Randy Stewart Rainbow (born July 6, 1981) is a Grammy nominated American comedian and singer, best known for spoof interviews that blend

political satire Political satire is satire that specializes in gaining entertainment from politics; it has also been used with subversive intent where Political discourse analysis, political speech and dissent are forbidden by a regime, as a method of advancing ...

and

musical parodies Musical is the adjective of music. Musical may also refer to: * Musical theatre, a performance art that combines songs, spoken dialogue, acting and dance * Musical film and television, a genre of film and television that incorporates into the narr ...

from a progressive perspective.

Early life

Randy Rainbow was born to a Jewish family in

Huntington, New York The Town of Huntington is one of ten towns in Suffolk County, New York. Founded in 1653, it is located on the north shore of Long Island in northwestern Suffolk County, with Long Island Sound to its north and Nassau County adjacent to the west. ...

. Rainbow is his real last name. He grew up in

Commack, New York Commack ( ) is a hamlet and census designated place (CDP) that roughly corresponds to the hamlet by the same name in the towns of Huntington and Smithtown in Suffolk County, on Long Island, in New York. The CDP's population was 36,124 at the 2 ...

. When he was 10 years old, his father, Gerry Rainbow (

né A birth name is the name of a person given upon birth. The term may be applied to the surname, the given name, or the entire name. Where births are required to be officially registered, the entire name entered onto a birth certificate or birth reg ...

Ribner), a musician and talent booker, moved the family to

Plantation, Florida Plantation is a city in Broward County, Florida, United States. As of the 2020 U.S. census, the population was 91,750. It is a principal city of the Miami metropolitan area. The city's name comes from the previous part-owner of the land, the Eve ...

. Rainbow credits his grandmother as his greatest comedic influence. In a 2017 interview with ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

'', he recalled "It was really my grandmother who was the biggest influence because she'd talk back to the celebrities and politicians on TV. She was a combination of

Joan Rivers Joan Alexandra Molinsky (June 8, 1933 – September 4, 2014), known professionally as Joan Rivers, was an American comedian, actress, producer, writer and television host. She was noted for her blunt, often controversial comedic persona—heavi ...

Elaine Stritch Elaine Stritch (February 2, 1925 – July 17, 2014) was an American actress, best known for her work on Broadway and later, television. She made her professional stage debut in 1944 and appeared in numerous stage plays, musicals, feature films a ...

Betty White Betty Marion White (January 17, 1922December 31, 2021) was an American actress and comedian. A pioneer of early television, with a television career spanning almost seven decades, White was noted for her vast work in the entertainment indust ...

, and

Bea Arthur Beatrice Arthur (born Bernice Frankel; May 13, 1922 – April 25, 2009) was an American actress and comedian. Born and raised in Brooklyn, New York City, Arthur began her career on stage in 1947, attracting critical acclaim before achieving ...

rolled into one." After dropping out of community college in his early 20s, Rainbow moved back to New York to pursue a theatrical career. It was then he began blogging and making comedic videos.

Career

Blog

Rainbow created his blog, ''The Randy Rainbow Bloggity BLAHg-BLAHg'', to document his theatrical experiences and "kvetch about my day-to-day as a single homo in the city."

Celebrity videos

In his early work, Rainbow stages fake phone conversations with famous people by editing real audio clips of those celebrities. He posted his breakout video, "Randy Rainbow is Dating

Mel Gibson Mel Columcille Gerard Gibson (born January 3, 1956) is an American actor, film director, and producer. He is best known for his action hero roles, particularly his breakout role as Max Rockatansky in the first three films of the post-apocaly ...

" in 2010. It received more than 60,000 views in one week and has since surpassed 170,000 views. Subsequent videos include "Randy Rainbow Calls

Lindsay Lohan Lindsay Dee Lohan ( ; born July 2, 1986) is an American actress and singer. Born in New York City and raised on Long Island, Lohan was signed to Ford Models at the age of three. Having appeared as a regular on the television soap opera '' An ...

", "Randy Rainbow Calls

Dr. Laura Doctor is an academic title that originates from the Latin word of the same spelling and meaning. The word is originally an agentive noun of the Latin verb 'to teach'. It has been used as an academic title in Europe since the 13th century, w ...

", "The Morning After Chelsea's Wedding", "Randy Rainbow Gets a Job (from

Rachel Zoe Rachel Zoe Rosenzweig (born September 1, 1971) is an American fashion designer, businesswoman and author who rose to prominence as a celebrity wardrobe stylist. She has been credited with the creation of "the boho-meets-rock chic look that came ...

?)", "Randy Rainbow Kicks It with

Kanye West Ye ( ; born Kanye Omari West ; June 8, 1977) is an American rapper, singer, songwriter, record producer, and fashion designer. Born in Atlanta and raised in Chicago, West gained recognition as a producer for Roc-A-Fella Records in the ea ...

", and "Randy Rainbow Spends Christmas with Mel Gibson".

Michael Urie Michael Lorenzo Urie (born August 8, 1980) is an American actor. He is known for his portrayal of Marc St. James on the ABC dramedy television series ''Ugly Betty''. He can be heard as Bobby Kerns in ''As the Curtain Rises'', an original podcas ...

appeared as himself in "Randy Rainbow Getting Married?"

Tituss Burgess Tituss Burgess (born February 21, 1979) is an American actor and singer. He has appeared in numerous Broadway theatre, Broadway musical theatre, musicals and is known for his high tenor voice. He is best known for starring as Titus Andromedon on ...

appeared as himself in "Randy Rainbow Stars in a Show!"

Brent Corrigan Sean Paul Lockhart (born October 31, 1986) is an American film actor and director, known for ''Milk'' (2008), '' Judas Kiss'' (2011), and ''Triple Crossed'' (2013). Lockhart started his career as a gay pornographic film actor mostly using the ...

appeared as himself in "Randy Rainbow Makes a Sex Tape (w/Mel Gibson)". Rainbow's cat Mushi has also appeared in some of his videos. Rainbow's videos have been featured on a number of

blogs A blog (a truncation of "weblog") is a discussion or informational website published on the World Wide Web consisting of discrete, often informal diary-style text entries (posts). Posts are typically displayed in reverse chronological order ...

. Popular

LGBT ' is an initialism that stands for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender. In use since the 1990s, the initialism, as well as some of its common variants, functions as an umbrella term for sexuality and gender identity. The LGBT term is a ...

blogs

Towleroad Andy Towle is an American writer, publisher, and media commentator based in Provincetown, Massachusetts. Background Towle holds two Bachelor of Arts degrees from Vassar College in Art History and English. He was awarded the 1989 W.K. Rose F ...

and

Queerty ''Queerty'' is an online magazine and newspaper covering gay-oriented lifestyle and news, founded in 2005 by David Hauslaib. As of June 2015, the site had more than five million monthly unique visitors. History ''Queerty'' was founded by David ...

have reposted many of his videos since "Randy Rainbow is Dating Mel Gibson". His Lohan clip was featured by

Perez Hilton Mario Armando Lavandeira Jr. (born March 23, 1978), known professionally as Perez Hilton, is an American blogger, columnist, and media personality. His blog is known for posts covering gossip items about celebrities, and for posting tabloid p ...

. Rainbow made a guest appearance in Tituss and the Tightass Band, a 2010 benefit concert for

The Trevor Project The Trevor Project is an American nonprofit organization founded in 1998. Focused on suicide prevention efforts among lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, and questioning (LGBTQ) youth, they offer a toll-free telephone number wher ...

New World Stages New World Stages is a five-theater, Off-Broadway performing arts complex in the Hell's Kitchen neighborhood of Manhattan in New York City. It is between 49th and 50th Streets beneath the plaza of the Worldwide Plaza complex at Eighth Avenue. ...

. He also made a guest appearance in the third annual Living for Today benefit concert at the

Laurie Beechman Theatre The Laurie Beechman Theatre (formerly the West Bank Cafe Downstairs Theater Bar) is an 80-seat dinner theater in the basement of the West Bank Cafe at 407 West 42nd Street in the Manhattan Plaza apartment complex in Hell's Kitchen, Manhattan, N ...

. Rainbow appeared on the cover of ''

Out Front Colorado 'OUT FRONT Magazine' is a lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender magazine and daily online publication in the Denver metropolitan area. ''OUT FRONT'' was founded by Phil Price with its first issue hitting the stands on April 2, 1976. 'OUT FRONT' ...

''.

Political videos

Rainbow gained a larger audience and shifted focus during the 2016 American presidential campaign, with a series of spoof interviews and musical parodies skewering the election process and the candidates, especially

Donald Trump Donald John Trump (born June 14, 1946) is an American politician, media personality, and businessman who served as the 45th president of the United States from 2017 to 2021. Trump graduated from the Wharton School of the University of Pe ...

, who became Rainbow's primary subject following his nomination by the Republican party and subsequent election. Among the musical parodies he has done about politics are:

Filmography

Musical career

Rainbow has released several recordings on Broadway Records. He released three singles in August 2012: an original jingle for

Chick-fil-A Chick-fil-A ( , a Word play, play on the American English pronunciation of "wikt:filet#Pronunciation, filet") is an American fast food restaurant chain which is the country's largest which specializes in chicken sandwiches. Headquartered in Coll ...

written while he was employed there, a cover of " An Old-Fashioned Wedding," and a parody of " Born This Way" called "Born This Gay." He released the holiday EP ''Hey Gurl, It's Christmas!'' on November 8, 2019, featuring a studio version of "Trump's Favorite Things"; the title track is an original song. Following the launch of his Pink Glasses Tour, Rainbow released his debut studio album ''A Little Brains, A Little Talent'' on October 29, 2021. The album includes several studio versions of his YouTube parodies, plus the two original songs "Pink Glasses," and "Randy Rainbow For President!" both co-written by Rainbow. The album also features a studio version of "The Jitterbug," a scrapped song from '' The Wizard of Oz'', and two bonus tracks: "If

Donald Donald is a masculine given name derived from the Gaelic name ''Dòmhnall''.. This comes from the Proto-Celtic *''Dumno-ualos'' ("world-ruler" or "world-wielder"). The final -''d'' in ''Donald'' is partly derived from a misinterpretation of the ...

Got Fired" (featuring

Patti LuPone Patti Ann LuPone (born April 21, 1949) is an American actress and singer best known for her work in musical theater. She has won three Tony Awards, two Olivier Awards, two Grammy Awards, and was a 2006 inductee to the American Theater Hall of Fa ...

) and "Mr. Biden (Bring My Vaccine)."

Awards and nominations

Rainbow was nominated for a Grammy Award for Best Comedy Album for “A Little Brains, A Little Talent” in 2022. Rainbow was also nominated for a

Primetime Emmy Award The Primetime Emmy Awards, or Primetime Emmys, are part of the extensive range of Emmy Awards for artistic and technical merit for the American television industry. Bestowed by the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences (ATAS), the Primetime ...

for Outstanding Short Form Variety Series in 2019 and 2020. After

categories were combined starting in 2021 to form the Outstanding Short Form Comedy, Drama or Variety Series, ''The Randy Rainbow Show'' was nominated in 2021 and again in 2022. The album "A Little Brains, A Little Talent" was nominated for the best comedy album at the upcoming 2023 Grammy Awards.

Personal life

Rainbow is Jewish and openly gay. He was born on

Long Island Long Island is a densely populated island in the southeastern region of the U.S. state of New York (state), New York, part of the New York metropolitan area. With over 8 million people, Long Island is the most populous island in the United Sta ...

, lived in

Queens Queens is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Queens County, in the U.S. state of New York. Located on Long Island, it is the largest New York City borough by area. It is bordered by the borough of Brooklyn at the western tip of Long ...

for 17 years, attended community college in

, and since July 2019 has resided in

Manhattan Manhattan (), known regionally as the City, is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the five boroughs of New York City. The borough is also coextensive with New York County, one of the original counties of the U.S. state ...

. On April 19, 2022, Rainbow published a memoir, "Playing With Myself", which tells the story of his personal life and rise to internet fame.

Controversy

In mid-August 2020, critics of Randy Rainbow circulated several dozen of his tweets, all but a few published between 2010 and 2012, featuring jokes widely described as racist and transphobic. Rainbow apologized on August 20, 2020, in an interview with '' The Advocate''.

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Rainbow, Randy 1981 births Living people American bloggers LGBT Jews LGBT YouTubers Gay comedians LGBT singers from the United States People from Long Island People from Plantation, Florida LGBT people from New York (state) LGBT people from Florida 21st-century American comedians 21st-century American singers 21st-century American male singers American male comedians Singers from New York (state) Singers from Florida American gay musicians American gay writers Jewish singers Jewish American male comedians 20th-century LGBT people 21st-century LGBT people 21st-century American Jews