-Hello! -Thank you, and welcome.
Look at you.
You always have something.
I want to thank you again for being here,
'cause you were here back in April.
-Yeah.
-And so much has changed since then.
Obviously, you're now back filming season three of "Pose."
-Yes. -How is it going?
-It's wild. It's crazy.
I'm excited to be back.
We're all glad to be back.
Disney, who now owns FX, has put brilliant protocols in place.
Everybody looks like a stormtrooper.
-[ Laughs ] -I feel so sorry for the crew,
because they have to have goggles and masks and shields.
-They have that here, too, I agree.
-But that allows for us to be able to go to work.
This is a wild, crazy time.
And I'm just grateful that there are people
who care enough to take the right steps,
to believe science and get us back to work.
-You were nominated for another Emmy this year.
And even though it was virtual,
you still showed up and delivered with awesome style.
Look at that, come on, now. -Ah!
-Come on, now. -Yes.
-What is the piano?
-Okay, so, I'm working with a new stylist,
Ty Hunter of Beyoncé fame.
And he and his assistant Colin showed up on Emmy day
with a piano that they had found the night before on Craigslist
and spray-painted white. -I love it.
-And they brought a backdrop and a photographer,
and they came out to my front yard,
and we took some photos, darling.
-I love that you did that.
You know, I don't know if anyone else did that
for, like, a virtual event.
So that was pretty cool that you did that.
-It was my first.
It was my first, because I hadn't been doing
any virtual red carpets through the entire quarantine.
And I just thought this will pack a punch,
because I'm nominated for an Emmy.
It's a big deal.
And I haven't been doing them. -Yeah.
And I bet you everyone has been calling
and asking, "Will Billy show up?
And will Billy do something for us?
Will he get the hat? Will he do something?"
And you go, "Yeah, just chill.
I'll take care of business." -Yeah.
I wasn't doing it because the moment that we're in
didn't make me feel like doing anything like that.
-Yeah. I agree.
-You know, and so I just wanted to be respectful.
-Yeah. -And I think, you know,
having six months of not doing that, you know,
and then embracing it for the moment,
which was the Emmys, was a good thing.
-And it made people happy. -Yes.
-And you see the things that we miss, and you go,
"Aw, I miss that." -Yes.
-Sadly, you know, Broadway announced
that it will be shut down through June,
which is just awful.
You think about this.
You've been doing a lot to celebrate Broadway,
as we wait for it to come back.
One of your early Broadway roles was Teen Angel in "Grease,"
and you posted a photo of your first time
on "The Tonight Show."
Here it is. -[ Laughs ]
-What do you remember about this?
-I remember that we were on tour
with the pre-Broadway production of "Grease,"
that starred Rosie O'Donnell and Megan Mullally.
-Megan Mullally? -Pre-"Will & Grace."
-I did not know that. -And we were in Costa Mesa,
and "The Tonight Show" was going to have us,
and they came to the show, and they saw the whole show.
And they chose my number.
And so I ended up being able to go on.
And then it was a surprise, because after the number,
Jay Leno paneled me, which was a big deal.
Because, like, I wasn't supposed to go and talk.
I was just supposed to be a musical guest and sing.
-And you scored. -Yes.
-There's this trend online right now, I just recently did,
where people share photos and they go how it started,
and how it's going.
And people are doing it. You've been having fun with it.
You made one just for us tonight.
-Yes. -Let's take a look at this.
Now, that is how it started, which I have questions about.
-[ Laughs ] -I see how it's going.
Let's start with how it's going.
Where was that? Was that "Kinky Boots"?
-That was "Kinky Boots," 2013, the Tony Awards.
-Oh, come on.
-So that was the original dream come true.
The dream that I started having
when you see me on the left over there.
-Now, what was happening when you're on the left over there?
How old are you? -Okay, so, I am 13 years old.
I was at Reizenstein Middle School.
I had discovered musical theater in the sixth grade.
I was in the eighth grade.
And I figured,
here I've spent the last two years playing second banana.
So I'm going to be the star of the show.
The show was announced. It's "Oliver."
I went to the library.
I took out the cast album.
I learned "Where Is Love?"
I came, I sang, I did my audition.
The cast list goes up, and it says Oliver Twist --
Eric Pearson.
Well, I storm into the director's office.
