‘somebody somewhere’ is dead. long live ‘somebody somewhere.’
Bridget Everett’s tender-hearted HBO series just ended its three-season run. It will be missed.
Queering the Burbs is a regularly-published distillation of pop culture, politics and queerness written by Joe Erbentraut. If you like what you see, please consider subscribing (it’s free!), liking or sharing this piece. Order Joe’s new zine, Issue #01, here.
Do you ever feel so seen by a piece of media that it almost hurts? Not in a bad way, but in that way that makes you wonder how an entire production team somehow entered your brain and plucked out your memories and anxieties just to blast them back to you on a television screen?
That’s been my experience with the beyond-brilliant Somebody Somewhere, which just aired its series finale the other week. The show stars New York cabaret icon Bridget Everett as Sam, a woman in her 40s who returns to her small-town hometown of Manhattan, Kansas to care for her dying sister. When we meet Sam in S01E01, she is grieving the loss of her sister just six months before while working a dead-end job and navigating a tense relationship with many of her family members.
But Sam’s life back in Manhattan takes a positive turn when she connects with her coworker and former high school show choir peer Joel (played by Jeff Hiller). Joel brings Sam to his “Choir Practice” gathering that he organizes at a local church as a covert haven for all of the local queers, weirdos, and fellow misfit toys. In her first visit, Joel coaxes Sam into singing a duet with him—the perfectly appropriate “Don’t Give Up” by Kate Bush and Peter Gabriel. Even though you’ve only spent about 15 minutes with these characters up until this point in the series, the scene and this song still grabs you by the throat.
Before long, Choir Practice turns Sam onto a whole new world she probably didn’t know was even possible in her sleepy hometown. She meets eccentric and predominantly queer new friends like Fred Rococo played by drag king icon Murray Hill and through these friendships Sam begins to see herself and her life through a different, far less narrow lens.
All of that said, Somebody Somewhere doesn’t depict some kind of sugar-coated journey of growth and self-acceptance. There are plenty of false starts and complications along the way. That’s what makes the show feel so deeply authentic and relatable, especially for those of us who don’t exactly align with what are thought to be the predominant values and norms of small Midwest towns like Manhattan, Kansas.
When I see Sam and Joel consoling themselves with another box of Manhattan’s Victory Donuts, I think of my friends and I coming together for much-needed sweet treats and long embraces at Batavia’s New Moon Vegan the day after the election last month. When I see Sam’s sister Tricia come into her own when she begins to grow her pillow business (with hand-stitched phrases like “Live Laugh Cunt”), I think of the incredible entrepreneurs following their dreams at businesses like Geneva’s Midwest Nice and Batavia’s Hearth & Hammer. And I can’t watch a scene featuring the show’s Choir Practice without thinking of the queer sanctuary and joy that have come to define every one of Annie Hex’s Queer Proms.
If you’re from these parts and certain streets of Manhattan look familiar when you watch Somebody Somewhere, it’s not just because of this spiritual connection. Much of the show was actually filmed in Chicago suburbs including Naperville, Warrenville, and Lockport. In addition, many of the show’s cast members also have ties to the Chicago area. Put simply, the Midwestern roots run deep.
At this particular moment in my life, the show hits even deeper than all of that, still. I don’t know about you, but these past few weeks have been beyond a doozy. That damn election. Loved ones’ multiple health scares. The usual holiday season stress. Our entire democracy seemingly hanging on by a thread. On top of all that, I (along with almost all of my Thrillist colleagues) was abruptly laid off by Vox Media after two and a half years working as an editorial director there earlier this month.
It was a dream job until it suddenly wasn’t and now, like Sam, I find myself facing a crossroads and wondering what comes next. Thankfully, also like Sam, I am grateful to have found my chosen family of misfits surrounding me out here in the boonies. Thanks to them, I know the river’s still flowing. I know somewhere there’s a place where we belong.
We as queer people, as fat people, as artists and writers, as the neurospicy, as the marginalized in so many ways, need these spaces like the places I named above. We’ll need them even more than ever starting next January, and we’ll also continue to deeply need pieces of media and art that authentically and radically reflect this reality back to us, to help inspire other queerdos to find or create their own Choir Practices and Queer Proms where they live.
If you haven’t already, watch Somebody Somewhere, maybe consider signing the petition to get it renewed, and if you still don’t believe in the power of Bridget Everett, please watch this clip of her belting out “Piece of My Heart” immediately.
A MINI, LAST-MINUTE HOLIDAY GIFT GUIDE
OK, I really dropped the ball here because the holiday season is almost over at this point, but I just wanted to highlight a few of my favorite things you can snatch up right now from queer and ally-owned Fox Valley-area businesses and artists if you’re still looking for a last-minute gift this year. If you’re still stumped, check out my suggestions from years past, or Amy Sedaris’s new, deeply chaotic collection of 104 gift ideas.
Charli XCX-inspired brat (the encased meat kind) sticker from Midwest Nice
Leopard print scarf (oh so soft) and Coal candle from Hearth & Hammer
Gay Tarot deck from Hoof + Horn
Queer Magic embroidery by SageStitchCo
It’s Giving Cunt-ry zine from Wynter Appleford
A tarot reading from Annie Hex
A manicure from On Point Nails
A gift card for your next tattoo at DeKalb Tattoo Company
Have I mentioned my new Queering the Burbs zine?
SONG OF THE RIGHT-NOW
A fun fact about me is that I really, really love holiday music. Give me any “Carol of the Bells,” any time, any day. Let me listen in awe while a diva belts out “Mary Did You Know.” Send me to Trans-Siberian Orchestra and pay me to write about it? By all means. Cry along to the most heartbreaking version of “Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas”? You don’t have to ask me twice.
This year, probably for many of the above reasons, I’ve unfortunately been having a harder time getting into many of my favorite holiday bops, but I will say that witnessing another cabaret icon, Justin Vivian Bond, perform their famous (to me) cover of “Somebody’s House Always Burns at Christmas” at their Flakes holiday show at Joe’s Pub last weekend in New York was an all-timer—and pretty timely, too.
Below, enjoy Bond’s 2014 performance of the same song.
I need to watch this now. You made me tear up thinking of our artsy group of weirdos. I also want that leopard scarf haha