On with Kara Swisher - The Man Taunting Mike Johnson, Ron DeSantis and George Santos

Episode Date: December 21, 2023

Randy Rainbow is a four-time Emmy and Grammy-nominated musical comedy sensation famous for his viral taunts of anti-LGBTQ+ politicians, hateful celebrities and, of course, George Santos. Rainbow (and, yes: that is his real name) talks about his approach to his work, his inspirations, and why he claims his videos aren’t political. Kara also asks Rainbow what “Elon the Musical” would sound like. Questions? Comments? Email us at [e-mail] or find us on social media. We’re on Instagram/Threads as @karaswisher and @nayeemaraza Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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Hi, everyone from New York Magazine and the Vox Media Podcast Network. This is On with Kara Swisher, and I'm Kara Swisher. And I'm Naeem Araza. This is our last interview of the year, Kara. Yep. We wanted to make it a fun one. And I feel like you're so excited for this guest. Yeah.

Who is the Emmy and Grammy-nominated comedian, the New York Times bestselling author, Randy Rainbow. Yeah, I'm a big fan of political satire, and this guy is really funny. He's done a really nice job. He obviously has a point of view. He's very liberal. But I think he does these wonderful videos. They were on Twitter before on X, and now they're all over the place.

And I've always liked political satirists, and I think they're funny, going all the way back to Mark Twain. But, you know, I like them, and I think he's fantastic, and he uses a lot of graphics and very clever songs. And he borrows from famous songs to make songs about people. And I just really enjoy him. He had this great George Santos video recently. Life's a Fucking Fantasy for Santos. Yes. Spoof mashup of Mary Poppins. But he first went viral in 2010.

His format is really interesting. He uses the splicing technique. He went viral the first time when Mel Gibson was having the fallout for his extremely problematic, terrible racist rants to his girlfriend. When those were leaked, Randy used those and spliced them up. He basically made it seem as though he and Mel Gibson were in conversation. And he titled that video, Randy Rainbow is dating Mel Gibson, which probably was just kind of the medicine Mel Gibson needed at that moment. Yeah, he's very funny. He's very puckish, I guess you'd call him. He's very saucy. And I think one of the things is every now and then he gets a really, he's really making political

commentary. And I think that's why I like him. Some political satirists aren't as sharp as he is. And he really is. He really gets to the heart of things. He's also, you know, he's very gay, you know, so that's a sort of tradition of the Harvey Fierstein kind of personality, who I love, too. But, you know, he's, or RuPaul, you could mix him up with a lot of people who are just very funny commentators in society while at the same time putting on a show. Yes, and he has like all things comedy needs to have impeccable timing. He really took off in 2016. He made a video about that first debate between Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump. And it was called braggadocious.

Yeah. Spinning off of supercalifragilisticexpialidocious. Expellidocious. Yes. And within hours, he had millions of views. And that's when he took off in that moment. He has a staying power. A lot of these things can come and go, a lot of these satirists online especially. And he really has a staying power. He works really hard. That's one thing you can see. And again, it's always super enjoyable.

It's very smart. It's very sharp. You know, and he's jumped into live. I mean, he's become, he's a really multimedia kind of guy who started online. And that doesn't always happen. And surprisingly, he's had, given his politics, he's had lots of conservative fans over the year who still show up, he says, to his events, which is fantastic to hear. And I'm very interested to hear his take on why that happens.

Maybe they're not all satisfied with Greg Gottfeld of our Fox. No, people like to laugh at themselves. Yeah, he's not as funny as Reindeer is. But, you know, I think a lot of people can make fun of themselves. So I've always enjoyed stuff like this and spent a lot of time watching it. So it's a real pleasure. And I wanted to end something that's serious and yet silly at the same time. Yeah, silly and timely.

It'll come back, it seems. serious and yet silly at the same time. Yeah, silly and timely. He'll come back, it seems. And he is a great example of someone who has benefited from the democratization of comedy. But we're here not to talk about that, but funny things after this break. We'll be back with Randy Rainbow. Fox Creative.

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It is on. Welcome, Randy Rainbow. You were actually the one guest I wanted to have to finish out 2023. For people who don't know you, obviously we're going to get into what you do and everything you do. I don't want to talk about those people. Let's not talk about those people.

All right, go ahead. Okay, but your name is your name. People think it's like a gay name, right? That you've decided to come up with a big old gay name or a stage name. Tell me the origin of Rainbow. It's German. It's German, correct? It's German.

I got to get a copy of my book. Okay. All right. I know the word. I actually speak German. Well, Regenbogen was the original name. Regenbogen is Rainbow. Yeah.

