Funny or Die gives Game of Thrones fans one of the funniest and best recap shows anywhere online with Gay of Thrones. Creator and star Jonathan Van Ness recently shared some details about the show’s humble beginnings:

“[It] happened because I do this woman’s hair, Erin Gibson, [who] is a writer/director at Funny or Die, and I’ve been doing her hair for years. And I just remember back in 2012, I was just doing her hair like normal and the guy in the chair next to me started talking about Game of Thrones and I was like, “Oh my god I love that show,” and then I did an impromptu recap of it, and I was convincing his stylist she should be watching the show too, and then I looked back to Erin and she was looking at me and had her like, jaw to the ground, and she was like “Ok, can you do that for Funny or Die?” and I said sure, and that’s how Gay of Thrones was born.”

He has more to say on the subject of how he’s gained a cult following, and talks about how he had no idea the show would blow up as much as it has:

“I mean, when she first asked me I thought… I don’t know, in my imagination it was gonna be like me talking about Game of Thrones into my iPhone or something. I’ve never been in front of the camera before. I really do hair, and I’ve always been behind the camera… or really, behind the chair. And so the first time I went to set, I was like, “Oh my god, this is like a real thing.” And then by the second episode, because we’d had Alfie [Allen, who plays Theon Greyjoy] on the second one, the series had already had a million views between the first two episodes, so we were off and running.”

Gay of Thrones characters have Van Ness’ awesome nicknames that he’s given characters from Game of Thrones. He has a bit to say on the subject of Prince Oberyn (“Mr. Sofia Vargara”), one of the show’s only LGBT characters, leaving the show so soon:

“I was SO sad to see him go! But we still have Margaery’s sister (aka Sir Loras Tyrell) and there’s still Brothel Aaron Carter (aka the blonde dude in Littlefinger’s brothel), and of course Tilda Swinton (aka Brienne of Tarth) …but she’s not really “L” is she? Because she’s falling for Brother D (aka Jamie Lannister.)”

One of the episodes of Gay of Thrones (warning: here be spoilers!):

And a little bit of silly fun:

You can watch Gay of Thrones on Funny or Die. Let us know in the comments what you think the best episode is!