Stepping out in a chic pink, fitted suit, RuPaul took to the Saturday Night Live stage last night as host. Ru greeted the enthusiastic audience with a triumphant, “This is fun, right?” After explaining some RuPaul’s Drag Race jargon, Ru noted that many expected him to make his first appearance in drag. “I am wearing my grandmother’s panties,” he assured the crowd before repeating his famous mantra, “We’re born naked and the rest is drag.” Perhaps his biggest laugh in the monologue came when the ‘Supermodel of the world’ talked about moving to New York City in the 1980s when the city was filled with drugs, sex workers, and seedy nightclubs. “But it wasn’t all good,” said Ru with a smile. Check out the monologue below.
Ru also scored in a sketch where he drops in at a San Diego public library for ‘reading’ hour and proceeds to ‘read’ the covers of children’s books for filth. “Reading is throwing shade – a brutal insult wrapped inside glorious wordplay.” And the library is open! Holding up Eloise by Kay Thompson, Ru declares, “Ooh, Eloise! You need to call the front desk and get a hot oil treatment for that broom on your head. And girl, Victoria’s Secret called, they want they wallpaper back. And what is she doing? Popping a fart? Got that leg all dragged out, all nasty. Girl please!”
Shania Twain and her boys (photo: Denise Truscello) Some news items you might have missed: • Las Vegas: Shania Twain (above), the top-selling female country artist of all time, has announced additional dates for her Las Vegas residency show, “Let’s Go!” at Planet Hollywood Resort & Casino. Bonus – there are shirtless boys in the production as well 🙂 • Advocate: Pose star Billy Porter has clapped back at the homophobes who launched a petition against Sesame Street after it was announced the openly gay actor will be appearing on the long-running children’s show. “If you don’t like it, don’t watch it,” Porter said, according to Page Six. “Like, what about me singing with a penguin has anything to do with what I’m doing in my bedroom?” • Newsweek: New poll results from Morning Consult released Monday showed all five of the leading contenders for the Democratic presidential nomination (Biden, Sanders, Buttigieg, Bloomberg, Warren) defeating President Donald Trump in hypothetical match-ups. • SNL: Don’t forget it’s RuPaul Week on Saturday Night Live! Check out the teaser video for Ru’s hosting gig this Saturday.
• Charisma News: Virulently anti-LGBTQ activist Franklin Graham is taking legal action against the 7 venues in the UK that canceled his booked appearances after public outcry over his hate speech. • Politico: Andrew Yang’s campaign fired dozens of staffers this week after an abysmal finish in the Iowa caucuses, according to four former staffers who were let go. Yang finished sixth in Iowa, receiving just 1 percent of delegates, according to the most recent count. • Houston Chronicle: The Log Cabin Republicans, a conservative LGBT group, will not have a booth at the Texas GOP Convention yet again. At a recent meeting, the State Republican Executive Committee moved to deny the group the booth. The group has applied for a spot at the event for at least 20 years without success. • World Of Wonder: In his upcoming book Name Drop, Ross Mathews shares a ‘Mean Girls’ moment from 2007 when The View host Barbara Walters gestured to Mathews backstage at the gabfest and barked, “Who is he and why is he here?” • The Informant: Jan Peter Meister, a 52-year-old registered sex offender, was arrested after telling federal authorities he drunkenly left a threatening voicemail at Congressman Adam Schiff’s Washington, D.C. office after watching Fox News and googling the congressman’s phone number: “I’m gonna fucking blow your brains out you fucking piece of shit.” Doesn’t he sound nice?
In this week’s podcast: • Vice President Mike Pence spoke at a church where the ministers compared homosexuality with Satan • HIV infections rates in the UK have declined dramatically since 2012 • Utah bans harmful ‘conversion therapy’ for minors • A male stripper in Atlanta sentenced to prison for killing his secret straight-married lover • Attending the 2020 GayVN Awards (aka ‘the Oscars of gay porn’) I chat with stars Dallas Steele & Brian Davilla • RuPaul announced to host Saturday Night Live • And a new docu-series on Apple TV+ explores how LGBTQ people made our way onto the TV landscape All that and more in this episode of The Randy Report
NBC announced today that recording artist, actor, drag superstar, and Emmy Award-winner RuPaul will host the February 8 episode of Saturday Night Live with Justin Bieber as musical guest. This follows the January 10 premiere of RuPaul’s new scripted series for Netflix, AJ and the Queen, as well as VH1’s announcement that they would be bringing back RuPaul’s Drag Race for a 12th season. Plus, there’s an All-Stars 5 and a new Celebrity Drag Race edition on the way over the coming year. But wait – there’s more! We’ve also received an announcement of the first season of Canada’s Drag Race AND a 2nd season of RuPaul’s Drag Race UK in 2020. It’s a good time to be Ru, no? RuPaul’s SNL debut will air on NBC, Saturday, Feb. 8 at 11:30pm ET.
