January 11, 2023 • 47 mins
Jonathan, Jaymes and Carson revisit their first drag experiences (it’s as amazing as you want it to be!).
They discuss the changes in drag over the years from early clubs to modern day virtual and reveal their top Queens from the season of Drag Race.
Plus it wouldn’t/couldn’t be 2023 without a recap of J&J’s NYE Ball Drop!!!
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:02):
This is podcast with Jonathan Bennett on I Heart Radio.
Happy New Year. It's a new year and it's a
new pridecast. I'm your host, Jonathan Bennett, joined by my handsome,
hot and happy I married him husband, James vun What
would the alternative that be? Baby? Oh? There are so
(00:24):
many H words I wanted to use, but they wouldn't
let me. Why is it always the H words too?
Because it was husband? What rhymes with husband? Husband? Musband? Husband? See,
those words are all stupid. So I had to use
the first letter like H because it was like, instead
of doing rhyming words, I did on a monopeia where
(00:45):
it's the same letter of each like each word, you
know what I mean, like each No, I'm not crazy.
Each letter starts with the same each word starts with
the same letter. So it's I did on a monopea.
Very good, my love and very good use of the
word on a monopeia. I'm glad we would include that.
Thank you. Um. So we are actually in Park City
(01:08):
right now, sharing one headphone that's on a cord between
the two of us. So we are because someone sitting
at the table, someone sitting at this table did not
pack the headphone splinter, So you forgot to do that?
It was me. It was actually, this is marriage, guys,
this is what it is. Did you pack the headphone splitter? No?
(01:29):
I didn't pack the headphone spwitter? Why because I forgot
because I was too busy looking at how beautiful you were. Baby.
I wasn't even there and I was watching you, um
doing red carpet stuff. Okay, that was fun. Okay, I
guess that's a decent excuse. Yeah, that was fun. You
were just by the way. If you want to see
how fat my husband's baby, because it's so family I know.
(01:52):
But if you ever wants to see a good fitting
pair of pants, go to my instagram. James looks really
good on the red carpet. That's all I'm gonna say.
That's all I'm gonna say. It's the right kind of material.
It's the right kind of material, the same material we
had at our wedding. A good but did not look
like that in the in the If you make it
to where you can barely move in him, then that's
when everything looks good. That's the secret. Go a side down,
(02:14):
stretchy material and um just nong a walk. If anyone's
looking for any good material online, just head over to
my Instagram. It's got some great stuff. But we were
in New York City. That's what we just got back from. Yeah,
because we got to well, I guess you're listening to this,
you you know, we hosted the ball drop in Times
Square hashtag ball drop. Um. We hosted New Year's Eve
(02:35):
Times Square three Me, James and Jeremy Hassell one of
our other host and we got to basically be the first.
We made history, really first husbands. Me and you were
the first. Jeremy's not one of us, like our husbands.
We still love you, but he's not in the relationship.
It's not a throttle. Um. Me and James were the
first husbands to host the ball drop in Times Square
(02:57):
on New Year's Eve, which is pretty cool. Okay, it's
really cool. Like sometimes have to like stop myself from
like geeking out about this stuff because man, what good
that would have done for us to see twenty years
ago when we were starting our careers, to know that
like there could be two out game and actually getting
to work together and do some really cool stuff like that.
So I'm I don't take it lightly. We get to
(03:20):
have that moment together. Baby, I don't either. It's pretty cool.
I don't. Well, you know what I did take lightly
the rain, okay, because it rained for half a New
Year's Eve, which made it fun because it was different,
except my hair looked like crap. But I think your
hair looks beautiful. I like a nice little flat hair
on you, though I know that you like it. You
like a large hair sometimes. I like Texas, Texas. I
(03:40):
like a texaskir and hair like almost like a like
a Texas fifth grade school teacher that always speaks to
the manager, Yes, oh my god, what we were watching
where the girl kept growing a new layer of hairs
to the manager, Oh my god, I'm so happy that
you have cut this conversation. Our producer to the stars, Raymond,
(04:00):
we have a special guest here today. He's a TV
legend and a superstar and he's our friend to have
him on podcast. Since the beginning and the schedules and
the stars finally aligned, we have the one and only
Kirsten Cressley joining us, ladies and gentlemen. Hello you gorgeous ladies.
(04:22):
Look at He is a mountain among men in the industry.
He is the best there is the one and only
Carson Cressley is here. I was getting excited from that intro.
I was like, as Paul Lynde coming back from the
dead to be on this program. But I'll take it.
I love Carson. You know you just happy you're here.
(04:45):
Do you actually remind me of Paul A lot? Okay,
someone else said that. Sharon Lawrence and Treat Williams both
said I reminded them of Paul Lynn on set, and
I think that's that's a lovely compliment. I think so too.
I think jurious allowed medic genius. I'm not sure about
I'm not that funny. I think you're much cuter than
(05:05):
Paul Lynde. Thank you. Where are you, Carson? Are you
at home in your with your horses? I am. I'm
at the farm in Pennsylvania. There's a fire crackling, and
I'm sitting in my b mural dining room where I
have I'm being bathed in Appalachian light, and here we are. Thanks.
(05:28):
Because you're like a fashioned person that knows all stuff.
What does be mural mean? Mural be mural? It just
means there's a mural on the wall. Oh Okaymal, I
don't even know if I don't think the mural is
even a word. It's like bedazzled or the witch, like
who thinks you do? I just it's the first time
(05:50):
I've ever used to It just popped into my head
because I'm not usually sitting in front of a mural.
But today I write that down. Everyone use it in
a sentence. Invented on this year, I was the murld
every time I walk into Carson's house. Let's have a
gay spelling be and that can be one of the words,
(06:12):
the murald Your first word is l G B t Q.
Can you do a plus? Yeah? You pass the trick question.
You know I'm not just another gorgeous space. You're not. No,
you did not, thank you? Do you want? Jonathan's tapping
me under the table because he's gonna let me take
(06:34):
because I'm I mean, obviously John is a huge, huge,
huge drag race fan, but I feel like I'm even
bigger of a drag race superman. So he's tapping me
to let me know that I get to take the
reins on the Rue Paul Drag Race season. Questions go go, James.
First off, we have to start with I do have
to say I got to go to the premier party,
(06:56):
uh this past week in New York and see all
the girls in person and the girl in person are girling, baby,
they are giving this season. It is sixteen superstars on
that red carpet. I couldn't even tell. Usually sometimes in
person you can tell, like who's who's the ones that
are gonna pop and who's not all popping? Was that
the intention of this season to have sixteen juggernauts that
(07:17):
really anybody could be the winner? No, I don't know.
I mean every year when I show up on set
and I, you know, see the creative and I see
the queens, I'm just like, wow, the producers a world
of wonder. And I'm not just blowing smoke because they're
my bosses. But they do such a fantastic job in
casting the queens um Ethan Peterson, who also helps them
(07:39):
with that. I mean, everybody does such a great job.
And yes, there are some seasons where you're just like,
I don't know, Like I love like nine out of
the twelve, but you know, these three seen maybe a
little shaky this time. To your point, James, is that, um,
they're all superstars. Um. And there's six team which normally
when I got there and I was just like, wait
(08:00):
a minute, are there extra? This seems like a lot
of uh gals, did you feed one after midnight? Did
I did you feed one after midnight? Or get it wet?
And they just started multiplying. Yeah, I know, they're like
the Trouble with triples. Um, there's just more and more
every season. But thank god, they're all amazing, And um,
(08:22):
I think that kind of shows like, first of all,
we gotta jump into this, so like there's sixteen girls.
Remember last season everybody thought lasted too long or a
lot of people thought it lasted too long. I love
when it lasts that long. So I'm like, you just
keep keep not eliminating, Like I would love to see
all the girls compete all the way to the end,
like how they did on the Winter season. I thought
that was idiot because you got everything they brought. But um,
right away, on this one, we're not playing. We are eliminating.
(08:44):
And I feel like Irene was a surprise elimination, which
again speaks to like anybody could take this thing. I
know you have to realize too that RuPaul's drag race
is also kind of like the most fabulous game show
in the world in that like anything can happen, and
you have challenges, and sometimes the draw is not your favorite,
(09:06):
and sometimes you have an unlucky day, or sometimes you
just it's your turn to go. It doesn't mean that
you're not superstar. It just means that, you know, it's
a competition series and someone goes home every week and
there's only one winner for the which two hunter k
this season? Okay, somebody found some money somewhere. What's going
on with that? I know, I think they adjusted for inflation.
(09:31):
I was like two hund here. That was like, I'll
sign up where I know. I was like, also, maybe
they just are like, oh, look, let's count the Emmy's, right,
let's just count all of our Emmy's and hey, can
we have a little bit more money MTV? Thank you.
I think that's maybe that's where it comes from this. Yeah, yes, sure,
(09:52):
I think so. I feel like the girls deserve it though,
like the money and time they put into everything they
bring because they gotta be ready for every single episode
when they get there, right, they bring everything with them
for the whole season, and yeah, they bring everything they
have to prepare um. But it's not all about the
prize money too, because there's many a queen who didn't win,
(10:12):
uh or maybe was eliminated first and became you know,
an internet superstar. And they have huge careers there in movies,
they're doing cosmetic lines, they are working in all the clubs,
doing appearances, spokesmodel. I just I just saw Simon was
doing something like cash app I mean they're getting big deals. So, um, yes,
(10:33):
the prize money is great, but the show is such
a great platform for them as artists and entertainers that
they can really the world is their oyster after they
do the show. Really, they're all winners after doing the
show because they can take it and use it absolutely
if they're smart. Yeah, and this, like James and I
talked about this all the time, there's a the way
(10:56):
that drag has changed from the time before Rupole drag Race. Right,
we when the three of us and we came all
right here we're coming up in the clubs what drag
was like. And then and then to see like the
twins on Drag Race that are like, we've never I
think it was Winds that were like, we've never really
performed anywhere, and right like, I'm sorry, what so it's
(11:18):
it's evolved in such a dramatic way. I want to
take it way back because I think this is interesting
to hear described the drag the drag scene. You grew
up with Carson before Rupol's drag race, when you were
in the club right picture it sicily nine exactly exactly. Um,
(11:39):
I just landed. I was putting the buckle on my
build room hat and I noticed there was a man
wearing a black dress. Um, and I said, Priscilla, Uh no, Um,
I grew up, came of age in New York City
in the nineties. Um, and that was my introduction to drag.
