Spiritually Raisined: REID #247

+ The Jimmys

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SHORT:

What’s up? It’s 1am and 300 degrees out in NYC and I’ve spent nearly every night this past week in Times Square, so I’m gonna make this quick.

The other day, my friend Emily posted one of the best posts I’ve ever seen, and well, here it is:

I told her to wear it.

What do you think?

Weigh-in in the comments below.

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MEDIUM:

On Sunday, Jess made me go see Brokeback Mountain in theaters. Because apparently it’s not enough to be gay now — we also have to be gay in 2005.

Everyone was sobbing as Jake and Heath smashed denim.

I didn’t cry during the film, but I did tear up during the “no talking during the movie” PSA, cuz I still had a lotta shit to I wanted to say.

Mostly: should I order the chicken sandwich off the menu, you think? Or just eat dinner at home? (Got the chicken sandwich).

I think it’s amazing that people used to get freaked out about movies like Brokeback and now every single screen you look at is AI Porn of Logan Paul x Kurt from Glee showing hole.

Just me? Hm.

I suppose it’s nice that instead of dying alone in Wyoming, gays nowadays just move to LA and launch a podcast¹.

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LONG:

I’ve just returned from the Jimmy Awards², a ceremony I attend yearly to witness the sacred rite of teens who’ve successfully weaponized TikTok and their local choir teacher “Miss Bev” to learn how to belt in a way that could kill a horse.

As I mentioned above, I’ve actually spent more evenings in Times Square than I didn’t this week³, once for the Jimmys, and four other times for a reading of my play, which was staged directly above the Krispy Kreme megastore… (there’s nothing quite like hearing an actor deliver a devastating monologue while the scent of hot glaze drifts in through a cracked window, out of which you can watch Spider-Man take a vape break… I kept thinking, if this scene doesn’t land, at least I can just throw myself into the glaze chute and let the donuts take me home...)

Tickets for the Jimmy Awards were lottery-only this time⁴. Jess, my partner, actually won, but didn’t redeem them on time⁵, so I went with my friend Zach (press), which meant I was seated in the “please behave” section instead of in the rafters with the other unwell adults who strip naked and run around scream-crying during “Adolpho”.

Josh Groban hosted, and was so warm and competent that I texted my mom mid-show: “At the Jimmys. Groban’s hosting. He’s so great.” She did not reply. No problem!

It was also the first year in a long time where a soloist didn’t sing a Jason Robert Brown song, which could be a good or bad sign. You choose!

I ran into my friend David Carliner (who I see exactly once a year at this event and whose newsletter will feature a far more thorough and accurate review). He cornered me pre-show and whispered, “Bets on which defunct show cups they’re gonna use this year for drinks?” (I guessed The Cher Show. It was The Wiz.)

It’s sick and twisted and awesome how many people know and care about this event.

A while back, Zach and I dreamt up a script about sneaking into the Jimmys 21 Jump Street–style: fake transcripts, full facial Botox to look plausibly seventeen during the “Week in Review” talking heads, the works… so I kept cackling during the ceremony, picturing us trying to keep up with the opening number choreo/ not get caught.

Big shoutout to the girl who won this year after three years of competing, to “Carson Chestnut” for having the best name/stage presence in the world, to the trans kids who sounded great⁶, and to the six presenters who said, “Now more than ever, we need the arts.”

We do.

And I think my friend Emily wearing her MILF dress to the Museum Of Ice Cream counts.

C U Next Tuesday

Oh wait…

Come to Going Down Live! at UCB (or buy tix to the Livestream!)

Also:

Snack of the Week goes to the lemon blueberry cinnamon roll I got after waiting 90 minutes in 90-degree heat on Thursday during my self-assigned Cinnamon Roll Tour of NYC. The wait was long because Gayle King was filming a segment inside and had made her own roll. We didn’t end up getting the Gayle Roll because it had raisins in it, and frankly, we were already spiritually raisined from the heat. The lemon blueberry roll, though? Transcendent.

Also: TYSM to everyone who came to my play reading

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Thank you for subscribing to this newsletter. Sometimes it’s funny, sometimes it’s not [like when people slip on ice].

If this is your first time reading, pls check out the archives.

Sincerely,

Reid Pope

@rpopegram | @rpopetweets

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Bonus Zone:

Watched this earlier this week and decided that I need to memorize every single line and perform it onstage with same incredible monotone delivery:

If you stopped watching before he says “always good to remember to smile” with zero pep, go back! It’s worth it.

1. My amazing takeaway when credits rolled

2. Buried the lead

3. Sentence nobody should have to type or write unless they’re in custody battle with Elmo

4. When I arrived, a man was standing outside the theater holding a sign that read: “WILL PAY $500 FOR A TICKET.”

5. They’re pissed, and randomly don’t feel it’s “the same experience” when I play all the videos of the kids singing out loud on my phone while saying “you had to be there”

6. Teach me