The comedy special is, in ways, a follow-up to her critically-lauded and Peabody Award-winning 'Nanette.'

Australian comedian Hannah Gadsby's first Netflix comedy special landed her a Peabody Award. Titled Nanette, it was a full cultural moment, with some asking whether it was a stand-up bit or a Ted Talk. The project was an interrogation of personal trauma onstage, named after a random, mostly unrelated, barista. She says in the genre-bending special that she must quit comedy, that it causes marginalized to exploit their own histories in a presentation that is humiliation, "not humility." And now, the critically lauded jokester is back with her second Netflix special, Douglas.

"I'm excited for you to see it," Gadsby said in a new announcement video for the one-hour special, released Monday. "It's going to be good unless you don't like it. Then it's still going to be good and you'll be wrong." The project will release globally on the streamer on May 26.

Named after her dog, Douglas sees the Out100 honoree addressing in part the reaction to Nanette. When the special toured, including a 5-week Off-Broadway run, Gadsby would start things off by addressing the criticism of its predecessor, which often had to do with the performer's own appearance. Then, she proceeds in much of the same format, giving what is essentially a lecture, thinly veiled as laughing matter. Of the topics, Gadsby reveals that she is living with autism through an anecdote where it's not clear who, if anyone, should be laughing. 

In a review of the Off-Broadway run for Out, our then-deputy editor Fran Tirado noticed that"watching someone in comedy create work around disability is revolutionary." Now the head of The Most, Netflix's arm for editorial content built around their LGBTQ+ talent, Tirado went on: "As Gadsby said in the show, ableism is a product of the patriarchy, and labels for neurodiversity are more often than not created by men, especially when women do something they fail to predict."

RELATED | In ‘Douglas,’ Hannah Gadsby Opens Up About Her Autism Diagnosis

In a new special, Saff, John Finlay, and Josh Dial all had things to say.

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"These bitches are giving me money."

While RuPaul’s Drag Race has made well over 100 drag performers celebrities— in some sense of the word — in front of the camera, it’s also turned a few of them into power players behind the scenes. From Shangela’s ideation of the popular Werq the World tour to Raven doing Ru’s own make-up, these performers are helping to influence drag in ways that might not be immediately apparent. The one to know about in the comedy sphere: Bob the Drag Queen.

The New York-based comedian who is set to appear on HBO’s upcoming unscripted series We’re Here, recently revealed she’s been writing jokes and helping some of our favorite drag queens while maintaining a career of her own. 

“I produce content for a few people, actually, between Peppermint and Marti Gould Cummings and different local queens in New York City,” the season 8 winner told me in a recent interview in The Advocate. “Sometimes I write for other drag queens.” The performer went on to specify that, for now, that work is only within the drag world, but that it's “a lot more than people would think.”

Remember Naomi Smalls’ performance as Wendy Williams in the All Stars Season 4 Snatch Game? Yep. Bob coached her through it. Did you see Ginger Minj or Trinity The Tuck in the Haters Roast Tour? No?! Well, Bob wrote those sets. Monet X Change on The X Change Rate? Yep, our favorite jokester helps her “punch up jokes” for that show. At this point, Bob The Drag Queen is drag's Mother Teresa, just with a better wig and slightly taller.

But don’t get it confused, this is not charity work. Though Bob helps Monet for free because they're best friends, the other performers have to pay coin for her expertise. 

“These bitches are giving me money,” she said. “I’m not writing for these hoes for free.”

A performer after Ru’s own heart. 

RELATED | Shangela, Bob the Drag Queen, and Eureka O'Hara Bringing Drag to HBO

Bob The Drag Queen is Writing Jokes For Some of Your Favorite Queens

Apparently a few feel that the younger actress is the “superior lesbian Ellen.”

After recently landing in hot water regarding a joke about quarantine — she said that being in her $27 million estate was like being in jail because “everyone in here is gay,” — talk show host Ellen DeGeneres is making headlines again. Now, thousands of petitioners are asking that she be replaced on her show by Ellen Page in a campaign that seems partially comedic and partially serious. 

“Ellen Page is a much better Ellen to host The Ellen Show,” the petition states bluntly. “Ellen DeGeneres is a hetero that just happens to be gay. Ellen Page is a much better host because she’s way more gay.” Well then, tell us how you really feel.

Though we all know that no queer is “more gay” than another — and that “hetero that just happens to be gay” isn’t a thing — the criticisms no doubt come after a series of similar criticisms from more progressive LGBTQ+ people, including this very publication. DeGeneres has been criticized for befriending the notoriously anti-LGBTQ+ former president George W. Bush as well as defending her fellow comedian Kevin Hart’s messy homophobic past — particularly when this probably wasn’t her place. For some, the sequence of events has seen DeGeneres’ status as a queer icon unravel over the past year or so.

Instead of responding to criticisms of her recent joke gone awry, likening living in the lap of luxury as equivalent to being “in jail,” the comic simply removed that portion of her show without comment or apology.

In the new petition, one signee noted that they supported the campaign “because Ellen DeGeneres has made offensive comments towards a community of convicts, ex-convicts, and to every person that struggles to survive in these hard times,” and added, “Ellen Page has been an active speaker for equal rights and has proven to be more professional and socially conscious than Ellen.”

In a viral moment that most shows the difference between the Ellen’s, the daytime talk giant was taken to task in February 2019 when she showed support for actor Chris Pratt. Page, instead, pretty much publicly eviscerated the man for his connection to the known anti-LGBTQ+ Hillsong Church.

“If you are a famous actor and you belong to an organization that hates a certain group of people, don’t be surprised if someone simply wonders why it’s not addressed,” wrote Page on social media. “Being anti LGBTQ is wrong, there aren’t two sides. The damage it causes is severe.” 

We took the moment to look at the differences in how Page and DeGeneres use their platforms — and many of the points we made are now being echoed by the new petition which has over 7,000 signatures. 

Related | The Critical Difference Between Ellen Page and Ellen DeGeneres

This is a place for legends!

Black-ish creative Kenya Barris teams with sexually-fluid Queer Eye foodie for new streamer on modern dating.