(12:00):
There was and there was a variety of drag. There were,
um the club kids, you know James st James at
All and RuPaul um at you know the Roxy and
Twilo and Tunnel in the USA and Palladium uh and Limelight.
I mean, just when I list that list, I'm just like,
(12:20):
what a time. I used this line all the times
a joke. What a time to be alive? But seriously,
what a time to be Like I had a nine
to five job. I would go to the pay phone
in front of the Palladium at like six fifteen in
the morning, and and Um Junior or somebody would still
be playing, and Madonna would be in there, and I
would sneak out and like, I don't think I've got
(12:41):
to be able to make it tour. And then I
would go back inside and dance until like nine or
ten in the morning. And then they would be like
on a Monday, and I would take Monday off and
then I would go in as a normal person on Tuesday.
But I was really into it. And so there were
club kids, and then there were places like eighty eight
(13:03):
and the Duplex and um uh Maurice Prices and Roses
Turn where sometimes drag queens like bar La Jean Merman
um shows and I would be obsessed and I'd want
to be their friends, and I would you know, I
was pretty charismatic. I befriended them, and we have great
pictures from the nineties of like me and Barla eating
a giant sausage in the kitchen of eight eight um.
(13:26):
And then there were performance artists, queens that performed like Misunderstood,
that did shows at the Pyramid Club and Boy Bar
and all the places in the East Village and the
boiler Room. UM. So you have all these different genres
and wig Stock was happening. That kind of was a
little bit of everything, but still more like East Village
(13:46):
performance already. So that's the kind of drag that I
grew up with. And then going to Provincetown all these years,
you would see, you know, your famous iconic, your miss
richfield One, your Dina Martina, your uh, your our legion
(14:06):
murmur So. I was very lucky. I saw the full gamut.
And now kids today, I can't believe I'm actually saying
that like in Earnest, but we are today and even
like Pandet post pandemic, kids like these twins that never
performed in a club, um are doing everything at home
(14:27):
and virtually and they're on TikTok and they're on YouTube
and they're on Instagram, and um, it's just a different media.
And I certainly have a great deal of respect for
queens who I'm gonna be biased. I mean, it's just
gonna say my personal opinion, and I'll get shaped for this.
Is that when you work in a club and you're
out in in the culture, and you know how to
(14:50):
handle an audience and you know how to Disarma Heckler,
all of that is really valuable. And now on the
flip side, um, some of the younger queens who are
really well versed in social media and know how to
you know, make that thirty second ad, know how to
sell themselves in thirty seconds. There's a lot of challenges
on drag race that are really aligned with that skill
(15:12):
set too. So I think it makes for a really
interesting playing field and that some of the older ones
to have know the club gigs and the younger ones
know the digital gig and you need to be able
to do all of it to be America's next drag
superstar exactly. And that's so interesting because you're right, the
the new TikTok generation will call them of drag queens
(15:36):
that might not have performed as much in clubs still
have a really tremendous skill set in this quick digestible
content that needs to be relatable and you see that dry.
It needs to be funny, it needs to have a hook,
and it needs to be and needs to have been
so quickly before you even realize it's over to to
to sell the product or to sell themselves to get
(15:56):
that out there. So it's definitely even though it's different,
it's not any less valuable. But you know, growing up
from me, I have to say, I love the like
I grew up, you know, going to the clubs and
seeing drag for the first time. I think our generation,
and I can only speak for myself, but we always
tend to lean towards the more traditional old school drag
because that's what we grew up with. And there's nothing
(16:17):
wrong with saying, like, oh, we grew up with this,
so of course you like it. Like if you're a Yankees,
if you live in New York and you grew up
watching Yankees, of course you're gonna be Yankee because that's
what you're used to, and that's what's so I always
am rooting for yeah, yeah, yeah, they're very good. I'm
always you know, rooting for it and always blown away
by like the queens that have been through it, you know,
(16:37):
that have that have done the gigs and have shown
up to the bars when there are two people in
the bar because it's a slow night and still done
their show and you have to eat that. You have
to eat of like, oh man, I got ready and
I came and I performed and there's only two people,
and you have to have the will and the strength
to go back and do it again the next Friday
and see if it's any better, you know what I mean, Like,
there's so much you know, I think as an actor,
(16:59):
I relate to that because going into audition after audition
after audition and being told no and then realizing that
I still love what I do enough that I want
to go back the next day to the next audition
even though they might tell me no again. So, you know,
I think the old school actor and me really identifies
with the old school queens because that's what I love.
(17:20):
But I have to say but on the flip side,
I'm gonna say it, the Twins they impressed me, didn't
They surprised me. The first one. I literally was like, Oh,
they're gonna be TikTokers. And then I was like, I
love them, and they surprised me. And I think the
edit did a very good job of like building the
way they built the edit of the Twins and then
(17:42):
let you they kind of made the audience be like, oh,
what is this and then all of a sudden boom
flipped it in the last eleventh hour and saw how
right they were. They are phenomenal in that coffin and
said I'm bored, and RuPaul laughed. I was like, these fine, yeah, totally.
It showed that like they do, they do think, they
(18:03):
just think differently, and it's kind of cool to have
a different mindset on that stage because it just expands
what drag can do, which is so cool. Drag is
you know, and ru will be the first tell you, like,
use all the crayons and the and the crayon box.
And there's a lot of different ways to you drag.
You could do it on TikTok, you can do it
at a club, you can do it when you're nine
(18:23):
years old in front of your mom and dad like whatever.
You know, it's it's the possibilities are endless. So that's
the good thing about UM, you know, opening it up
to all different kinds of UM contestants. The first time
I did drag not a joke when you say, nine
or ten, in front of Ram and Dad, right at
my house in Toledo, Ohio. My parents had left, and
(18:48):
I put on The Beaches soundtrack and what's the song
where She's like, um ah no, Titsling and Mentor and
crowd had that song, right, yeah, yeah, but yeah, about
the brazier, about the bra. I had my mom's silk robe.
I took her a towel and did up my hair
(19:09):
the way my mom went out of a shower where
it's like wrapped on the top of your head because
I didn't have a wig. And I put on her
shoes and I put in the CD player in our
living room the Beaches Town soundtrack, and then I performed
that on video. I videotaped myself with it VHS camera
and I actually videotaped it and then cleaned it all
up and was like, oh, that was fun. And then
(19:30):
I forgot to take the tape out of the camera
and they came home and they saw it a few
weeks later when my dad was like, what is this
and I was like, oh, it is a school project.
We have the tape, let's roll just yes, But you
said yeah, but they knew. They knew that cute baby,
(19:55):
that was your first little life. Yeah, the first time
I did. Because we didn't really grow up in an
area or eras that allows us to express that. That's
why I've even found like a last year, like my
fascination with like wigs and heels and like, oh this
is so like it's freeing to participate in this, but
like I didn't think about that. You got to kind
of have that drag moment. What was what was your
first kind of drag moment, Carson. I'm trying to think
(20:15):
about it. Oh. I would, Um, my mom worked in
the afternoon, so I would get home from school like
you two thirty, like in fifth grade, and my mom
was a beauty pageant girl and she like Miss Pennsylvania
Dairy Princess around and in their bedroom they had a
(20:36):
like a bureau. But remember those gigantic euros from the seventies.
They were like massive early American furniture and they have
like shelves and a mirror and like it was like
a hunch but you kept in your bedroom. Up on
the top shelf was the crown, and I would climb
up there and I would get the crown, and then
I would drifle through her underwear drawer and were like
slip you know, slips that you put under a skirt. Yes,
(20:56):
it like some poral ones that I would make that
into a people banned out top. I would put the
crown in a wig on because women had wigs laying
around in the seventies, and those little lipsticks that you
get from Avon. They were like teeny tiny and they
were white and they were perfectly like triangular at the tip.
I would put on some buttered rum and then use
(21:17):
some s rouge, and then I would carefully take a
butter knife and reshape it into the perfect point so
it looked like it hadn't been used. And then I
would just you know, crimp and perform in front of
the bathroom mirror until like three thirty until they got home,
and then I would, you know, rub everything off. But
that crown was mangled from me trying to jam it
(21:38):
on my head like it was perfect, but I had
ruined it. It's been become so misshapen from me wearing
it so often, and nobody ever said a word. But
I'm sure my mom was like, this bitch has been
wearing my crown again. I think mine, And now to
think about it, my might have been um glasses drag
(22:02):
if if that if that is a thing, because my
mom would Back in the day, my mom would go
to the lens crafters to get her her eyeglasses adjusted
like that thing. You would go, and I would go
because they had these little spinny chairs and I would
go on the spinny chair and like put on the
different like the gaudiest glasses I could find, right and
there was this panting pro v commercial. I cannot remember
(22:23):
the script of it to save my life right now,
But back then I knew every dayn word, every dang
hair flip, every eye movement that this girl did. And
I would put on like the biggest, sparkliest gaudy as
glasses I could find, spin on that stool and turn
back around and do a full presentation for everybody in
the Lens Crafters. And I think that might have actually
been my first dog from and that was his route
(22:45):
and yeah, welcome to the family. You know, I'm just saying,
like I remembering it now and I'm like all those
people Lenscrafters really did give me an audience. Thank you
to them. If any of them happens to run up
on this podcast. That was a little seven year old
gave me do a skit, thank you. James thought he
was gonna be fierce wearing because okay, Carson, obviously we
can see my husband, he's one of the hottest things
(23:06):
in the world. And he thought that when he was
gonna put on heels and drag for the first time,
this is like a few months ago, and just be
like Angela, like, just be like fierce and do it.
