Satirist Randy Rainbow Uses Show Tunes And Pop Songs To Lampoon Trump

DAVID BIANCULLI, HOST:

This is FRESH AIR. I'm David Bianculli, editor of the website TV Worth Watching, sitting in for Terry Gross. This week, we've been featuring interviews with some of the artists nominated for Emmy Awards. Today, we're featuring two people whose shows are up this year in the short form variety series category. Later on, we'll listen back to Terry's recent conversation with Randy Rainbow, star of YouTube's musical spoof series "The Randy Rainbow Show."

But first, we'll visit with Billy Eichner, whose "Billy On The Street" series also has received an Emmy nomination. Billy Eichner is known now for a variety of roles, including Billy in "Difficult People" and several different parts on "American Horror Story." But he first got noticed and continues to get noticed for "Billy On The Street," which you can now see on YouTube. Eichner is obsessed with pop culture, and "Billy On The Street" is a crazy, manic quiz show in which he's the host, the streets of Manhattan are the studio, and the contestants are strangers he runs up to asking such questions as, name a celebrity that's redefining Hollywood's beauty standards. Sometimes he brings celebrities with him to do the questioning.

When Terry Gross spoke with Billy Eichner in 2016, she began with a then-current clip from "Billy On The Street" in which he was giving a pop quiz to a random passerby on a New York sidewalk.

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED NPR BROADCAST)

TERRY GROSS: Billy Eichner, welcome to FRESH AIR (laughter).

BILLY EICHNER: Hi, Terry. Thank you for having me.

GROSS: My pleasure. One of the things I find really funny about your show is that it gives this, like, huge significance to the more trivial aspects of pop culture. So here you are on the street just, like, stopping people who have no clue what's going on and asking them questions. And this is an excerpt of Billy Eichner's TV show "Billy On The Street."

(SOUNDBITE OF TV SHOW, "BILLY ON THE STREET")

EICHNER: Miss. Miss. Miss. Miss. Miss. Miss. Miss. Did you hear that Reese Witherspoon celebrated her 40th birthday in style? Excuse me. Miss. Miss. Please turn around. Reese Witherspoon celebrated her 40th birthday in style. She had a...

UNIDENTIFIED PERSON #1: I don't care (ph).

EICHNER: She had a great time.

UNIDENTIFIED PERSON #1: Nothing to do with me. Thank...

EICHNER: I understand. But she celebrated her 40th birthday, and she had a wonderful time. She had a great night.

Sir, do you want to go the full Monty?

UNIDENTIFIED PERSON #2: Full Monty?

EICHNER: Yeah.

UNIDENTIFIED PERSON #2: Well, I don't know. What are you talking about? Is it a card game?

EICHNER: No. It means we get naked.

UNIDENTIFIED PERSON #2: Naked - what's [expletive] wrong with you?

EICHNER: Oh, OK. Sorry.

Sir, is "New Girl" having a quiet renaissance?

UNIDENTIFIED PERSON #3: I don't think so.

EICHNER: OK.

Miss, for a dollar, Vince Gilligan, J.J. Abrams, Shonda Rhimes - are you excited to be living in a time when TV creators themselves are known personalities?

UNIDENTIFIED PERSON #4: I didn't get the question. Sorry. I'm, like, in the middle of my...

EICHNER: I'm talking about Vince Gilligan.

UNIDENTIFIED PERSON #4: Who - I don't know who is...

EICHNER: He created "Breaking Bad."

UNIDENTIFIED PERSON #4: Oh, OK. I know about this TV show, but I didn't watch it.

EICHNER: What shows do you watch?

UNIDENTIFIED PERSON #4: I - literally, I'm working, like, 14 hours a day. I...

EICHNER: That leaves 10 hours.

UNIDENTIFIED PERSON #4: By the time I get home, like, I'm super tired. Like...

EICHNER: But it doesn't take much. You sit on your couch, fire up the DVR.

UNIDENTIFIED PERSON #4: Sure. I watched "American Horror Story."

EICHNER: OK, that's good. Well, that's a start.

UNIDENTIFIED PERSON #4: OK. So what was the question about? Like...

EICHNER: I was asking about Shonda Rhimes - Ryan Murphy, too, though - a great example.

UNIDENTIFIED PERSON #4: OK. But what was the question? I didn't get...

EICHNER: Are you excited to be living in a time when TV creators themselves are known personalities?

UNIDENTIFIED PERSON #4: I really don't care.

GROSS: (Laughter) I don't know. I think that's hilarious. I guess...

(LAUGHTER)

EICHNER: Well, thank you.

GROSS: Are these actual headlines? These sound like they really are ripped out of entertainment magazines and, you know, entertainment headlines - the kinds of headlines, though, that, like, hype things - you know, like, that Reese Witherspoon celebrated her 40th birthday in style. Like...

EICHNER: Yes. Sometimes, I do find these things in a magazine or on an entertainment website. And if they're not, it's certainly - it's meant to sound like that. Just the idea that someone's going about their day in New York on their way to the job, running to catch the bus to pick their kid up from daycare, but I'm going to stop you and ask about Kate Winslet's Oscar chances...

GROSS: Right.

EICHNER: That's the general idea.

GROSS: Yeah. Like, the world is going to hell, but you're going to find out about how people feel about living in a world where TV creators themselves are becoming known personalities (laughter).