The love life of Queer Eye reboot’s Antoni Porowski is the basis of a new Netflix rom-com according to reports. The streamer, entitled Girls & Boys, is loosely based on the Fab Five food and wine guy’s experiences dating both men and women. Porowoski developed the series with Black-ish creative Kenya Barris.

Porowsi previously revealed that he prefers to live without a label rather than identify as strictly gay. “I feel like if I do refer to myself as gay, which would make it easier for people to understand sometimes, I feel like it dishonours women that I’ve been in love with,” he told GQ last year. He's since went on to say that he felt shame growing up with the label because he "didn't know too many people [he] could relate to."

The first-generation Canadian born to Polish immigrant parents is a self-taught cook and careful to bill himself as a food and wine expert on Queer Eye rather than a chef. He is known for his skin-tight t-shirts, penchant for all things avocado, and a welcome honesty about his personal life such as his struggle with anxiety. Porowski's also not above passing out helpful tips on getting choked during sex, as he did in a past Buzzfeed interview (hint: safe signals work better than safe words when you can’t breathe).

The new show should have a lot to mine from as Porowski has previously admitted to having a "pathological need for everybody to love him." Put that in a dating context and ... whew. Comedy indeed.

His collaborator, Kenya Barris is quite the name in television. Barris recently signed a three-year, eight-figure deal with Netflix to develop new television projects for the streaming giant. He has upcoming screenplay credits for the sequel to Coming to America and the remake of Robert Zemeckis’s The Witches.

"Kenya Barris is one of our great modern storytellers,” Cindy Holland, vice president of originals at Netflix, said in a statement at the time. “Kenya uses his voice to make audiences more aware of the world around them, while simultaneously making them laugh."

Hulu’s Plus One directors Andrew Rhymer and Jeff Chan will write the screenplay for Girls & Boys. Their previous writing credits include the PEN15, for which they earned WGA Award nominations.

RELATED | Queer Eye’s Antoni Says He Likes to Be Choked

Antoni Porowski’s Love Life to Inspire New Netflix Rom-Com

And this season there's a twist on the reading challenge.

Claire Danes, Wilson Cruz, and several other cast members of the historic ’90s series (except one) reunite during quarantine.

The silver linings of quarantine just keep coming, and a sweet surprise this week was an impromptu cast reunion of the acclaimed but short-lived 1990’s TV drama, My So-Called Life. The pioneering series ripe with teen angst that dared to attack serious social issues was the first American television show to cast an out actor, Wilson Cruz, to play a gay character in a lead role.

“So...This happened the other night,” wrote Cruz on Twitter, after attending the Zoom gathering which included several original cast members as well as the show’s creator. “Most of the #MySoCalledLife cast was available for what turned out to be a very comforting, sweet, heartfelt and overdue reunion. We all have such love for each other, even 26 years later. It was overwhelming to see all of those faces together.” 

“Most” being a key word, as many fans were disappointed that the dreamy-eyed Jared Leto — who played Claire Danes character’s gorgeously grungy crush, Jordan Catalano, on the show — was absent from the virtual get-together.

The show did not shy away from meaty topics like teen sex, drug use, alcoholism, homophobia, and homelessness — this might be typical for modern day series like Elite, Euphoria, and more, but was out of place in the 90s. My So-Called Life centered on high school student Angela Chase (played by Danes) as she navigated her way through the turmoil of boys, friends, and family. Cruz famously played Angela’s gay bestie, Rickie Vasquez — a role that may seem like a stereotypical trope now, but at the time was groundbreaking.

Vasquez was written, not as a trope, but as a fully fleshed-out role, which we have also come to expect. The show made Cruz  the first out actor on an American television show to play an openly gay character in a lead role. He recently said the part even helped mend bridges between him and his ultra-conservative father.

“My character Rickie Vasquez gets kicked out of his home on the show and there’s a whole episode about it,” Cruz told People magazine in February. “And I got kicked out of my house at Christmas just like Rickie did. And my father watched that episode. And when the credits rolled, and about 10, 15 minutes later, my phone rings and he said, ‘Hey, I think we need to talk.’”

“And it was because of his watching the show,” added Cruz. “And so I went home and we had a conversation that we probably couldn’t have had unless he had sat down and watched.”

Cruz and Danes were joined on Zoom by former castmates Bess Armstrong and Tom Irwin (who played Angela’s parents), Devon Odessa (Angela’s former bestie, Sharon), Mary Kay Place (Sharon’s mom, Camille), Devon Gummersall (Brian), and A.J. Langer (Rayanne); as well as series creator Winnie Holzman and her husband Paul Dooley (who played Angela's grandpa, Chuck).

RELATED | ICYMI: Wilson Cruz Still Has the Body of a God 

In his cover story for Out Magazine, he explains how he figured out the game of life. 

The first time I laid eyes on Mike Ruiz, back in 1997, when he walked into my office to show me his photo book for a possible assignment, I remember thinking, He’s the photographer? We should be shooting him. But there he was, looking like a Tom of Finland illustration come to life, but smiling and giggling like a 9-year-old. It was then, as it is now, a contradictory cocktail of tough and sweet. Who could resist? Oh, and the fact that he’s among the very top tier of American celebrity, fashion, and portrait photographers isn’t just icing on the cake — it is the cake. Ruiz is here to slay, brothers and sisters, and I’ve been rooting for him since our very first encounter.

Ruiz and I have loved traversing the planet shooting some of its coolest stars for magazine covers: Ricky Martin, Michelle Rodriguez, Tiki Barber, Daisy Fuentes, and many more. In fact, Ruiz has famously worked with the world’s biggest celebrities — Kim Kardashian West, Nicki Minaj, Katy Perry, and, yes, Betty White. But he’s been so much more than an in-demand celebrity lensman: Ruiz has evolved into not only video directing and production (Kelly Rowland, Vanessa Williams, Kristine W) but a star in unscripted television on The A-List: New York (Bravo) and Kathy Griffin: My Life On The D-List (Bravo) as well as a judge on both America’s Top Next Model (The CW) and RuPaul’s Drag Race (VH1). Tyra and Ru on speed dial? Loves it.

