This transcript was automatically generated and might contain errors.

[0:22] Heather Bedor: Well, hello there. Happy Monday. Hello. It's Monday. I feel like I should be working like the one nine hundred phone operators. Um, I have laryngeal spasms because this Florida girl did not know that in 11 degree weather, you need to cover your mouth and not talk as much outside. So oops. Um, so as I described to my friends on my birthday this past weekend, my vocal cords are having spontaneous orgasms. So it's great. Listen, fantastic. That's fine. I mean, I'm here for it. At least part of my body is um. But uh it's gonna be a really fun show tonight. I'm excited to be very honest. Um, I see some of our friends are starting to join us. Hello, Olivia. Um, yeah. Hey everyone. Yes, we had a very fun time in the city. I'm glad we got to hang out, got to hang out with Jeffrey a little bit. Next time.

[1:23] Amber Brzezinski: Are your vocal cords having orgasms too?

[1:25] Heather Bedor: I mean no, they think I have a cerebral spinal fluid leak out of my brain, which honestly, I don't know if that's better or worse than what you're dealing with.

[1:37] Amber Brzezinski: I think that's how it's not great. You know, we're gonna be able to do that. We're just trying to get to the bottom of it. So I have a fun CT facial scan coming up. So wish me luck with that.

[1:51] Heather Bedor: That's fine. And yeah, it'll be good times. I mean, it'll be great. Well, welcome to another splendid edition of the Broadway Fan Club Podcast. My name is Heather, although I sound like Heath, and the lovely lady to my side is the one and only Amber. Um, we are super excited. Um, I just have to say, our guest tonight, one of my favorite people in the world, um, who all they're listening backstage knows how much I love them. Um, and we've known each other, I think over a decade at this point, and uh seeing their star shooting through the sky has been one of the greatest pleasures of my life uh to be able to see a friend who deserves all success, succeed, um, and share their talents with the world and just bring joy and a little bit of sarcasm and comedy and grace and elegance and beauty and all the fabulous things that they can do. Um, you guys know her, you love her. The one and only Ginger Minj, please bring her to the stage.

[2:47] Ginger Minj: Hello, hello, doll.

[2:50] Heather Bedor: Hello. You made me feel like Interplanet Janet.

[2:52] Ginger Minj: I'm a galaxy girl.

[2:54] Heather Bedor: You are, but you are. I mean, based off of like how long I've known you and like where we've come from, it like truly, and I know I say this to you like I'm so damn proud of you all of the time.

[3:08] Ginger Minj: Well, I appreciate it.

[3:10] Heather Bedor: Well, good, as usual.

[3:11] Ginger Minj: Yeah, it's nice to be appreciated because you know what? It's not always like that.

[3:14] Heather Bedor: That's fair.

[3:17] Ginger Minj: People suck.

[3:18] Heather Bedor: It sucks.

[3:19] Ginger Minj: People do suck all the time. Do you know? And I feel like we live in an age of where people are just comfortable sucking out.

[3:27] Ginger Minj: Yeah, well, you know what it is, though. I mean, there was course, like from the moment I was announced for All Stars 10 to the time I won, and then the month. I'm sorry afterwards. We're on All Stars 10. Oops, oh baby, maybe I won all-stars. Um, and I mean, a lot of people had a lot of opinions from the moment I was announced to be back. And I I had to, I was like turning it over in my head, and I'm like, why are people so angry? Then I went, Oh, because the world's kind of a shit show right now. And this is something to safely rage about.

[3:58] Heather Bedor: Right.

[3:58] Ginger Minj: I guess. And I've noticed that, like, not just with drag race, not even just with reality TV.

[4:04] Ginger Minj: Oh, thanks, Olivia. I love you too. Um, uh, but I've noticed it like just in media in general. Yes, people are are like they're vicious, they've got their claws out and they're on the attack all the time. And I think it's because the world is so freaking crazy right now. People are like, I'm just gonna be mad at that, so I don't have to think about what's really going on. Like people have no filter, and then like in person, they have like I was on Times Square the other day, because shame on me. Um also love that our ships passed the you were in New York and I was in New York, but you were off doing your thing, I'm doing my thing.

[4:36] Heather Bedor: I literally landed, did the event and got back on a plane.

[4:40] Ginger Minj: Yeah, you're crazy.

[4:41] Heather Bedor: Yeah, I but it was too cold for me, so I'm glad I left.

[4:45] Ginger Minj: Yes, otherwise, your vocal cord is.

[4:47] Heather Bedor: It's been freezing as a new enemy.

[4:51] Ginger Minj: I just pushed snow off my cart yesterday.

[4:55] Heather Bedor: It was a nightmare.

[4:57] Ginger Minj: It's like you're speaking a foreign language right now.

[4:59] Heather Bedor: Snow off of my car.

[5:02] Ginger Minj: Uh-uh.

[5:03] Heather Bedor: It was six. We had a high of 64 today. It was gorgeous.

[5:06] Ginger Minj: I was there with like my it was gorgeous, but I was still there in like full hoodie track suit, fur moment.

[5:14] Heather Bedor: Yeah.

[5:15] Ginger Minj: Because I was freezing.

[5:16] Heather Bedor: Yeah, well, Florida weather, we've discussed this before. Florida cold and Florida winter, very different than up north.

[5:23] Ginger Minj: Oh, yeah.

[5:24] Heather Bedor: Oh, yeah.

[5:25] Ginger Minj: I mean, I lived in New York City for three years.

[5:28] Heather Bedor: And I thank God I was like 18, 19, 20 when I did it.

[5:32] Ginger Minj: Yeah.

[5:33] Heather Bedor: Because you don't you can't feel anything at that age.

[5:36] Ginger Minj: You don't care if you feel anything.

[5:37] Heather Bedor: You drink so much that you don't have to.

[5:40] Ginger Minj: And like now I go there for work or like I spend my summers in P Town.

[5:45] Ginger Minj: And then last year we were like, oh, there well, let's go for Holly Folly in P Town. I went, it's in the the middle of December. It was snowing and it was beautiful, but I was like, I I'm talking about it. Like my body doesn't deal with this.

[6:00] Heather Bedor: No, because it gets too hot here.

[6:01] Ginger Minj: We have the extreme opposite.

[6:03] Heather Bedor: But it just it's the weather gets really funky.

[6:06] Ginger Minj: But we don't need to talk about the weather.

[6:08] Heather Bedor: There's so much more.

[6:09] Ginger Minj: So much more fun things to talk about than the weather.

[6:12] Heather Bedor: I don't know. I was taught in my my elocution classes.

[6:16] Ginger Minj: You always start with the weather.

[6:18] Heather Bedor: Fair.

[6:19] Ginger Minj: And you are Southern Belle.

[6:21] Heather Bedor: I am.

[6:22] Ginger Minj: Yes, that's that is a real accent.

[6:24] Heather Bedor: That is not pushed off.

[6:26] Ginger Minj: That is a real well, and the thing about it is like I I tried to lose it for so long, especially when I moved to New York.

[6:33] Ginger Minj: Well, right before I moved to New York, I was like, I'm gonna lose this accent because it's gonna get in the way. And then I realized I started having more success. The more I would just lay it on and talk. They'd be like, your accent is so charming. And I'd say, Well, I don't have an accent, honey. Y'all got an accent.

[6:48] Heather Bedor: That's about right.

[6:49] Ginger Minj: Of course.

[6:50] Heather Bedor: Uh-huh.

[6:50] Ginger Minj: But but then I just started booking the jobs because they thought I was charming.

[6:54] Heather Bedor: Super stuff.

[6:55] Ginger Minj: And they knew nothing.

[6:56] Heather Bedor: No.

[6:57] Ginger Minj: But no, I mean it's it's been really fascinating. Um, when we first met, you were doing incredible local theater here in Orlando, and we met right after you were doing Hedwig on the Ink Grange.

[7:09] Ginger Minj: Yeah, I did it for two and a half years here in Orlando, and it was one of those roles where like, I mean, I truly believe that that experience changed my life. I don't think I would have done drag race, at least not when I did it. I don't think I would have like really taken off the way I did had I not had that experience because I of course I love the movie.

[7:32] Ginger Minj: Um I remember when the original production was out before the movie was even made. It just it I kept getting inundated with it from all these people. They're like, I think you would really love this. And I did, but I didn't connect with it.

[7:45] Heather Bedor: No, because you were more of the actor side than anything else.

[7:48] Ginger Minj: Yeah, and then I love um I love John Cameron Mitchell.

[7:53] Ginger Minj: Of course, I've gotten to meet him several times since, but in my head when I was offered this role, I was like, it John Cameron Mitchell, that performance that he wrote it, he performed it, like that is him, and I don't see myself in that.

[8:08] Ginger Minj: And I turned it down for a long time until eventually Amy, who produced it, she came to my house and she was like, just take this and read it.

[8:19] Ginger Minj: She was no, she was like, I'm not gonna make you do it. Just freaking read it and don't think about the movie or the music or anything. I got three pages into that opening and I went, Oh god, I know this person, and that person is me.

[8:34] Ginger Minj: And that's what like made me do it. So I went in and I said, All right, I'll do it, but I have to do it like my way in a totally different universe.

[8:43] Ginger Minj: And it just kind of hit right from the beginning. And it was the show that just would not die. It wouldn't go away. We we closed at the Abbey and we moved to Parliament House. We closed the Parliament House, and then they wanted to do it again. So it just kept going and going and going and RuPaul actually saw like clips of oh nice the video from when we did that and that was one of the reasons that they they reached out to me to audition she's watching everywhere.

