it really looks coordinated.
[SPEAKER_01]: I mean, the way that you throw them handle bars and then keep your body.
[SPEAKER_01]: It's I was actually talking about you, Dylan.
[SPEAKER_01]: I'm going to be honest with you.
[SPEAKER_01]: I was talking about you.
[SPEAKER_01]: When I interviewed Elliott Glazer and we were talking about how you have this like Genesequah of
[SPEAKER_01]: sort of like calm confidence that I think feels really delicious to watch.
[SPEAKER_01]: In fact, that makes me want to ask you if you started to jump rope because you felt out of shape, but then you've sort of grown this amazing audience, this amazing habit, what's the biggest difference that you feel either physically or like inside?
[SPEAKER_01]: Does it make you feel more confident outside of jump rope
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, for sure, because I feel like it's kind of been, I feel like really up until jump rope people would, you know, praise me just based off of, you know, my looks or whatever, but like now it feels like there's something actually like, like deserving of that and like something that I feel really
[SPEAKER_00]: You know, it's just like, also it's like, I've never really felt like I've inspired anyone to do anything and toy sort of jumping and I think that's a really powerful, like when you sort of inspiring people, I think that's such a powerful feeling and you really feel that and carry that with you.
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah.
[SPEAKER_01]: No, I, I think that's well said because there is every one I think has something that they know they have to offer inside of them, but it's sometimes hard to tap into what that exactly is.
[SPEAKER_01]: And I think once you feel yourself tap into that power, it like actually affects many parts of your life, which I think is a good segue in a talking about the life changes that you've been discussing a little bit on your page.
[SPEAKER_01]: sort of the story of being in New York for these 12 years.
[SPEAKER_01]: We're in this long-term relationship and now you're dealing with these changes with getting out of the relationship, changing your home space.
[SPEAKER_01]: And what I love about that video is that you're really pointing to something real which is that your audience does want to know more about you.
[SPEAKER_01]: They of course love to watch your jump rope videos but I think that
[SPEAKER_01]: So your point, you are inspiring us and it only makes us want to know more, which is why it's very fucking cool here on this chaos podcast and obviously listeners are leaking hearing about you.
[SPEAKER_01]: But can you say more about these big life changes, you know, saying goodbye to one chapter and starting another?
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah.
[SPEAKER_00]: Well, so I basically, when I first moved to New York, I met my partner.
[SPEAKER_00]: It's weird because I was never
[SPEAKER_00]: I was never the kind of guy who's always looking for a relationship and so when I was moving to New York I wasn't expecting anything like that and it would just kind of happen we met and we just began we came became sort of unsupportable and he moved in to the department where I was living like very soon after because his lease was up and it just worked out and basically did everything together and built this life together.
[SPEAKER_00]: And yeah, it was a good life, and then when I started jumping, I think things really changed because
[SPEAKER_00]: really our identity as a couple was really rooted in him, you know, creating this gallery within our apartment and like that was our all-over of our social connections or through that life and that's how people knew us.
[SPEAKER_00]: And then when I started jumping and developing this, you know, persona online and social media, you know, things were different.
[SPEAKER_00]: People wanted to know more about my life.
[SPEAKER_00]: I was sort of like in this spotlight and a lot of,
[SPEAKER_00]: I just, I think I was ready for that because I was sort of finding this identity within myself that I didn't really, I wasn't ever really able to explore, convey, but I think it was just a lot of pressure on him.
[SPEAKER_00]: I was a big life change and I just don't think he was ready for that.
[SPEAKER_00]: It's the act because I think we both really still love each other and it's like this really weird place to navigate and it's hard and sometimes I wonder if it's worth it but I get you know with all the the positive comments I see and you know the fact that I'm
[SPEAKER_00]: really inspiring people are giving people like just even if it's like a video they see and changes their mood and their day like I feel like ultimately that's probably worth it.
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, that no, I think when you're in a long term relationship like that, it's very, very normal and easy to feel the converging of your lives in either a code dependence or whatever it is and I think that when you do find more independence, it's sometimes
[SPEAKER_01]: find a different footing.