As if all of that wasn’t keeping him busy enough, Ruiz has turned his attention to helping pit bulls, with his annual benefit calendar, Bullies & Biceps, featuring top fitness models (many of whom are pit bull owners themselves) and gorgeous canines that need rescuing.

All proceeds from the calendar benefit various animal rescues — in the past they've chosen New York Bully Crew, an organization dedicated to rescuing at-risk pit bulls. I know how important this cause is to the talented Montreal native, since the loss of his beloved black pit bull, Oliver. As anyone who has ever crossed paths with Oliver knows, that was one unforgettable, amazing pooch. Mike and Oliver was a love story to rival any.

Love has been generous with Ruiz as well as devastatingly cruel. After years of bouncing around the dating scene, Ruiz found love with Martin Berusch. In 2013, when the photographer was trying to “simplify” his life, he and Berusch (and Oliver) moved to a beautiful home in central New Jersey’s horse country, and all seemed perfect in their world — until Berusch, whom Ruiz had been dating since 2010, passed away suddenly the day after Christmas 2016.

Only recently has Ruiz been able to reconnect and find love again, this time with Wayne Schatz. They married last May. All of the seismic activity in Ruiz’s personal life isn’t that surprising, considering his description of an “emotionally volatile” childhood to his hometown newspaper, the Montreal Gazette, as one of three boys born to his late mother, Francoise, and father, Anthony: “I grew up in an unstimulating, blue-collar environment where we weren’t exposed to the arts. I was always very introspective and satisfied my creativity by imagining how my life would turn out.” And boy, how did that work out for our guy? His photography work is instantly recognizable, part carnival, part homage, and, again, much like the man behind the lens, demands attention.

So yeah, Ruiz is clearly at the apex of a fulfilling personal and career ride: deeply happy in love, busy and challenged with work, and devoted to causes he cares about—including his extensive activities on behalf of The Ali Forney Center for Homeless LGBTQ Youth  and LGBTQ+ youth.

I keep harking back to our first meeting nearly a quarter-century ago and how remarkably consistent my feelings about him have remained: Mike Ruiz is a good guy, a solid human, and a lot of fun to hang out with. The talented, effervescent, tireless, delightful photographer was even game to answer a few questions for Out. As I said, who can resist?

Mike, are people intimidated when they first meet you (all those muscles) and delighted when you greet them? It’s quite the juxtaposition, your frame from your persona.
Are people still intimidated? I think at this point, enough people have seen how non-threatening I am that the word has spread that I’m a total pushover.

How did you get cast in your debut film, Latin Boys Go to Hell? Do people still recognize you from that?
It was a classic Hollywood story. I was in an elevator in New York City and the director, Ela Troyano, asked me if I’d like to be in a film. I let her know that I was a photographer and not an actor, but that didn’t seem to faze her. She gave me her card and asked me to call her. I never called her, so she ended up casting Tony Ward. I guess he didn’t come off as a Latino, so she found me again and pleaded with me to do it. Since I’m all about the experience, I agreed to do it. The budget was negligible, so we had to do everything in one take. Also, I hadn’t rehearsed with the other actors prior to my scenes, so I had to wing it. Hence my stellar performance.

For those of us who know you well, it’s still surprising how highly sensitive and emotional you are. Can you sense how that translates into your work?
I do suffer from an abnormally high level of empathy, which makes me hyper-conscious of people and their feelings. I guess the way this translates into my work is that I have the intense desire to make people feel good. That’s always my fundamental goal when photographing anyone. I want them to feel special and beautiful. I’ve always considered my work to be optimistic and aspirational, and that definitely comes from my need to see the world through hopeful, optimistic eyes—which I hope leaves my subjects feeling the same way.

There’s a lot of visual drama in so much of your work. Is that you trying to stand out from the pack?
I found early on that photography was the voice that I never had. I used it to create a visual world that I needed to see. It was just my visual point of view. I’m just grateful that it resonated with some.

Dream assignment? Who are you shooting? Set it up for us.
My dream assignment has changed over the years. Ten years ago, I would have said that I’d love to shoot Gaga or Madonna. Lately, I get the most satisfaction using my skills and visibility to help our LGBTQ youth and animals in need. If there was something that I could shoot that would have some kind of major positive social impact, that would be a career highlight for sure.

In your life and career, you’ve experienced some extreme highs and devastating lows. What’s the lesson you wish you would have known decades ago?
The lesson I wish I could convey to my younger self would be to love myself more. I did a lot of self-destructive stuff in the effort to be loved. The answer all along was to love myself. That would have made so many decisions so much easier.

Tell me how similar and different RuPaul and Tyra Banks are. We know they’re both fierce, but what’s your take?
They’re similar in the sense that they’re both highly driven: success at any cost. At the end of the day, they’re just like the rest of us, human beings with struggles and triumphs.

After The A-List: New York, would you ever star in another unscripted series? Househusbands of New Jersey?
I never say never. I’m certainly not seeking it out, but if it landed on my lap, I’d do it. I’m a lot wiser and savvier now, so the terms of such a project would be far less exploitative financially. I’d have to have a stake in it. I’ve been on enough reality TV to know that I’m as good an executive producer as any I’ve worked with.

2020 is something else: COVID-19, presidential election, LGBTQ rights under attack. What keeps you so firmly on your indefatigable positivity train?
It’s not easy. I see so much hardship and despair, but I feel that if I contribute to it, I’m not doing myself or anyone else any favors. What a person says and does says everything about them, and the last thing that I would want to do is leave a legacy of hate and sadness. It’s like exercising—the more love you put forth, the easier it gets.

Send us on our way with this: Mike Ruiz is…
…trying his very best.

Gigi Goode might be who we want to win but Heidi will always stay with us.

*This post contains mild spoilers from the latest episode of RuPaul's Drag Race season 12. 

There's a lot that goes into winning RuPaul's Drag Race. The reengineered, televised drag pageant requires contestants to be funny, pretty decent with their aesthetics, know how to act a little, and most importantly understand their brand. So far, on season 12, the queens who are winning that game are Gigi Goode, followed closely by Sherry Pie and Jaida Essence Hall. But, as been said here before, Drag Race is as much a reality show as it is a competition. And in that iteration of the VH1 series, Heidi N. Closet is winning by a mile.

