Rush. Double Scorpio. Jungle Juice. We’re not just rattling off names of poppers brands, we’re talking about our chosen family here!
As queer people, it is our right to read into anything and everything, to dig for deeper meaning in the world around us—whatever it takes to explain how and why it relates to us as members of the LGBTQ+ community.
It’s a skill that’s been honed over years of living in the closet, of not seeing ourselves represented in media, of—oh my god, wait, we’re doing it right now, aren’t we?
Look, to be honest, sometimes we gays can get a little carried away trying to unpack why things resonate with us. It’s an idea that actor-comedian Cole Escola hilariously skewers in their latest TikTok, all about the ways poppers are “a reflection of [the queer community’s] lived experience.”
Watch for yourself:
@coleescola #fyp #gay ♬ Sad Emotional Piano (main version) – DSproductions
“You think about coming out—what is coming out?,” Escola asks over a somber, self-serious piano score. “It’s an opening up. We arch our backs and we gape our souls to the world and we say, ‘here we are!'”
Escola taps into the ways we so often attempt to project importance onto things, even when it’s simply not that deep. With the delivery of a poet, the comedian nails the performative perceptiveness with hysterical accuracy.
And look at that, we’re taking things too seriously again—guilty as charged. It’s also just a very, very funny video.
“We look at that little bottle,” Escola continues, “and we say, “Oh my god, that’s my life story in there.'” *sniff*
Ugh, so true!
Perhaps it’s no coincidence the video arrives amid voracious discourse over horror movie M3GAN, which was a box office hit in its opening weekend, and played especially well with queer audiences.
Why are so many gays gagging over a movie about a killer AI doll, one without any explicit queer themes or characters? Well, according to a gay friend of M3GAN screenwriter Akela Cooper, it’s because the film’s story touches on the familiar idea of found family.
If that sounds like a stretch to you, then you’re very much on the same wavelength as Escola.
The takeaway? Not everything has to be taken so seriously. Sometimes a piece of entertainment is just that: Entertaining! Sometimes a fashionable robot with killer dances moves is just a slay. And sometimes poppers are just an easy way for gays to loosen up their bu—well, you get it.
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Don’t miss Cole’s hysterical new podcast Breakfast Buffet with Jeffrey Self. You can also catch Escola in the latest season of Big Mouth on Netflix, or in the indie film Please Baby Place, now available on digital/VOD.
thebaddestbabby
love Cole. More of him please! Great character on Search Party. I will never forget the line, “the twink who honeyed me?”
thisisnotreal
not to be THAT person, but am i the only one who sees our communities obsession with poppers as an issue? im sorry but a drug that is legal is still a drug, and these articles literally hype up and promote drug use in our community. poppers can literally kill a person if used too often or at the very least cause some nasty side effects. and yet our community loves talking about how much better sex is with poppers, and how much fun it is to sniff them while you are taking multiple unprotected loads at your circuit party sweep. guess im just old fashioned cuz this side of our community has always been a pass from me.
SUPREME
i never use poppers because they give me a headache and make me lose my rigidity – even if someone around me is using them and i get a whiff of it. deliver me from poppers!!!!
scotty
how bout no?
pickles
Poppers are a great way to get a fast trip to the ER. Careful boys. Seriously. Been there, done that. No bueno.
gaym50ish
The only good poppers were the original formula, amyl nitrate. Starting in the 1970s, each time a version of poppers was banned, the substitutes got worse — amyl nitrite, alkyl nitrate, butyl nitrite, isobutyl nitrite, isoamyl nitrite, etc. While the original poppers, or amyl, made for increased sensitivity and more “dreamy” sex, the subsequent versions were too harsh never as good.