It's a whole thing. You have to read chapter one of my book. But it was originally Regenbogen. Regenbogen is rainbow. Yeah, it's a whole thing. You have to read chapter one of my book. But it was originally Regenbogen translated to rainbow. So it wasn't like an Ellis Island kind of switcheroo. I was not Rabinowitz, as many people think. Right, right. And so it was Regenbogen, which does mean rainbow. I took German in college, and the first sentence I did is,

Mein Regenschirm ist kaputt, which means my umbrella is broken. It sounded much dirtier than that. Well, everything in German sounds dirty or violent or something like that. But in fact, your great-grandparents fled anti-Jewish violence. And you grew up in Florida, is that correct? Yeah, I don't like to talk about it usually, but I will, yes, I will cop to that. Yeah, I was born on Long Island, and then we moved to South. Which I can hear in your voice.

I know, because when I say Florida, it's with an A. I grew up in Roslyn Harbor, so. Okay. Yeah, I was born in Huntington Hospital, and then we moved to South Florida when I was about nine. And then I got the hell out of there as soon as I could at 21, five years ago. How dare you? But yeah, my whole family's from New York, you know, Brooklyn and the Bronx. So I never really, for many reasons, I never really felt like I fit in in South Florida because I was always

surrounded by very New York energy. Can you talk a little bit about being in South Florida as a young, obviously gay person. I was gay, I understood I was gay by the time I was four, I was a lesbian. What was the atmosphere like for you? I think I was very naive to my atmosphere. And I still, just until like three days ago, I've been naive to sort of the hatred for the of it, really, being a gay Jew in this world. I never felt like I fit in, and I was always kind of, I was just afraid of everything as a kid. So it never occurred to me that it was a result of my identity or anything like that. So it wasn't easy, but like you said, my mother, my grandmother, these very wonderful

women in my life, nanny. Nanny. So you write about them in your memoir. It's called Playing With Myself, which is, I wish, I have a book coming out and I now wish that was the title of my book. But your mother raised you in the musical theater. Mine did too, actually. I went to every show. Yeah, in New York. We were in the New York area, and so we went to show after show. But talk about your mom's influence on you in this way, musical theater. It has stuck with me my whole life, going to theater and being in the theater, especially musical theater. And you called it her, quote, gay agenda, which made me laugh. that it was her gay agenda and that she had every intention of raising the gayest son on the block. But I think it really just was her natural interest. You know, she grew up loving the theater. So she would always put me to sleep with the cast albums of Oklahoma and The Music Man and take me to see shows.

She put me in ballet at age six. So, you know, I was on the stage from a young age and it just, I don't know, it, you know, I don't have to tell you what musical theater does to, to a kid who has that kind of sensibility. It really just opened my imagination and a whole new world for me. So you did, you did a performance of Snow White and your mom helped you do that. I love that story. You did a performance of Snow White, and your mom helped you do that. I love that story. I was not in such a friendly environment family-wise. So talk a little bit about that, because what a, you know, this idea of your mom helping you be Snow White.

Yeah, I was obsessed with this thing that they showed on HBO. It was a recording of Snow White Live at Radio City, which was done in 79, and through the 80s, it was played on HBO, and I was obsessed with it. So I decided one day I wanted to put on a production of it in my backyard and invite all of the neighborhood and their kids to be my supporting cast. And, of course, I decided that I would play the lead in Snow White. It never entered my mind that I would be anything other than Snow White.

The hunter. It wasn't. The hunter. There was a hunter in it, remember? Two lines he has. Yeah, right. And not even a singing role. And not a dwarf. Not a dwarf. No. I wanted to be Snow White.

That was the most dramatic, fabulous role and had the best costumes. And she, to her credit, never batted an eye. And looking back now, I realize how fortunate I was to have grown up in such a supportive home. So you had the yellow skirt, the yellow dress. Yes. It was a sheet. It was a bed sheet. That's called what it is.

It was not Bob Mackie making the costumes. And she sat there on the bedroom floor sewing it. Also, someone else was supportive of you was your nanny, which is your grandmother. Very. How did that manifest itself? Well, nanny was just, I mean, the biggest support system to this day that I've ever had and my biggest comedic influence. She was, I mean, hysterically funny. She was Joan Rivers and Bea Arthur and Elaine Stritch and Don Rickles all rolled into one. And just, you know, I walked

on water for, you know, I don't have to tell anyone, a Jewish grandmother and her grandson, that's a very special bond, especially for, for some reason, gay kids, gay boys with their grandmothers. That's a very unique bond, I think. And it was just very, very special. She just loved everything I did. You had a different relationship with your dad, who you called almost an exact replica of Donald Trump. Yeah. Explain. He was Donald Trump, not necessarily in his politics.

