The Fab Five are coming! I love makeover and competition shows. I’ll binge “The Great Pottery Throw Down,” “Dancing with the Stars,” and even reruns of old episodes of “Clean House” with Niecey Nash. But when I really want to watch something with heart, I go to “Queer Eye.” Each episode is chock full of heart-warming transitions, humor, support and even fun tips that help make life better. The love and support given to each of the “heroes,” the people featured each week to get the Fab Five treatment, is something truly needed right now. Each of the guys have their own specialty, Antoni Porowski is the foodie. Karamo Brown is the expert on relationships and social interaction. Tan France handles the fashion, newcomer Jeremiah Brent does the interior design transformations. And this week’s Portrait is the fabulous Jonathan Van Ness, aka JVN, who on top of being the beauty and grooming guru, is also the biggest cheerleader on the show.
Van Ness’s shouts of “Hunty, you look gorge!” and “Yassss Queen” to the featured guests never fails to bring a smile or a tear. A former high-school cheerleader who received a collegiate cheer scholarship, JVN comes with that enthusiasm naturally. They also can be found dishing out advice and conversation on their podcast, “Pretty Curious with Jonathan Van Ness.” I had a chance to talk to JVN in advance of the Fab Five’s return to Philadelphia in a special show, “The Fab Five Live!” at the Miller Theater on Feb. 19. Some responses have been edited for length or clarity.
I read that you’re originally from Quincy, Illinois. Tell me about growing up there.
The house that I spent the most time growing up in was a little outside the city center. Reminiscing, the smell of cow farms and pig farms permeates the senses. A lot of going creeking, which was a colloquial term for “goin to the creek and exploring.” A lot of sledding, a lot of creeking, lots of nature all around.
What’s the craziest thing you found while creeking?
Well, not the little creek there, but one time we were in the Mississippi River, [laughing] so a very large creek, and my sister caught what she thought was a baby garter snake but it was really a baby copperhead, which is a venomous snake. And as it was drawing back to bite her finger, my stepdad was like, “Hey! Throw it!!” And she tossed it away but she nearly got literally bit by a baby copperhead.
But now that you asked, there is something that really sticks out to me about creeking. I was a really big fan of “Power Rangers,” because I had a huge crush on the green Power Ranger. I thought he was stunning, and the yellow Power Ranger — I just loved her. And I also wanted to be able to do a back handspring, just like the pink Ranger.
So there were these figurines where the head would switch between them with their masks on and without their masks if you pressed a button. It was really hard to find all five. And it was really hard to find the red one. Well, honey, I managed to get the red one, and immediately became very attached to it. I was like, “This is gonna go everywhere with me!” And so we were going to the creek this one day, and my stepdad and my mom were like, “Don’t take it. You’re gonna lose it.” And I was like, “No, I’m not.” Like, who loses the Red Power Ranger in a creek? Not me, I’m not an idiot.
Well, of course I then slipped in the creek and dropped it. I lost the red Power Ranger. Never got it back, lost it in a creek. So I think the biggest thing I remember is not what I found in a creek, but what I lost in a creek, which is my red, flippy-head Power Ranger. But I still am a strong creek advocate. Like, go to the creek. It’s fun, but just don’t take your Power Ranger figurine.
Noted. I interviewed someone recently who was an identical triplet, and when they were kids, their parents made them each pick a Power Ranger color, and that’s how they color-coded them. And to this day, he wears blue because that was his Power Ranger color.
That is soooo cute! Also an interesting fact, the showrunner of “Queer Eye” — her name is Jennifer Lane, and I’m obsessed with her — her wife is an identical triplet, and that’s the only other time I’ve ever heard of anyone being an identical triplet in real life.
Yeah, it’s pretty wild. How would your mom have described you as a kid?
I’d say gregarious, rambunctious and very outgoing, probably flamboyant. [Smiles] Imagine that.
Shocker! What were some of the things that you were into as a kid?
Geodes, stamps, figure skating, gymnastics and politics. I was always very curious about the news and politics, even as a very small child. Most likely for their fashion choices! But Mariah Carey and Whitney Houston would probably be my top selects as a five-year-old and six-year-old. Oh, and Barney was pretty fierce.
Did you have any posters in your room?
