RomCom Love podcast to tape at YES fest

Mike Wolanin | The Republic Bonnie Boatwright, left, and Brittany Gray pose for a photo at Boatwright’s home where they record their podcast RomCom Love in Columbus, Ind., Sunday, Oct. 2, 2022.

What began as a simple bit of movie mirth has morphed into a breezy journey through love and laughter that has attracted tens of thousands of fans from as far away as Australia.

So it is for Columbus resident Bonnie Boatwright’s two-year-old podcast “RomCom Love,” where hearts beat to the rhythm of the Hollywood hybrid of flirtation and funniness.

The show, with a format of Boatwright’s fast-paced, shared chatter of a guest’s suggested romantic comedy from any period, will enjoy its 100th taping before a live audience at 7:30 p.m. Friday at the annual YES Film Festival at YES Cinema at 328 Jackson St. in downtown Columbus. The film to be shown and then discussed with theatergoers is “Something’s Gotta Give,” released in 2003 and starring Jack Nicholson and Diane Keaton.

This marks the third episode Boatwright has taped before YES viewers, who are welcome to offer their thoughts during the taping. Her initial foray into a travel podcast with husband David abruptly ended with the COVID-19 pandemic.

Then sprouted the idea for highlighting romantic comedies, very loosely defined.

“I started with no expectations,” Boatwright said, adding that she reached out to former local radio morning host Brittany Gray as her most frequent guest and sidekick. “This was meant to be just a fun activity — not any kind of serious movie exposé.”

Since September 2020, besides Gray, Boatwright has chatted it up with such well-known local residents and movie fans such as Elaine Hilber, Scott Benjamin, Bianca Snider, Kelly Benjamin, Cindy Frey and Diane Doup — all in the comfort of her home’s basement.

Gray has been a sidekick for 70 percent of the episodes and seems to be something of a seamless partner.

“Bonnie leans more toward the rom,” Gray said. “And I lean more toward the com. So I think we have a good balance.”

Early in the series of episodes, Gray confessed her unabashed love of “Dirty Dancing.” And they seemed to have, well, the time of their lives discussing it.

“It was like a stipulation (of doing this),” Gray said in the podcast. “If we can’t talk about ‘Dirty Dancing,’ I’m not in for any of this.”

No wonder. Nearly 20 years ago, Gray and a roommate watched the flick daily, and sometimes back-to-back-to-back, for goodness knows how long.

Boatwright and Gray are hardly traditionalists in these chats. For instance, their favorite scene of stars Patrick Swayze and Jennifer Grey has nothing to do with dancing — or even romance, technically.

Granted, Boatwright stretches or ditches the definition of comedy to fit some movies into the broadcasts. Hence, flicks such as “The Sound of Music” make fabulous fodder for discussions with guests such as Diane Doup of the Lincoln-Central Neighborhood Family Center.

“I remember as a child laying on the floor at home watching this as a family,” Doup says in the podcast, citing it as a longtime favorite. ” … It’s filled with sweetness.”

Podcasts length run from 30 minutes to about an hour. She edits each taping for the most lively pacing.

“I think that what listeners like most is that we’re positive,” Boatwruight said. “I know that some other podcasts are there to make fun of romcoms. But we’re trying to just have fun.”

People seem more than willing to be a part of the shows.

“It certainly hasn’t been hard to get people to agree to come on and talk,” Boatwright said.

Some of the show’s popularity leaves her slightly confounded — such as the presentation’s rank as the No. 1 movie podcast in Feb. 2021 — in Egypt, of all places. Plus, a woman from Australia told her she loved the show — and then became a guest, courtesy of Zoom.

“Unfortunately, I couldn’t make it to Australia,” she said with a laugh.

Boatwright also chuckled when someone told her they love the way she works a film’s trivia into each show.

“Hey,” she said. “I can Google with the best of them.”

Listen to the podcasts

You can catch “RomCom Love” podcast at https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/romcom-love/id1534152965.