Brightest Young Things’ comedy fest Bentzen Ball is adding a new event to its lineup: a comedy brunch with Jonathan Van Ness and Antoni Porowski of Queer Eye. On Sunday, October 28, the two will chat QE glow ups, health, and—yes—avocados at a secret location in Northwest DC with proceeds going to Whitman-Walker Health. The brunch will be curated by Porowski himself (can you believe????) in partnership with a DC chef who has yet to be announced.
In typical Queer Eye fashion, Porowski will also demonstrate one of the brunch dishes. To keep it intimate, no more than 100 tickets will be offered. “The goal is to make it an ideal brunch hangout moment,” says BYT co-founder Svetlana Legetic. “It isn’t in a room with a thousand people.” Legetic described this year’s Bentzen Ball—the biggest yet—as a mix of the many people who “we have a humanity crush on.” Special guests from the festival may also stop by. Van Ness already has three scheduled shows as part of the weekend’s lineup, though they sold out quickly.
Getting brunch tickets is a bit of a lottery. First, follow both Van Ness and Porowski on Twitter. On October 22, they will announce a special code that folks can enter into the Lyft app, as the ride-share company is the presenting sponsor. (The app’s car icon will be replaced by cute little headshots of either Van Ness or Porowski.) Out of those who enter the code, winners will be selected at random. On October 25, the winners will receive an email with instructions on how to proceed with a prompt to make a donation to Whitman-Walker as admission. The donation confirms their ticket. Though the amount has yet to be determined, Legetic says it will be about the same amount as other Bentzen Ball shows (which can get up to $45) and “cheaper than a normal brunch.”
Brightest Young Things will update its events page with more information on the morning of October 2.
Rosa is a senior editor at Bitch Magazine. She’s written for Washingtonian and Smithsonian magazine.
