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Podcast host and syndicated columnist Dan Savage recently added a new piece to his advice media empire with the premiere of his MTV series “Savage U.”
The show follows Savage and his trusty producer Lauren Hutchinson as they travel across the United States answering college students’ romance questions.
During a conference call, the two hosts revealed some of what the show has in store for national audiences this spring. From the tender to the kinky, the show attempts to address the full range of sexual conundrums affecting campuses everywhere.
“At University of California, Irvine, we got the most questions like ‘How do I tell a girl that I think is cute that I think she’s cute?’ They can’t even take that first step.” Savage said. “Sometimes at like Cornell — even at Ohio — there were a few more show-offy questions. People would ask questions and try to shock me or communicate to everyone in the room that they’re having a crazy sex life.”
“There were other places that kind of had junior-varsity level questions and those were more like ‘How do I approach a girl?’ ‘How do I get a boyfriend?’” Hutchinson said. “So there were definitely differences that I noticed.”
Like the anonymous advice-seekers of Savage’s column, the queries on “Savage U” range from the cute to kinky.
“Schools on the East Coast tended to have varsity level questions. At Cornell we got questions like ‘How do I tie someone up?’ or ‘How do we have a threesome the right way?’” Hutchinson said.
“I often think that the really simple [questions] were more likely to be genuine,” Savage said.
“Not that the crazy ones weren’t absolutely genuine. I certainly asked crazy questions when I was in college,” Savage said. “But when someone’s asking ‘How do I ask someone out on a date?’ no one’s showing off. No one’s bragging when they ask a question like that.”
Savage’s podcast and column have long advocated LGBT causes. The columnist emphasized his role on the show would be no less helpful for the cause, despite “Savage U” not always answering questions related to queer issues.
“Queer has always been a part of Savage Love, even when the answers aren’t queer-specific or address queer letter-writers,” Savage said.
“Queer is totally a part of ‘Savage U.’ Even sometimes when I’m talking with straight kids I’ll tell them, ‘You know, here’s something from gay land you may want to adopt.’ An approach, an attitude an idea about sex or relationships that is prevalent among homos that I think should be adopted by straight people,” Savage said.
“One of the things that got talked about constantly was something that all gay encounters begin with, which is ‘What are you into?’ which doesn’t always happen,” he said. “Nothing is assumed when same-sexers hook up.”
The show premiered April 3 and showed Savage with Hutchinson wandering around the University of Maryland campus asking delightfully invasive questions that brought up interesting issues present throughout America’s colleges.
For people who have followed either Savage’s column or podcast over the years, the show may seem like a review session. But the show offers an interesting twist to sex advice by removing the anonymity of clever acronym-ready aliases.
Part of Savage’s goal is to encourage the kind of open sexuality shown in “Savage U.”
“When I first started writing ‘Savage Love,’ there seemed to be a way people wrote about sex,” Savage said. “That was everyone affirming what everybody else thought what everyone else ought to be doing, even if everyone knew it wasn’t what everyone else was doing.”
“What I wanted to do with Savage Love was write about it the way my friends talked about it,” Savage said.
While often crass and sometimes brutally blunt, Savage gives students the kind of advice that hurts but provides helpful insight.
“Where is the end-piece so that I know when I’ve won?” a student asked after voicing her frustration with the dating game.
“The grave,” Savage frankly replied. “You’ll know that you’ve won the game when your husband dies.”
The questions go in many directions. Those wondering about female ejaculation, proper masturbation or many other relationship issues may find “Savage U” to be thought-provoking, entertaining and even helpful.
“We hope to do another season. That’s up to the powers that be at MTV. Hopefully, the show will be well-received and we’ll get to do it again,” Savage said. “Our dream, though, is to do ‘Savage U: Year Abroad’ and tour colleges in Europe.”
New episodes of Savage U air Tuesdays at 11 PM ET / 10 PM CT on MTV.
Editor’s note: Due to a copy error, the station and time of Savage U episodes were incorrect. The text has been updated to reflect the correction.
