Donald Trump’s ascension to the Oval Office has become fodder for many comedians over the years, but few have poked fun at the president with as much Broadway-style flair as Randy Rainbow. The poltical comedian and YouTube star has taken the internet by storm with his hilarious parody videos, which are often styled after show tunes or pop hits like “Despacito,” which Rainbow put his own spin on with the video “Desperate Cheeto.” We caught up with the fan-favorite performer ahead of his show in Boston to chat about his approach to making viral videos and what Trump supporters think of his clips.
Do you plan on parodying Donald Trump and Kanye West’s budding friendship anytime soon?
I’m not really well-versed on Kanye’s songbook, if we can call it that. But yeah, that’s definitely on my radar and certainly something I’ll be looking at. It’s kind of crazy. It’s insane. It’s two very bizarre personalities and the fact that they’re having this bromance happening it’s really kind of insane and certainly ripe for political satire.
Have you received any backlash from Trump supporters online over your videos?
You’d be surprised by how much hate mail I don’t get. The intention for me is to always be entertaining, even though where I stand, I suppose that’s kind of obvious. Clearly I’m not a Republican. But I try to be as entertaining to as many people as possible. That’s always the goal. It never really occurs to me until people ask that there would be some kind of major backlash, and there really hasn’t been. I hear from a lot of Trump supporters and a lot of people on the other side, whatever that may be, saying things like, I don’t agree with you politically, we have nothing in common, I hate gay people or whatever they say, but I love the videos, which is always an interesting thing to hear. But I think it’s just a testament to how important humor and musical comedy, how unifying that is for people.
How do you make sure your videos resonate with fans?
It’s kind of organic for me. I’m super gay and I’m a really big show queen. When it comes to the more Broadway-style stuff, I kind of already think in show tunes. My process, really, is when I see a headline or anything in the world, it’s kind of a defense mechanism. I automatically go to the musical theater parallel of that situation. The song choices are always easy for me. Sometimes I like to throw in some more pop, more well known stuff because those are always crowd pleasers. Certainly “Desperate Cheeto,” a parody of “Despacito,” was a big hit for me for many obvious reasons.
If you go:
May 17, 7:30 p.m., The Wilbur, 246 Tremont St., Boston, $38, thewilbur.com
