The Downside with Gianmarco Soresi - #145 Boiling Poppers with Rosé the Drag Queen

Episode Date: June 27, 2023

Rosé (Ru Paul's Drag Race) joins to share the downsides of growing up in Houston with a Scottish accent, why Fat Bastard is a cultural icon, being elected varsity choir president, working with a on ...a cruise ship with a Steven Tyler impressionist, his short lived era of ‘Pig The Drag Queen’, and why you should never boil poppers.  You can watch full video of this episode HERE! Join the Patreon for ad-free episodes, exclusive content, and MORE. Follow Rosé on Instagram, YouTube, & Twitter See Rosé on the Werq the World tour! https://omgheyrose.com/#tour Follow Gianmarco Soresi on Twitter, Instagram, TikTok, Facebook, & YouTube Subscribe to Gianmarco Soresi's email & texting lists Check out Gianmarco Soresi's bi-monthly show in NYC Get tickets to see Gianmarco Soresi in a city near you Watch Gianmarco Soresi's special "Shelf Life" on Amazon Follow Russell Daniels on Twitter & Instagram See Russell in Titanique in NYC! E-mail the show at TheDownsideWGS@gmail.com Produced by Paige Asachika & Gianmarco Soresi Video edited by Dave Columbo Special Thanks Tovah Silbermann Part of the Authentic Podcast Network Original music by Douglas Goodhart Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript
Discussion (0)
Starting point is 00:00:00 Welcome to the downside. Oh, we're starting. I'm in a bad place emotionally. Yes. We did a recording, which you've already heard. This episode is coming out June 27th. We did a recording two weeks ago with Divya. Mm-hmm.
Starting point is 00:00:16 What was the last name? Come on now. Okay. And she's a taxidermist. Took a class to prep for this episode And then about 20 minutes It sounded great Great clips
Starting point is 00:00:31 We tested it We released it So I hope you listened to it Some of you might have checked out Because the audio changed Here's what it was Here's the playback Of this great episode
Starting point is 00:00:42 Like you know that body comes away In like one little package. I don't know if you remember that. I remember it. It's in my dreams every night. So they're not like dissection, like something like a surgeon has to do. Sorry to add to your sound. Can you hear now?
Starting point is 00:00:59 I don't mind it. I love it. It's like ASMR. Is this ASMR? This is like ASMR for the Terminator. This is how he falls asleep at night. It's as if... There's no reason.
Starting point is 00:01:15 We didn't push any buttons. No, no. You go on Reddit and they say, oh, it happens sometimes. The part that bothers me is we should have heard it on the headphones. That's fine. We hear it on the headphones.
Starting point is 00:01:28 We go, something's wrong. Stop the recording. But literally the box and the backup recording. And so it came out two weeks ago. And we're recording this now. Everything's out of order. I think the thing is too that you did take a class. You took a test.
Starting point is 00:01:44 An expensive. An expensive. Paige took a class. Yeah. a taxidermy. An expensive? An expensive? Paige took a class? Yeah. I touched a dead mouse. It was so expensive. You wouldn't even pay for me to do it. Taxidermy?
Starting point is 00:01:51 Taxidermy. That's this mouse. Oh, I hate it. Yeah. But it's so cute on that stool. Thank you. So that's real? Well, I mean like.
Starting point is 00:02:00 Yeah. Yeah. Wow. Well, that's probably why the sound was so affected is that that's like such a demonic practice that, you know. That's when I went to Guitar Center. They said that's probably what it was. Yeah. And then I fucking deal with Guitar Center.
Starting point is 00:02:16 I don't know if you've been to any of these places. I go to B&H. Oh, I should have gone to B&H. Yeah. But Guitar Center, I call. I'm on hold. Ten minutes to hang up. Call. Same. Call. But Guitar Center, I call. I'm on hold. Ten minutes to hang up. Call.
Starting point is 00:02:27 Same. Call. And I say, hey, what's going on? What's going on? They say, oh, the podcast guys, they don't like picking up. And I go, then close the store. Then close the store. What are we doing?
Starting point is 00:02:40 So I'm having a full-on anxiety attack. And the way I decided to deal with my anxiety last night, at 1.30 in the morning, my Delta flights are not showing up on my calendar. And I said, you know what? Let's call them now. Let's call Delta now. Let's do this right now. You decided to get involved in customer service at 1.30 in the morning? 1.30 in the morning.
Starting point is 00:02:58 I said, well, surely they can't have an unexpected call volume at 1.30 in the morning. Guess what they did? Guess what they did? Guess what they did? And it did not go well. I should not have done that. Because you're not going from that to sleep. You're not going. Because they didn't resolve the issue.
Starting point is 00:03:18 So I just kept failing. And I'm really excited to welcome our guest today. Such a big guest. That's why when the fucking box broke, I said, well, we got to fix it now. At least it wasn't with this guest. I mean, not that it was good that it was with Divya,
Starting point is 00:03:36 but you know, I'm just saying like... Sorry, Divya. Not enough Instagram followers to care about your episode with Russell Daniels. I'm saying because I'm actually friends with this guest, and that's why I care more. This has nothing to do with Divya. I agree with all of this. Just, you know.
Starting point is 00:03:52 Please welcome to the podcast, Rosé. Hi. Hi. And also, we have producer Paige Asachika here. Yes. And we have my co-host, Russell Daniels. Yes. This is The Downside.
Starting point is 00:04:03 One, two, three. Downside. One, two, three. Downside. You're listening to The Downside. Did you know this song already? I was studying earlier, yeah. Studying. I was. What the fuck am I getting myself into?
Starting point is 00:04:22 Go back to the Divvy episode. If you bailed out because in 20 minutes in, it started sounding a little bit, you heard that air conditioner. Yeah. You know, feel it. Feel it. We wanted to make you feel cool.
Starting point is 00:04:32 I feel like you're in the room with us. Please listen to it. It was such a good fucking episode. Join the Patreon, patreon.com slash downside for bonus episodes, live episodes, including our upcoming one with Molly Carney from Saturday Night Live and patreon.com slash downside and my clean
Starting point is 00:04:50 comedy special, The Rats Are In Me. What a day to have you. You're visiting New York. You don't live here. No. No, I live here. You do live here. Yeah. I mean, I am technically visiting because we're all going to die at some point, but I Well, maybe sooner than later, given what's going on outside right now. Oh, honey, I went to LA
Starting point is 00:05:06 a couple days ago, and it was so gloomy. I was like, okay, so I took New York with me. Came back, there's fucking wildfire air. I was like, I brought LA back with me. This is crazy. So how often... So we're recording this... What's today? June 7th. June 7th. It's horrifying outside. It wasn't like
Starting point is 00:05:22 this yesterday, right? Because I wasn't here yesterday. It was, but not like this. Not this. Like orange air. The orange. Yeah. yesterday, right? Because I wasn't here yesterday. It was, but not like this. The orange. Well, last night as I'm trying to deal with the anxiety and night terrors, I went in the living room to sleep. It was as if I was sleeping in the smoking section of a restaurant. It was just
Starting point is 00:05:37 it's vile. Oh, you had your windows open. No, I think it's just the AC. Enough room was open that it felt like cigarettes. They say 24 hours outside is like smoking six cigarettes or like sitting next to Russell after a night out. Okay, okay, okay. But that's what they say. Six, that's the number that they came up with. Yeah.
Starting point is 00:05:58 That if you go outside for 24 hours. Yes. Oh, well, six, that's nothing. We'll be fine. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. How long is this supposed to happen for? Does anyone know? So I heard Friday.
Starting point is 00:06:09 I didn't even know there was a fire up north. So is the fire out? We didn't either. Is the fire out or is it... This is like breaking news coverage. I was supposed to have something air today on CBS and they pushed it back to Friday. It's Wednesday now.
Starting point is 00:06:24 They pushed it back to Friday because they were like, hey, we have to do a whole evening of coverage on the smog, on the haze. What I feel bad about is it doesn't feel like it's the coverage of the fire in Canada. It's of it impacting us here in New York. Oh, yeah. But...
Starting point is 00:06:39 Were you suddenly concerned about Canadian forests? No, I didn't know there was a fire happening. It's all of a sudden you're like, what's going on? And then you find out. It's crazy that it seems like it's big. It seems like all of Canada is on fire with how much smoke we have in New York. And it has that twist of just like a maple
Starting point is 00:06:55 scent to it, the air. It's very Canadian. It's a very polite smog. Really, really says pardon me. Well, Paige, you're closer to L.A. Yeah. Your home. Yeah.
Starting point is 00:07:07 Have you dealt with this before? Of course. Every summer. Every summer? For like my entire life, pretty much. So is this nothing to you? I mean, this is pretty bad. Like, I think it's up there on the scale, but this is something that's like kind of normal to me, which I hate to say.
Starting point is 00:07:22 But yeah, living in California is like this pretty much like at least every summer. The lungs of like a 60 year old smoker. Probably, probably. I had asthma as a child. I don't know if that had anything to do. I would imagine. I feel like I have asthma now.
Starting point is 00:07:35 Someone yelled at me in the street, put on a mask. They yelled at you? Put on a mask. Well, okay, but I've been outside all day wearing a mask literally to survive. I cannot breathe.
Starting point is 00:07:43 And I can't believe how many people aren't wearing them. I'm like, y'all like, that's literally what they're for. You're going to feel like shit tomorrow. Yeah. I'm wearing one. I had to go buy some.
Starting point is 00:07:52 Guess, guess how much, how much a box of 50 of the shittiest masks that don't even do anything that dissolve. Are they K nine five? No. Oh no. Then what are they? Dwayne Reed.
Starting point is 00:08:01 Then why are you buying them? They're not doing anything. Yeah. I got to do something. I got to do something. What do you think? Dwayne Reed. Then why are you buying them? They're not doing anything. Yeah. I gotta do something. I gotta do something. What do you think? What's the price? $50? $50 of the shittiest mask. $39.
Starting point is 00:08:15 It was $25. I was gonna say $20. It was ridiculous. Middle ground. Here's a point of why you should complain sometimes. As they told me the price, I said, fucking ridiculous. And they gave me a second box for free. Oh, that's great. So whenever you... Now you have two useless boxes of masks that do nothing to save you.
Starting point is 00:08:32 60 at a time. It's like what Fauci finally said on the New York Times. He did some interview. He was like, yeah, masks were like 10% effective. I was like, Fauci, don't say this out loud. At this point, just lie to us. Just lie to us. There's a lot when you're talking about the world, though.
Starting point is 00:08:48 Sure, sure. Well, it's so good to have you here. I finally have a friend of mine. Not that you've had tons of friends of yours on here, but I feel like I'm a little nervous, you know, bringing two friends together for the first time.
Starting point is 00:09:04 You should be so nervous. I am. You know? Well, it's a real, as Russell's like good friend, like he has this new Titanic world and he like posts emotional Instagram posts about like, you meant so much to me and what'd you say?
Starting point is 00:09:19 Yeah, it's like a world because I was just in it too. It's like, it's a world. It is. It's crazy. Brings out like fabulous emotions and like, I don't know. It's great. I was just thinking y'all have a show tonight. Everybody's going to be like. I know.
Starting point is 00:09:35 Yeah. I mean, they, yeah, I don't know what's going to happen. I mean, you know, we're doing it. They're not going to cancel. LOL Comedy Club just canceled all the shows tonight. Did they really? Yeah. I imagine because there's not a lot of foot traffic, but it's not for the health of the comedians.
