A few months ago, as I was leaving the Elysian Theater in Los Angeles, I noticed something unusual. When a comedy set is over, I’m used to seeing audiences file out of the venue looking mildly relieved to be free. But the people at Trans-It Girls, a show put on by Hayden Johnson and Nori Reed, were red-faced and keening with laughter, repeating favorite jokes from the night’s performance to one another as they headed home. That’s for good reason: Johnson and Reed’s comedic collaboration is perfectly pitched, their rotating cast of special guests (which has included John Early, Hannah Einbinder, and Aparna Nancherla) always delivers, and their shiny, often scanty onstage looks never fail to inject a bit of capital-F fashion into the proceedings.
Vogue spoke to Johnson and Reed about performing with “allies,” their rented-clothing sponsorship dreams, and their live show at the Bell House in Brooklyn on July 13.
Vogue: Where did the inspiration for the show come from?
Hayden Johnson: Well, I think it all came together because Nori wanted to take an acting class, and I was like, “Oh, I would love to take an acting class with you.” And from there, we sort of realized that we had a little bit of chemistry and wanted to work on something together.
Nori Reed: Yeah, it was a trans acting class, and we really bonded, because on the very first day of class, they sent us to the wrong location. We had to Nancy Drew our way over to the right place and be like, “What’s going on?” We were the only two comedians in the class, and they were very much like, “You two are funny. You’re funny, goofy, girls…”
Johnson: “…Y’all are crazy.” We also weren’t told that we needed to prepare monologues for the first day, so Nori and I just did part of our stand-up sets for an audience of trans actors. It went great.
Reed: Then we started to hang out more outside of class and were like, “Wait, we’re both stand-ups, why don’t we do a show together?” As two trans people, we really wanted to do a show that was unapologetically trans and for a trans audience, because a lot of times—as a trans comedian—you get used to the idea of, Okay, it’s not going to be for trans people, it’s going to be a primarly cis audience. We wanted to make comedy that was first and foremost processing what it’s like to be trans in this industry—in an absurd and comical way, for a trans audience.
How does the process of putting Trans-It Girls together with a rotating lineup of guest stars compare with writing your own respective stand-up shows?
Johnson: It’s very different. As well as Nori and I work together, we both have different sensibilities, and our stand-ups are very different, so the way that we come together and write these bits with people can be very beautiful.
Reed: It’s such a different type of comedy for me. For our first two shows, we wrote plays. We wrote three-act stage plays, and that was so fun. We put so much work and effort into it, and it felt so good to see people connect to it. It’s such a collaboration with these other comedians. For example, we came to Cam Farmer—we’re such fans of them—and we had this idea for an agent character who was kind of unhinged, and through our work together, we were like, “What if she’s the devil? What if she’s the devil herself?” [Laughs.] It goes to such absurd places, like John Early as an acting coach. We have a loose idea of what we’re going to do beforehand, but then onstage, it’s like magic.
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Johnson: We’re so lucky to have so many friends and people who are willing to come and be allies and add really beautiful things to the show that we never would have added ourselves.
Reed: It’s so cool to hear from these really amazing comics who are like, “I had a really good time and got a little burst of energy from doing this.”
This being Vogue, I have to turn the conversation to fashion. You both always look amazing onstage. What’s your process for putting those looks together?
Reed: We do check in with each other, like, “What are you going to wear?”
Johnson: In getting to have a show that is so unapologetically trans, I am really enjoying bringing that high femme energy—like, even more than I normally would for a show. Wearing something tight and cunty feels very powerful, and I think every time we’ve walked on, it’s felt so cool to have a big audience of queer and trans people being so excited to see us move in a big dress.
Reed: I love how fashion is our own version of self-expression and can show that we are our own individuals. Hayden’s a little bit more glam, and I’m a little bit more artsy or something, but it works so well together, which is kind of like us. Also, if we could get this sponsored by Rent the Runway or Nuuly—we rent a lot of clothes. We’re just photographed so often! [Laughs.]
Could Trans-It Girls ever be…a podcast?
Reed: I mean, this is something we talk about constantly. It’s always assessing how hungry people are for it, because it’s such a loaded space, It’s just about making sure the audience is there, but it’s looking like they are. People have definitely been like, “Why don’t you have a podcast?” which is so nice, because I feel like the flip side of that is, “You should not have a podcast.” We’ve also talked about a short film…
Ooh la la! What are you looking forward to most about your Bell House show on June 13?
Johnson: I think it’s going to be really exciting to perform in New York. We have some great performers coming on, all queer, and I think they all have very strong individual personalities. I’m excited to bring some of the stuff we’ve been working on in LA to an excited audience.
Reed: It feels like there’s a lot of energy and momentum, and we’re just riding it.
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This conversation has been edited and condensed.
