As we approach yet another December wherein Mariah Carey will indisputably reign as the Queen of Christmas, Matt Rogers is more than happy to serve as the holiday season’s Prince.
Ahead of his upcoming “Christmas in December” tour, the “Las Culturistas” comedian opened up to TheWrap about everything from his Season 2 stint in “Palm Royale” to his 2026 podcasting goals with Bowen Yang and The Culture Awards, which was just renewed for a second televised ceremony at Bravo.
“I’m really looking forward to it, because now we know how to execute it. I know it looks like we really nailed it the first time, but that was truly against all odds. People really didn’t know what the show was when we reached out to them to be on it; it was very hard to get across that it was a comedy special disguised as an awards show. But now people get it and there’s an infrastructure in place to really crush it next time,” Rogers told TheWrap last week. “It was a breath of fresh air for people in this industry to just take the piss out of this thing that runs people ragged, the campaigning.”
“One of my goals for next year is to re-focus everything a little bit more on comedy and more on fun, because we’re at an interesting point trying to walk the walk between actually being in this industry and then commenting on this industry and having fun with it and not taking an industry so seriously that, unfortunately, oftentimes, does take itself very seriously. So next year, I’m on Project Not Give a F–k,” he added. “The podcast has become so successful and really blown away our wildest dreams, but I’m interested in re-focusing it on what it’s always been and we have a new renewed energy — and a new renewed contract.”
Plus, Rogers revealed he and co-host Yang really don’t know when their superstar guests are about to break news on their podcast. “I’m really happy that we were able to to announce it, because it just felt like such a gay Mad Lib: ‘Jennifer Lawrence announces on ‘Las Culturistas’ that she and Emma Stone are producing a Miss Piggy movie written by Cole Escola,’” he shared. “It’s just exactly what we needed on Day 1 of Zohran’s America.”
“The challenge with the podcast now is that we’ve kind of stumbled onto this new element of it, which is it’s now a popular enough podcast where actual huge figures in culture want to be on the show. We’re now trying to figure out a way to balance that new element of the podcast with everything that it’s been — an occasionally nonsensical back and forth between me and Bowen or a fan-favorite who is also one of our great friends just passing the ball. It’s different every week,” Rogers explained. “Our challenge is keeping the ‘Las Culturistas’ stuff that everyone knows and loves and also figuring out how to bring in these big A-list culture-makers and explore their careers, while also maintaining the hangout spirit of the podcast.”
Elsewhere in the interview, the “Palm Royale” Season 2 guest star called his scenes with Kristen Wiig a “life highlight,” further teasing: “The show is crazier and more absurd than ever. That’s the great thing, just like ‘The Culture Awards,’ it really is going for it in a way that we need … just kick back and go for the joke.”
And while that show is currently airing on Apple TV, Rogers also revealed a bit of what fans can expect when his 11-city tour hits the road next month.
“I have a section in the show called ‘The Red/Green Section,’ which is to honor the Christmas colors and step away from the Christmas standards of it all; do some covers that I want to do that reference red and green. Last year, I did Chappell Roan’s ‘Red Wine Supernova’ into ‘The Wizard and I’ from ‘Wicked.’ This year, I’m doing a new ‘Red/Green Section’ medley,” he said. “If you think hard about what was relevant this year in pop culture that would give Red and what will be relevant in pop culture by the end of the year that will give Green, you can sort of do the math there.”
So, ultimately, who does the iconic comedian see as his peers in the Christmas community?
“You can’t answer that question without paying respect to the Queen. I am not talking about Mrs. Claus, I’m talking about Mariah herself. She’s always going to be the queen,” Rogers gushed. “People really do talk about her like she’s a mythological person in Christmas — there’s Santa and Mariah. I wonder if it’s going to become this thing over the centuries where people question whether or not she was real. But you’ve got Mariah, you got Santa, you got Rudolph, you got Frosty and you got me. Dream blunt rotation.”
Tickets for Matt Rogers’ “Christmas in December” tour are on sale now.