Starting point is 00:09:51 I'll tell you that right now. I always knew a guy had a stroke after eating the guacamole there. It is not that. No, but it's also, I also think what's funny about it, your Titanic world is like a musical theater kid. your Titanic world is like I'm a musical theater kid. I had a lot of gay friends in college where as they went into the real world,
Starting point is 00:10:10 there was a whole group of friends that I never interacted with because they would go to the gay clubs with them and that's where our friendship stopped. And it's kind of like with Titanic, even though you're my straight friend, you have this very gay Titanic world where you're going to the clubs and it's like
Starting point is 00:10:26 you're just another one of my gay friends now. I mean, Russell fits right into it, you know. I mean, we all say Russell is just the ultimate ally. I recently renamed him. He's had several... The ultimate ally! The ultimate ally and has had several drag names throughout the process of Titanic. Started out with, what was it, Girliana Grande?
Starting point is 00:10:41 Girliana Grande. And then recently we decided perhaps a name, like an alter ego within the alter ego um ally ally mcbeal um wow this is fun i do like this i'm learning a whole new side of russell yeah so so you consider yourself a really great ally i do i stand up to bullies in the dressing room. He does? He does? Yeah. Yeah.
Starting point is 00:11:10 What do you say? Hey. No, there's not bullies. I don't know. I don't know. I give an example. I mean, I don't know. Russell, there are none.
Starting point is 00:11:18 I mean, the reality is, the reality is, Russell is, Titanic is so fucking queer. I mean, even most of the, you know, the women in, Russell is, Titanic is so fucking queer. I mean, even most of the, you know, the, the, the women in the show are lesbians. So it's like,
Starting point is 00:11:29 and, and some of them are, you know, fucking each other. So it's like, it's, it's very, well,
Starting point is 00:11:34 you know, they're dating and that's, it's not that tough. It's not like that. Yeah. Oh, sure. Sure.
Starting point is 00:11:37 It's not like that. It's not like that. I'm going to get like, it's not like a fuck battle. Yeah. It's not like a, yeah. Yeah.
Starting point is 00:11:44 Except when Russell leaves. Um, cause the one person is gone. No, Russell, you just, you just, you know, you, you get, you get, it fits in with the banter. Like, I mean, Russell was considering, uh, trying, uh, poppers. We discussed this, that some people in the show, but surely it wasn't, it wasn't me, but it was probably someone who looked like me. Wait, now can you, uh,, real quick, for those joining in, especially new listeners, this is a place where we explore being negative, complaining, as you got from my entire intro.
Starting point is 00:12:12 I think you got the theme of the podcast. Where you're safe to not pretend that things are going well and you can bitch and moan and, you know, let your, my therapist has an open wound. This is the open wound podcast. So speaking of open wounds, poppers. Talk to me about it.
Starting point is 00:12:28 So poppers are for fun. My impression was poppers was like you were about to participate in anal sex. It let you loosen up. You did a snort. Right in there. Yeah. No, that's exactly what it is. It's a 10 to 30 second, like head high, head rush.
Starting point is 00:12:47 And it does something to your blood so that in a way that it does not, it doesn't, you know, gays love drugs. So it's in a way where you're not supposed to do it if you do Viagra because it like the whatever it does to you. I mean, I'm not a scientist. I just love anal. Rosé is not a scientist. I love love anal. Rosé is not a scientist. I love a panel that's like, doctor, doctor, loves anal. There's a hard divide there, unfortunately.
Starting point is 00:13:15 Are poppers illegal? They are illegal in some parts of the world. Last year I was on tour and I ran out. And when you're on tour, it's like Epcot. You want a taste of the world. And I could not be legal. That's why Toby's nervous about me going on tour and I ran out and you know, like when you're on tour, you want to get like, it's like Epcot. You want like a taste of the world. And I, I could not be,
Starting point is 00:13:27 that's why Toby's nervous about me going on tour. I'll tell you that right now. Uh, yeah, no, like some places in the world that you can't find them and it's very frustrating in America, but in America,
Starting point is 00:13:36 no, you can find them like anywhere. It's like in New York, you can like sex shops always have them, but you can find them in like smoke shops or like bodegas half the time. Well, the FTA just released something. I guess there's been a
Starting point is 00:13:47 real disaster of people trying to get their five-hour energy in. They're taking their five-hour energy. Suddenly, their butt holes. No, people drinking poppers. Snorting. No, no, no. I think people thought it was a five-hour energy.
Starting point is 00:14:03 You inhale it through your nose. That's like what the common practice is, right? No, no, no. I think people thought it was a five-hour energy. You inhale it through your nose. That's like what the common practice is, right? No, no, no. But the FDA said some people have been mixing up the bottles look like five-hour energy drinks. So they chug it, the whole thing? So they've been chugging it. Yeah. And then they die? I think so.
Starting point is 00:14:19 That's not very sexy. Because it is a liquid, yes? Yeah, it's a liquid. How many inhales can you take i mean as many as you like but like you put the cap on does it go bad oh no like you open that shit up and the whole room is like like there was one time because okay here's the thing like recreationally like especially if you're out like dancing sometimes it's fun to like have them on the dance floor for like 10 seconds you just pass around your friends and
Starting point is 00:14:43 it's like whatever at a gay bar. But they, they really smell like, and they smell like good, but it's like, it's a, it's a very detectable, recognizable odor.
Starting point is 00:14:53 And so like, you know, there was one time, okay. So speaking of tour last year, I was on a tour bus and after the show one night we were like just sitting on and me and my friend, we were like, let's like do poppers real quick.
Starting point is 00:15:03 And we were just sitting there on the bus and then everybody on the bus got so mad at us because they could smell it. And we were like, guys, but think about how relaxed your buttholes are. This is a great thing. We're going to have like great sleep. And they were cool after that? They said, oh, good. Good point. Yeah. I went to like a Beyonce
Starting point is 00:15:20 night at some bar in Brooklyn. I promise you there were poppers at a Beyonce night. No, exactly. It smelled like poppers in there and I've never felt more safe. How promise you there were poppers at a Beyonce night. No, exactly. It smelled like poppers in there and I've never felt more safe. How do you know what poppers smells? Forgive me, I shouldn't assume are you a poppers participant? She's from California. No, no, no. I did it recreationally one time
Starting point is 00:15:36 like you were saying, just like on the dance floor just like having fun. Was it fun? Yeah. Does it feel like... Yeah, it's pretty nice. It lasts, I mean, I can't believe
Starting point is 00:15:46 they don't have some here for us to try because normally I would because you never know. But I don't. But yeah, you should try it. It's fun.
Starting point is 00:15:55 It's like, you know. I think that's a Patreon episode. I think that's, I don't know if it has to be a whole episode. We were going to go. You'll have a headache if it's a whole episode.
Starting point is 00:16:04 Maybe the intro, maybe the outro. I like the idea. You show up, there's a bunch of gay people there and they're like, does Russell smell like poppers? Just like some cologne that's just... What does it smell like? I mean, now I'm wondering if I smelt it all the time. I cannot describe to you what it smells like,
Starting point is 00:16:21 but it smells like poppers for sure. I like don't... What is this? It doesn't smell good. there's not like different brands or different there are there are but they're and and they they vary in strength they vary they vary a little bit in scent there's um i when i was a little bit younger i was introduced to like foreign as they were described to me artisanal poppers that come in like a label a label this brown bottle and it's very chic and they don't like it's poppers the thing with them is they will give you a headache especially if you just like huff them constantly so you can't do that when you said artisanal i thought of it
Starting point is 00:16:52 like a coffee shop where they make like a heart out of the foam it's very that it's very that um so but but they don't give you a headache those ones are lit so yeah again i wish i would have brought a spread i i spread I gotta try it now let's do it you were worried that you were gonna take it and you were gonna poop everywhere I don't know I mean here's the thing
Starting point is 00:17:14 it's used for anal right so I mean you're not gonna do anal when you have like a bunch of shit in your ass so like you should probably just not have that and then think I'll do poppers you know open the gates of hell. It's a very slim window of the day. Okay. Okay.
Starting point is 00:17:29 I'm going to shit my ass. So, so, when I was, get the poppers. No, no, no.
Starting point is 00:17:37 It's too late. It's too late. Yeah. It's happened. It happened. I, when I was, okay,
Starting point is 00:17:42 so I, I, I was visiting some friends in Scotland last year, some gay friends, and they were telling me about how one time they went to this party, a house party, and people were, they,
Starting point is 00:17:55 they got poppers and put them in a kettle on the stove and boiled it. So the whole room. And so, and then he said that someone, someone, just like, yeah, yeah. So like it can happen.
Starting point is 00:18:07 So like consent is like delicious with poppers. You know, you don't want people just shitting themselves at a party. I know that it's very 100% unethical. Like you have the idea of like you have like a bake sale and no one knows the brownies are laced with drugs and then everyone gets high. And like I know that's highly unethical very funny to me but the idea that you would like go to some big event
Starting point is 00:18:32 and boil poppers and put it in the air vent some CPAC Republican convention and just boil poppers and have everyone just shit their diapers it would
Starting point is 00:18:46 be the funniest thing. Highly unethical, though, unfortunately. Well, Rosé. Yeah, let's talk about something else. So, Rosé, for the few who don't know, you did a RuPaul's Drag Race.
Starting point is 00:19:04 What season? Season 13. Season 13. I recently did a RuPaul's Drag Race. What season? Season 13. Season 13. I recently did a show with Bianca. Oh, a legend. I love her. Yeah, it was very nice. It's always like,
Starting point is 00:19:18 especially when a persona is kind of mean on stage and when they're still made up and backstage, they're nice. Yeah. It feels special. Oh, that's Bianca's whole thing. She's a cunt, but she's actually such a sweetheart. She's motherly. She loves to, you know, take care of people.
Starting point is 00:19:32 And then goes on stage and goes like, your husband's almost gay, but that's not what Bianca says. Yeah, watch it! But, before we go into that stuff you were born in Scotland? I was I moved to America when I was nine
Starting point is 00:19:52 Wikipedia says ten so well that's because I for a while I was rounding it up because like who cares about nine that's so random ten sounds like you wanted ten solid years in Scotland you know painting a picture of me. But I think I actually was eight.
Starting point is 00:20:08 And then two weeks later, I turned nine. So now I say nine. I'm like more honest. But really, I was eight. Please don't tell anyone. Don't worry. No one's listening. And Scotland.
Starting point is 00:20:18 Have not been to Scotland. Scotland? Oh, you got to go. I'm from... My ancestors are from Scotland, though. That's what you are. I'm Scottish. You're Scottish. Because it was Mc Scotland though. That's what you are. I'm Scottish. You're Scottish.
Starting point is 00:20:25 Because it was McDaniels and it dropped the Mc when they moved over. Why? McDaniels? You know, Mc translates to son of. So son of Daniels. Son of Daniels. Do you know what my last name means? It's McCorkle. It means son of the cauldron of Thor.
Starting point is 00:20:41 Wow. That's. And so like, it's so masculine masculine and I'm like this little fairy. Daughter of the cauldron. Isn't everyone Mick something? No. But there's a lot of Micks, a lot of Macs. Mick and Mac.
