Break out that "Babette eats oatmeal" shirt, dudes. Don't hide your love of Gilmore Girls in the closet. You never had to, but you really can stop now that the Gilmore Guys are bring the live version of their namesake podcast to Dallas.
Gilmore Girls, the quintessential 2000s show about the relationships between mothers and their daughters, reentered the collective consciousness in October 2014 when the series was released on Netflix. That same day, Kevin Porter and Demi Adejuyigbe dropped the first episode of the Gilmore Guys podcast.
While The Gilmore Guys are not related nor do they have the same name like Lorelei and Rory, however they are both graduates of the University of Texas-Austin's Radio-Television-Film program with deep Texas ties. Porter is originally from Tulsa, but grew up in Houston and Adejuyigbe is a Plano native.
They moved to Los Angeles to pursue their careers after graduation, Porter in 2009 and Adejuyigbe in 2013, and connected through seeing shows at Upright Citizens Brigade.
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The Gilmore magic began when Porter posted on Facebook hypothetically asking if anyone would want to co-host a podcast called Gilmore Guys. Adejuyigbe commented, "I'm in."
A few direct messages and a lunch later, it was settled: They would make a podcast that analyzed every episode from all seven seasons of Gilmore Girls.
Porter watched the show during its original run on the WB and now brings a fan-perspective to the podcast. Adejuyigbe watches each episode for the first time ever before they record that particular episode of Gilmore Guys.
"I bring a perspective of someone who is more modern in their thoughts," Adejuyigbe said. "There are certain things in 2015 that I believe about characters that I might have looked the other way on in 2000."
The Guys release two podcasts per week packed with analysis, musical numbers and special guests. With each episode, Porter said, they are building a community around enjoying a TV show together.
Segments like "Pop Goes the Culture," where they take every pop culture reference and put them in a supercut, and the analysis of the WB episode promo differentiate the podcast from others.
Adejuyigbe said it is sometimes difficult to be critical of a show that takes itself too lightly. "Gilmore Girls is just serious enough so we can discuss it and the comedy in the show too."
The podcast's tone matches the show which allows Porter and Adejuyigbe to crack jokes while drilling down on the subtleties of the plot and the depth of the relationships.
"It was important to us to go a little deeper and have a critical view," Porter said.
The response to the podcast has been overwhelming — millions have subscribed. The Dallas performance will be the duo's 15th live-show since the began touring in April 2015. All but one of the previous shows have sold out.
So how did two relatively unknown guys interested in comedy reach such great heights?
"It feels like a moment of timing at the center of the unpredicted firestorm of Gilmore," Porter said.
Porter said they went into creating the podcast with extremely low expectations. An overwhelming success would have been 1,000 subscribers. The joy was in being able to craft the podcast to be whatever they wanted it to be.
They never could have planned for all of the interest and attribute their success to the zeitgeist-nature of the podcast, Porter said.
The work is not lucrative in itself, both of the Guys have day jobs. Porter works as a freelance editor and spends about 30 hours a week on Gilmore Guys. Adejuyigbe works as a digital producer on @Midnight, an improv comedy game show on Comedy Central.
The Guys are quickly running out of Gilmore Girls episodes. Will they pick apart another long-running television show for a podcast? They have no plans for it right now, but Porter said he has really enjoyed podcasting as a medium and wouldn't count out doing another show.
"After doing the show and touring and getting such a great response from our audience it has inspired me to keep pursuing my career in an industry that makes it seem impossible," Porter said. "You don’t know what you’re capable of or what will resonate."
Does this mean men can admit that they watch Gilmore Girls?
Porter and Adejuyigbe said that men should feel empowered to like Gilmore Girls not because of some grand statement about gender, but because it is good television.
"I feel like everything now has a hook to it," Adejuyigbe said. "Gilmore Girls didn't have that. The landscape of television [today] is one that you wouldn't be able to do Gilmore Girls, which is sad because I would totally watch it."
They've had male guests on the show who are mega fans and others who only watched the show for the first time and fell in love. Some male audience members come because their girlfriend or wife bought them a ticket, others will come up and talk to the Guys about little-known Stars Hollow townies.
"It is cool to see guys come out and it breaks down the preconceived notions of what a fandom looks like," Porter said.
Gendered entertainment in general is decreasing, albeit slowly, and that is reflected in audiences. Porter said that the audiences at Gilmore Guys live-shows are far from all female, they are more like a 65-35 women-to-men ratio.
"If you're a guy, you don't have to be into Star Wars and superheroes," Porter said. "If something is good, it is just good. It doesn't matter who it is for."
Which of Rory's boyfriends do the Gilmore Guys support?
A crucial question that comes up in literally any discussion of Gilmore Girls is if you're a supporter of Dean, Jess or Logan, Rory Gilmore's three boyfriends from the show.
Porter said while he enjoys watching Logan, if he is given the choice Jess or Dean, he has to go with Jess.
"Jess looks like Bruce Springsteen circa 1974, and he's not an adulterer as far as we know."
Adejuyigbe on the other hand would prefer that Rory ended up with none of the men in the show.
"I truly, truly believe that they all kind of suck and they suck in different ways. If we are supposed to like Rory, then we have to believe she can do better than them."
However, if he was forced to pick, he said he'd choose Jess because of who he makes Rory become.
"With Jess she is standing up for herself and she is becoming more assertive. He was the bad boy, but she learned that she didn't need him to be successful."
What can you expect in Dallas?
DALLAS! The episode we'll be covering at our 12/27 show is 601 - New and Improved Lorelai!
— Gilmore Guys (@GilmoreGuysShow) December 20, 2015
They will be covering the Season 6 premiere titled "New and Improved Lorelei."
"Hopefully a good time, fun and merriment for all," Porter said. "We will do some fun musical stuff for the holidays and some special guests there. We will be covering the Season 6 premiere, which as Gilmore Fans know, is pretty pivotal."
Naturally, since the Guys will be performing in their home state, their mom's will be in the audience at the Texas Theatre show.
"Our moms are both coming for a show that is all about mothers and daughters," Porter said.