EICHNER: Exactly. Exactly.

GROSS: Yeah. But I love it because I think people think that you're, like, insulting people on the street. But I think you're just kind of making fun of a certain type of pop culture writing, in a way, a certain type...

EICHNER: Exactly.

GROSS: ...Of fandom and a certain kind of, like, exaggerated importance to things - even though you are truly passionate about this stuff. As am I. I mean (laughter), I'm so deep into pop culture, too. But I think it's hilarious to make fun of it in this way.

EICHNER: Exactly. And I think the whole show is about my own personal love-hate relationship with my interest in the entertainment industry. As I've gotten older, I realized it's ridiculous. Award shows are fun but completely arbitrary and absurd. And yet, I will watch every single one of them. "Billy On The Street" is inspired by that love-hate relationship.

GROSS: So we heard you saying, for a dollar, and then you'd ask a question. What's the dollar about? Is that meant to be, like, the reward for getting it right or a way of paying them for legal reasons so that (laughter) they can't...

EICHNER: Oh, no.

GROSS: ...Sue you for being used freely in the video?

EICHNER: (Laughter) No. It's not for legal reasons. It - this show is also, among other things, a strange type of game show. And when we started out, the idea was to make a game show but where the questions were subjective. So a person would, quote, unquote, "win" if we had the same opinion - if they agreed with me or even if we just get along - if I simply liked you. And their prize would be a dollar. I just thought that was funny. It was also, especially when it started out, a very low-budget show. And so we're giving away as little as humanly possible.

GROSS: Well...

EICHNER: You'd be surprised, though. People really want that dollar.

GROSS: I keep thinking, as - although I think what you do on the street is hilarious, if I didn't know who you were, and I saw you coming at me with a mic, I would turn and run in the other direction (laughter) because...

EICHNER: Right; most people do.

GROSS: Do they really?

EICHNER: Yeah. I would say 9 out of 10 people simply walk past me and don't engage at all. And that's fine. You know, I certainly won't - I won't - I rarely will - if someone's just clearly uninterested, they're not going to be fun anyway. They're clearly in a rush. They probably won't stop to sign the release after, which means we can't use the footage. So I certainly won't give anyone a hard time about that. And yeah. People are - we don't script this show. We don't pre-cast the show. We go out there. I go up to people. I don't even know who I'm going to go up to until I'm there. So if someone walks away from me, we just let them walk, and I move on to the next person.

GROSS: So what's the angriest response you've gotten?

EICHNER: There was an older lady back in my YouTube days who slapped me across the face. I asked her something vaguely sexual. I honestly don't ever remember what it was. This is going back a while. And I loved it. I mean, I thought it was hilarious. And I'm surprised it doesn't happen more often. But, you know, I think New Yorkers - they're media-savvy. People have a sense of humor. Even if they don't want to ultimately be on the show and not sign - you know, if they don't sign the release - they're not necessarily going to hit me. And that's really the most physical response we've gotten. I've had a lot of arguments with people, but it's never really gotten physical.

GROSS: So did you try stand-up comedy before doing what you do now?

EICHNER: I started out as a very traditional actor. I went to Northwestern. I was a theater major there. And then when I got to New York after college, I was doing the typical struggling-actor thing. And people had told me that I was funny. I would ad-lib in plays even if I wasn't supposed to. So I thought I should maybe try to focus on comedy.

GROSS: You did some acting as a kid, right? And you had a little cameo on "Saturday Night Live" when you were 12...

EICHNER: I did.

GROSS: ...I think, playing John Goodman's...

EICHNER: I did.

GROSS: ...Son.

EICHNER: Yes.

GROSS: Did you audition for other roles and for commercials?

EICHNER: I did. I did a couple of commercials. I did industrials, which are almost like after-school specials. What else did I do? I didn't do much. I really wanted to be on Broadway as a singer. But I was already six feet tall. I was really fat as a kid. I just was. And there weren't many roles for me. I remember I auditioned for - it's funny. I just saw the Broadway revival of "Falsettos," which is beautiful and may be my favorite musical of all time, certainly one of them. And one of the leads in that is a 13-year-old Jewish kid. It's about him getting bar mitzvahed (ph). And I auditioned for the original production when I was 12 or 13. And James Lapine, the director, after I sang, went out into the waiting room and told my dad that I was really good, but I was already taller than the actor playing my stepfather...

GROSS: (Laughter).

EICHNER: ...Even at that age. And so (laughter) this kept being a running theme. I was too tall. I was too this. I was too that. And then I never fully committed to the child actor thing. I also liked being a regular kid and being a student. I ended up deciding not to go to the performing arts high school and instead going to Stuyvesant, which is a specialized math and science high school, of all things. So I liked being a student. And I got back into theater in a major way in college.

GROSS: Was your father impressed when James Lapine told him that you were good, even though you were wrong for the role?

EICHNER: Yes. He - my dad went to all my auditions with me. And my mom couldn't get off work as easily, and my dad could. And I think my dad got a kick out of the whole thing because he loved show business from afar. And, yeah, my dad loved it.

I remember he - as soon as we left that audition - this is just coming back to me now - we stopped at a payphone. There were no cellphones. And he called my manager and told my manager what James Lapine had said. And my dad was not a stage dad in any way. He didn't push me. It was all about what I wanted to do or didn't want to do. But he loved that someone said I was talented.