Starting point is 00:20:56 What's Mac? They've both been son of. It's just generational differences like Pat as the name changes through time. I think you should go back. Russell McDaniels, that's a whole different person. I like that. Okay. Like if you did Shakespeare,
Starting point is 00:21:10 if you went back to Macbeth. If I kept doing... Russell McDaniels, that is like a Scottish as fuck name. Russell McDaniels. Yes, yeah. And I met Rosé's parents. They're very Scottish. Yeah, they have like full-blown...
Starting point is 00:21:22 What does that mean? Kilts? No. Yeah, but on a formal event, you're like... Not when I met them. My dad, they both just full-blown... What does that mean? Kilts? No. On a formal event, you're like... Not when I met them. My dad, they both just wear kilts everywhere. I'm sure at Titanic, they'd be like, welcome, wow. No, they just wore regular skirts to Titanic,
Starting point is 00:21:35 but they... But they're... Yeah, they have very thick accents. And I still use an accent that's just about as thick when I'm with them. It's like, it's the dumbest. I say it's when I really became a performer. When we moved to, I started the fourth grade and I was like, new chance going to have like so many friends. I'm not going to get made fun of. And I of course was, you know, such a flamer and like that was
Starting point is 00:21:59 inevitable. But I, I was like, I had so much culture shock. I would look around and I was like, okay, great. So now I sound insane next to all these American kids. I was like, I had so much culture shock. I would look around and I was like, okay, great. So now I sound insane next to all these American kids. I was like, this cannot go on. I need to like, I need to fit in somehow. So I changed my voice. Like in like two days I learned like, I mean, American dialects are so easy because it was just the laziest dialect in the world.
Starting point is 00:22:17 Really? Yes. It's just all around and slow around. You know, it's not, it's not consonant heavy. It's not, the vowels don't fucking matter. Like at all. And I was in Texas. So even more so.
Starting point is 00:22:30 In Houston. And so I would go to school and I would talk like this and I'd walk home and I would talk like this. And it's never changed. And I was, I think it was a few years until before they found out. My mom and dad were like, what the fuck? But yeah. They heard you.
Starting point is 00:22:43 So, okay. So you showed up in fourth grade how did you talk again do it like my scottish accent sounds like this and what did the kids say did they think it was cool they were like what did she say you went to school with the south park boys yeah yeah no that was the teacher yeah but but you still even though you say American dialect is easy, you must be good with... But think about the time.
Starting point is 00:23:09 There must have been, like, the guy from The Simpsons. Willie? Yeah. A poo? Oh, Willie. Oh, sure. I thought you mentioned accents in general. No, Willie.
Starting point is 00:23:18 Willie. The Scottish guy. And then, like, Fat Bastard or something. That's, like, the reference point that, like, people would have. You know? Yeah, when you saw Austin Powers 3, were you like representation? My family, we love Fat Bastard.
Starting point is 00:23:29 Yeah. And it's Austin Powers 2. Oh, yeah. Scottish people generally, in my experience and from what I've observed, Scottish people are so excited. We're proud and we're very excited when we see representation, especially in a comedic way.
Starting point is 00:23:45 Because, I mean, being Scottish isish is funny like nobody can understand us i like to think like the country the country watching him get in my belly and they're crying like wow we made it they're in pubs cheering yeah yeah uh because it's i i've i've been to Ireland. Where? Dublin, Galway. I think that's just Dublin and Galway. I don't know Galway, but I love Dublin. But I just remember talking to a guy from Northern Ireland. Yeah.
Starting point is 00:24:17 And we were both speaking the same language. Allegedly. But I could not. I could not understand what he was saying. And the weirdness of being like, sorry, I know you're speaking English, but I can't. Yeah. And I just nodded the whole time.
Starting point is 00:24:33 I mean, I might as well speak to someone in a different language. Yeah, Belfast, where the Titanic was built and set sail. There's like a huge museum there that I did not go to. They still take credit for that? They're like, hey, we built the thing. Yeah, and no wonder the ship sank.
Starting point is 00:24:46 They couldn't understand each other when they were building it because their accents were so fucked. I went to Belfast for the first time, Ireland for the first time last year. And I was, it's like, I am good with dialects and, you know, repeat regurgitating the sounds and also like hearing things. But the Belfast Irish accent, I w I literally was like, I, I hooked up with a guy in Belfast and I, like,
Starting point is 00:25:10 I didn't know what he wanted to do. He was like, he would like take off a shirt and say something probably sexy. And I was like, you know, I would like kind of wink and then just turn around and like, we'll go for my shoulder. I don't know what he was expecting.
Starting point is 00:25:22 I couldn't understand anything. I was gagged that I could understand a UK dialect. Even Wales is kind of like obscure and some English dialects are kind of obscure and I can understand most of those, but like fucking Belfast was crazy. This episode is brought to you by A Real Pain. From Searchlight Pictures comes one of the buzziest films
Starting point is 00:25:41 at Sundance Film Festival, A Real Pain. Written, directed, and starring Oscar nominee Jesse Eisenberg alongside Emmy Award winner Kieran Culkin. Witness a hilarious and moving story about two mismatched cousins as they tour through Poland to honor their beloved grandmother. The adventure takes a turn when the pair's old tensions resurface against the backdrop of their family history. See A Real Pain only in theaters November 15th. against the backdrop of their family history. See A Real Pain only in theaters November 15th. So you're in school.
Starting point is 00:26:11 When you learned how to imitate the speech, did you fit in then? Did you have friends? Oh, no, no, no. No. Yeah. But at least... You were in Houston, right? Yeah.
Starting point is 00:26:20 No, I did have friends. But I mean, you know, it's like the classic fucking trope of like a queer kid, you know, just like displaced in a very heteronormative society and in Texas of all places, you know? Yeah. So I didn't know, I did not fit in. I found my way, but where, where did you, was it the theater? It was the theater. It was, it was choir first and then theater. Um, and then a little bit of dance sprinkled in and then I, and then, uh, and then I was, I was unstoppable. I and then I and then and then I was I was unstoppable I was like okay I was like I just have nothing in common with
Starting point is 00:26:48 these people I need to move I can't even imagine I mean you you were in Texas for a bit but I would have where oh wait I know this I lived in Houston for two years I went to grad school there oh that's literally that way didn't you do a gig there recently uh yes we went we did a live taping of this show there. I almost said like, oh, it wasn't a gig. It was just a live taping of this. Yeah.
Starting point is 00:27:10 It was a gig. It was a full show. Yeah, it was a full show. You were gigging. You were down in Texas. Gigging. So, okay. So you're at school, theater, choir.
Starting point is 00:27:21 Yeah. How long did you do choir? How what? How long did you do choir? I mean, I started in seventh grade. choir yeah how long did you do choir how what how long did you do choir i mean like i mean i started in seventh grade well no i was in like this like little boys choir in like sixth grade i think but i hated that um so yeah no it's like a middle school on and i was like and i was like that's like my like peak nerd is like choral music and like classical music and like i when i was but i
Starting point is 00:27:44 was like a senior in high school, I was the choir president. It was like that vibe. Choir? I didn't even know they had a government body. We had to. There was just so many singers. We needed order and justice. What kind of songs did you do? Did you guys ever do
Starting point is 00:27:59 in your, because you were in chorus, right? Yeah. Did you guys ever do those like 40 minute like like medleys of like the musical like a phantom of the opera or something yeah of course yeah yeah there's something deeply sad about those doing those like with a group of like all middle schoolers with just a piano player and just like i don't know they had 40 minutes they had had solos sprinkled throughout them. So it'd be like an eighth grade girl being like, you know, like that.
Starting point is 00:28:30 And they did them all. Like we did them all. Like Les Mis, Phantom. What's like really spooky about this is like, at least for me, it was like, you know, near like the year 2000. So it was like, people would be like, oh, let's do like,
Starting point is 00:28:41 let's do this 40 minute medley of The Wiz with our all white choir, you know, that's the really spooky shit. He's on down, he's on down the road. They one time in like a all county chorus type situation, had us do a song that I could not sing right now for you because it'd be that inappropriate. It was definitely like a slave song. It was definitely like all white kids doing
Starting point is 00:29:06 it with choreo and it was like I remember thinking like this is crazy. I'm in seventh grade. Yeah. I can't be the one who raises my hand. It's crazy. Yeah. But
Starting point is 00:29:21 thinking like where are the adults being like why are you really have that thought where, where are the adults being like, why are this? Do you really have that thought where you're like, this is appropriation? As I said, Russell is the ultimate ally. It was just crazy. This is Ally McBeal hard work. But I know I have it memorized still, the song. That's how much I, and I don't remember any of those other songs.
Starting point is 00:29:40 Well, you also loved it. It's your favorite song. Oh, it's catchy. It's catchy. It's a warm-up song's catchy. It's really catchy. Did Vera do show choir territory or no? Oh, hell yeah. In high school? Oh, hell yeah,
Starting point is 00:29:54 bitch. Because I didn't have, I had a very big good theater program, but I think because it was so good, they didn't have show choir because it was just, we didn't have show choir. When I got to high school, my high school in like the suburb in which we were in of houston at the time and through like the late 90s it was like renowned for its show choir it was like a legendary like the what was it called the the the viking voice i don't know what it was fucking called oh the varsity singers
Starting point is 00:30:22 oh baby if you were in the varsity singers you were fucking you were like they applied the term varsity like for sports oh yeah to sing and you and you could letter in it like i got my letter letter jacket for for choir wow that's amazing i still have it i need to like get it from my mom's house and like wear it it's hideous but it's so i mean it's it's vintage wow were you what did you have any big like solid you remember your big roles anything you were any any failures any cracks um yeah I mean like of course I can't think of any cracks that were like that like stand out but of course there were of course there were cracks but to be honest like to be completely fair like at the age I was and maybe just geographically where I was, I was like, I'm sure we all were right. It's just like you, when you're a talented kid, like I was like a talented fucking
Starting point is 00:31:12 kid. And so like, you know, I, I think I just kind of like assumed that responsibility because singing came much more easy to me than to most of the other kids. And so I don't know, I was, I felt really confident when I was in high schools and then it all went away in college. No, I'm just kidding. But like, yeah, somewhat once I started really studying, I was like, Oh, like once I started really adding, adding technique, I was like, Oh, I'm like, like, as I said, I'm not a scientist and I really am not. Yeah. It's hard to, I think about like, I did like a gospel number, like in a church with a choir and I had a solo. And like, to think about how I thought I was singing back then. Like I thought I was like, just like from the soul and Jesus was looking down.
Starting point is 00:31:58 And how is this probably the worst thing you've ever heard? Jesus was doing something and he was like, wait a minute. And he's put to the side so he could look down at you. Yeah. And I'm also like, I'm also singing about him, like Jesus, like, my king! My king Jesus! And I don't even know what I'm saying. And I'm sure it was just
Starting point is 00:32:16 just horrifying. I've sung so many, so many religious songs that now I would like, I could never sing this shit, you know. Scotland, Catholic, Catholic, Scotland is at least my, where I'm from, from where my family still heavily lives in the Glasgow area. It's to my knowledge, mostly severely divided in Christianity between Catholics and Protestants. I remember my, my, my parents are not religious, but their families, it's kind of like a,
Starting point is 00:32:43 one of those, you know, regions, at least in the, let's say, 70s and 80s and 90s, because that's what I know, because of my parents. But they didn't observe the religious practices whatsoever, but they were so about praying and confessing and all that shit. But it wasn't necessarily like going to church every week. They just feared God. And my dad grew up in a Protestant family. My mom grew up in a Catholic family. but it wasn't necessarily like going to church every week. They just feared God. Um, and my, my dad grew up in a Protestant family.
