#don't really have time to give this the textually-supported analysis it deserves but like... yeah.

[magentagalaxies]

tonight was night two of the buddy tour!!! the show went SUPER (i mean yeah scott forgot his lines several times and he accidentally ate the olive in his martini and kept having to spit it out off the edge of the stage but the audience loved it and he was able to work these "mistakes" into the bits so they never detracted from the comedy)

this show was also the first one with all four members of our tour-roadtrip-squad together (scott, me, lou (the opening comedian), and robin (the show's director). lou was at the first show but the past 2 travel days were just scott and me) and yeah i'm gonna miss having scott all to myself for over 48 hours straight but i'm actually loving the dynamic the four of us have??? like i was definitely a bit nervous about having a full tour party at first bc "king" was just me and scott but damn these guys are funny and super supportive and also it's so much easier to get ready for a show when i'm not the only one running around talking to the venue

but also i've realized i might just have to make a spoiler-y post overanalyzing some aspect of scott's new show every night bc holy fuck even tho it's still a work in progress this show has the potential to become one of the best things scott's ever created.

but tonight's spoiler-y meta analysis is about the song that plays after the show, which was actually my suggestion! (first show had a different song, but after that show i told scott it needs to be "believe" by cher and i was so right)

ok first off "believe" by cher is such a bop. like it has such fun energy, i can't help but dance to it (in fact instead of running backstage to congratulate scott after tonight's show like i usually do i stayed and danced to it in the audience as people were leaving). i've always thought it would be great opening/closing music for a comedy show it gets the audience so pumped

but textually, it works bc once scott transitions from buddy into standup as himself, he does a bit about how one of the only things he and his father had in common was their love of cher, and how he arranged for his dad to meet cher on his 90th birthday. and since his father has now passed away it's a bit of a tribute to him.

but even thematically. yes "believe" is a fun dance song, but it's also a breakup song.

and so much of this show has to do with scott feeling rejected--mostly by amazon censoring so many of his buddy cole monologues, but also by the general "queer community" who have never really embraced scott or buddy as an icon bc of bullshit "bad representation" arguments. it's a dance song, but it's also angry and hurt, and accepting that you can't give your entire soul to make someone else like you

but more than that, it's a hopeful song

"believe" is pissed off and hurt, but it's also affirming that you deserve better and you will be able to find something better, and for as shitty as the amazon situation was, this feeling of moving on is what scott's moving towards throughout the show. and the "i don't need you anymore" could be a pissed off decrying of amazon (like "fuck you for telling me what will offend people, i'm gonna do my show live across the country and bring it to the people who love it")

but also? it could just be acceptance and setting a boundary, like scott's perspective on buddy during the transitional scene. "i don't need you anymore, bc i'm able to stop using you as a shield from speaking my truth as myself. but just bc i don't need you doesn't mean i'm not keeping you around"

but the general refrain "do you believe in life after love?" means this song is generally about wondering how things will be after a massive change. do you believe in life after amazon's abuse? ("life" for both buddy and scott). do you believe in life after buddy? (once scott decides to do the show as himself). do you believe in life after those close to you have passed away? (scott telling the story about his dad and their complicated but ultimately positive relationship)

this song hits different hearing it while scott takes a bow after a show that brilliantly tackles everything he's been through in the past few years with both humor and heart. but mostly it's just a fucking bop