LARB Radio Hour: Bryan Fogel’s "Icarus" Has the Dope on Putin; Plus Tom Atwood’s LGBTQ Home Pics

Bryan Fogel discusses his astonishing new film "Icarus," a tale of friendship, heroism, and suspense, which also happens to prove beyond a reasonable doubt the dishonesty and corruption of Vladimir Putin’s regime.

By LARB Radio HourSeptember 1, 2017

Bryan Fogel joins co-hosts Kate Wolf and Medaya Ocher to discuss his astonishing new film Icarus, which belongs on a shortlist of documentaries that fortuitously capture history in the making. The film began as an exposé on Fogel as a guinea pig taking performance enhancing drugs in preparation for a major cross-country bike race. However, the specialist who is assisting Bryan backs down and hands Bryan over to the head of Russia’s “anti-doping” team, Dr. Grigory Rodchenkov, who is, in fact, the mastermind behind Russia’s massive national doping program. Rodchenkov decides he's had enough and turns to Bryan to protect him, and assist in blowing the whistle on the biggest doping scandal in history. Icarus is a tale of friendship, heroism, and suspense, which also happens to prove beyond a reasonable doubt the dishonesty and corruption of Vladimir Putin’s regime. Also, LARB Radio’s own Eric Newman drops by to recommend Tom Atwood’s new photography book Kings and Queens in Their Castles, which portrays 160 LGBTQ subjects in their homes.