He's like, Oh, I can do this because I've been
around all these fears girls my whole lot. We go
to John Barrowman's house, our friend, and he has all
(23:30):
his lakaja foe uh outfits from when he did at
the West End, and so it was big enough to
fit James. So we're like, oh, this is perfect. Let's
put you in a wig and you can wear some
of these clothes and come walking out and a beautiful
heel and let me tell you, it was like Fiona
from Shrek walking out of She had way more grace
(23:54):
than you, and it was. But what we learned is
that James isn't a heel girl. He's a bear foot
country bumpkins named Messica. So he's like long hair note
because he's six four already, so in heels he's six eight.
So he's a no shoe country bumpkin kind of trashy
girl for now, for now. We we found her for
now because yes, she when she was first born, um,
(24:17):
she wanted to be something much more fierce and I couldn't,
so I just shows a Vegas Forever, Carson. So I'm
used to just seeing girls like twirling and kicking and
popping and everything in these heels, and so you just
think that you'll be able to exactly. I have sak delusion.
But you know, our our drag personas sometimes finds us
like I always just look like Juliette Lewis And I'm
(24:38):
so sorry, Juliet if you're listening, um, but I always do.
I always do. That's not bad at all, not bad,
but so accurate. That's very accurate. Oh my gosh, I
love it. Okay, we're gonna come right back with Carson
and we're gonna talk spoilers for RuPaul's rag Ray season fifteen.
Don't go away, And we're back with Carson Cressley and Carson. Yes,
(25:13):
I know you. You get to watch all of them,
so I need you. Well you're there. So first of all,
let's go back to one thing. We got to do
drag Race together, you and me. Yeah we did. We
got to do Snatch Game and they sang Frozen for
h the lip sync and it was the day I
say that, like I realized, if I were to die tomorrow,
(25:34):
I'm good because I got to be on RuPaul's drag
race during Snatch game and got to see a Broadway
lip sync like, I'm I'm done very much. Yeah, the
Triple Crown. It really is in Carson, You're so freaking funny,
Like sometimes you would say things and I'm like, how
does your brain think to say that? Like what happened
(25:57):
to you? Where did you get your sense of wit them?
Because it's absolutely one of it's insane. I don't know.
I don't know. I don't know if my mom drank
a lot or what. But um, I just you know,
I just I see them come down the runway and
things pop into my head. I think it's because I'm
very visual, so I kind of expressed what I think
(26:17):
we're all seeing. Yes, exactly, you say what everyone else
is thinking. Yes, observational, you say what everyone else is thinking.
So we got this season fifteen. We we I want
to have James and I pick our our top two.
Stop we could do top No, I can't do that.
I'll do top two. There's no way, it's not possible. No, no,
(26:41):
why not? There's too many? Like I could give you
like a top I think oh eight, No, you could
do three, Okay, I'll do top three. I think I'm
just gonna throw it out there. I think it's gonna
be one of the I'm gonna yeah in Carson, you're
not allowed to move your face because it's your face, Carson. Sorry,
let me let me face that. You can't you're not
(27:02):
allowed to be your face anymore. So yes, perfect, Uh,
the botox is setting and nicely mine has just got done.
Is frozen? You screen you frozen? I would be like this,
I think you're I think it's gonna be one of
the twins. I think one of the twins. I don't
think they're both gonna make it. I think one. I
(27:22):
don't know which one. I just have a gut feeling
it's going to be one of the twins. And then
I think it's going to be where's the picture of
them because I don't remember the name of a picture
of me with the cast? Oh from the show that
you're doing that, but we're not talking about that. Let's see. Okay,
who's the girl that this one that won today? Vegas, which,
(27:46):
by the way, like you, I love my Vegas girls,
and so I'm so happy to see a Vegas girl
thriving on there. Yes, my prediction for season fifteen Drag Race.
Top three is going to be one of the twins,
Malaysia Fox, Malaysia Baby Fox, and who's the girl from Vegas.
(28:07):
I like Anitra Malaysia Fox and one of the twins.
That's my that's my pick. Now, Carson, I'm looking your
face to see if I can read any expression if
I'm right, and you guys, it has been frozen his
face as you can't see anything. James, what are your
top three? Because I just met the girls on the
topic three, Oh met them? Want to say, hang on,
(28:28):
James the premiere party, let me just let let's just
say that y'all are all phenomenal and I can't offer
one encounter, all right. First off, Sasha Colby. Since I
heard that name, I was like, Sasha Coobley is gonna
be one to beach. I better watch out, Sashakobe. I
think it's gonna be all the way to the end,
all right. I love Anitra as well. Um, you know,
(28:49):
I'm happy to some my Vegas girls thrive, like the
Vegas girls and the clubs. They're are the ones that
helped me feel comfortable in clubs and I always have
a special attachment to the girls from Vegas. Um. And
then I gotta say, I'm not doing three. I gotta
do more than three, baby, because I think like Mistress
is about the Brooks is going to get into and um, gosh, okay,
(29:16):
that's kind of listening. Uh, we're done, don't come We're done.
That's three all right, And when we come back, we're
gonna talk about pride with Carson Crestley. Don't go back,
all right, I'm not down, help, don't cut it, and
(29:37):
we're back. So Carson, this is podcast one we love
talking about is pride and in so many different ways.
So pride means so many different things to so many
different people. And we always ask our guests, what does
pride mean to you? Oh gosh, um uh uh this
(30:01):
is this is just what's coming to me. But ride
feels like um home and like a place that feels
like home, and I guess like no place like home. Gosh,
I'm getting it up. And um. When I first moved
to New York in the early nineties, of course, we're
(30:21):
still um living through the Eights crisis. I had just
moved to New York City. I was just out it
was and there was probably, And they had a giant
like rainbow flag that went down like miles of Fifth Avenue,
and I remember seeing that and being like, oh my god,
I'm home. This is my place. Like you know that
(30:41):
song um somewhere. Um. It's just I don't know if
they were playing that, but it just it gives me
goose bumps when I still think about it. Um that
it was just kind of like a sigh of relief, like, God,
I found my people. It's gonna be okay. I can
just exhale. Um. So that's what I means to me
because I think of I think of Pride in New
(31:03):
York City in their early nineties, and you know, other
prides mean other things to me. Gus have certain memories
from a certain time in our lives. Yeah, oh that
was my first pride I went to was New York
City Pride to It was in two thousand and I
went to. Yes that I did go to the pier dance.
(31:29):
We used to go to Tunnel. Do you remember Tunnel
when it had the fuzzy room. Well, there was that,
like tunnel wasn't open like in two thousand it was.
It was. Yeah, you would go to Tunnel and there
it was like over on the west side, right, yeah, yeah, yeah,
and you'd go down underneath and there were like rooms
(31:50):
and one of the rooms had like all fuzzy fur
on the walls. Right. I don't remember that from the one.
I'm sure that's were Limelight was the one that was
like a church, but that was one of my favorites.
That was really those were the days. Um. Do you
remember the So do you remember the first pride you
(32:12):
went to? Yeah? I think it was that one, like
New York nineteen like um, and it was just it
was I mean, New York is a great one to
go to, first of all, and so overwhelming for a
kid from Allan town who had never been to a pride,
Like going to New York City Pride, I was just like,
oh my god, the men, the ladies, the muscles, there's
(32:34):
fireman and there's gay police officers and gay teachers, like
all these people that I didn't know you were allowed
to even be out were like marching in the streets. Um.
And it was so impactful for me. I think that's
that's that's the representation thing we always talk about, like
when you see people in these other professions and all
of a sudden they are out and proud to It
(32:56):
just shows you I really can't be anything I want
to be. Yeah. I love that you experienced that because
I feel like my first Pride very much had that
same effect on me because I remember seeing a lot
of families in my first pear Wasn't It was in
Las Vegas, and I remember seeing a lot of families
and that really hit me because I was like, oh wow,
like these people can have this this dream that we
were told so many times we couldn't have. All these
(33:17):
people havn't it and just living it loudly and proudly,
and it was a really cool thing. I felt very
weird that I was in my underwear for that, but
you know what happened. It was it was a gig.
I had a gig. A gig actually got me to
my first Pride, which was pretty cool because I would
have had the guts to go well. I mean, honey,
I was just thinking about you and your underwear because
(33:39):
if you look at the pictures of James, I was
to actually I'm so sorry, see see it's okay, because
the pictures of James in his underwear and like when
he was in his late twenties, the early twenties, fantastic.
I've seen him. I was there, you were there, he
was he was the underwear person was the underwear this daddy.
