Houston’s reality TV fans will get their moment with royalty when NeNe Leakes and Carlos King bring the “Queen & King of Reality” tour to the House of Blues on June 6.
The two-hour show pairs one of reality television’s most iconic personalities with its most prolific behind-the-scenes architect for an evening that organizers describe as unscripted, unfiltered, and unlike anything fans can stream or download. For a city that Carlos King calls a “Black Mecca,” the Houston stop feels more like a homecoming.
King is the Detroit-born founder and CEO of Kingdom Reign Entertainment, executive producer of OWN’s “Love & Marriage” franchise and “Belle Collective,” and host of the No. 1 podcast “Reality with the King” on iHeartMedia’s Black Effect Network.
The man fans have long called the King of Reality TV was candid about what Houston means to him, what audiences can expect, and why Leakes was the only co-headliner worth choosing.
“Who better yet to go on tour with than the queen of reality television, who I have [had] a relationship with since 2008, when she and I both started Atlanta Housewives?” King said. “It was a no-brainer for both of us.”
That relationship dates back to the debut season of “The Real Housewives of Atlanta” on Bravo, which premiered Oct. 7, 2008. King would go on to executive produce multiple seasons of the franchise, including its record-breaking sixth season, which drew an average audience of 4.5 million viewers, the highest-rated season in both RHOA and Bravo network history, according to Nielsen data.
The spark for the tour came from their podcast crossovers. King said Leakes’ guest appearances on “Reality with the King” and “The NeNe Leakes Show” each drew outsized numbers, signaling to both that their audiences wanted more.
King’s podcast has surpassed 7 million downloads since launching in April 2022 and has featured marquee guests from across the reality TV landscape. The live tour, which preceded the Houston stop with dates in Birmingham, Alabama, and Tampa, Florida, has extended that energy into arenas where fans can experience it in real time.
What sets the live show apart, King explained, is precisely what cannot be manufactured. He and Leakes take the stage without a script, without a predetermined set list of topics, and without the safety net of an edit bay.
“Unfiltered commentary is what you’re going to get from a live tour where she and I, we don’t have a script,” he said. “We literally get on stage, and we have no idea what we’re going to talk about.”
King and Leakes discuss their personal lives, relationships, and the moments from reality television that fans have debated for years. Video clips of Leakes’ greatest on-screen moments anchor portions of the show, with King peeling back the curtain on what was happening behind the cameras. Audience Q&A sessions give fans a direct line. Special guests have also become a signature feature. In Tampa, Shiver Rosado, from Netflix’s “Selling Tampa,” joined the show for an extended conversation about her life and relationships.
“We peel back the onions and the layers and really give insight into those moments,” King said. “They love that, but they also just love us talking to them.”
Leakes rose to national fame as an original cast member of “The Real Housewives of Atlanta” and has since built a career that spans acting credits on “Glee” and “The New Normal,” Broadway performances, podcast hosting, and entrepreneurship, bringing a fan following that has turned the tour into one of the hottest live events in the reality TV space. Her fans, known as “Nae Naes” — and King’s followers, called “Reigndrops,” have filled venues across every city on the tour.
“Unfiltered commentary is what you’re going to get from a live tour where she and I, we don’t have a script. We literally get on stage, and we have no idea what we’re going to talk about.”
Carlos King, CEO of Kingdom Reign Entertainment
“Baby, when I say the girls showed up, they showed OUT. The love has been so real, we had no choice but to run it back in more cities,” said NeNe Leakes in a statement sent to the Defender. “This tour is fun, it’s exciting, it’s honest, and it’s exactly what the fans have been asking for. If you thought the first shows were something, just wait… we’re taking it up another level.”
“There’s nothing bigger in Texas than Houston,” King said. “Houston is a big demographic for she and I. We have a lot of Reigndrops and Nae Naes who live in Houston. Houston’s a Black Mecca as well, and it’s just a great city that we love.”
King also signaled that his connection to Houston may extend well beyond June 6. He revealed that “Family Empire,” his reality series set in Houston, could have news to share soon, and expressed genuine interest in developing additional projects in the city.
“I think Houston is such an amazing, untapped city with so [much] richness of Black folks who live there from all facets of life,” King said. “I would love to explore many things in Houston.
Tickets for the June 6 show at Houston’s House of Blues are on sale at kingdomreignent.com.
