The 'Fire Island' actor caps off a big year with his own holiday special on Showtime.
Rising star Matt Rogers is capping off a big year, which includes supporting roles in Fire Island and I Love That for You and the continued success of the podcast Las Culturistas, with his own holiday special, Have You Heard of Christmas.
Premiering Friday, Dec. 2 at 10 p.m. ET/PT on Showtime, the yuletide-themed comedy special sees the multi-hyphenate singing, dancing and performing sketches as he seeks out the adoration of Mariah Carey, has a run-in with his best friend and longtime collaborator, Bowen Yang, and hopes to become the "Pop Prince of Christmas."
"This is me in a nutshell," Rogers says of production, which he says is "all about maximalism. It's all about too much."
Following a run-in with Carey on the Peloton series, LOL Cody, and getting to meet Kelly Clarkson, Rogers is now catching up with ET as he reflects on the success of Fire Island, details his love for Christmas divas and starts a whole battle of the gays with Billy Eichner.
ET: Mariah Carey clearly is a guiding star for Have You Heard of Christmas. How did she influence your approach to the special?
Matt Rogers: Before I started working on the show, I was watching — and it probably must have been like October or November, whenever she really starts kicking into Christmas gear — but I was watching an interview with her and she was talking about how she has a real passion for Christmas and she loves doing it every year. And the interviewer was kind of like, "It's also kind of genius that you get to be sort of an industry every year as well." And that's when it really clicked for me: What a huge opportunity Christmas is for these pop stars and these musicians that sort of tout themselves out every year as seasonal landmarks in a way.
And that's when I got the comedic idea. I was like, "What if I just, for sh*ts and giggles, made a Christmas show that was a Christmas album and standardized that idea of the commercial aspect of the holiday, regardless of what it means culturally, religiously, et cetera. It's really just about selling sh*t." And then, it sort of was funny because it became real. I was like, "I get to perform this every year if it's any good." So, then it kind of just grew year to year to year to now, you know, this idea that I had in the beginning of it's gonna be the Christmas album that never comes out.
In addition to Mariah, this special really seems to be a tribute to all the Christmas divas out there. What is it that you love about them so much?
I'm a maximalist by nature. Like, I think more is more for me all the time. So, Christmas is that idea of more is more. It is everything bold, it is the color red, it is the giving of gifts, it's the receiving of gifts, it's the big reaction when you give and receive a gift, it's the biggest high when you see your relatives. It's more and more and more.
So, that's what I'm really responding to is the excess and the glamour of Christmas. And it does go hand in hand with that idea of the diva, right? You know, this archetype of a person that I have been attracted to since the very beginning of when I could open my eyes and see what was happening in culture.
I mean, I'm like any '90s gay boy. Like, I remember when Kate Winslet turned around in her hat in Titanic and said, "It doesn't look any bigger than the Mauritania." Even she was interested in bigger. And that hat was big and her makeup was perfect. And because I was so obsessed with Titanic at the time, which was a rather large trip if you remember, then there was Celine Dion belting out these big notes in "My Heart Will Go On," and there was the Oscars.
And then loving that bigness and that glamour, I found other pop divas of the time, like Mariah Carey and everything that comes along with her. I just think there's this grandeur that I find, not only very thrilling, but also very funny. So, I guess that's how I would respond to that. It's just the excess and the taking of oneself so seriously that I think is so funny.
And I actually think while we can be tongue in cheek about it and we all kind of roll our eyes at the Macy's of it all, Christmas also does take itself very seriously. It feels like every year it occupies more of the year. It used to be this thing of like, "I'm really bad on November 26th when I'm starting [to decorate] the tree." And now, it's like the second the clock strikes 12 on Halloween, Mariah Carey is riding a Peloton, saying, "It's time."
Going back to Mariah, I know that you were on LOL Cody when she stopped by during Cody Rigsby and Bowen Yang's chat. Tell me about that – and how you fainted after helping her off the stage.
You're actually the first person I've talked to about this. And I'm not historically someone that keeps secrets well. If anyone knows me from my podcast or gets a sense of my essence at all, I have a huge, big fat mouth. So, this one though.
We had the opportunity to be on LOL Cody and Bowen was kind enough to allow me to be the special guest to help promote the special. I was on the bike and all of a sudden she comes out, takes her mark and does that little bit with Cody, and I'm sitting there riding this bike, getting sweatier and sweatier not only because Mariah is standing there but because I'm literally doing the workout — and you know, Cody knows what he is doing; he gets that heart rate up, babe — and, so she turns to me at one point, looked me in the eyes and says, "Can you help me down?" And I have to say I had every instinct in me to get off that bike, but you are quite literally bolted to that chair.
So, I am like someone who doesn't ordinarily ride these types of bikes — like, love Peloton but I just don't have a bike, so I'm not used to snapping in and out of that thing — and I almost broke my legs trying to get outta that thing because I was like, "Oh my god. Get up. You need to help her. Like, her heels are 45 inches high. She's gonna fall and then the Queen of Christmas' blood is gonna be on your hands. And you've loved this woman since you were seven years old." So. I literally wrenched myself outta the bike, came over to her in those Peloton shoes to help her and my sweaty hand just touched hers and I literally got to hold her hand as I guided her over to her security guard, who then got her up the stairs.