[SPEAKER_01]: I think the tough question I want to ask and you can feel for it to answer as, you know, in depth or not as you would like, but do you think that?
[SPEAKER_01]: The jump-ropping videos, this part of your life, if you had not done that, would you still be together or do you think that organically you would have still found your lives going in different directions?
[SPEAKER_00]: I think we probably would have been together because our relationship, it wasn't, it didn't have any like, um, contention or like, it was in a good voice.
[SPEAKER_00]: Um, I think we, we complement each other with what we did.
[SPEAKER_00]: I mean, I did a lot of, um, I was doing commercial brokerage for a while and then I started doing architectural renderings,
[SPEAKER_00]: You know, we used a lot within the things we were doing together like he was restoring the house with his family down in Tennessee.
[SPEAKER_00]: And so like, you know, a lot of the things we were doing, we kind of worked together on and complemented each other.
[SPEAKER_00]: And I think once I started
[SPEAKER_01]: connection connectedness?
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, like that being intertwined with all the things we were doing and I see.
[SPEAKER_01]: So maybe with that maybe without that, it's sort of revealed parts of your lives that weren't actually as connected as maybe you once thought.
[SPEAKER_01]: I mean, the thing is, I don't need you.
[SPEAKER_01]: I don't want you to feel like you have to explain the the breakup, but I just think it's very interesting to
[SPEAKER_01]: the end of a relationship is not a failure.
[SPEAKER_01]: It's just a part of your life story and I think that the way you speak about your acts clearly shows how much love you have for each other.
[SPEAKER_01]: But also I think that you know breakups are not a moral failing in any way and I think that we need to normalize conversations around just life is so long and can take us into so many different places.
[SPEAKER_01]: So one thing I do want to know about your experience with this new chapter is you've mentioned that
[SPEAKER_01]: some days you feel super energetic and that you can do anything and other days you have no idea what you are doing.
[SPEAKER_01]: Dylan Skips, how are you feeling today?
[SPEAKER_01]: What's the vibe today?
[SPEAKER_00]: Well, I think my day is, I feel pretty successful today.
[SPEAKER_00]: Just been talking to you and having this sort of moment to share my story.
[SPEAKER_00]: And but other than that, other things are also really good.
[SPEAKER_00]: I'm actually in communication with a publisher right now to maybe do a book.
[SPEAKER_00]: Um, no, yeah, I'm paying.
[SPEAKER_00]: I'll be right there.
[SPEAKER_01]: Let's grow the dynasty Dylan.
[SPEAKER_01]: Let's have Dylan skips to the T. O. P. Bitch.
[SPEAKER_00]: Right, and yeah, I'm today's a good day.
[SPEAKER_01]: Good, I'm glad.
[SPEAKER_01]: Well, you have posted about a lot of your day-to-day so you're like, you go to the gym, and then do your jumping-dropping videos.
[SPEAKER_01]: So simply because the listeners might want to know some BTS, where are you filming those jumping-dropping videos?
[SPEAKER_01]: There's a bunch of them with like these like cool green background, almost looks like you're in like a, I don't know, like public tennis quarter or something.
[SPEAKER_00]: Oh yeah, yeah.
[SPEAKER_01]: Where are you filming these videos?
[SPEAKER_00]: Well,
[SPEAKER_00]: So a lot of those videos with the back like the it's like a wallball court.
[SPEAKER_00]: There's a lot of these like little parks and stuff in Brooklyn and playgrounds that have those wallball courts.
[SPEAKER_00]: And I really like filming there when I just like when I isolate myself and my movements and.
[SPEAKER_00]: You know, it, it's a lot easier to do like color grading and stuff when it's just like a very solid background and sometimes they have like cool little like I don't know if you saw the one I posted yesterday, but there was like a faded like Mickey Mouse drawing that like was tried to it was they were trying to clean it off, but it was like there and yeah, I saw that.
[SPEAKER_00]: But I do enjoy just like finding new locations and trying to get, you know, these scenes set up.
[SPEAKER_00]: And in the summer, it's actually a little harder than I'm used to because of like the lighting plays into where I jump a lot at the times.