There's a legacy of Drag Race competitors that come on the show and maybe don't have the makeup skills as the other queens, or don't have the same polish when it comes to looks, but there's something about them that captures us all. They usually come into the show with a little less means than everyone else but often go on to have the most impact, becoming viral memes, GIFs and reaction videos, or a deep love from the fandom. Closet falls squarely within this lineage.

On her debut, Closet received a pretty stern critique from guest judge Nicki Minaj. 

"I hate, hate, haaaaate your hair and makeup today," the globally renowned rapper said on the mainstage. "The wig and the makeup could have enhanced your face even more to match this beautiful gown that you have on." Minaj went on to compliment Closet's performance abilities and her "genuine spirit," but the Ramseur, North Carolina queen was still bothered by the comment. In Untucked, she asked Minaj about the comment

"What is it that you hate so much about my face?" Closet asked bluntly.

"Your features and your face are beautiful, let me make that clear," Minaj said at the time. "And I'm not a makeup artist y'all, but I just think that your makeup look kind of half done." The rapper went on to detail her critique. It began a series of critiques, week after week, where judges are all impressed by the queen but have constructive feedback to help her reach the next level (see: Bob Harper in this week's challenge).

As weeks have gone by, Closet has been not only revealing herself as arguably the most loveable contestant — remember that time she defended Aiden Zhane from being piled on by the rest of the queens— but has been slowly incorporating the critiques. That all came to a head this week where she revealed in the Werk Room that last year she made $9,000 working at a gas station, and then ended the night taking home $5,000 as the winner of the week's maxi-challenge, getting complimented for both her performance and her runway look. 

Sure, Goode might be our top pick for this season's winner with Hall coming in at a close second, but regardless of how this shakes out, Heidi N. Closet will always be our Miss Congeniality and the heart of season 12.

RELATED | This Is the Wig Master RuPaul Uses on 'Drag Race' Season 12

We are definitely streaming this new Netflix original.

What if the people who were on the margins got to write the mainstream narratives? What if? That's the question at the center of Ryan Murphy's new Netflix show Hollywood. And with a trailer that dropped today, it's clear that its a Hollywood we want to live in.

The show is a seven-episode series that drops May 1. The trailer shows off some of our (and Murphy's) favorite TV talents like Darren Criss, Patti LuPone, Queen Latifah, Jim Parsons, Samara Weaving and more. Jeremy Pope plays Archie Colman an aspiring writer, hoping to do some of the rewriting. As a Black character, and from what we can tell gay — Coleman is pictured in a white dinner suit holding hands with another man on what seems to be a red carpet, — it's a pretty rousing basis for the show that sees the sort of high, glossy drama we've come to expect from a Murphy production. Jake Picking plays as the legendary Rock Hudson, sure to spice up a few episodes.

The trailer delivers a few laughs — "You're colored," one character says bluntly to Coleman after meeting him. "I love it," she finishes before kissing him on the mouth. There are also a few sex scenes, both opposite and same-sex. But, as always with Murphy, there's a little extra.

"It ain't about whether you win or lose," Latifah says as Hattie McDaniel. "What's important is being in the room."

Speaking of rooms: it, of course, wasn't just Murphy in the writer's room and directors chair for this project. Frequent collaborator Janet Mock is also credited as writer, producer, and director for the series.

RELATED | Janet Mock and Ryan Murphy Are Working On a Netflix Film Together

D.J. Pierce continues to take the world by storm with the new unscripted drag makeover series, We’re Here. And we're here for it. 

D.J. Pierce is known by a few different names. The actor, producer, and dynamic stage performer was born Darius Jeremy Pierce and created the famous drag persona Shangela Laquifa Wadley — known simply as Shangela to most of the world — after competing on three separate seasons of RuPaul’s Drag Race (tying with a fellow fan-favorite, Latrice Royale, for most appearances on the show). Indeed, Pierce is one of the most popular, respected, and successful queens to come out of the Emmy-winning series. If you’re queer and have never heard Shangela’s famous catchphrase, “Halleloo!” it’s quite possible you may be living under a rock.

With more personality packed into his lithe 5’6” frame than law should allow, the 38-year-old from Paris, Texas, is proving he’s more than just a pretty face. Alongside Brandon Voss (Voss Events), Pierce co-created and serves as creative director for the Werq the World tour — an ongoing, international dragstravaganza starring many popular Drag Race alums. (Fans can also experience some of the queens’ behind-the-scenes antics in the WOW docu-series of the same name). Pierce says he’s overjoyed “to see [the tour] continue to do so well and to have been a part of it, and continue to support those girls as they travel the world, honey!” The tour's current run was cancelled because of the global pandemic but put on a livestream benefit earlier this monthto help those impacted. 

Among other accolades, Pierce has been twice named to our annual Out100 list (most recently, he was dubbed The Show Stopper in 2019) and last year landed on Time magazine’s prestigious “100 Next” list, which highlights the year’s hottest rising stars. Broadway legend Jenifer Lewis (his costar in the web-based series Jenifer Lewis and Shangela) told Time, “He’s so sincere. He loves what he does, and he does it well. Every time.” 

Aside from Drag Race fame, Pierce has also nabbed several notable parts (both in and out of drag) in television and film. On TV, he’s appeared in 2 Broke Girls, Glee, Bones, and The Mentalist, and most recently landed a recurring role on the new CW series Katy Keene. On the big screen Pierce made a scene-stealing appearance in 2018’s A Star Is Born, costarring Lady Gaga — as a part of that roll out, Shangela was the first drag performer to walk the Oscars red carpet in drag. He’s also written hit songs (“Werqin’ Girl”) and an acclaimed solo stand-up comedy show (Shook), and has performed onstage with Miley Cyrus. Not too shabby for the first queen sent home on Season 2 of RuPaul’s Drag Race.

Upon getting to chat with the self-proclaimed “Daenerys Targaryen of drag,” about his new unscripted HBO series, We’re Here, I was surprised to learn the perky entertainment powerhouse hadn’t been a lifelong performer.

