PHOTOGRAPHY BY SELA SHILONI

“Ice pussy, I’m the Whoville thriller, I’m-a definitely fuck this Grinch,” Matt Rogers intimately croons aboard a piano in full “MILF with no kids” drag as Christine Baranski’s Martha May Whovier. The deeply profound, Mariah Carey-written (?) R&B anthem and future Billboard chart topper (?) is taken from Rogers’ Showtime special, Have You Heard of Christmas, a one-hour musical extravaganza that queerifies the yuletide as the star launches his bid to become the “Pop Prince” of Carey’s annual holiday.

The special, an instant queer classic, concludes an insane year for Rogers. The comedian memorably made his film debut as a Marisa Tomei apologist in Hulu’s Fire Island – which GAY TIMES ranked as one of the 10 best films of 2022 – starred in the Vanessa Bayer-led dark comedy series I Love That For You (season two pending) and continued to flex his expertise on popular culture alongside collaborator Bowen Yang on their critically-acclaimed podcast Las Culturistas.

“This has been such a great year because I’ve gotten to show people a lot of the projects that I’ve been working on,” Rogers tells GAY TIMES. “I feel really lucky and excited after so many years of not working in the industry as much as I wanted to and pounding the pavement in New York. It feels so good to have this year.”

Read ahead for our full interview with Rogers, where we touch upon all the aforementioned subjects including a potential Fire Island sequel, where he wants to see his character in the second season of I Love That For You and why it’s the “highest praise” to be “I don’t know her”-d by Mariah Carey.

Matt, the ‘tache!

I’m sort of like the American version of you, in many ways. I have that nice, thick, confident brow. I’ve got the moustache working. I’m you, over here in Seattle.

You have the bone structure to make it all work with just a moustache, though. I can’t pull that off.

What I have is excellent lighting here with this full window moment, okay? Let’s not go back-and-forth.

I have to apologise, Matt, because I’m giving Drag Race season one with this filter. I don’t know why it’s so vaseline-y?

Giving Shannel! I just recently watched a clip of Shannel on Drag Race season one again where she’s tossing the pins. I was like, ‘How did this bitch lose?’ I love Bebe Zahara Benet but how did she lose, exactly?

And Rebecca Glasscock making top three over her? Err?

The world’s first controversy. That feels like it happened in 8BC. By the way, someone made a list of all the seasons that are coming. It’s season 15, season 16, All Stars 8, UK 5, Belgique, Espana 3, Espana All Stars, France 2, Canada 4, Down Under 3, Philippines 2, Italia 3, Global All Stars, Mexico, Brazil, Germany…

I write a “here’s your guide to Drag Race this year” every January and I’m honestly a bit scared to write the new one.

For my own mental health, I just watch the American versions… That’s it. The UK, I do watch, but I watched an episode this season and I realised that I didn’t understand any of the references. It was the one where they had to play reality TV show contestants and it was so British that I didn’t understand, and I usually love the UK.

Matt, congratulations on all of your 2022 successes. Let’s start with Fire Island. A diverse LGBTQ+ film with an all-LGBTQ+ cast and crew winning at the Gotham Awards is major. What was it like sharing this moment with the cast, especially as you’ve all grown quite close?

We all knew we had made a great movie and that the best thing about it was this ensemble. We all left with these amazing relationships, but it was one thing to feel that way and another thing to have it acknowledged by a legitimate awards group. I hope that happens more often because we need to think more outside of the box when it comes to what we give awards to. Not everything has to be a sobering drama or a “comedy” about something real to earn something like an ensemble award. When you watch our movie, I think everyone would agree that no one made this for awards but that doesn’t mean it’s not deserving of an award. If they were going to award us in some way, I think the ensemble is a fitting area. Joel Kim is getting some recognition for his screenplay, which is also so great. I’m just really proud of it, and we got to get together for one last messy night. We all went out afterwards and made out with each other, it was great. Now that Fire Island’s press cycle is a little bit over, I can start getting a little messy with what I share! Not that messy…