[SPEAKER_00]: And, um,
[SPEAKER_01]: When you're still a gay guy, you're still a gay guy with taste to needs to like location scout.
[SPEAKER_01]: This is why the videos are doing so well.
[SPEAKER_01]: Yes, you're good at jumping.
[SPEAKER_01]: Yes, you're hot.
[SPEAKER_01]: We also have a masterful eye.
[SPEAKER_01]: She knows how to edit.
[SPEAKER_01]: She knows how to location scout.
[SPEAKER_01]: It's it's giving gay guy with many skills.
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah.
[SPEAKER_00]: Thank you.
[SPEAKER_00]: Well, I think when I start when I was
[SPEAKER_00]: What I was most sort of focused on was creating these visual stories within just like the render.
[SPEAKER_00]: And so even with the jump rope being, if it's just me jumping rope being like to a song, I still try to like, when I'm editing it, when I'm choosing the music, when I'm choosing the lighting, it's all like I kind of have this like,
[SPEAKER_00]: I try to implement this like visual storytelling, whether it's like a parent or not, but no, it's a parent.
[SPEAKER_01]: It's, it's, it's, it's twerking, Dylan.
[SPEAKER_01]: It is working.
[SPEAKER_01]: So listen, we, I am a Virgo with a plan and my plan is to...
[SPEAKER_01]: I think the plan is to ask you the final podcast question so that over on the subject side, I can ask maybe about what dating is life as a single gay guy in New York City, some maybe formative first kisses, maybe hookups, maybe more about the dumpy, the tattoos, just there's a lot to get into on subject Dylan.
[SPEAKER_01]: So with that, I'm going to ask you a
[SPEAKER_01]: and you could only save one character actress who would you save remind me exactly what a character actress means we get it you were in the navy we get a you're super mask okay so a character actress as I
[SPEAKER_01]: define it, which many gays can argue in the comments.
[SPEAKER_01]: I say it's a woman over 40 who has worn one wig one time.
[SPEAKER_01]: What that really means is she's an actress that you can not only gush about her roles on film, but also picture yourself having a sangria and giggling throughout the entire evening.
[SPEAKER_01]: She's somebody who you adore, who has saved you, and who you want to save, who is a Dylan.
[SPEAKER_00]: You probably already gotten this so many times, but it's junky sack.
[SPEAKER_01]: I mean, which you did mention early on.
[SPEAKER_01]: No, John.
[SPEAKER_01]: And you suck is a great reference, and now we're going to need to know more.
[SPEAKER_01]: What is it about Joan that speaks to you?
[SPEAKER_00]: Don't know, it's like her that like it's just like heart, the way she speaks, it's her facial expressions, it's her like it's just like I don't even know if she's had to like work on like being a camp like actress, it's just like embedded in her.
[SPEAKER_01]: She was born into it for sure.
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, I know.
[SPEAKER_01]: I think that's a stunning answer.
[SPEAKER_01]: I think there's also, there's some sort of dissertation we can write that links Chonado Connor to Joan Q site.
[SPEAKER_01]: I don't know what that line is.
[SPEAKER_01]: If there's any sort of culture queens in the comments who want to let me know, but I don't know.
[SPEAKER_01]: You love an underdog.
[SPEAKER_01]: You love somebody who is
[SPEAKER_01]: You know, relentlessly themselves, despite the world, maybe telling them that they are not in the majority, there's something that you like about a quirky queen, and I think that's really admirable deal in skip.
[SPEAKER_01]: So I really do.
[SPEAKER_00]: That's my Aquarius Venus, probably.
[SPEAKER_01]: Oh, we love.
[SPEAKER_01]: Okay, um, shout out and we shout out.
[SPEAKER_01]: Um, Dylan, I'm going to get us over to the subject side so we can ask about all sorts of, uh, fun, saucy, close friends, questions.
[SPEAKER_01]: But before we do so, will you tell these stunning listeners where to follow you?
[SPEAKER_01]: And if there's anything else you would like for them to know.
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, Dylan Skips.
