There are actors, there are comedians, and then there’s Cole Escola—waltzing into the queer pantheon with a smirk, a brown leather miniskirt, and the audacity to want to play straight.
Long before Broadway came calling, Escola was already a cult favorite in queer comedy circles. Cutting their teeth on Difficult People, At Home with Amy Sedaris, and a series of DIY sketch videos that went viral for their surreal, gender-bending humor, Escola developed a signature style that’s part vintage starlet, part chaotic theater kid, and all deeply committed camp. Their ability to channel characters that teeter on the edge of breakdown—often while wearing something found in the back room of a community theater—made them a standout in a sea of safe comedy.
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Now, amid a roaring Broadway run in Oh, Mary!, Escola has taken their maximalist sensibility to a whole new level, portraying Mary Todd Lincoln as a volatile, tipsy narcissist—and earning standing ovations night after night. But even with a hit show and Tony buzz in the air, Escola arrived on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert with something else on their mind: playing it straight.
“I want to play a straight guy,” Escola declared, seated confidently in cowboy boots and enough vintage camp to make even the ghost of Liberace lean in with curiosity.
This wasn’t a passing gag. Escola was serious—or at least, performance-art serious. As Colbert tried to coax out a sample of this mysterious manly persona, Escola demurred: “I only know how to say a couple of things as a straight guy.” These sacred phrases include:
“Do you know eggs are actually bad for you?”
“Wait, what kind of truck is that?”
“Oh man, I wrecked my shoulder last night.”
Forget Stanislavski. Escola’s method acting comes with a wink and a drag of irony. According to them, the key to playing it straight is to mumble like your life depends on it. “Enunciating is gay,” Escola said with deadpan precision. “The worst thing for a straight guy—I’ve done a lot of research on this—straight guys’ number one fear is being understood.”
It’s hard to think of another performer who could make that observation and still come off as both earnest and blisteringly funny. But that’s Escola’s alchemy—blending queer theory, vaudevillian absurdism, and sheer theatrical commitment into something genuinely original. Their Mary Todd Lincoln isn’t just a character; she’s a tantrum in a corset, a symbol of a queer artistic renaissance currently blowing open the Broadway doors.
Backed by a stellar cast including Conrad Ricamora and James Scully—and flanked by trans icon Bianca Leigh—the production of Oh, Mary! has been a hit both commercially and culturally, selling out shows and packing seats since its debut. And as the play heads toward its final curtain on June 28, all eyes are on the upcoming Tony Awards.
Escola, nonbinary and proudly uncategorizable, is likely to be nominated in the traditional Best Leading Actor category. There’s something deliciously transgressive about Escola being placed in direct competition with George Clooney’s journalistic gravitas, Kit Connor’s star-crossed romance, and Jake Gyllenhaal’s villainous poetry.
That’s the paradox of Escola: delightfully unserious, deeply committed. Silly and cerebral. A court jester with the timing of a sniper. And beneath the humor lies something quietly radical: the idea that queerness, in all its forms, belongs at the center of culture—not just its margins.
So whether the Tonys catch up or not, Cole Escola is playing their role to perfection. Mary Todd might be crumbling onstage, but offstage, Escola is busy breaking new ground—and maybe, if the stars align, wrecking a shoulder or two in the process.