(33:59):
I was in Vegas in the early two thousands and
you just saw that, like hairless body up on all
the billboards, thought everywhere. Um, you know, so many people
talk about the troubles. We all talked about it because
it's very important, the troubles of for the l g
B t Q plus community. You know, in other words,
(34:20):
you know, why it's so hard to be gay, Like
why it's what's hard about being gay? We talked about
that a lot. So we like to flip it on
his head and we like to talk about why it's
so great to be gay and what is so special
and why it's so awesome to be gay. So, Carson,
what's the best part about being gay? Oh? Gosh, I mean, well,
(34:43):
we always have cute haircuts and great outfits and you know,
look good. So that I mean that reduces my workload considerably,
So thank you fellas. Uh Um. But I guess in seriousness, Um,
I think that years the thing that I've always been
grateful for. I think because most of us feel like
(35:07):
we don't fit in when we're younger, and we're like, God,
what's wrong with us? And no, I don't want to
play soccer, and like, um, I don't want to do
all these things that the regular like boy kids want
to do. I think that makes us dreamers and we're
always thinking about, God, why I'd rather just like be
a painter or an actor or like. So not fitting
in at the time is very, very hard, but it
(35:29):
causes us to be magical thinkers and to think about
all the other possibilities because the the boring, average expected
ones don't work for us. So you're like, well, I
want to do this or do that, and that magical
thinking carries you for the rest of your life and
you get to do all these amazing things, you know,
like all my high school guy friends you know, are
(35:50):
still in Allenstown here. I am wait, I'm an Allantown
right now. But anyway, you get My point is that
I think I think that not fitting in makes you
become of an artistic thinker and that is such a
blessing in the long run, and it and it changes
your life and the way you view the world, and
it really creates this magic that I think we're so
(36:11):
also lucky to have and it's why we're amazing drag
queens and painters and actors and artists and designers, and
people will say, oh, well, that's so stereotypical. You can
be a doctor or a fireman. I'm like, yes, you can.
But my experience was that, you know, because I didn't
feel like I fade in. It's a little bit you've
become a little bit more peter Pan, like I'm going
(36:32):
to escape this world and create my own world. And
that gift of creativity, Um, has been a real blessing
for me. Wow. I never heard anybody put it like that.
That hits so hard and makes so much sense. I
love that, Thank you for it. Just it must be
the mural. I don't know, were you be muraled just
(36:53):
now to say all that, I was bewitched bothered and
be mural and I thought I was feeling artistic and
I'm get it out. Yes, yes, yes, oh my gosh. Um, James,
you and me and Carson we're gonna we're gonna talk
about gay history. Let's let's learn. Okay, So Carson, something
we like to do on proadcast, play the music. Something
we like to do on proadcast is to look back
(37:14):
at what happened this week in gay history, because before
we can move forward, we always have to look back. So, James,
what happened this week in gay history? Well check this out.
So there was back this week. In nineteen seventy three,
a documentary series on PBS that followed the Loud family
of Santa Barbara, California. Do you remember this, Carson? I don't.
(37:34):
I was only three years old, but I do know
about this show. It was like the first ever reality
TV show ever made. Yeah, yes, so it was. Yes,
so it was. And one of the cast members was
Lance Loud, and he came out publicly on the show
where he characterized himself as Homo of the Year, a
title I have strived for every day in my life
(37:56):
since congratu relations to you. It's just what you look
at like. That was like the first like representation in
that space. Nineteen seventy three, this documentary was and Lance
Loud like, how cool to have somebody be so loud
about it, because think about who might have seen him
then that really needed to see him. He probably I'm sat.
(38:17):
He saved lives absolutely, So that's what happened this week
in gay history in nineteen seventy three history, because that's
kind of fun. Yeah, we're all we're all worried about
what's new and everything. And I really I'm a big
history buffed in all realms, and I think our gay
history and our gay culture is so important to preserve
(38:38):
and celebrate and remember because there's so many trailed lasers
like Lance Loud who made it easier for us and
we get to be here today because of that. So
absolutely thank you. So the kids, thank you, Lance Loud,
and so the kids can get some education of their
history playing the music. Because right now we're gonna shine
our big gay spotlight on someone Carson. Each week we
(39:02):
like to shine our big gay spotlight on people in
the lgbt Q plus community or our allies that are
doing extraordinary things for the community. So we're gonna shine
our big gay spotlight on who James California Representative elect
to Robert Garcia. By the time with airs, he may
actually now just have been sworn in. Thanks been a
little crazy over there at the house as y'all have seen.
(39:24):
But Garcia actually did this tweet which we didn't see
because we got off Twitter, because it's the it's a
rough place these days, and we just decided, we were like,
why you even go into that. So but I have
learned from our producers that he tweeted this, which we
knew this, but I'm gonna read the tweets, you know.
Actually what he said. He said he'd be proudly sworn
into Congress on the U. S. Constitution. He says, underneath
the constitution will be three items that mean a lot
(39:45):
to him. One a photo of his parents that he
lost to COVID, to his citizenship certificate, and three the
original nineteen thirty nine Superman number one comic on loan
from the Library of Congress. That's really cool to hear
him share his story and to see Robert Garcia going
in to serve the people. And I think it's just
(40:06):
it's a it's a really cool thing of like, look
at the progress we're making, look at look at we
are represented in so many spaces, and it's really sweet
that these three things that means so much to him
are going to be part of if he may have
already got sworn in, because this does are a couple
of days after we do it, but it's it's a
sweet that that that's happening. And again it's just another
like you know, representation, representation. People see it, they know
(40:27):
they can be it, and also representing us literally in
Congress exactly. How great is that? Carson, Do you have
anyone you want to shine your big gay spotlight on
this week? It can be anyone famous or not, and
it could just be a friend that's doing great things
or anyone you want to shine your big gay spotlight
on this week, big gay spotlight. I didn't even realize
(40:47):
it was that fun. It's huge. It's huge and heavy
car Center. Alright, I'm just going to I'm gonna shine
it on since we're here talking about RuPaul's Drag Race
season fifteen, I'm gonna shine it on Rue Paul because
(41:07):
he's always doing amazing work. But um, the thing that
you all don't get to, I mean I get to
sit with him and make the show every week, and
people are like, oh, the show is so great. I'm like, yes,
because it is a it is a m it's a
trickle down theory. It's like Reagan amics, but good and
um um, all of that goodness that you see on
(41:30):
the show and the production we have an amazing team
and I'll shine my big gay spotlight on all of them,
but it really does all stem from Rue and his
sensibility and his heart. And when I work with him,
and I've gotten to, you know, do the Oprah Winfrey
Show like fifteen times and work with Oprah a lot,
and work with amazing people, and uh, I've worked with
(41:50):
Dolly and there's certain people in this world, Oprah, Dolly
Rue that have this I don't know, this just this
wisdom and this understanding of life and they just have
been through it and they just get it. And he's
that person. So I just, um, since to kick off
of the season fifteen, why not acknowledge, um, the grandeur
(42:11):
and wisdom that is Route Paul, Because Um, he's really
used his platform to um bring love and light to
so many people across the globe. Um, and not just
through the show, but just in being who he is. Wow,
that's so special, And you're right, there is something getting
to be on the show and watch just one episode
(42:31):
that I got to watch with you filming like and
sitting next to him and hearing his comments and like
what he says and just how smart he is with everything.
It's it really does trickle down from that. And I
think the funniest thing I ever heard. I say this
because it was not in the show, but it was
brilliant when we did the Frozen episode and it started
(42:52):
snowing at the end, and it was like like they
had the fake snow in the studio. It was one
of those one were like, I don't think ru knew
that it was gonna do that. And and like they
do the Frozen, let it go, Let it go, and
it's all over and they all right and cut, that's
a wrap and rude just side eyes that you and
me and the other judges and just goes whose mother
(43:15):
the idea was that the snow just like all over
all the queens. It was brilliant. That's that's typical um
drag race fun that happens, you know on that judge's
panel sometimes don't get to see on TV. So brilliant. Well,
I want to shine my big A spotlight on someone.
(43:37):
I want to shine my big A spotlight on Carson Cressley.
And here's why because as an actor that just came
out maybe six years ago publicly and did movie called
Mean Girls, and did All My Children, the soap opera
and I lived in the closet for so long, and
being in this industry, I remember doing like starting out
(44:01):
as an actor and when I was like nineteen, and
like them telling me that, like, like, don't whatever you do,
don't let anyone know you're gay. Make sure you live
in the closet, make sure you don't let anyone know.
You'll never work again. And then Queer I came out
and I saw this show where I watched people be
unapologetically themselves and celebrate how great it is to be
(44:23):
queer and all these and just everything that Carson did
on TV, whether it be an interview with Oprah or
where I'd see him pop up, I'm like, oh my gosh,
she's the funniest person I've ever seen. And he's so smart,
and he's so proud, and he's so unapologetically him. And
for me being an actor at that time in this
(44:44):
zone in the industry, I was petrified to let anyone
find out the truth about me. But I remember that
seed of unapologetically being yourself was planet from you. It
was the first time I saw you on a talk
show and I was wow. And I remember thinking to
myself one day, I hope I can be that unapologetically
(45:06):
myself and proud of who I am. And you were
doing it before was before there was this movement of
loving yourself. You are one of the first people to
do it and to be unapologetically you on TV and
to make people fall in love with you. So I
have to say, one of the first times I saw
someone on TV and I go, wow, I want to
be like that. One day it was Carson Cressley. Thank you, Jonathan.
(45:30):
That is um so nice, and I just every time
every everyone says that, I'm just like, thank you, I'm touched,
And um, you know, I was so gay. I couldn't
even I couldn't have not been gay anyway. I just
you know. But I guess that's the power of reality
TV and then capturing like the authentic person. So exactly,
I'm thrilled and I'm honored, and you're just killing the game.
(45:53):
And I'll let you know where you can send a
ten percent thank you. Um that great the check in
the mail, Alright, I just got I think that's a
great place to end. Um. But I just want to say,
as well, Carson, thank you for always being someone that's
so genuinely nice. In our community as someone that always
(46:14):
genuinely roots for everybody in the community, like y'all, the
Carson that you see on TV, on social media everywhere,
that is the real Carson. Um. He's the same if
there's a camera there, if there's not a camera there,
if there's a full face of makeup, there's not a
full face of makeup. There's always a full face of makeup.
But always no, I don't even have just thank you
for being that because it's so important in our queer
(46:36):
space to have those people that are genuinely good, wonderful humans.
So just thank you from somebody who was a big
fan of you, and then it's gotten to know you.