GROSS: And James Lapine wrote the book for Sondheim's musical "Into The Woods," for people who don't know who he is.

EICHNER: Yes, he's a very celebrated Broadway director, writer.

GROSS: So as a boy, you weren't able to audition in the role of "Annie," right? Because all the girls who (laughter) want to be, like, Broadway stars, they get to do "Annie."

EICHNER: No, I did not audition for "Annie." That would have been very nontraditional casting...

GROSS: (Laughter) Yeah.

EICHNER: ...Although we're probably about five minutes from that production.

GROSS: (Laughter) So when you were in high school, and you were too tall to get kid parts in shows, and you were too heavy for a lot of those parts too, you were also gay. Did you know you were gay yet?

EICHNER: Oh, yeah, definitely knew I was gay.

GROSS: Did other people know?

EICHNER: No, I came out when - I came out to my friends when I - well, I bet they knew, but no one was saying anything (laughter).

GROSS: Right, yeah.

EICHNER: I came out at the end of my sophomore year at Northwestern to my friends. And then I came out to my parents about a year after that.

GROSS: Was anyone surprised?

EICHNER: I don't think so. I remember when I told my parents - I came out to them in a car at Northwestern. They'd come out to visit me, and the time had come. My mom kind of was pressing me. I think she just wanted me to say it. She asked me if I was dating anyone. And she said, are you dating anyone - boy, girl, whatever?

GROSS: (Laughter).

EICHNER: And that was actually really, really nice because...

GROSS: That's her way of saying that she knew.

EICHNER: Yes, that was her way of saying she knew and that it was OK for me to tell them. And I asked them a few - like, an hour later after that dinner, I asked them to pull the car over. And I told them that I was gay. And they said that they had discussed the possibility (laughter) and that they were OK with it. But they were really wonderful. Again, I was really lucky. They were very supportive, and it just never was an issue.

GROSS: You've spoken very fondly about your parents, who have both passed away. Your mother died, I think, when you were 20, and your father in 2011. Was your - had your mother been ill? Did you know that this was...

EICHNER: No. My mom had a heart attack, and it came out of nowhere. She was 54. My dad had leukemia for about three months. He was 80 when he passed. My dad had me later in life, and so he had leukemia and was alive for about three months between diagnosis and passing away.

GROSS: What's the transition been like for you to be somebody without parents, after having been so close to yours?

EICHNER: Yes. It's been a very strange trajectory because I struggled for so many years. I mean, I was doing these videos. I was doing these live shows. I had a lot of fans in New York. The press would write about me, but I couldn't get a paying job. And so my father and I were a - really like a team. I mean, he was very supportive. He'd come to every single one of my live shows. My mom had passed away at that point. She passed away when I was in college.

And then, strangely, my dad passed away on March 30, 2011. And about six weeks later, I finally sold "Billy On The Street" as a TV show. And in December of that year, it was on the air, on the network it started on, Fuse. And that all happened in one year. So that obviously was, to say the least, very bittersweet because my dad just quite - just missed seeing it all come to fruition finally and certainly has missed everything that's happened for me since. And a lot of nice things have happened for me, so that is tough.

But I also know that, you know, they were so great, that that really has stayed with me. And they would've been so excited. I do think there would have been a lot of funny moments in the way that they processed my fame (laughter) and all my celebrity encounters. And I do think about that. But obviously, it's very sad. And timing is everything.

GROSS: Were you grateful that you were able to come out to your parents before your mother died, not necessarily because it was a big revelation to her because she probably knew, but more so that you knew that you weren't keeping such a kind of fundamental thing secret from her - you know, never having spoken to her about something that was, you know, so fundamental to who you are?

EICHNER: Yes. And I remember thinking about that a lot because I came out to her about six months before she died, I believe. And I am very happy about that. I think that would have been difficult. That would have been very frustrating had that not happened.

GROSS: If you're just joining us, my guest is Billy Eichner. He hosts the show "Billy On The Street." We're going to take a short break. We'll be right back. This is FRESH AIR.

(SOUNDBITE OF GAIA WILMER OCTET'S "MIGRATIONS")

GROSS: This is FRESH AIR. And if you're just joining us, my guest is Billy Eichner. He does the series "Billy On The Street," in which he quizzes people on pop culture questions (laughter).

EICHNER: (Laughter) Yeah.

GROSS: You did a really funny video that's a play on "New York State Of Mind." But this is "Forest Hills State Of Mind" because you grew up in Forest Hills, Queens, which, I guess, when you were growing up, it was a predominantly Jewish neighborhood.

EICHNER: It was a very Eastern European-Jewish-Russian area.

GROSS: OK. So I thought we could hear a little bit of "Forest Hills State Of Mind." And this is you rapping with Rachel Dratch singing. And do you want say anything about this before we hear it? When did you make it?

EICHNER: This was done late 2010, I believe. The Jay-Z, Alicia Keys song "Empire State Of Mind" about his experience growing up in New York was a huge hit. And I rewrote it to be about my experience growing up in a very different part of New York than he did. And we made a video of it. And it's actually my first video to go viral before the "Billy On The Street" videos.

GROSS: So we're going to play a part of it where the language is clean enough that we can actually broadcast it. So here's Billy Eichner.