He was, considering that he was, you know, in his 60s, he was 16 years older than my mother, but he was just of that ilk. He was the very specific New York guy, and he kind of had that sleazy kind of phony thing and spoke like him just in his mannerisms and in his narcissism, almost a carbon copy of Trump, which is crazy that I... That you do a lot of Trump. No, it's not. I guess it's not such a coincidence that people ended up... That became the most kind of successful thing that people started noticing me doing was talking back to Trump.

Because I just feel like I knew this guy. I think New Yorkers, though, feel like they get him on a different level, right? Yeah, I know him. I know that guy. Right? I know that guy. That guy lived in my home. Well, that guy lived in my home. And, you know, so I just, I say, like, you know, oftentimes when I'm pretending to talk to Trump in my videos, I'm often talking to my own father in a sense. So, you know, I really get his rhythm.

Did that relationship resolve itself? Did it resolve itself in his life? No, it did not. Yeah, we were not speaking when he passed away. I'm sorry. That's all right. He was supportive of me to an extent, like the show business part, whenever he would come see me on stage or anything like that. I think he saw that as an extension of himself, again, narcissist. So that he always was very supportive of. But I just think that he just didn't know how to relate to other humans and certainly not a son who, it turned out, I really believe had a lot of jealousy issues as well. Yeah, just the fact that I was young and had my future ahead of me. I don't think that he was able to handle that. Oh, that's fascinating. So let me explain what you do to people. Why don't you explain?

We're going to play a clip of your work in a second, but how do you describe yourself? And then I'm going to play a clip of your work, which I love, into kind of the headlines of the day and sings song parodies about them. Okay, let's play this clip. It's called election interference because I'm leading everybody by a lot in the polls from every Republican, frankly, and every Democrat, including Biden, by a lot. You know, I gotta hand it to you, Mr. Former Fake One-Term Twice Impeached, Currently Four-Time Criminally Indicted, Not My President Girl.

When people call me names or, you know, threaten to lock me up for 70 years for plotting to overthrow democracy, I'm in bed for a good week. But you, you just keep throwing parties for yourself. Last night, I had a rally with tens of thousands of people. Good for you. Forget those trolls. a rally with tens of thousands of people. Good for you.

Forget those trolls. You've got a country to destroy. You know, your delusional narcissism is inspiring. Don't do it. In fact, it reminds me of a song I once knew. Don't do it. Don't do it. Don't tell him he's a dirty lying bragger.

Life's Big Macs and the sun's a ball of magger. Don't anybody dare a rain on his parade I don't have a lot of time. Well, that is fantastic. I'm basically just living my Barbra Streisand dreams. That's all. That's my medium, if you want to know. I think everyone loves that song and everything else.

Explain that, how you did that. These are two popular formats that you mesh together, the interviews and then the musical numbers that jump from them, right? So explain what you're trying to do there. It was kind of very organic the way it all came together because, you know, a decade ago I was new to YouTube as everybody was and to the social media landscape, trying to figure out what my brand was and what format I wanted to do. Was it comedy? Was it musical?

Did I want to be just a stand-up comedian? And so I just experimented with a bunch of different formats. I've always been a musical person, so one day I just kind of melded the two, and it worked. You also include cartoons and visuals, quite a lot of visuals, obviously. Putting it together is enormous, what you're doing there. You're not just doing one or the other. You're doing all of them together. Oh, well, thanks. I don't know what I'm doing. I'm trying to, I'm really, I'm having a good time. That's all. So people, because of the

political nature of it, people often assume that I have a very political agenda,, that's all. So people, because of the political nature of it, people often assume that I have a very political agenda or that's the reason that I do this. As the years have gone by, I've taken it on as more of, I've seen it as more of a responsibility because of my audience to inject some opinion that I feel is important to say and things that I want to say. But at the heart of it, I'm just a schmuck in wigs singing Barbra Streisand songs and living out my musical fantasies. And there's a lot of messages in it, but how do you pick your songs and topics and how do you match them? We're going to play one about Life's a Fucking Fantasy for Santos, which was fantastic. But in the Donald Trump one, it's Funny Girl.

And I love when you call him Donald Jessica Trump. That's my favorite thing ever. That's my hottest seller is Donald Jessica Trump. And it's Don't Arraign on My Parade. Just get that. Ha ha. And then for Marjorie Taylor Greene, who seems to be the font of so much inspiration for you, Evergreen, which I never would have put together. And the line, she blames Muslims and satanic pizza sex. But it's such a sweet song. And then you have Marjorie Taylor Greene.

