Carson Kressley ‘Queer Eye’: ‘I Don’t Remember Much’ Including White House Visit
Carson Kressley first gained fame when he appeared as an original cast member on Bravo‘s Queer Eye for the Straight Guy, which debuted in 2003.
Kressley recalled being unprepared for the whirlwind that followed those first few episodes – so unprepared he literally forgot some of the more iconic moments on the show.
Carson Kressley recalls the ‘Queer Eye’ pilot but later, not much more
“It’ll be 20 years actually next July when the show aired, Queer Eye for The Straight Guy, but we made it actually 20 years ago, we did a pilot in Boston,” he recalled on the Behind the Velvet Rope with David Yontef podcast.
“I remember all of the stuff leading up to the show. And I remember having like quit my job at Ralph Lauren,” he continued. “I remember the show airing. I remember getting our first plane ticket to go to LA. Like I think the show aired on a Wednesday. And like that Friday we were doing the Tonight Show with Jay Leno, which was mind-boggling. And we’re going to do Ellen.”
“So I remember Bravo sending us sunglasses saying, you’re going to need these,” he joked. “And we stayed at the Beverly Hilton and we got little tiny Mercedes hatchback rental cars. I remember all that stuff. Then once the show launched, it was such craziness and such insanity. I don’t remember that much of that part because it was just so much good stuff.”
He doesn’t remember when ‘Queer Eye’ went to the White House
Kressley remembers snippets from time and regrets not having a vivid memory of some of the memorable moments. “Literally, someone would be like, remember the time we went to the White House and you did…. And I was like, no, I have no recollection because I’m so busy,” he said.
“I do rue the day that they didn’t yet invent Instagram back then because that’s really like my diary,” he added. “If I don’t do something fun or I go to a beautiful place or I visit a gorgeous home or I see a great outfit, I will chronicle it on Instagram. And that’s kind of like my digital diary. I wish I had that back in the day like the first time I met Ellen or the time I did the Country Music awards with Dolly Parton. I remember bits and pieces because they’re oppressed photos, but I don’t remember that much because it was crazy.”
‘Queer Eye’ fame was pretty instantaneous
Kressley said Queer Eye wasn’t a slow burn but a sudden success, which may be why he has a hard time pinpointing important moments. “It was overnight,” he said about the show’s success.
“It was a good show and we were very proud of it,” he said. “And it was pretty groundbreaking, I guess for its time. But back then, I guess people still watched a lot of like live television and it just seemed like we aired like on a Tuesday night. And by Thursday we were famous or something.
“So I guess different times,” he shared. “But yeah, it was very overnight. None of us had any idea. None of us had done television. And none of us I think had even seen any of the episodes after we made them. So we had no idea it was going to be successful and kudos to Bravo because they did a really big marketing campaign.”
“They partnered with their new owner NBC and did some episodes actually on NBC Prime Time during the summer of 2003,” he added. “And I think it was the first time that a network, a big giant company bought some little networks and kind of cross-promoted them in a really effective way. So I’m sure there’s some kind of marketing course at Harvard about Bravo and how they rebranded and really changed their destiny by greenlighting shows like Queer Eye.”