[9:10] Heather Bedor: She is she is she just pops up in all of your videos now I'm like oh there's RuPaul just popping up well and you know I'm I'm sure you've heard the news John Cameron Mitchell is now the new uh part of O'Mary

[9:10] Ginger Minj: Yeah I think that's so fun it's interesting because I think he and his style are so specific his comedy is so understated that he's the one person they've announced as a Mary that I'm like I just don't see how that fits so I'm I'm most excited about him than I have been about anybody else because I can't picture it.

[9:51] Ginger Minj: Yeah, I just saw it for the first time last week with Jane and Cheyenne because I love Cheyenne. I've known him for a bit, but he just texted me a couple hours ago. I love that man; he is just so kind. He made me cry, and I think I made him cry on the cruise like two years ago. He was in the very first Broadway show I ever saw in New York, which was All Shook Up, and he was like the reason that I was like, "Oh, I could do this for a living. That's cool." But, um, just delightful. But yeah, I mean, it was a crazy show, and I'm like, "Oh, Jane Krakowski is saying all these naughty words," and then I'm going, "Oh, John Cameron Mitchell can definitely say all those naughty words," but it'll be really interesting.

[10:34] Ginger Minj: So I'm curious to see the kind of crowd that's gonna come up for it.

[10:37] Heather Bedor: But I'm here.

[10:37] Ginger Minj: I think the casting for that show, that production has been so smart.

[10:43] Heather Bedor: Yeah.

[10:44] Ginger Minj: Because it's been all over the place.

[10:46] Heather Bedor: And as soon as you think, oh, okay, they found their niche.

[10:49] Ginger Minj: Okay, Jinx Monsoon.

[10:51] Heather Bedor: She goes in, she knocks it out of the park, she sells so well.

[10:54] Ginger Minj: You go, okay, well, maybe they're going to turn this into a drag race vehicle.

[10:59] Ginger Minj: So I I mean, uh, they have spoken with me about possibly stepping in at some point.

[11:06] Heather Bedor: Um, I mean, there's like very little conversation, so I don't want to be able to do that.

[11:11] Ginger Minj: Yeah, I mean, I would love to do it if it worked out. But when once they reached out after Jinx was in it, I was like, oh, well maybe this is gonna be their new business model because you know, like once you have success with one little podcasting, right?

[11:25] Heather Bedor: You want to like keep in that same vein.

[11:28] Ginger Minj: But no, then they immediately announce Jane Krakowski, and then from Jane Krakowski, we go into John Cameron Mitchell. We've had Titus do it.

[11:35] Heather Bedor: Yeah, I'm Betty, yeah.

[11:38] Ginger Minj: Oh, yeah.

[11:39] Heather Bedor: And we've had like so many different, you know, gender identities and expressions and races, and it's just like I I just love how this role has just been for everyone.

[11:52] Ginger Minj: Yeah, and this this show is just it's it's the literally for everyone.

[11:56] Heather Bedor: It's beautiful.

[11:57] Ginger Minj: Well, and I love that it takes somebody like Mary Todd Lincoln, who is a very real tangible person.

[12:03] Heather Bedor: Absolutely.

[12:04] Ginger Minj: We all know so much about I I mean so much technically, but I mean, we know who she is.

[12:11] Heather Bedor: We're very aware of what she is, yeah.

[12:13] Ginger Minj: Yeah, and to go, okay, throw it out the window because none of that matters.

[12:17] Heather Bedor: Right.

[12:18] Ginger Minj: I love that. I really love that because one of my dreams for years has been to play Annie Oakley and like a completely reconceived version of Annie Get Your Gun.

[12:30] Ginger Minj: And I've always been told, No, you can't do that because she was a real person.

[12:35] Ginger Minj: I'm a real person.

[12:37] Ginger Minj: Right. Yeah. Right. So this is theater. It's storytelling. Like let's just tell the story in a different way.

[12:44] Amber Brzezinski: Absolutely. No, it's a hundred percent like, well, and you have one role that you have been dying to do for a very long time.

[12:52] Ginger Minj: Yes. I'm wall manifesting it into the universe. Yes. Do we want do we want to even talk about it? We want to keep that.

[13:00] Amber Brzezinski: Let's talk about it. Let's put it out there.

[13:02] Ginger Minj: Yes. I want to be Madame Morable in Wicked on Broadway.

[13:06] Amber Brzezinski: Yeah. Yes. Wicked winner. I mean, it would be phenomenal cast. You have been wanting that for forever.

[13:17] Ginger Minj: Um hence Elfie. I mean, you've got you've got Wicked around you. We also have one though. Like preferably in the warmer months. If we could if we can time that, that'd be ideal.

[13:32] Amber Brzezinski: Yeah, I would love that. But luckily she wears enough layers that I think it'll be okay even in the winter.

[13:37] Ginger Minj: Okay. So then you just like go you have your car waiting, you like hide underneath all the cloaks and you go home and you're done.

[13:43] Ginger Minj: Girl, you know me. If there is one person there that wants my autograph, I will sit on that street in the snow and talk to them for three hours.

[13:51] Amber Brzezinski: Yes, I do know that. Um yeah, we were talking about Disney before we went live and I'm like, oh yeah, have you been recognized recently? And the last time that we went to Disney together, um, when we were in Animal Kingdom.

[14:01] Ginger Minj: And the sweetest girl came up. I mean, she ought to have been like 15 or 16. And oh yeah. Oh my god. And I mean, you were clearly like you were hanging you were in your Louis Vuitton sweats, but enough said.

[14:14] Amber Brzezinski: Um I love you for you're from the outlet kids. There's nothing wrong with that. Bougie on a budget. Bougie and a budget. But like you were just hanging out, and you were just you were always you give your fans such lip service. Like she came over, she like grabbed her parents, she was like screaming, it's gendermend, and it was so cute.

[14:33] Ginger Minj: And like you just you you treat your fans so well, and I think that that is something that you're gonna do.

[14:39] Ginger Minj: Because they treat me well, yeah, they treat me well, and even Trixie Mattel said she said you'll you may not ever have the biggest fan base from Drag Race, but you have the most loyal that I've ever seen across the board.

[14:51] Ginger Minj: And I said that's because these people aren't just fans to me. Like they a lot of them have become lifelong friends of mine. Um, but even the ones who I don't get particularly close with, like I really share great moments with all of the fans that I need.

[15:07] Amber Brzezinski: Yeah, um, and it's as much for me as it is for them.

[15:10] Ginger Minj: For sure. Again, like what you were saying, like you didn't think that your your dream was not to be on RuPaul's drag race. Like I remember a time when that was not anywhere in the books.

[15:20] Ginger Minj: And no, I never thought about like it. I was a pageant girl, really, because you know, when I started drag 25 years ago at this point, drag race wasn't a thing, and the only way to become famous in the drag world was to compete for these national pageants.

[15:38] Ginger Minj: And I was I had been first or second runner up like six years in a row. Well, five years in a row going into my sixth year um at Miss Continental Plus, and amazing I had you can't enter that one anymore.

[15:50] Ginger Minj: No, I can't, but I can enter all I can do elite now because I'm over 40. But um your vintage baby. Juju B and I, I had never met her at that point. We got um we were being honored by the Gay and Lesbian Youth Center of Hoboken, New Jersey.

[16:11] Ginger Minj: Okay. And so we spent like a whole weekend together there doing workshops with the these kids. We did a show, we did talk back, and at the end of our time together, she was like, Why why haven't you been on the show? I said, What show?

[16:23] Ginger Minj: She said, RuPaul's drag race. I was like, Oh, because it's so out of my periphery. Like, I yeah, I have friends that had been on it, and I had watched it because of them, but it was never my focus.

[16:35] Ginger Minj: And she said, You're gonna be on that show because they need you and you need them. Didn't think about it. Went back to Miss Continental Plus a couple months later, did not get first runner up, I got second runner up.

[16:45] Ginger Minj: And I went, oh shit. I was like, Well, I'm not mad, but I have to make a change because I feel like I'm getting stagnant. And like two days later, I got a phone call from World of Wonder, the producers of Drag Race. They're like, Hi, is this Ginger Minge? Juju B will not stop blowing this up about you.

[17:03] Ginger Minj: So can you please audition so that we can tell her that we've reached out? I love that. I did, and and now like she's one of my closest friends. We just filmed this movie together. We did the hocus bulbs live four together.

[17:17] Amber Brzezinski: Okay, and you've been nonstop.

[17:19] Ginger Minj: Nonstop. Non stop. But it's all Juju B's fault.

[17:24] Amber Brzezinski: I mean, damn you, Juju B. Honestly, I will say I am a drag race loyalist. And I am like the new seasons, I just wondering like the old seasons. Like, I like the older seasons better.

[17:37] Ginger Minj: Season seven. I think what's interesting about it is back when we were doing drag race and season seven, we were already like seven season seven. It's like how it is.

[17:51] Amber Brzezinski: Yeah, it's a topic like a fine one. And the untucked of season seven is top tier with the bitter old lady brigade.

[17:54] Ginger Minj: The bitter old lady brigade, yeah. Oh, yeah. So Amber is a good one. We're all of us were in our 20s.

[18:05] Ginger Minj: Yeah, yeah, and you guys were just like, I hate these young girls. But the interesting thing about that was we thought it was funny, like all of us, both sides. We thought we were just doing this stupid silly thing because we're like, I'm 29, you're 29, and you're 23, whatever.

