Vic Michaelis on Fanoli-Cher, ponies

“Very Important People” is back for its third season on Dropout and Vic Michaelis’ alter ego Host Vic is working overtime to make sure the subjects interviewed are as interesting as possible. But in typical Vic fashion, the host has no control over the situation in Season 3, and that’s never been more true than in last week’s episode, “Fanoli.”

Starring comedian Angela Giarratana in the role of the fictional, iconic, but now washed-up singer, the season 3 episode sees Vic struggle through an interview that they hoped would be all about talking to Fanoli, one of their favorite singers, about Cher, another one of their favorite singers. Unfortunately, the feud between Fanoli and Cher puts an immediate end to that.

According to Michaelis, it’s actually just a happy coincidence that this episode, which was recorded months earlier, aired during 2026’s Cheraissance.

“Little could we have known how relevant this would be when, of course, Cher was on Bowen Yang’s latest episode of ‘SNL’ and was very much in the cultural zeitgeist with the Dax Shepard interview,” Michaelis said. Variety. “So it’s a perfect time for another Cher feud.”

See below for more of it Variety‘s interview with Michaelis about Dropout’s “Very Important People” season 3 and their role in Peacock’s Emilia Clarke and Haley Lu Richardson-led spy series “Ponies.”

First, how is your tenure as Honorary President of Dropout progressing?

I feel like I’m making a lot of important structural changes. There has been a lot of adversity within the organization, and I will not let that stop me from fulfilling my agenda. And I think that’s very important. I make sure we have TV screens in all the bathrooms, so people can watch ‘Avengers: Endgame’ really know what we are playing for. Henry the Pig has a very important position in the cabinet. There are a lot of big changes here. We’re spending money left, right and center, but I think it will pay us back tenfold.

With the upcoming release of “Avengers: Doomsday”, would you like to campaign to get that on Dropout as well?

I won’t, because I think it will at least help our goal of getting “Endgame” onto the platform. A new “Avengers” is coming out. Disney, don’t be greedy. There are too many “Avengers” on Disney+, let’s unload one for you

I know Host Vic dismissed it in the episodes, but will you reconsider making Fanoli’s “I Don’t Want Money, I Don’t Even Like It, I Just Want to Throw It Away” the official “VIP” theme song?

Listen, it’s catchy. And here’s the thing about Host Vic: I want to firmly say no, but if people really seem to like it, then I’m willing to throw away whatever moral high ground I have to make people happy. So probably not, but also a distinct possibility.

As we now know, Fanoli has a huge feud with Cher and this will be a major part of his ‘VIP’ interview. Did that start with you? At what point in the improv process was the Cher feud introduced as such a heavy plot point for Fanoli?

Honestly, I think when it comes to improving things like that, I like to include things that I know a lot about and can therefore easily reference. And I thought, Cher, she’s one of my favorite people in the world. That’s someone I know. I can pull out all her discography. I can talk about her life. I’ve read her autobiography twice – the audiobook is her and Stephanie J. Block switching back and forth as narrator because she didn’t want to read the whole story; it’s iconic. I felt like that was something I could reference a lot, and I didn’t realize that Angela, I don’t think, knew anything about Cher, except maybe her name.

It immediately caused quite an emotional reaction in me, because I was so ready to get into it and talk about it, and Angela immediately said, ‘No, pass it.’ I think it broke something in Vic, the artist.

How did you approach your “Ponies” character, Cheryl, and did you see similarities between her and Host Vic?

When you really get to live in another character in another time, I’m just drawn to these types of characters. I think that Cheryl is so dependent on specifically a lot of the men around her, and her tactics for getting what she wants are similar to host Vic’s, but a little different. It’s also just a different audience. So I wasn’t too worried about people saying, that’s Host Vic!

I’m really excited for people to see Cheryl. I think Cheryl is also a bit meaner to the people around her – I say this because having lived with Host Vic for so long, I have a lot of empathy for them as a character. I really think Cheryl is incredibly capable and has so much to give. And I think in another time I would have risen up as CEO of something, or been the head of something, and had all that power; while I don’t think Host Vic has that ability. I think Cheryl is hyper-competent, but only because of the times and the world she lives in, unable to rise above her station and so dependent on the people around her. That’s such a difficult position to be in. And I really sympathize with that situation.

What can you tease about where Cheryl ends the season versus where she starts it?

This show is so funny because the way it’s shot I know it’s a spy thriller, but for me it was just kind of an intimate family drama. Sometimes you have to slowly fall apart to build back up, those are my thoughts on Cheryl. Sometimes everything has to fall apart to make some yarn for a sweater, and sometimes the sweater is better the next time. Sometimes the sweater is a nicer, nicer, red sweater. That’s what I want to say.

This interview has been edited and condensed.