Starting point is 00:33:07 My mom grew up in a Catholic family and when they were young kids and they met, um, it was like a bit of like a Romeo and Juliet like vibe. I feel like it was like, you know, it's like, yeah.
Starting point is 00:33:18 And it correlates with soccer teams, football teams over there. Like, like the, the, the Protestants are the, the Rangers and the, the, the protestants are the the rangers and the the the catholics are the the celtics and like you would my dad said that when he was a kid like
Starting point is 00:33:30 you can't like wear the the it's blue and green it's like very dangerous like walking around as a kid to wear like the wrong color in the wrong neighborhood because you'll get beat up um it's crazy that's crazy right yeah it's yeah i wonder if they thought the others were going to hell or if like you said, they just lived in fear of God in general. I feel like most people who are religious do. Yeah. Most Christians, you know,
Starting point is 00:33:54 in oppressive conservative places. So, yeah. Any other differences in terms of your parents coming from Scotland and like American culture versus versus versus is Sean Connery. Is he Scottish? Yeah, that's why I came out. Versus. Yeah.
Starting point is 00:34:15 Is there any like big differences or adjustments or. Yeah. I mean, especially for a kid, the weather, the weather was major because the weather in Scotland is it's like. It's usually cold. It's very damp and it's, it's, it's always gray. Like there's some sunny days in the summer, like, you know, but like, it's, it's, it's very depressing weather. It's like Seattle vibes, you know, it's like, it's just always raining. So like, you know, my, my parents love, they love the Texas weather cause it's fucking scorching all the time. It's like, then go outside. it's always boiling hot. I hate it.
Starting point is 00:34:47 I mean, it's like fine for a day, but I'm more like, I need seasons. And I prefer like the LA kind of like median of weather. So the weather was a big thing. Food was a big thing. Like I remember like candy, chocolate specifically, it was like horrifying. Hershey's tasted like solid powder.
Starting point is 00:35:06 I hated it. Yogurt was a completely different texture. I'm trying to think of other things. I remember like a lot of like, just like snacks and junk foods. I was like, mind boggled. VHS tapes, the packaging, like there was so many things that were just like this or that, like a VHS at that time in the UK standard was like the, the slim line, hard, thin plastic. And then when we moved to Texas, everything that we could find in any store that was a VHS, like I have a flub, a flubber, LOL, flubber,
Starting point is 00:35:39 a flubber, one of the first VHS tapes we bought in America. That's in one of those like giant foam things. You can toss it off a skyscraper and it's like, it's fine on the floor. Like it's, yeah. A giant foam. I was like, I remember being like, why, why?
Starting point is 00:35:53 It just takes up space. Yeah. But there's, but everything's bigger in Texas. That's true. Yeah. Yeah. That's what they say. When I went there, it grew two inches.
Starting point is 00:36:02 What did that mean? Oh my. Was Flubber a good movie? Or was it like a trash? I remember seeing it in theaters. With Robin Williams. It has a natural, wonderful, comedic charm to it, and just a Robin Williams charm,
Starting point is 00:36:16 but it wasn't one of his best feature films. It was like early CGI, though. The CGI's not bad, I don't think. Luckily, it's an inanimate object that doesn't exist we can we can bend our minds a little easier it's not a human some cgi from before is still better than some things now i think did y'all have y'all seen the little mermaid yet not yet i based on those clips that i've seen online it looks unwatchable to me why i when I, when I see a realistic crab,
Starting point is 00:36:46 I go, someone step on it. That's, that's, that's a scary, that's not cute at all. I hate all this animal stuff. I feel like it's not a new opinion, but like the Lion King stuff, I'm like, their faces aren't emotive. I have to deal with the fact more that they're animals. It makes less sense
Starting point is 00:37:02 to me that the animals are chill and fun and friendly with each other. I hear that. I think that, because I was feeling the same way before going to watch it, because I was like, okay, literally, Flounder is terrifying. Yeah. And the crab's eyes, I'm like, that's not, it doesn't have the same
Starting point is 00:37:17 kind of like warmth. However, and I think the film is brilliant. I cannot wait to see it again. I kind of like that it's so realistic because it kind of brings forth how realistic it is that a black girl can be the Little Mermaid, that things are slightly like altered from what we're used to. And it's all based in realism. think it's a it's it's a nicer way to for children who are going to watch this and have impact their lives the way the the animated 1989 one impacted mine it's like you know it's nice to start them off with uh there is no santa claus well i'd listen i had no problem with ariel being black that's russell's thing but for me i think i when i see these animals i'm like when you see flounder like that but then you're eating it then you're eating
Starting point is 00:38:05 it who i'm saying i'm not eating flounder no but i'm saying you look at the crab you look at the flounder like to me it's bringing it closer and closer being like all right guys these are the things that we're killing and eating because they taste good well maybe that's good got a deal you think it's at the end flounder is basically is like hardly in the film at all in this version and i think it's literally because it's just so hideous. Like they were like, the kids don't want to see this.
Starting point is 00:38:29 Wait, can I ask you, what did you think of Ursula's makeup? Well, okay, so another thing, obviously like that's a hot topic with the queers right now.
Starting point is 00:38:36 I didn't fully. So the makeup artist who is straight and that is important to all of the queer makeup artists, you know, in the industry who are,
Starting point is 00:38:46 who are making groundbreaking, making groundbreaking strides in how makeup looks and is, you know, presented and performed. It just, it, it, it really showed that there was like a,
Starting point is 00:38:59 a lack of knowledge and it's Ursula's, you know, it's the, the character is heavily inspired by divine. And so it is, it is, it really heavily leans into dragon Melissa McCarthy. Divine is, is divine is, you know, the character is heavily inspired by Divine. And so it really heavily leans into drag. And Melissa McCarthy. Divine is a drag queen? Divine is a, yeah, yeah, yeah.
Starting point is 00:39:10 You don't know who Divine is? John Waters? No. I mean, it's okay that you don't. But Divine is like a very famous punk rock drag artist from, you know, the decades past. And when the little maybe come out ursula the the animation and i think the voice too was heavily inspired by like the presence of divine and well not think it's been it's been noted but you know that that was um a thing but
Starting point is 00:39:36 i think melissa mccarthy in interviews has said that she she she used to do drag before she like made it big like she did like you know um lady and drag shit and she so she she knows about the culture and she also was in her performance i believe that she was being very respectful but the makeup is it's drag makeup but it's it's technically very bad drag makeup or what you might what i did look like when i started drag and that kind of is like it we so I think there's like a lot of argument. Like, is it intentional?
Starting point is 00:40:07 Is it not? I watched it and I was like, honestly, it's kind of fierce because you know, like when you see like people who have like tattooed makeup on like crazy tattooed brows that may have been trendy like 10 years ago, but now look insane. Yeah.
Starting point is 00:40:20 I feel like it's like that vibe. It's like, it's like Ursula. She's like all done up, but she did her makeup herself and she's terrible at it But she thinks she looks amazing Like any new drag queen But that's the thing, she's like, she's mother
Starting point is 00:40:32 So why would she be new? I don't know But what do you think about the Obviously there's like Well was this just a bad job? It looks terrible, but I think it might be intentional and artistic Like I think it, I don't know I'm a little bit of a stan. What did the makeup artist say?
Starting point is 00:40:47 Well, so the makeup artist finally made a statement recently. I want to say like a week or so ago where they were like, I don't know what they said precisely, but it was something, you know, they were upset that they, that they were receiving all this harsh criticism. That makes sense. And it was very like, you know, it was very, very why me, poor straight person also, because that's like a huge thing of the, you know, response has been like, this should have been,
Starting point is 00:41:13 this would never have happened. And it should have been featured. It should have been, you know, given to a queer person, a queer makeup artist who really, really knows and helped create that culture. But we talked with, cause we also did an episode with Dusty Ray Bottoms. I listened to it today.
Starting point is 00:41:29 Oh, yes? Yes. But we talked about the drag queen who's a straight cis man. Recently, Maddie Morphosis. Maddie Morphosis. On the, not this last one, but the previous season of Drag Race, yes. And I think, I don't know, I certainly, not this last one, but the previous season of drag race.
Starting point is 00:41:45 Yes. And I think, I don't know. I certainly, we're both straight men who occupy queer spaces at different, in different capacities. I, when I,
Starting point is 00:41:55 when they booked me to open for Bianca, I always wonder when I get a big booking during pride month that people don't know that I'm straight based on. Yeah. I, one of the earliest comedy festivals I got into, it wasn't, you had to be queer to get into the festival, but it was a queer-leaning festival. Right.
Starting point is 00:42:09 And it was early in stand-up. And I'm still to this day convinced that when I sent them my tape with a shirt from Big Fish the musical with a big flower on it, and it was all about me going to college for musical theater, that they just assumed. It wasn't my, like, i wasn't tricking it you know your performers you're you're artistic you're um you're very expressive both of you so like yeah it's it's obviously something that will you know but it's always it's i i didn't know certainly that russell was straight when i first saw him perform and met him um it was a few rehearsals in when i learned that you were one of those. I hear that makeup story and I think there's a reflexive defensiveness of just like, well, maybe know, if I were to portray someone who was bi, if someone would get mad at me because the acting sucked and then they would say, well, Andy's also straight.
Starting point is 00:43:10 It's just hard to know if they had done a really good job. Would anyone have cared that they were straight? Likely no. But it does. It is visibly, especially to the queer folks, it's it's it's visibly like uh bad not good yeah so maybe it's intentional but if it's not it's like kind of like oh and it's kind of like a you know it's it's it's blue balls it's fucking ursula like one of those things but ursula we want her to be like and also here's another thing her car like her costume it's you know
Starting point is 00:43:41 it's animated to look like she's a fucking octopus squid thing, right? But it's like the makeup didn't match. It's like her body is kind of it's like a gown in the form of tentacles and shit, right? Girl, that was from, it's from like Saks. It's designer.
Starting point is 00:44:00 So why didn't she have a better makeup artist? If she was dressed in like rags, then it would have made more sense. But, why didn't she have a better makeup artist? You know, if she was dressed in like rags, then it would have made more sense, but it just didn't make sense. Yeah. Um, and,
Starting point is 00:44:09 and you're right. If, if, if it had been executed in a more pleasing way to people who know makeup and people who know drag, um, they may not have done the research to crucify this poor straight person. Sure.
Starting point is 00:44:21 That's why they get crucified for being bad. It's also like, uh, it's not even just this one person it's that there weren't people in the process of then seeing it being like wait a minute this is well it's amazing it's incredible it's incredible for such a big undertaking a humongous global like major film you know major that it's that that it never yeah i never saw those editing eyes it makes it know, which again makes me wonder it wasn't intentional because it does make sense to me in some parts. But anyway.
Starting point is 00:44:52 Yeah. Melissa McCarthy is so good. She's so good. She's so good in the film. I think they should have just made it a real octopus for the whole number. And it's just a blob. And there's no mouth even. And no music, no singing, no lines.
