The Las Culturistas Culture Awards deserves a Bravo! The podcast’s awards show aired on August 5 with hosts Matt Rogers and Bowen Yang taking their bit to a whole new level and audience. It’s technically the show’s fourth year — the first three were live events in New York — but the scale of the production was a first. There were dance routines, elaborate costumes, and multiple Oscar winners. It was, as the hosts put it, “The only awards show where no one thanks God.” The best moments of the night came when the polished Hollywood glamour of, say, Jamie Lee Curtis, brushed up against the anarchic comedy of the 2016 Brooklyn alt-comedy scene. Should Jack Quaid, Hollywood royalty as the son of Dennis Quaid and Meg Ryan, be interacting with Patti Harrison dressed as Lady Gaga in the “Abracadabra” music video? It turns out the answer is “yes.” Throw in a dash of reality-TV thirstiness, courtesy of Housewives like Angie K. and Lisa Rinna, and you’ve got a night that sometimes reached the sublime. Below, find the highs, lows, and whoas of the 2025 Las Culturistas Culture Awards.
HIGH: The title cards are impressive.
The show begins with a list of people who will be appearing that night. Seeing all the names together, including Oscar winners, box-office stars, Real Housewives, and assorted comedians, it becomes clear that this show was bigger than it had any right to be (complimentary). It’s thrilling that Gabby Windey gets the coveted “and” spot at the end of the roundup of celebrity appearances.
WHOA: The whole thing has the vibe of a RuPaul’s Drag Race finale.
Is that just a function of it not being “live”? The pretaped show, with its chosen reaction shots that are sometimes of famous people and sometimes not, really is reminiscent of Drag Race. Yang, for what it’s worth, is basically auditioning to host awards shows — he has graduated from the 8 a.m. nomination announcements. He can host!
LOW: Glenn Close shade.
The boys claim that Glenn Close could not do “Buttons” by the Pussycat Dolls, which is wrong. Glenn Close could do “Buttons.”
HIGH: Patti Harrison’s continued participation.
Patti Harrison is back as the trophy girl while dressed as Lady Gaga in “Abracadabra.” The sheer amount of screen time given to Harrison being funny in the background is a comedy blessing.
HIGH: The general sense of community.
Throughout the show, there are reaction shots of alt comedians who don’t even present. Mitra Jouhari! James Tom!
WHOA: Rogers and Yang sing all of “Abracadabra” with dancers and everything.
They should do this at the Oscars, too.
LOW: No Goldblum nip.
Jeff Goldblum, while receiving Most Amazing Impact in Film for Jeff Goldblum’s Chest in Jurassic Park, teases that he’s gonna remove his shirt, then doesn’t. He shoulda gone shirtless.
HIGH: The completionism.
Playing the winners of the non-televised categories in the run-up to the commercial break. This would be a welcome improvement to other awards broadcasts.
WHOA: Character bits!
Kristen Wiig does an original character! It’s Robyn with a Y, the Riddler’s assistant whose scenes were cut, beating out other women of the Batman universe. Ana Gasteyer also does an original character, as the owner of Womencrafts Provincetown, who wins the Jamie Lee Curtis Award for Gusto, Enthusiasm, and Individuality. More bits, please!
HIGH: Kenan Thompson’s Titan of Culture award.
Thompson receives a well-deserved lifetime-achievement award. He has been doing comedy his whole life. Aidy Bryant gives him a lovely intro. His speech is good! He gives a shout-out to Law Roach. I wonder what their conversations are like.
HIGH: Lisa Rinna as Demi Moore.
Rinna presents the first Outfit of the Year nominee: Demi Moore’s yellow coat in The Substance. She really commits to the acting of it all. Oscar for Lisa Rinna.
HIGH: Meg Stalter presents the Allison Williams Cool Girl Award.
It makes sense for her to be aligning herself with Williams, as they are both Lena Dunham muses.
LOW: Paige DeSorbo wins the Allison Williams Cool Girl Award.
No shade to Ms. DeSorbo, but her beating the Lisa Rinna M&M, Lisa from Blackpink, Lisa Simpson, and Lisa from Temecula for the Allison Williams Cool Girl Award means that the Lisa Rinna M&M was, of course, robbed.
WHOA: Pat Regan!
Hacks writer Pat Regan is one of our most constantly put-upon barely famous gay guys in America, and he is brought on to simply present the next presenter, Sarah Michelle Gellar.