From the bottom of heart, I appreciate my gosh. Well,
from the heart of my bottom, I thank both of
you as well. And that's Carson Gressley on podcast Everyone
We Loveybody, lat
This is podcast with Jonathan Bennett on I Heart Radio.
Happy New Year. It's a new year and it's a
new pridecast. I'm your host, Jonathan Bennett, joined by my handsome,
hot and happy I married him husband, James vun What
would the alternative that be? Baby? Oh? There are so
(00:24):
many H words I wanted to use, but they wouldn't
let me. Why is it always the H words too?
Because it was husband? What rhymes with husband? Husband? Musband? Husband? See,
those words are all stupid. So I had to use
the first letter like H because it was like, instead
of doing rhyming words, I did on a monopeia where
(00:45):
it's the same letter of each like each word, you
know what I mean, like each No, I'm not crazy.
Each letter starts with the same each word starts with
the same letter. So it's I did on a monopea.
Very good, my love and very good use of the
word on a monopeia. I'm glad we would include that.
Thank you. Um. So we are actually in Park City
(01:08):
right now, sharing one headphone that's on a cord between
the two of us. So we are because someone sitting
at the table, someone sitting at this table did not
pack the headphone splinter, So you forgot to do that?
It was me. It was actually, this is marriage, guys,
this is what it is. Did you pack the headphone splitter? No?
(01:29):
I didn't pack the headphone spwitter? Why because I forgot
because I was too busy looking at how beautiful you were. Baby.
I wasn't even there and I was watching you, um
doing red carpet stuff. Okay, that was fun. Okay, I
guess that's a decent excuse. Yeah, that was fun. You
were just by the way. If you want to see
how fat my husband's baby, because it's so family I know.
(01:52):
But if you ever wants to see a good fitting
pair of pants, go to my instagram. James looks really
good on the red carpet. That's all I'm gonna say.
That's all I'm gonna say. It's the right kind of material.
It's the right kind of material, the same material we
had at our wedding. A good but did not look
like that in the in the If you make it
to where you can barely move in him, then that's
when everything looks good. That's the secret. Go a side down,
(02:14):
stretchy material and um just nong a walk. If anyone's
looking for any good material online, just head over to
my Instagram. It's got some great stuff. But we were
in New York City. That's what we just got back from. Yeah,
because we got to well, I guess you're listening to this,
you you know, we hosted the ball drop in Times
Square hashtag ball drop. Um. We hosted New Year's Eve
(02:35):
Times Square three Me, James and Jeremy Hassell one of
our other host and we got to basically be the first.
We made history, really first husbands. Me and you were
the first. Jeremy's not one of us, like our husbands.
We still love you, but he's not in the relationship.
It's not a throttle. Um. Me and James were the
first husbands to host the ball drop in Times Square
(02:57):
on New Year's Eve, which is pretty cool. Okay, it's
really cool. Like sometimes have to like stop myself from
like geeking out about this stuff because man, what good
that would have done for us to see twenty years
ago when we were starting our careers, to know that
like there could be two out game and actually getting
to work together and do some really cool stuff like that.
So I'm I don't take it lightly. We get to
(03:20):
have that moment together. Baby, I don't either. It's pretty cool.
I don't. Well, you know what I did take lightly
the rain, okay, because it rained for half a New
Year's Eve, which made it fun because it was different,
except my hair looked like crap. But I think your
hair looks beautiful. I like a nice little flat hair
on you, though I know that you like it. You
like a large hair sometimes. I like Texas, Texas. I
(03:40):
like a texaskir and hair like almost like a like
a Texas fifth grade school teacher that always speaks to
the manager, Yes, oh my god, what we were watching
where the girl kept growing a new layer of hairs
to the manager, Oh my god, I'm so happy that
you have cut this conversation. Our producer to the stars, Raymond,
(04:00):
we have a special guest here today. He's a TV
legend and a superstar and he's our friend to have
him on podcast. Since the beginning and the schedules and
the stars finally aligned, we have the one and only
Kirsten Cressley joining us, ladies and gentlemen. Hello you gorgeous ladies.
(04:22):
Look at He is a mountain among men in the industry.
He is the best there is the one and only
Carson Cressley is here. I was getting excited from that intro.
I was like, as Paul Lynde coming back from the
dead to be on this program. But I'll take it.
I love Carson. You know you just happy you're here.
(04:45):
Do you actually remind me of Paul A lot? Okay,
someone else said that. Sharon Lawrence and Treat Williams both
said I reminded them of Paul Lynn on set, and
I think that's that's a lovely compliment. I think so too.
I think jurious allowed medic genius. I'm not sure about
I'm not that funny. I think you're much cuter than
(05:05):
Paul Lynde. Thank you. Where are you, Carson? Are you
at home in your with your horses? I am. I'm
at the farm in Pennsylvania. There's a fire crackling, and
I'm sitting in my b mural dining room where I
have I'm being bathed in Appalachian light, and here we are. Thanks.
(05:28):
Because you're like a fashioned person that knows all stuff.
What does be mural mean? Mural be mural? It just
means there's a mural on the wall. Oh Okaymal, I
don't even know if I don't think the mural is
even a word. It's like bedazzled or the witch, like
who thinks you do? I just it's the first time
(05:50):
I've ever used to It just popped into my head
because I'm not usually sitting in front of a mural.
But today I write that down. Everyone use it in
a sentence. Invented on this year, I was the murld
every time I walk into Carson's house. Let's have a
gay spelling be and that can be one of the words,
(06:12):
the murald Your first word is l G B t Q.
Can you do a plus? Yeah? You pass the trick question.
You know I'm not just another gorgeous space. You're not. No,
you did not, thank you? Do you want? Jonathan's tapping
me under the table because he's gonna let me take
(06:34):
because I'm I mean, obviously John is a huge, huge,
huge drag race fan, but I feel like I'm even
bigger of a drag race superman. So he's tapping me
to let me know that I get to take the
reins on the Rue Paul Drag Race season. Questions go go, James.
First off, we have to start with I do have
to say I got to go to the premier party,
(06:56):
uh this past week in New York and see all
the girls in person and the girl in person are girling, baby,
they are giving this season. It is sixteen superstars on
that red carpet. I couldn't even tell. Usually sometimes in
person you can tell, like who's who's the ones that
are gonna pop and who's not all popping? Was that
the intention of this season to have sixteen juggernauts that
(07:17):
really anybody could be the winner? No, I don't know.
I mean every year when I show up on set
and I, you know, see the creative and I see
the queens, I'm just like, wow, the producers a world
of wonder. And I'm not just blowing smoke because they're
my bosses. But they do such a fantastic job in
casting the queens um Ethan Peterson, who also helps them
(07:39):
with that. I mean, everybody does such a great job.
And yes, there are some seasons where you're just like,
I don't know, Like I love like nine out of
the twelve, but you know, these three seen maybe a
little shaky this time. To your point, James, is that, um,
they're all superstars. Um. And there's six team which normally
when I got there and I was just like, wait
(08:00):
a minute, are there extra? This seems like a lot
of uh gals, did you feed one after midnight? Did
I did you feed one after midnight? Or get it wet?
And they just started multiplying. Yeah, I know, they're like
the Trouble with triples. Um, there's just more and more
every season. But thank god, they're all amazing, And um,
(08:22):
I think that kind of shows like, first of all,
we gotta jump into this, so like there's sixteen girls.
Remember last season everybody thought lasted too long or a
lot of people thought it lasted too long. I love
when it lasts that long. So I'm like, you just
keep keep not eliminating, Like I would love to see
all the girls compete all the way to the end,
like how they did on the Winter season. I thought
that was idiot because you got everything they brought. But um,
right away, on this one, we're not playing. We are eliminating.
(08:44):
And I feel like Irene was a surprise elimination, which
again speaks to like anybody could take this thing. I
know you have to realize too that RuPaul's drag race
is also kind of like the most fabulous game show
in the world in that like anything can happen, and
you have challenges, and sometimes the draw is not your favorite,
(09:06):
and sometimes you have an unlucky day, or sometimes you
just it's your turn to go. It doesn't mean that
you're not superstar. It just means that, you know, it's
a competition series and someone goes home every week and
there's only one winner for the which two hunter k
this season? Okay, somebody found some money somewhere. What's going
on with that? I know, I think they adjusted for inflation.
(09:31):
I was like two hund here. That was like, I'll
sign up where I know. I was like, also, maybe
they just are like, oh, look, let's count the Emmy's, right,
let's just count all of our Emmy's and hey, can
we have a little bit more money MTV? Thank you.
I think that's maybe that's where it comes from this. Yeah, yes, sure,
(09:52):
I think so. I feel like the girls deserve it though,
like the money and time they put into everything they
bring because they gotta be ready for every single episode
when they get there, right, they bring everything with them
for the whole season, and yeah, they bring everything they
have to prepare um. But it's not all about the
prize money too, because there's many a queen who didn't win,
(10:12):
uh or maybe was eliminated first and became you know,
an internet superstar. And they have huge careers there in movies,
they're doing cosmetic lines, they are working in all the clubs,
doing appearances, spokesmodel. I just I just saw Simon was
doing something like cash app I mean they're getting big deals. So, um, yes,
(10:33):
the prize money is great, but the show is such
a great platform for them as artists and entertainers that
they can really the world is their oyster after they
do the show. Really, they're all winners after doing the
show because they can take it and use it absolutely
if they're smart. Yeah, and this, like James and I
talked about this all the time, there's a the way
(10:56):
that drag has changed from the time before Rupole drag Race. Right,
we when the three of us and we came all
right here we're coming up in the clubs what drag
was like. And then and then to see like the
twins on Drag Race that are like, we've never I
think it was Winds that were like, we've never really
performed anywhere, and right like, I'm sorry, what so it's
(11:18):
it's evolved in such a dramatic way. I want to
take it way back because I think this is interesting
to hear described the drag the drag scene. You grew
up with Carson before Rupol's drag race, when you were
in the club right picture it sicily nine exactly exactly. Um,
(11:39):
I just landed. I was putting the buckle on my
build room hat and I noticed there was a man
wearing a black dress. Um, and I said, Priscilla, Uh no, Um,
I grew up, came of age in New York City
in the nineties. Um, and that was my introduction to drag.
