Randy Rainbow is a modern-day alchemist.
The New York-native has made a handy living from taking the most asinine of politicians, and turning them into comedy gold.
The viral entertainer’s pointed parodies have been watched more than 500 million times on YouTube, and now, with the publication of his autobiography, Playing With Myself, Rainbow is converting more fans to his brand of comedy.
On Tuesday night (April 26), Rainbow stopped by Jimmy Kimmel Live for a blast from the past, and some personal history lessons.
Rainbow, we learned, really is his last name. “I wouldn’t make it up. It sounds like the corniest stage name ever, he admits,” pointed out it’s covered in the book, chapters 1-16. “Thankfully I grew into what I’ve become.”
The colorful comic also discussed his entry into musical theater (“my mother really wanted to raise the gayest son on Long Island. She succeeded”), his first video to go viral (“Randy Rainbow is Dating Mel Gibson,” apparently), and the neatest part of becoming a celebrity. It’s “when your idols reach out to you and become our friends, that’s the most exciting part of all this,” he explained Carol Burnett is one of those idol-turned-pals.
To cap things off, Rainbow wound back time and recreated an awkward earlier meeting with Kimmel, and fixed it.
Earlier in April, Rainbow released a new parody video blasting the Florida legislation. The comedian kicks off the visual — simply titled “Gay!” — with a mock interview with Florida’s Gov. Ron DeSantis, before launching into a spoof of Once Upon a Matress‘s “Shy,” during which he repeatedly says the word “gay.”
Watch the late night interview below.