Joel Kim Booster, writer of the 2022 gay comedy Fire Island, recently appeared on a podcast to reflect upon his own sexually supercharged Fire Island experiences.
The actor and comedian previously spoke about how the concept for the Fire Island film was took inspiration from an actual trip he had to the gay hotspot, during which he brought along a copy of Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice.
“I was reading it there with Bowen [Yang], and it just sort of clicked for me,” he told Vanity Fair last year.
“I turned to him and was like ‘I should write Pride and Prejudice set on Fire Island. Wouldn’t that be so funny?’”
Now, Joel has appeared on docu-podcast Finding Fire Island, to dive into the dirtier details of what this gay-cation entailed.
Eating cake by the ocean
In the episode, Joel appears alongside co-star Matt Rogers, where the two each recall the wildest thing they’ve witnessed while visiting Fire Island.
“I’ve been to a 200+ person orgy on the island, and there’s nothing like watching a bunch of guys get railed as the sun is coming up over the ocean,” Joel says.
“The amount of sex and sex acts that I’ve seen on that island in public, in front of an audience, is sort of wild.
“I don’t know what it is about Fire Island that unlocks people’s inhibitions a little bit.”
Matt goes on to echo these sentiments, recalling the less thrilling moments of his own trip.
“There was also a time I ate ass on the beach and then got really sick,” he confesses.
“So it’s not a place you want to eat ass and get some sort of ass-eating related disease on the beach,” Matt continues.
“It’s so funny because you’re like, ‘Wow, I’ve never felt so alive,’ and then I’ve never felt so dead.”
The beauty of public sex
Joel went on to describe how the island’s atmosphere can be transformative for some, saying “the beauty and nature of it all is so magnetic and captivating.”
“A lot of people who are buttoned up year-round go there and are like: ‘Sure, I’ll get railed in public’.”
The Finding Fire Island podcast aims to chart how Fire Island has become the queer hotspot it is today, exploring everything from “The Invasion of the Pines” to historic visits to the island from Madonna and Liza Minelli.
Listen to a clip of the episode below.
