When Steve Banerjee first set out to open a backgammon club, he said he wanted it to have “An elegant, exclusive atmosphere.” At the end of the last episode, his L.A. male stripper cabaret act lost its only Black performer and also implemented a new VIP card. They say to be careful what you wish for, which certainly rings true for Steve in the 5th episode of Hulu’s Welcome to Chippendales. Here is a recap of “Leeches.”
Steve Banerjee (Kumail Nanjiani) has a new suit altered, asking the tailor (Vincent Di Paolo) to raise the cuffs unusually high so that his expensive Rolex is always on display. He arrives at the opening night of New York City’s Chippendale’s, walking down the line of cold women waiting to get in and counting 386. He asks Rick (Christopher Amitrano), the doorman, what the club’s capacity is and is told 500, so he looks disappointed. He is then told that this is just the standby line. The club is already full.
(Erin Simkin/Hulu)
Denise (Juliette Lewis) welcomes Steve to the posh art deco club, impressing him with the VIP section, which has real Chippendale chairs that Nick procured (the club was named after rococo furniture designer Thomas Chippendale, best known for his cabinetry). Steve asks if any of the guests are celebrities, and she points out Tommy Tune, explaining who he is to Steve, who seems obsessed with famous people.
Backstage, Nick De Noia (Murray Bartlett) is in a panic of self-doubt, fearing that the more sophisticated New York audience won’t like the show. In spite of Bradford Barton’s (Andrew Rannells) best efforts, Nick is miserable. Denise comes backstage to tell Nick that Steve is there and seems to be in a good mood.
The show begins, with the host (Nathan Madden) playing Dr. Hunkenstein, meandering through the crowd to the stage, which is decorated like a lab. As the number goes on, we see that Nick is backstage with headphones on, listening to opera music at full volume to drown out the noise. Denise and Bradford carefully watch Steve as the dancers introduce Lance (Spencer Boldman) as a hunk comprised of all their best assets. The uproarious applause breaks through Nick’s headphones and he takes them out, breathing a sigh of relief. He is startled by a loud “CONGRATULATIONS!” from Steve, who comes backstage. Nick laughs and reminds Steve that he cut this exact same number, with the exact same dancer, at the L.A. club. Nick goes to an alley to smoke and Steve follows him, seemingly trying to make amends and calling the show “Wonderful.” It’s snowing now, and Steve is enchanted by it, his first time seeing the cold powder. Nick tosses a snowball at Steve, who is offended at first, but the interaction turns playful when Nick teaches Steve how to compact the snow in his palms and lets him fire back. They get into a snowball fight, but Steve can’t keep up with Nick’s years of snow experience and eventually begins to ask Nick to stop. Nick doesn’t cease fire until after Steve is properly angry. “You are a bully,” Steve yells as he goes back inside, fuming.
(Christina Belle/Hulu)
When Steve returns to L.A., we see that this jump forward in time has been rewarding for him. Not only does he own a stylish mansion, but his wife Irene (Annaleigh Ashford) is pregnant. “Everything about it was bigger and better than L.A.,” he shares. Irene can sense that Steve is envious of Nick and remind him that it’s still his club. “The better he does, the better we do,” she adds.
Steve arrives at the L.A. club and is approached by a man (James Vincent) who acts like a fan, but then serves him papers. Inside, Irene reviews the lawsuit from a man who claims that Chippendales racially discriminated against him with a VIP card only made available to white men. Irene is confused because, to her knowledge, Chippendales doesn’t have a VIP card. When she asks Steve about it, he says she’s right, they don’t, but Irene seems to distrust Steve’s answer. When she leaves the office, Steve rushes outside to catch Karl (Adam Dunells) on his way in, holding up one of the gold cards. “This was made by customers so that they could skip the line,” he tells Karl, who instantly sees the hole in Steve’s plan because he, as a trained doorman, wouldn’t honor a made-up card. “You need to come up with a better story,” Karl says, which angers Steve.
Nick takes Denise to a new office he and Bradford secured and it’s clear that she’s beginning to feel pushed aside by the new man in Nick’s life. At her new desk, Denise takes the first call, which happens to be from the office of TV host Phil Donohue, who wants to feature the dancers on his show. Nick, Denise, and Bradford jump and scream in excitement. In L.A., Irene gets the news from Denise and shares it with Steve, who is overjoyed. Cut to Irene, Steve, Bobby (Darren Lipari), Ray (Robin de Jesús), and all of the L.A. dancers watching the show on TV. “It’s your creation on National Television,” Irene whispers to Steve as the New York dancers perform a routine on the show to “Sharp Dressed Man” by ZZ Top. The women in the TV audience go crazy and based on their fervor, a producer (Matt Kaminsky) gets Nick mic’d for an interview. Phil Donahue (Jim Meskimen) introduces Nick as “Mr. Chippendale’s himself,” a title he doesn’t refute. Irene looks comfortable next to Steve, who has fire in his eyes as the chyron reads “Nick De Noia – Mr. Chippendales.”