[SPEAKER_00]: Dylan, underscore Skips on Instagram and TikTok.
[SPEAKER_00]: And I would follow both accounts because I mix up the music selection for my videos on both accounts.
[SPEAKER_00]: TikTok actually puts a lot more because it's like more experimental, but yeah.
[SPEAKER_01]: love.
[SPEAKER_01]: I've linked all of your accounts in the description.
[SPEAKER_01]: Everybody go follow Dylan, follow the journey, and also enjoy the stunning music with the stunning jump rope.
[SPEAKER_01]: King!
[SPEAKER_01]: All right, since you have given me the green light to ask you all sorts of invasive questions.
[SPEAKER_01]: I think the first question I would love
[SPEAKER_01]: Where you were sweaty, laying in a bayella hay, did you wait until you were surrounded by lesbians in Olympia, Washington, or maybe you were on a giant navy ship tossing around in those bunk beds.
[SPEAKER_01]: What was your first boy boy kiss?
[SPEAKER_00]: My first boy boy kiss was, um, I think I was like 16, I was at a rave in Seattle on one Saturday night when I told my dad I was spending the night at my front house and Washington and we went to this house party after the rave was over.
[SPEAKER_00]: And there was this really, really hot guy who was definitely not supposed to be kissing me.
[SPEAKER_00]: He was like 26 or 27.
[SPEAKER_00]: But yeah, I mean, that was our first kiss.
[SPEAKER_00]: And then I kiss a lot of boys in the
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, dreams.
[SPEAKER_01]: Hey, now, hey, now, in the evening, since I'm a dramaturg as well as a gay journalist, let's do some follow-ups here, the rave that you went to at what time in the evening was this house party beginning, was it like a in the middle of the night sitch?
[SPEAKER_00]: Oh, no.
[SPEAKER_00]: It was like 4 a.m. Sure, sure.
[SPEAKER_01]: Middle.
[SPEAKER_01]: Okay, 4 a.m. 16 years old.
[SPEAKER_01]: You said he was super, super hot.
[SPEAKER_01]: Do you remember what it was that really turned you on so much about him, like physically or energetically?
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, he was kind of he was like, um, he looked like he was maybe like,
[SPEAKER_00]: Greek or Italian, like kind of like musli, but also kind of like dopey, like the way he would walk is kind of had like a little kind of like Jan Brady kind of thing going on.
[SPEAKER_01]: A musl Greek with a Jan Brady walk.
[SPEAKER_01]: Someone's unique.
[SPEAKER_00]: That's like definitely sort of nerdy.
[SPEAKER_00]: I think he worked at Boeing or something.
[SPEAKER_00]: But yeah, I think like things that
[SPEAKER_00]: I'm always attracted to with guys, like the little quirks is that sort of like dopeiness.
[SPEAKER_01]: So it's like if they walk a little silly or if they have like bigger ears or stuff like that, would you say that you are maybe a little bit working nerdy inside, but you present sort of like all American bro.
[SPEAKER_00]: Oh, for sure.
[SPEAKER_00]: I mean, I don't know how I present, but I'm definitely a little out there when it's my personality.
[SPEAKER_00]: I think with my friend groups, I'm always sort of the easy target to like tease what do they make fun of you for like what is what are some of the other nerdyest things about you.
[SPEAKER_00]: Like, I think they like to teach me about like my music and film where I just like, I like to get into like, um, things that aren't like so popular.
[SPEAKER_00]: Like, I, there's something about like popular music and popular film where I'm just kind of like, unless it's like some sort of like gay, cool classic.
[SPEAKER_00]: Sure.
[SPEAKER_00]: You know, I'm always kind of like looking for things that are, um, like I want to be the first to kind of discover stuff.
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, I see.
[SPEAKER_01]: I see.
[SPEAKER_01]: So we get it.
[SPEAKER_01]: You live in Brooklyn.
[SPEAKER_01]: You're really a sort of with, uh, with pride.
[SPEAKER_01]: Um, speaking of gay co-classics.
[SPEAKER_01]: Are you a drop-dick or just gay?
