At last, a gay guy talks about Wicked!!!

Hey friends,

Hope you’re all hanging in there. How’s your inbox? Normal? I do not generally recognize this week’s ~holiday~ but I did celebrate the true reasons for the season: listening to the new episode of Death Blart and watching this iconic video.

I won’t try to sell you anything new today, but I’m legally obligated to mention that if you’re shopping for a fun trans freak in your life, we’ve got very fun live shows coming up in four cities – the Philly show is THIS TUESDAY btw if u even care — and then also a book on sale. (AK Press has it 25% off right now also!)

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I’ll get to podcast news in a minute, but first, let me tell you about my Main Personality Trait this week, which is: talking about the differences between the 1995 Wicked novel and the 2024 Wicked movie. “But, Tuck,” you might say, “We did this back in 2003.” And look. I know! But I decided to cram both this week, and now I have many thoughts that I have been subjecting all of my friends and acquaintances and colleagues to.

I squeezed several of my main talking points on this topic (magical piss play!!!!!) into my Letterboxd “review” but here’s one I didn’t mention: did you know that Gregory Maguire, the author of Wicked (1995), is a cool gay guy with a PhD in 20th century children’s fantasy, who went on to receive one of the country’s first legal gay marriages in 1999? And did you know that Winnie Holzman, author of Wicked (2003) & (2024), is a straight girlie who created the TV show My So-Called Life and also a play called Post-its® (Notes on a Marriage)? I just feel like this explains more or less everything about the novel and musical’s relative vibes.

I could talk about this for 50 years (or until I read a different book), but mostly I find it fascinating that nearly every single plot detail is tweaked somehow. Instead of listing what’s different about the book and the play, it’s easier to list what stays the same. (Other than proper nouns, the list is like: “Well, she is green.” I’m exaggerating but not a ton.) But no shade to either edition! I love, for example, Ariana Grande swimming around on the floor in “Popular,” and I also love that book-Elphaba has a swarm of bees as a pet-slash-weapon. Why not both?

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ANYWAY I ALSO MADE PODCASTS. Yesterday, Ozzy and I recorded another episode with Dean Spade! Remember Dean? He’s got a new book coming out that I’ve been pitching to everyone (after I talk about the thruples in Wicked, etc.), and it was such a treat to chat with Dean about What The Hell We’re Going to Do about, you know, everything. (Dean is somehow much more optimistic and much more pessimistic than I am, in addition to being way more experienced and well-informed, and I appreciate his insights immensely.)

Also, earlier this week, we published a Gender Conceal episode called Cannibalism Kink at Fag CVS, in which Ozzy and I (but mostly Ozzy) answer a dozen advice questions that had been languishing in our archives. Also, Ozzy revealed their gender and their future of gender and a another advice-y podcast they’ve been working on! It was a fun one, I think.

In that advice episode, btw, I asked listeners to tell me how much their tits weighed, according to their post-top-surgery pathology reports. Thank you to all who responded — it brought me a lot of joy to get DMs that just said like “5.2 lb,” and I received a new Lowest Ever Number! Congrats to all of you on your wonderful surgeries.

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Okay, update — I got busy for two days and am now returning to this newsletter in a less Wicked-focused state. But still down to chat in the comments!!!!

Speaking of the comments… Do y’all want a queer gift guide? Would that be fun? Do you or your friends make something cool that we should know about? Is it too late for all this? Let me know! In the meantime, let’s do Links & Stuff:

• Little Puss Press is offering FREE ebooks and discounted books! Go pick up any trans lit you've missed!! It would be so silly not to.

• I saw this play last night and I enjoyed it very much! I recommend catching it this week if you magically can, but if not, you can read spoilers here.

• I think this was supposed to inspire existential dread but I don’t remember enough about any movies to feel stressed by it

• Many journalists have attempted this type of article but imo Hamilton Nolan actually executed it well

• It’s a great time of year to follow and support the United Farm Workers. I love the behind-the-scenes videos they post every November

• Universal and evergreen advice from our friend Mal Blum

• Peek into 21 mysterious Notes App notes why not!

Tuck’s Creature Corner:

• I revisited this Not-So-Great Defector Bake Off the other night and the reveal at the end made me yell out loud

That’s it for this week. Here’s your Weekly Rhubarb.

Photo: Ruby poking her head through a staircase railing. 

Xo,

Yr resident gender detective