Hunx And His Punx are a modern day Supremes—with a few twists, of course. As Hunx, Seth Bogart has Diana Ross star power, raging pipes, and a totally cool skinny moustache. His Punkettes have style, sass, and mad skills. Together, they’ve made Too Young To Be In Love, available now on Hardly Art. With songs like “Lovers Lane” and “Bad Boy,” Bogart takes traditional doo-wop, modernizes it, and kicks the sleaze up a notch.
In fact, Bogart’s into sleaze beyond his own records. He’s a hilarious Twitter user, and a huge fan of trashy TV like RuPaul’s Drag Race and anything Kardashian-related. In preparation for both sweeps season and Hunx And His Punx’s show May 7 at Hi-Dive, The A.V. Club talked to Bogart about all his favorites.
The A.V. Club: What trashy TV are you into these days?
Seth Bogart: I love TLC’s My Strange Addiction. They had this episode where this girl couldn’t stop sleeping with a blow dryer on. There’s another where a woman eats Comet cleaner every day, like 10 times a day, for 20 years. Then she has to get all new teeth.
AVC: Wasn’t there one where a girl can’t stop eating toilet paper?
SB: That one scared me. I could relate to it.
AVC: What? How?
SB: I could see getting really into something like that. I don’t know why.
AVC: What’s your all-time favorite strange addiction?
SB: I think it’s the blow dryer one. It was really crazy. She couldn’t stop. She was addicted to sleeping next to a blow dryer. I think she was like … I don’t know, maybe soothed by it? She couldn’t stop, and her daughter got hooked too. It’s extremely dangerous to do that. You could die.
Just the way it was filmed was really beautiful too. It’s like a scary movie that they show kids in junior high. It was so good. I love re-enactments. We’re doing a TV show, and we’re going to do some on our show.
AVC: What else do you like? You talk about RuPaul’s Drag Race a lot on Twitter.
SB: That’s my favorite.
AVC: Why?
SB: First of all, they eliminate all the white people first, which is cool. They’re never as funny or look as good. Second, drag queens are the ultimate cast for a competition reality show. I love that it combines Project Runway and America’s Next Top Model, because if I have to see another episode of either of those shows, I’d rather kill myself. I love that it puts them together, because that makes it actually exciting.
AVC: Who’s your favorite contestant?
SB: It fluctuates. I’m glad Shangela’s gone though. I’m starting to kind of like Raja. I hated her forever though.
AVC: Do you ever wonder how they pack for that show? Like, why bring a Native American headdress, and a birthday-themed outfit, and something army-related?
SB: They must tell them in advance, right? Maybe. I would love to know what goes into preparing for that show.
Oh, I also like Yara Sofia.
AVC: I’m not feeling her.
SB: Is it because of her creepy contacts? She’s so funny though, when they have to make exercise tapes and news videos.
AVC: Who do you think’s going to win?
SB: I think Raja might win.
AVC: If you had to lip-synch for your life, like the contestants at the end of the show, what song would you want to do?
SB: I would probably want to do a Donny Osmond song or a creepy children’s song. Do you remember that song by Jordy, the singing French baby? That’s what I’d do. I wonder how old that guy is now. I’d like to see what he looks like.
AVC: You love the Kardashians, right?
SB: I watch them sometimes. I do like the show, though. I’m into that guy Scott.
AVC: Really? He seems like a sociopath.
SB: I just got into him. He’s like the worst person, obviously, and I hated him so much, but I got into him when he protected Kim at that club in Las Vegas. Kourtney got all pissed at him for getting in a fight, but it’s cool that he stood up for her.
AVC: A lot of people hate Khloé. Do you?
SB: Not at all. I hate their stupid younger sisters that are nobodies. Kris is a creep, too. I wish they would make a show about celebrity moms, and put them all in a house. Like, Lindsay Lohan’s mom, Kris, Britney’s mom.
AVC: That’s an incredible idea. They could do Celebrity Rehab-type stuff like washing dishes at a homeless shelter.
SB: They could do charity work. I would love that. Or they could, like, have to go to parenting school.
AVC: Do you watch any of that stuff on VH1 like You’re Cut Off? That’s kind of what that’s like.
SB: I thought I’d get into it, but I’m too old for MTV and VH1 now.
AVC: How old are you?
SB: Thirty. I watch Jersey Shore, but … I don’t know. I watched so much VH1 that I’m kind of over it now, or something. I know it sounds weird.
I did see an episode of Married To Rock that was really good, though. They were at Lollapalooza. Perry Farrell is so gross, and his wife looks like a monkey.
AVC: Do you like Jersey Shore?
SB: I live for Snooki. She’s so cute. I love her so much. I love JWoww too. I can’t believe she’s in a relationship.
AVC: Do you have a justification to yourself about watching bad TV, like “cultural anthropology” or something, or is it just mindless fun for you?
SB: I have zero morals about television. I just want to be entertained. People get so uptight about all that stuff. But who cares? If you don’t want to watch trash, go read a book.
One time, me and Shannon [Shaw], who’s in our band, got in trouble because we were supposed to be at practice, but we couldn’t stop watching Bad Girls Club.
AVC: Do you like that show?
SB: Uh, are you kidding? It’s just so stupid. I love it. If I could be on any show, I think I’d want to be on Bad Girls Club.
AVC: Your publicist told me he’s trying to get you on as a judge on Drag Race.
SB: He’s delusional. I think one percent of people who watch that show would know who I am. I want to be on so bad, though. I guess you never know.
AVC: So what’s your show about? Is it trashy?
SB: It’s a variety show, and it’s mostly sketch comedy. We have a gay judge section that’s like Judge Judy called “Judge Barry,” and that’s where we do re-enactments. The first episode is about this drag queen friend of ours who was at another friend’s house at a party. She was wasted and saw a wig sitting on the countertop, so she stuck it in a blender and turned it on. It turned into this huge controversy in San Francisco. So, that’s in our first episode.
There’s also an outer-space phone-sex commercial. We made all these weird inventions, and we make commercials for them. There are some musical acts too.
AVC: Is it going to be on TV or online?
SB: I think it’s going to start online at the end of summer or beginning of fall. It’s just two of us making it, and we don’t really know what we’re doing, so everything takes forevs. I’m going on tour forever, too—and then my friend Brandy does makeup and TV for movies, she has to go to Europe, so we can’t work on it again until July. We’re really into it, though.