John Waters, 'Pope of Trash,' turns 80!

Fresh Air

NPR

Arts, Society & Culture, Books, Tv & Film

4.3 • 36.1K Ratings

🗓️ 17 April 2026

⏱️ 47 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

We celebrate the 80th birthday of the filmmaker known as ‘The Pope of Trash’ and ‘The Prince of Puke,’ John Waters. He's spent a career violating taboos and pushing boundaries. His films include the cult classic ‘Pink Flamingos’ and the relatively mainstream ‘Hairspray,’ which was adapted into a hit Broadway musical. He spoke with Terry Gross in 2014 and 2019.

See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for sponsorship and to manage your podcast sponsorship preferences.

NPR Privacy Policy

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0	This is Fresh Air. I'm David Bion Cooley. The multimedia artist John Waters has spent his life
0:06.4	being a champion of outsiders, redefining norms, and celebrating individuality and eccentricity. His career
0:13.8	path has gone from outrageously standards-defying filmmaker to popular, avuncular TV host and elder statesman of bizarre pop culture.
0:23.9	His 80th birthday is next week on Earth Day, April 22nd, and we're taking time today to celebrate
0:30.3	John Waters. Waters was born in Baltimore, Maryland in 1946, and filmed most of his movies there.
0:40.3	As a teenager, one of his best friends was Glenn Milstead, an actor, singer, and drag queen, who, in his drag persona, went by the name
0:46.9	Divine. Waters cast Divine in his early underground films Mondo Trasho in 1969, and multiple mediacs in 1970, and cast
0:57.8	Divine again as the star of their big breakthrough film, Pink Flamingos, in 1972.
1:04.1	The plot of that film had people competing for the title of Filthiest Person Alive, and it was a
1:09.9	robust, sometimes scatological competition.
1:13.0	These are obviously jealous of our careers, of all of our press.
1:17.2	Why else would they sign that the filthiest people live?
1:20.0	Everyone knows that that title has become my trademark.
1:22.7	Why do you use it in this way only to insinuate that they are filthier than I?
1:26.7	How could anyone seriously believe that? How could anyone are filthier than I. How could anyone seriously believe that?
1:28.8	How could anyone be filthier than Divine? Divine also co-starred in the movie that brought
1:33.5	waters into the mainstream, 1988's Hairspray, in which Ricky Lake played a dance-obsessed teen in
1:40.5	1962 Baltimore. When she performs on a local TV show,
1:45.4	her parents watch in bed
1:47.0	disapproving of some of the other contestants.
1:50.0	The mom is played by Divine,
1:52.0	the dad by Jerry Stiller,
	...

Please login to see the full transcript.

Previous episode | Next episode

Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from NPR, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.

Generated transcripts are the property of NPR and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.