King Me

Now that we’ve shaken off our initial Pride anxiety, how about we celebrate our queerness with a big middle finger (in a fun, fabulous way, naturally) to the gender binary. Get ready for the first major drag king competition series from the free LGBTQ+ streaming service Revery. “King of Drag” is hosted by “Somebody Somewhere” star Murray Hill. They’ve lined up some great guest judges as well including “Somebody Somewhere” co-besties Bridget Everett and Jeff Hiller, “Yellowjackets” sapphic survivor Liv Hewson, comic Cameron Esposito, and director Paul Feig. I know? I’m going to have to figure out how to stream Revry now.

Brooklyn Kiss-Kiss

While we all continue to cross our very gay fingers crossed for “One Day at a Time” and “Wynonna Earp,” “Brooklyn Nine-Nine” has quietly been living its best second life over at NBC this season. And last week it took The Gay to Esposito levels. I love it when my fandom worlds collide – especially on the lips.

Lez for the Holidays

The holidays can be a stressful time for LGBTQ people. As they say – and everyone says, because it’s true – you can pick your friends, but not your family. And never has that felt more true than going home to celebrate Thanksgiving and all the other large family gathering holidays coming up. So if you’re not looking forward to seeing your Trump-supporting parents or racist uncle or homophobic aunt, take heart. You are not alone and you do not have to take it. If uncomfortable politics comes up, be honest with your family, if you can, about how this administration has threatened your rights. If Fox News is on TV all day, ask to turn it off or change the channel (because that shit is poison and before you go set parental controls on their TV to block that garbage. Kidding! Sorta.) Just remember you have every right to be there, to be heard and to be respected. And if they can’t, well, there’s always Friendsgiving. Or, you can Netflix and actually chill. (Or the other kind of chill, no judgment.) It is your holiday, after all. Do what you want.

My Weekend Crush

Comedy is hard. Comedy is really, really hard. Comedy that says something important in addition to being funny? There aren’t enough reallys to express how hard that is. But, guess what, Cameron Esposito has done it. Her new special “Rape Jokes” has an intentionally provocative name because we live in intentionally provocative times. But more than that it is about asserting one’s agency, particularly as a sexual assault survivor, and addressing our pervasive rape culture.

My new special is AVAIL NOW!! https://t.co/mrdDRgIvPt to stream free or purchase to benefit @RAINN pic.twitter.com/bxied97LEi

— Cameron Esposito (@cameronesposito) June 11, 2018

Cameron wrote and produced the special herself, without a network or a label behind her. Even better yet, proceeds benefit RAINN, the nation’s largest anti-sexual violence advocacy group. Released just last week she has already raised $35,000 for RAINN and counting. You can stream it for free or better yet buy it to download at www.cameronesposito.com.

What makes “Rape Jokes” extraordinary is 1) It’s funny, really damn funny, and 2) It has something more to say than just being funny. You know, that thing I mentioned before that takes an infinite number of “reallys” to make happen because of its degree of difficulty? Yeah, she did that. She talks about Big Picture things from a place of great humor and deep understanding and personal experience – sexual assault, the patriarchy, queer identity, and more. She uses her platform to do more than just make us laugh, she wants us to think.

I have been lucky enough to see Cameron and her equally hilarious and talented wife Rhea Butcher live twice. And both times were excellent, wonderful and highly recommendable. But more than that, it felt great leaving the theater each time because in addition to laugh, we thought. We thought about what they had said, through the laughter. Really thought about it. And, you know what, it feels good to think. And it feels good to reflect. Because it always feels good to care about something other than yourself.

So I can’t think of a better Weekend Crush as I head into Pride Weekend here. Be loud, be proud, be thoughtful, be funny. Care about other people and the world around you. And have a happy Pride Weekend, all.

Watch These Wives

Hey, remember when I got all excited because the second season of “Take My Wife” was finally available to stream and download? Well, I’ve finally had a chance to watch it (On Demand via Starz) and it’s great. It’s actually super duper great. It’s so good. I wish there was more.

