#mighty

By Martin Moore | Photos provided by Rick Twombley & Griff King

Over 700,000 followers, on multiple platforms including Instagram, tune into the adventures on Rick and The Griffopotamus, where Rick Twombley and his hubby Griff King project the splendid wonder of a real-life, loving, gay couple while also addressing important themes such as heteronormativity and masc vs. fem.

“Rick and the Griffopotamus are not for everyone,” Griff concedes, “but a lot of people seem to connect to what we do, and those are the people we do it for.”

Just in time for summer, the duo unveiled their newest venture, the Two Kings Unlimited (a combination of their last names) online retailer that features exclusive Rick and Griff merchandise including pajama onesies, erotic playing cards, a coffee table book and their line of phallic sex toys – molded from the real things. We spoke with the guys from their Atlanta home.

Martin Moore: I just watched your rendition of Mary Poppins’ “The Cover is Not the Book” on your YouTube channel. It’s incredible!  
Rick Twombley: Oh, nice! That is such a fun song, but also extremely challenging. Especially Griff’s part toward the end – a total tongue twister and so fast! We practiced it on a drive from Miami to Orlando, had it on repeat for about four hours, but eventually got it. We really wanted to do it because it’s not only a great, positive song, but one we can identify with. People often assume a lot about us just off what they see online, so “The Cover is Not the Book” is a good reminder that perception is not reality.

MM: Are you, two big burly men, into show tunes?
Griff King: Absolutely! Rick was a professional stage performer for nearly twenty years, with a degree in dance and musical theater. He worked on Broadway, with Cirque du Soleil, Disney and more. I grew up watching movie musicals and Disney with my mom. You’d be hard-pressed to name a musical we don’t know every lyric from.

MM: You guys really seem to have fun together. Is that what makes your relationship work so well?
RT: It doesn’t hurt! If you’re going to spend the rest of your life with someone, you need to be able to be dorks, let loose, and bond over common interests. It’s a great stress-reliever.

MM: What other crazy hijinks do you get into when you’re together?
GK: We love spending time with our close friends, hiking, movie nights, and hosting dinners.  Rick is a killer chef! We love to go out dancing, but we’re equally happy cuddling on the couch on a Saturday night with our cats, Willow and Ripley.

MM: Who wears the crown in the relationship?
GK:In our relationship, we both have strengths where one wears it more than the other. As far as managing our business, Rick is better suited. He’s more organized, business-minded, and has a ridiculously good eye for details.

MM: Whose idea was it to launch your wildly popular social page, Rick and the Griffopotamus?
RT: The idea for starting a joint social media actually came from our friends, especially after Griff’s rendition of “Poor Unfortunate Souls” from The Little Mermaid went viral on Facebook.

MM: Was the idea to make the page a brand?  
GK: The original motivation wasn’t necessarily to be a brand, but just to create a stage to entertain. Even with our sexier posts, we try to incorporate humor, creativity, fun, and a bit of tongue-in-cheek fantasy.
RT: The branding and business side came later when we realized just how much people were wanting to take that journey with us. We started getting requests for calendars and other items.

MM: Are the sex toys your best sellers?
RT: Our sex toy line has now sold out five times! New stock is always coming. We also had a line of onesies designed which are absolutely fantastic and available for pre-order. Calendars and an erotic playing card deck based on a series of photos we did on Instagram are also in production.

MM: Tell us about the coffee table book.
GK: That’s the project we are most excited about! It is an erotic coffee table book, very much inspired by Madonna’s “Sex” book from the ‘90s. We spent the past year traveling to shoot with some legendary photographers like Mike Ruiz, Michael Stokes, and Mack Sturgis. They all captured some extremely mind-blowing and highly NSFW images that we can’t wait to share!

MM: What are your world-dominating goals for Two Kings Unlimited?
RT: The sky’s the limit, really. We have our merchandising and other major projects in the pipeline. We’re continuing to grow our social media platforms, and we’ll continue to push boundaries and show the reality that a genuine, fun-loving married couple can also be sexual beings who are not ashamed about celebrating and showcasing the erotic elements of their relationship.  
GK: We try our best to be role models by living our lives very unapologetically, transparently, and with a huge love of adventure. We want to inspire people who feel trapped or pressured to conform to societal expectations to do the same, embrace their inherent power, and not be shoved into the boxes that society wants them to fit into.

VisitTwoKingsUnlimited.com. Follow on Instagram at Rick_and_the_Griffopotamus.

This was originally published in Wire Magazine Issue 8.2020

schamrocky:

Drew Mighty again after a few weeks of not doing so.

https://themighty.com/2019/01/rejecting-high-functioning-autism-label/

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