HIGH: SMG doing a bit.
Sarah Michelle Gellar reveals that she hosted “the Technical and Creative Arts Las Culturistas Awards.” I would have loved to actually see all of the Las Culturistas Awards for different types of animals and advancements in theme-park technology!! Those are usually the funniest ones!!
WHOA: Angie K. was meant to be onscreen.
Real Housewives of Salt Lake City star Angie K.’s acceptance speech ends with her making a victory pose and a photo of the Acropolis behind her.
HIGH: Lisa Rinna as Timothée Chalamet.
Rinna models the next nominee for Outfit of the Year: Timothée Chalamet at the Knicks game!
LOW: The lack of suspense.
They shouldn’t have teased all the guests at the beginning because it spoiled who was going to win every award! Pretty much whoever was in attendance wins their category save for Muna.
WHOA: Robby Hoffman and Gabby Windey make out when Windey wins an award.
Hot!
WHOA: Ben Platt’s rendition of “Diet Pepsi”
It has a lot of vibrato.
HIGH: Kate Berlant reads the nominees for Most Thrilling Threat.
It’s lovely to see Berlant use the skills she showed off so well in her one-woman show, Kate. She is an incredible actress in close-up. Seriously, her “threats” were actually scary.
HIGH: Lisa Rinna as Pedro Pascal.
Lisa Rinna models Outfit of the Year nominee “Protect the Dolls” shirt as Pedro Pascal. She really does capture his folksy charm.
WHOA: The pretaped speeches.
Some winners, like Tina Fey, send in pretaped acceptance speeches. Audra McDonald sends in a prerecorded acceptance speech saying, “Are you kidding me? I can’t even believe it.” It is immediately clear that she does not know what the event is — which makes it all the better.
HIGH: The “in absentia” section.
This section is a tribute to all the people who could not come to the show that night, set to the boys singing “I Don’t Want to Miss a Thing.” The harmonies are perfect and just in their register! Also, all the jokes during this bit are the best jokes so far. Troye Sivan, Will Ferrell, and Kaia Gerber all send in videos explaining that they are on vacation. Lucy Dacus comes and joins the party. All around, this is the best non–Lisa Rinna segment of the night.
WHOA: Allison Janney’s moving Lifetime Achievement Award section.
Kristen Wiig, introducing Allison Janney’s Lifetime Achievement Award, gives a 100 percent sincere, sweet little speech. Also? She’s gorgeous! Then there’s a loving and ridiculous interpretive-dance tribute to Janney and her various roles, even if these roles are largely, genuinely nothing special and featuring them sort of contradicts the concept of the award. Happy for her, but I just do not like her in I, Tonya. She seems nice, though! Loved her lack of pants.
LOW: Palm Royale is getting a second season?
Janney says it, so it’s true. Get these talented women into something better.
HIGH: Lisa Rinna as Normal Girl.
Lisa Rinna models the Outfit of the Year nominee as a pretty girl who is getting coffee in sweatpants and a tank top. She kind of looks like Carole Radziwill.
HIGH: Queer Stitch.
The other best bit of the night is Joel Kim Booster and D’Arcy Carden using their time as presenters to do a Stitch pronoun reveal. The ultimate reveal? Eee/Aaa. This is exactly the kind of stupid, messy queer joke that we want from this show.
WHOA: Reneé Rapp eats.
While presenting the Reneé Rapp Award for Power in Lesbianism, Rapp reveals that the winner — “Probably your grandma, even though she was married to your grandpa for 50 years” — is not there. “Your grandma couldn’t be here because she’s dead,” she says. “She’s dead, and she’s in Heaven.”
WHOA: Jensen McRae as Normal Girl
Jensen McRae performs her song “Massachusetts” and kinda seems like a girl who is in your AP Chem class and you’re like, Oh, wow, she can sing, when she performs a little original song with a guitar at the talent show.
HIGH: Lisa Rinna … wins!
And in an upset, the Outfit of the Year goes to Lisa Rinna in Whatever the Fuck She Wants. And guess what? She wore something crazy!
Related
- Matt and Bowen Enter the Honesty Zone
- The Real Winners of the 2024 Las Culturistas Culture Awards
- The True Winners and Losers of the Las Culturistas Culture Awards
From Lisa Rinna in outfits (HIGH) to the Glenn Close shade (LOW), here are Matt Rogers and Bowen Yang’s most memorable moments.
