A Twink and a Redhead Are Making the World’s 1st Music for Straight People

I went to see their live show celebrating the album at Brooklyn Comedy Collective, which was part of the 20th annual New York Comedy Festival. To be honest, I was a bit skeptical of how the schtick would transfer. I’ve seen enough musical comedy duos flop onstage to fill ten columns, but I usually prefer to keep those to my Notes app. And the crowd was full of 20-year-old, bright-eyed, bushy-tailed gay-girl duos, one of whom came up to me before the show and confidently said: “Are you a writer? I can tell by your notebook.” The energy was so high that you could almost forget we live in a dystopia. Not promising for a cynical critic in a bad mood.

But I stood corrected. Gibbs and Gill are so charming, replete with such radiating star power, that I left the show feeling like I had witnessed the beginning of a rocketship rise, not just in comedy but far beyond. Rather than perform a simple medley of their songs, they took us on a cinematic romp through their origin story — complete with Voice of God narration and six intense costume changes.

“Our story begins in 2011,” the narrator said. “Osama bin Laden is dead. Melissa Gorga has joined the cast of the Real Housewives of New Jersey.” Enter: Our heroes Grant and Ash, bouncing in an inflatable castle at the sixth-grade carnival, where the real Gibbs and Gill really did meet. They reveal how they bonded over their shared love of Club Penguin, Twilight, and the Hunger Games — and how Ash thought Grant was sooooo sexy in his skinny jeans and infinity scarf. What followed over the next sixty minutes was a story of unrequited love for the ages; a near-perfect spoof of the Disney Channel Original Movies (think Lemonade Mouth and Camp Rock) on which Gill, Gibbs, and their fans grew up.

I was struck by how much the show resonated with the crowd. I can count on one hand the number of standing ovations I’ve seen at comedy shows outside of arena tours, but when Gibbs and Gill performed their viral “Panera,” about getting fucked in a Panera Bread, the audience literally stood up and sang along, cheering and applauding for such an extended time that they had to pause the narration track. “BJ Maxx” was equally popular, as was “Heterosexuality,” a country ballad in which Gill imagines herself happily married to the closeted Gibbs, living on a ranch, and standing by her man. 

 

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A post shared by Grant & Ash (@a_twink_and_a_redhead)

After the show, I went backstage to ask Gibbs and Gill if they had seen the Lucy/Desi, Judy/Vincente comparison. Sure, they said. But their real inspiration isn’t a duo at all, it’s a trio: 2000’s comedy super-group The Lonely Island. Point one for the hetero men, I guess. Maybe this really is Trump’s America.

The songs sound ridiculous, but there is something sharp about their satire: skewering the illogic of growing up in an era where you might tenuously believe — from Glee and Harry Potter fan-fic and Lady Gaga’s Born This Way — that gay might actually be OK, but everything else in your life is steeped in the heteropatriarchal violence of American hegemony. A time when you could be really, really into Effie Trinket from the Hunger Games and in the same hour, hear that “anal is God’s greatest loophole” in your church youth group.

How to make sense of such contradictions? The duo offers one possible answer: Find a really good friend and creative partner, clap your thighs, and together, thirst after Don Cheadle, to whom their closing number is dedicated. I reached out to Cheadle’s PR firm for comment on the Don Cheadle tribute song, but have yet to receive a response.

You can listen to their full EP, A Twink and A Redhead, on Spotify, Soundcloud, and Apple Music.