(Erin Simkin/Hulu)
In their office, Irene talks Steve out of flying to New York to confront Nick, saying he probably had no malintent when he didn’t correct Phil Donahue. She reminds Steve that his business is successful and just received a national TV plug, making him quote all of the good things in his life. “And I’m not going to blow it on some silly little slight,” she adds as the final thing for Steve to repeat. Steve walks away and she calls to him to ask if they have any aspirin. He doesn’t respond, so she goes to his desk and searches through his drawers, finding a rubberbanded stack of gold Chippendales VIP cards. She storms out and finds Steve, throwing the stack of cards at him in anger. Steve apologizes for lying to her and says he was just trying to attract an upscale clientele, which Irene accuses as being code for keeping Black people out. “When other people see Black people in here they think the club is not successful,” Steve says, adding “It’s not my fault they’re racist.” Irene is furious, saying they’re good people who don’t do things like this. “Now I have to go find us a very expensive lawyer,” she leaves. Ray emerges from the shadows, telling Steve that he had the TV on while he was working and that he saw Nick on The Mike Douglas Show. “He did it again,” Ray says.
“Do you want to tell me what the hell you’re trying to pull?”, Steve asks Nick over the phone. Nick tells Steve that he didn’t ask to be called “Mr. Chippendales,” but Steve says he should have corrected them. “You want me to stop the show and give them a whose who in the company?”, Nick laughs, with Steve calling Nick his employee. The fight escalates to the point where they each insult each other’s work and ultimately Steve forbids Nick from doing any more TV promotion unless he stops taking credit for its success. Nick threatens that Steve hasn’t seen anything yet. In a montage, we see Nick on TV with Geraldo Rivera (Christian Maltez), Sally Jessy Raphael (Frances Chewning), and Gene Shalit (Buzz Roddy), after which Ray tells Steve that he should do TV interviews, too.
(Jessica Brooks/Hulu)
The next thing we know, Steve is sweating profusely at KYWW Studios getting his makeup applied for a 5-minute interview with Connie Williams (Lucie Pohl). The show’s producer (Tasha Ames) quickly points out the three cameras and the lights Steve should pay attention to that indicate which camera he should look at. He seems disoriented as the interview starts and his answers become increasingly more awkward. Back at the club, Irene and the dancers watch as their boss proves his lack of showmanship. “That was so fun,” Irene says as she turns off the TV before the interview is over, asking everyone to get back to work.
Ray drives Steve back, bragging about how great he was and blaming Connie for asking bad questions. They pass a club called The Erotic Tomato and Steve sees a banner, asking Ray to pull over. “Male-Stripping Mondays,” the sign reads. Steve is furious as Max (Kelly Cole), the owner of the club, walks out. “You’ve got a lot of nerve ripping me off,” Steve confronts him, introducing himself as the owner of Chippendales, which makes Max laugh because Max says he saw the owner on TV a few nights ago, calling Steve an immigrant. Steve snaps and threatens Max, who says “Trust me, you don’t want this fight.”
On the last stretch of the drive back to Chippendales, Steve’s emotions become unhinged. The smugness of Max, Irene’s disgust over the VIP cards, his mother’s disappointment in him, it’s all too much. “I’m going to burn that place to the ground,” Steve promises, with Ray telling him he shouldn’t do that. “You’re right,” Steve says, “You are going to do it.” Steve reminds Ray that he betrayed him by shooting Otis’ calendar and reminds him that he swore an oath to him. “Show me you meant it,” Steve tells Ray.
(Erin Simkin/Hulu)
It’s nighttime and Steve is in his office when his phone rings. “Turn to channel five,” Ray says before hanging up. Steve turns on his office TV and sees news coverage of a fire that’s being fought at The Electric Tomato. He gets up, goes to his liquor cart, pours himself a drink, and watches the coverage.
Next Tuesday may be December 20th, but the next episode of Welcome to Chippendales is called “February 31st.” Here’s what we can expect next week.
As Steve's financial woes mount, Nick offers a lifeline in the form of a proposal that would take Chippendales global. A printing error has disastrous consequences for Steve.