[18:24] Ginger Minj: But right, what of course they wanted those television moments, so it was edited in a certain way. Oh yeah, that's but they never showed on reality shows. They never showed the flip side of it.

[18:33] Ginger Minj: So all you would see is like me popping off and be like, bitch, you wear the same wig every week. You don't see the three hours of all of them going, you're so old, you're so creaky, you're dragging so close.

[18:47] Amber Brzezinski: Right. So we'd watch it every week, and it was just as uh new and exciting for us as it was for everybody. Like, what did I do? Who did I piss off this week? I have no idea.

[18:56] Ginger Minj: Yeah, but when we were filming that, we were already like, Well, this has gotta be like running out of steam. This is season seven of a drag competition on logo, and then season seven was kind of the one that flipped everything to on social media and became a juggernaut, right?

[19:14] Ginger Minj: And it has only gotten bigger from there, and um now it was so interesting because when we started like season seven or whatever, it was all of us girls who had been in the drag scene since way before drag race was a thing.

[19:27] Amber Brzezinski: Right.

[19:28] Ginger Minj: Now all of the casts are made up of these kids who grew up watching Drag Race and started drag because of Drag Race.

[19:37] Amber Brzezinski: Yeah, which is interesting in and of itself, but you don't have a mix of perspectives like you used to in the conversation.

[19:45] Ginger Minj: And I think that's I love the show, and I love the twists and the turns, and because people are coming back, and these people are hiding behind a mirror. Like, but it's like there's there's so many ch different things they're trying to pull.

[19:56] Amber Brzezinski: And I think that's I I mean, I think to Amber's effects there, I think those original seasons were like more for the grit besides the game. It was more like I'm gonna show who I am as this queen and my personality and what I can do.

[20:09] Ginger Minj: And I think now it's much uh at least to me, it's a lot more gameplay, which you've done flawlessly, by the way. Um by staying out of it, honestly.

[20:18] Ginger Minj: Yeah, no, I mean, like but yes, like they will try to paint everyone in a certain way, but you you can very much you're a very smart individual and have known that for a very long time, but you know when to keep your mouth shut, you know when to say something, but at the same time, you know how to respect people and you know how to make sure that if people are talking shit, you're like, okay, that's fine.

[20:40] Ginger Minj: Like I'm getting more attention and energy to the people who are supporting me.

[20:43] Amber Brzezinski: Right. RuPaul basically beat it into my head when we were filming AJ and the Queen that what other people think about you is not your business. It's none of your business. Any of it it says so much about them and it says zero about you.

[20:59] Ginger Minj: Right. And I I thought about that and I kept turning it over in my head, and I was like, you know what? She's right. Because I could have an opinion on this person that said this thing about me, but at the end of the day, I don't know who they are, I don't know what their story is.

[21:15] Ginger Minj: I don't know where they're from. Um, so that really put it into perspective for me to be like, so honestly, it's kind of the same, but flipped. You know nothing about me. So what you're saying, I know that it is completely untrue.

[21:27] Ginger Minj: Right. And I shouldn't put stock into that because why? Like, why feed your fantasy when it doesn't like align with mine? I'm not gonna lower myself to those standards of what you see me as. I'm gonna be the same person.

[21:42] Ginger Minj: And if you don't like it, that's okay. I'm gonna put my energy into something else.

[21:45] Amber Brzezinski: Yeah. And speaking of putting your energy into something else, look at that transition. Um I want to talk about this new song that you released, which is technically for um Broadway fans. Uh, do you want to set it up? Because I'm gonna play the video, or do you Yeah, yeah, I would love that.

[22:01] Ginger Minj: Uh, I'll do it. Um, so I have an upcoming EP called Ginger Minge The Broad's Way, which is like me finally marrying my drag with the Broadway world. I got to that damn time.

[22:15] Ginger Minj: Well, I got into drag because of theater. I mean, we're either born through the theater or on Halloween. And I was one of the theater babies for sure, but I also put a lot of distance between musical theater and ginger as a character for so long.

[22:32] Ginger Minj: Because, you know, I mean, theater girls, particularly in the drag race universe, they're never really looked on favorably by the fan base. So I tried to keep that at arm's length, but I loved it so much.

[22:42] Ginger Minj: So this year I have found a lot more success with just going towards the things that bring me joy. I'm realizing they bring other people joy as well. And that's why we decided to do this EP.

[22:56] Ginger Minj: And this song was the first one that I chose. It is fabulous, baby from Sister Act. And it's kind of my mantra. I play it on a loop whenever I'm getting painted. I have for years. Because it's this woman who knows exactly who she is, exactly what she has to offer.

[23:13] Ginger Minj: It hasn't been recognized by the rest of the world. And she's finally saying, I don't care. I'm gonna tell you how fabulous I am.

[23:20] Amber Brzezinski: Right. I love it. All right, and here we go. Here's fabulous baby. Stand by, everybody.

[23:23] ♪ Musical number: "Fabulous, Baby" — performed by Ginger Minj ♪

[25:14] Ginger Minj: Check me out. Ain't no doubt where this girl is fine. So joke all you want, go ahead and laugh. One day, you'll beg for my autograph. Oh, I'm fabulous, baby. So damn fabulous, baby. Can't you see me lit up on the stage? That's the camera's the door me. Can't you see me on walking red carpets or doing TV? Can't you see all my millions of fans screaming desperately for me? I'm a diva, a goddess, a star on the brink. A house rock and digit, and a hot shock and pink. A party, a riot, the whole kitchen sink. It's time for the world to find out. Don't you think? Oh, I get me. Can't you see? I'm fabulous, babies. Freeze your eyes, can't disguise my star quality. So laugh all you'll want, I won't be denied what I have got is to have to hide I am fabulous baby so damn fabulous baby I'll do fabulous guarantee I'll be fabulous baby fresh free fabulous baby I'm so fabulous waiting yay I was almost thinking my voice singing along I was like dying over there it's just such a good song like it really it's I I love learning that that's what you listen to when you get painted I got to play everything for Raven Simone um she did uh a day shoot on the movie with us and before we released it I was like can I play you this because hers is actually my favorite I got to see her twice do Sister Act on Broadway and she I think uh just epitomized that role in that production so I was like can I just get your opinion on this before I uh put it out into the world and she got a little teary-eyed and she's like this just brings back so many great memories and uh she I was telling her why I chose that song and she said really like out of all of the moments and the songs in that show that's the one that terrified me and also like got me so hyped up every single night because it really does feel like this declaration of whether you see it or not, I know I'm amazing.

[28:07] Heather Bedor: Right.

[28:08] Ginger Minj: Absolutely. And I said that's exactly why I picked it that's how you picked it.

[28:12] Amber Brzezinski: Yeah.

[28:12] Ginger Minj: And I have to say, like, you could totally tell, like even just with like from the show to even what you did working with like Alaska and Tomas on the concept album of Dragon. Like your theater uh like background, it just reflects so much in everything you do. Like, I all I can think of is just like some of my favorite drag race performances are some that you did, like the the eggs one that one haunt me forever in the best way. So good way, but it's so good. And then what was the like the the Russian horse lady?

[28:54] Amber Brzezinski: Oh, yeah.

[28:55] Ginger Minj: Oh, um, Catherine the Great.

[28:57] Amber Brzezinski: Yeah, that was a great one. And then Fergie, everyone knows the Fergie one, like everyone will forever be talking about the Fergie one. So, like you could just tell, like that. Some performers on like some drag queen performers just have that flair to them where you can tell that they get that deeper understanding of a character of an experience, you know what I mean? And and you have that for sure.

[29:26] Ginger Minj: Well, my my lip sync wins have been as controversial as everything else. But well, I I really love it because the ones who get it, they totally get it. And even Rue has said, like, she said in front of people, like uh after the Defying Gravity lip sync, yeah. She she made a point to say, like both of you were so captivating, but she was like, Ginger, just you tell a story. Exactly until your theater background because I know exactly Heather's having a war. But she's like, I know exactly who you are from point A to point B, all the way to C.

[30:06] Amber Brzezinski: Right.

[30:06] Ginger Minj: Exactly. It tells a whole story. It's that full beginning, middle to end, like full moment. And like, yeah, sometimes people like do a wonderful job and it's a wonderful performance, but it's just not that complete that like full realization. Full circle, that full moment where it it comes full circle and and it summarizes.

[30:33] Heather Bedor: Yeah.

[30:34] Ginger Minj: No, no, I I don't have that in me.

[30:37] Amber Brzezinski: No.

[30:38] Ginger Minj: I don't know how to be chill about anything.

[30:40] Amber Brzezinski: No, but yeah, we loved drag the musical. We saw it so many times. We've had well, we also won the fang group for it. Of course, you know. Ginger, Tomas is obsessed and loves you.

[30:53] Ginger Minj: I love him. I love Ashley. I love the whole crew. Oh god, I was really sad that I didn't get to do the schedules just never aligned to me.

[31:02] Amber Brzezinski: Yeah.

[31:02] Ginger Minj: Well, you can even just tell like the pus pus influence that you had. Not that Nick wasn't amazing and made the character, you know, his own completely as well. But you know, you could just tell there's like that Gingerman and Minge influence in the character, just how they were written.

[31:21] Ginger Minj: He he messaged me right before the first reading because I had to back out. I had like some other what was I doing? Oh, I was hosting in Vegas. I was the same with your Vegas day.

