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Warhol and Sedgwick. Bonnie and Clyde. Poehler and Fey. Charli and Troye. There are some pop culture duos so intrinsically linked that mentioning one without the other feels almost sacrilegious. But Grant Gibbs and Ashley Gill challenge the millions who have watched their viral videos to name a more iconic duo than A Twink and a Redhead.
The pair have become fixtures of the internet comedian canon with their original songs about getting down and dirty in Panera and sketches about closeted boyfriends and their unwitting girlfriends. And earlier this year, A Twink and a Redhead took the show on the road, embarking on a nationwide tour to tell their origin story via an hour-long original musical comedy. Gibbs and Gill belt and grind their way through exaggerated reenactments of their lives, from their famed almost-kiss in middle school to their 2024 hit “Don Cheadle,” in which they beg the Oscar-nominated actor to euthanize them. Ahead of their New York show at the Gramercy Theater, Gibbs and Grant dished on Trisha Paytas, their enduring friendship, and life on the road.
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WEDNESDAY, 1:30 PM, JUNE 10, 2026 NYC
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SOFI CISNEROS: Okay, so tomorrow is your New York show. How are we feeling?
ASHLEY GILL: This is the show I’ve been the most excited for. It’s in a theater I’ve always wanted to perform in and both of our families are coming. We have so many friends coming. It’s going to be really exciting to perform for all of them.
GRANT GIBBS: It also is where a big portion of our fanbase is located. So yeah, it’s friends and family, but it’s our biggest show in terms of fans showing out too. It’s New York, it’s exciting, it’s our home show.
CISNEROS: This tour loosely chronicles how your friendship began and its evolution. For readers unfamiliar, I’d love for you guys to retell the origin story of A Twink and a Redhead.
GIBBS: We met in sixth grade. One of our first real interactions was in this bouncy house where our friend Ryan set us up to kiss. I remember we looked at each other and it just didn’t happen. It wasn’t until freshman year of high school that we became closer because we shared a homeroom and our last names are right next to each other. That’s when we became this duo. We always shared this passion for film production and writing stories. We were just improvising in Panera after school every day, becoming characters, making songs. [Our friendship] just kept evolving and evolving.
GILL: We had a band and we performed original songs, like we’re doing now. It’s very full circle that we’re telling this story through music because that’s something we’ve always done.
CISNEROS: That’s major. Was touring around the country and performing these original songs always part of the Twink and a Redhead manifesto?
GIBBS: When we were filming our first music video, someone asked us, “Did you think in high school that you guys would ever be on a set doing all this?” We both looked at each other and were just like, “Yeah.” We’ve always been delusional. Coming up with a satirical musical that encapsulates our sense of humor while showcasing the songs like a pop concert was the best idea for us.
CISNEROS: What do you do to prepare before shows? Any pre-show rituals to relax the nerves?
GILL: I have a Vera Bradley wallet full of crystals that I’ve collected, so I always take that out and pass them around so everyone can have a squeeze and good energy. If I didn’t have them, I do think it would really fuck me up.
CISNEROS: You gotta manifest those good vibes.
GIBBS: We’ve all been circling up right before going on and, even though it hasn’t happened yet, we all say one thing that someone else did that just gagged everyone. I’ll be like, “Oh my god, remember when Ash hit the high note in ‘BJ Maxx’ and people started fucking crying?” It’s cute.
CISNEROS: What’s the most fun song to perform?
GIBBS: “Sixth Grade Carnival” is one of the first songs in the show and I think it also sets the tone for the audience a bit. Like, this is a musical, I see what’s happening now.
GILL: “Panera” because it’s a fan favorite. Everyone is filming, dancing, singing along, and the energy is so crazy.
CISNEROS: I remember seeing the original “Panera” TikTok a few years ago and I was so ecstatic when I heard the fully produced song. Do all your songs develop like that? What does the songwriting process look like?
GIBBS: That’s cool that you know the OG.
CISNEROS: Like, that was so me in middle school having my bread bowl…
GIBBS: Yeah, a lot of the songs did start that way, and in high school we had a finsta where we would just post songs with these little melodies—
GILL: “Panera,” “BJ Maxx,” and I think another one were written on TikTok live with people, like, chiming in and riffing with each other.
