Sacramento bail bondsman a ‘Dudeoir’ sensation

Joshua Varozza dreamed of being famous. He figured his sense of humor or beard would be his ticket. Instead, it was his generous use of his generously-proportioned body that has the internet buzzing.

Varozza is a ‘Dudeoir’ sensation.

Dudeoir, sometimes spelled dudoir, is a male boudoir photo spread. In recent years, men have posed on horseback and in hardhats to display their masculine femininity.

Varozza’s shoot is “The Dudeoir Photo Shoot To End All Dudeoir Photo Shoots,” The Huffington Post’s headline declared.

Shot by El Dorado County photographer Tami Bears, the Varozza spread shows the tattooed and thick-bearded man draped over a classic truck, pouring a pail of water over himself and wrapped in an American flag.

The Huffington Post story has been shared 3,500 times since it was posted Friday. The Cosmopolitan piece has been shared 7,700 times. Posted as “The God Bless America ‘Dudeoir’ Country Collection” Monday on Bears’ Facebook page, the collection has been shared 1,220 times.

“Tami called me us and said, ‘Let’s do a dudeoir patriotic photo shoot,’ and I’m like, ‘The sooner the better. Let’s do this.’ We took some photos and thinking they would not be that big, and the next thing you know the UK is showing my photos. I’m in France. Who knew I just had to get in my underpants?” said Varozza, a Sacramento bondsman who lives in Shingle Springs.

“It’s nutty. I’m having a hard time processing it,” said Varozza, 32. “Tami thought I was the poster child for masculinity and foothill and hillbilly.”

Varozza and Bears aren’t the King and Queen of Dudeoir yet. In May, photographer Masika Allan’s cowboy-themed collection featuring family friend Patrick Barry took the internet by storm.

Varozza said he’s always been a ham and has been involved in theater since he was a child. He said doing the dudeeoir photo shoot was right up his alley.

“It was a little uncomfortable at first taking my overalls off. But I just thought, ‘You know what man, what’s the big deal, everyone knows what a dude looks like, lets show them what a real man looks like,” Varozza said.

Bears is also enjoying the splash of notoriety, even if her wedding photography business is keeping her too busy to respond to all the media requests. She was unable to respond to this publication.

“My whole newsfeed has been depressing the past week because of the Orlando shooting and people who hate Trump or hate Hillary,” Bears told The Huffington Post. “I thought, ‘Let’s do a spoof of pin-ups.’ ”

Varozza said they thought about posing with guns, but in the wake of the Orlando mass shooting thought it would turn too many people away.

“American just needs to smile. They need to laugh a little and if its at my expense, then I’m totally into it. Let’s do it over and over again. We’re going through such a tough time in the states,” Varozza said. “We have crappy politicians to choose from. We have crappy situations happening. Let’s just smile a little.”

This story was originally published June 18, 2016 at 6:10 PM with the headline "Sacramento bail bondsman a ‘Dudeoir’ sensation."