Then I literally said to him, "Do you have her? This is precious cargo." And then I did that little bit where I fainted in the spot where she had stood. But I got up and turned around and she was standing at the door and looking back and she literally said, she mouthed to me, "Matt, love you."
I don't know if she knows who the hell I am or the fact that I've been hawking my special, using her name and saying she's the "Queen of Christmas" and I want to be the prince. I don't know if she knows that she's a huge narrative thread in my special that I've written "The Hottest Female Up in Whoville" in her voice. I don't know if she knows any of that but it was enough for me just to have her look at me and understand that I exist and I'm a huge fan and I was willing to die or at least break my legs on a Peloton bike for her at that moment.
And then you also appeared on Kelly Clarkson's show and I know you're a huge fan of hers. So, I have to know, which was a bigger deal: meeting Mariah or meeting Kelly?
When it comes to Kelly and Mariah, those were literally the people that — not only was that the music that I listened to, but they also really kept me company during a very lonely time in my life, which was the time of being closeted in middle school and high school. Like, they were the soundtracks to my lonely bus rides and then unsure times and college and everything. I've just always had them with me. I don't necessarily know that it's hit me because it's kind of unreal that I was able to go out on Kelly Clarkson's show and sit next to her on that couch and actually express how much she means to me without crying. I must have been in shock because it genuinely was so big and so major.
The fact is that she creates such a warm and inviting atmosphere at her show, and you can really. That it is, that, uh, that it walks the walk as well as talks about talk because her staff is so happy and they're so positive and they're so excited and they're, they can't say enough about her. That was such an amazing experience from the second I walked into the door to the second I left the building because she is the real deal in terms of what you expect.
And in the same regard, so is Mariah because she sort of showed up in this cloud of smoke and then disappeared. Like, it was really giving me elusive chanteuse. But that's sort of what I would expect from both of them. With Kelly, it's a big, warm extended hug and with Mariah, a glance over your shoulder. And I would not have changed either experience at all, and I can't pick one over the other. All I know is that I'm the luckiest person ever this month.
Switching gears slightly, what did it mean to see the Gotham Awards honor Fire Island and all the success surrounding the film this year?
You know what's funny? Joel Kim Booster, in his speech when we were accepting the ensemble tribute at the Gotham Awards, said, "We absolutely all did this for awards." I think the reason why that's funny is because if you know any of us or if you were on set for that movie, we absolutely did not think that this was going to be something that would ever garner awards attention. And not because we didn't think the movie was amazing, but because we just were making a fun comedy together and we were also so preoccupied with getting to know each other and falling in love with each other.
And in that, I actually think it's very worthy and very fitting that we received an ensemble award because we all were truly an ensemble of people. And when I think of that movie, I will think of just all the amazing friendships that I made and the best friendships that I had prior that solidified and grew because of that.
And when I watch that movie, I'm so inspired and so tickled by and so lifted by everyone's performances and very proud of my own. So, it's really just very cool that they allowed us in a room, where we got to watch all these iconic actors receive attention for their amazing performances. And just to be taken seriously at an event like that, that was so fancy and kicked off the award season and to be included in that conversation was really, really thoughtful of them and very kind because it was just unexpected.
Well, not to get into the discourse between Fire Island and Bros, I do have to ask about Billy Eichner only because you make a quip about him being Mariah's gay on the special. And I was curious, are you starting a new war: who gets to be Mariah's Christmas gay?
You know what? I think that Billy Eichner has earned everything that he has and if he's Mariah's Christmas gay, I defer to him. But if he ever feels like he wants a couple days off, I would love to swoop in there and cover for him. But I understand if there's an application process or an interview process that I have to go through. But his people should call my people and we should talk about it because definitely it's a position that I am available for. But he deserves it and has earned it.
And going back to Have You Heard of Christmas. With this now finally on TV, do you think you'll officially become the "Prince of Christmas"? I mean, have you trademarked the title yet?
You know, I hear there's some difficulty when it comes to the trademark of that type of title. But listen, I guess it's not up to me. I guess that that's up to the adoring masses. And I now hand it over to the capitalist process. I'm so happy to even be in consideration for this. I guess, you have to start saying it for people to believe it, right? And fake it until you make it. Who knows? Maybe next year this will be a real album and we can continue the process and maybe this thing gets bigger and bigger every year until it's not a joke anymore and I'm a complete monster.
Well, you pretty much answered my last question. But in order for that title to stick or for you to at least become one of the divas of Christmas, that means you have to do this or variations of it every year. Are you prepared to do that?
Oh, trust me, I'm never going away. Seasonal ubiquity is for me. It's absolutely the goal and I hope that people are good at tolerating it.
This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity and length.
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