GIBBS: Someone literally might have written the line “bookmark my hole.”
GILL: That person has bars.
GIBBS: Thank you, whoever you are.
CISNEROS: You have to mention their TikTok handle in the song credits now.
GIBBS: “Don Cheadle” was written on the way to Cape May. The Gay Chorus Line of LA or something, I forget their proper name, did a whole tribute to Laura Dern—
GILL: It was seriously chilling.
GIBBS: We were like, “Who’s an equivalent actor who deserves an anthem?” And then the name Cheadle—that sounds a little phallic to me. But it just comes from us being silly together. We bring [songs] to our producer Drew, who found us on TikTok. He was like, “I want to make these actual songs” and we were like, “Finally, hello, Hollywood’s calling.”
CISNEROS: How do you choose the Panera cashier of the night? Is there a scouting process?
GIBBS: Unfortunately, the Panera cashier has to be masc-presenting or a guy, and it has to be someone that my character is really into. Selma Nilla, our drag queen, has the honor [of choosing].
CISNEROS: And what have the fans been like? Which city understands the Twink and a Redhead agenda the best so far?
GILL: There is a different vibe in every city. I personally was like, “I don’t know what Texas is gonna be like. I don’t know what they’ve got going on down there politically.” But it was actually really wholesome. I think one of my favorite cities was definitely Austin, just because they were rowdy. I was like, damn, should I move here?
GIBBS: Like, those people actually view our shows as a safe space and that’s really touching to see.
GILL: Especially in the more southern or conservative cities we perform in—a lot of people write those places off like, oh, they vote red, they all have guns, no one would see this show. There are people in those bubbles that would still enjoy our show and I think it’s important to go places that are unexpected and bring community there.
CISNEROS: If you could compare your show to any Broadway musical or stadium tour, which would it be? What performers do you channel when you’re on stage?
GIBBS: Definitely the Eras Tour. I think it’s definitely comparable in size, in scale, and in set list. It’s a three-and-a-half-hour show.
CISNEROS: Right, right.
GILL: Popstar: Never Stop Never Stopping is a huge inspo for the delusion of being famous. I would say Trisha Paytas’s one-woman Broadway show. I really cried, like, I thought it was such an impressive piece of work that was so self-aware and creative.
GIBBS: I also think Titaníque’s sense of humor is very in line with ours. Marla and Constantine are very inspirational to us. They’re the OG Twink and a Redhead.
CISNEROS: Your shows, to me, are super reminiscent of that era when every YouTube, Instagram, or Vine comedian went on tour, like Trisha, Miranda Sings. Were there any shows like that you went to or you really wanted to go to growing up?
GIBBS: I went to Miranda Sings my freshman year of high school and I was one of her victims. But you know what? I had the time of my life coming up on stage. She taught me what to do on a first date and I put my hands in her pants to pull out a Cheeto. I’m sorry, but I loved it. Would we pull up a minor on stage and ask them to put their hands in our pants? Absolutely not.
GILL: I didn’t go to a YouTuber show, but my first ever concert was Glee Live at the Prudential Center and it was the best night of my life. Glee was a cornerstone piece of art in my life growing up. I was addicted to Finn and I loved Mr. Schuster, which looking back is so weird of me. Glee is also a big inspiration for this show.
CISNEROS: Any on-the-road essentials that you’ve been using?
GIBBS: I sing “Waving Through a Window” from Dear Evan Hansen, and whenever I get nervous my mouth gets dry, so I have this throat spray. Celsius. Cough drops.
GILL: Since we talk so much in between scenes, my lip gloss comes off. So I bought three Fenty hot cherry lip plumpers and I keep one in every pocket of costume I have. I’m always reapplying.
CISNEROS: You stay strapped. What artist are you streaming the most while touring?
GIBBS: I’m streaming “Detour” by Kim Petras. And then also Slayyyter’s album.
CISNEROS: I literally listened to those two albums this morning.
GILL: I listen to a lot of Taylor Swift, of course. And then I do have a Broadway playlist that I made. It’s mostly Hamilton. You ever see the show Next to Normal? Jack Wolfe has this song, “I’m Alive.” It’s the best Broadway song ever made and I listen to that every day.