How do you pick your songs and topics and how do you match them? Well, again, what really wins out is if I want to perform it, that's really what it comes down to. And for the Marjorie Taylor Greene Evergreen, I do have to say that I did her from Barbara after I sang that song. What did she say? Well, she did not call directly. I'm upset about it. I also heard from Paul Williams, who

wrote the lyric. You wrote a lot of things. So they liked it. But after that, she said a very nice thing, and then she asked her people to ask me to make a video to promote her upcoming album at the time. Wow. I know. Can we just talk about that for the rest of the interview?

And then she sent me a little care package, and it came with a little handwritten note that said, Oh, my God, okay. But really, it's a combo of things. I have a running list of songs that I want to perform that I think would be, that would make good parodies. That would be fun also for me to perform. And then I also take a lot of song requests from my social media following. So for instance, the Dona Rain on his parade, nobody asked for that, but I wanted to perform it because why not? A lot of people were asking for the, He's So Indicted, which I thought was a little too on the nose for me.

So I kind of just worked it in there as a little interlude. Right, right. Which you often combine songs from very different genres, which is interesting. The George Santos one. Nobody asked for Life's a Fucking Fantasy for Santos, but I wanted to dress like Mary Poppins. Yeah. So let's hear that clip first, and then I have

a question for you. Okay. I made a mistake, and I think humans are flawed, and we all make mistakes. I need a sack of BS. How'd they elect such a mess? I think he might be high.

I'm Jew-ish. Who could have foreseen this shady queen? All he does is lie. I've never met him. No, I never said that. Cause life's a fucking fantasy for Santos. Santos lies all day and

night. Even every magasic of fans knows something about this dude ain't right. I'm available on Cameo, by the way. Yeah, right. He's doing really well. Are you glad for him?

No, I'm very upset that he's doing better on Cameo than I am. I don't want to talk about it. All right. So what's interesting is it works very well just listening to it. You don't need the visuals necessarily. The visuals are terrific. But when you say you've developed what you want to say, and obviously Santos is a goldmine of mockery and satire. Is it political motivation or it's just so fucking funny it's worth it and you can also make your political point?

I think it is the latter. That's not what gets me out of bed in the morning is a political statement that I want to make. I mean, for someone like Santos, what needs to be said? It's so blatantly just absurdist that it just kind of, to me, plays into this kind of musical theater format. Right. He's easy to be satirical about. In your memoir, you wrote, my work is not at all politically motivated and neither am I. I've never been a political junkie by nature. I'm not a pundit. It is political, though. And so I can think of very few people who are as sharp politically as you are in terms of how they're messaging this stuff and getting it through to people, actually.

Well, again, that's kind of a byproduct of what I'm doing. It's not what motivates me, but it does, especially as things get crazier in this world. I do not want to put empty calories into the world. So if I'm going to get a million views on a video, I do feel a certain responsibility to say something as well. And do I know what I'm talking about? No. I have a strong opinion. And do I know what I'm talking about? No.

I have a strong opinion. And, you know, I feel just sort of the comedian in me feels the need or feels the desire to kind of inject that whenever I can. Yeah, but you certainly could do Taylor Swift all day long, right? Or there's so many different funny Kardashians you could do. You know, but you don't. You mean instead of the subjects being? Yeah, the subjects. Yeah. I like your subjects.

And I did start, when I started out, my first viral hit was Randy Rambos dating Mel Gibson. Right, which is brilliant. Which you look, it's very, for people who haven't seen it, you should see it, it's on YouTube. It's a very clever video, but it's very crudely, you're just in front of your refrigerator, essentially.

You're in bed and you're interspersing the clips of Mel Gibson screaming at someone. Yeah, and I'm having romantic phone conversations with him as I vacuum. But so it started that, and I really just kind of followed the bouncing ball from there. I said, this is my shtick. Now, once that took off, I'm like, that's what it is. Whatever everyone's talking about, I will insert myself kind of like Forrest Gump into the scene. I go now where I feel I'm needed. It's kind of a Mary Poppins thing. And when I do my live shows, the thing that, you know, people come up to me,

I'm very humbled to say with tears in their eyes that, thank you, you've got me through. You've gotten me through the Trump years. I mean, they haven't ended, so I haven't, you know, I'm still doing that. But you got me. You've been fighting for a while. I know. You got me through the pandemic. So I feel, again, to just talk about the Kardashians, that's not, I don't think where my time would be best spent. Best spent. So I'm curious, speaking of time spent,

how long does it take to make these individual ones? And where does it work best for distribution from a media business point of view like which platform does the best um well x is whatever it's called x x actually has very big views and so does youtube and i also um and instagram facebook used to be king for me and then so it's changing and i have to tell you it's always it's always. How do you make money in that genre? Is it through ads? Still waiting. Still waiting. Yeah, well, YouTube, yeah, all that streaming revenue.

