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The songs are so good, and the jokes are so funny.
It is a gift.
Read some excerpts from the interview below or listen to the full episode ofGood Onewherever you get your podcasts.
How do you start coming up with a concept for a song?
I love that song.
Its actually also very much inspired by the song Burn fromHamilton.
I was going to say!Ive actually told Lin-Manuel this at the Critics Choice Awards.
It was so embarrassing.
I was wasted drunk.
I went as Bowens date because he was nominated.
This is when they were trying to make the Critics Choice Awards a thing.
Theyre trying to make this the new Globes.
Or, at least, Im sure Lin has showed up since.Also, people approach Bowen.
When youre with Bowen, people approach Bowen; thats just what it is.
So I turn around and theres Lin-Manuel, and Im wasted at this point.
And I go, I sawHamiltonright after Pulse.
And his eyes got so wide and went to the ground and I was like, Im so sorry!
Did I just throw you off for the rest of your night?
and he goes No, no, no, Im just absorbing it!
Hell never remember me saying that, but I really genuinely was inspired by that song.
And whenever anyones like My favorite song is Satisfied!
Its such a powerful moment in the show.
And I was like, I want Mrs. Claus to havethatmoment.
So when I heard that Carly Rae song, I put it all together.
I am interested in women and underrepresented points of view.
We just have not attempted to explore her and her realityat all.
Even in the era of Were telling womens stories, weve seen nothing!Nothing!
I didnt see any stand-ups that were like me talking about the things that I was interested in.
But then inDrag Racetheres the idea of Youre all born naked and the rest is drag.
You create your own rules and reality.
This idea of lawlessness in drag really inspired me and changed my comedy because I stopped being afraid.
It was this permission that Bob was giving themselves to completely not give a fuck.
I connected to drag, and therefore drag revolutionized my comedy in a way.
And there is something about putting on the wig, and you just change.
Like, it really does.
I think that Im sillier.
But onstage for some reason, especially in this show, I really have the instinct to dominate.
There is this weird alter ego that comes out when Im performing that feels impenetrable.
Hes imaginary, but hes also very much like a narcissist extension, a dragon version of myself.
The Matt Rogers in this show is like a version of myself that I would drag.
Theres nothing funnier to me than people who take themselvessuperseriously.
It is a common thread of a lot of the characters Ive played.
Or I did this really confident James Bond villain who was like, Ooh, Mr.
Bond, yes, your martini shaken, not stirred, now I will order my drink.
And he turns to the bartender and hes like, What do you guys have?
Okay, let me look at the menu.
Sorry, Ill be two seconds.
Okay, you were here first!
You go, you go.
At the core of it is hopefully the vulnerability.
There are a few parts in the special where the line between you and the persona really blurs.
How did you decide you wanted to approach that?I dont even just consider this my show.
This is half Henrys show.
All this music is co-written.
But also we havesucha storied history between us.
Ill start crying again … [Starts tearing up.]
That was so important to me.
I told them, just keep that in there, because to me its not just a comedy show.
That Rockefeller Center stuff about him not going there with me is not actually something he did.
God, Im literally sobbing.
And I was literally like, I will.
All comedians struggle to find their voice ultimately.
What has he meant to you?He does really see me.
Honestly, its when he laughs that I know.
I dont think theres anyone in the world I like making laugh more than him.
I mean,reallybeen through it Im talking the highest of highs and the lowest of lows.
You cant lie to a person like that.
Im not even kidding you.
But also, it made us both so much stronger.
And when we do come together, now theres a different perspective on it.
We can see it now in different ways on top of the strength of what weve built.
