When I speak to Mary Beth Barone, my nails are just about touch-dry. This matters because having wet nails is what Barone is riding for in the second-part premiere of season two of Ride, her podcast with Benito Skinner. Every episode, the duo ride for something, from “girls eating Crumbl cookies in cars” to traditional family values. Having wet nails, Barone argues, is a sacred state of being when you have a moment completely to yourself: You’ve refused hard gel—which has wrecked her nails, much like mine—in favor of the soft life. (Skinner, meanwhile, goes to bat for bananas.)
Barone is also promoting her Netflix special Galaxy Brain, after two years of touring and evolving the material, while the second season of Overcompensating—which she co-writes and stars in with Skinner—has just wrapped. The special takes precise, stylish swings, and Barone knows exactly who it’ll piss off. She even made a list, which she read off to me: “J.K. Rowling, Republicans, Establishment Dems, the British, the Irish…Zionists, Mark Zuckerberg, KatyCats, male comedians, one specific girl named Tatiana.” Sly and wry skewering of politicians, execs, and straight men in her field is delivered with disarming sweetness, gags primed for the girls-gays-and-theys cackles and a rapid wit that enchanted new audiences when she hosted the last Golden Globes red carpet. (In vintage Todd Oldham, no less—for the special, it’s a shimmering, lilac Cher-esque Wiederhoeft corset gown.)
Her Tijuana-born rescue chihuahua, Pinky—who also made her Late Night debut with Barone this week—enjoys a treat while we catch up. “I told her this is really important,” Barone says.
Styling Kat Typaldos, makeup Olivia Barad, hair Netty Jordan.Photo: Dev Bowman
Vogue: It seems like you’ve barely had a moment to pause these last two years. How do you feel?
Mary Beth Barone: I guess I must like it because I keep doing this to myself. I want to make sure I celebrate this moment because I’ve had some career milestones in the past where I haven’t stopped to acknowledge it. I’m making up for it.
I’m impatient, but I think if we had been faster in filming it, it wouldn’t have felt like the right time that it does now.
What did you want Galaxy Brain to say about who you are now?
My stand-up is very reflective of where I’m at currently. I knew that I wanted to speak on politics, but finding ways of getting there that you wouldn’t necessarily think. Presenting one idea, and then relating it back to something political. I also wanted the comedy to feel superspecific. And my goal is always to make women and queer people laugh. That’s the same mission that’s carried on from Thought-Provoking.