Starting point is 00:45:07 Let's go full. Only the sounds of these animals would actually make sense. But that actually makes sense because the octopus can't speak. It's going to want Ariel's fucking voice. Sure, but the whole song should be and there's music in the background and then eels and they're shitting the whole time. It doesn't make any sense.
Starting point is 00:45:25 You hear all the eels. You can shitting the whole time. It doesn't make any sense. You hear all that, like the eels. Yeah, yeah. You can hear just like the texture of them living their lives. Are you going to see it? No. I'll probably see it when it comes like. I've also heard those songs. Like I watched those movies so much as a kid that I get, I almost don't even want to hear the song again.
Starting point is 00:45:41 The moment I hear it, it's like a song I've heard too many times. Did they add a song or two? Yeah, I heard the great new Lin-Manuel rap that they added. Yeah, well, I actually liked it and then Ariel has a new song
Starting point is 00:45:51 when she has legs. So, yeah, there's some new music but it fits in well. It fits in well and it's, and yeah, I liked it.
Starting point is 00:45:59 Listen, you know, it's always so like black or white hit or miss with movie musicals and retelling of, you know, remakes so like black or white hit or miss with with with movie musicals and and and retelling of of you know remakes of films and stuff i think it's i think it's excellent i think it's one of the best so the reason i brought it up is because there's you know there's also a buzz about like questionable cgi and my friend my my friend who her name is laguna and she's a drag
Starting point is 00:46:21 man and she loves yeah i assumed when you said Laguna, I was like, oh, you're a accountant friend. You're your business manager, your lawyer. Yeah. My lawyer, Laguna.
Starting point is 00:46:34 You're losing that case. Well, that's why I have my, my other lawyer, Ally McBeal. Wasn't that the premise of that show? They were a law firm. They were like young lawyers in New York City
Starting point is 00:46:45 oh yeah anyway she was like I think they spent like literally all their time doing the CGI making it gorgeous for part of your world and then they were like and then ran out of time for like some of the other stuff I didn't notice but the second half is just the regular animated movie
Starting point is 00:47:00 just go back okay so then talk to me. Let's get into some drag. Let's get into... What did you go to college for? I got a degree in musical theater. Where? Wichita State University in Kansas.
Starting point is 00:47:17 That's the Carnegie Mellon of Kansas. Yeah. Good program? Yeah. A great program and a really perfect program for me because i got to do like everything um i got to like dip my toes into dance into opera into composition and mostly into musical theater and yeah yeah it was like an it was a good like balancing program for you stronger actor a stronger singer what are you leading with um i, I don't know. I always changed my mind. I,
Starting point is 00:47:45 I, I, I was singer first, but I became more of an actor in college. And I think acting is because here's the thing in drag, I'm not always singing when I perform, you know, a lot of drag is,
Starting point is 00:47:58 is for most people, all of, all of drag performance is lip lip syncing. But when I do that, I'm not using, I'm using musicality, but I'm that, I'm not using, I'm using musicality, but I'm not singing, but I'm, I'm, I'm acting, you know what I mean? So, so yeah, I think, I think really the core of everything I do acting is always there.
Starting point is 00:48:13 We had in my college freshman year, one of the big assignments for movement class was lip sync. You had did a big lip sync number and it was, it was, it was a good challenge. It's a lot of create creativity and you got to really be vulnerable. Because you could feel silly. If you're not committing, you got to commit to that. Have you ever done a lip sync? Like a real... Well, I do it eight times
Starting point is 00:48:36 a week, but only for one line in Titanic. What's the line that you lip sync in that? Oh, God. Wow, you don't even fucking know. Jesus Christ. I don't know without the context of it happening. This is not being a very good ally.
Starting point is 00:48:50 It's a Tina Turner song. I remember the song. I love you, baby, like the star. And I love you, baby, like a schoolboy. Love is my heart. It's the last one. I love you, baby. River deep, mountain high.
Starting point is 00:49:03 Okay, you do that. I can't do it. One, two, three, baby. River deep, mountain high. Okay, so okay, you do that. I can't do it. One, two, three, four. And I love you, baby. River deep, mountain high. I rub my nipples and then I do the thing, yeah. It's very good. You're not going to get the full performance
Starting point is 00:49:19 on this. You have to go to the Daryl Rowe Theater. Well, because it's a lip sync. Have you seen the show? It's been a while. Paige and I are seeing it next week. Right? It's a Drag Race reference. So it's just, yeah.
Starting point is 00:49:34 So then when did you think about so, okay, you graduated. Did you go to New York? Ten years ago. I moved to New York right after that. And I did my thing. I was auditioning. I worked a little bit. I started to New York right after that. And I did my thing. I was auditioning. I worked a little bit.
Starting point is 00:49:48 I started booking work. Of course, more of it at first was out of New York. It was like regional theater. And I worked, I sang and danced on a cruise ship for a year. Was that fun or was that hell? Both. Both. It was a great contract.
Starting point is 00:50:02 I had like a position of leadership, which I loved because it made me just feel the president of the choir loved leadership on the cruise yes what kind of show were you doing on the cruise it was literally it was several shows but the main one on the main stage was
Starting point is 00:50:23 I don't know if they're still in business but in vegas based there is um a celebrity impersonator live show called legends in concert and it was that and it's and they have like they have like a few theaters and a few whatever like across the states and there's one on norwegian cruise lines or at least there was and it it's like they have they have like just like an arsenal of, normally Vegas based, but just American celebrity impersonators who sing live for the very most part and who look usually quite like the people. Some of them are amazing.
Starting point is 00:50:54 And so I was a backup singer and backup dancer for them. So you weren't at, you didn't do any of the celebrities? No, no, no. Because that's like, I was like in the ensemble for that for for that show and and so but but the celebrities i mean it's like it's like it's like a drag career honestly because they they they come at like the steven there's a steven tyler his name is chris van doll he he is he lives as steven tyler his wife is a nail tech in vegas and he she does his nails to be the same way that
Starting point is 00:51:26 Steven Tyler's nails are with a black stripe down the center which I learned is representative of vaginas but he dresses off stage he looks just like he does on stage in a full Steven Tyler Aerosmith costume it's like it's wild
Starting point is 00:51:42 and he talks like I can't do it, but It sounds exhausting. Yeah, some of these people get really they get really like into that. Yeah, so if I was Steven Tyler and met that guy I wouldn't want it to last very long. Yeah. I'd be like, those are my nails?
Starting point is 00:51:58 Oh my god, dude. Yeah, that's like, that's but I mean, he's incredible. Like the way he performs. I mean, you feel like... Dream on. Is that Steven Tyler? Yes, it is. And that was in the set,
Starting point is 00:52:09 but you feel like you're watching Steven Tyler. He looks just like him. It's crazy. You feel like you're getting fingered by Steven Tyler. Finger blasted. Finger blasted. Yeah. Courteship for a year, though.
Starting point is 00:52:21 That's intense. Eight months. Not a year, but like... Yeah, it was intense. You know, Rose rounds up nine to ten. Yeah. Eight months to a year though. That's intense. Eight months. Not a year, but like, yeah, it was intense. You know, Rose rounds up nine to 10. Yeah.
Starting point is 00:52:30 Oh my God. I love, I love rounding up to a, I hate the number eight. So insufficient. But yeah, it's yeah, it was, it was wild.
Starting point is 00:52:40 I was desperate to get off when I did, but it was like, it was nice. It like, it, you know, I saw the world for the first time in a way that I hadn't. And when I was working like touring for the first time, kind of,
Starting point is 00:52:48 and I was drag percolating at this point, it was percolating. I did it a little bit on the ship as a joke for like an event. Like, and, and I, how, how intense, like how much of it? No, like not at all. Like the makeup, forget about it. It was like, not the, like the, it was just wig. I wig in a dress and a pair of heels and me like, you know, kind of like my, for the, as an actor,
Starting point is 00:53:05 my body language changing and my voice kind of like, like assuming like a different tone. And I mean, Russell's Russell's pretty familiar with Rose now. Russell's met Rose like a handful of times and has seen, has seen me like, like host a show as Rose. It's like,
Starting point is 00:53:18 it's just me, but it's like, it's slightly different. Yeah. So I did this acting program where I where I did that character from my left foot that Dana Day-Lewis played at that same one. This is, this is back like when truly actors,
Starting point is 00:53:34 you could play anything you wanted to and it was okay. And I did a scene from Torch Song Trilogy. So I definitely did, you know, Torch Song Trilogy? I don't know it well. Harvey Fierstein wrote it. Yeah. Yeah. Beautiful. You know, Torch Song Trilogy I don't know it well Harvey Fierstein wrote it you know Torch Song Trilogy
Starting point is 00:53:47 I know what it is it's a beautiful long play but it's Harvey originally wrote it and started it as a drag queen so there was definitely full weeks of this acting class where I did some of the worst drag that's ever been done but I was like a 19 year old actor
Starting point is 00:54:03 I really was giving it my all yeah but but the heels were half an inch at most yeah and just just probably hideous makeup yeah and a kimono my my first experiences with drag were were like laced in in theater and so it wasn't like it wasn't the drag that i do now it wasn't it wasn't it wasn't completely changed it wasn't like a complete change and yeah it's like the one is the one inch heel vibe. It's like the. Yeah. Well, to me, the beginning of drag, like I see, see, seeing Bianca and it's this big show and I, I know she's getting paid good money and has like a team or whatever. But, but she talked about, she said, putting on the monkey suit. That's how she described the monkey suit. And I'm like, the beginning of any kind of live entertainment,
Starting point is 00:54:49 the amount of money you're getting paid. I mean, we talked about with Dusty. Just like, if I had to do all that to go do my spot at LOL on a Tuesday night, it would be insane. So the beginning is so interesting. Well, you have to- To really invest. You figure out how to make things work. You know what I mean?
Starting point is 00:55:09 And if you look back at pictures of me, I started doing drag a week ago. It was six years. And I- That's nothing. I know. That's nothing. I know.
Starting point is 00:55:17 And it's happened in the blink of an eye. It's crazy. But if you look at the first pictures of me, you can see it's good. But it was so punk rock rough around the edges like was this back when you went by pig wait how do you know about that it's on your it's on your wikipedia is it really yeah that's so fucking crazy i need to look at that rose you know you're not you're not the first person to bring up literally that Wikipedia page today. Like that's hilarious. I, um, which I haven't read in a long time, I guess, but no pig was never my drag name. But when I started, when I started like, like dipping my at home and playing with makeup and like imagine, you know, making my imagining numbers and stuff. I want it to be called pig
Starting point is 00:56:07 capital P I G period. Um, I thought it was like so funny and like, I don't know, I, I want it to be this kind of like soft feminine as much as I could be, especially back then. Um, kind of, I don't know, creature presence with, with such a jarring, you nasty name now when i when i thought you'd be you'd be like hi everyone um i'm pig i was picturing you like with a really good prosthetic pig nose no it wasn't it's just a name it's just a name i would still be you know but but what what happened was when i finally did get into drag, I was dating, um, a really fabulous, really talented makeup artist at the time and in New York. And he, he and I, he would, he went out, he was like a club kid. He would put together these fabulous looks. He was so stylish. And, and it was very like, you know, rags, like making it work drag. And it always looked amazing. It's a skill. And,
Starting point is 00:57:01 and he, so I would start going out with him and that's when i really like got into like queer nightlife for the first time in new york and i very quickly realized that i was not pig um lamb at best so so it yeah i was like uh i was like i should i should do something different i was like that's like there's that the name doesn't belong to me at least not today i'm sure there's some drag queens who like introduce themselves formally and then go like, I need to make it. It's hard. It's a lot of pressure. It's a big decision early on.
