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A year or two ago, local comedian and impressionist Rachael Ivy Young started posting her impressions of cast members from Bravo’s Real Housewives franchise on TikTok and Instagram. But they weren’t straightforward impressions: She acted out things like Salt Lake City housewife Lisa Barlow performing theatrical monologues and New Jersey’s Teresa Giudice singing Taylor Swift songs.
The send-ups have gotten Young tons of Internet love, with guest spots on podcasts and likes from celebrities such as Pedro Pascal (Game of Thrones), Nicola Coughlan (Bridgerton) and Barlow herself.
This was no accident.
“I have been attempting to become online famous for years and it finally worked out,” Young says. “And the fact that it was because of the Housewives is perfect.”
Folks who want to see Young in all her Bravo glory can see her host watch parties of new episodes of The Real Housewives of Salt Lake City in character as Lisa Barlow at Take Two on Northeast Killingsworth Street on Wednesday nights. (For the uninitiated, Barlow is a Mormon mother of two known for drinking nearly her body weight in Diet Coke every day and speaking in an unusual, enunciated cadence.)
Young, a 34-year-old from northern Washington, also performs monthly at Not That Late Show, a live variety show that “feels like watching TV on a wonderfully queer and femme cable box,” she says. The show starts with a monologue, then goes into a news update, breaks for “commercials” (fully written skits) then cuts to a musical or comedy guest, à la broadcast network late shows.
Her star is rising there, too: Not That Late Show has sold out every show and already outgrown two venues in its 10 months of existence. On Thursday, Oct. 24, Not That Late Show will have its Mission Theater debut with a Halloween-themed episode. The guests include Helium Comedy’s recent Funniest Person in Portland winner Ben Harkins and the band Sherbet Tone.
The Oct. 24 show will be a fundraiser for women’s day shelter Rose Haven, and sponsor New Deal Distillery will match any donations.
Young co-writes and co-hosts the show with Lizzy Rees and a crew from Framework studio produces. Previous sketches have included parodies of Shark Tank, The Price Is Right and commercials for fake medical products. Young and Rees want the audience to feel like it’s flipping through channels.
One channel Young is still hoping to appear on: Bravo. The ideal slot would be as a guest on Andy Cohen’s late night, interactive talk show Watch What Happens Live.
Her message for the host: “Dear Sir Andrew Cohen: I am ready. I have been ready. It’s time for me to come home to the clubhouse.”
SEE IT: Not That Late Show at the Mission Theater, 1624 NW Glisan St., 503-223-4527, mcmenamins.com/events/259074-not-that-late-show. 7 pm Thursday, Oct. 24. $20-$25. 21+.