[31:30] Amber Brzezinski: Yeah, yeah.

[31:33] Ginger Minj: It was the first time I hosted Vegas. Um, so I could like they just wouldn't let me out to do it. So I had to back out. And he was like, I'm gonna do it, but I'm terrified. So, so like, just kind of talk me through this a little bit. So I was like, I don't I don't know enough about it. Yeah, all I did was the concept album girl. But I just kind of told him what I was thinking, and then he ran with it and turned it into such a thing.

[31:55] Amber Brzezinski: So funny, yeah.

[31:57] Ginger Minj: But I think when I couldn't do Puss Puss, um, later, uh in New York, they had asked me to step in for Alaska when she went on vacation.

[32:08] Amber Brzezinski: Yes.

[32:09] Ginger Minj: And again, timing did not work out. It was some all-star stuff I was working on, but Jimbo got to step in and to do it, yes.

[32:17] Amber Brzezinski: Saw that show too.

[32:18] Ginger Minj: Well, but I think that yeah, it's a testament to your character too, Ginger, is that you wanna bring other people up, and that's always something I've noticed about you too. Um, which is why it's it's very inspirational. Um, I've always what is good for one is good for all, right?

[32:38] Ginger Minj: Like I remember when Valentina got announced to play Angel in the the lock, yeah, the live version of Rant, and there were so many girls from Drag Race and outside of Drag Race that were bashing her and pulling her down before anything even happened. And I I'm over there like this is incredible, this is amazing. And they said, Well, why? Why? Is that because you know, a year or two ago, when I was up for Edna Turnblad in Hairspray Live, before Harvey was gonna do it, like let's just say like if Harvey wanted to do it from the beginning, of course she should do it. Right. But when the talks were initially happening and I was on that list, I ended up getting passed over simply because they weren't ready to put a drag queen, even in a drag role on primetime television.

[33:23] Ginger Minj: She wasn't it the same thing happen as Little Mermaid 2 with Ursula, yeah, yeah. But it was so exciting that you know, a year later or whatever, here is a drag race star, one of my sisters who's taking on this iconic role on television for the whole world to see. So I was excited because I felt, yeah, I was like, oh my god, this is amazing because who knows the next time something comes around, maybe that will be for me, or maybe that'll be for you.

[33:48] Amber Brzezinski: Right.

[33:49] Ginger Minj: So I I've always felt like just build everybody up. You could be a bitch about it if you want, but just build them up.

[33:55] Amber Brzezinski: Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[33:55] Ginger Minj: Because it's only gonna benefit you.

[33:57] Amber Brzezinski: Absolutely. I think we're stronger together, you know.

[34:00] Ginger Minj: We open more doors when we work together. So uh well, unless you have a revolving door, then that's really a pain in the ass.

[34:07] Amber Brzezinski: But true.

[34:10] Ginger Minj: Only if you stop too soon.

[34:12] Amber Brzezinski: That's true.

[34:12] Ginger Minj: Or if it's that auto stop one, you're just an asshole.

[34:15] Amber Brzezinski: Oh, I know I hate that.

[34:16] Ginger Minj: I hate that. The PS the worst thing about New York City is all of those damn doors. Marriott Marquis, I'm looking at you all the time.

[34:24] Amber Brzezinski: That is the worst.

[34:25] Ginger Minj: Oh my gosh. We I just the one that slows down if people are too slow, and you're like, go. Yeah, and you just run like like face first into it, and you've got so much momentum because you've been walking through Times Square. You're like, everything's fast, everything's fast. I mean, their elevator goes from like the first floor to the 56th floor in 60 seconds, they need a voice.

[34:45] Amber Brzezinski: Yeah, for sure.

[34:47] Ginger Minj: But I did go see Stranger Things.

[34:49] Amber Brzezinski: Yeah, I was incredible, yeah.

[34:53] Ginger Minj: In the I have a ticket in January.

[34:55] Amber Brzezinski: I have a ticket in January.

[34:56] Ginger Minj: Oh, good. I mean, I'm a Stranger Things fan anyway, but my husband is not, he he just doesn't watch the show. But Michael and I took him with us to see it, and he was like this the whole time. Yes, he screamed, I screamed, everybody screamed. It was a good thing. Well, the production itself, like the special effects and everything like that.

[35:16] Amber Brzezinski: But um, well, while you were at Stranger Things, that was what Tuesday night?

[35:20] Ginger Minj: Monday night.

[35:22] Amber Brzezinski: Oh no, this was they were still in previews.

[35:25] Ginger Minj: Oh, this was months ago. This was during the All Stars 10 press week. So it would have been like I don't know, I can't keep up with your schedule.

[35:32] Amber Brzezinski: April may either. Now, if Drag uh gets booked across the pond, are you gonna consider making a an appearance?

[35:44] Ginger Minj: They have spoken to me to gauge your interest, but about a role that I don't think anybody would ever um assume I would play.

[35:53] Amber Brzezinski: Oh it's not it's not kitty, it's not pus puss.

[35:57] Ginger Minj: Um I'm playing the kid.

[36:02] Amber Brzezinski: There you go.

[36:03] Ginger Minj: Right, I'm Brendan.

[36:05] Amber Brzezinski: Oh, we love your Brendans.

[36:07] Ginger Minj: They they've checked for my my interest, and we're just waiting to see if it like gets the funding and everything that it needs over there before we move forward with conversation. But honestly, I'm so I say it and I don't want it to A come across as conceited or B come across as complaining because I would never be either. But I am so busy right now in the best way possible.

[36:32] Amber Brzezinski: That's amazing that it's been really nice to like constantly work, but also doing projects that I love and being able to pick and choose the things that really bring me joy.

[36:45] Ginger Minj: Yeah, I mean, I my my mom said she was like, it's like you worked your entire life to be an overnight success.

[36:52] Amber Brzezinski: Yes, it doesn's exactly what I'm saying.

[36:54] Ginger Minj: Well, but I mean an overnight success that took a really long time to like finally click in with people, yeah.

[36:59] Amber Brzezinski: And people just love you.

[37:00] Ginger Minj: They gr they uh they love you or they have like a love-hate relationship. But I think they all just like when I was like, Oh, my friend Ginger Minj is coming on the show. Oh, Ginger Minj, do you know that? I was like, Yep, sure do.

[37:12] Amber Brzezinski: And um, well, and and I've noticed that too. It's like even the ones who don't like me, they generally tend to respect what I do, even if they don't like like me as a person or respect me as a person, they still go, Yeah, but she is so talented and she's so professional and she's so dedicated.

[37:31] Ginger Minj: Well, you're like, I just try to be there. We just have to work on your dance skills a little bit, and you're uh I've been working on it since I dropped 200 pounds. I have I know actually you're looking. You you are snatched, babe, and it's gorgeous.

[37:46] Ginger Minj: But I love you no matter what. Um, let's talk some theater for a little bit because you were a huge theater fan. Um, you have had any opportunity of a season or last season to see shows, or no, not really?

[38:03] Ginger Minj: Yeah, oh my god, every time I'm in New York, except for this trip last week, because I was there for hours, but um, I typically will schedule the rest of my work around what I want to see. So when we were there for press week, I told the other girls and the producers and everybody, I was like, Well, I've got tickets for this and this and this and this. I'm going here, I'm gonna do that. So if you want me to do these press events, you're gonna schedule them around the damn right. Um, I mean, this was way in advance, so I don't want it to seem like, oh, I went to them after they'd already scheduled. No, it wasn't a diva move, and you're right, it wasn't a diva move. But I told the other girls, I was like, like this is a great opportunity. Like go and see and get some of this culture, just absorb it while you're there.

[38:49] Ginger Minj: Um, and then um I got to see, well, we saw Redwood.

[38:55] Amber Brzezinski: How did you feel?

[38:57] Ginger Minj: Um, what first of all, why was it two hours long with no intermission?

[39:02] Amber Brzezinski: Yeah.

[39:03] Ginger Minj: Second of all, what the hell was it about? Like, I get the gist of what it's about, but I was like, she's singing another song right now that sounds exactly the same as every other song she has sung, but now the trees are on fire. Did I see this in like a space of safety and love?

[39:23] Amber Brzezinski: Yeah, because who cares about anyone else's opinion?

[39:26] Ginger Minj: Yeah. I feel like I should have eaten an edible beforehand. Yeah, with the way the trees were like coming at me, I would have like I think I would have like really enjoyed it more if I had like a good solid edible experience. Here I am sitting in the car going, what is happening?

[39:46] Ginger Minj: I thought it was an incredible cast.

[39:50] Amber Brzezinski: Yes.

[39:50] Ginger Minj: Uh, I thought to be completely honest with you, I thought Adina was right in the pocket. That's the best I've ever seen her live. Her acting, her vocals all creeping.

[40:02] Ginger Minj: Yeah, and that was really inspiring because she's always been known to not be confident about dancing. So to see her having her like aerial dance point of just like beauty, that was really a beautiful moment for me. And I loved how vocally strong she was. And I saw her towards the end of the run, which granted it wasn't a super long run, but you know, she tends to over sing and tire herself out. She's that's not news, right?

[40:33] Amber Brzezinski: So it was nice to see her on a matinee belting it out and sounding incredible.

[40:40] Ginger Minj: Yeah, um the whole cast just loved that I just yeah the book the it was not great, the whole cast is super freaking talented.