(12:00):
There was and there was a variety of drag. There were,
um the club kids, you know James st James at
All and RuPaul um at you know the Roxy and
Twilo and Tunnel in the USA and Palladium uh and Limelight.
I mean, just when I list that list, I'm just like,
(12:20):
what a time. I used this line all the times
a joke. What a time to be alive? But seriously,
what a time to be Like I had a nine
to five job. I would go to the pay phone
in front of the Palladium at like six fifteen in
the morning, and and Um Junior or somebody would still
be playing, and Madonna would be in there, and I
would sneak out and like, I don't think I've got
(12:41):
to be able to make it tour. And then I
would go back inside and dance until like nine or
ten in the morning. And then they would be like
on a Monday, and I would take Monday off and
then I would go in as a normal person on Tuesday.
But I was really into it. And so there were
club kids, and then there were places like eighty eight
(13:03):
and the Duplex and um uh Maurice Prices and Roses
Turn where sometimes drag queens like bar La Jean Merman
um shows and I would be obsessed and I'd want
to be their friends, and I would you know, I
was pretty charismatic. I befriended them, and we have great
pictures from the nineties of like me and Barla eating
a giant sausage in the kitchen of eight eight um.
(13:26):
And then there were performance artists, queens that performed like Misunderstood,
that did shows at the Pyramid Club and Boy Bar
and all the places in the East Village and the
boiler Room. UM. So you have all these different genres
and wig Stock was happening. That kind of was a
little bit of everything, but still more like East Village
(13:46):
performance already. So that's the kind of drag that I
grew up with. And then going to Provincetown all these years,
you would see, you know, your famous iconic, your miss
richfield One, your Dina Martina, your uh, your our legion
(14:06):
murmur So. I was very lucky. I saw the full gamut.
And now kids today, I can't believe I'm actually saying
that like in Earnest, but we are today and even
like Pandet post pandemic, kids like these twins that never
performed in a club, um are doing everything at home
(14:27):
and virtually and they're on TikTok and they're on YouTube
and they're on Instagram, and um, it's just a different media.
And I certainly have a great deal of respect for
queens who I'm gonna be biased. I mean, it's just
gonna say my personal opinion, and I'll get shaped for this.
Is that when you work in a club and you're
out in in the culture, and you know how to
(14:50):
handle an audience and you know how to Disarma Heckler,
all of that is really valuable. And now on the
flip side, um, some of the younger queens who are
really well versed in social media and know how to
you know, make that thirty second ad, know how to
sell themselves in thirty seconds. There's a lot of challenges
on drag race that are really aligned with that skill
(15:12):
set too. So I think it makes for a really
interesting playing field and that some of the older ones
to have know the club gigs and the younger ones
know the digital gig and you need to be able
to do all of it to be America's next drag
superstar exactly. And that's so interesting because you're right, the
the new TikTok generation will call them of drag queens
(15:36):
that might not have performed as much in clubs still
have a really tremendous skill set in this quick digestible
content that needs to be relatable and you see that dry.
It needs to be funny, it needs to have a hook,
and it needs to be and needs to have been
so quickly before you even realize it's over to to
to sell the product or to sell themselves to get
(15:56):
that out there. So it's definitely even though it's different,
it's not any less valuable. But you know, growing up
from me, I have to say, I love the like
I grew up, you know, going to the clubs and
seeing drag for the first time. I think our generation,
and I can only speak for myself, but we always
tend to lean towards the more traditional old school drag
because that's what we grew up with. And there's nothing
(16:17):
wrong with saying, like, oh, we grew up with this,
so of course you like it. Like if you're a Yankees,
if you live in New York and you grew up
watching Yankees, of course you're gonna be Yankee because that's
what you're used to, and that's what's so I always
am rooting for yeah, yeah, yeah, they're very good. I'm
always you know, rooting for it and always blown away
by like the queens that have been through it, you know,
(16:37):
that have that have done the gigs and have shown
up to the bars when there are two people in
the bar because it's a slow night and still done
their show and you have to eat that. You have
to eat of like, oh man, I got ready and
I came and I performed and there's only two people,
and you have to have the will and the strength
to go back and do it again the next Friday
and see if it's any better, you know what I mean, Like,
there's so much you know, I think as an actor,
(16:59):
I relate to that because going into audition after audition
after audition and being told no and then realizing that
I still love what I do enough that I want
to go back the next day to the next audition
even though they might tell me no again. So, you know,
I think the old school actor and me really identifies
with the old school queens because that's what I love.
(17:20):
But I have to say but on the flip side,
I'm gonna say it, the Twins they impressed me, didn't
They surprised me. The first one. I literally was like, Oh,
they're gonna be TikTokers. And then I was like, I
love them, and they surprised me. And I think the
edit did a very good job of like building the
way they built the edit of the Twins and then
(17:42):
let you they kind of made the audience be like, oh,
what is this and then all of a sudden boom
flipped it in the last eleventh hour and saw how
right they were. They are phenomenal in that coffin and
said I'm bored, and RuPaul laughed. I was like, these fine, yeah, totally.
It showed that like they do, they do think, they
(18:03):
just think differently, and it's kind of cool to have
a different mindset on that stage because it just expands
what drag can do, which is so cool. Drag is
you know, and ru will be the first tell you, like,
use all the crayons and the and the crayon box.
And there's a lot of different ways to you drag.
You could do it on TikTok, you can do it
at a club, you can do it when you're nine
(18:23):
years old in front of your mom and dad like whatever.
You know, it's it's the possibilities are endless. So that's
the good thing about UM, you know, opening it up
to all different kinds of UM contestants. The first time
I did drag not a joke when you say, nine
or ten, in front of Ram and Dad, right at
my house in Toledo, Ohio. My parents had left, and
(18:48):
I put on The Beaches soundtrack and what's the song
where She's like, um ah no, Titsling and Mentor and
crowd had that song, right, yeah, yeah, but yeah, about
the brazier, about the bra. I had my mom's silk robe.
I took her a towel and did up my hair
(19:09):
the way my mom went out of a shower where
it's like wrapped on the top of your head because
I didn't have a wig. And I put on her
shoes and I put in the CD player in our
living room the Beaches Town soundtrack, and then I performed
that on video. I videotaped myself with it VHS camera
and I actually videotaped it and then cleaned it all
up and was like, oh, that was fun. And then
(19:30):
I forgot to take the tape out of the camera
and they came home and they saw it a few
weeks later when my dad was like, what is this
and I was like, oh, it is a school project.
We have the tape, let's roll just yes, But you
said yeah, but they knew. They knew that cute baby,
(19:55):
that was your first little life. Yeah, the first time
I did. Because we didn't really grow up in an
area or eras that allows us to express that. That's
why I've even found like a last year, like my
fascination with like wigs and heels and like, oh this
is so like it's freeing to participate in this, but
like I didn't think about that. You got to kind
of have that drag moment. What was what was your
first kind of drag moment, Carson. I'm trying to think
(20:15):
about it. Oh. I would, Um, my mom worked in
the afternoon, so I would get home from school like
you two thirty, like in fifth grade, and my mom
was a beauty pageant girl and she like Miss Pennsylvania
Dairy Princess around and in their bedroom they had a
(20:36):
like a bureau. But remember those gigantic euros from the seventies.
They were like massive early American furniture and they have
like shelves and a mirror and like it was like
a hunch but you kept in your bedroom. Up on
the top shelf was the crown, and I would climb
up there and I would get the crown, and then
I would drifle through her underwear drawer and were like
slip you know, slips that you put under a skirt. Yes,
(20:56):
it like some poral ones that I would make that
into a people banned out top. I would put the
crown in a wig on because women had wigs laying
around in the seventies, and those little lipsticks that you
get from Avon. They were like teeny tiny and they
were white and they were perfectly like triangular at the tip.
I would put on some buttered rum and then use
(21:17):
some s rouge, and then I would carefully take a
butter knife and reshape it into the perfect point so
it looked like it hadn't been used. And then I
would just you know, crimp and perform in front of
the bathroom mirror until like three thirty until they got home,
and then I would, you know, rub everything off. But
that crown was mangled from me trying to jam it
(21:38):
on my head like it was perfect, but I had
ruined it. It's been become so misshapen from me wearing
it so often, and nobody ever said a word. But
I'm sure my mom was like, this bitch has been
wearing my crown again. I think mine, And now to
think about it, my might have been um glasses drag
(22:02):
if if that if that is a thing, because my
mom would Back in the day, my mom would go
to the lens crafters to get her her eyeglasses adjusted
like that thing. You would go, and I would go
because they had these little spinny chairs and I would
go on the spinny chair and like put on the
different like the gaudiest glasses I could find, right and
there was this panting pro v commercial. I cannot remember
(22:23):
the script of it to save my life right now,
But back then I knew every dayn word, every dang
hair flip, every eye movement that this girl did. And
I would put on like the biggest, sparkliest gaudy as
glasses I could find, spin on that stool and turn
back around and do a full presentation for everybody in
the Lens Crafters. And I think that might have actually
been my first dog from and that was his route
(22:45):
and yeah, welcome to the family. You know, I'm just saying,
like I remembering it now and I'm like all those
people Lenscrafters really did give me an audience. Thank you
to them. If any of them happens to run up
on this podcast. That was a little seven year old
gave me do a skit, thank you. James thought he
was gonna be fierce wearing because okay, Carson, obviously we
can see my husband, he's one of the hottest things
(23:06):
in the world. And he thought that when he was
gonna put on heels and drag for the first time,
this is like a few months ago, and just be
like Angela, like, just be like fierce and do it.
