Queer Eye star Jonathan Van Ness shares his life story in his new stand-up comedy show. Photo/Supplied
Queer Eye star Jonathan Van Ness shares his life story in his new stand-up comedy show. Photo/Supplied
Queer Eye's hair and self-care guru Jonathan Van Ness talks to Phoebe Watt about self-acceptance, transcending gender labels, and bringing his stand-up comedy show to NZ.
We've all been there, sitting on the sofa of an evening, crumbs decorating our comfiest dressing gown – fleecy, flammable and in a faded shade of teal, no eco-conscious eggshell-hued organic linen in sight. On the TV, people at the absolute pinnacle of their field are demonstrating the star power and supreme physical fitness that sets them apart from the rest of us. It could be a Rugby World Cup final, or the Oscars, or indeed, the Olympics. Someone fumbles – literally or figuratively – and we groan in disgust as we shove another fistful of corn chips into our mouth. How could he miss that gap? What the hell is she wearing? Oof, that dismount! Get your head in the game!
The hubris that informs these moments of unabashed armchair expertise is the inspiration for Imaginary Living Room Olympian, the comedy show conceived and performed by multi-hyphenate media personality, beauty brand founder and queer icon, Jonathan van Ness.
"There are bits where I talk about the Olympics and how we all think, 'I could do that, it looks so easy'. It's like we're all imaginary living room Olympians," said Van Ness ahead of the show's debut at Radio City Music Hall in New York City in March this year.
Queer Eye star Jonathan Van Ness shares his life story in his new stand-up comedy show. Photo/Supplied
A follow-up to the critically acclaimed Jonathan Van Ness: Road to Beijing, which he performed to sold-out theatres in Auckland and Christchurch as part of a whistlestop world tour in early 2020, Imaginary Living Room Olympian is Van Ness' second live comedy show and will mark his second time in New Zealand. When we speak a couple of weeks out from his visit, the entertainer known for his cute quips and even cuter outfits is predictably superlative.
"I'm so excited to come back and see the beautiful country of New Zealand, honey!" he enthuses over the phone. He can't wait to explore the amazing sights, eat some amazing food, and get among some amazing nature. It's going to be an amazing time.
So who is Jonathan Van Ness? You may recognise him as the blowdryer-wielding, bathroom-cabinet ransacking, beauty and self-care guru from Netflix's Queer Eye. You might also have watched him on Getting Curious with Jonathan Van Ness or listened to him on the podcast of the same name, nodding along in amusement or shaking your head in abhorrence as the gregarious host unpacks topics ranging from figure skating and skyscrapers to abortion rights and gender nonconformity.
The latter is something on which Van Ness can speak with authority. Coming out as nonbinary in 2019, he prefers the pronouns he/him, but is comfortable with they/them and she/her. True to the very definition of the thing, it really boils down to how he is feeling on the day – the nonbinary label the ironical key to transcending labels altogether. Now passionate about helping others come to terms with their gender identities, he describes his reconciliation with his own as "like an act of return", facilitated by the discovery of a language to which he previously didn't have access.
"In meeting other nonbinary individuals and beginning to understand the history of the gender binary, it made me feel really connected to all the queer people who have come before me, all the gender nonconforming people, all the people who are transitioning …everyone who shares this common history of existing outside of prescriptive gender norms."
Now, more than ever, Van Ness is a natural advocate for the LGBTQI+ community. However, he hesitates when asked to elaborate on some of the work he does both at the coalface and as an ambassador and patron of organisations involved in keeping this community safe. For one, this work is enormous and nuanced and we simply don't have the time to do it justice. "It's all easily googleable," he offers apologetically, and it is.
It's also difficult to answer, he continues, because advocacy and activism are inextricable from everything he does. It's a flag he flies by virtue of existing. "It's just part of who I am," he says.
"I know what it's like to be othered. I know what it's like to be discriminated against. I know what it's like to navigate a cisgendered, heteronormative world that wasn't made to equip non-cishet individuals with the skills they need to be healthy, whole, safe, valued people," he says. He adds that his mission in life is to help more people gain self-acceptance. He does this by "modelling joy and curiosity" in each of his projects, from his role on Queer Eye, to his comedy, to his inclusive line of haircare, JVN.