(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "FOREST HILLS STATE OF MIND")

EICHNER: (Singing) Hated playing sports I preferred the mall. You're not good at basketball just because you're tall. Strutting down 71st and Continental. They made me get bar mitzvahed as if I was Yentl - loved playing Clue, hated playing Yahtzee. Ironically, my rabbi was a bar mitzvah Nazi. So I got a bar mitzvahed and though I didn't want to, the theme of my bar mitzvah party was Madonna.

RACHEL DRATCH: (Singing) In Forest Hills, concrete jungle [expletive] are made of. There's nothing you can't do...

EICHNER: (Singing) Forest Hills baby...

DRATCH: (Singing) ...When you're in Forest Hills, Forest Hills, the city lights will inspire you. Upper-middle-class Jews walk around Forest Hills, Forest Hills, Forest Hills.

EICHNER: (Singing) Rosh Hashanah.

GROSS: (Laughter).

EICHNER: Oh, God - haven't heard that one in a while.

GROSS: So does it seem inherently funny to you - for you to be doing hip-hop - for you to be doing, like, a Jay-Z thing by talking about your bar mitzvah?

EICHNER: Yes, I mean, it was very - it's very incongruous. And it's one of those things. I just thought it was silly. I made that video for YouTube with friends of mine from high school just as a whim. And it ended up getting shared a lot and actually put me on the radar of a lot of blogs and things who then, because of that video, started discovering my "Billy On The Street" videos, which were already online. But no one was watching them.

GROSS: So you were close with Joan Rivers for a while. And she was the first famous person to really help you with your career. Did she give you advice about insulting people in your act?

EICHNER: Joan gave me a lot of advice over the years. And the main advice Joan gave me is to stick with it because there had been a point when - I remember emailing her. Maybe this was 2010 or something like that- 2009. And I said, Joan, I don't know what to do. The New York Times wrote about me. People write about me, oh, you're - oh, he's a genius, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. And I'm not saying any of that is true, but people were very complimentary of my live show and of the videos. But no one was hiring me. Like, my dad used to say, if you're such a genius, why can't you get three lines on "Law & Order"?

GROSS: (Laughter).

EICHNER: This - no literally, he said that to me. You know, my dad was a native New Yorker too and an older guy. And he just called it like it is. And although he thought I was very talented, I wasn't making a dime. I mean, I would get little gigs here and there but nothing substantial.

And I emailed Joan and I said, Joan, can I come see your standup? She did standup every week in New York at a little theater in midtown. And she gave all the proceeds to charity. She just liked performing. So I went to see her. And she said, it took me seven years. It might take you longer. She was talking about the time between when she started standup and when she first, I think, got on "The Tonight Show." And she said you got to stick with it. And she was very complimentary and very encouraging.

And that was at a moment when my dad was starting to get - you know, I was in my early 30s. It wasn't so cute anymore. It's one thing to be struggling and not really making money in your early 20s and figuring out your life. Early 30s, you start to wonder, is this ever going to happen? And I was lucky in so far as my dad, because he was a bit older - he was the same age as Joan. They were in the same generation. So he understood. He remembered Joan from way back. Joan Rivers to him was huge.

When I went - when I called my dad and said, hey, this is what Joan Rivers said. Joan Rivers thinks I've got what it takes. She said that she saw all these young comics coming up, and that I was on their level. And that she just thinks it's going to take the right person to come along and put me in the right project and that I should stick with it and that she thinks this is going to happen for me. And that really calmed my dad down.

GROSS: Billy Eichner, thank you so much. It's really been fun to talk with you. Thank you.

EICHNER: Thank you, Terry. This was my pleasure. It's an honor. Thank you.

BIANCULLI: Billy Eichner speaking with Terry Gross in 2016. He's the host and star of "Billy On The Street," which is up for an Emmy award as outstanding short form variety series.

After a break, we'll hear from another artist who's competing in the same category - Randy Rainbow, star of the musical comedy showcase "The Randy Rainbow Show." I'm David Bianculli, and this is FRESH AIR.

(SOUNDBITE OF ROGER DAVIDSON'S "SAMBA 3")
DAVID BIANCULLI, HOST:

This is FRESH AIR. I'm David Bianculli sitting in for Terry Gross. This week, we've been featuring interviews with performers and writers who are up for Emmy Awards at next month's ceremonies. Today we're spending time with two of the nominees in the category of Outstanding Short Form Variety Series.

Randy Rainbow is the star and creator of YouTube's "The Randy Rainbow Show," which features brilliant song parodies about President Trump and members of his administration. Randy Rainbow borrows the melodies of showtunes and pop hits and writes original lyrics. For instance, he took the melody of the Mary Poppins song "Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious" and turned it into a Trump song titled "Super Callous Fragile Egocentric Braggadocious." Rainbow performs each song within a video, one that typically also includes him interviewing Trump, a trick Rainbow accomplishes by re-editing videos of Trump interviews and inserting himself asking the questions and reacting to the answers.

These YouTube videos go viral, a tribute to Rainbow's clever lyrics, strong singing voice and hilarious reaction shots. Terry began the interview by playing one of his songs, which borrows the melody from "My Favorite Things." This is "Trump's Favorite Things," recorded last December when Special Counsel Robert Mueller was about to file memos about Michael Flynn, Michael Cohen and Paul Manafort. This starts with Randy Rainbow interviewing President Trump.

