From the hidden queer history of rock & roll to the sharpest voices in LGBTQ+ comedy and the artistry of drag kings, Revry is expanding the definition of what queer streaming can be. The free LGBTQ+ streaming network is heading into a particularly ambitious season with a slate that spans genres and generations, including Dustin Lance Black’s four-part documentary series Rock Out, the new comedy series I’m Dead and the highly anticipated second season of King of Drag – along with a 21-city tour.
Rock Out, directed by Academy Award winner Dustin Lance Black and produced by Academy Award nominee Bill Gerber, explores the often-overlooked queer figures who helped shape rock, punk and heavy metal. Traveling through the United States and United Kingdom, Black examines the complicated relationship between queerness and a notoriously hyper-masculine music culture, while also telling a deeply personal story rooted in the loss of his brother, Marcus.
Meanwhile, I’m Dead brings a new generation of LGBTQ+ comedians together for a format that blends stand-up, confessionals and backstage conversation, while King of Drag returns for a second season following a breakout debut that generated more than 32 million views. This time around, comedian Cameron Esposito takes the hosting reins and the franchise will make its biggest leap yet with a 21-city national tour.
At the center of it all is Damian Pelliccione, Revry co-founder and CEO, who has spent years creating space for LGBTQ+ voices and pushing the boundaries of what those stories can look like. In this conversation, Damian discusses the importance of Rock Out and reclaiming queer history, the appeal of I’m Dead, what audiences can expect from King of Drag season 2, and why Revry’s future is about giving queer creators the freedom to tell stories in every genre imaginable.
Rock Out explores whether there has ever been a true home for queer people within the hyper-masculine worlds of heavy metal, punk and rock & roll. What drew Revry to this particular story?
What really excites me about Rock Out, besides the fact it’s Academy Award winner Dustin Lance Black – and it’s his directorial debut – is that it’s a story that I think will resonate generationally. And, as a 45-year-old, the oldest possible millennial on the cusp of Gen X, I did grow up with a lot of this music, and I had no idea of the connection to queer culture. I think it’s very profound that, in the time of Dolly Parton passing away and all these big artists in just the last week passing away, having that history is really important. But I think what really is amazing is even though it starts with The Beatles and Brian Epstein and then goes all the way into like modern day and touches on that later on in the project, what really touched me when watching this project was the human connection to the story around Lance’s brother.
I grew up in a very similar time as his brother, and a lot of folks that we do know, even ones that work at the company, and there’s that idea of feeling othered within your own community and not knowing where you fit in. I think a lot of that is completely changed with the advent of social media and the ability to connect with microcosms within the community – whether you’re a bear or an otter or you’re into anime or furry or high femme or butch. There’s so much that we can connect a little better than we could before. I just felt like there was a connection based on that kind of story. I just think that this is definitely more of a human-interest story than it is actually just a historic piece on kind of the interweaving of our community and the behind-the-scenes of the music industry.
What do you think people who aren’t familiar with queer history within rock music will be surprised to discover through Rock Out?
I think generationally about the people who are going to watch this, and I think for folks who grew up with this music and know this music of that generation, it’s going to be very nostalgic. There are going to be elements of this story where they either know or they knew that it was a possibility or it was maybe not validated, but it was hearsay about these individuals being openly gay. Or it was very obvious, and they were out and open, and maybe they’re learning more about the backstory. But I think, what, again, what we’re trying to do and accomplish with Revry specifically in this project, Rock Out, is how are we feeding this to the Gen Z audience, so they learn more about the queer history within music. And I think for them – and this is the sad part as I age myself – when I ask, “Do you know this artist, or do you know this song?” And they’re like, “Wait, who? What? Did my parents…I think my mom listened to that.” And I’m like, oh, my God, I’m that age now?
But I think it’s really it shows that before we had such public queer figures like Billie Eilish or Renee Rapp or Lil Nas X – these big musical artists of modern day that travel around and get to build their entire careers and personas on being openly queer or queer supportive, like Lady Gaga or Madonna or even Beyoncé. This is what had to come before that in order for this to be available to you today.
And I think what’s really amazing is the way in which we’re releasing this project. It straddles LGBT history, LGBTQ History Month, and the last episode airs on Sunday, October 11th, which is National Coming Out Day, which, again, just ironic as you know how the series ends. I think it’s going to be very timely, and I think there’s going to be a lot of people who are going to learn a lot from this and just be really excited, whether it’s nostalgia or new knowledge.
Having an Academy Award-winning filmmaker like Dustin both write and direct the project brings a particular perspective to the story. What did he bring to Rock Out that made the project especially compelling for Revry?
Look, Lance, outside of being an Academy Award-winning writer, is a fantastic filmmaker. And I think he, when he brings and I remember we had a conversation specifically about this project and again, what it meant to him – obviously it was very personal with the death of his brother. But I think he really spent five years of his life creating, chasing, researching, interviewing, going all around the world to tell these stories.