[40:48] Ginger Minj: Yeah, um Queen of Versailles. I mean, yeah, you know, having been such a lifelong wicked fan, well, lifelong Oz fan, wicked fan for decades since the beginning. I was excited that Kristen, even though we're iffy on her right now, but Kristen and Adina were both back in new musicals on Broadway, but they never got to play at the same time.

[41:12] Amber Brzezinski: Well, no, nor should they have.

[41:15] Ginger Minj: I mean, I don't I still don't know how Queen of Versailles made it past Boston.

[41:20] Ginger Minj: Well, being about Liza's Central Florida area, yeah, and going through the city. I know Jackie, I know Jackie Sable very well, and have for years.

[41:29] Ginger Minj: Yeah, so I know. I was like, we live through this, we don't need a musical about it, but yeah.

[41:34] Ginger Minj: Well, but if I think honestly, that there is so much material, like right for the plucking that would have turned this into a beautiful tragic musical, but it didn't know what it wanted to be, much like Tammy Faye last season.

[41:49] Ginger Minj: I thought that if Tammy Faye had leaned a little further into the camp or a little further back on the drama, it would have been a lot more balanced.

[41:59] Amber Brzezinski: But yeah, both of them tried to walk this really weird line where we didn't know if we were supposed to love or hate the protagonist.

[42:10] Ginger Minj: Yeah, yeah, I agree.

[42:12] Ginger Minj: And then I remember watching Queen of Versailles in Boston last year going act one brilliant so good then I got back for act two and I was like this is not the real story like very visibly and and verifiably not the real story and it just seemed like that's when the tone went from this is silly but you definitely know who she is to this is so melodramatic that I'm not even buying it anymore.

[42:12] Ginger Minj: Now I will say I heard from many people that saw Sherry Renee Scott in the role of Jackie I did see a slime tutorial she portrayed the character a little bit differently than Kristen did and it felt a little bit different and I will be the asshole and put you know call out the elephant in the room here we've talked about it in the show before I never want to see a show close early I will say that I think PR needed to do a little bit tighter of a job keeping Kristen from making that very big mistake she made as a show was in PR.

[43:26] Amber Brzezinski: Well and then she kept making the same mistake by doubling down and saying well you know what I mean so I'm not gonna talk about it no correct the problem is we don't know what you mean because for decades can you elaborate please yeah you have sold yourself to us as a certain person and then with one post you undid all of that and made us suddenly feel unsafe in supporting you?

[43:49] Ginger Minj: So when we come to you and say, This is how you're making us feel, can you just explain this so we understand? She gets indignant about it and says, You know my heart, I'm not talking about it.

[44:01] Amber Brzezinski: You know what I mean?

[44:03] Ginger Minj: And then it goes, okay, so we do know what you mean.

[44:06] Amber Brzezinski: Right.

[44:07] Ginger Minj: Right. Well, no, and if you're leaving this to us, yes, then we do know what you mean.

[44:11] Amber Brzezinski: And exactly.

[44:13] Ginger Minj: And I will leave it to you. Does how she's behaving now affect anything from your past or previous relationship with Wicked? Like, do you see it differently now?

[44:24] Amber Brzezinski: No, I'm I she was never my favorite Glenda anyway.

[44:30] Ginger Minj: Megan Hilton.

[44:32] Amber Brzezinski: I was gonna say Megan.

[44:34] Ginger Minj: And I remember when people plus size Glinda.

[44:40] Amber Brzezinski: And I was like, she's freaking tiny.

[44:43] Ginger Minj: She's so tiny, but but she was like the first Ruben-esque Glinda.

[44:47] Ginger Minj: And I love the vocal choices that she made. Like, even still, Ariana, I would not say she copied her.

[44:56] Amber Brzezinski: Yes.

[44:56] Ginger Minj: But she definitely had a lot of influence, especially in For Good, um, from Megan.

[45:03] Ginger Minj: And I love because Megan Hilty and Shoshana Bean were always like my favorites.

[45:09] Ginger Minj: And I loved that Cynthia um was inspired by a lot of Shoshana's vocal performance as well.

[45:16] Amber Brzezinski: So is that go ahead.

[45:18] Ginger Minj: No, no, go ahead.

[45:19] Amber Brzezinski: No, I'm just saying I love it.

[45:21] Ginger Minj: You go.

[45:21] Ginger Minj: This happens all the time. You go.

[45:23] Ginger Minj: I love that's all I'm saying. I love it. I love it.

[45:26] Amber Brzezinski: How do you feel about Shoshana being cast in Lost Boys now?

[45:31] Ginger Minj: I think the more she works, the better. I she was away for too long. She's such a unique talent.

[45:37] Ginger Minj: And she's such a sweetheart. She's so I love that she is tough as nails. Like she has this, I think she's a lot like a lot of people.

[45:45] Ginger Minj: Dad did personality outwork, yes. I she per I perceive myself as a character as Ginger to be kind of um impenetrable from the outside, but there is such a warmth and vulnerability on the inside.

[46:01] Ginger Minj: Like it I get that from her as a performer and as a person. She is very in control all the time, but you can see that there's a real vulnerability behind it.

[46:17] Ginger Minj: And I remember when she got announced to go into Waitress, people were thrilled because we were excited to have her back on Broadway, but it was also like, but really you want to put her in this mild and meek role?

[46:29] Ginger Minj: And she nailed it. She knocks it out. She blows my mind with every performance.

[46:34] Amber Brzezinski: Do you have do you have a show besides Wicked? Do you have something that you want to work towards?

[46:42] Ginger Minj: I know we've talked about like Major Mama Morton with Chicago. Is there any role, regardless of gender, that you can see yourself in besides Madame Maribel? Like, what can we petition for you?

[46:54] Ginger Minj: Well, I've played Alban in La Cage aux Folles before, but it has always been my dream to do it on Broadway. I want to win a Tony Award for it because I know I've got it in me.

[47:05] Ginger Minj: And I think now is the perfect time. Like it sadly, it is more relevant now than it was over 40 years ago.

[47:14] Amber Brzezinski: Yeah.

[47:14] Ginger Minj: When it debuted. Um, but other I mean, I know that now uh oh here's the funny thing is I always my dream, George opposite me was always Wayne Brady.

[47:25] Amber Brzezinski: Oh, so now that he's doing it opposite Billy Porter, opposite Billy Porter, where I'm like, Oh, I'm so excited to see this as a fan, but I'm so freaking bitter as a performer because I really wanted to do that with him.

[47:40] Amber Brzezinski: Yeah.

[47:41] Ginger Minj: Um, I have talked to him about it before.

[47:43] Amber Brzezinski: Oh, to Wayne, yeah.

[47:45] Ginger Minj: I've told him before. I was like, I want to do this with you so bad.

[47:49] Ginger Minj: I mean it's just harassing because um, you know, Billy made comments during Cabaret that kind of shut the show down.

[47:56] Amber Brzezinski: So maybe Billy needs an alt.

[47:59] Ginger Minj: Yeah, yeah, we'll petition for you to be the alt.

[48:03] Ginger Minj: Well, if it's an all POC take on the musical, I am actually excited to see that. I really want to see how no pun intended, how it colors the material in a very different way.

[48:15] Ginger Minj: Um, so like I said, as a fan, so excited to see it.

[48:20] Ginger Minj: Yeah, as a performer, just a little bit, a little bit.

[48:24] Ginger Minj: That should be me up there, yeah, yeah, yeah.

[48:26] Ginger Minj: Yeah, um, but I would also uh really love to play Mama Rose.

[48:33] Ginger Minj: I have this this idea for this production that I've had for years where the whole show is just a vaudeville troupe that puts on a show from a big trunk, so everything comes out of this trunk.

[48:47] Amber Brzezinski: Oh, that's cool.

[48:49] Ginger Minj: I believe that kind of like mints meet vibes a little bit.

[48:53] Amber Brzezinski: Um, I didn't see Mince Meat, but I have heard maybe, yeah, sure.

[48:57] Ginger Minj: Yeah, they just they they just swap hats a lot, spot like the Epcot players of yesteryear where they're pulling everything out of a trunk.

[49:04] Amber Brzezinski: Uh-huh.

[49:05] Ginger Minj: Exactly. But I I think that um my whole mantra when we're producing shows, writing them, all of that, is you can get away with anything on stage as long as you qualify it in the first 10 minutes.

[49:19] Ginger Minj: So I think it would make perfect sense for somebody like me to play Mama Rose if we give a specific viewpoint and reason from the jump.

[49:29] Ginger Minj: So there's so many of those that I would love to do. I want to be Miss Hannigan in Annie.

[49:35] Amber Brzezinski: Oh no, I'm gonna petition for that one.

[49:37] Ginger Minj: Uh-huh.

[49:38] Amber Brzezinski: No, a hundred percent.

[49:40] Ginger Minj: Okay, but who would your rooster be?

[49:44] Ginger Minj: Wayne Brady.

[49:45] Amber Brzezinski: I don't know.

[49:45] Ginger Minj: I'm gonna steal them from Billy Porter. I'm gonna steal him back.

[49:47] Amber Brzezinski: I'm taking Wayne for something.

[49:50] Ginger Minj: Right.

[49:51] Ginger Minj: That's amazing.

[49:52] Amber Brzezinski: Um, well, Amber, I know we're getting towards our hour long, and I could go another five hours um with this voice.

[50:00] Amber Brzezinski: Uh, do you wanna go and ask Ginger our very popular questions?