I enjoyed the first season, which was good start and incredibly gay if a tad bit process-y at times (look, it happens, we’re lesbians). But the second season is even stronger, doing more showing than telling, and explores what so few shows on American explore. That being the rich, complex, interesting lives of queer women who in many cases don’t conform to the strict gender binary that has been foisted on pretty much all of us since birth. Plus, they’re funny! It’s a show that’s inclusive and funny – for real, it’s possible, people.

And not only is the second season of “Take My Wife” inclusive on screen, it was inclusive behind the camera as well. For season 2 they had an all female writers’ room that was also 43 percent women of color. Of the 47 acting roles, 22 were played by out LGBTQ actors. And they licensed eight songs to play in one of each of the show’s eight episodes – all by queer artists.

You can make really good, really gay, really inclusive content that people will enjoy. It’s possible, it’s being done. Now go watch and support it. And demand so much more of it.

My Weekend Crush(es)

Well now, isn’t this some wonderful news in a world that could use much more of it. Remember “Take My Wife,” the wonderful series by married out comedians Cameron Esposito and Rhea Butcher that debuted in August 2016? Well, after Seeso the streaming service it was announced it was shuttering last August, it seemed like we’d seen the last of their delightful series too. And this after they’d shot their entire second season already. But now, finally, we can watch as the sophomore season has found a home on iTunes, where you can buy it now (Also Amazon and GooglePlay), and Starz, where you can stream it on their app starting May 1.

And, as if that wasn’t good enough news, it was No. 1 and No. 2 on the iTunes charts for purchased TV seasons for several days. That’s ahead of shows like “The Walking Dead” and “RuPaul’s Drag Race.”



This is good for so many reasons. First, this proves LGBTQ entertainment can be popular and profitable. Second, Cameron and Rhea were doing what “inclusion riders” are meant to do before Frances McDormand made us all Google the term at the Oscars – they hired a cast and crew brimming over with women, POC and LGBTQ people. And finally, they’re just really funny and their show is a lovely exploration of what TV can be if we try harder to let people who don’t usually get to tell their stories do so both in front of and behind the camera.

So, like I was saying, wonderful news. Have a happy weekend and happy watching, all.

Double Lesbians, Double Fun(damental Rights)

Hey, you like lesbians, right? And you like laughing, right? And you like lesbians who are funny (not to be redundant, as many, many of us are very, very funny – all of you included) and make you laugh (but in a good way), right? Well then don’t miss your chance to catch Cameron Esposito and Rhea Butcher on their cross-country Back to Back Tour. Yes, that’s two lesbians comics for the price of one. Such a deal! (For a free sample of said deal, please enjoy the video above.)

The very funny married ladies started their tour last week and I had the privilege of catching their show over the weekend. And it is my professional opinion as a person who writes her opinions professionally on The Internet that it was really great (imagine a Tony the Tiger voices here for emphasis). Yes, of course it was funny, but it was also socially conscience in a way that makes you feel less crazy about the world. And feeling less crazy about the world in the Age of Trump is no small thing. This isn’t to say they normalized all or any of the terrible, horrible, very bad, no good things that are happening. Not at all. Instead it was kind of like a ballroom-sized therapy session (lesbians processing en masse, you don’t say).

Like if you’re casually scrolling through your Twitter feed and suddenly the man we inexplicably call president posts something else about how much he loves the flag even though you know if someone told him he had to burn down a forest of American flags to clear land to build another stupid hotel with his name on it he’d do it in a fucking heartbeat. And you feel that familiar pressure in your chest and pounding in your temple like, THIS IS NOT NORMAL, WHY IS ANY OF THIS HAPPENING, HOW DO WE MAKE IT STOP.

