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RacketCast, Ep. 37: The Parkway Pervert Feat. John Waters

His prescription for these divided times? 'You have to make people laugh, then they'll listen, and then you have sex with 'em,' Waters says ahead of his Parkway Theater show.

10:58 AM CDT on October 31, 2025

Provided

Eternally cool director/author/personality John Waters—aka the “Pope of Trash” aka the “People's Pervert” aka the “Prince of Puke”—makes his triumphant return this Saturday to the Parkway Theater. That's where Waters, 79, will perform his new "Going to Extremes" show on a Minneapolis stage he has visited eight times in recent years—more like the "Parkway Pervert." Ahead of the gig we chatted about Walker Art Center glory holes, Coen bros friendship/fandom, fearing the Mall of America, and how, in 2025, nobody can take a freaking joke.

But first! Here are the stories we gabbed about during What I Learned In Racket...


This episode of RacketCast is brought to you by TPT's You Are Here: Wicked Minnehaha:

Subscribe to RacketCast wherever you get your podcasts—Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Pocket Casts, etc. • Wanna advertise on RacketCast? Email us at advertise@racketmn.com. • Have a food/drink, event, or show recommendation? How about a civic hot take? General or specific question? Call 619-RACKTIP (619-722-5847) with your first name + city + 3-min.-maximum voicemail, and we might play it on a future episode. • Special thanks to local band Van Stee for supplying our podcast music!

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