Chapter 1: What journey did Dylan Mulvaney take to embrace her identity?
I still have things like that happen on occasion. I'll be uninvited to something.
I never want to be in a room where I'm not wanted, though.
I think what is sad is that in order to survive, some of these things become normalized for us.
And this is the life that we're, this is, you know, I was thinking back to that, you know, saying that I didn't know when people said my name, who they were talking about. And now I'm like, oh no, I'm Dylan fucking Mulvaney. That is so cool. You are Monica fucking Lewinsky.
Hi. Hey. I'm so excited you're here. It's happening. It's happening. Finally. I know people who have been listening to Reclaiming since the beginning, so like 50 plus episodes ago, will remember that when Alan Cumming was on, he was saying that you were the perfect guest for this show, which you are. And finally now we've been able to make it. I think he might have called you Wee Dylan Mulvaney.
Oh, Wee Dylan. Wee Lassie. Wee. Wee Lassie, wee Dylan Mulvaney.
I think if you had told me that like when I was like 10 years old watching Spy Kids, I wouldn't have believed you. And it's also so funny because I think everyone has a different version of Alan Cumming that they love in their heads. And so mine was very much Spy Kids. And then it was Romy and Michelle, which is like my addiction. And hopefully we're getting a second Romy and Michelle movie.
I mean, that's what it sounded like at his walk of fame star unveiling thing.
But And that's where we finally got to meet. What a moment where he's up there on a stage giving a speech and I looked over and we made eye contact and we waved to each other. And I was like, oh, this is the perfect place to finally connect.
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Chapter 2: How did Dylan Mulvaney handle the 'beergate' controversy?
You've got the casting directors, the directors, the choreographers, the producers.
Oh, I didn't know that. All of those people have to sign off? So many people.
Interesting. And I think especially because Broadway, I think at this level, it's commercial. And so they're trying to make money off of a show. And so they need to decide if you're a profitable performer and if you can really do eight shows a week. And so that, I think, is...
knowing that over the past few years, I had met all of these people that helped get me into this show, like the writers, Toby and Lucy, who are now really good friends. They wrote a song for my Day 365 live at the Rainbow Room. They wrote a show for my one-woman show in New York at the Lortel. So, like, all of these relationships were kind of, like, popping up over the past few years. And now...
You know, I start performing in two weeks and it's February 16th and I'll be in it for a few months.
Okay. I'm going to be back around the 19th and I'm hoping I can come. Oh my gosh, please.
And that's good because I have a lot of people coming the first night and I'm like, oh, give me a few days. Okay, will you tell me when? No, but that makes me so happy because by the fourth or fifth day, I'll be ready for you. But have you ever been on Broadway?
No.
Would you ever?
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Chapter 3: What role does humor play in Dylan's life and career?
And I think that is a testament to even like in the darkest times. There was no part of it that had anything to do with doubt of transition or doubting my identity. It really was just about people's... reactions to that.
Projections.
Yes. It's just fascinating.
I will get to the whole reason why, but it's just, you know, I often refer to myself as a social canvas because even though I take things in, it's so much of what people thought about me, think about me, say about me is really just their own projection. Right. Or what they're being fed about you. You were talented. Thank you.
I did Book of Mormon before I transitioned.
Exactly, and that was right after you came out of conservatory, right?
Yes, so I went to the Cincinnati Conservatory of Music, which is one of the best musical theater schools in America. Okay, I didn't know that. Random and amazing, and also it's so cheap for rent in Cincinnati. It was heaven. Uh-huh. And I really like – I put the time and effort into getting really good at something.
And then when I started going viral on TikTok, people like didn't realize – well, first of all, theater kids – theater kid energy isn't really like a mainstream thing that a lot of people are used to. And so I think a lot of people didn't fully understand what –
I was about like, like, I think I was kind of like abrasive in some of my videos because they're like, oh my gosh, how does this person have so much energy and how are they so animated? And I'm like, babe, that's like every theater kid that I know. And, and so I think what's so cool about me going back to Broadway is like, it is coming home.
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Chapter 4: What insights does Dylan share about her transition journey?
I felt so good to kind of hang my twink shoes up.
No shade to the twink. No, we love twinks.
Oh, my God. Twinks are my favorite people in the world.
Okay, wait. I have just a question.
Yes.
So when you're talking about this, I don't know if you use the word toxic or not. Yes. But around this sort of male toxic.
It's like toxic masculinity in gay culture.
Okay. Is that generational?
Yes.