(SOUNDBITE OF YOUTUBE VIDEO, "TRUMP'S FAVORITE THINGS! - A RANDY RAINBOW SONG PARODY")

RANDY RAINBOW: Thank you so much for joining me, Mr. President. I hope you have been enjoying the holiday season so far.

PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: I will tell you, I'm extremely upbeat. The White House is running like a...

RAINBOW: Defenseless young child being tear gassed at the Mexican border?

TRUMP: ...Well-oiled machine.

RAINBOW: Oh. Mine was just an expression.

TRUMP: It's doing really well. I have great people.

RAINBOW: Speaking of criminals, this is a very big week for the Russia investigation. Memos about Michael Flynn, Michael Cohen and Paul Manafort, three high-profile defendants, are scheduled to be filed by Special Counsel Robert Mueller.

TRUMP: It's a scam. There was no collusion whatsoever, and the whole thing is a scam.

RAINBOW: Really? Because word on the street is that you're getting pretty scared. Well, when anything bothers me or my entire family is about to be charged with treason, I try to think of nice things. I mean, there are so many things that make you happy.

TRUMP: And there are certain things that I don't like.

RAINBOW: Oh, let me think - raindrops on roses and whiskers on kittens, destroying the First Amendment, white nationalists?

TRUMP: Is that enough?

RAINBOW: Brutal dictators and cold-hearted liars, (singing) tyrants and traitors and climate deniers, $5 spray tans with undereye rings - these are a few of your favorite things. Burying tax returns after you file them, tear-gassing migrants for seeking asylum, big fat-ass buckets of fried chicken wings - these are a few of your favorite things.

TRUMP: I did nothing wrong.

RAINBOW: (Singing) Blue-collar workers all backwoods and beefy, giant hamburgers with extra covfefe (ph), siding with Saudi Arabian kings - these are a few of your favorite things. When your friends flip, when your day sucks and your hair looks bad, like right now, just blame all the victims and praise all the schmucks and then you won't feel so sad.

TRUMP: How long has this witch hunt gone on? It's gone on for - what?

RAINBOW: (Singing) KGB playdates and absolute power, porn stars and Playmates who charge by the hour, puppets at Fox News who dance on his strings - these are a few of his favorite things.

TRUMP: I did nothing wrong.

RAINBOW: (Singing) Long-winded tweets with no spell check corrections...

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED NPR BROADCAST)

TERRY GROSS: Randy Rainbow, welcome to FRESH AIR. I think you are so funny and so much fun to watch. Thank you for being on our show.

RAINBOW: Thank you. It's my honor to be with you.

GROSS: You have an orchestra behind you when you're singing in your videos. Are those kind of like karaoke versions of the showtunes?

RAINBOW: They are, yes. They are ripped karaoke versions that I play with and sort of fine-tune and adjust to be, you know, unique to my videos.

GROSS: And are you going to be sued by any of the estates...

RAINBOW: Well, now that...

GROSS: ...Of composers' work you're using?

RAINBOW: Can we go to the next question? No, I do have a very fancy lawyer now, and what I do falls pretty safely under fair use, you know...

GROSS: Oh, good.

RAINBOW: ...With parody and all of that.

GROSS: Good. Please do not deny us these.

RAINBOW: So far, so good.

GROSS: Yeah. OK.

RAINBOW: Yeah. We'll see after this interview airs. Thanks a lot.

GROSS: (Laughter) Right. I don't think Sondheim is going to be suing you...

RAINBOW: No, thankfully.

GROSS: ...Because he is a fan of your work. Yeah.

RAINBOW: Can you believe it? You mentioned Sondheim, but I have, I'm happy to say, heard from most of the composers that I have parodied - everyone from Sondheim to Stephen Schwartz to Andrew Lloyd Webber. So everyone is pretty much on board, so I have that in my corner, too.

GROSS: That's great that the songwriters really love your work.

RAINBOW: Yeah.

GROSS: Have you learned a lot about writing lyrics from doing this? What I mean is, like, you're patterning your lyrics on some of, like, the best lyricists who've ever written for the stage, and you're frequently following their rhyme schemes, which are sometimes pretty complicated depending on whose work you're doing. But have you learned a lot from using the greatest lyricists' work as your template to write your own lyrics?

RAINBOW: Yeah, absolutely. I have, and I've pushed myself to do so because I always considered song parody kind of cheap, and I've always been, part of me, a little embarrassed that I do it and that I'm, you know, kind of ripping off other people's work. But it's only now that I've been doing it and that I've gotten response from others, including the actual artists who originated the work, that I'm appreciating it as an art form. But I think that I've pushed myself because I think that if I'm not going to write the original music to go with the lyrics, I better step it up and bring something special and strong to the table.

GROSS: So I know Sondheim, one of your favorite lyricists, loves puzzles, but you loved puzzles, too, as a kid, right?

RAINBOW: I did have a thing for mazes. When I was a kid, I remember drawing little mazes constantly and puzzles. I loved that. And I remember, to sort of tie it together, I - when I started listening to Sondheim's music, I always envisioned - I always pictured a puzzle because that's sort of how his lyric-writing is. It's, you know, very carefully and masterfully putting a puzzle together. And so when I got to know him and was invited to his home and I saw that he's a collector of puzzles, it was quite a full-circle moment. And since then, he's become something of a mentor and a great support.

GROSS: Does he ever give you advice on lyrics?

RAINBOW: He knows better than that, Terry. No, he...

GROSS: He knows who the master is.

