"“Rules to live by: Only help women. Only Scam Men,” reads one Joanne tweet from May. But Joanne’s comedy doesn’t just click with women: for anyone, life in 2016 can feel like one giant scam. There’s a racist television personality in the throes of an alarmingly legitimate campaign to be the next president of the United States, and there’s a near-constant stream of bad news to make your head spin or your heart ache: just within a couple weeks, we’ve seen Brexit, terrorist attacks in France and Turkey, citizens killed by police and police killed by civilians. If it feels like everything’s falling apart as you helplessly watch, wondering if anyone is looking out for you or your future, it’s no surprise that you’d find some relief in Joanne. She’s a fiercely independent hot mess who goes to obscene, hilarious lengths to look out for herself. The creation of a recluse, Joanne is a byproduct of how frightening and lonely the world can feel. But she’s also an escape from it all, a funny-as-hell reminder to keep your guard up, to scam today before today scams you...
For Branden, masquerading as someone he’s not provides a way to cope with — or maybe just circumvent — his feelings about his own identity. “It wasn’t my strategy, but it just so happens I play a character that allows me to do whatever I want,” he tells me. “It’s the one time I can kind of be free.”
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