The "I love mess" meme is being updated as we speak.
Writer, actor, and advocate Brandon Kyle Goodman is best known for voicing characters and writing on Netflix shows like Big Mouth and Human Resources, as well as starring in projects such as Modern Love, Abbott Elementary, and Curb Your Enthusiasm. For the past four years, they've also been working on an Instagram story series called Messy Mondays.
"On Messy Mondays, I ask people to tell me something good or messy, and it's usually sex-related," Goodman tells Out. "So [that] evolved into a sex-positive, judgment-free, shame-free zone to talk about anything and everything: sex, love, and dating. And then it was like, 'Well, the stories are only one minute long. How can I expand this space?'"
They explain, "It felt like a podcast would be the right medium to expand the conversations and have some deeper dives into the topics that people were messaging me about."
Goodman says that "f*ck boys, breakups, anal, and blowjobs" were all recurring themes that came up on their original Instagram series.
"My Messy Mondays was solidified because I told people how to give a better blowjob to bigger d*cks," Goodman explains. "So they dubbed it the BKGY — the Brandon Kyle Goodman Yawn — and had it put on Urban Dictionary. And here we are, four years later, with a podcast to keep teaching people how to suck d*ck and eat ass and all the things that we should have learned in sex education… but did not!"
A part of iHeartMedia's Outspoken Podcast Network, the Tell Me Something Messy podcast series gives Goodman an even bigger platform to let loose and dive deep into different topics with celebrity guests and actual sexual wellness experts. "I want varying points of views," they highlight. "I want people's personal views to merge with expert advice."
Goodman elaborates, "My favorite episodes have been the ones where I have a guest and we get to interview one of the doctors or therapists together, which is always exciting. When we build an episode, I always ask the guests, 'What do [you] want to talk about?' Sex is already uncomfortable and vulnerable, so I want to create a safe space. If the guest has a say in what we're talking about or what we're exploring, it's just so much more fun."
"It's been great to just experience the range; to be able to laugh at the top of our lungs, and then have moments that are a little more tender, and also get some tips," Goodman reflects. "I just interviewed Dr. Evan Goldstein and learned all about anal Botox. I just feel like that information should be out there."
We're gonna have to agree on that one!
Goodman also believes that their experiences writing on Big Mouth were helpful to the new podcast. "That was such incredible gig for me because we were spending eight hours a day, five days a week, talking about sex, and sexuality and sexual orientation, and puberty. It just normalized it to the point where I would go out and have conversations, and people would look at me crazy. I'm like, 'Oh, right, y'all don't be talking about sex all day like this,'" they laugh.
Goodman is also proud of Big Mouth tackled the comedy surrounding those topics. "We were always so intentional about making sure that we weren't making fun of people," Goodman says. "Every community we were talking about were in on the jokes and in on the conversations."
"I feel like things [in the sexual wellness space] can either be very clinical and very dry, or they can be really raunchy, and sometimes the raunchy is fun, but it can alienate people," Goodman muses. "When I set out to start the podcast and was entering the sexual wellness space, I really wanted to make sure that our space was fully inclusive. The jokes, and the punch lines, aren't to shame anyone. They aren't to make anyone feel awkward."
Goodman adds that their intention was always to "show you the reality of what people are actually experiencing, and be vulnerable with you, and find the humor and the heart in it… but it's based on vulnerability. Like, 'You're not alone in this. That weird thing you're experiencing? Yeah, it's weird for me too.'"
The Tell Me Something Messy podcast features a wide range of celebrity guests and experts, from Taylor Tomlinson to Katya Zamolodchikova to Dr. Emily Nagoski to Ts Madison. Goodman also has a Substack for Messy Mondays — and, looking ahead, they're interested in touring with the podcast and filming live episodes for the show.
"I'm building this out through many different mediums to really talk about sex, and sexuality, and pleasure, and how to love ourselves best, and how to love ourselves better," Goodman says. Preach, BKG… PREACH!
Listen to new episodes of Tell Me Something Messy With Brandon Kyle Goodman every Thursday via all podcast streaming services.