RAINBOW: He does. He's very generous. He's extremely generous. And he will compliment me all the time and say, your lyrics are so strong. And, you know, how do you do it? To which I say, Steve, you know, you wouldn't get it.

GROSS: (Laughter).

RAINBOW: I have a gift. I'm not about to explain it to you.

GROSS: (Laughter) Let's take a short break, and then we'll talk some more. If you're just joining us, my guest is Randy Rainbow. And he does really funny song parodies about, typically, President Trump or sometimes Mike Pence.

We'll be right back after a break. This is FRESH AIR.

(SOUNDBITE OF MONTEFIORI COCKTAIL'S "GNE GNE")

GROSS: This is FRESH AIR. And if you're just joining us, my guest is Randy Rainbow. And he writes and records song parodies, usually taking Broadway melodies and setting his own satirical lyrics to them. Typically, the songs are about President Trump or politics. And he posts them on YouTube. They get a gazillion views.

So, you know, you've mentioned that a lot of songwriters like your work. I know a lot of Broadway people love your work. What about President Trump and Vice President Pence? Have they...

RAINBOW: They're big fans.

GROSS: They're big fans.

RAINBOW: We're all having brunch next Sunday.

GROSS: Yeah.

RAINBOW: Yeah.

GROSS: And they brought pink eyeglasses in honor of yours as a tribute to you...

RAINBOW: Absolutely.

GROSS: Uh-huh.

RAINBOW: ...You know? I haven't heard from anyone in the administration. You know, I've heard through the grapevine that people in the administration are fans, but no one has directly reached out to me. I'm trying every day to, you know, at least be blocked by him on Twitter. But there has been no connection.

GROSS: (Laughter) Haven't gotten that far yet.

RAINBOW: No, but I'm working on it.

GROSS: OK. OK. So let's hear another song. And this is to the tune of "Sixteen Going On Seventeen" from "The Sound Of Music." And the song is about President Trump's endorsement of Roy Moore, the former chief justice of the Alabama Supreme Court. And this is when Moore was running for the Senate against Democrat Doug Jones. And Trump endorsed Moore in spite of the fact that several women had come forward and accused Moore of sexual misconduct with them when they were underage girls. So the song is about those girls, and it starts off with a verse about the girl who became his wife. And the setup is that Randy Rainbow is interviewing Kellyanne Conway, who is defending Trump's endorsement of Moore. So it - we're going to start by hearing Kellyanne.

(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "SHE WAS SIXTEEN GOING ON SEVENTEEN (ROY MOORE WAS 32)")

KELLYANNE CONWAY: So the president has said the allegations are troubling. They're also 40 years old. Nobody came forward before. The guy's been on the ballot many times. Doug Jones is a liberal Democrat, the president has said, and he doesn't want a liberal Democrat representing Alabama in the United States Senate.

RAINBOW: (Singing) You wait, Kellyanne, with your ashy knees. It's time that you surrender. You're backing a man who admits that he's a bona fide sex offender.

CONWAY: I mean, but wait - did we...

RAINBOW: (Singing) Offender.

CONWAY: Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa. Excuse me. Excuse me.

RAINBOW: In Roy Moore's memoir, "I Like Big Butts," he recounts romantically the first time he laid eyes on his wife Kayla, writing, quote, "I attended a dance recital and remember one of the special dances performed by a young woman whose first and last names began with the letter K. I always remembered her initials, K.K., because they were just one K short of being awesome." I'm paraphrasing that last part.

CONWAY: Go ahead.

RAINBOW: Well, there's just one troubling part about that timeline. And it's that...

CONWAY: Hurry, I have a meeting.

RAINBOW: (Singing) She was 16 going on 17. Roy Moore was 32, flagrantly lusting. He's just disgusting, and, frankly, so are you. She was 17 going on 18 when she went out with Moore. Think it's a smear? Look. He signed her yearbook when he was 34. Here comes Steve Bannon, Trump and Pence, McConnell, Mike and Ben fashioning false equivalence, protecting gross old men.

That's so funny. What a surprise. (Singing) He was the Republican candidate even though he may be criminal, deplorable, immoral, illegitimate. That's 'cause so is he.

TRUMP: Get out and vote for Roy Moore.

RAINBOW: (Singing) She was...

GROSS: So that's Randy Rainbow, and if you want to see more of his videos, they're all on YouTube. And that was recorded December 11, 2017. So "Sixteen Going On Seventeen" seems like an obvious song choice to use for the Roy Moore story. But how did you make that connection in your mind? It seems obvious after somebody makes the connection for you, but how did you think of using that melody?

RAINBOW: You know what? I think that one was a request. Now I have this nice following, so sometimes, I will take requests from my fans online. And I think that was one of them.

GROSS: Have you heard from Roy Moore?

RAINBOW: No, surprisingly.

GROSS: Yeah.

RAINBOW: Hasn't been to one of my meet and greets.

GROSS: (Laughter) OK. Sensibility-wise, you are, like, the opposite of Donald Trump. But in spite of being so different from Trump, you've said that Trump reminds you of your father.

RAINBOW: Yeah. Trump is absolutely a carbon copy of my father.

GROSS: How?

RAINBOW: And - well, just behaviorally. And so much so that my father, who's no longer with us - he actually died shortly after Trump's election - but his campaign was going on, you know, at the end of his life. And even he said that he couldn't watch Trump on TV because it reminded him so much of himself. So these conversations that the world is now having about Trump's behavior - conversations that were had within my family about my dad constantly. So I think that's kind of why I really have his number.