This is where it’s so important when you have someone so talented and so nuanced of an orator as Lance. We were just honored when Live Nation brought this opportunity to us to release it and actually create the original branding of it – and that fact that Lance is so involved in the marketing and so involved in kind of the PR around this project. He was so much so that I told him, “Hey, I want you to come on King of Drag and be a guest judge because our biggest audience of the entire year starts with episode one of King of Drag, and I want you to be the guest judge for that episode, and we will coincide the release of this project with that as a lead-in. So, the biggest audience of the year will see the project, then see you on the show, show that support, and learn more about the project.” This is where he was super excited and totally embraced the concept and the idea and has been nothing but receptive and such a pleasure to work with throughout this whole process.
Switching gears, for the first time, King of Drag is leaving the screen and hitting the road. When did you realize the show was ready to become a live experience?
Oh my God, right after last year. I’m not going to lie, we were sad that we just did not think about it for season one. And look, we didn’t know that season one would become the phenomenon that it is today. We were just thought we were making something really cool and it was the biggest project we had made to date, and we’re so happy with the crazy success and fandom that season one created, both domestically and globally with King of Drag. Actually, during the run last year I was thinking, “How can we get a tour together?” Even if it’s just like only five cities or just 10 cities that we go to with, the 10 kings at their home cities, can we make this work?”
I slowly did my research and started to familiarize myself with how to book a tour, how to logistically put a tour on and we’re like, “No, that’s totally not possible, and we don’t want to jump into this and do this wrong. We want to do this right.” So, I surveyed a lot of different advisors and folks who pointed us to our fabulous agent at United Talent Agency (UTA), Jana Kim, who booked this tour, embraced it, loved the idea and immediately was like, “Yes, UTA wants to represent this tour, and we’re going to help book this national tour.” We actually started working on this with our agents at UTA back in October of last year and then cut to today, so this has been quite a lot of planning. Tours are very nuanced. I think it’s actually harder than doing the production. Maybe that’s just because I’m a TV producer by trade. I’m like, oh, a TV show seems a whole lot easier to produce than a six-week, 21-city tour, but I cannot be more excited.
We chose venues that were smaller because we really want to draw in that energy of the live experience. And so, the average venue holds about 500 attendees, with the exception of New York, which is almost like a special event. I’m so excited to say we’re playing Webster Hall in New York. The show coincides strategically with the finale watch party and crowning of whoever our winner of this season will be, and we’ll have all eight kings at that on Sunday, November 8th in New York City at Webster Hall. But I’m super excited to hit the road. I’m actually co-hosting this tour with the kings. And we have an initiative: where typically venues will ask you to hire an opener or local support, we’re like, “Nah, let’s not just make this an opener. We’re going to make them Damian’s co-host.” So, in every city, I will be working with a different co-host who is a local drag artist from that city who will co-host the actual night in that city with me. And Alexander the Great from Season 1 we brought on as our amazing drag king consultant, and he is fielding applications for my co-host in every city along the way for the tour.
What can fans expect from the tour that they won’t get from watching the series?
A tour is a real-life experience, right? You’re going to get the energy, you’re going to get to see the kings. We do have a VIP experience, a meet and greet experience that we are selling as a separate ticket, so if you want to, you can actually have a photo op with the kings in each of the different cities and do a meet and greet. It comes with a little fun piece of merchandising as well. I think the biggest thing about the way that we are conceiving and building the creative around the show is that you get to see the kings do what they do best, which is what drag kings do. They lip sync and they perform. They’re doing their best and biggest numbers that you would not typically see at a nightclub or a drag brunch, married with an entire experience rendition of kind of the best moments of the season. So, you may see a little bit of the Dong Show live on stage. You may see some of our musical acts that we have in this season, like some of the numbers that they create. It’s a very much a coming together of the best of the season and the best of what the kings already love to do and perform.
There is something especially powerful about bringing drag into physical spaces and communities around the country. What does the live connection to the audience mean to you?
You’re the first interview about the tour actually that I’m having, which I’m so excited about. I think what really excites me is that we’re in front of cameras all day long, whether it’s this show or even my talk show Mic Drop which this past Sunday we actually yesterday had Vico Ortiz on as my guest. Before this, I was interviewing all of the comedians from our hit series I’m Dead, our new stand-up comedy series. But now leading into and even out of King of Drag you’re going to see all of the talent at some point from the show, whether it’s a fellow guest judge or judge of mine or host or one of the contestants.
But I think the most exciting part is that we get to be with the people and where they are. I’m excited. I love meeting people and I love performing, and so do all of the kings. The fact that we get to be in spaces where we’re doing live performance, it’s back to the grassroots of theater and live shows, is going to be something that I think crowds are going to be really super excited about. Super fans in all of these cities are really going to be gagged once they see the actual live show. And I think this is just going to bring us closer to our fans, because again, it’s all on screens right now, but I’d love to meet these folks in person. I’d love to get to know who they are. I’d love to hear from them. I want to hear them cheer and hopefully not boo. But it’s a moment where we all come together and celebrate this great artistry of these kings.