“Prior to [appearing on Drag Race], I worked a cubicle life,” says Pierce, a naturally handsome man out of drag. “I was in communications and marketing for TGI Fridays.” He explains how, after performing for the office in a Halloween costume contest (“I was gay, honey, I turned it into a pageant!” he quips), it was actually his boss who convinced him to pursue his Hollywood dreams.

“His name was Richard Snead [former CEO of TGI Fridays],” recalls Pierce. “He passed away a few years ago, but he said, ‘You have something special. I’m just telling you right now, I’ve been doing this a long time. If you want to do something in entertainment, you should go now.’ And honey, I started saving up my money and in six months, I packed up my Explorer and moved out west.”

And the rest is “Halleloo” history.

These days, you can see Pierce in his f ull Shangela glory alongside Drag Race alums Bob the Drag Queen and Eureka O’Hara in We’re Here, in which the queens recruit regular folks from small towns across America to train in the art of drag. (The performers also act as consulting producers on the show.) “We serve as kind of mentors and recruit people who want to express themselves and their story through drag,” explains Pierce. He confesses it was sometimes challenging and often comedic “trying to put together drag on barebones resources in the middle of nowhere. To Wong Foo, eat your heart out!”

Ultimately, Pierce says, the series will touch hearts and change minds.

“Actually, it’s been very eye-opening for me because one part that really sold [We’re Here] to me and made me really have a strong love for the show is that we’re meeting and helping and encouraging people who are queer or have a queer-adjacent story in these small towns across America. And I’m from a small town…. I know what it’s like to sometimes look around and think you’re the only person like you.”

Each episode culminates with a one-night-only drag show, and Pierce says the response in these smaller communities has been somewhat surprising. “What we’re finding in a lot of these places…is that there is a greater community of support, even in places where you may not think there is.”

We're Here premieres Thursday April 23 on HBO. 

RELATED | Shangela Talks Being the First Drag Queen at the Oscars

It will appear on HBO Max alongside The Matrix, Sex and the City, Euphoria and more.

It was only a few months ago that HBO Max announced (and began shooting) its glitzy new competition show: Legendary. Based on the ballroom community, the series matches eight houses against one another in a series of battles that include voguing as well as a variety of other categories. The show got some early criticism for casting Jameela Jamil as a central figure— Jamil has since come out as queer — in what became a massive dust-up. But, with that over, HBO is plunging on with an exciting new trailer and a release date.

Dropping on May 27, Legendary will be the first television show by a major network based on the ballroom community. Competing houses are expected to "compete in unbelievable balls and showcase sickening fashion" to win. Dashaun Wesley, known to many as Dashaun Lanvin, appears as the MC while Leiomy Maldonado, known to some as Amazon Leiomy, is a judge. Both had their first major breaks into the mainstream appearing on America's Best Dance Crew a decade ago.

The judging panel is rounded out by Megan Thee Stallion and Jamil as well as stylist Law Roach — Roach is curiously not featured in the trailer footage.

The project will be one of many that will be available on the May 27 launch of HBO Max. Subscribers can also expect every batman and Superman movie from the last 40 years, as well as Sex and the City, The Matrix, The Lord of the Rings, The Wizard of Oz and more. HBO originals like Insecure, Watchmen, Euphoria, The Sopranos and The Wire — some of which are currently streamable for free on HBO GO or HBO Now— will also be available. 

RELATED | These Ballroom Experts Ensure Shows Like 'Pose' Get It Right

"We don't just want to deliver gay images but also make a fun sexy distraction for people in these times of lockdown."

Boy Butter has had a special place in our hearts for some time. Outside of its product, the company has been turning out ad campaigns — sometimes they are campy but recently they've been increasingly sexy —that bring gay-specific imagery to mainstream audiences. For years that's been done through a spot on RuPaul's Drag Race, but beginning this week the company launches a new spot set to air on Bravo's Real Housewives of New York City. 

"Bravo is probably the greatest pop-culture channel in this country and the world," Eyal Feldman tells Out. "The most popular and widely viewed reality shows exist there and they are viewed by countless straight women and gay men, which is who we want to appeal to. Real Housewives represents so much." So, Feldman has decided to serve them up a clip inspired by the Bob Mizer and Calvin Klein imagery of years passed.

"We want to enter their domain and bring them gay imagery and shake things up for them and the country," Feldman continues. "We don't just want to deliver gay images but also make a fun sexy distraction for people in these times of lockdown."

The ad is in promotion of the company's water-based, clear lubricant formula which is "a favorite across genders and sexualities," a release says. It features Facundo Rodriguez, bar owner and Boy Butter spokesperson of the moment.

“We wanted to elevate the brand and portray a strong confident male figure that unabashedly owns his sexuality while still appealing to both men and women,” Donna Feldman, co-founder of Straw Hat Productions who produced the 30-second spot, said in a release. Donna worked in collaboration with Michael Blank who has previously worked with Calvin Klein, Burberry, and H&M.

The campaign will begin airing during Real Housewives episode on Thursday, April 23, and run for four weeks.

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The Season 9 finalist and All Stars 4 co-winner is paying homage to her winning drag sisters.

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The Season 9 finalist and All Stars 4 co-winner is paying homage to her winning drag sisters.

With a new interactive Netflix special coming up, Tina Fey and Burgess discuss trauma, and triumph.

So, you voted?” The mail clerk pointed to my sticker.

It was 2016 and I was absolutely 100 percent “with her,” ready to see Hillary Clinton break through sexism and the ultimate glass ceiling by becoming the first female president. I’d been a Hillary supporter for a long time, since I helped launch the lesbian magazine Girlfriends in 1992. That same year, Hillary relocated to Washington, D.C., for her husband’s new job. Her inability to be the kind of wife to stay quiet and look pretty cursed her for many conservatives in the decades to come. 

If you’d asked if anyone was more qualified to run the country at that moment in November 2016, I would have said “No.” Still, when the clerk pointed at my T-shirt and said, “I didn’t even know they were running,” I couldn’t help myself. I just blurted, “Oh my God, I wish!”

