Randy Stewart Rainbow (born July 6, 1981) is an American comedian, singer and actor. He is best known for spoof interviews that he uploads to YouTube that blend political satire and musical parodies from a left-leaning perspective. He has been Emmy-nominated six times, five as Executive Producer of The Randy Rainbow Show and one as performer. He has also been Grammy-nominated once.
Early life Randy Rainbow was born to a Jewish family in Huntington, New York. Rainbow is his real last name. He grew up in Commack, New York. When he was 10 years old, his father, Gerry Rainbow (né RibnerJews in the News: Pamela Adlon, Matthew Broderick and Debra Messing. jewishtampa.com, April 23, 2020), a musician and talent booker, moved the family to Plantation, Florida. Rainbow credits his grandmother as his greatest comedic influence. In a 2017 interview with The New York Times, he recalled, "It was really my grandmother who was the biggest influence because she'd talk back to the celebrities and politicians on TV. She was a combination of Joan Rivers, Elaine Stritch, Betty White, and Bea Arthur rolled into one." After dropping out of community college in his early 20s, Rainbow moved back to New York to pursue a theatrical career. It was then he began blogging and making comedic videos.
Career Blog Rainbow created his blog, The Randy Rainbow Bloggity BLAHg-BLAHg, to document his theatrical experiences and "kvetch about my day-to-day as a single homo in the city."
Celebrity videos In his early work, Rainbow stages fake phone conversations with famous people by editing real audio clips of those celebrities. He posted his breakout video, "Randy Rainbow is Dating Mel Gibson" in 2010. It received more than 60,000 views in one week and has since surpassed 910,000 views. Subsequent videos include "Randy Rainbow Calls Lindsay Lohan", "Randy Rainbow Calls Dr. Laura", "The Morning After Chelsea's Wedding", "Randy Rainbow Gets a Job (from Rachel Zoe?)", "Randy Rainbow Kicks It with Kanye West", and "Randy Rainbow Spends Christmas with Mel Gibson". Michael Urie appeared as himself in "Randy Rainbow Getting Married?" Tituss Burgess appeared as himself in "Randy Rainbow Stars in a Show!" Brent Corrigan appeared as himself in "Randy Rainbow Makes a Sex Tape (w/Mel Gibson)". Rainbow's cat Mushi has also appeared in some of his videos.
Rainbow's videos have been featured on a number of blogs. Popular LGBT blogs Towleroad and Queerty have reposted many of his videos since "Randy Rainbow is Dating Mel Gibson". His Lohan clip was featured by Perez Hilton. Rainbow made a guest appearance in Tituss and the Tightass Band, a 2010 benefit concert for The Trevor Project at New World Stages. He also made a guest appearance in the third annual Living for Today benefit concert at the Laurie Beechman Theatre. Rainbow appeared on the cover of Out Front Colorado.
Political videos Rainbow gained a larger audience and shifted focus during the 2016 American presidential campaign, with a series of spoof interviews and musical parodies skewering the election process and the candidates, especially Donald Trump, who became Rainbow's primary subject following his nomination by the Republican Party and subsequent election. Among the musical parodies he has done about politics are:
Title of parodyRelease dateOriginal songOriginal production or performer"Carly Fiorina: GOP Dropout"February 13, 2016"Beauty School Dropout"Grease"Jeb Bush: GOP Dropout"February 22, 2016"Beauty School Dropout"Grease"Ben Carson: GOP Dropout"March 5, 2016"Beauty School Dropout"Grease"Marco Rubio: GOP Dropout"March 17, 2016"Beauty School Dropout"Grease"Just In Love (with Ted Cruz)"April 30, 2016"You're Just in Love"Call Me Madam"John Kasich: GOP Dropout"May 5, 2016"Beauty School Dropout"Grease"Ted Cruz: GOP Dropout"May 5, 2016"Beauty School Dropout"Grease"Ya Got Trump Trouble!"July 26, 2016"(Ya Got) Trouble"The Music Man"Extra Braggadocious"September 26, 2016"Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious"Mary Poppins"Grab ‘Em By The P***y"October 10, 2016"Give a Little Whistle"Pinocchio"The Nasty Woman"October 24, 2016"The Lonely Goatherd"The Sound of Music"Trump-Pence, Trump-Pence"November 7, 2016"Feed the Birds"Mary Poppins"Hillary Wins!?!? - Randy Rainbow's American Dream"November 11, 2016"Thoroughly Modern Millie"Thoroughly Modern Millie"Donald Trump, Grow Up!"November 23, 2016"You'll Be Back"Hamilton"Tweets, Tweets, And Nothing But Tweets"January 12, 2017"Prologue: Into the Woods" (Witch's rap: Greens, Greens)Into the Woods"Alternative facts"January 24, 2017"Prologue: Jellicle Songs for Jellicle Cats"Cats"Fact Checker, Fact Checker"February 6, 2017"Matchmaker, Matchmaker"Fiddler on the Roof"You're Making Things Up Again, Donald"February 22, 2017"Making Things Up Again"The Book of Mormon"Putin and the Ritz"March 7, 2017"Puttin' On the Ritz"Puttin' On the Ritz"Microwaves (Are Watching You!)"March 16, 2017"Private Eyes"Hall & Oates"Kill The Release"March 19, 2017"The Mob Song"Beauty and the Beast"Just My Bill (O'Reilly)"April 22, 2017"Bill"Show Boat"Unpopular"April 29, 2017 "Popular" Wicked"The Russian Connection"May 15, 2017"Rainbow Connection"The Muppet Movie"Donald Trump's Mango Tour!"May 31, 2017"Rainbow Tour"Evita"The Covfefe Broadway Medley"June 2, 2017Various: "Chim Chim Cher-ee" "Let's Call the Whole Thing Off" "Shipoopi" "Memory" "Consider Yourself" "Maria" "Oklahoma"Various: Mary Poppins Shall We Dance The Music Man Cats Oliver! West Side Story