He's like, Oh, I can do this because I've been
around all these fears girls my whole lot. We go
to John Barrowman's house, our friend, and he has all
(23:30):
his lakaja foe uh outfits from when he did at
the West End, and so it was big enough to
fit James. So we're like, oh, this is perfect. Let's
put you in a wig and you can wear some
of these clothes and come walking out and a beautiful
heel and let me tell you, it was like Fiona
from Shrek walking out of She had way more grace
(23:54):
than you, and it was. But what we learned is
that James isn't a heel girl. He's a bear foot
country bumpkins named Messica. So he's like long hair note
because he's six four already, so in heels he's six eight.
So he's a no shoe country bumpkin kind of trashy
girl for now, for now. We we found her for
now because yes, she when she was first born, um,
(24:17):
she wanted to be something much more fierce and I couldn't,
so I just shows a Vegas Forever, Carson. So I'm
used to just seeing girls like twirling and kicking and
popping and everything in these heels, and so you just
think that you'll be able to exactly. I have sak delusion.
But you know, our our drag personas sometimes finds us
like I always just look like Juliette Lewis And I'm
(24:38):
so sorry, Juliet if you're listening, um, but I always do.
I always do. That's not bad at all, not bad,
but so accurate. That's very accurate. Oh my gosh, I
love it. Okay, we're gonna come right back with Carson
and we're gonna talk spoilers for RuPaul's rag Ray season fifteen.
Don't go away, And we're back with Carson Cressley and Carson. Yes,
(25:13):
I know you. You get to watch all of them,
so I need you. Well you're there. So first of all,
let's go back to one thing. We got to do
drag Race together, you and me. Yeah we did. We
got to do Snatch Game and they sang Frozen for
h the lip sync and it was the day I
say that, like I realized, if I were to die tomorrow,
(25:34):
I'm good because I got to be on RuPaul's drag
race during Snatch game and got to see a Broadway
lip sync like, I'm I'm done very much. Yeah, the
Triple Crown. It really is in Carson, You're so freaking funny,
Like sometimes you would say things and I'm like, how
does your brain think to say that? Like what happened
(25:57):
to you? Where did you get your sense of wit them?
Because it's absolutely one of it's insane. I don't know.
I don't know. I don't know if my mom drank
a lot or what. But um, I just you know,
I just I see them come down the runway and
things pop into my head. I think it's because I'm
very visual, so I kind of expressed what I think
(26:17):
we're all seeing. Yes, exactly, you say what everyone else
is thinking. Yes, observational, you say what everyone else is thinking.
So we got this season fifteen. We we I want
to have James and I pick our our top two.
Stop we could do top No, I can't do that.
I'll do top two. There's no way, it's not possible. No, no,
(26:41):
why not? There's too many? Like I could give you
like a top I think oh eight, No, you could
do three, Okay, I'll do top three. I think I'm
just gonna throw it out there. I think it's gonna
be one of the I'm gonna yeah in Carson, you're
not allowed to move your face because it's your face, Carson. Sorry,
let me let me face that. You can't you're not
(27:02):
allowed to be your face anymore. So yes, perfect, Uh,
the botox is setting and nicely mine has just got done.
Is frozen? You screen you frozen? I would be like this,
I think you're I think it's gonna be one of
the twins. I think one of the twins. I don't
think they're both gonna make it. I think one. I
(27:22):
don't know which one. I just have a gut feeling
it's going to be one of the twins. And then
I think it's going to be where's the picture of
them because I don't remember the name of a picture
of me with the cast? Oh from the show that
you're doing that, but we're not talking about that. Let's see. Okay,
who's the girl that this one that won today? Vegas, which,
(27:46):
by the way, like you, I love my Vegas girls,
and so I'm so happy to see a Vegas girl
thriving on there. Yes, my prediction for season fifteen Drag Race.
Top three is going to be one of the twins,
Malaysia Fox, Malaysia Baby Fox, and who's the girl from Vegas.
(28:07):
I like Anitra Malaysia Fox and one of the twins.
That's my that's my pick. Now, Carson, I'm looking your
face to see if I can read any expression if
I'm right, and you guys, it has been frozen his
face as you can't see anything. James, what are your
top three? Because I just met the girls on the
topic three, Oh met them? Want to say, hang on,
(28:28):
James the premiere party, let me just let let's just
say that y'all are all phenomenal and I can't offer
one encounter, all right. First off, Sasha Colby. Since I
heard that name, I was like, Sasha Coobley is gonna
be one to beach. I better watch out, Sashakobe. I
think it's gonna be all the way to the end,
all right. I love Anitra as well. Um, you know,
(28:49):
I'm happy to some my Vegas girls thrive, like the
Vegas girls and the clubs. They're are the ones that
helped me feel comfortable in clubs and I always have
a special attachment to the girls from Vegas. Um. And
then I gotta say, I'm not doing three. I gotta
do more than three, baby, because I think like Mistress
is about the Brooks is going to get into and um, gosh, okay,
(29:16):
that's kind of listening. Uh, we're done, don't come We're done.
That's three all right, And when we come back, we're
gonna talk about pride with Carson Crestley. Don't go back,
all right, I'm not down, help, don't cut it, and
(29:37):
we're back. So Carson, this is podcast one we love
talking about is pride and in so many different ways.
So pride means so many different things to so many
different people. And we always ask our guests, what does
pride mean to you? Oh gosh, um uh uh this
(30:01):
is this is just what's coming to me. But ride
feels like um home and like a place that feels
like home, and I guess like no place like home. Gosh,
I'm getting it up. And um. When I first moved
to New York in the early nineties, of course, we're
(30:21):
still um living through the Eights crisis. I had just
moved to New York City. I was just out it
was and there was probably, And they had a giant
like rainbow flag that went down like miles of Fifth Avenue,
and I remember seeing that and being like, oh my god,
I'm home. This is my place. Like you know that
(30:41):
song um somewhere. Um. It's just I don't know if
they were playing that, but it just it gives me
goose bumps when I still think about it. Um that
it was just kind of like a sigh of relief, like, God,
I found my people. It's gonna be okay. I can
just exhale. Um. So that's what I means to me
because I think of I think of Pride in New
(31:03):
York City in their early nineties, and you know, other
prides mean other things to me. Gus have certain memories
from a certain time in our lives. Yeah, oh that
was my first pride I went to was New York
City Pride to It was in two thousand and I
went to. Yes that I did go to the pier dance.
(31:29):
We used to go to Tunnel. Do you remember Tunnel
when it had the fuzzy room. Well, there was that,
like tunnel wasn't open like in two thousand it was.
It was. Yeah, you would go to Tunnel and there
it was like over on the west side, right, yeah, yeah, yeah,
and you'd go down underneath and there were like rooms
(31:50):
and one of the rooms had like all fuzzy fur
on the walls. Right. I don't remember that from the one.
I'm sure that's were Limelight was the one that was
like a church, but that was one of my favorites.
That was really those were the days. Um. Do you
remember the So do you remember the first pride you
(32:12):
went to? Yeah? I think it was that one, like
New York nineteen like um, and it was just it
was I mean, New York is a great one to
go to, first of all, and so overwhelming for a
kid from Allan town who had never been to a pride,
Like going to New York City Pride, I was just like,
oh my god, the men, the ladies, the muscles, there's
(32:34):
fireman and there's gay police officers and gay teachers, like
all these people that I didn't know you were allowed
to even be out were like marching in the streets. Um.
And it was so impactful for me. I think that's
that's that's the representation thing we always talk about, like
when you see people in these other professions and all
of a sudden they are out and proud to It
(32:56):
just shows you I really can't be anything I want
to be. Yeah. I love that you experienced that because
I feel like my first Pride very much had that
same effect on me because I remember seeing a lot
of families in my first pear Wasn't It was in
Las Vegas, and I remember seeing a lot of families
and that really hit me because I was like, oh wow,
like these people can have this this dream that we
were told so many times we couldn't have. All these
(33:17):
people havn't it and just living it loudly and proudly,
and it was a really cool thing. I felt very
weird that I was in my underwear for that, but
you know what happened. It was it was a gig.
I had a gig. A gig actually got me to
my first Pride, which was pretty cool because I would
have had the guts to go well. I mean, honey,
I was just thinking about you and your underwear because
(33:39):
if you look at the pictures of James, I was
to actually I'm so sorry, see see it's okay, because
the pictures of James in his underwear and like when
he was in his late twenties, the early twenties, fantastic.
I've seen him. I was there, you were there, he
was he was the underwear person was the underwear this daddy.
(33:59):
I was in Vegas in the early two thousands and
you just saw that, like hairless body up on all
the billboards, thought everywhere. Um, you know, so many people
talk about the troubles. We all talked about it because
it's very important, the troubles of for the l g
B t Q plus community. You know, in other words,
(34:20):
you know, why it's so hard to be gay, Like
why it's what's hard about being gay? We talked about
that a lot. So we like to flip it on
his head and we like to talk about why it's
so great to be gay and what is so special
and why it's so awesome to be gay. So, Carson,
what's the best part about being gay? Oh? Gosh, I mean, well,
(34:43):
we always have cute haircuts and great outfits and you know,
look good. So that I mean that reduces my workload considerably,
So thank you fellas. Uh Um. But I guess in seriousness, Um,
I think that years the thing that I've always been
grateful for. I think because most of us feel like
(35:07):
we don't fit in when we're younger, and we're like, God,
what's wrong with us? And no, I don't want to
play soccer, and like, um, I don't want to do
all these things that the regular like boy kids want
to do. I think that makes us dreamers and we're
always thinking about, God, why I'd rather just like be
a painter or an actor or like. So not fitting
in at the time is very, very hard, but it
(35:29):
causes us to be magical thinkers and to think about
all the other possibilities because the the boring, average expected
ones don't work for us. So you're like, well, I
want to do this or do that, and that magical
thinking carries you for the rest of your life and
you get to do all these amazing things, you know,
like all my high school guy friends you know, are
(35:50):
still in Allenstown here. I am wait, I'm an Allantown
right now. But anyway, you get My point is that
I think I think that not fitting in makes you
become of an artistic thinker and that is such a
blessing in the long run, and it and it changes
your life and the way you view the world, and
it really creates this magic that I think we're so
(36:11):
also lucky to have and it's why we're amazing drag
queens and painters and actors and artists and designers, and
people will say, oh, well, that's so stereotypical. You can
be a doctor or a fireman. I'm like, yes, you can.