You see, the dream team represented on my shirt was Amy Poehler and Tina Fey (although I would have reversed their standing, supporting Fey for president). “Bitches Get Shit Done,” the tagline proclaimed.

Indeed they do. On the verge of scoring yet another comedy first — with the upcoming interactive Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt Netflix special (featuring the show’s gay lead Tituss Burgess) — Fey continues to demonstrate just what a determined woman can accomplish.

Fey parlayed her ability to write comedy (and boss men around) into running the writers’ room at Saturday Night Live and becoming one of the sketch comedy’s breakout talents, best known for her portrayal of Sarah Palin. Fey also created and starred in the hit sitcom 30 Rock, based on her experiences behind the scenes at SNL. Her 30 Rock character Liz Lemon, the smart, sexy nerd girl in glasses who was showrunner of the fictional The Girlie Show (later renamed TGS With Tracy Morgan) proved every week for seven years showed why she was — and deserved to be — the fucking boss.

The point on a Venn diagram where sexy nerd girls in glasses and bossy feminist bitches overlap is territory where Fey is clearly at home. 

When Fey first pitched Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt to NBC (the network passed, and the show ended up on Netflix), she knew she wanted to center strong women—not by portraying them herself or showing female bosses trying to have it all. Instead, Fey wanted to write characters that illustrated how strong ordinary women can be, especially with the support of other women. 

“I was also motivated by how resilient women are in having second acts in their lives after deep tragedy and deep abuse,” Fey says. “I really was motivated to see if there was any way to write comedy from that place.”

In the show, actress Ellie Kemper plays the relentlessly-positive-despite-it-all Kimmy Schmidt, who was imprisoned in a bunker for 15 years yet somehow emerges with a sense of innocence and naivete intact.  

Fey was just as determined to pair Kimmy with a jaded and snarky femme gay Black man as her secondary lead. Writing the character, she had a specific actor in mind. She even named Titus Andromedon in his honor. Even so, Tituss Burgess still had to audition for the role.

The two first met on the set of 30 Rock when Burgess came in to read for the (small) role of D’Fwan. 

Tina Fey and Tituss Burgess illustration by Robert Risko

Burgess would later admit that he was initially frightened of Fey. Asked why grown men might fear her, Fey feigns ignorance. “I don’t know,” she says. “It’s always funny to me to hear that. Maybe it’s that kind of thing where, because I am sort of quiet, that it’s misperceived as if that’s withholding.” 

I offer another interpretation to the star: “I think that some men are kind of afraid of women who have power, and you clearly do.”

“Thank you for saying so,” she replies. “I’ll leave that to you to say.”

Fey admits she hadn’t originally realized who Burgess was. By the time he auditioned for the 30 Rock role, the singer-actor was already a bona fide Broadway star, having debuted in the musical Good Vibrations as Eddie in 2005, appeared in Jersey Boys as Hal Miller, originated the role of Sebastian the Crab in the musical version of The Little Mermaid, and played the formerly white role of Nicely-Nicely Johnson, in the 2009 revival of Guys and Dolls.

“It wasn’t until after the series wrapped, after 30 Rock wrapped, that I was just in my office working on something else, and then I somehow stumbled upon Tituss singing,” Fey recalls. “I was like, ‘God. Oh my God. Oh my God!’ I had no idea that Tituss had the Broadway background. He was just this guy that had come in to read for D’Fwan. And so then we were just blown away and we were like, ‘Oh my gosh, we have to find a way to do more with this man!’”

Burgess — who recently had a sold-out concert at Carnegie Hall, has a new album, Saint Tituss, and has a starring role in the upcoming film Respect with Jennifer Hudson — has a powerful voice. What Fey stumbled on was likely the viral video of his 2013 performance of “And I Am Telling You I’m Not Going,” (the song made famous onstage by Jennifer Holiday in Broadway’s Dreamgirls) at a Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS fundraiser. 

Since Burgess aced his Kimmy Schmidt audition, he and Fey have led the show to widespread acclaim (and yearly Emmy nominations since it premiered in 2015). Burgess has taken home numerous awards, including the Gold Derby Award for Comedy Supporting Actor of the Decade. Now the final season has wrapped and the two are unveiling a new interactive special (out May 12 on Netflix). In a first for a comedy series, the show will allow viewers to decide what happens next. 

Jacob Anderson-Minshall: The character Kimmy Schmidt is similar to the NBC page, Kenneth Parcell, on 30 Rock. They both seem sort of naively positive in a world of disenchanted cynics. What draws you — and viewers — to characters like this? 

Tina Fey: I think there’s sort of a comedy trope of fish out of water or a gal starting over in the city. You can trace it to Mary Tyler Moore, I think. In The Mary Tyler Moore Show, she’s broken off an engagement and is going to go work in the city. And so with Kimmy Schmidt, we thought, well, this is a kind of 21st-century heightened version of this...yes, she’s new to the city and she’s starting over for these very extreme reasons. We see a lot of drama, we see a lot of titillating cop shows about how horribly women and girls are treated, and I thought, Well, can we subvert that and tell it from the woman’s point of view, and let her go on to be more than just the story of her trauma? 

JAM: This really is the ultimate survivor story, about moving forward after something terrible happens to you. Do you think it’s also about having agency rather than being defined by what happens? 

TF: I think in some ways, yeah. That’s well put, Jacob, that it’s about having agency as opposed to letting what someone did to you define you.

JAM: Do you also consider yourself a survivor?

TF: Well, I had — compared to Kimmy, [it’s] nothing compared to Kimmy — but I had some weird thing happen to me when I was a kid that I’ve written about a little in Bossypants. I do think…there is a little of that in the fabric of her, of just like, Oh, this happened to me. But if anything, it had sort of a strange opposite effect of like, Oh, weird things happen and you don’t necessarily die. I am actually a pretty optimistic person and I think that was a weird outgrowth of that, of having this thing happen to me. And not only surviving it physically, but also being…treated like a special child after that because of it. I sort of internalized, I’m very special — in a way that was actually just pity, but I just took it in the best way. 