GROSS: So what were the similarities?

RAINBOW: Just that kind of phony, you know, bravado - and there's just like a - you know, I hate to put down any group of people, but there's just a generation of, like, New York guy that - he just came from that stock. And it was just - there was nothing genuine, nothing introspective. It was just textbook narcissism. And I think there are there - there's a large group of men who are like that.

GROSS: Was there this feeling in the house that unless your father was pleased that there would be, like, a dark cloud hanging over the family?

RAINBOW: Absolutely, yeah. And it was a full-time job to sort of, you know, try to brush the cloud away. And, you know, that's why I was really happy, at 21, to leave the house. And that's kind of where - when my life really began, and I kind of came out of my shell.

GROSS: How - what was his reaction to you being gay?

RAINBOW: He was - you know, for as negative a force he was in my life, he was also - he was not the worst. He was very tolerant and did not mind at all that I was gay. He also claims to have had no idea growing up, so that shows you sort of how, you know, trapped in his own brain he was. He had - you know, it was a total shock to him when I came out, which was kind of absurd.

GROSS: But your mother said she always knew. She was...

RAINBOW: Well, she made me this gay.

GROSS: (Laughter) Yeah, because that's the way it works.

RAINBOW: Yeah.

GROSS: So what were the first musicals your mother took you to?

RAINBOW: The first musicals - well, yeah. I have this thing with "Cats." No shade to Andrew Lloyd Webber, but, you know, back to Sondheim, I remember being in New York and seeing the commercial for "Into The Woods" on TV, and that was all I wanted to see. It's all I cared about. But much to my chagrin, the first show they took me to was "Cats." And so I remember having a - you know, a temper tantrum walking under the marquee for "Into The Woods." But she would put - my mother put me to bed - I mean, talking about making me gay - I joke but only half. She would put me to sleep with the cast recordings to "Oklahoma!" and "The Music Man." And I think that contributed a lot to my musicality and my love for musical theater for sure.

GROSS: You always wanted to get back to New York and try Broadway. So when you got to New York, when you were in your 20s, what did you audition for? And what were those auditions like?

RAINBOW: I came to New York, and I put the whole thing on hold because I was a terrified 21-year-old and more like, you know, 15 because I just had not at all grown up. I don't know what gave me the courage to even come here and live on my own. But I just knew this is where I belong. But I did not go right into the musical theater audition thing. I instead worked in a lot of offices and restaurants and things like that.

GROSS: Did any of the, like, food, restaurant, bar kind of jobs you have have a theatrical aspect to it - like a piano bar or anything like that?

RAINBOW: Well, the first restaurant I worked in was Hooters.

GROSS: OK. That's - you don't have what it typically takes to work there.

RAINBOW: Well, that's very rude of you to say.

GROSS: (Laughter).

RAINBOW: But no. I - when I first moved to New York, my dear friend from childhood was working at Hooters as a waitress and said the manager here is a gay guy. And if you come in, he'll probably give you a job, so I worked first at Hooters as a host. So you can imagine the look of dismay on the gentlemen's faces when they would come in after a hard day's work, and I'd be standing there with my clipboard.

GROSS: (Laughter).

RAINBOW: So that was the first thing. But that led to my working at the restaurant in Chelsea, which eventually led - because of a friend who worked there then started working at a production office, a Broadway production office where I became a receptionist. And that was...

GROSS: So what...

RAINBOW: ...Kind of where I got my foot back in show business a little bit. They were working on shows at the time like "Hairspray" and the revival of "Sweeney Todd" with Patti LuPone.

GROSS: Oh.

RAINBOW: So for me, it was heaven because I was sitting behind the desk. And at any given moment, Patti LuPone would call or Elaine Stritch would walk through the front door. And I couldn't get over my life.

GROSS: Did you talk with them?

RAINBOW: A little bit - I was so scared out of my wits that, you know, not much came out. But, yeah, I had some interactions.

GROSS: Do you know Patti LuPone better now?

RAINBOW: Do I know her better now? No, I don't. But I did do - before Trump came along, and I was doing those more nonpolitical videos, I did a series of videos where I would lip-sync to Patti LuPone's autobiography...

GROSS: (Laughter).

RAINBOW: ...You know, the audiobook of it.

GROSS: That's hilarious, yeah.

RAINBOW: And that was actually a fairly - at least among the gay and Broadway communities was kind of a fairly successful series for me. And I understand that she was a fan of that. I hope so.

GROSS: How did you just - how did you think of doing that?

RAINBOW: I don't know (laughter). I think I was just drunk one night and listening to her - have you heard her autobiography - the audiobook...

GROSS: No.

RAINBOW: ...Version?

GROSS: No, I haven't.

RAINBOW: I highly recommend it. It's eight years of Patti LuPone just letting everyone have it and just...

GROSS: (Laughter).

RAINBOW: You know, just - it was - it just - it moved me to sort of act it out and add some drama to it and some visuals.

GROSS: My guest is Randy Rainbow. We'll talk more after a break. This is FRESH AIR.