Well they expressed that in a way that was a) funny and b) made you feel less alone. So many of us (well, except those people in the red hats and the white polos and the khaki pants…) feel like we’re going insane because of how insane our government is right now. But it feels good to be around a large group of people who are like, yes, I too believe things are completely fucked up. Laughing is healthy – and necessary – to stay sane. And so is action and acknowledging our role in doing whatever we can to make things better and support those who are the most hurt by this cruel and hateful administration. And all the better if two short-haired (Cameron cut off her side mullet – it was big gay news) are the ones reminding us of this, but in a funny way. Their show was proof positive that The Resistance can be entertaining as hell.

p.s. Naturally, Cameron and Rhea took a knee before their show. I don’t play football or have a comedy tour, so I took a knee before vacuuming the house yesterday. You know, same diff.



p.p.s. I was not paid to say any of this, I bought my ticket like Tom Price and Steve Mnuchin would never do. Though, full disclosure, both Cameron and Rhea now follow me on Twitter, so it’s kind of like we’re BFFs.

With Wives Like These

[Video removed because link died because Seeso died]

Hey, does watching the news make you literally want to scream endlessly into the black void of existence while simultaneously rocking back-and-forth in a corner and crying nonstop? Me too! But, good news, fun things still exist. Good things still exist. And finding joy is a fucking political act in 2017. So, here is some joy. Remember last fall, back when we all still felt pretty confident Hillary would win and the world wouldn’t devolve into a cesspool of villainy and incompetence? Well that’s when I told you all about Cameron Esposito and Rhea Butcher’s new series “Take My Wife.” And we all watched the free first episode together and we liked it and we were like, “Yes, yes! Quality lesbian content! Thank you, series of tubes!”

But then things got busy and you were like, I’ll watch it after the election. Because we had no idea the world as we knew it was about to end. But then the unthinkable happened and, let’s be honest, we took all of November and probably most of December off to recuperate/sob. And so the New Year started and we were all doing cardio and stretching to get ready for our new anticipated hellscape. But then it happened and it was so much worse than we could have thought and every day feels like 20 days. Like, come on, how is any of this even happening? So we marched and we made signs and we called out fucking congress people and we cursed – so much cursing. Still, a gal can only live on white-hot rage and clever chant slogans for so long.

So, finally, you sit down and watch the rest of the season of “Take My Wife.” And, girl, it’s good. It’s funny. It’s smart. And, of course, the stars have amazing chemistry (duh, hello, married). Plus, it also has real things to say about real subjects, but not in the After School Special kind of way where Helen Hunt jumps out of a plate-glass window because don’t do drugs, kids. Like, that is one of the best handlings of the whole “rape joke” controversy I have ever seen (there is also more than the scene below, but I won’t spoil it for you)

Plus, and this is truly a bonus, no lesbians die. Or are evenly gravely injured. Fine, maybe just a tiny bit of their pride. But it is consensual. I know, what you are thinking is, ”What?” How is that even possible? Don’t they know like the Rules of Television Lesbianism?

Anway. As I was saying. Find your joy where you can. And it was truly a joy to watch “Take My Wife.”

p.s. You can watch the whole season on Seeso, thought I know you still have no idea what that is. But, rest assured, it is a real thing and they even have free trials.

p.s.s. Did I mention that after each episode Cameron and Rhea process the episode? Like, seriously, how gay is that? So gay.

Yes, One Bed Is Fine

How was your Christmas? Appropriately merry, I hope. This is the first holiday season in quite some time I won’t be traveling. So that means no missed flights, no getting snowed in, no chance encounters with famous lesbian singing twins. So perhaps I just might steal Cameron and Rhea’s idea for a Melissa McCarthy movie day. Or I could just watch “Ghostbusters” over and over and over again and make it a McCarthy-McKinnon movie day.

Just Like The First Time

Have you seen this? I saw the trailer for “The First Girl I Loved” what seems like ages ago (yes, that’s how long ago September seems – forever and all my hope ago). And I was intrigued. But then I forgot it existed because, you know, the world. And now it’s available for download exactly when I could use a little worthy distraction. So, again, I ask – have you seen this? The cast certainly looks good. There’s out actress Brianna Hildebrand (but, ooooof, that wig – too bad she couldn’t just go with her “Deadpool” cut). And I even see a glimpse of Cameron Esposito. Plus there is the whole evoking those totally relatable obsessive first lady love feelings thing. But then there’s that boy. Ugh, there’s always a boy. So, once more with feelings, have you seen this? And should I?