I was embarrassingly obsessed with Hanson. Like, when I was in fifth grade, Hanson was… they were my everything, especially Isaac. Isaac just really did it for me as a child.
I read that your family comes from a background in journalism. Is that why you studied poli-sci in college?
I mean, it was political science for the whole semester I stayed in school. I didn’t make it very long, but yeah, my family had a media company with TV stations and newspapers and radio stations. So I basically grew up running around the newsroom, going to the newspaper after work, or after school, which was probably annoying to my mom and her co-workers. My first job was actually in gymnastics, but I also worked in the circulation department for a good year or two. I’d get calls like, ”The paper boy dropped my paper in the puddle,” or “the paper is on my roof,” or “It’s raining, I need a new paper.” [Laughing] A lot of kids won’t even know what a newspaper is nowadays!
I was going to ask if your hands were black all the time from the ink. But it sounds like you weren’t actually doing the paper route.
I’ve had to do a few paper routes in my day! But the circulation department was my first thing.
Do you think your sense of curiosity was sparked from having a family that was involved in current events and politics?
I think so very much. My mom would come home and tell us about her day, an ad she was working on, or something that was going on at the paper. I always just thought that was so cool.
You said you lasted a semester in college. I know you went into some troubled times that you’ve spoken about. How did you turn around?
Well, I went to school and had problems with drugs and self-destructive behavior. But after that, I went to hair school, and that really helped me so much. The salon, and just being in the beauty industry connected me to so many great friends. Those friends ultimately drove me toward therapy, which ultimately led me to rehab. It was a huge, huge help. And I think the salon industry — the beauty industry — has always really been a constant source of community and information. It’s connected me to some amazing people. I’m so grateful that I always had that community that I could fall back on.
What’s the advice you give young people on how they can find a sense of community?
It’s something we talk about so much on the podcast. I mean, just in this last month we’ve covered topics like trust. We’ve covered friendships, and I think that yeah, it’s something that we’re always talking about, connection, and how to get connection. I think that with social media, it’s hard because you feel like you’re connected, but it’s not the same connection as being with someone in real life, person to person.
[Laughing] Not that I don’t appreciate the gains we’ve made but I almost miss the old days when it was more secretive, because it was almost like you were in a private club. It was fun.
I really only know it this way. But I’ve done a lot of episodes of “Pretty Curious” on queer history. The episode on cruising was a really fun episode, listening and hearing about how queer culture was back then. It was like, really cool.
What is it like cutting somebody’s hair the first time? I would be terrified.
It is scary! For me, it was an out-of-body experience. I couldn’t believe that I was about to cut someone’s hair. My first client ever was really inebriated. He was drinking a screwdriver out of a plastic water bottle. That day, the hot water heater had gone out at the school, and it was Minnesota, and it was like, maybe January. January with no hot water heater, and so you’re washing all the clients hair in freezing cold water. So this guy was drunk, with me like, washing his hair in cold water, with him howling about how cold it was, and the smell of vodka and orange juice coming at me at 8 in the morning. I was like, “Oh my God,” but I gave him a great, very Bob Saget-esque haircut. He had a little wave, and I gave him diagonal layers. I remember it like it was yesterday.
A lot of times when you watch shows where they do transformation looks, they will do these radical transformations that don’t necessarily look good on the person, but they just look different. One of the things that I love about you, is the fact that you’ve always done what was best for the person, their best look, even if it wasn’t the most radical change.
Thank you for noticing. I’ve really had to work hard to do that because I think, especially in the beginning of “Queer Eye,” I was always getting pushed to do bigger, more dramatic changes, even if it didn’t suit the person or didn’t look good on the person. And so, much of my time was spent explaining to production people why I felt strongly about it.
There would also often be situations where it’d be like, you want a bigger change, but I would have very little time, like, “We want a really, really dramatic change. And you have to do it for 90 minutes.” And I’m like, “We’re gonna end up with flaming orange hair and an unfinished look.” So I think, especially in like, the first two seasons that it was a constant source of negotiation. But we’ve really worked together to learn from each other and to learn how we all kind of work.