Van Ness breaks out the leotard in his new show, which is coming to Auckland. Photo/Supplied
With regard to younger generations, he's preaching to the converted. But although you could look at the increasingly blase attitudes of this cohort towards the full spectrum of gender and sexual experience and argue that it's never been a better time to be queer, the LGBTQI+ community worldwide continues to face discrimination and hatred at an institutional level. In Van Ness' fraught America, a conservative-stacked Supreme Court is hellbent on reversing and further roadblocking the rights of marginalised groups, with members of the LGBTQI+ community some of the most immediately and radically affected. Marriage equality, social security and access to lifesaving healthcare are all on the line.
"Take the Monkeypox epidemic," says Van Ness, who is openly HIV+. "There's a prime example of the way our governments continue to treat people that are on the margins of society differently when it comes to threats to public health. In New York, we've just had a public state of emergency declared over like, three polio cases. It took more than 1200 Monkeypox cases to prompt that same action."
Not afraid to get political, Van Ness' many platforms are a mouthpiece for the causes he cares about, and Imaginary Living Room Olympian is no exception. But although an open mind is essential, attendees needn't worry about being lectured for 90 minutes straight. A natural storyteller – Van Ness has authored two New York Times best-selling books, Over the Top: A Raw Journey to Self-Love in 2019, and Love That Story: Observations from a Gorgeously Queer Life in 2022 – he describes the show as a boundary-pushing celebration of uniqueness and self-discovery, set against a backdrop of a confusing couple of years for all of us. "You're definitely going to hear about some sides of me that you don't get to hear about on Queer Eye," he says, laughing. "There's a little bit more raunch, honey. It's about queer joy, and raunch is such a big part of that."
And of course, the twists and turns are many. Going above and beyond what it says on the tin, the set opens with a six-foot tall, leotard-clad, 35-year-old Van Ness performing an impressive gymnastics routine that brings the "imaginary" of its title into retina-searing reality. Involved in gymnastics and cheer as a teenager, his 15-year hiatus from the sport came to a spontaneous end during a standup set a few years ago. "I busted out a backflip on stage and then immediately I was like, what a unique and interesting thing that would be, to incorporate into my new show."
He subsequently began an intensive training regimen – four times a week in the gymnastics gym, plus cross training in his garage – and he says he's stronger now than he was in high school. "That's the thing I'm most proud of, just being able to do what I do. It's a real source of pride and very affirming, to know how far I've come."
A tidy metaphor for his personal journey to total self-acceptance, the strength displayed on stage is so much more than acrobatic. Having sacrificed the blood, sweat and tears that makes Olympians out of ordinary people, Van Ness emerges as a fully-formed yet ever-evolving product of resilience, determination, courage, and the mental fortitude to know that no matter the wobbles along the way, life is all about sticking the landing. For Van Ness, that perfect landing was decades in the making. Now, safe to say he's basking in its glory.
Jonathan Van Ness answers our top five questions about hair and self-care
What got you fascinated with hair?
The first time I fell in love with the idea of doing hair I was really young and I was watching a beauty pageant. I thought the big hair was amazing and from that moment I knew I wanted to be a hairdresser.
What's the best thing about hairdressing?
The big transformation – it never gets old. It's so exciting and just such an honour when someone allows you into their space and trusts you to create this art. Because that's what hairdressing is, it's art and it's self-expression.
What do you wish more people knew about hair and self-care?
That it doesn't have to be a skin-deep thing! It doesn't have to be an aesthetic thing, self-care can be community volunteering and organising, it can be spiritual practice, it can be so many things outside of skincare and hair care. It's about helping to heal the self. Giving healing to yourself – that's what self-care means to me.
What are your self-care non-negotiables?
Therapy, getting to sweat and move my body in the morning, spending time with my animals – we have five cats and two dogs – and spending time with my husband.
What's your No.1 tip for fabulous summer hair?
I have to plug JVN Complete Conditioning Mist here! Put it on before you get in the pool, before you get in the ocean, it'll keep your hair from absorbing so much of that chlorine and salt and it'll be so much healthier for it, plus it offers UV protection to keep your colour from fading in the sun.
Imaginary Living Room Olympian, October 2, Kiri Te Kanawa Theatre – Aotea Centre, Auckland.