Series lead Ellie Kemper (left) and series creator Tina Fey (right) take a break on the set of The Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt

[Tituss Burgess joins the conversation]

Tituss Burgess: How are things? How’s the new show coming along?

TF: It’s going fine. The Kimmy special is, I think, all locked and mixed now. It looks really good.

TB: How much footage was there? How many hours?

TF: So, Jacob, we shot this interactive special, which is kind of like the show Black Mirror, but with our universal comedy. I mean, not Black Mirror but [the episode] “Bandersnatch” specifically. I think, all told, it’s got to be over three hours of footage. We basically shot more than enough for a feature-length movie in 28 days. It’s insane, right, Tituss?

JAM: How do you decide what to keep and what to drop?

TF: Well, the cool thing about this version is…because it’s interactive, we can kind of keep everything somewhere. You can take a different path and see a whole different version of scenes or definitely different jokes. And even if you play through once and you go back and play it again, and even if you make some of the same choices, the computer can tell if you’re watching it for a second time and will give you some different jokes.

JAM: Wow. Are there any wrong turns a viewer can take?

TF: Yeah. I mean you can accidentally die and stuff, but because it’s comedy, it’s kind of funny when you die.

TB: “It’s funny when you die.” [laughs] It’ll send you into, I guess, a dead end, sort of.

TF: Different characters will tell you, “No, that’s not [happening].” 

JAM: Tituss, you’ve said that viewers often confuse you for your character. Why do you think that is?

TB: There’s a hero ownership, if you will, as you walk through the streets and you are adored and loved and people shout out references from shows and it’s all amazing. But…oftentimes I’m met with a little disappointment that I’m not as ebullient as Titus Andromedon. I’m very direct and a lot more intense and serious and a lot shyer. I actually do not enjoy being the center of attention, believe it or not.

Tituss Burgess playing Kimmy Schmidt's eccentric bestie, Titus Andromedon.

TF: I’m sort of the same way. I would say if I had a time machine, the one thing I would change is I wish I could relieve Tituss of that burden. We just should have changed the character’s name. It would still happen, Tituss, but it would be easier for people.

TB: I talk about it as though it’s this cross that I bear every day. It is not as intense as it may come across when I explain it. I only bring focus to it because I’m a human being and human beings are flawed. The fall from grace, if you make one mistake, is so dramatic when you are no longer their precious Titus, but when you are someone who is moving through life trying to navigate what it means to be a gay Black male in this Trumpian world.

My patience is thinner and I call the world out on its stuff and I suspect the world will do the same, but it looks more severe when you are trying to have a serious dialogue when someone just wants to hear it through the lens of Titus Andromedon. He started out very late, mind you, in his trajectory as a gay man.… I think part of his tenacity…when we first met him in season 1, was the result of a gasp for air. It was like, Ah. Finally, I get to be who I am in a city that doesn’t know me. But the danger is living inside that sort of persona without anyone to hold you accountable, without any circumstances to draw out the more humane qualities in you, the danger is ignoring what it means to have a best friend and what it means to not put yourself first. 

JAM: I came out as transgender and transitioned when I was 38, so I understand being overdue at realizing something essential about yourself. Have either of you realized something where you’re like, Oh my God, I should’ve known this 20 years ago?

TF: I feel, certainly, nothing as epic as what you’re describing, Jacob, but identifying as this person who was a very late bloomer — like late, late, like an old virgin. 

TB: There’s no handbook on how to be in the spotlight. It came with a lot of things that I didn’t know it came with. I’m an only child. I love my privacy. [But]…when you have a job like ours, a lot of that just comes with the territory. You have to share yourself. I think I was not equipped to handle that, and it forced me to make some egregious errors. There were times where I quite literally did not know how to integrate the newness of what I was given with the way I had been living and the choices that I had been making. I think that is a question that comes with a movable truth too, and I hate to go back to Trump, but truly when Obama was in office, I felt so supported and I felt a sense of community. I felt safe to fuck up and I felt proud to lead and now every little step I obsess over because everything is such a fricking domino effect. One thing affects all things, and as Tina so brilliantly wrote in, I believe, season 3, there was an episode where I repeated the line, “Choices matter.” And Titus Andromedon goes, “They do?” 

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“Vida set a precedent for how we make work,” show star Ser Anzoategui says.

When Vida premiered on Starz in the spring of 2018, it blazed a trail for Latinx and queer people like no other show before it. The series, which will air its final season beginning April 26, has taken on issues affecting Latinx culture, LGBTQ+ identity, and gentrification as sisters Lyn, played by Melissa Barrera (In the Heights), and Emma, played by Mishel Prada (Riverdale), navigated the intersections of their lives in the wake of their mother’s death.

When the siblings returned to the Boyle Heights neighborhood of Los Angeles, they discovered their mother, who previously exiled Emma for being queer, had married a woman, Eddy, played by Ser Anzoategui in a stellar performance. For Anzoategui — whose sweet butch Eddy has endured grief over the loss of her wife, Emma’s hurtful barbs, and a queer-bashing — the world Vida’s creator and showrunner Tanya Saracho built was life-changing. Anzoategui, who is nonbinary, bids farewell to Vida and Saracho’s singular vision, telling Out, “It’s something that I’m not sure I’ll be able to experience again because it takes an inclusive visionary to execute what Tanya, the production, and the network did.”

“They hired a Latinx nonbinary actor to be a lead,” they add. “Being one of the only nonbinary people I know in TV was an uncharted course and an honor for me to be acknowledged when I felt so small and so invisible in my profession for so long.”

A rarity for any series, Vida began in all of its excellence and only continued to up the game with each episode, seamlessly weaving together the intersections of queer and Latinx identity while tackling topics including identity policing within queer communities and taking on ICE raids in the upcoming season. In the spirit of Vida’s continued evolution, the final season finds Anzoategui’s Eddy intrigued by a drag king and the binder the king wears. It’s not yet known exactly how Eddy will explore gender identity in the final season, but Anzoaetegui is excited about the possibilities that begin with the binder scene.

