During the 2024 Presidential Campaign, Jonathan Van Ness was stunned when he was featured in a Donald Trump attack ad.
Crazy liberal Kamala's for they/them. President Trump is for you claimed an angry voice while footage of Van Ness as well as drag queen Pattie Gonia meeting Harris played. The fallout is part of what has created the Hot and Healed tour, which arrives at MacEwan Hall in Calgary November 5thand Edmonton’s Winspear Centre November 6th.
"2024 was the year that I feel like I went from America's sweetheart to America's bukkake beat up. It was the politics, also there was a lot of stuff that happened with Queer Eye in 2024. I'm really talking about all the things that I went through personally and I think that we went through collectively in 2024 and what I did to heal through that and what I think that we need to do collectively to love each other more and to accept each other more. So that's really what the show is about. If you are lucky enough to have lived in Canada through the election of 2024 and you didn't see any of these campaign ads, I think it was used in 38 states and it was upwards of $200 million that was spent on this campaign ad.’
Hot and Healed is the 4thcomedy tour from van Ness.
"Gay of Thrones, was my first foray onto being on camera. And through(ut), I got to meet my icon legend and my first obsession, Margaret Cho. Her first special that I ever saw was Notorious CHO in 2001, and it made me into a standup comedy ultra fan, specifically female comics like Margaret Cho, Wanda Sykes, Lisa Lampanelli, Janine Garofalo, Ellen DeGeneres, those are the queens that I kind of grew up on. Margaret was like, "You are meant to be a standup comedian." And I said, I'm meant to be your hairdresser. I did her hair for years and years, and through the years and years of me doing her hair, she over time was like, You really should just try. when I first started doing standup, it was 2015,and the thought of writing and performing a 10-minute, I remember just how nervous I was. And now it's my fourth tour. I just can't believe I'm at a point in my career where I've written an hour of material, and that's such a big deal for a comedian, and I just can't believe I get to do it, and it's really exciting to be on stage and get to be live. You don't have that editing room floor to clean up after you. You got to make it good in the moment."
In the current landscape, being in the spotlight can be emotionally draining. We look at people like Elliot Page, and every time that there's anything about them, the transphobic commenters come out. Jonathan talked about the balance of being in the spotlight as a non-binary, HIV positive, non-monogamous person.
"I think everything in life is about our nervous system and being able to stop that fight or flight survival instinct thing so that we can stay present and connect with people better. Whether it's negative comments and negative press story, whatever it is, it's knowing who I am in my heart and soul, and then trying not to be in the comments or be consuming so much anti-queer content. Whether that's seeing anti-queer content that's about me or someone like Elliot Page, I don't want to give them the metadata. I don't want the people that are making money off of hating on queer people. I don't want to watch that. When I see hateful stuff, it can make you feel like everyone hates you or you aren't good enough, and then you're coming from a fight place or a flight place and you're not really present. I think it's just about talking to yourself with compassion and love and trying to do that as much as you can, even though that can be really hard sometimes."
On the other side of the coin is the impact they see when meeting people. VIP Meet and Greet packages give Jonathan a direct line to those that he has had a positive impact on.
"Being a survivor of abuse, living with HIV, and even my gender expression, I think all three of those things as well as body image in different levels of intensity really impacted my wellbeing and how I thought of myself. With any of those things, that's why I've been so vocal and really wanting to speak to it because I think a lot of survivors of abuse feel like this, that if you could prevent anyone else from feeling so isolated or alone that is going through something like what you went through, then you would speak up so that they know that they're not alone. And I think that's certainly been the case of whether it was body image, living with HIV, surviving sexual abuse. Those are things that I want people to know, that they're not alone and that you can have a vibrant, beautiful, full life with having been through any of those things. And so that's kind of why I do it and why I try to be vulnerable and brave, because I want people to be able to live their lives fully. And when people share their truth with me of any of those things or something that's not even related to those things, but is something that they're going through that's really hard, I feel so honored that I can be a safe space for that person to talk to me. And I'm a hairdresser, so there's really nothing that I haven't heard before. So, I just feel really touched that people feel safe to talk with me, and I'm grateful that they do."
A remarkable thing about comedy is how it can bring light into darkness. Margaret Cho and Kathy Griffin have spoken about their struggles with mental health including attempts at taking their own lives in their shows. While not a funny subject, somehow both have been able to include it in their sets.
"In my first book,
Over the Top, I talk about this a lot. I think we live in a culture where we're taught that your joy and your grief can't be next to each other, that if you're grieving, you are not allowed to feel joy. And if you're joyful, you don't know what pain is. But life always shows us that our joy and our grief can live right next to each other on the same block, on the same day, in the same situations. I think that even if you are in depression, if your mental health is not in a good place, we still can find moments of joy, moments of connection, moments of joy. And I think standup comedy, what's so unique and incredible about it is that it is the place for us to transmute our trauma into joy. It's a place where we get to make light of things that would otherwise have us living in our parents' basement eating powdered donuts for the rest of our life. That is just such a beautiful human experience that we get to come together and laugh about pain and learn more about ourselves through those stories."
Hear these stories, have some laughs, and experience being Hot and Healed live.
"Calgary, I love you guys so much! Home of the 1988 games. This show is about, and I mean just from America, I'm so sorry. We love you guys so much and so many of us, we're really out in these streets trying to not have us be acrimonious. So, we just love Canada and just apologies from the US. It’s a fun night to come out with your friends, wear that little sequency fit that you've been wanting to wear, but you don't have a place to wear it to, wear it to the show. And then as I always joke, unless you're in the midst of a profound depression and then even getting out of your house is a really tall order, in which case I'll take you in sweats, jeans, whatever outfit you want to rock. It's just a fun night for us to get together, create community, and you can hear about my adventures of healing and what I think we need to do to heal together. And it's just really a joy-filled night. And I don't know about you, but I like a joy-filled night right about now."
Watch our video interview for more from Jonathan Van Ness, including thoughts on Shane Gillis SNL controversy, men in comedy, and more.
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