Is it good business? Yeah, it can be lucrative. I mean, because they're song parodies, I'm often sharing money. I'm not retiring off YouTube money because I'm sharing with the publishers. So I, you know, I'm doing it the old-fashioned way and taking my show on the road, doing my tour. Taking your show on the road. So talk about that. You have this live tour, Randy Rainbow for president.

You have, I think, 45 stops. Of course, not in D.C., sadly. I live in D.C. I was in D.C. You missed me. I was at the Warner Theater. Oh, that's a great place. I'm sorry I missed you. You're going to Schenectady, though, so I'm hoping to catch you there.C. Sadly, I live in D.C. I was in D.C. You missed me. I was at the Warner Theatre. Oh, that's a great place. I'm sorry I missed you.

You're going to Schenectady, though, so I'm hoping to catch you there. No, I'm not going to Schenectady. Well, neither am I, then. How dare you? Yes, you are. Talk about the live. Why is that important? Because, you know, there's a lot of people who are online.

They've jumped offline. Some of it hasn't worked. Some of it's worked. How do you look at that? It's just part of your multimedia. You're like Omnimedia, like Martha Stewart, I guess. I'm very much like Martha Stewart. That's what it says on my bio, on my Grindr profile.

You know, now I kind of wish there are kids sitting around doing what I was doing a decade ago, standing in front of their refrigerators and making probably three times as much money as I am. For me, back in the old days, it just seemed like the internet did seem like a means to an end. And I figured if I can build an audience, then naturally I will take the show on the road and earn a living that way. You don't have to do that anymore, it turns out. So I'm schlepping around the country.

And I probably could be a little smarter and just do more internet content. But it is in my blood. I started on the stage, as I said. And reaction. You see metrics and you get comments and all of that stuff, which feels nice. But there's nothing like walking into a strange city that you've never been in and being greeted by 2,000 people. Right. I feel like you're underselling your money. Your mom said, he has a lot of financial help from us, probably went on too long, but now he's my retirement plan. Well, that's what my mother says, if you ask her. I mean, she's not getting a dime out of me. Let's be real. We'll be back in a minute. Your business is ready for launch. But what's the most important thing to do before those doors open?

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It integrates seamlessly with over 500,000 apps and websites. It's implemented in just days, and it's IT-approved. Join the 70,000 teams and 30 million people who trust Grammarly to elevate their communication. Visit grammarly.com slash enterprise to learn more. Grammarly. Enterprise-ready AI. Let me talk a little bit about sort of where you get your inspiration. Obviously, Harvey Fierstein would come to mind, but also Mark Russell, who did musical political parodies.

He performed live in D.C. for decades. PBS. He did a lot of piano work. Who do you see yourself a lineage of, if at all? And who impacted your work the most? It's none of those people. I mean, you know, people sometimes say, you must have loved Al Yankovic. I do.

But I never aspired to be him. I wanted to be Barbara Streisand and Bernadette Peters and all of those, usually women, as it turns out, that I saw on stage and do musical comedy. Patti LuPone has got to be in there. Patti LuPone, of course. Obviously Elaine Stritch. Elaine Stritch. Look at my mug, Cara. Okay. How dare you?

You think it's Elaine Stritch mug. Oh, good. Perfect. I'm still here. Oh, good. Perfect. I'm still here. Oh, God. I wish you were. There's one that you did mention quite a bit, who I was a big fan of, was Carol Burnett. Who, you know, and speaking of Bob Mackie, she was an inspiration for a lot of people in that regard.

She did it all. She did singing and comedy and pratfalls and serious stuff, too, actually. Yeah, major, major inspiration for me, too. And she's my friend now, Karen. Oh, she is? You're friends with all of these people. We talk. Every time I put a video out, she's the first email I get.

She invited me, so she received the Sondheim Award at Signature Theater. And I was her guest. And we talk regularly. I just got her Christmas card. I'm living my dreams. You're living your dreams. What does someone like Carol Burnett say to you? She just loves it.

She enjoys it. Game. Game likes game. She's the most generous. I'm not delivering any breaking news, but she is the most generous soul in the world. And yeah, just incredibly encouraging. Yeah. And someone who gave more than she took for sure in the world. And yeah, just incredibly encouraging. Yeah.