Starting point is 00:57:31 I'm branding my thing without knowing yourself fully. People do change their drag names. It happens all the time. Of course, the more well-known you are and further along in your career, obviously. It's like when Prince became a symbol. It's difficult for the public to latch on to. It reminds me of wrestling, obviously. I mean, it's like when Prince became a symbol. You know, it's difficult for the public to kind of like latch on to.
Starting point is 00:57:48 It reminds me of wrestling, too. There's some wrestlers, like professional WWF wrestlers, who like, after a certain amount of time, they come out as a new character because it wasn't clicking. I imagine, are there any that you're like, okay, no more changes? No, because, I mean, usually if someone changes, no more changes um no because i mean usually if
Starting point is 00:58:06 someone changes they only do it once i mean if someone changes their name more than more than one if they do it twice i'm like okay like you have no idea what you're doing yeah like pick a pick a crayon let's like go from there i um the when i when i did choose when i was so suddenly inspired by the idea of rose i was like okay i think this all the boxes. And that was a huge concern of mine. I was like, I want to make sure this is a name that no matter how I evolve, no matter how, how, if I'm doing drag at RuPaul's age, like, yeah, I don't know if I will back then. I really didn't know if I would. Um, I, I was like, I need something that is, that remains classic. You know, um,
Starting point is 00:58:40 when I enter my like six year old glamazon like era, I need, it needs to be, I can't be called, you know, you know, pig lady farts, you know, it needs to be, you know,
Starting point is 00:58:50 or something silly, like early on a grand day. It needs to be. So I was like, Rose, I was like, that will age. Well,
Starting point is 00:58:58 it's classic. It's like, you know, it's, it's, I don't know. I, yeah,
Starting point is 00:59:02 I, it, it worked for me and it still works. I don't, I wouldn't change it worked for me and it still works i don't i wouldn't change my name i've changed everything else um so six years i'm so stunned that it's just six years that's that's barely anything but but talk about i mean let's let's get into uh rupaul a little how long were you doing it before you got on the show? Three years. So now my time on season 13 is officially the midpoint of my drag career. Were you?
Starting point is 00:59:29 Because I filmed it three years ago and I've been doing drag for about three years. I imagine most people on that show have been doing it much longer, no? Yes. Was there any like, who the fuck is this? No, because I had like a big enough presence because of my girl group at the time like people kind of stephanie's channel yeah yeah people kind of knew who most people knew who had an idea of who i was at least like on the show um when you decided like because drag lip sync has become such a element of drag was there any like i'd like to actually sing and well no it was it was just immediately for me
Starting point is 01:00:06 it was like it was like i was like here's what separates me darling and i would what i used to what i used to do and i still do this um in different formats but when i when i first started and my intro my me introducing rosé to new york i would like come out like do my lip sync for a couple minutes and then like the last minute i would like spin off stage and come back with a mic and like reveal it and then start singing and it would blow people's minds because that was, it's uncommon. And what's really uncommon is when drag Queens are good singers or,
Starting point is 01:00:35 or let's not say a good singer, but a singer who doesn't sing like this, you know, like that kind of like old Broadway Dame sound. Right. Um, that's, that's kind of like the,
Starting point is 01:00:45 which there's nothing wrong with that, but you know, more, a more sensitive singer obviously is, is more surprising underneath all that haggard hair and makeup. Cause whenever, when I listened to, when I listened to like,
Starting point is 01:00:58 like a Kesha's album, I've been very into recently. And when I listened to those songs, I'm always imagining myself singing them there's that's like the one thing i could never do the makeup of drag i don't have the art for it but like the belting and like just the singing women's belter songs like that's so much fun oh yeah that's that's i if i could are you you're a tenor obviously or are you a super tenor no i'm not i'm i'm a tenor i'm a tenor with with, or are you a super tenor? No, I'm not. I'm a tenor.
Starting point is 01:01:25 I'm a tenor with, with like a, honestly, a bit of a lower extension. So I, you know, I, when I'm, when I'm Rosé, I kind of, I kind of, is nasalize a word? I nasalize my voice a little bit just to make it like a little bit more, you know, I don't know. That's, that's so, I don't know how to describe that, but that's kind of what Rosé, it's more energized. It's a bit lighter. It's, that's so, I don't know how to describe that, but that's kind of what Rose, it's more energized. It's a bit lighter. Um, it's a little less relaxed, but then, I mean, sometimes I just really lean into my, like literally this sound, this voice. I think now
Starting point is 01:01:53 it's, it's kind of becoming more that way. But when I sing, I just sing, I just, I used to try and be a certain way when I sang in drag or be more feminine, be more of this. And now I'm just kind of like, bitch, put the fucking look on and just be yourself. So I just, I, now my, I'm like, how do I sound good? That's what I'm trying to do instead of like, you know, trying to reach for, you know, a female register that, that is hit or miss for me. Yeah. Um, so one question before we get back into the competition, did you, when you were starting those first three years how regularly were you getting on stage in new york all the time i was so lucky but i but it
Starting point is 01:02:32 also it was very like right time right place very it felt very like you know destiny whatever it was i started and i entered this this at the time it was the biggest drag competition in new york and it was like it was like a weekly thing that was that was cycled and there was a winner each week. And then it was like semifinals and then finals. And it was like what, 80 Queens in an entire season, which spanned a couple of months. And, and I ended up winning the whole thing. And so that, and I had like a bit of a, I was in the theater scene. So like, like I had people who would come, you know, friends who would come out, they would get done with their show and then they would like rush over, you know, so they could support me at this competition. So that kind of gave it momentum and a bit of, you know, cause that's what, that's what early drag that's, that's in bars.
Starting point is 01:03:15 Like that is, um, that's, that's what your job is. You're filling seats, you're selling liquor. Like that's what you're responsible for. Yeah. You do a show, but it's, it's so the bar can make money. And, um, yeah, I just kind the bar can make money. And, um, yeah, I just kind of hit the ground running.
Starting point is 01:03:27 There was, there was cute press that followed me. And I, the one thing that, that, that I was able to do that normally takes drag, new drag Queens, like a couple of years to get kind of good at is I was instantly bomb on the mic.
Starting point is 01:03:39 I was so comfortable with a mic in my hand. Yeah. Like, and, and that, that set me apart. And so I was, I was immediately like ready to, to host things and to, and to, you know, be the center point of shows at bars. So I, I quickly filled up my, my weekly schedule and then soon, probably like a
Starting point is 01:03:58 year in, I was working like six nights a week, um, in mostly Manhattan. So yeah, I don't, it, for me, it was, it was a hit the ground running and I never stopped running. And I kind of, I never have stopped. And so when you were on RuPaul, what was the, cause it sounds stressful. It sounds like tough. It is.
Starting point is 01:04:16 The five suitcase limit. I don't know what it was. It's six now. It's six now. Or at least it was, it was when I was on, I think it's still six. How was it stressful? Yeah.
Starting point is 01:04:28 I mean, at the time when I was doing it, it was the most stressful thing and like live traumatic thing I'd ever been through. You know, you discover where your trauma comes from when you're like when you grew up and stuff as you get older, I feel. Or at least I do. But like that when I was like, I'm like in the, I was like, damn, I'm like, I'm here. I'm present. And I know how traumatizing this is. This is Corey. And I have to stay. And I want to be here. It was crazy. What was the trauma of it? It's just, it's just, it's such a gamble. You're gambling your whole life. And as an artist, it's like, it's, it's, it's a, it's like a, I'm either going to do this or I'm not. And you know, I'm either going to do this or I'm not. And I'm either going to find the success.
Starting point is 01:05:05 And it's so important. I think of it similarly to how back in the day, the Tonight Show with Johnny Carson as a stand-up comedian, if you failed that or you really took a dive or you didn't even get it, it feels like there's too much power. It's moreover a make- break moment for, for the contestants. And, and, you know, what, what people, I think what a lot of people, what I've realized quickly too, luckily for me, um, I am quite good at a lot of different things. So that the challenges that kind of like
Starting point is 01:05:39 decided whether you were mostly in the top or the bottom. I was normally more towards the top. I was never up for elimination because of that. So that helped me, but truly like Drag Race is not, when Bianca was on and season, when she won season six, I feel like it was a bit more still of like a talent show that really rewarded the more talented individuals, but it's not, it isn't a talent show anymore. And nor should it be. It's reality TV.
Starting point is 01:06:08 And like you have to, it's great if you're good at stuff, obviously. And that will give you longevity in your career because you're skillful. But it's like, you know, you have to, it's, they're telling a story. And they're basing it off of what you're giving them and what's, and what, you know,
Starting point is 01:06:21 so it's, you have to lean in and kind of, I believe you have to like kind of just figure out what character you're playing in this story yeah it's not falsified it's just it's heavily embellished based on what you give them to work with do you have any regrets from like your run um i mean yes but nothing i to be honest i've i've seen I've seen, I've seen people go on there and really like, you just not, not do exactly as they intended to. And, um, I've, I've seen how that can like affect people. I look back at my experience and I'm like, you know, I was re I mean, sure. I'll take the credit and say it was my own hand, but I also just feel so lucky that I came out not unscathed. Like I was,
Starting point is 01:07:06 I came out fucking wounded and exhausted and like traumatized cause it's, it's, it was really hard. Um, and it's so isolating too, but it's, but it's, uh,
Starting point is 01:07:15 and it's truly exhausting. Like by the end I was like, can you talk to us since this is the downside, the, the, the day, the, the day you were eliminated,
Starting point is 01:07:26 like, were you, cause I think, I, the, the day, the, the day you were eliminated, like, were you, cause I think, I think Dusty was talking about like, you can't talk to too many people. You can't tell people. Well, I was in the finale. So I was eliminated at like the very last minute. Um, so I, like I was, I was one of the finalists. So the, I, that wasn't really a, an, uh, an issue for me because like, you know, I was, I was there the whole time and it was like a week later, like we, we, and also we didn't know who won until the public knew. So like, that wasn't like a part of my journey with, with Drag Race, but I mean, the elimination was really tough just because I, what happened to me was very, very quickly after, soon after the season started airing,
Starting point is 01:08:08 for a few months, I was filming content just for social media based on like an episode of the show and it was dance material. And I fell and really hurt my ankle. And so I, for most, I kept it a secret because I didn't want people to associate like negativity or pain or being wounded with my rise on the show, which I knew was kind of like underdog realness. And then at the end, it's like, Oh my God, maybe she can win. But I was so anxious about the fact that my ankle was not recovering. And then when I finally got to the finale,
Starting point is 01:08:36 I just was like, I was like, I mean, I was, I was incredibly out of shape because I couldn't move. I'd gained, I'd gained a bit of weight. I was like, I was drinking so, so much because I couldn't move I'd gained I'd gained a bit of weight I was like I was drinking so so much because I was so stressed and like I just I was in a really bad tapings like drunk or like no no no no no no but I'm now so yeah I mean I'm I'm an alcoholic and I'm I'm I don't drink anymore because of that experience after what after it aired I kind of got to a point where I was like okay I'm I need to like face my life because that's what it drove me to. It drove, it drove me to like the point where I had to like, kind of like save, save myself when the, when the world become, when the whole world becomes aware of who you are and want to fucking tell you what they think about you. It can be, no matter how thick skinned I think you think you are, it's, it's, it's so, it's so hurtful and,
Starting point is 01:09:23 and surprising. I think now, now that I'm used to it, it's like, fuck these bitches. But like at first, you know, especially in that situation where it does feel like life or death, like gambling my, my whole livelihood and my artistry and like, you know, and it's your artistry and it's your body and it's the way you look. It's very, very, it's very sensitive stuff. Is there any one aspect that feels like it, it is the most sensitive to, like, for example, if someone calls me annoying, like that's to me, whatever reason that connects to like my childhood trauma of, of people thinking I was too, but was there anything that people said that you said, fuck, they see this thing or, or you're like, well, it really, I didn't, I was very affected by people commenting on my personality.