But my experience was that, you know, because I didn't
feel like I fade in. It's a little bit you've
become a little bit more peter Pan, like I'm going
(36:32):
to escape this world and create my own world. And
that gift of creativity, Um, has been a real blessing
for me. Wow. I never heard anybody put it like that.
That hits so hard and makes so much sense. I
love that, Thank you for it. Just it must be
the mural. I don't know, were you be muraled just
(36:53):
now to say all that, I was bewitched bothered and
be mural and I thought I was feeling artistic and
I'm get it out. Yes, yes, yes, oh my gosh. Um, James,
you and me and Carson we're gonna we're gonna talk
about gay history. Let's let's learn. Okay, So Carson, something
we like to do on proadcast, play the music. Something
we like to do on proadcast is to look back
(37:14):
at what happened this week in gay history, because before
we can move forward, we always have to look back. So, James,
what happened this week in gay history? Well check this out.
So there was back this week. In nineteen seventy three,
a documentary series on PBS that followed the Loud family
of Santa Barbara, California. Do you remember this, Carson? I don't.
(37:34):
I was only three years old, but I do know
about this show. It was like the first ever reality
TV show ever made. Yeah, yes, so it was. Yes,
so it was. And one of the cast members was
Lance Loud, and he came out publicly on the show
where he characterized himself as Homo of the Year, a
title I have strived for every day in my life
(37:56):
since congratu relations to you. It's just what you look
at like. That was like the first like representation in
that space. Nineteen seventy three, this documentary was and Lance
Loud like, how cool to have somebody be so loud
about it, because think about who might have seen him
then that really needed to see him. He probably I'm sat.
(38:17):
He saved lives absolutely, So that's what happened this week
in gay history in nineteen seventy three history, because that's
kind of fun. Yeah, we're all we're all worried about
what's new and everything. And I really I'm a big
history buffed in all realms, and I think our gay
history and our gay culture is so important to preserve
(38:38):
and celebrate and remember because there's so many trailed lasers
like Lance Loud who made it easier for us and
we get to be here today because of that. So
absolutely thank you. So the kids, thank you, Lance Loud,
and so the kids can get some education of their
history playing the music. Because right now we're gonna shine
our big gay spotlight on someone Carson. Each week we
(39:02):
like to shine our big gay spotlight on people in
the lgbt Q plus community or our allies that are
doing extraordinary things for the community. So we're gonna shine
our big gay spotlight on who James California Representative elect
to Robert Garcia. By the time with airs, he may
actually now just have been sworn in. Thanks been a
little crazy over there at the house as y'all have seen.
(39:24):
But Garcia actually did this tweet which we didn't see
because we got off Twitter, because it's the it's a
rough place these days, and we just decided, we were like,
why you even go into that. So but I have
learned from our producers that he tweeted this, which we
knew this, but I'm gonna read the tweets, you know.
Actually what he said. He said he'd be proudly sworn
into Congress on the U. S. Constitution. He says, underneath
the constitution will be three items that mean a lot
(39:45):
to him. One a photo of his parents that he
lost to COVID, to his citizenship certificate, and three the
original nineteen thirty nine Superman number one comic on loan
from the Library of Congress. That's really cool to hear
him share his story and to see Robert Garcia going
in to serve the people. And I think it's just
(40:06):
it's a it's a really cool thing of like, look
at the progress we're making, look at look at we
are represented in so many spaces, and it's really sweet
that these three things that means so much to him
are going to be part of if he may have
already got sworn in, because this does are a couple
of days after we do it, but it's it's a
sweet that that that's happening. And again it's just another
like you know, representation, representation. People see it, they know
(40:27):
they can be it, and also representing us literally in
Congress exactly. How great is that? Carson, Do you have
anyone you want to shine your big gay spotlight on
this week? It can be anyone famous or not, and
it could just be a friend that's doing great things
or anyone you want to shine your big gay spotlight
on this week, big gay spotlight. I didn't even realize
(40:47):
it was that fun. It's huge. It's huge and heavy
car Center. Alright, I'm just going to I'm gonna shine
it on since we're here talking about RuPaul's Drag Race
season fifteen, I'm gonna shine it on Rue Paul because
(41:07):
he's always doing amazing work. But um, the thing that
you all don't get to, I mean I get to
sit with him and make the show every week, and
people are like, oh, the show is so great. I'm like, yes,
because it is a it is a m it's a
trickle down theory. It's like Reagan amics, but good and
um um, all of that goodness that you see on
(41:30):
the show and the production we have an amazing team
and I'll shine my big gay spotlight on all of them,
but it really does all stem from Rue and his
sensibility and his heart. And when I work with him,
and I've gotten to, you know, do the Oprah Winfrey
Show like fifteen times and work with Oprah a lot,
and work with amazing people, and uh, I've worked with
(41:50):
Dolly and there's certain people in this world, Oprah, Dolly
Rue that have this I don't know, this just this
wisdom and this understanding of life and they just have
been through it and they just get it. And he's
that person. So I just, um, since to kick off
of the season fifteen, why not acknowledge, um, the grandeur
(42:11):
and wisdom that is Route Paul, Because Um, he's really
used his platform to um bring love and light to
so many people across the globe. Um, and not just
through the show, but just in being who he is. Wow,
that's so special, And you're right, there is something getting
to be on the show and watch just one episode
(42:31):
that I got to watch with you filming like and
sitting next to him and hearing his comments and like
what he says and just how smart he is with everything.
It's it really does trickle down from that. And I
think the funniest thing I ever heard. I say this
because it was not in the show, but it was
brilliant when we did the Frozen episode and it started
(42:52):
snowing at the end, and it was like like they
had the fake snow in the studio. It was one
of those one were like, I don't think ru knew
that it was gonna do that. And and like they
do the Frozen, let it go, Let it go, and
it's all over and they all right and cut, that's
a wrap and rude just side eyes that you and
me and the other judges and just goes whose mother
(43:15):
the idea was that the snow just like all over
all the queens. It was brilliant. That's that's typical um
drag race fun that happens, you know on that judge's
panel sometimes don't get to see on TV. So brilliant. Well,
I want to shine my big A spotlight on someone.
(43:37):
I want to shine my big A spotlight on Carson Cressley.
And here's why because as an actor that just came
out maybe six years ago publicly and did movie called
Mean Girls, and did All My Children, the soap opera
and I lived in the closet for so long, and
being in this industry, I remember doing like starting out
(44:01):
as an actor and when I was like nineteen, and
like them telling me that, like, like, don't whatever you do,
don't let anyone know you're gay. Make sure you live
in the closet, make sure you don't let anyone know.
You'll never work again. And then Queer I came out
and I saw this show where I watched people be
unapologetically themselves and celebrate how great it is to be
(44:23):
queer and all these and just everything that Carson did
on TV, whether it be an interview with Oprah or
where I'd see him pop up, I'm like, oh my gosh,
she's the funniest person I've ever seen. And he's so smart,
and he's so proud, and he's so unapologetically him. And
for me being an actor at that time in this
(44:44):
zone in the industry, I was petrified to let anyone
find out the truth about me. But I remember that
seed of unapologetically being yourself was planet from you. It
was the first time I saw you on a talk
show and I was wow. And I remember thinking to
myself one day, I hope I can be that unapologetically
(45:06):
myself and proud of who I am. And you were
doing it before was before there was this movement of
loving yourself. You are one of the first people to
do it and to be unapologetically you on TV and
to make people fall in love with you. So I
have to say, one of the first times I saw
someone on TV and I go, wow, I want to
be like that. One day it was Carson Cressley. Thank you, Jonathan.
(45:30):
That is um so nice, and I just every time
every everyone says that, I'm just like, thank you, I'm touched,
And um, you know, I was so gay. I couldn't
even I couldn't have not been gay anyway. I just
you know. But I guess that's the power of reality
TV and then capturing like the authentic person. So exactly,
I'm thrilled and I'm honored, and you're just killing the game.
(45:53):
And I'll let you know where you can send a
ten percent thank you. Um that great the check in
the mail, Alright, I just got I think that's a
great place to end. Um. But I just want to say,
as well, Carson, thank you for always being someone that's
so genuinely nice. In our community as someone that always
(46:14):
genuinely roots for everybody in the community, like y'all, the
Carson that you see on TV, on social media everywhere,
that is the real Carson. Um. He's the same if
there's a camera there, if there's not a camera there,
if there's a full face of makeup, there's not a
full face of makeup. There's always a full face of makeup.
But always no, I don't even have just thank you
for being that because it's so important in our queer
(46:36):
space to have those people that are genuinely good, wonderful humans.
So just thank you from somebody who was a big
fan of you, and then it's gotten to know you.
From the bottom of heart, I appreciate my gosh. Well,
from the heart of my bottom, I thank both of
you as well. And that's Carson Gressley on podcast Everyone
We Loveybody, lat
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