After performing to sold-out crowds in famously liberal cities like New York and Los Angeles, Corey O’Brien is about to take his stand-up act on the road ― right through America’s conservative heartland.
The gay comedian and TikTok personality will embark on his aptly named “Red Tour” on March 20 with a live show in Tempe, Arizona. The tour takes its name from Taylor Swift’s 2013 concert trek, but it’s also a double entendre, as O’Brien has chosen venues located in states that voted in President Donald Trump’s favor in the 2024 election. After Tempe, he heads to Houston, Philadelphia and Dania Beach, Florida, with additional cities to be announced in the weeks ahead.
At each of his tour stops, O’Brien said, he plans to tackle subjects ranging from the discourse on “transgender athletes to [former Florida Rep.] Matt Gaetz’s eyebrows.” Elsewhere in the show, he’ll envision what a campaign rally of his own might look like, and he’s also considering getting a full-on “conservative makeover” involving “a lot of plaid, and maybe some spray tans” on stage.
And if O’Brien’s performance at the Bell House in Brooklyn, New York, last fall is any indication, his shows will also include playful, albeit well-intended, zingers at his conservative family, as well as music, dance and other interactive elements.
“I want to entertain and bring hope to people, and also have uncomfortable, awkward and politically charged conversations that a lot of people don’t want to have or aren’t open to having right now,” O’Brien told HuffPost. “There’s nothing that’s off-limits.”
“I’m not here to argue with Trump’s supporters ― my dad is one,” he added. “But if who I am is going to be turned into a political weapon, why not just go out there, be myself authentically and celebrate that? That, in itself, is me rebelling.”
A Pennsylvania native, O’Brien began his career as a model and dancer, appearing alongside Mariah Carey and Iggy Azalea as well as on episodes of “RuPaul’s Drag Race.” He and his boyfriend, NFL veteran Ryan “R.K.” Russell, began documenting their relationship on YouTube and other platforms in 2019, shortly after Russell came out publicly as bisexual.
O’Brien turned to comedy as a creative outlet in the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic, when he began sharing viral recreations of Dua Lipa and Spice Girls music videos on TikTok. In 2022, his budget homage to Kim Kardashian’s Marilyn Monroe-inspired Met Gala look appeared in media outlets around the world. About a year later, he made his stand-up comedy debut at the Comedy Chateau in Los Angeles.
He began mapping out plans for the “Red Tour” on Nov. 6 of last year, just one day after Trump was elected for a second presidency.
“Work kind of saves me and so does humor, because if I don’t laugh, I’m going to cry,” he explained. “I’m not embarrassed to say I didn’t vote for someone who, in my eyes, isn’t equipped to be president. But there’s no way in hell that I spent 33 years of my life doing the work that I needed to do, getting sober and learning how to love myself only to let strangers tell me who I am.”
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As expected, Trump’s first weeks in office have included significant rollbacks of LGBTQ+ rights at the federal level, much of it directed at the transgender and nonbinary communities. The administration’s purge on diversity, equity and inclusion content and staff has also had a chilling effect, as federal government websites have removed references to the LGBTQ+ community.
Despite that hostile climate, O’Brien is hopeful his “Red Tour” shows will appeal to viewers from all walks of life, including those who “don’t agree with me or agree with my existence, but are willing to listen.”
“Comedy knows no political party because laughter is universal,” he said. “It’s not a Ted Talk, but I want people to enjoy themselves as well as to think and question things. If the hate is going to be loud, then my gay ass needs to be louder.”