[50:05] Ginger Minj: Signature questions, yeah.

[50:06] Amber Brzezinski: Um, I actually just kind of have like one more like random.

[50:09] Ginger Minj: Okay, dig in there.

[50:11] Amber Brzezinski: Um so, like in a dream world, someone you get a call and they're saying, We want Ginger Minj to host the Tonies this year.

[50:21] Ginger Minj: Oh what would that look like?

[50:26] Ginger Minj: What would like the opening number consist of? Oh, I think I would have to open with "Oh, What a Beautiful Morning." So we start like back at the classics of Broadway, and as the evening progresses, we get more and more modern, so that by the end of the show, I'm flying high in the sky as Alpha Bus singing Hamilton.

[50:47] Amber Brzezinski: Yes, drag no Jackie Seagull.

[50:50] Ginger Minj: Tell her story. All right, Tony producers that are listening. Oh, my. Hey, I've got someone on speed dial. I'm sure Ginger does too. We'll get it. We have a host for next year.

[51:01] Amber Brzezinski: Oh, yeah.

[51:03] Ginger Minj: I don't even want to host. I just kind of want Juju B and myself as Statler and Waldorf in a box seat.

[51:10] Amber Brzezinski: Yes.

[51:11] Ginger Minj: Just reading everybody the whole show.

[51:13] Amber Brzezinski: Absolutely. Oh, that would be fun. Well, you want to talk a little bit about what you've been touring around for a few minutes?

[51:20] Ginger Minj: Yeah. So right after I won, like literally days after I won, the first thing I did was take my crown to Universal to meet Alpha Button Glenda at the Wicked Experience. So I got that out of the way because I knew I had to do it. And immediately went to P Town. I did my month-long residency there. Two days after that ended, we were on the road with Hocus Pocus Live. Myself, Juju B, Sephira Cristal, and Landon Cider played to sold-out cities across the country.

[51:53] Amber Brzezinski: You guys sold out.

[51:57] Ginger Minj: Each city or something. There were a lot that sold out very quickly. Yeah. Um, but we ended up being the best-selling drag tour of the entire year of 2025, which was a surprise to us. It was really, really nice to have that support. Um, I've never had more fun with anybody on stage as I have with the three of them, especially Juju and Sapphira.

[52:20] Ginger Minj: Juju is so here's the T. You want the T. Juju B is the most by-the-book performer you would ever meet. She wants everything rehearsed, locked, set, don't deviate from it, before the show even opens. Safira, I don't think, even read the script until a week into the tour.

[52:43] Amber Brzezinski: That sounds good, yeah.

[52:44] Ginger Minj: When you have people on both sides from very different schools of performance, it's very interesting as the writer, producer, director, and star of the tour to try to bring those together. But it was interesting how Sapphira would learn from once they stopped like bickering funnily about it, um, and bitching to each other. Safira started to want to lock bits, and Juju would start improvising. And every time she would improvise something, she'd just look at me and go, that and that is so Juju. Juju is so Juju like that. She is just such a character.

[53:25] Ginger Minj: She is, and she's exactly who you see on TV. And that's why people love her. I mean, I'm exactly who you see on TV, and that's why people hate me. Um, we finished the show, the tour in LA. We on a Sunday night, we struck everything, put it into storage, got to the hotel and in bed by 1 a.m. And then at 5 a.m., our car came to pick us up on Monday to start filming Stop That Train. And we are the stars of the movie, the two of us. We are in every scene.

[53:59] Amber Brzezinski: That sounds incredible.

[53:59] Ginger Minj: So we were there from we would leave our house at 4 a.m., get into the makeup chair at five, on set at seven, and then we would shoot, you know, almost until eight or nine p.m. every night, and this happened seven days a week, just trying to get everything shot into the can, but it never felt like work because Juju is one of my closest friends and we were playing best friends in this movie, and it's directed by Adam Shankman, who is just unmatched. He has got such a great eye. Everything he does, whether it's a musical or not, and this does have musical elements. I do a full Broadway style musical number. But um everything he directs, it's just done in a very musical way. So I'm really excited for people to see this movie.

[54:45] Amber Brzezinski: Yeah, this is gonna be awesome. I'm excited to see it too.

[54:48] Ginger Minj: That sounds incredible. Um, I went in with very low expectations because I had done the Christmas movie, which I love. I love how the bitch told Christmas. Yeah, that was funny. I mean, it was cute, it was entertaining. It wasn't like yeah, like you know, you don't watch it because you think it's gonna be a great experience. You watch because you know it's gonna be silly and stupid and it's gonna make more Christmas movies. But my expectations were like here, and then I get in my first day on set, and I'm like, oh my god, physical set. I felt like I was doing Wicked. I was like, big physical sets and a big director and an all-star cast, and like it's just so beautifully shot, and it's so wonderfully silly and stupid. And Juju and I did all of our own stunts. I love you, you'll you it's I think people are gonna be very surprised.

[55:42] Amber Brzezinski: Now, in those types of situations, do you guys paint yourself or are you like professionally painted?

[55:49] Ginger Minj: Typically, we would paint ourselves and then we like we would work with the makeup team to achieve something. But when we went in there for our makeup test on the first day, Adam Shankman was very much like, these are women. These are not drag queens. Right. These are female presenting people in this world. Right. So I don't want drag makeup. And um the makeup team was like, okay, so if you come in with your makeup on, then we'll just pair it back. And Juju and I made a pact and we said, no. Uh-oh. We want we want these characters created from the ground up. So we will come in that. And we'll come in an hour and a half earlier than we were going to, and we will sit here and you put on what you think is right.

[56:41] Amber Brzezinski: Yeah.

[56:42] Ginger Minj: Then we'll talk through the process. And we were the two. So there was the two of us, then um Brooklyn Heights, Simone, and Marsha Marsha Marsha are like the three villain girl group, like the mean girls. Um, we all had the same type of makeup in the movie. Juju and I loved it. We were like, we look so soft, we look so pretty. Oh my god, look at us. The other three were mad. They were mad. Oh no. This is not enough. And they would try to go into their trailer and sneak more makeup on. We got an HD camera right here. So of course, Adam Shankman would be like, cut, cut, we need makeup in here. Wardrobe, come out and tone this down, do that. So they got really mad. But then by the once they started seeing the footage, they were like, oh my god, it is beautiful.

The first class looks like we're recreating Titanic. It is so luxurious and gorgeous. And everybody's just so like soft and pretty. Even RuPaul stepped on set and was just soft, which you never get to see Rue that way. She always looks gorgeous, but she's like just wearing a whisper.

[57:55] Amber Brzezinski: Uh yeah, that's I mean, I fell in love watching RuPaul when she did the Brady Bunch, the very music.

[58:01] Ginger Minj: Me too. Yeah, me too. I love her.

[58:05] Amber Brzezinski: Oh, yeah. Well, yeah, I'm sorry for the uh my Wi-Fi has been really fun at my apartment. Sorry to get kicked out, but I like that.

[58:14] Ginger Minj: Is it Spectra?

[58:15] Amber Brzezinski: It's Spectra.

[58:16] Ginger Minj: Yeah, that's fine.

[58:17] Amber Brzezinski: Yeah, that's fine. Um, but yeah, no, I was I was hoping you talk about Stop That Train. It looks just incredible. And like again, watching you progress through your career is just such a highlight of our friendship. It's just incredible to watch.

[58:31] Ginger Minj: Well, thank you. And I just love that it keeps taking me in directions that I never expected because I never thought I was gonna be a movie TV person. I thought it was going to be Broadway for me for sure.

[58:44] Amber Brzezinski: Right.

[58:44] Ginger Minj: And it's coming, game. It's coming.

[58:46] Amber Brzezinski: Oh, it is.

[58:47] Ginger Minj: It is there. Are there are plenty of irons in the fire there? We're just trying to figure out what fits at this time. But I'm gonna tell you, whatever show you're going into, Amber and I are gonna be waiting for you to take us backstage so we can be very proud of you in person.

[59:01] Amber Brzezinski: Sure, absolutely. Um, but it's been really nice to like venture into these things I never expected because I'm finding even more happiness and success doing things that were so outside of my comfort zone and my even like my realm of thought.

[59:20] Amber Brzezinski: Yeah.

[59:21] Ginger Minj: So I'm liking it. I'm really into it.

[59:23] Amber Brzezinski: Yeah, it's like somebody learning, like they have to like make a project for school, and they're like, Oh, I'm really good at putting you know wooden objects together, and then, oh well, I'm really good at building houses. Like, it's really cool to kind of see. I always think of that movie Sliding Doors or the butterfly effect. Yeah. When you're like something didn't happen or did happen, and then everything continuously changes. So it's interesting to kind of see that. Like, look at us here at the Broadway Fan Club. Like Amber and I were creating like little fan groups just for fun. And we were invited to opening night for a lot of for elephants. And then here we are, and I'm doing PR for shows, and we're over seven million members at this point in a year and a half, two years. It's crazy.

[1:00:01] Ginger Minj: Yeah, it's gonna take it.

[1:00:03] Amber Brzezinski: Yeah. So it's really fun. All right, we're almost at our hour. Um, Amber, do you want to ask your signature question?

[1:00:10] Ginger Minj: Ready go.

[1:00:11] Amber Brzezinski: All right, Ginger strap in, because these are fun. And you can answer them however you'd like.

[1:00:16] Ginger Minj: Okay.

[1:00:17] Amber Brzezinski: If your younger self could meet you today, what do you think would surprise them the most?