And someone who gave more than she took, for sure, in the world. Oh, yeah. So, but you're also, speaking of someone who takes a lot, you're part of a crop of comedians who, Trump, Trump has been important to you all. But I have to say, you've had staying powers where others haven't that did a lot of Trump stuff. Why do you think that is? What's the state? Because that's the hard part. It's easy to start making jokes about Trump and then

falling off. Yes. And of course, in the early years, thankfully, people don't really say it anymore because I think I've outlived that kind of question mark. But certainly in the 2016 early days, people would say, what are you going to do when there's no Trump anymore? First of all, I'm still waiting for that to happen. Right. And I think that I know the answer, and it's what I said earlier. It's that I am not,

these are not videos about Trump, and Trump is not the main ingredient of these. This has been and always will be just a little gay kid growing up and living his musical fantasies and having a fabulous time. That is what keeps it fresh for me and the audience. That is what people are connecting to. It's not the Trump jokes. That's part of it because it's the subject matter of the day. But it's because it's coming from a deeper place in me than just Trump jokes. Yeah, it's Elon for me, but I'll get to that in a second.

Don't make me nauseous. Okay, I'll try not to. But another surprising thing about your work, it's attracted plenty of Republican fans over the years. Not maybe Lauren Boebert, who accused you. She don't like me. She don't like, well, nobody really much likes her. She's a bad theater-goer, by the way. She's just a bad theater-goer. That's a very polite way of putting it. Just a little trashy at the theater, I must say.

She doesn't have not the best. She tweeted about me, too. She said you were grooming, right? She accused me of grooming children, yeah. Yeah, yeah. Okay. They should be so lucky. They'd all be much better dressed if I was grooming them.

That is a fair point. So you've spoken with conservatives who change their views and their voting plans because of your videos. That's true, correct? You've said that. Well, people in my audiences do schlep their mothers and fathers, and they do. I have heard through the years that I have maybe altered a few people's political opinions. But you're trying to reach out to a lot of, I mean, I was thinking a Book of Mormon, a lot of Mormons liked it. Like they could laugh at themselves and it was fun, obviously.

Again, not intentional, but I think that it's a spoonful of sugar. So it's, you catch more flies, all that stuff. So people who don't necessarily share my political opinions or agree with my lifestyle or anything about me are attracted to the nature of the musical comedy content. Right. All right. Let's hear a clip, for example, from one of your recent videos, your interview with Speaker Mike Johnson. You mistakenly call him Tricia Marsha Melvin. I don't know. Let's listen to it. You have been very vocal about your disdain for homosexuality through the years, Melvin,

and some of your past comments are making the rounds, particularly the ones in favor of criminalizing gay sex. I don't even remember some of them. Oh, honey, I totally get it. I almost never remember gay sex either. I am a Bible-believing Christian. Yeah, me too. Someone asked me today in the media,

they said, it's curious. People are curious. What does Mike Johnson think about any issue under the sun? I said, well- Who's Mike Johnson? I have no agenda other than what's best for you. Who's Mike Johnson? By the way, the perfect name, right? In some ways. I also like his smirkiness. I think you depicted that rather well. He has a smirkiness. Yeah. Sometimes I'll luck out with those reaction shots. You know, Trump is obviously a great one for that gold mine. But it turns out he's got some good reactions as well. Yeah, he does.

He's got a strange vibe, too, I have to say. Yeah, we're not going into it. But he has a strange vibe. I don't like to get political. I don't like to get political. But you have joked about politicians' disdain for homosexuality. You also did in a video on Ron DeSantis' Don't Say Gay Law. But now there's a record number of anti-LGBTQ plus laws introduced across the country.

Talk about finding humor and convincing people, which is a concerning issue for anyone who was around in the before times and then everything got better. And now it feels nerve-wracking. It's very nerve-wracking. I mean, it rattles me. I don't know. Again, I've been very naive, I feel, for many years. And maybe it's just gotten worse and my eyes are being opened to all the hatred out there. But it's something I think about more and more as I'm schlepping around the country, certainly.

I don't know. I don't have the answer other than to kind of poking fun at it and just living as proudly and loudly as possible. So we're heading into an election year. How are you thinking about covering the race? It seems like it's going to be Trump and Biden. How are you going to decide the issues and moments to joke about? I'm just re-airing all of my stuff from 2020. It's just no one will know. I don't know. I never have a plan for anything. So again,

I have a running list of songs that I'd like to do, but I'm just going to kind of follow the headlines and see what Wolf Blitzer tells me my marching orders are every night. What's your top song on that list? Top song on the list? Oh, my God. I shouldn't tell anybody because then it won't be a surprise. All right. Can I pull it up?