Saturday Night Live offered up an all-star lineup for its take on the 2020 Democratic debate this week with Melissa Villaseñor’s Rachel Maddow moderating. Clip description: Presidential candidates Andrew Yang (Bowen Yang), Pete Buttigieg (Colin Jost), Cory Booker (Chris Redd), Elizabeth Warren (Kate McKinnon), Amy Klobuchar (Rachel Dratch), Tom Steyer (Will Ferrell), Michael Bloomberg (Fred Armisen), Tulsi Gabbard (Cecily Strong) Bernie Sanders (Larry David), Joe Biden (Woody Harrelson) and Kamala Harris (Maya Rudolph) speak at MSNBC’s 2020 Democratic Debate. Mayor Pete’s closing statement: “America, I know I can do this because my supporters are a diverse coalition. From young to old, gay to straight, from white to eggshell.” ‘Villian for the night’ Tulsi Gabbard’s closing statement: “I have no interest in those dalmatian puppies. Muhwahahahahahaha!”
Billy Porter on SNL (screen captures)Saturday Night Live’s cold open could not resist putting its twist on this week’s LGBTQ Town Hall. Alex Moffat’s Anderson Cooper opened the sketch informing the audience that the town hall would address those issues important to “LGBTQ people and straight girls who make Pride about them.” Newly-minted Emmy Award-winner Billy Porter comes out (playing himself) to introduce the ‘presidential candidates.’ Beginning with Chris Redd’s Cory Booker, Porter said, “He may live in the projects, but ladies, he ain’t no project.” Chris Redd as Sen. Cory Booker When Booker is asked about some questionable writing he did about gays in the early 90s: “I don’t want you to think I’m dodging the question, so I’m going to go now.” Porter intros Colin Jost’s Mayor Pete Buttigieg: “Representing House of Booty Gig, it’s Mayor Pete.” Colin Jost as Mayor Pete Buttigieg Asked how he’d respond to folks who say he’s not gay in the right way: “There’s no wrong way to be gay – unless you’re Ellen (DeGeneres) this week.” Buttigieg also wondered aloud why he’s not doing better in the polls: “Why am I not winning this? I’m a veteran, I’m under the legal retirement age, and when I talk, it makes sense. Is something wrong with me?” Says Cooper: “You’re a great guy, just, as a friend. Not for president.” Next up, Porter brings the audience to attention saying, “Warning. Warning. The sentencer is here. She’s got a plan for the future. It’s Elizabeth Warren.” Kate McKinnon as Sen. Elizabeth Warren Kate McKinnon delivers a spot on Warren on her entrance: “I am so excited to be here. I had some apple slices backstage and they are hitting me like cocaine. You all know I’m not a lesbian but all the ingredients are there.” Obviously, SNL had to touch on the big viral moment of the Town Hall when Warren was asked how she would respond to a ‘traditional marriage’ supporter on the campaign trail who may underscore that they believe marriage is between one man and one woman? McKinnon’s Warren riffs: “I would say, ‘Sir, tell me your bus stop because I want to know where you get off.’ What else, what else? If someone doesn’t want to serve gay people at their small business? I bet that’s not the only thing that’s small. And when people say gay and trans shouldn’t be included in civil rights protections, well…I wish their parents had used protection.” Lin-Manuel Miranda as Secretary Julian Castro Lin-Manuel Miranda takes a turn as “the House of Urban Deliciousness,” Julian Castro: “As a Democrat. I want to apologize for not being gay. But I promise to do better in the future.” He adds, “However, I am Latino, which we can all agree is something. I’m young, I’m diverse, I’m LatinObama. So let’s get that hashtag going.” Woody Harrelson as Vice President Joe Biden Special guest Woody Harrelson offers his take on former Vice President Joe Biden, as Porter intros, “the Delaware daddy whose only vice is the Choo Choo train.” Biden drops bon mots along the likes of “The vast majority of people in America are not homophobic – they’re just scared of gay people. You know me – I went to bat for marriage equality and I believe we’re all equal whether you’re gay, lesbie, transgenital or queer.” Check out the full segment below.
