Matt Rogers talks bringing zeitgeisty Las Culturistas Awards to TV for the 1st time
Enter the Las Culturistas Culture Awards, now in its fifth year — and coming to television for the first time Tuesday. Conceived by comedians and longtime friends Bowen Yang ('Saturday Night Live') and Matt Rogers ('I Love That For You') and an outgrowth of their 'Las Culturistas' podcast, this year's edition was taped in July and will air on Bravo.
'The thing that's cohesive about Bravo and our brand is the fact that we center fun and that kind of made it a really natural home for us,' Rogers said recently over Zoom.
These awards give flowers to a variety of genres. Categories this year include most iconic building or structure (Lumon headquarters from 'Severance' is nominated), best title for the next 'Bridget Jones' ('Bridget Jones to Terabithia' is a contender) and the Lindsay Lohan in 'Parent Trap' award for twins excellence (Michael B. Jordan gets a nod for 'Sinners').
Rogers' favorite? 'They're all my babies,' he said, but is most proud of best 'Batman' woman. One of the nominees: Robyn — yes, not Robin. 'It's the Riddler's assistant,' joked Rogers. 'Robyn scenes were cut from the movie.' The awards aren't even limited to work from the past year — the nonexistent Robyn's competitors include both Michelle Pfeiffer and Anne Hathaway's portrayal of Catwoman.
The awards are 'one of the most fun things we do every year,' Rogers said. The whole point is to remind people that Hollywood — and especially awards shows — are not that serious.
Rogers spoke with The Associated Press about the Las Culturistas Culture Awards, the podcast and keeping up with pop culture. This interview has been edited for clarity and brevity.
AP: Why did you and Bowen start the Las Culturistas Culture Awards?
ROGERS: I don't think there's anything funnier than people who take themselves too seriously. And being hosts of a pop culture podcast in which we talk about the entertainment industry quite frequently, we see it as an opportunity to empower everyone to drop their shoulders a little bit. Bowen was just nominated for his fifth (chance at an) Emmy. It still means something, even though we're in the process of satirizing it, which says everything you need to know about the place that this holds in our culture.
AP: Do you ever find it hard to keep up with everything that's popping in the zeitgeist?
ROGERS: Absolutely. We talk about this a lot on the show. The death of monoculture is a very real thing, so we are not all watching the same stuff. It would be impossible to cover everything that everyone wants us to cover. For example, I can't really do 'Love Island.' The episodes are just a little too long and, also, it's not my flavor of reality show. That doesn't mean that l don't think it's incredible for people that want to watch it. I am an Ariana Madix superfan and supporter. Having said that, if we're talking about something on 'Las Culturistas,' it is honest. I would never want to just cram for the podcast. If you hear us talking about it, it's something we're actually encountering.
AP: As you and Bowen each become busier with your individual careers, is there a scenario where you would end the podcast? (Yang did take a break in 2023 to focus on his mental health.)
ROGERS: The podcast is not hard to do. Maybe if it were, or if we felt like at a certain point it was too exposing, we would maybe take a break. But the fact is, we don't feel that way. If it was ever a thing of like, 'Hey, we need to wind it back,' that probably means we would book less guests and just talk to each other. The energy expense is when we're getting ready to host someone that we love or that we wanna make sure has a good time. It's an hour or whatever of me talking to my friend.
AP: Why do you think there are so many podcasts out there?
ROGERS: It's a celebration of someone's interests. I always say if you have an interest, you can find 15 podcasts about that thing no matter what it is. I think what makes people excited about this world is it's a place to talk and deep dive or be too granular and too niche about what you love.
AP: What was the original goal for 'Las Culturistas' when you started back in 2016? You've gone on to have Michelle Obama, Lady Gaga, Sarah Jessica Parker and Chappell Roan as guests.
ROGERS: The podcast started with me and Bowen sitting behind mics, very lo-fi at our friend's apartment. A mattress was in the window to keep the sound out. It was just a playdate for me and Bowen. It wasn't even weekly in the very beginning. It was very haphazard. The sentence, 'Oh, we owe them an episode,' was uttered a lot. Then suddenly it became this thing. And we realized it was really not only helping us, but it was something we enjoyed.
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