[1:00:24] Ginger Minj: Uh I think honestly, that uh I'm still alive. Because when I was when I was younger, I did not expect to make it to this age, whether that was through nature or myself in my dark moments or anything else. I mean, I think that I'm happier now than I have been my entire life. I'm healthier now than I have been my entire life. Um, but I did not foresee that for myself when I was little. You know, and I just think that like is so important for people that might be younger and struggling to like know, like it does get better.

[1:01:07] Amber Brzezinski: Yeah, and I always struggle to say that simply because I mean I truly believe in it, and I love that message, but it's almost become like just a catchphrase so people don't let it sink in. They just go, Oh, yeah, it gets better. Or if you feel like a slap in the face, you're like, it's gonna get better, and you're like, no, let me live in this misery for a moment.

[1:01:24] Ginger Minj: Right. It'll live in those emotions too. And it's a good idea. But I always say I do not have any regrets at all. There are things that make me cringe that have happened in my life. But I would not be where I am, or the person that I am, or at peace with myself. Not even at peace, in love with myself at 41 years old. Yeah, yeah.

[1:01:45] Amber Brzezinski: Um, like I am now, if I hadn't gone through those moments where I didn't love myself.

[1:01:51] Ginger Minj: Absolutely.

[1:01:52] Amber Brzezinski: Yeah, well, I love that. All right, you ready for mine?

[1:01:55] Ginger Minj: I'm ready.

[1:01:56] Amber Brzezinski: I don't know. If it's it's weird to like interview a friend, but like this is great.

[1:02:00] Ginger Minj: Um, what is the question that you've always wanted to answer, but have never been asked, and what is the answer?

[1:02:08] Amber Brzezinski: Oh, I don't know.

[1:02:12] Ginger Minj: Yeah, I don't know because I feel like it can be anything funny. I've been asked everything, I feel I don't know.

[1:02:26] Amber Brzezinski: I stumped you.

[1:02:28] Ginger Minj: Oh no, you did stump me. I don't want to stump you. Um, let's see. Um, um, we can talk about the puppy.

[1:02:37] Amber Brzezinski: Everyone knows about Alfie.

[1:02:38] Ginger Minj: Everybody knows. I didn't even recognize holy crap. She got it. I didn't either. I had gone um on the Hocus Pocus tour and then filmed that movie. So I'm gone for like almost four months, right? And I come back, even though I FaceTime with her every day and whatever. Of course I got back, and I was like, who is this dog?

[1:02:57] Ginger Minj: Oh, like that beast, and where's my baby? I'm trying to think, like in January, she was like this big. She's like a potato. And now she's like a sack of potatoes. Yes, and she lives up to her namesake. She is the most like marches to the beat of her own drum. She is so stubborn and obstinate. She is crazy. See, there's a lot of things. You should see her jump off the couch. She does defy gravity. I was like, how does your dog behave? That's a question never been asked before, I'm sure. No, I've actually been asked that before.

[1:03:40] Amber Brzezinski: So I've been trying to get you on the show for over a year, and you're finally here, and I can't answer one question. I'm so offended.

[1:03:46] Ginger Minj: Oh my goodness. That's okay. It's totally fine. It's not a big deal. Just text me when you remember the oh, how about this? Nobody's ever asked me if I collect anything.

[1:03:59] Amber Brzezinski: Okay, do you collect anything?

[1:04:01] Ginger Minj: I do. And of course I collect all Wicked and awe stuff, but I actually have a collection of coffee mugs. It's my favorite thing in the world. I drink nothing but coffee all the time. And I have coffee mugs from all around the globe. For all the Broadway shows, all the drag shows, um, just different places where I see them. So if anybody ever wants to bring me something, I love coffee.

[1:04:30] Amber Brzezinski: I was gonna say, if any of our listeners want to um send Ginger a mug or mugs from their location, get a hold of us.

[1:04:39] Ginger Minj: I will make sure Ginger gets them. Um I have one fan, she's part of my my fan Molly is kind of what I call them.

[1:04:48] Amber Brzezinski: Yeah, um, her name is Michelle Blair, and she made it a point to like send me coffee mugs from different shows that I couldn't get to.

[1:04:56] Ginger Minj: And one of my favorites is from the Sweeney Todd from the pie shop.

[1:05:01] Amber Brzezinski: Yes.

[1:05:02] Ginger Minj: Yeah, from just Mrs. Lovett's pie shop. Yeah, I love I still use that one all through the winter because it's made out of tin. So it keeps the coffee really, really hot the whole time.

[1:05:14] Amber Brzezinski: Did you get a redwood mug though?

[1:05:17] Ginger Minj: I did not get a redwood mug. You know what? I have I got at Broadway Flea last year. A Death Becomes Her cast.

[1:05:26] Amber Brzezinski: Which I love.

[1:05:28] Ginger Minj: Cast party mug, and I almost feel like I should give it to you.

[1:05:31] Amber Brzezinski: I feel like you should too, but I wasn't gonna say that.

[1:05:35] Ginger Minj: I feel like next time I see Heather, I will give it to her to give to or just ship it with my birthday soft Christmas.

[1:05:41] Amber Brzezinski: I just sent that out today, so that's not gonna happen.

[1:05:44] Ginger Minj: Now I would love if we're woman-a-festing other things for Broadway. I would love Jinkx Monsoon and myself for maybe Pride Month to play uh Helen.

[1:05:56] Amber Brzezinski: Yes.

[1:05:58] Ginger Minj: To be in Dusty.

[1:06:00] Amber Brzezinski: And Dusty Hunter.

[1:06:01] Ginger Minj: I would say that.

[1:06:01] Amber Brzezinski: But you would love that.

[1:06:02] Ginger Minj: But you would Josh Lehman as the assistant because we love Josh Lehman.

[1:06:07] Amber Brzezinski: Well, yeah, we love Josh.

[1:06:08] Ginger Minj: I everybody else can be the same. I love Christopher Sieber. So I want to be Madeline Ashton, and I think she should be Helen Sharp.

[1:06:16] Amber Brzezinski: But also, we could swap roles every night.

[1:06:19] Ginger Minj: Yeah.

[1:06:20] Amber Brzezinski: Uh I think that's perfect. Why don't we just do this for like Broadway backwards?

[1:06:25] Ginger Minj: Like with Broadway Cares.

[1:06:28] Amber Brzezinski: Hey, I'm up for anything. I will text for tomorrow.

[1:06:32] Ginger Minj: Um, because I'm gonna make that happen.

[1:06:33] Amber Brzezinski: Now that's a basic one. Let's make it happen. Full ball gown, or are we talking like sequined, like this?

[1:06:40] Ginger Minj: I can borrow ours now.

[1:06:40] Amber Brzezinski: Yeah, Amber and I last Halloween for Halloween. Uh we did that running through Times Square in ball gowns and corsets.

[1:06:49] Ginger Minj: Oh, I want the full Paul Tazwell fantasy.

[1:06:52] Amber Brzezinski: Ah, me too.

[1:06:54] Ginger Minj: My goodness, I'm a fan.

[1:06:56] Amber Brzezinski: All right. We have talked to you over your hour. I'm so sorry to hold you.

[1:07:00] Ginger Minj: Um please you're fine.

[1:07:01] Amber Brzezinski: I you know, it's fine. It's not like I can't text you 500 times and be like, hello.

[1:07:06] Ginger Minj: Yeah, it doesn't mean I'll answer because I don't even know where my phone is.

[1:07:09] Amber Brzezinski: Terrible, terrible.

[1:07:11] Ginger Minj: That's something I can answer. Ginger Minj is a terrible texter.

[1:07:15] Amber Brzezinski: Um just gives me anxiety.

[1:07:18] Ginger Minj: I throw my phone.

[1:07:20] Amber Brzezinski: Well, you miss so much, but I'll catch you up the next time I see you.

[1:07:24] Amber Brzezinski: Um the best way if you want to catch Ginger and see where Ginger is going next, you can follow them on Instagram at Gingerminge, G-I-N-G-E-R-M-I-N-J.

[1:07:36] Ginger Minj: Um, and that popped off automatically. I love that.

[1:07:39] Amber Brzezinski: Uh, we will be posting the YouTube link for Fabulous Baby.

[1:07:44] Ginger Minj: Um, but oh, it's right below here. And then um, what is next where people can see you live and in person?

[1:07:52] Ginger Minj: Uh, I've got two shows here in Orlando for Christmas, this Wednesday and Thursday at Savoy. There's only a few tickets left, but it's myself and the Minx, who has not performed in a decade, but we started Broadway Brunch, the award-winning around the country.

[1:08:10] Amber Brzezinski: OG Broadway Brunch.

[1:08:11] Ginger Minj: We started that 14 years ago. So we're back on stage together, and my daughter Annie Day now, who is a Broadway baby through and through. So that Christmas show is gonna be great.

[1:08:21] Ginger Minj: Um on New Year's Eve, we're doing a whole Wicked Oz theme takeover at Savoy Orlando for the evening. And then after that, the new year has a whole bunch of surprises I can't talk about yet.

[1:08:34] Amber Brzezinski: Super exciting, and we don't expect you to.

[1:08:36] Ginger Minj: So the word to the wise is come to Orlando this week.

[1:08:39] Amber Brzezinski: Or yeah, come on down. The weather's beautiful.

[1:08:41] Ginger Minj: Then you can see Ginger and then uh maybe see me because I'm second, but I'm a second.