[SPEAKER_00]: Oh, yeah, for sure.
[SPEAKER_01]: Okay.
[SPEAKER_01]: Good.
[SPEAKER_01]: Just making sure we have.
[SPEAKER_00]: I think I just watched actually for the 100th time like last month.
[SPEAKER_01]: It's, uh, I think I quoted just a couple of days ago.
[SPEAKER_01]: Well, you know what, Dad?
[SPEAKER_01]: Peter's gay.
[SPEAKER_00]: Guy!
[SPEAKER_00]: Oh, great cast that was.
[SPEAKER_00]: I mean, Kirsten Duns, I just love everything.
[SPEAKER_00]: She does.
[SPEAKER_00]: She kind of reminds me of like, you know, the cool older neighbor girl when you're like growing up.
[SPEAKER_00]: She's like, your friend's big sister, but like, um, and then,
[SPEAKER_00]: Uh, what's your name, the one you just quoted, uh, Oh, pretty Murphy.
[SPEAKER_00]: Pretty Murphy, just iconic.
[SPEAKER_01]: She's another power rest in power.
[SPEAKER_01]: I mean, her performance in clueless, I would say, was what made me gay.
[SPEAKER_01]: Uh, another thing that made me gay, um, I think these listeners would crucify me if I did not go back to the navy kissing.
[SPEAKER_01]: And so let's do that for a second, Dylan.
[SPEAKER_01]: Um,
[SPEAKER_01]: Where did you do the most Navy boy kissing in San Diego or was it Gwam?
[SPEAKER_00]: San Diego, for sure.
[SPEAKER_00]: It was a small selection in Gwam.
[SPEAKER_00]: San Diego was big flex.
[SPEAKER_01]: Did it happen at all in Gwam?
[SPEAKER_00]: Oh yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
[SPEAKER_00]: And how did you get with like men traveling there that weren't in the Navy?
[SPEAKER_01]: And so I guess now the sort of investigative questions are gonna go towards Glam or San Diego.
[SPEAKER_01]: How were you meeting up with these guys?
[SPEAKER_01]: Were you on the gay apps?
[SPEAKER_01]: Was it an IRL cruising eye contact?
[SPEAKER_01]: Was it some random Navy gay message board?
[SPEAKER_01]: How were you landing the deals, the D deals, if you will?
[SPEAKER_00]: I think that was around the time of like Adam for Adam.
[SPEAKER_00]: Sure.
[SPEAKER_00]: It was another one.
[SPEAKER_00]: It was like, man, forgot what they don't want to come.
[SPEAKER_01]: Maybe.
[SPEAKER_00]: Maybe.
[SPEAKER_00]: But Adam Frad was the thick one.
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah.
[SPEAKER_01]: Um, okay, so if any questions I ask, if you're like, I don't want to answer it.
[SPEAKER_01]: Just say, um, Mandy, more candy, and then I'll keep it moving.
[SPEAKER_01]: Um, okay, so Adam, for Adam, when you were in the Navy in San Diego, were you hooking up in your Navy bunk room, or were you going outside of camp?
[SPEAKER_01]: I don't know the words, were you going outside of camp?
[SPEAKER_01]: Yes, so what were you doing?
[SPEAKER_00]: Um,
[SPEAKER_00]: I mean, a lot of it was like on my own personal time when I was living, you know, had my own little apartment off base and everything, but I'm sure you want to hear the on the boat stories.
[SPEAKER_01]: I want to hear anything that you want to tell me that's somebody's one people want to know.
[SPEAKER_00]: They're like, did you hook up on the boat to give a couple of other sailors?
[SPEAKER_01]: Good you.
[SPEAKER_01]: For the rest of the interview, head to Substack, linked below where you will also find chats with Colin Braun, Rich Burns, Christopher Pattinson, Rosso, Tyler Varval, Sebastian Dino, Cody Silver, Johnny Sibley, Sam Altizer, and more.
[SPEAKER_01]: It's at substack.com slash at Eric Wills, and I will see you there for a gorgeous Harry horny time.
[SPEAKER_01]: I love you.