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Chapter 5: How did the pandemic impact Dylan's career and identity?
Wow. And one of them.
Generic Beer Company 1 and Generic Beer Company 2.
Well, in my book, Paper Doll, I call it generic beer brand. And so they won. And it wasn't a wildly large contract. You know, I had made an Instagram video promoting them. But the real kind of peak to what incited all of the attention was they had sent me a can of beer with my face on it. And I think, of course, the way that misinformation is spread, but like...
People saw that can, assumed that that was now going to be on all of their cans of beer or that it was – there was only one can that exists and it's hidden very well now somewhere in a different state. But I think it was one of those things where I went into it with like the most – kind of casual of intentions because I was like, oh, here's – I love beer. I'm trans.
I didn't even – my identity didn't even feel like a piece of this puzzle to begin with. And then what ended up happening was the far-right media and the powers that be that decided to make that – America's biggest problem of the moment, which was why is a trans person on a can of beer?
There was the whole thing that happened. Correct me if I'm getting this wrong, but like Kid Rock was then shooting beer cans.
He did have an automatic sort of machine gun situation shooting at beer cans saying, this is for Dylan Mulvaney, which is... that I think was, it almost felt like that piece of it felt humorous because it was like that, that didn't feel real. But then what got scary was like the, real people that were then potentially influenced by that person or that content.
And that's what I find really fascinating about some of the far-right's content that they're putting out there or some of their philosophies or things that they're promoting that then leads actual people to actual violence. And so I wasn't scared of a country singer coming to my house to do something. I was scared of the people that listened to that person's... Well, and then...
I think you talked about this in Paper Doll, in your memoir, about there being a bomb threat, right? There was. I think what's important, and I don't mean to reopen anything for you, but I think it's important of a witnessing of how heavy that is and how much was put on you. You were 25. You were so young.
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Chapter 6: What does Dylan mean by 'reclaiming joy'?
And I was like, what a weird thing to say to someone. But also I was, and actually my friend got really pissed Like defensive and sort of like, oh, this is no longer a safe space. And I said, nope, it's okay. Let her go here because it's so rare that we get to see into someone who is having an actual moment of change or of – this felt like an opportunity for real connection.
And I was like, oh, what is – what was it that you – felt really triggered by me. And she was like, well, it's just, I was, you know, watching the news and they said you were, you know, X, Y, and Z. And I started to, I was like, well, no, actually I did it. And you could see her being like, oh my God, I was fed this thing. And it was really cool because I think while
we might not have aligned on many things in our lives. At least in that moment, I knew that she saw me the way that I want the world to see me. And so I think those moments I'm actually really comfortable with. And even like being here today talking about it, like there could be somebody listening to this that – does come in with preconceived notions.
There could be people that listen to your podcast that were like, oh, I'm not gonna listen to this episode because it's still Mulvaney. And so I think, I love that there's still an element of curiosity in people or like, I just pray that
The idea of open-mindedness can survive what we're all living through and in social media enough to at least go back to the source and go back to real people's experiences and their beliefs.
Yeah, it's interesting because I... What I'm recognizing in you that I've experienced too, and other people that I know who've gone through different kinds of traumas, whether they're public or not, is there's something about the weight of experience that in order to survive it, you have to become so introspective. Yes. And you have to... Do a lot of digging.
And that's what I hear in the story you just told me. And that it's... because I've seen it with myself too, of these moments where you're actually being generous. You're being generous to this person. They have these negative things and there's like a feeling of needing to be magnanimous. And in some ways it's great for all the reasons you just said.
But it also, it makes me sad for you because it comes from
A people pleaser mentality. But I didn't owe that woman that moment.
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Chapter 7: How does Dylan's experience reflect on societal perceptions of trans individuals?
Ditto, girl.
Cool.
Ditto. So we end every show.
Okay.
I ask the same question. Is there anything that you're working on reclaiming right now?
I am reclaiming the color red. And I am... I'm reclaiming trans joy in a way that works for me and might not work for other people, but it feels so good to be back in trans joy. And I hope that other people will let Maybe some of them have never claimed it to begin with, or feel like they can't claim it because they're not trans.
But I urge everyone to try to find a piece of it because it is magic. And when you surround yourself with people who know so clearly who it is and why, And what it is that they want to be and who they are, I think a lot of folks will realize that we were not the monsters under the bed or the thing to be afraid of at all. I think that trans people are a gift.
And I really hope that others will let joy into their lives like this.
Yes. And get joy by coming to see you in six on Broadway.
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