Queer Eye’s Jonathan Van Ness on stand-up, Great British Bake Off, Kylie and boosting tourism in Yass
When the Queer Eye team went to Yass in NSW to film an episode, they put the town on the map and significantly boosted tourism. And Jonathan Van Ness says he can’t wait to come to Australia again.
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The Queer Eye team may have descended on New South Wales town Yass initially as a pun on the catchcry ‘Yaas Queen’.
However their one-off episode on their Netflix makeover show, filmed down under in 2018, continues to have an impact on Yass tourism.
Visitors can follow a Queer Eye-itinerary, get a selfie at the Yass sign or visiting the new look Club House Hotel as seen on the show.
“(Designer) Bobby (Berk) did such a good job,” Queer Eye’s Jonathan Van Ness says.
“And I loved meeting the Mayor (Rowena Abbey) and her fierce sash. I love that we could do something to help tourism.”
After his first-hand look at regional Australia, Van Ness was also eager to do what he could to help the country heal after the bushfires.
He’s returning to the country this month for his first stand up comedy show, Road To Beijing, and is raising money while he’s on ground.”
“For the shows we’ve partnered with the RSPCA and the Australian Red Cross, we’ll have donation stations at each show. I’ve been posting places to donate for people in America coming to my shows. It’s a devastating thing to endure, I’m hoping that as a collective world we can all get in front of climate change and start to lessen some of these horrific disasters that are happening more frequently with more severity.”
Since 2015 Van Ness has been running a regular podcast, Getting Curious, where he interviews everyone from athletes to politicians, often delving into environmental topics.
He’s already recorded one episode about the Brazilian wildfires, and plans on recording three podcast episodes in Australia, two of which will be him informing his millions of listeners globally about the cause and effect of the bushfires.
“The podcast keeps me really engaged and passionate and learning about the world around me. That’s why I started it, as well as to have fun. I just wanted to have an honest conversation about learning and curiosity, no bells and whistles. I think I’ve also become a better interviewer over the years. I just love it.”
Van Ness, 32, comes from a family of journalists. After training to be a hairdresser, he relocated to Los Angeles in 2009. In 2013 a hairdressing client, who worked for online comedy site Funny or Die, shopped his camp recap of Game Of Thrones – Gay Of Thrones – to her bosses.
Gay Of Thrones ran for six years, putting Van Ness on the radar of Netflix who cast him in the reboot of Queer Eye, which launched in 2018.
The success of the show has allowed him to embark on a stand-up career; Road to Beijing has already toured around the US, UK and Europe.
“I love learning the medium of stand-up comedy and learning how to be entertaining in that way, learning how to write jokes, build on jokes, edit jokes and learning what my vibe of comedy is which is a lot about storytelling. There are a lot of quick impact jokes but I’m very much a storyteller.
“I’m also someone who wants to show you a lot of costume changes and show you an acrobatic gymnastics routine in the show. I love it, it’s such an evolution being able to have the time and the creativity to learn how to do something new.”
Last year Van Ness released a brutally honest memoir, Over the Top: A Raw Journey to Self Love.
He revealed he is HIV positive and non-binary, as well as detailing a history of drug addiction, child sexual abuse and ongoing struggles with chronic psoriasis.
“I guess I forgot when you write a book it stays out forever so you get continued feedback. The feedback I’ve had from it that means the most is from people who are able to accept the things that have shaped them that were really difficult but then realising that some of those difficult things were the things that make them the most strong and courageous and unique and beautiful.
“Being able to take the difficulties we’ve been through, we end up using them to be our greatest strengths, that’s such a thing to celebrate. I didn’t even know that was what I was doing, but that was definitely the hope and it does feel like that is happening to people having their own experience reading the book. Being able to use my platform to lift up other people is just a natural thing for me to do.”
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Last year Van Ness was linked to Great British Bake Off when co-host Sandi Toksvig left the show.
“That was me literally photoshopping my head on to Sandi’s body in a photo, hoping it would go viral and maybe people saw it and went ‘that would be brilliant’ and they would hire me and it would all work out,” Van Ness clarifies, stating the call has yet to come.
“I love that show so much it hurts, I mean, it physically hurts my insides. It goes my cats, my family then gymnastics, Great British Bake Off and figure skating in a three-way tie. I can’t bake but I could really host it, bring a comedic funness to it.”
While he’s tight-lipped about locations for the next Queer Eye season, Van Ness says after last year’s Japanese episodes he’d be keen to film more makeovers in Australia.
“Those decisions are probably a couple of rungs above my pay grade on Queer Eye, but I would love to be a part of those decision making processes, because I’d love to film in Australia, hopefully some day we will.”
In the meantime, he’s got one important part of his Australian stand up show worked out.
“I want to use Kylie Minogue as the walk on music to give it that home town vibe. I have not met her yet, but I live to. Live, love, cannot get enough of Kylie.”