Yeah. Wait a minute. Oh, my God. Well, the first one that came up was your favorite, Magic To Do. Oh. Do I know how I would use that? that i mean can you think of a way i don't know uh god i would do the irene ryan song song possibly oh which one is that yeah yeah that's a that's a good one too maybe i'll do that one yeah i could sing that to

to biden there's oh i have without trump to the tune of Without Love from Hairspray. Any Dem will do. I did that, so that can come off. Yeah. So you're looking at all kinds of songs. All right, I'm going to put you on the spot. I just have a couple more questions. The verb someone was telling me is someone got Randy rainbowed,

which sounds like a sexual act in the Castro. But I'm going to name someone who we've talked about on my show in the past year. And I'd love you if you could match them with a musical or show or character that first comes to mind. Okay. Okay, we'll start with a recent guest of mine, Liz Cheney. Liz Cheney. I'm looking at my wall of musicals. Liz Cheney, I feel like she's...

That's sort of like a, oh God. I feel like maybe Les Mis is coming to mind for some reason. Les Mis. Yeah. Because she's sort of. With the arm. Yeah. Yeah.

That's right. Yeah. I like it. I like it. All right. See, I'm bad with this stuff, believe it or not. No, that's okay. Elon Musk. Elon Musk. Oh, God. That's right. I like it. I like it. All right. See, I'm bad with this stuff, believe it or not. No, that's okay. Elon Musk. Elon Musk.

Oh, God help us. Elon Musk is... What's a flop? I want to say Carrie the musical. That's perfect. Just like the most historical flop. That would be Carrie, right? Yeah, Carrie, yeah.

I feel like Elon, the musical, would definitely be on the wall at Joe Allen's. Absolutely. By the kitchen. By the kitchen. It would be a horror musical. Steve Bannon. Well, the one that I did for him was not a show tune, and I do it in my live show. I sing, yes, we have no Steve Bannon, the tune of Yes, We Have No Bananas, which is a 1920s novelty song.

Yeah, yeah, that works. That works. Last one, Vivek Ramaswamy and Nikki Haley together. Oh, God, wicked. Absolutely. And I don't know who's Glinda it would just be a horrible backwards kind of awful underground version production

of Wicked that no one wants to see which song from which kid I'm gonna push well I guess I'm thinking popular I can see the two of them

do it and I guess it would be yeah or maybe Defying Gravity yeah I haven't gotten to casting for both of them I know.

I feel almost bad giving them that material. Yeah, yeah, popular. I think popular is where you need to be. That's perfect. They're quite a pair. All right, last two questions. Oh, Sideshow. I looked at my wall and I see Sideshow.

That would be a good one, too. Also kind of a flop. Great music, but that would be kind of a mess. Yeah, I like that. You don't give any of these people a Sondheim. They're too good for a Sondheim? I guess I'm kind of holding back from Sondheim. Or you could go to West Side Story.

Boy, boy, crazy boy. That would be Elon. Okay. You're better at this than I am. You're going to steal my act. I'm not. I can't sing. I want to close with a clip.

It wasn't a funny thing, and I remember where I was when this happened. But in 2022, you were honored with the Matthew Shepard Making a Difference Award, which was in honor of Matthew Shepard. He was murdered in 1998, the age of 21, in a very horrific anti-gay hate crime. 1998, the age of 21, in a very horrific anti-gay hate crime. It resonated with me at the time, with a lot of people. But his parents have gone on to start a really wonderful foundation. And they're such a wonderful pair. They're the best. I've met them many times. And I was very moved by your speech about this.

Let me play this clip. One day it dawned on me that somewhere along my journey from this shy, often silent little queer kid getting bullied on the playground in South Florida to this vision and rhinestones you see before you tonight. Brave enough not only to express my political views, but to express my true self with a kind of unbridled creative freedom. Being as flamboyant as I want to be, singing the girl songs I've always loved but would never otherwise be given to sing in any mainstream world. Wearing the lipstick and the nail polish. They look good tonight, right? And, of course, the cheap wigs, just because I want to. Of course, I have to credit my mother, who is not here tonight. I brought my publicist. I'm in show business now.

