A year after Bowen Yang and Matt Rogers brought the Las Culturistas awards to Bravo — and gave the internet the gift of Ben Platt covering Addison Rae’s “Diet Pepsi” — the comedy duo are back to dole out more accolades.
The show, which was taped in downtown Los Angeles on May 30 ahead of its June 17 air date, includes categories such as “Hilary Duff Award for Millennial Excellence,” “Top Facts You May Not Know About Greta Gerwig,” “Best Vibe, Without Efforts,” and “Hunger Games Best Mega Franchise AwardReal housewife “Best Way to Start a Showdown” and “Best Picture – Literal Picture,” a spin-off of the duo’s success. Las Culturistas Podcast.
On the red carpet before taping the show, Rogers admitted that last year — it was broadcast live for the first time after doing the show on a smaller scale in New York for several years — “we were so paranoid about whether or not it could happen, we forgot to have a little fun with it,” because they weren’t sure they would be able to perform all the musical numbers and surprise bits they had planned.
Yang added: “I think we’re really consistent this time, and I think that means we’ve walked through the crucible of year one. I think there are things about tonight and this year that I think will definitely surpass last year.” Since the two choose the nominations and winners themselves, they say they now get active campaigns by those looking to win.
“Some of the campaigns were amazing, and guess what, it worked! Who knew we could be bought out?” “Everybody knows,” Rogers joked as Yang chimed in. “That makes us like any other awards show,” Rogers replied, before teasing: “I never said that.”
A star-studded lineup of nominees and presenters — many of whom hail from worlds SNL Or Bravo — also hit the carpet before the show, hello to Will Ferrell (who exec produces Las Culturistas), RuPaul, HacksHannah Einbinder, Meg Stalter, Paul W. Downs, Aidy Bryant, Sarah Sherman, Mandy Moore, Rachel Ziegler, Ciara Miller, Paige DeSorbo, Hannah Berner, Hot competitionFrançois Arnault and Lisa Rinna.
Einbinder, who was nominated for the All Good Either Way Award for Bisexuality in Media, joked that the honor was the “most significant” of all her awards. Hacks “Accolades,” and as a frequent attendee of shows like the Emmys and Golden Globes, what do those traditional ceremonies have to take away from the culture awards?
“Gay people should be responsible,” she declared, while Joel Kim Booster — a longtime friend of Yang and Rogers — said they should learn “to be funny again, and I think that’s important. There are so many jokes per minute on this show that it’s kind of exhausting to watch sometimes; I like binge-watching because there are a lot of jokes. And I think that’s the big thing — stop trying to appeal to an audience that doesn’t care about award shows, and start writing toward people who actually care about it and want to watch it.”
Darcy Carradine, who appeared as presenter, added, “We take it seriously in the real world — when traditional awards shows take themselves too seriously, I think we collectively say, ‘What the hell are we doing?’ Let’s have a little fun.” And of course, it’s great to recognize people for their great work and I love that, but it’s like we’re playing fun pretend here – let’s focus on that. But they take it seriously, Matt and Bowen, they do their best. It’s not half done, it’s like a whole show that’s just silly, stupid times.
The Las Culturistas Awards airs simulcast on Bravo and Peacock on Wednesday nights.