I will say that the longer that I’ve done it, the more comfortable I am with the time constraints, staying on time and also making sure the person feels comfortable and that they’re in safe hands. I always want to protect our hero. I always want them to feel good, to feel confident, to like their hair. So that’s always my first concern, and I don’t want to push them to a place where they’re not having a good experience just for the sake of a dramatic makeover. That’s just never been where my heart was. And fortunately, it’s not where our production team’s heart is either, so it’s not like I was always fighting with people. People have really supported me in my vision.
That’s great.
One thing that I’ve found is that as the seasons have gone on, I have felt more comfortable to take bigger risks on people that I felt really wanted to change. Jenni Seckel, the school principal from season 7 in New Orleans, comes to mind. She was a brunette and we made her, like, really red or, I think about like Stephanie Williams, also from New Orleans, the bleach and tone we did for her. She still is bleaching and toning her hair to this day, like two-and-a-half years later, and that was a huge change. So I’ve taken bigger risks as it’s gone on, but it needs to make sense.
Who’s one of the heroes that really sticks out in your mind?
I mean so many. From our most recent season, Nicole and her family really stick out to me so much. Sarah and her family from Las Vegas really just pulled at my heartstrings. Over the whole series, I think about Tammy from season two and her kids, Miles and Jessica, I think about them a lot. I also think about Jessica from season three — so cute. I love her, and Angel from season six. I think about those stories and their families. And Jamie from Austin who has the animal rescue. There’s so many people on and off the show that have shared themselves with me and told me really, really touching, vulnerable, incredible stories of accomplishing something or overcoming something, like just on the street, just any time. I’m always so, so moved.
And there’s going to be another chance for people to get the Fab Five experience coming up soon, correct?
Yes, we’re coming back to Philadelphia where we did season five, and just loved it.
Well, we love you all right back. Tell me a little bit about the show. What can people expect?
Yazzzz! “Fab Five Live!” It’s our first ever live show and I’m really excited to get to share space and get to do this with the crew. It’s going to be Cirque du Soleil style. We’ll be flying, lots of acrobatics. I’m just kidding. I’m also a comedian in my spare time. It’s going to be a lot of fun. We’re going to share personal stories, and behind-the-scenes moments. There’s going to be a live Q&A, and people can submit questions ahead of time on our website. We’re going to do games where we compete against each other, we’re going to do audience interaction. It’s really just going to be like an hour of fun.
We really want to get to know our community more, and we also want our communities to get to know us better. It’s going to be hosted by Michelle Collins, who I’m obsessed with. She’s an incredible comedian. I love her. She’s so fun to be around. She has an amazing energy. We really want to leave people feeling empowered and feeling confident and feeling hopeful. Those are all things that we try to accomplish through the show. We’re going to try to accomplish them in real life now!
Nice. Well, if you need a person to do a hair demo on, I don’t know if you can see this, but my hair goes below my waist and I’m willing to cut it for charity.
Honey, look at those inches she’s giving me! Rapunzel, you have the most amazing hair! Inch-arella, honey!
Well, thank you. All right let’s get to a few random questions here. What time period would you like to go back to?
Ooh, I think it’d be really fun to have lived in the Roaring ’20s. Like, I love a finger wave. I love a flapper dress. I think I’ve embarrassingly seen the whole series of “Downton Abbey” like 96,000 times. I mean, the 1920s are not all around cool, but stylistically they were cool.
What’s your favorite picture of your hubby, Mark?
I have a picture of us from our wedding day that I love.
What item of yours would he want to throw away?
My blush and my fragrance.
Not the fragrance! Oh, I understand you wrote a kid’s book, based on one of your childhood pets.
Yea-yah! “Peanut Goes for the Gold.” It’s about a gender nonbinary guinea pig who does everything with their own personal flair. I was really obsessed with guinea pigs, because my fifth-grade teacher had a guinea pig named Peanut, and so I got a guinea pig and named it Peanut — very creative on my part!
And last question: give me an alternate ending to this phrase. Frankly, my dear…
Frankly, my dear… I think we should all celebrate each other.
I agree wholeheartedly.
Jonathan Van Ness and the Fab Five will come to Philadelphia at 8 p.m. on Feb. 19 at the Miller Theater, 250 S Broad St. For more information or to purchase tickets, visit fabfivelive.com.