Starting point is 01:10:10 Because for a lot of the season until, and it was a beautiful story and it was a great arc because I really blossomed about halfway through and became myself. Yeah. Like the me that my friends know, that my audience in New York knew. But I was very in my head for the first half. And I also, you know, it was the first time in a long time that I had not had alcohol, you know, within reach, arms reach every day. So that was kind of jarring for my body and for my mind.
Starting point is 01:10:38 But yeah, when people commented on me saying that I had no personality, that I was just like, you know, I don't know, that really, that was upsetting to me because I like to think that I have a huge personality. It's hard to imagine someone accusing you of having no personality. And that's the other thing too, is like when you go in and you have like such a set idea of yourself, um, and especially when you're like kind of successful at what you do and you're like there to show it off. It's like, you know, to hear something like that, that you feel is the spine of your work and of your artistry is like, oh, fuck. Like I'm, I wouldn't be like, I'm like, okay,
Starting point is 01:11:11 I know I'm like the performance bitch. Like, give me like anything to do on stage and I'm going to fucking slay it. Like I, you know, but to then hear the public be like, you know, why is this person being celebrated when they have just nothing to offer as as a person that was like very jarring and hurtful for me also also just the way when people would comment on my style was still evolve evolve i mean it's it's always going to be evolving but i
Starting point is 01:11:36 think my physically visually i'm much more stylish and put together and kind of like more conceived now as as rose but but a few years ago, I was still, still blossoming the, you know, and, and, and, and so some of the looks were fantastic and some, some were a bit of a miss and, and when it's, when it's a miss, oh my God, the, the, the, just the internet, the internet is such a scary place. Could you tell before it went on the internet? Like you showed up and you said, oh no, this isn't like, could you feel it as you were leaving the day? He said, oh no. Or did you think at the moment?
Starting point is 01:12:06 I knew which ones were a slay and I knew which ones were not good. And it's, and Dusty talked about this when Dusty was, was on, um, on the pod. It's, it's like, you know, there's, there's just, it's, you have a limited amount of time and it's, it's a whirlwind for both the girls getting ready to go and, and the designers like that they're hiring to do work for them. And it's, you know, some things get delivered like last minute. Like there were some things that came that arrived to me with no time to improve or amend. And, and there were two looks that I was like, Oh my God, this is nothing like the sketch or this is going to get torn apart.
Starting point is 01:12:38 And I kind of just had to be like, I will figure it out. And I did luckily. Yeah. Um, and again, I will figure it out. And I did luckily. Yeah. Um, and again, luckily for me, when I, when I,
Starting point is 01:12:46 when I looked not my best, um, that happened to be like a week where it was like a, I don't know, like a improv acting challenge or something, which I had slayed. So I wasn't, so I wasn't compromised to be like eliminated,
Starting point is 01:12:56 even though I looked terrible. I think what's so hard about drag is it, it, there's a degree you, you have, you have to have the big ego, like present a big ego. There's, there's not a lot you have to have a big ego, like present a big ego.
Starting point is 01:13:08 There's not a lot of like insecure drag queens. Like if you put on a bad dress, I think I'd be like a drag queen, like the quiet drag queen in the back. You know, drag queens, you don't have to, I say that joke, I say, I know them a lot. Once I did a show with a drag queen, she told me to take it down a notch. But I think if I, like, you have to really
Starting point is 01:13:24 just, it's impressive. Let, you have to really just, it's impressive. Yeah. Um, let's go on to our next segment. This has got to stop. This has got to stop. Oh,
Starting point is 01:13:31 hell yeah. Yeah. You got to, this has got to stop for us. Yeah. Wait, I wrote some down. I was so inspired earlier while I was at Sephora because,
Starting point is 01:13:39 because no, because I was on, I was on the, I had my AirPods in and I was on the phone having like an important, important business discussion with a designer for the show that I'm about to leave and do in a week. And I'm, and they're just getting like stocking up for tour, getting like skincare products that I need to refill on.
Starting point is 01:13:55 I know exactly what I'm getting. It's like, to me it's like very clear in a shop like Sephora where it's just like, I mean, you know, you get lost and you don't know what you're looking for. Sometimes as a customer, I know exactly what I fucking need when I go into a makeup store or like a, you know, you get lost and you don't know what you're looking for. Sometimes as a customer, I know exactly what I fucking need when I go into a makeup store or like a, you know,
Starting point is 01:14:07 and so I felt like I, I looked so like focused and like, I knew what I was doing and this bitch would not stop. Like she, she was like, try just like, Oh, it was overkill with the, with the, Hey, can I help you? Like, Hey, can I help you find, Hey, do you need, and I'm literally like yelling on the phone. And so I finally just looked at her. I was like, I'm on the phone. Like, I'm so sorry, But like, where are you? So that needs to fucking stop. Yeah. Okay.
Starting point is 01:14:29 Like leave me a goddamn alone. I know that it's your job, but like I've promised you, I'm going to come and find you if I need some help. I mean, I don't know. I feel like there's a much clearer way to decipher whether a person seems like they need help or not. Like, you know what I mean?
Starting point is 01:14:44 Yeah. I think there's a degree where, I'll tie it into mine because I went to the AT&T store today and I'm getting my screen replaced, the cover of the screen. It cracked because I dropped it when I was mad about this box.
Starting point is 01:14:58 And as the person's replacing another guy is trying to do sales tactics on me and I'm trapped and I'm trapped. And I'm trapped. Yeah. But this is the way he does it. And it drove me nuts. It's about taste. It's about.
Starting point is 01:15:09 So he goes like, so you watch any streamers? And you're like, what the fuck is going on? And I'm like, Netflix. He's like, oh, yeah. Any show you've been watching recently? And I was like, Six Hash. And he goes, you ever watch it on the go? You ever need to download it? And I'm like, six hash. And he goes, you ever watch it on the go? You ever like need to like download it?
Starting point is 01:15:26 And I'm like, just, just say that, say what you're going to fucking say. But he was like, he wanted me to trap, like as if I'm so stupid to be like, don't really.
Starting point is 01:15:34 Oh yeah, I do need that. And, and he did that while I was trapped with this person putting on the screen, which now I'm suspecting they're doing it slower than they need to. And I said, I make clear, I said, we are
Starting point is 01:15:45 in a rush, but I'll come back. I'll talk to you. And this is how fucking loser I am. He eventually goes like, let me get your number so I can call. And I go, okay. And I give this motherfucker my fucking phone number. Your real phone number? I'm like, I'm going to deal with this
Starting point is 01:16:02 later. I'm going to ignore this call. I'm going to ignore 10 of these calls now. And it's just like, I don't have the strength to be like, I'm going to deal with this later. I'm going to ignore this call. I'm going to ignore 10 of these calls now. And it's just like, I don't have the strength to be like, no, thank you. Yeah. No, that's all right. And it's,
Starting point is 01:16:11 it's, it's the same. There's no, there's no taste. They're just like, they probably need the money and he has a family to feed and I should be nice
Starting point is 01:16:19 and probably just buy the plan to help him. Yeah. But it's no taste. No, it's just, I'm going to shoot it out until someone buys. Also at Sephora, I literally had like,
Starting point is 01:16:28 I had like my arms were full. I had every product that was on the shelf. Like, what do you mean do I need help? I'm buying everything already. Yeah. This is a sleigh of a sale for you. Like you don't need to interfere.
Starting point is 01:16:38 Yeah. I almost wanted to be like, no, and like put stuff back on the shelf. No, I should get a negative commission? They say, hey, you heard that one. You got this guy's stuff?
Starting point is 01:16:49 Yeah, this is very specific to, I think I did similar, connected to the last one I did. This guy's stuff, okay, the MTA, listen. You put this out, you put these signs out. You print signs out and post them everywhere saying, this is when service is going to stop. This is when it is.
Starting point is 01:17:09 9.45, Friday nights, right? We all know this. We see this 9.45 Friday night thing. Okay, Titanic, the musical. It gets out 8.55 on Friday nights, okay? I'm rushing, me, rushing, running for that L train. Catch it just fine. Okay. I'm getting to 14th street and getting that a train nine Oh five, usually nine Oh five. It's not nine 45 yet. Okay. Nine 45 is when it's supposed to stop going past one 68th street. Okay.
Starting point is 01:17:41 This is multiple weekends. This is happening every weekend and we're all just letting it happen that they stop the service an hour before they stop it they stop it change it say it's done at nine just say it's done at nine you're never gonna because these people they don't want to do it they i get it i i feel for them i don't i. I don't know. The apathy of the MTA, it just drives you insane. The communication is terrible. Just change it to nine. It's never going past every time now. Three weeks in a row, they stop it, and I have to get one train.
Starting point is 01:18:20 I have to do it, or I just get a cab. I went into the MTA yesterday. I guess it's been closing. Everything's been closing late at night or whatever. I went through the turnstile. I have to do it or I just get a cab. I went into the MTA. I guess it's been closing. Everything's been closing late at night or whatever. I went through the turnstile. I'm waiting. No trains coming for about 18 minutes. I go back to the turnstile. They've put a tape across the turnstile letting no
Starting point is 01:18:36 one know to go in. You don't put up the tape until you peek in. See if there's anyone else still there. You can just leave me there to have to. Assholes. And your You can just leave me there to have to. Assholes. And your bag is full of taxidermy mice. It's like,
Starting point is 01:18:50 it is not a good situation. You know, I think Russell, like it's so funny. I knew you were going to talk about either this or audience members because in the six months that I've been getting to know you, the two things that really grind
Starting point is 01:18:58 Russell's gears are the fucking MTA, the fucking MTA or goddamn audience members who aren't having a fucking good time. I know. I do really get so mad about't having a fucking good time. I know. I do really get so mad about it. It is funny how mad I get.
Starting point is 01:19:08 It's a real problem. Oh, you don't get mad at bad audience members? Listen, I've, I've had to, I've had to adjust expectations. If I got mad at every bad audience I had. I get mad when it's, it's, it's kind of bad. And everyone else feels like they're making me feel crazy that I'm overreacting to how bad it is. I feel like sometimes people are like,
Starting point is 01:19:30 it's not that bad. And I'm like, what it is? They're not having fun. I usually base my opinion on the audience off of your opinion because I just don't even... I mean, when I was in Titanic,
Starting point is 01:19:40 I got a little 10-minute break in the dressing room while Russell was on stage doing... If you have not seen titanic russell as as ruth as rose's mother has this show-stopping incredible um acting scene where he just tears poor rose to shreds and it's so funny but you know that's really the point where i would be like okay if this audience feels shitty like surely russell can like reel them in by that point like surely russell can get them together so like after russell like descends and for the stage and comes down to the dressing room,
Starting point is 01:20:07 like in a full sweat, you just like heavy breathing. I'm like, I look over and I'm like, how are they? Hey babe, it was a shake. Not tonight.
