Ravi Roth is Coming to Your City and He Has Stories to Tell
From a Greyhound bus home from the White House to all seven continents, Ravi Roth has built one of queer travel’s most joyful, unfiltered voices. Now he’s bringing it all to the stage.
Some careers are carefully planned. Ravi Roth’s is not, and that’s exactly the point.
About ten years ago, Ravi left the country for the first time with his boyfriend, destination London, Paris, and Barcelona, with a proposal in his pocket and no idea what he was doing. His brother suggested he journal the trip. “Gurl… absolutely not,” Ravi recalls. So he vlogged instead. No plan, no strategy, just vibes, chaos, and questionable decisions.
When he got back, his talent manager watched the footage and said it could be a travel show. Then his college friend Katharine McPhee called and casually invited him to the White House Correspondents’ Dinner, where he found himself mingling with the casts of Scandal, The Mindy Project, and True Blood during the Obama administration. “I was fully thinking: Oh. This is where I’m meant to be,” he says. Then he took a Greyhound bus home. “Because balance.”
That combination of big rooms and groundedness, glamour and chaos, Broadway instincts and boots-on-the-ground hustle has defined everything Ravi has built since.
With the help of mentor Anna Garwood, then in development at The Travel Channel, Ravi shaped his raw energy into a genuine career. He talked his way into conferences, landed press trips, and built his platform from scratch. When the pandemic hit, rather than pause, he doubled down, teaching himself to shoot, edit, host, and produce. “I fell deeply, obsessively in love with travel,” he says. “Not just the places, but the people, the stories, the community.”
The résumé that followed is hard to summarise. He has now hit all seven continents, including creating content in Antarctica. He has hosted The Gaycation Travel Show, Alaska Airlines’ Pride in the Sky, and a cross-country road trip with Hyundai exploring what he calls the “Gay Parts Unknown” of America. He has served as a correspondent for Bear World TV, earned coverage in The New York Times, and most recently had his work with Booking.com featured at the Stonewall National Monument Visitors Center in New York, cementing his place at the intersection of LGBTQ+ history and modern storytelling.
For bear travellers specifically, Ravi is an enthusiastic guide. “Who doesn’t love a bear?! Our community is everywhere, and we’re thriving.” In the US, he points to Palm Springs, Fort Lauderdale, Key West, Fire Island, and Provincetown as standout scenes. His favourite bear event? Urban Bear Street Fair in New York City, without hesitation. “Bear drag queens, bear go-gos, bear DJs, and just pure, unapologetic queer joy in the streets. It’s one of those events where you feel the full power of community.”
He is equally thoughtful about the harder realities of queer travel. With over 60 countries still criminalising LGBTQ+ identities, Ravi is careful and intentional about where he goes, recommending Equaldex as a resource for anyone navigating those complexities.
As for where he would head right now if he could? “I want WARM. Rio. Cape Town. Palm Springs. Fort Lauderdale. Give me sun, bodies, queer joy, and a sensible pool.”
Now, all of it, the stories, the songs, the oversharing, is coming to the stage.
Ravi Round The World: An Influencer in the Wild is a one-night-only (April 7th NYC) cabaret event that Ravi describes as “equal parts Broadway, confession booth, and influencer fever dream.” Directed by Cheryl Stern, with music direction by Michael Ferrara and a special guest appearance by Alexis Michelle, the show traces his journey from small-town Scranton to national recognition through song, story, and the kind of honesty that only emerges when the filter comes off.
It is a natural fit for someone with his theatrical background. He appeared in the closing company of Altar Boyz, the world premiere of A Letter to Harvey Milk, and has toured nationally with Seussical and White Christmas. But this show is something more personal, a reckoning with queer joy, ambition, love, and the messy, musical pursuit of connection across continents.
And if the show goes well? Ravi has plans. Big ones.
“The plan is to take the show around the world,” he says. “I’ll be trekking across the globe, covering Pride celebrations, destinations, and a few surprises along the way.”
Of course he is.
Tickets and reservations are available at www.TheGreenRoom42.com.
One night only: April 7th
The Green Room 42 is located at 570 Tenth Avenue inside YOTEL New York City.
Follow Ravi at @raviroundtheworld
Lead photo and this Month’s Cover Photo by Gabrielle Meit-Sciara
Ravi was also the first guest on the new season of the Bear World Podcast.
Listen to the whole show here:
