Randy Rainbow

“Well, the first restaurant I worked in was Hooters.”

“I'm very much a one-man-band.”

“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, Elaine Stritch, Betty White, and Bea Arthur rolled into one.”

“The fact that I am able to put myself out there in this age of social media and YouTube is really a gift to someone who never felt like I fit into any particular mold. One of the reasons people are responding to it is because it is coming from a pure place.”

“What I love is that I'm hearing from people on the left and people on the right that I've given them something to laugh at.”

“If you think about it, it's the worst stage name that anybody can possibly think of, because it sounds ridiculous, but it's my real name.”

“I really spent most of my childhood in my bedroom watching Barbra Streisand movies and musicals and making videos. That was kind of where it all started for me. I would go to the beach occasionally.”

“My mother, she wanted the gayest child... and she got it.”

“I was really a very antisocial child.”

“I think I became a gay comedian out of necessity, because what else am I gonna do with that name? And it has worked out now, but it was a very difficult childhood. It sounds like the hokiest stage name ever.”

“Mom would go to bed at night and pray that God would make her Bernadette Peters.”

“My father was a textbook narcissist. If he didn't like the narrative he'd start gaslighting you. He threatened the democracy of our family.”

“I would love to be on a sitcom or on Broadway.”

“I'm not a disciplined person.”

“I'm not really that political and I love the idea of a sitcom. But a lot of people want me to become the next Jon Stewart.”

“Comedy illuminates. And it unifies people, it's not as polarizing as shows with specific political agendas.”

“The best comedy is truthful. So if you say something in a way that is amusing, but is rooted in truth, you can get away with it.”

“Comedy is able to point out things in ways that more serious people cannot.”

“I'm very - I'm not very sure of anything in my life, but there's always been something in me that has known that I'm going to get where I'm going, one way or the other.”

“I have parents coming to the live show saying that they watch my videos with their kids. I have teachers saying they have used the videos with their students.”