CISNEROS: I have to check it out. Any internet fixations or accounts right now that you’ve been doomscrolling while on the road?
GIBBS: I just found one recently. It’s a new interest, so he hasn’t earned my follow yet.
CISNEROS: You have to test the waters.
GIBBS: His name’s Bungalow Heaven Railroad. He’s so cute and has a whole model train set in his front and backyard. He just does videos talking about it and answers viewers’ questions.
GILL: What’s the name?
GIBBS: Bungalow Heaven Railroad.
GILL: That sounds kind of…nasty…
GIBBS: Does it?!
GILL: Kinda dirty…
GIBBS: One way ticket to pound town, am I right?
GILL: On the Bungalow Heaven Railroad.
GILL: I just recently also found an account called You Row Kelsey and she is the first American woman trying to row from California to Hawaii. It’s gonna take her 200-something days and I think we’re on day 19. Every night before bed, I have to check in on Kelsey because it’s equally horrifying and interesting. The other day, there was a big storm coming and I literally was anxious throughout the day.
CISNEROS: Is she the one that rowed from New York to Europe or something? Maybe that’s a different girl.
GIBBS: My god, who’s doing all that? I also always have Disney adult vloggers on my YouTube and TikTok all the time.
GILL: We love the Plus Size Park Hoppers. They might be coming to a show sometime soon.
CISNEROS: That’s gonna be a crazy feature. Wait, are you guys performing the Disney adult song, or is that a secret?
GIBBS: So lowkey, it didn’t make the cut. We didn’t know how to fit it in narratively, so it is the end credit song. But maybe when the Plus Size Park Hoppers are at a show, we’ll turn it out.
CISNEROS: Who’s more high-maintenance on tour, Grant or Ashley?
GIBBS: Ashley.
GILL: Oh, I was gonna say you.
GIBBS: How? Get into it.
GILL: I think it depends on what we’re talking about. Like, I need an hour and a half to do glam, my hair and makeup. I would say Grant’s more high-maintenance—well I don’t want to, like, clock you right now—about logistics stuff.
CISNEROS: What’s your dream post-show mukbang?
GIBBS: Taco Bell. Whenever I want to reward myself, I’m getting the Crunchwrap Supreme no tomatoes, a Doritos Locos Taco, a chicken quesadilla, a Baja Blast, and a Cheesy Gordita Crunch.
GILL: Since we’re in the Northeast, we’ve been going to Wawa and I’ve really enjoyed that, being from New Jersey. There’s an option for everyone in a Wawa.
CISNEROS: For Grant, who’s the most iconic twink of all time? And for Ashley, who’s the most iconic redhead? Besides you guys, of course.
GIBBS: JD Vance. Gay as fuck and we hooked up a couple times, allegedly. Now he’s trying to do this little alt-right thing. Or Adam, as in Adam and Eve. I think he was the first twink and he was definitely a power bottom. The snake of it all in the garden is sus to me.
GILL: I have a couple. Eve, because canonically she’s depicted as a redhead. It’s cool that not only was she the first woman, but she was the first beard. She was kind of slutty and that’s amazing. She was also probably doing stuff with the snake—
GIBBS: ‘Cause Adam wasn’t giving it to her.
GILL: Right, right. Then I would say Queen Elizabeth I in England with the red afro. I like how she decapitated her enemies. But I don’t love that she was the Virgin Queen, like girl, let loose. And then Reba. No explanation.
CISNEROS: She’s so major. Okay, any final thoughts before you take the stage at Gramercy tomorrow?
GIBBS: Well, tomorrow we have some surprises in store. We’ll give you the exclusive. We’re releasing a remix of “A Twink and a Redhead” called “A Twink and a Redhead and a Mother” featuring Trisha Paytas. And she eats on her verse.
CISNEROS: I’m going to cry. That’s everything I’ve ever wanted and more.
GILL: It’s like a dream project. It’s the perfect feature for a song so integral to our brand. All proceeds are going to the Trevor Project. It’s the new pride anthem for sure.
GIBBS: She just gets it. She is campy and leans into it on the song too. She understood the assignment.
GILL: And I just hope that our fans have a good time. It’s a funny show, but then there’s also messages ingrained in there. I hope everyone just has a damn riot.