Mr. Ken Lutz,
who was the instrumental teacher,
who I'm still friends with to this day.
And I was like, "How dare you?"
You know, like, I went off on him.
And he said, "Billy, Billy, Billy, you, Fagin."
If anybody knows "Oliver Twist," I was cast as Fagin.
Fagin is really the star of the show.
Fagin is really the lead. And I was like, "Okay."
He said, "Well, take the script home and read it."
Well, of course, at 13, you're just counting your lines.
And Fagin, I was just counting my lines.
And Fagin doesn't even enter
until the last scene of the first act.
I was like, "How are you going to tell me
I'm the lead of a show named 'Oliver'
and I'm not playing Oliver?"
-[ Laughs ]
-But that is when I discovered
the power of a star entrance, darling.
Because the children were waiting for me!
I didn't realize it was that. -[ Laughing ] Oh, my God.
-I didn't understand that.
-Oh, my gosh. This is ridiculous.
-The children were waiting for me.
At 13, I arrived on the stage to applause, darling.
-The children were waiting for you.
Oh, my gosh.
I don't think there's anything more --
you get that special feeling when a kid is doing "Oliver,"
and they sing "Where Is Love?"
Just, like, the voice, and it's just so little.
-Yeah, but for me, I'm reviewing the situation,
an octave up in a Pittsburgh/cockney accent.
There is video. I don't know where it is.
But I'm sure somebody will post it now
when they see this.
-Next time you come on, we got to play that.
-It's out there somewhere. [ Laughs ]
-Billy, you've also been using your platform
to encourage people to vote.
-Yes.
-Like your beautiful blazer says.
And be active.
I know last time you were on, we talked about your version of
"For What It's Worth." -Yes.
-Man, oh, man, did it explode. Everyone loved it.
It ended up being on Obama's summer playlist.
-Yes.
-Did you freak out? You go, "Wait. Wow."
-It's just -- It's astonishing.
I've been an independent artist for a long time.
I had a R&B record deal back in the late '90s,
and they dismissed me.
So I've been on my own.
I've been doing independent music for a while.
So to have this happen, to be able to crack through
in this way for something
that I just remained persistent and consistent on
is really, really amazing.
It's really powerful, and, it's made it to the list of,
like, being in contention for a Grammy.
-[ Clapping ] This is what I'm talking about.
See, that's what you do. -So I am like just keep going.
If there's anything that I can say to folks,
just keep going, just keep showing up for your life
and putting one foot in front of the other.
-It was great. I love that you did it.
And I was so happy to see it on that list.
I go, "Oh, he's got to be, like, just freaking out right now."
-Yeah, it's amazing. It's amazing.
-You narrate a new docuseries called "Equal,"
which is on HBO Max,
which, by the way, is killing it right now.
-Yeah.
-Could you set it up for everybody?
-Yeah, you know, I think we as a society
know a lot about LGBTQ+ history
from 1969, which is the Stonewall uprising, forward.
What "Equal" does is it really talks
about what came before that.
You know, the history that came before 1969.
So probably around the turn of the century, even as far back
as like the late 1800s, up into the Stonewall uprising.
And I learned a lot about stuff that I didn't know.
And they called and asked me to be the voice.
So that's what I did.
It's really exciting, and it's really, really good.
Really empowering.
-You are so talented, you are fun, you are fearless.
We love you here.
I want to show everyone a clip of "Equal,"
which premieres Thursday on HBO Max.
Take a look at this.
-100 years ago, lesbians and gays could find their fun
together in the underground world.
We're talking the Roaring Twenties
and the Dirty Thirties.
You know, Prohibition, speakeasies, and the like.
It was still on the down-low, but you could find the gay life,
if you knew where to look for it.
But by the 1950s, queer love was forbidden love.
A conservative chill set in across postwar America.
-Billy Porter. All four episodes of "Equal"
begin streaming this Thursday on HBO Max.
Next time you come on, Billy, I need that video.
I'm gonna find it. I want to hear that.
-We'll find it.
I'm sure I will hear from some folks.
We got that one, and we got "Guys and Dolls"
from when I was in high school, too.
They're out there somewhere. I've seen them.
-I love that the kids were waiting for you.
They were waiting for your entrance.
-The children were waiting for me, honey.
Gave me applause, darling.