L-R Alec Baldwin, Kate McKinnon (screen capture) SNL’s season premiere just HAD to include Alec Baldwin’s ‘Donald Trump’ in chaos after the announcement of an official impeachment inquiry made news this week. Says Baldwin’s Trump: “It’s the greatest presidential harassment of all time. I should know. I’m like the president of harassment.” Kate McKinnon’s ‘Rudy Giuliani,’ speaking from the set of CNN, tells Trump: “Nobody’s going to find out about our illegal side dealings with the Ukraine. Or how we tried to cover up those side dealings. Or how we planned to cover up the cover-up.” Aidy Bryant’s ‘Attorney General William Barr’ wonders who Trump can get to take the blame: “Where are you going to find a sacrificial patsy that’ll do anything you say? Not it.” Alec Baldwin and Beck Bennett (screen capture) Trump tells Barr not to worry, “I’ve got the perfect stooge.” Enter Mike Pence (Beck Bennett), who told him “but you’re the one who broke the law.” Pretty much everyone gets a moment in the clip. Watch below.
“I’m just a Harvard-educated, multilingual, war veteran, Rhodes scholar. I’m just like you.”
In what is demonstrably a show of his impact so far on the presidential race, Democratic hopeful Mayor Pete Buttigieg, played by Saturday Night Live host Paul Rudd, made his first SNL appearance on last night’s season finale, as a guest on The View.
Leslie Jones’s Whoopi Goldberg welcomes Mayor Pete saying, “I heard when you grow up, you want to be president.”
“Well, I am grown up,” Mayor Pete tells the gaggle of daily talkers. “I may only be 37 years old, but I do feel like I represent everyday Americans. I’m just a Harvard-educated, multilingual, war veteran, Rhodes scholar. I’m just like you.”
Asked about being the first openly gay man who’s a serious contender for the White House, Pete responds, “I do want to say that I wouldn’t be running for president if I didn’t believe America was ready to accept not only a gay man but a boring gay man in the public eye.”
Before the sketch draws to a close, Beck Bennett offers his take as Chasten Buttigieg, our first possible First Gentleman: “Wow, this is all so new to me,” he says. “Usually I’m just home with the dogs.”
But in the end, the ladies all seem to have eyes for only one presidential candidate, leaving the Buttigieg men a little confounded.
On Saturday Night Live last night, Emma Stone played an actress who takes her small part in a gay porn film way too seriously.
At one point, trying to flesh out the one-line role, she ad-libs a bit much to the director’s chagrin.
Director: “Uh, just say what’s in the script.”
Stone: “I was just trying to access ‘Deidre.’
Director: “There’s nothing to her. People are just going to scroll past so they can get off. She has no past, no future. She exists only to be cheated on.”
And yet, Stone continues to explore and delve into every small bit of ‘Deidre’ she can find.
If you’ve ever acted, you’ve probably met a version of Stone’s character. Watch below.
Robert De Niro returned to SNL in his recurring role as special Counsel Robert Mueller for the show’s cold open last night.
In the skit, Mueller – along with Attorney General William Barr (Aidy Bryant) and Donald Trump (Alec Baldwin) – played out their separate roles in the release of the report from the Special Counsel.
Each performer offered an introduction at the start of the sketch. De Niro said, “Dear Attorney General Barr, officials from the Justice Department and esteemed members of Congress.”
Bryant said, “Hey, guys, William Barr here. You might want to sit down for this one.”
And Baldwin said, “Guess what? Guess what? Guess what? Daddy is about to freak.”
De Niro: “I am submitting these 380 pages.”
Bryant: “I am writing almost four pages.”
Baldwin: “I am reading zero pages, but Sean Hannity has read it and he was so excited that he texted me an eggplant.”
De Niro: “On the charge of obstruction of justice, we have not drawn a definitive conclusion.”
Bryant: “But I have, and my conclusion is: Trump’s clean as a whistle.”
Stepping out in a chic pink, fitted suit, RuPaul took to the Saturday Night Live stage last night as host. Ru greeted the enthusiastic audience with a triumphant, “This is fun, right?” After explaining some RuPaul’s Drag Race jargon, Ru noted that many expected him to make his first appearance in drag. “I am wearing my grandmother’s panties,” he assured the crowd before repeating his famous mantra, “We’re born naked and the rest is drag.” Perhaps his biggest laugh in the monologue came when the ‘Supermodel of the world’ talked about moving to New York City in the 1980s when the city was filled with drugs, sex workers, and seedy nightclubs. “But it wasn’t all good,” said Ru with a smile. Check out the monologue below. 
