HypomaniaContent

Dan Savage is a sex advice superstar. College campuses are filled with kids having sex – sorry folks, but it’s not just studying that’s getting done in the library nowadays. MTV likes shows about young people and sex – “Jersey Shore,” “The Real World,” “16 And Pregnant,” to name just a few. So when Savage, creator of the “It Gets Better” anti-bullying campaign and whose Savage Love column runs in alt-weeklies around the country, arrived at the network to pitch an idea for a sex advice show, he found a receptive audience.

Dan Savage doesn’t just answer questions. Dan Savage doesn’t just offer advice. Dan Savage tells you what you don’t want to hear, when you don’t want to hear it and in words that would give your dear old grammy a heart attack.

At what point did you decide to branch out into radio, TV, speaking tours, etc? Were those ventures deliberate moves on your part or did other outlets just start coming to you?
The person I’m doing the television show with, Brian Pines of Hypomania Content, he was trying to get a meeting with me for two years before I would have lunch with him. And even then, he had to fly up to Seattle to meet with me — I wasn’t going to fly down to L.A. I’m too lazy and self-hating and self-loathing to run around in circles and saying, “They ought to put me on television.” Brian had to convince me to go out there and do this, and I’m glad that he managed to do that.

Sex columnist and It Gets Better founder Dan Savage fronts a new MTV series that aims to generate a frank, on-going dialogue with America’s youth about sex. For Savage U, Dan travels to college campuses across the country and speaking with the matriculating masses about everything from masturbating to motherhood. And thanks to Dan’s signature sense of humor, the emotional walls typically erected by teens when it comes to talking about sex with elders are quickly demolished, leaving only honesty behind.

Dan Savage has made a career offering advice on relationships and sex in his nationally-syndicated column, “Savage Love.” Now he’s taking his act on the road for his new show, Savage U, in which he travels to college campuses across the country giving students advice on sex and relationships.

Last week Dan Savage, America’s reigning sexpert—who has a weekly sex advice column “Savage Love,” a highly successful podcast, as well as being the co-founder of the It Gets Better campaign—premiered Savage U on MTV. The show whisks Savage to college campuses across the nation (the first is University of Maryland), answering questions in auditoriums, dorm rooms, health centers, and even at frat parties, while delivering zingers, like: “Frat boys are like sailors, they’re never as hot in reality as they are in your imagination.” We caught up with the man know for his scathing wit and wide-ranging knowledge to see how he keeps such a manic schedule, what it’s like to hang out with teenage boys, and if he can ever be shocked these days. The second episode airs April 10 at 11 p.m. on MTV.

Dan Savage knows first-hand the struggles of coming out to your friends and family. He announced he was gay to his Irish Catholic, Chicago-based family in the early 1980s and described the experience as if he was “walking into a buzzsaw.” “It was the 80s, it was AIDS. You couldn’t have designed the worst coming out scenario than the situation I found myself in with my family. Luckily they valued human beings over dogma, just like they rejected what the Catholic Church said about birth control,” Savage bluntly said to HealthPop. Savage is using his own personal experience and his years of spouting off sometimes scandalous, yet brutally honest advice on dating, sex and relationships on his new MTV show “Savage U.”

As the author of the sex and relationship advice column, “Savage Love,” Dan Savage knows the importance of initiating open and honest conversations about sex. Now, he’s bringing his signature brand of candid discourse to television. The new MTV series Savage U follows Dan as he visits colleges around the country and offers advice to students on sex, dating, and responsibility. Each episode explores the unique campus culture at a difficult college, and documents students’ conversations with Dan as they sit down one-on-one with him and ask him their most personal and pressing questions. Dan, who created the It Gets Better Project to convey to LGBT youth that their lives and levels of happiness will improve with time, offers solace to students who are struggling to define and express their sexual identities. We sat down with Dan and spoke to him about the college hookup scene, the pressures on young women, and what shocked him when filming the show.

As part his new MTV series Savage U, renowned sex advice columnist Dan Savage and his producer Lauren Hutchinson traveled across the country to talk sex, love, and relationships with college students. Why am I so pants-wetting excited about Savage U? Because I know it won’t be just another MTV show about sex. Even if you don’t know Dan Savage, you may have heard of a few of his contributions to society: The “It Gets Better” Project, the terms (WARNING: Nothing with Savage is safe for work) “pegging,” “DTMFA,” “GGG,” and—especially relevant this election—the frothy, alternative definition for Rick Santorum.

Tonight at 11 p.m. is the premiere of MTV’s “Savage U,” the half-hour series in which Dan Savage, sex advice columnist and founder of the It Gets Better Project, travels to 12 colleges and universities across the country and talks to young folks about sex and relationships. Given his experience — he’s been doling out straight-forward advice for 20 years — and hilariously honest approach, “Savage U” is sure to have a refreshing, entertaining, and most of all important impact on the way mainstream television addresses sex and dating. I was lucky enough to talk to Dan about the show, what most surprised him about the sex lives of college students, and whether he thinks he’ll still be dishing it out in another 20 years. Check out our Q&A after the jump!