How do you look back on that shy, queer kid playing dress-up? And what would you say to make him hopeful? Oh, my goodness. I get emotional when I think about it because I was so trapped inside of myself. And like I said, a combination of things, starting with my mother. And that was one of the reasons that night meant so much and was so emotional because I was there with Matt Shepard's mom, who's such a love, and thought about their connection. And just this series of events that somehow snowballed into me having enough courage to just be myself a little bit. So it's cliche, but I would just say, keep going. It's amazing that I have been able to come as far as I have. There's still plenty of land to cover, ground to cover. But

I guess I'm proud of myself. And I would tell him to just keep your chin up, and the sun will come out tomorrow. I just wrote that. I just wrote that on this podcast. I saw that show, may I say, with Andrew McArdle. Stop bragging. I did. I did. I'm a gay man, really.

You are. I'm a lesbian. You're a better one than I am, damn it. I am in a lot of ways. And I've got to go feed my cat because I'm the lesbian in this relationship. It's true. You really are here. Is that Mushi?

Is that correct or no? Mushi is no longer with us. And if you read chapter 19, I think it's a tearjerker. This is Tippi. She's even saying a few words on the podcast. Can you hear her? Oh, my God. Tippi, it's your first podcast.

Yeah, I know. We're going to go feed you. Okay, she is. She's a fancy feast cat. She is. She is a fancy feast cat. She's adorable. Again, huge fan.

You do amazing work. Likewise. Thank you very much, Karen. And good luck with podcasting. If you ever need any help, I've been in it for 10 years and I can tell you it's wonderful. I look forward to it.

And thank you. I've been in it for 10 years and I can tell you it's wonderful. I look forward to it. And thank you. Was Randy Rainbow, I mean, Randy Reagan Bogan, everything you wanted and more, Kara? Yeah, it was great. It was a great show. He's a very heartfelt person.

He's obviously got a lot going on, but he's very, very funny. And I think that was what I was trying to show. It's a good way to end the year on someone who's super smart and uses his smarts for entertainment. But not as good a gay man as you. I know. His musical theater job. Yeah, yeah. You kept asking what his staying power is.

What do you think it is? Talent. Just pure talent. He's so clever. You know, satire is difficult. And most people are very broad. And he's very clever. I was thinking also, it's hard to compare because Sarah Cooper obviously is talented. There are other people who are so talented, but I think we've also had a little, they were very Trump dependent comedians.

Yeah. And he is diversified. Yeah. It gets a lot of material from the MAGA folks. It doesn't need to rely on Trump. And because we've had a little break from Trump in the media, I wonder if we'll see a lot of these people come back. Yeah, maybe. I don't know. We'll see. You know, it's okay to have a shtick and stuff like that. But as long as you're really, really funny. Yes.

And it's what people like. John Oliver essentially does the same thing over and over again. He just did a big Elon Musk one show. And they're all very funny. Was it good? Yeah, it was good. Yeah. I got to watch it.

It's an easy, it's a lot of material there. I know. He's been keeping our show going all year. I'm kidding. But do you buy he's not political, Randy? He kept saying doing it for entertainment. But I think he feels like at this moment, it's serious. And he could make jokes about, I guess, Britney Spears or whoever, but he's not. A lot of comics do that. He's talking about the moment. And I think he would shift if he needed to. He could do an Elon one.

He could do business leaders. He could go in any direction. One person he will never mock, a direction he will never go in, Barbaraara streisand yeah why would she praise to barbara it could be a love a love poem yeah kind of thing i think there's a lot of love there i don't know he's just he's you know that's a trope of gay guys loving barbara streisand but he does it really well he does love her well i do too so as a gay man myself yes Yes, I was going to say. I did like that she asked him to bump the music video or her team. Yeah.

That's kind of an insight into the symbiotic relationship between the last generation of artists and digital creators. Why not? Yeah, it's great. There used to be that you just get cease and desist letters from record labels because they didn't understand what was going on. Yeah. Not Barbara. She knows how to market herself, Barbra Streisand. We got to get her on the show. Sure.

2020 for Target. Good luck. Send her a care package. Yeah, I'll ask Randy to help us. Anyways, read us out. Today's show was produced by Naeem Araza, Christian Castro Rossell, Kateri Yochum, Megan Cunane, and Megan Burney.

Special thanks to Andrea Lopez Cruzado. Our engineers are Fernando Arruda and Rick Kwan. Our theme music is by Trackademics. If you're already following the show, you get a handwritten note direct from Barbara Streisand. Thank you. Swisher from Vox Media, New York Magazine, and us. You can subscribe to the magazine at nymag.com slash pod. Have a great holiday, everyone. We'll be back in January with fresh episodes. Autograph Collection Hotels offer over 300 independent hotels around the world, each exactly like nothing else. Hand-selected for their inherent craft,

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