(SOUNDBITE OF MATT WILSON'S BIG HAPPY FAMILY'S "25 YEARS OF ROOTABAGAS")

GROSS: This is FRESH AIR. And if you're just joining us, my guest is Randy Rainbow. And he writes and records song parodies. Typically, the songs are about President Trump or sometimes Mike Pence. Let's close with a Sondheim melody that you used for a parody. This is "The Mueller Blues," and this was recorded in March 28, 2019. And it's to the melody of "The God-Why-Don't-You-Love-Me Blues" from Stephen Sondheim's show "Follies." Talk about what you're doing in this song.

RAINBOW: Well, this, for me, was the perfect song to kind of pinpoint the emotions that everyone was feeling that week because the Mueller report had come out, but it hadn't really. And people were happy, and they were not, and they were frustrated. It was just - everyone was sort of running the - this gamut of emotions. And so my mind immediately went to this song, which kind of encapsulates that feeling of being all over the place.

GROSS: Yeah. And, you know, it was almost having like a little nervous breakdown in "Follies..."

RAINBOW: Yeah. It's very breakdowny (ph).

GROSS: ...When he sings this, yeah. So this was recorded right after the Mueller report was released. Randy Rainbow, it's just been great to talk with you. Thank you so much. And please keep doing what you're doing and do other things too because I look forward to seeing you in a Broadway show or on TV hosting a show.

RAINBOW: Oh, well, from your mouth - thank you, Terry. It's been a pleasure to talk to you.

GROSS: And to you. And I should say that this song starts with you being interviewed, so to speak, by Wolf Blitzer of CNN about the results of Robert Mueller's investigation into the Trump campaign coordination with the Russians. And then you start singing about the results of the investigation.

(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "THE MUELLER BLUES")

WOLF BLITZER: According to the special counsel, Robert Mueller, the investigation did not establish that members of the Trump campaign conspired or coordinated with the Russian government. Are you ready to accept that conclusion from Robert Mueller?

RAINBOW: (Singing) A hundred percent, Wolf. This is only good news for the country. And I am here today to say that I am ready to leave this behind us and move on without some big song and dance. Excuse me.

(Singing) OMG, he's reached a conclusion. Holy - I'm sorry to curse, b****. Thankfully, there's been no collusion. So why don't I feel better yet? In fact, I feel worse.

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER #1: The Mueller report now turned in; Robert Mueller's work is over.

RAINBOW: (Singing) It's lasted 22 months. It's no wonder we're stressed. I wish we could just let it go. The things that we learned are not what we guessed. And as for the rest, we may never know.

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER #2: How much, if anything, will America get to see?

RAINBOW: (Singing) I've got those, yay, it's finally over. Wait; it's only just beginning blues. Those, damn you, Robert Mueller - I mean, thank you for your service feelings. Those, give me that report; now throw this trash in the bin. Congratulations, Hannity. But wait. What'd you win? Those, what about obstruction? Here comes Rudy Giuliani feelings. Those is it really over? Can we still indict Ivanka? - blues.

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER #3: Robert Mueller has delivered his report, but the political fight over it is just beginning.

RAINBOW: (Singing) Repeatedly he stated...

TRUMP: No collusion.

RAINBOW: (Singing) He said - I guess that he was right.

TRUMP: Are there any Russians here tonight?

RAINBOW: (Singing) Is he exonerated?

TRUMP: Total exoneration.

RAINBOW: (Singing) Technically, not quite.

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER #1: Mueller's stopping short of exonerating the president.

RAINBOW: (Singing) His comments were off-color.

TRUMP: And we kicked their a**.

RAINBOW: (Singing) He'd constantly deny...

TRUMP: No collusion. No collusion. No collusion. No collusion.

RAINBOW: (Singing) ...And slander Mr. Mueller.

TRUMP: Look. The entire thing has been a witch hunt.

RAINBOW: (Singing) Now look who's his favorite guy. I've got those, Nancy, go and get him. Never mind, girl, I'm exhausted blues - Mueller blues. Those, what the hell is Comey doing standing in a forest? - feelings. Those, bartender, we're going to need to refill my cup. And since there's no collusion, could you make something up? And why does Devin's cow have way more followers than I do? - feelings. Those, is it over? What just happened? Can't we just arrest Ivanka? Where's the rest? I got to see it. Give to me. I don't want it. Yes. No. Black. White. Red. Blue. Left. Right. Thank you, go away now. Please don't leave me, Robert Mueller - blues.

TRUMP: No collusion.

RAINBOW: Impeach.

BIANCULLI: Randy Rainbow speaking to Terry Gross earlier this year - he and Billy Eichner both are among the Emmy nominees this year in the category of outstanding short form variety series. The Emmys will be awarded next month. We'll conclude our salute to Emmy nominees on Monday. We'll hear from nominee Raphael Bob-Waksberg, creator of the adult animated comedy series "BoJack Horseman," and from the two women who were the creators and stars of the Hulu series "PEN15" about the anxieties and embarrassments of middle school and puberty. Hope you can join us.

(SOUNDBITE OF BENNY CARTER'S "CHERRY")

BIANCULLI: FRESH AIR's executive producer is Danny Miller. Our technical director and engineer is Audrey Bentham, with additional engineering support from Joyce Lieberman and Julian Herzfeld. Our associate producer for digital media is Molly Seavy-Nesper. Roberta Shorrock directs the show. For Terry Gross, I'm David Bianculli.

(SOUNDBITE OF BENNY CARTER'S "CHERRY")

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