[1:08:48] Amber Brzezinski: Yeah, and then like I'm gonna manifest like the Madame Morable.

[1:08:48] Ginger Minj: I'm gonna manifest.

[1:08:55] Amber Brzezinski: I think we just start a petition.

[1:08:57] Ginger Minj: I've been threatening that for a while.

[1:09:00] Amber Brzezinski: I'm on board.

[1:09:01] Ginger Minj: Do it.

[1:09:02] Amber Brzezinski: Yeah.

[1:09:02] Ginger Minj: What else could be manifested?

[1:09:04] Amber Brzezinski: What other roles are out there?

[1:09:06] Ginger Minj: No, I mean literally anything.

[1:09:09] Amber Brzezinski: I still want to see Ginger in Ratty Curl.

[1:09:15] Ginger Minj: Sure.

[1:09:16] Amber Brzezinski: We'll do it all.

[1:09:17] Ginger Minj: Yeah, we'll do it all.

[1:09:19] Amber Brzezinski: All right, Ginger, don't hurt the little hamster running the wheel in your head right now.

[1:09:23] Ginger Minj: I won't.

[1:09:25] Amber Brzezinski: But we love you. We're so glad you could join us. Sorry that I'm out of commission for the most part, but we're so glad that we could finally have this happen.

[1:09:33] Ginger Minj: And so thank you.

[1:09:36] Amber Brzezinski: I'm working really hard.

[1:09:39] Ginger Minj: I'm literally just gonna start my own like OnlyFans just voice.

[1:09:43] Amber Brzezinski: All right.

[1:09:43] Ginger Minj: Um I am sure there is.

[1:09:47] Amber Brzezinski: I'm sure there is.

[1:09:48] Ginger Minj: But speaking of, where can they find us? What's our website?

[1:09:51] Amber Brzezinski: You have a banner. I guess I'll have to do the job here. They can find us right on www.thebroadwayfanclub.com.

[1:09:59] Ginger Minj: Uh they can go to our Etsy shop if they want any kind of cool custom bracelets, which by the way, we're working on some Ginger Minj bracelets if you're interested.

[1:10:08] Amber Brzezinski: Of course, I'm always interested.

[1:10:09] Ginger Minj: I love jewelry.

[1:10:10] Amber Brzezinski: Well, we will send you the sparkles, uh, the broadwayfanclub.se.com you can go to our Patreon patreon.com slash the Broadway fan club I believe if you get orders in by oh there goes the hamster tomorrow or Wednesday they should make it before Christmas there you go happy holidays everybody get your damn merch um and Ginger you have great merch too so hopefully they'll buy some merch from your stuff too

[1:10:10] Ginger Minj: Yeah buy it all and right now honestly we haven't even announced it yet but god all the dogs are going crazy but they're excited about it um we are doing a 50 to 75% off on all of the rest of the Hocus Pocus live merch so that'll all be going live very soon so definitely follow Ginger's Instagram.

[1:10:10] Amber Brzezinski: I gotta go take care of the dog.

[1:10:10] Ginger Minj: Oh goodbye.

[1:10:10] Amber Brzezinski: Okay bye bye thank you.

[1:10:10] Ginger Minj: All right everybody I know I'm like coughing and dying and I hate this and I'm like I'm like uh taking a weird nasal spray and I just kind of feel like I'm here but I'm not so it's super fun um but yeah I mean what a fun show and Ginger is just a delight so Ginger's the best um I could talk for another eight 45 hours also happy belated birthday to our friend over here who had a birthday on Friday.

[1:10:10] Amber Brzezinski: That's me I was like the the finger went the other direction I was like let's be oh I'm not on my side not on my side oh yeah is this going to you now?

[1:11:47] Ginger Minj: Yeah.

[1:11:47] Amber Brzezinski: Okay.

[1:11:47] Ginger Minj: And your birthday it's so we're to do your birthday is this upcoming Thursday.

[1:11:52] Amber Brzezinski: Wednesday.

[1:11:53] Ginger Minj: Wednesday.

[1:11:54] Amber Brzezinski: I wait.

[1:11:55] Ginger Minj: That's just right.

[1:11:55] Amber Brzezinski: My dates are all wrong because I have that weird surgery thing on Thursday.

[1:11:58] Ginger Minj: Well, happy early birthday.

[1:12:00] Amber Brzezinski: Thank you for the belated birthday.

[1:12:02] Ginger Minj: Um, oh, you know what else I want to talk about really quick tonight? I want to send a very big congratulations to our lovely Larry Lelly, who is finally, finally lead producer.

[1:12:15] Amber Brzezinski: Um, yay, we love you, Larry.

[1:12:18] Ginger Minj: So officially it's Lollipop Productions presents Already Perfect. Right now, they are just starting rehearsals, like day one rehearsals, um, in the West End.

[1:12:28] Amber Brzezinski: And my goodness, the photos are already looking incredible.

[1:12:31] Ginger Minj: So congratulations to our Larry. We are so proud of you.

[1:12:34] Amber Brzezinski: Um, and we do have an Already Perfect fan group.

[1:12:38] Ginger Minj: So I'm super excited about that.

[1:12:40] Amber Brzezinski: Um, we really appreciate you guys hanging out with all of us.

[1:12:44] Ginger Minj: Um, yes, manifest Ginger going to Deaf Becomes Her.

[1:12:47] Amber Brzezinski: Olivia will work on it.

[1:12:49] Ginger Minj: Jeffrey, no, no Broadway news tonight because it's Ginger Binge, but next week, all of the news.

[1:12:55] Amber Brzezinski: And we're gonna go over all of the shows that I saw this past week.

[1:12:58] Ginger Minj: So and we'll go over Folly's Amber's little hamster.

[1:13:02] Amber Brzezinski: Is it okay?

[1:13:03] Ginger Minj: Yeah.

[1:13:04] Amber Brzezinski: Do we want to give them fur tax as a holiday treat?

[1:13:07] Ginger Minj: I will go get them.

[1:13:08] Amber Brzezinski: Okay. Amber is currently fostering um a very loving mama cat with two kiddies.

[1:13:16] Ginger Minj: And um Amber has created this lovely like cat escape, like condo thing in her closet, and like this she's in her new apartment.

[1:13:28] Amber Brzezinski: And the mama cat, all she wants to do is put the kitties right into the drawer.

[1:13:33] Ginger Minj: Um because I have the babies.

[1:13:37] Amber Brzezinski: Let me see.

[1:13:38] Ginger Minj: And Amber, do you want to go over their names really quick and how you they got them?

[1:13:42] Amber Brzezinski: They're so freaking cute.

[1:13:44] Amber Brzezinski: Um, their names are Go and or Bo and Flash.

[1:13:50] Ginger Minj: Oh, we went to Flash now.

[1:13:52] Amber Brzezinski: Go and go.

[1:13:53] Ginger Minj: Go, unfortunately, did not make it.

[1:13:55] Amber Brzezinski: Yeah.

[1:13:56] Ginger Minj: They're Black Friday babies.

[1:13:58] Amber Brzezinski: There's another black one named Friday, and then there's another one named Cash.

[1:14:02] Ginger Minj: Yes, and you've only got two of the four.

[1:14:05] Amber Brzezinski: I've only got two of the four.

[1:14:06] Ginger Minj: The other two are being bottle fed.

[1:14:08] Amber Brzezinski: They look like they're wearing little toupees.

[1:14:11] Ginger Minj: So if you're I love them so much.

[1:14:13] Amber Brzezinski: If you are interested in any kind of adoption, definitely reach out to us.

[1:14:17] Ginger Minj: Amber will get you in touch.

[1:14:19] Amber Brzezinski: Um, they are in Connecticut, but we can also help make arrangements.

[1:14:22] Ginger Minj: Bye, baby kitties.

[1:14:23] Amber Brzezinski: Thank you for the fur tax, Amber.

[1:14:25] Ginger Minj: Um, thanks for hanging out with us for a little bit longer of a show tonight.

[1:14:29] Amber Brzezinski: Um, but yes, we really appreciate you guys and everything that you've done.

[1:14:33] Ginger Minj: And um, I can't believe it. It's the middle of December.

[1:14:36] Amber Brzezinski: Hurry up, Amber. We don't want to hold them up too long.

[1:14:41] Ginger Minj: I can't just throw cats in a box.

[1:14:44] Amber Brzezinski: No, you're not an asshole like most people.

[1:14:46] Ginger Minj: My friend's cat cafe got kitties that are all bobtails, like they're all born with like the shorter tails, but they're all different lengths, and they're all named after shuttles.

[1:14:57] Amber Brzezinski: So you've got like Gemini or Ryan will talk after the show.

[1:15:01] Ginger Minj: All right. Well, we really appreciate you guys. Thank you again to the wonderful Ginger Minj.

[1:15:06] Amber Brzezinski: Sorry for the coughing, which I'm gonna do right now.

[1:15:08] Ginger Minj: Amber, you want to sign us off?

[1:15:09] Amber Brzezinski: Yeah, uh, you know, every Monday night when Broadway is dark, we can go slate burning.

[1:15:17] Ginger Minj: Okay next Monday, uh, which is the week of Christmas.

[1:15:22] Amber Brzezinski: We will be here Monday the 22nd. We'll give you an update on the holiday schedule.

[1:15:27] Ginger Minj: So we'll see you then.

[1:15:28] Amber Brzezinski: Ho ho ho. Good night, everyone.