“Hopefully it will just be normal to talk about gender or including gender-neutral language in their lives,” Anzoategui says of how they hope Eddy’s exploration of gender expression affects viewers moving forward. “Being part of this collective effort to tell these never-told stories through these never-seen onscreen characters brings a certain justice to the entertainment industry.

It is something visceral that so many hungered for,” they add, summing up Vida’s importance in the TV landscape.“Vida also set a precedent for how we make work,”Anzoategui concludes. “It impacted television so much that certain stories that weren’t able to be done before now have the opportunity to get inside that door and tell their story too. Go, shine bright and open that door for others as you do so. 

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The contestants get political in the Werk Room before hitting the debate stage. 

Almost every season of RuPaul's Drag Race, there's a moment where RuPaul makes the queens get somewhat political. Usually, this is some sort of ode to the greatness of America — who doesn't remember Alexis Mateo's heartwarming message to the troops in season 3 — but this year, given our climate, things are decidedly more pointed. Tonight's episode will see the contestants on the debate stage vying to become America's First Drag Queen President, but in the Werk Room prior, the contestants discuss life under America's First Reality Star President.

"As a Black gay man in this country, especially being in Missouri, I don't go places in my own city that predominately have straight patrons," Widow Von'Du says in a new clip from the episode. "And as a Black man, it's a big problem that I can not drive my car down my street without being afraid that someone's going to take my life." The comment, no doubt is a direct reference to how the rhetoric coming from the White House has emboldened and given space to white nationalists and white supremacists across the nation, leading to a rise in violence. 

"We need to be on the front lines fighting every day," Von'Du continues in a confessional.

Earlier in the season, U.S. representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez became the first sitting politician to act as a judge on the Drag Race main stage. While visiting the queens in Untucked she spoke to this, saying that drag queens are "patriots" who "push society forward." And that has born out across history many times.

"I think people who gave [Trump] the benefit of the doubt in 2016, like wake up," Jackie Cox says in this week's clip. "There is nothing to doubt here." 

In addition to the debate for America's First Drag Queen President, tonight's episode will also feature Jeff Goldblum as a judge. Drag Race will air at 8 p.m. followed by the debut of RuPaul's Secret Celebrity Drag Race at 9:30 pm and a new episode of Untucked at 11 p.m.

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'Drag Race' Queens Talk Importance of Activism Under Trump

But as we've all come to see, she's way more than just a look queen.

When Jaida Essence Hall walked into the Werk Room for the first time to make her official RuPaul's Drag Race entrance most of us gagged. Let's just be honest: this was female impersonation at its finest. 

"She is a woman," Sherry Pie said in what was practically a visible face crack. Almost every other competitor already in the room had a compliment to dole out for Hall, and for good reason.

As the competition has continued, Hall has continually knocked it out of the park when it comes to creating the illusion. Sure, Nicky Doll, Gigi Goode, and Crystal Methyd might have gotten a lot of praise for aesthetics, but Hall has almost never let the ball drop, not even in the 15-minute quick drag segments.

Any true fan of the show will know that getting in drag for mini-challenges is generally less about realness and more about creating some sort of effect. With the lack of time, many performers go the comedic route, hamming things up into a caricature. But, as many on social media have begun to realize over the last few episodes, Hall has strived for nothing less than a Main Stage ready beat. And we love her for it!

Sickening no?!

This isn't, of course, to say that Hall is only a look queen — though she's decidedly that, given looks like what she wore on the runway last night. As the judges have pointed out, every episode she reveals herself as an onion with more and more talented layers to pull away. Her comedy comes off both well-considered and well-timed, and she's clearly aware of the strengths she brings to the table.  Add to this the fact that we already know she's an amazing lip sync performer and these are all of the attributes that make for the perfect winner.

It's true that we may have said that Gigi Goode was heading for the top spot but over the past few weeks she's hit a bit of a hurdle while Jaida Essence Hall has leaned into the competition. If it's her as America's Next Drag Superstar, with Goode as the runner up, we certainly would not be mad!

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The Queen Supremes we all saw onstage weren't responsible for all the makeup you saw.

*This post contains mild spoilers from the debut episode of RuPaul's Secret Celebrity Drag Race.

It's come and gone:RuPaul's Secret Celebrity Drag Race's first-ever episode is in the can. The show has revealed itself to be somewhat of a celebrity-infused update on Ru's shortlived Drag U series. For it, they matched three Queen Supremes (in this case Monet X Change, Trixie Mattel, and Bob the Drag Queen) with three "secret" celebrities (Nico Tortorella, Jordan Connor, and Jermaine Fowler). Little did we know, there was a whole other trio of drag performers working on set, also in secret.

While Mattel, X Change, and Bob helped their respective contestants get in the mindset to do drag — and no doubt helped punch up a few of their jokes — it seems that what we saw them do onscreen in terms of makeup may have been just for the cameras, or only a part of the show. We didn't see them do much, to be fair: Bob rubs a brush across Fowler's forehead and Mattel glues down Connor's eyebrows. Off-screen, other Drag Race alum did the contestants' faces for at least their Main Stage presentations.

"Let the record show, Olivette's STUNNING makeup was done by the impeccable Shannel," X Change wrote in a tweet. Olivette was the drag name that Tortorella adopted for the episode. Fans have also pieced together that Laila McQueen and Mayhem Miller did the makeup of Connor and Fowler respectively. It's currently unclear whether these alum did the makeup just for the final Main Stage appearances or whether they also did the contestants' Snatch Game faces as well.

This, of course, isn't anything new: RuPaul has previously tapped Drag Race alum for various projects. Raven has done Ru's makeup for the past few seasons; Delta Work did her hair for a while; even Nicky Doll went with her to Saturday Night Live to do Pete Davidson's makeup. 

While more than a few of us would have loved to see McQueen, Miller, and Shannel appear onscreen in some way, we're sure they aren't complaining. With a nice VH1 check as well as the TV credit, they're probably doing just fine.

"Wow!!!" Miller wrote to Instagram. "How cool is this?!?! A bitch has a title!!!!! Being in front of the camera is amazing ... but being behind is so much better!!!!!" Miller, as well as McQueen and Shanell, are all credited as creative consultants for the episode under their legal names.

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