(audience cheering) - Welcome ya'll.
We've got the cast of the new rom-com, "Bros,"
hanging with us.
(audience cheering)
I swear to you
I don't think we've ever had this excited.
They're so excited.
(Billy laughing)
There're two women in our audience
who have brought drag shows
to their small North Carolina town
and it's having a dramatic impact on the whole community.
Everybody say hello to the owners
of East Frank Superette and Kitchen,
Carley and Cress, hi.
- Hi Kelly. (audience applause)
- Hello, so your business is pretty unique and cool,
so can you tell us about it?
- Sure, so we opened up a shop
in a small town called Monroe, North Carolina.
- [Kelly] Yeah.
- It's a conservative town.
We sell beer and wine, we have a bar.
We sell coffee and we also have a restaurant.
But it's actually the small town where my husband grew up.
So we were able to bring
what we know how to do to that town.
- [Kelly] Yeah.
- And we have been making Monroe Funroe ever since.
(audience applause)
- [Kelly] I like it. - Amazing.
- I like it.
So the shows are super inclusive, right?
- Oh, absolutely, we started out with drag shows.
My husband said, "We really are fighting
"for the same 50 people in Downtown Monroe
"so we need to figure out a way
"to bring more people to our store."
- [Kelly] Yeah.
- So he said, "What about drag queens?"
Because we have them at our shop in Charlotte.
So he pitched the idea to me, to Carley
and her husband Robbie, and we all agreed to do it.
And after that it was just gangbusters.
We sold out.
So we have been so welcomed in the community
and since their shows are all ages,
it gives parents the opportunity
to bring their LGBTQ kids in to see that we are inclusive
and that they are seen and can be their authentic selves.
- [Kelly] And they're represented.
- And be accepted, yes.
- Warms my heart with the story
because I'm from Charlotte, North Carolina.
So that's just down. (audience applause)
- [Billy] Oh, wow. - [Kelly] Yeah.
- Just down the way.
I mean, I'm gonna guess 40 miles or whatever nearby.
I don't, I shouldn't guess numbers
but it's very close to where I grew up.
So to hear that and know that that's where I grew up
and that's what's there now, it means a lot, obviously.
- [Kelly] Yeah.
(audience applause)
- Yeah, Carley, what's your experience like?
- Yeah, so it's pretty incredible,
the positive impact we've made, I guess.
We've had people call and message.
We had a father, a very conservative father, message us
and say, "Listen my son is trans
"and I want him to know that he's accepted and loved".
And we were like, "We're the place to come.
"Please, please come here."
And so it's basically been a place
where we've bridged the gap in the community.
We've had some people that have wanted us to fail
but we're very stubborn and we do not fail.
And when you tell us we not to do something, we'll do it.
- [Kelly] Yeah.
- So it's--
- Sometimes I'm thankful for those hurdles
and those challenges.
- [Carley] Oh, yeah.
- Then you really, you find out who you are.
- [Cress] Oh, absolutely. - Oh, absolutely.
And people tell us all the time, like,
"You can't do that."
And we're like, "Yeah, we can."
(audience chuckles)
I'm like, "No, we will and we will not fail."
But it's been just incredible, the impact that we've made.
- [Kelly] I love it.
And you just helped put on
the city's first Pride Festival, right?
So what was that like?
- Oh, it was incredible.
We put on the first Union County Pride Festival
in Downtown Monroe ever.
We'd been doing our drag shows
and selling tickets for capacity reasons.
And basically the money,
all the money from the tickets went to Union County Pride.
So we decided to do a Union County Pride kickoff party.
We had an amazing drag show, we had a dance party.
We had a photo booth and had 200 people show up.
- [Kelly] Yeah.
- To this amazing party.
And I swear, everyone that left good, thank you.
Thank you so much for doing this.
And we were like, "Wow, this was needed.
"This was definitely needed."
- You know what I love most about it,
is it's, you're two straight women.
- [Cress] Yes.
- Like doing it.
Like that's what I love most about it.
- Like, I think that representation is so important
and not just for people that feel
that they're not represented,
but it's important for our children to see everything too.
Like, and I think, you know, if you're straight,
like I want you know my kids
to be able to experience everything.
- We have to model that behavior
- [Kelly] Exactly.
- To show, and we have children as well.
- [Kelly] Yeah.
- And so modeling that behavior to be accepting
and kind is so important.
And hopefully we're raising a next generation
that will do just that.
- Agreed, agreed.
Well, thank you so much, Carley, thank you Cress.
- Thank you.
Thanks for having us.
(audience applause)
- We can't wait to see what y'all do next.
It's really cool what you're doing in your community.
And thank you so much to the cast
of "Bros" for hanging out. - Thank you.
- Thank you so much.