Do you see the tour as a one-time extension of season two, or could you see this becoming an ongoing part of the franchise for King of Drag?
Oh, 100% an ongoing part of the franchise. Here’s to hoping everyone buys tickets and comes to the show, and we sell out the King of Drag Tour, the Royal Tour, season one. We don’t want this to stop, and we hopefully want to build this into bigger venues. Again, we chose smaller venues to really get our feet wet this year and learn on this first season of the tour. But I am very confident and feel very good about the fans coming out and supporting by buying tickets and showing up to this, this year’s tour, and proving to the world that they want this tour again next season.
Revry has been just knocking them dead with I’m Dead, and now there’s Rock Out and season two of King of Drag. You’ve watched queer entertainment evolve dramatically during your career. What excites you most about where it’s heading next?
I’m just going to speak from Revry’s perspective on this one. I think queer representation is really important in media, especially in today’s political climate, at least in the United States. And it’s more important now to be telling these types of stories and to be celebrating them and have a platform. I am super excited about next year, 2027. We’re already working on our slate for 2027. We are definitely going to be bringing back I’m Dead with another season with 12 new queer comedians. We will most likely definitely be bringing back, hopefully, if all goes well this season, but I can’t see it failing, but season three of King of Drag. Mic Drop has been my podcast talk show has been a real staple to really… Look, the thing that I love to do is I love to celebrate queer talent. That’s what I think I do best, whether it’s leading this company or being on camera as a judge or a personality on the network, very much like the new wave of Andy Cohen. But we’re like the new Bravo from my lips to God’s ears.
What excites me is discovering new voices, having a platform for new queer talent, whether you’re a king, a comedian, or a thing, or anything in between, to be able to feel like, “Oh my God, I want to be on that show,” or, “I aspire to do comedy like Pressure K. or like Adario Mercadante who does it as a furry.” I want opportunities that maybe don’t exist in other parts of media that we are offering at Revry. We are working on some really cool new programming to hopefully find our next big franchise show with some friends of ours who are different big TV producers in the unscripted reality space. I can’t say really more than that, but there is something in development that may have a doll or two in it.
If you could give Revry unlimited resources to make one queer series or film that doesn’t exist yet, what would you make?
Ah, you’re killing me because I want to give away what the thing is that we’re working on for next year because that’s what I would totally give all of those resources to. But if I could wave a wand I think one of the things that’s become, that I would love to do is I’d love to find more scripted opportunities for Revry to be able to invest in. Right now, it’s been very difficult for us to do scripted simply because the turnaround time doesn’t really work as well with brands. Most people don’t always realize we’re free queer TV. We are a free streaming network specifically in the United States, and we’re ad-supported in the United States, so brands are the things that underwrite our shows. Shout out to e.l.f. Cosmetics for underwriting King of Drag. Shout out to Verizon for underwriting I’m Dead. We don’t have the same types of budgets that big networks do. But if I could wave a wand and get all the funding in the world, I would invest in scripted projects. But unfortunately, we just haven’t been able to find that opportunity yet or at least figure out how to crack the mold and the model on how to do that with brands because brands want things to come out very quickly.
Looking ahead, what’s next for Revry that you’re particularly excited about besides the mystery project?
I think the things that I’m really excited about right now that’s ahead of me for the next quarter are the release of King of Drag, folks tuning into Mic Drop and watching my talk show and podcast, people watching Rock Out, and, of course, people buying tickets to the tour. Those are four big things that we’re really talking about and publicizing. But I think look, it’s the expansion of our network. Q4 and the next quarter going into September and into October and November. December is always an exciting time because we have people’s attention. People are watching television. They’re also having experiences like watch parties.
I’m excited to see the watch parties that come out of specifically King of Drag this year. Last year we were tracking 212 watch parties for the show globally from Taiwan to South Africa to Brazil to Spain to Paris to all over Canada. There were like four going on in Los Angeles, and I swear we were only responsible for sponsoring one of them and I know that there’s already going to be two or three in Atlanta. The thing that excites me is to see the culture grow for King of Drag, and to see how big these watch parties scale from what we saw – because we’d have folks sending their videos or photos in from all over the world of their watch parties, and that was really exciting. And that was really eye-opening. I’m like, oh my God, people are, like, legit in Paris watching this, having a watch party and watching it at 1:00 in the morning because they were watching the live airing that we had in the West Coast and the East Coast in the United States. I’m like, this is crazy and I’m excited to see how much bigger that gets this year.
Revry is available free on the Revry app and across major streaming platforms and devices worldwide. For updates, follow @revrytv on social media. Check out Damian’s podcast Mic Drop and follow him on Instagram. Get tickets for the King of Drag tour here.