Starting point is 01:20:18 Sometimes I'm like the best case scenario. I'm like, they're great. And it's like fine. And, and I'm daddy's not going to be mean to everyone, but we're scared. I'm like, fuck're great. And it's like fine. And, and I'm, daddy's not going to be mean to everyone, but we're scared. I'm like, fuck this crowd.
Starting point is 01:20:29 No. Do you know how I can tell? My confirmation now is Jenny, the sound girl. She. Love Jenny. Will sometimes. Well, listen, she sometimes. Maybe we're all getting a little uncomfortable.
Starting point is 01:20:42 Jenny, I hope you're listening to this. Jenny sometimes will be like, what's wrong with that crowd out there? Oh yeah. After my Jenny, I hope you're listening to this. Jenny, sometimes we'll be like, what's wrong with that crowd out there? After my scene, I'm like, okay, Jenny. I already had it in my head. I didn't need you to confirm that I didn't do very well tonight. That kind of thing.
Starting point is 01:20:56 Jenny just wants to be your friend. She loves you. She admires you. She wants to join in the fun. No, I love Jenny. Paige, do you have a list that's got to stop? I do. This is kind of belated, but going back into the office for people who had remote jobs that have remote jobs that do not need to be in office. Sure. Yeah.
Starting point is 01:21:14 And this is because like there are places that are trying to build like office culture, which I don't think is a huge priority, but it's more so just like consider the time it takes for somebody to get ready in the morning for somebody to commute to and from work and the time that like you're losing to have like a normal like work-life balance and what that means like to the business at large or like as an employee, I felt very disgruntled because I was losing three hours each day. They weren't compensating me for the transportation costs nor like paying me to be on the clock to get to and from those places so and then all of it was just for so that i could listen to somebody coughing across the desk for me or so that i could be in the bathroom the bathroom situation was weird it was like 10 stalls um
Starting point is 01:22:03 uh all gender bathroom but then like i'd run into my boss in there and like that's a different level of like knowing somebody that i don't want to office intimacy yeah i don't want that at all yeah yeah that's tough so it was like like stalls and then a big sink area yes yes exactly oh yeah i'm, I don't want to see anybody in there. I try to poop away from my colleagues. I mean, I've completely changed my footwear choices so that I'm unrecognizable
Starting point is 01:22:34 beneath the stall. You know what I mean? The nice thing about these stalls is that they were like floor to ceiling. So like, I'll give them credit for that. Oh, I like that. Okay, now we're talking. If it was soundproof too. You don't have to do one of those as you're opening, they're going in.
Starting point is 01:22:50 Ten. It would be weird if you did. There's nine empty stalls. Sometimes at Titanic I go to the musician's bathroom. I didn't even know that existed. I feel bad that I locked the door so they can't get into it. If I'm going there, it's because I'm pooping. I think we all have a secret Titanic pooping place.
Starting point is 01:23:08 Yeah. Well, because you can't poop in the men's dressing room. We don't smell anywhere. Sure. But I didn't poop in the men's dressing room. No, never. No, never. Not even like in the afternoon if you're there early. Like, it's just like, you don't want anyone to arrive and smell shit. Like, what the fuck? I guess Russell finally tried poppers.
Starting point is 01:23:24 Well, I was going to say, like, you know, at work, like where we were, it's like someone would come in the bathroom if I was shitting, they'd be like,
Starting point is 01:23:29 Rosé, Ross, because the whole room would smell like poppers. You know, obviously that's what I was doing. Wait, the poppers smells on the way out too? No, you don't like ingest it.
Starting point is 01:23:40 What? You said the poop smelled like poppers? No, I was just kidding. You're making a joke, Joe Marco. I have such a joke, Joe Marco. I have such a little information about this. You say this, suddenly thousands of straight people think
Starting point is 01:23:50 that you poop poppers. I am right. I'm giving the benefit of the doubt that you know exactly what this is like. I think you're giving the benefit of the doubt that thousands of straight people are listening to this. Let's go to our final segment. You better count Your blessings Alright we're a little short on time
Starting point is 01:24:09 So real quick Do you have a blessing? You can skip me Don't say something Oh my god That's so funny You said we're running short on time Yeah yeah
Starting point is 01:24:17 Quick blessing Quick blessing is that There's a string Or like a Group of like Grocery stores in Brooklyn Called Mr. Plum, like Mr. Kiwi, Mr. Berry, Mr. Whatever, Mr. Fruit Name. And there's like a really cheap, like a really affordable produce place. And like since I've been unemployed, I've had actually time to like make vegetables and like eat fruit or just eat better in general.
Starting point is 01:24:42 And I feel like those grocery stores are an essential like lifeline to the communities that they're in. And also just like when you eat better, you feel better. Hell yeah. Like all of that stuff. So I'm very thankful that I don't have to pay like crazy prices at Whole Foods or any other grocery store like in Brooklyn where it's just not conducive for a healthy lifestyle. So very thankful.
Starting point is 01:25:03 I'm going to go there next time. Yeah. Mr. All called different Mr. Yeah. Mr. All called different Mr. Yeah. Mr. Fruit name. Fine. You're saying it's a fruit name. Yeah.
Starting point is 01:25:11 It's not called Mr. Fruit. Like Mr. Banana, Mr. Apricot. Yeah. Yeah. Oh, okay. I'll check it out. Russell, do you have a blessing? Yes.
Starting point is 01:25:17 I have two people. One, Rose, listen, I'm very thankful for you. It was so nice on Sunday to do that show with the people leaving and see you out there. And I'm just so grateful I got to do, I get to, my Titanic experience will be, you will be such a part of that in my memory. And I feel, I'm just so thankful for that.
Starting point is 01:25:41 I just had so much fun doing that. I love you. That's so sweet. I feel so strange without all of you there right now. I'm sure, just so thankful for that. I just had so much fun doing that. I love you. That's so sweet. I feel so strange without all of you there right now. I'm sure. But it'll be great. Change is good. Yes.
Starting point is 01:25:50 Transitions are hard. Exactly. But I'm thankful that we got to do what we got to do. Thank you. And then my other one is Tova. I just feel like she's been doing, I'm just really happy with all the work and what we're, you know, we're working on some things and I'm very really happy with all the work and what we're, you know, we've been working on some things and I'm very thankful for her.
Starting point is 01:26:08 Well, with the writer's strike, she's got a lot of time to focus on you, buddy. John Marcos' girlfriend is my manager. Oh, I love that. Yeah. I love that. My blessing, there's something very cool as a,
Starting point is 01:26:20 now I've been doing standup comedy this long, I sometimes go to smaller shows or like a random bar show and like there'll be these young like 21 year old comics or 18 and like it's it's cool to walk into spaces and they're like thank you so much for doing the show and i would i would happily do it but but it's just like seeing the shows you used to do you would yeah yeah yeah but with stand-up i think there is like a real uh you know you you're disrespected and so you stand up you constantly are disrespected and then like you feel people like i give you so much love and thank that you're there and those moments of
Starting point is 01:26:57 like a young comic being super sweet and being like thank you so much for doing this show it's very nice and it's it's heartwarming except for the one who said like, I've been such a fan of you since I was in high school. And that made me feel. Oh, that's fine. Uh, Rose,
Starting point is 01:27:12 do you have a blessing? I'm sorry. Yes, no, I do. I do. I'm like, so actually it's so cute.
Starting point is 01:27:16 Cause mine was going to be Russell. So I'll lean into that. Just that's, that's like part of the, like the Titanic mental illness is that we all like, I secretly love life. Um, but no, I Russell, you've, I mean, seriously, you've just, you've impacted my life so much. That's like part of the Titanic mental illness is that we all like secretly love life. But no, Russell, I mean, seriously,
Starting point is 01:27:29 you've impacted my life so much. I've learned so much from you as a comedian, as an actor. Like I can't believe when I told you this the other day, but like when I first saw the show and first met you, I was so intimidated and nervous like by your talent and your presence. I was obsessed with you. And I immediately was like,
Starting point is 01:27:43 I want to be that person's friend. And then like I said the other day, then I found out you were straight and I changed my stage. I was obsessed with you. And I immediately was like, I want to be that person's friend. And then, like I said the other day, then I found out you were straight and I changed my mind, but it still worked out. But it still worked out. And you thought I didn't like you at first. Oh yeah.
Starting point is 01:27:52 You told me that. Yeah. Well, probably cause you didn't. No, I did. I just am quiet. I think people think that sometimes I'm like more,
Starting point is 01:27:59 I'm not as friendly. There's frequently I go, Russell doesn't like me. I don't think. Toxic trade of mine. Well, thank you so much. Now, our last thing for our Patreons, I really do love doing this.
Starting point is 01:28:12 We're going to, if you're a member of the Patreon, again, patreon.com slash downside, only $5 a month, bonus episodes, support the podcast, live episodes, my comedy special,
Starting point is 01:28:21 The Rats Are In Me. We're going to, everyone who's a member, your name is gonna flash at the bottom of the screen while russell tells us a joke a thick joke this is from jackie martling's book jackie jokes a thick joke and really yeah i mean it's a this big one yeah yeah okay it's harvest time and the old italian farmer and his teenage daughter load all the vegetables under their horse-drawn wagon go to town sell them and are on their way home when bandits come riding up, shooting their guns in the air.
Starting point is 01:28:48 The farmer's holding a huge wad of bills, and he says, Oh, no, I'm a work so... Oh, he's Italian. Oh, no, I'm a work so hard, and now they're going to take all my money. Oh, Maria, what are you going to do? Maria says, Papa, give me the money. He hands her the wad of bills.
Starting point is 01:29:07 She takes it, turns away from him, lifts up her dress and stuffs it up inside her twat. Oh, it's Sicily. The bandits stop the wagon and make the farmer and his daughter get down. They search them and the wagon, but they don't find anything. Mad as hell. They take off with the wagon and the horses. The Italian farmer is crying his eyes out, and he says, I'm going to work so hard, now I'm going to lose everything.
Starting point is 01:29:29 Maria says, Papa, don't cry. I'll save you the money. He lifts up his dress and slurp, pulls the wad of pills out of her snatch. The farmer says, Oh, Maria, Maria, you'll save me the money. I'm so happy. Then he thinks a second, and he starts to cry again. Maria says, Papa, I you're saving the money. I'm so happy. Then he thinks a second and he starts to cry again. Maria says, Papa, I saved the money. Why are you crying now?
Starting point is 01:29:51 The farmer says, Maria, if we had brought your mama, we could have saved the wagon and the horses. She would have put everything up in the pussy, right? Yeah. No, it's clear. I switched into a different dialect at the end. Yeah, it felt like you went a little Scottish. I can get out of our guest here. I heard Sebastian the Crab from Little Mermaid.
Starting point is 01:30:11 Jamaican. This is The Downside. One, two, three. Downside. You're listening to The Downside. The Downside. With Gianmarco Ceresi. you're listening to the downside the downside with john marco cerezi

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