Take These Wives

[Video removed because link died because Seeso died]

Well here’s something neat – and also gay. Is that being redundant? Should you automatically assume that anything I call “neat” is also “gay?” I mean, it’s a strong assumption but not necessarily a wrong one all things considered. Anyway – where was I? Right this neat, gay thing. Wonderful comics (and gay ladies – dammit, am I being redundant again?) Cameron Esposito and Rhea Butcher are staring in a new series together. It’s called “Take My Wife.” You see, because in addition to being gay ladies they are gay ladies married to each other – gayly. Now I know I am just being redundant. Anyway – back on track, I promise.

Their new show is on Seeso which – don’t worry – I’ve never heard of either. But apparently it’s a comedy streaming service where you can watch episodes of “30 Rock” and “Parks and Recreation” so, you know, awesome. Anyway, their new show, “Take My Wife” has its first episode online for free. Like totally free. Like, no monies. Though, if you then like it, you should definitely pay the monies to watch the rest of the series because that’s the only way independent artists can make a living and cool things can sustain. Right, sorry, lesbian on a soapbox here. (Again, redundant?)

I had the great privilege of seeing Cameron and Rhea perform last year and they were really great, much funny, so wow. If they happen to come to your town, grab every lesbian you know and a few questioning friends and see them. Fine, straight friends can come, too. But they can’t make any cracks about the side mullet. That’s our side mullet, dammit. It belongs to us.

Anyway. Like I was saying, these lesbians are very funny and you should probably watch their show.

p.s. Tatiana Maslany thinks you should watch their show, too.

p.s.s. Here is the whole first episode embedded because, I get it, sometimes clicking a link is hard.

Surrey With a Side-Mullet on Top

Well, I don’t know about you guys, but I could use a laugh. And a good lesbian laugh at that better. So please enjoy everyone’s favorite side-mulleted comedian, Cameron Esposito, performing on the Late, Late Show earlier this month. I don’t even have or want kids, but I plan to blame everything on the unnamed Dorito Fingers from now on.

Smart Gay Girls at the Party

I had the very good fortune to see Cameron Esposito and her fiancée Rhea Butcher together on tour not that long ago. Word of advice, do so immediately – they are capital “F” Funny. Also, they’re very incisive with their humor. Also super gay. So I think it’s super great (and gay) that they are teaming up with Amy Poehler and her Smart Girls for the new webseries She Said. How great is this? How great is it that two smart gay girls are making a series to talk with smart girls about smart subjects that we should all be talking about in the first place? Great, with a capital G.

Also, and I really cannot emphasize this enough, you should really go see Cameron and Rhea out on tour if you haven’t already. I mean, the side mullet alone is worth the price of admission.

Welcome Aunt Flo

Ladies! We’re about to laugh about our periods. A lot. Please allow everyone’s favorite side-mulleted lesbian comedian Cameron Esposito to give that time of the month the honest descriptive explanation it truly deserves. Considering more than half of the population has a period once every damn month, it’s crazy that it is still one of those things people just don’t talk about. Ew, you know? But fuck that. It happens. It’s not embarrassing. It’s life. So suck it up and show some fucking respect. Let it bleed.

[H/T to Buzzfeed for the video find.]

Ask a Lesbian

It’s Monday. Sorry about that, that bit is outside of my control. What I can control is how you start your Monday. I think a lesbian answering questions from straight folks is a great way to start. Especially if those answers are equal parts funny and true. Please enjoy Cameron Esposito’s Ask a Lesbian series for Buzzfeed.



p.s. She is not wrong about the side mullet thing. Or vests. 

p.p.s. Not that I have a side mullet. Just that it reads Tegan & Sara-level gay.