Lady Bunny is the legendary American drag artist who’s never short of an opinion or two. This week Jason Reid caught up with Bunny, ahead of her upcoming show at West 5, to talk Drag Race Hoes, contourting and… Donald Trump.
How’s things Bunny? It’s been a while since we last spoke.
I’m doing great. Just back in New York after being on the road.
You were in Singapore, right? How was it?
It was fun; I DJ’d and performed at a birthday party held in a museum. Then we went on to a villa in Bali for four days. It looked like a palace to me. But in NYC we pay a fortune for a shoebox these days.
You’re making your way over to the UK at the end of the month to perform at West 5. For people who haven’t seen you before, how would you describe your brand of humour?
Raunchy, crazy and high-energy – for my age. I do a lot of song parodies, you know, sing, crack jokes. Just a drag comedy act.
You’re a real full-of-life character…
That’s just drugs, honey.
So when you go to other drag shows, what do you like to see?
Ermm, their EXIT! I stand up and I cheer like crazy.
Is that just Bianca?
Bianca who?!
Brilliant! Let’s chat about your latest video: ‘Drag Race Hoes’. Where did the idea come from?
A fan actually sent me a reworking of Madonna’s Vogue, with all these rhyming names within it. And I became obsessed with that rhythm. That’s kinda how it started. I mean, it’s impossible to do live but I certainly enjoy performing it.
It’s quite a fast musical number…
Yeah, we tripled the length of the original rap so that I could squeeze more of my deaaaar drag friends into the mix. I would hate not to include anyone.
I saw Phi Phi O’Hara respond to it on Twitter. She seemed to really like it.
Well she’s fun! Phi Phi is not a bitch. She has a fantastic look, can really perform and dance, and can design fabulous costumes. You don’t always get the true impression of someone on Drag Race.
I think she’s great too. Do you think that impression people get comes down to the editing of the show?
I haven’t been on it, but I think it’s more than just the editing. It’s also an acknowledgement by everyone who goes on there that they want the train-wreck behaviour reality TV thrives on. Whether it’s Real Housewives or whatever. Personally, I don’t get it. Also, one of the other reasons I wanted to do the Drag Race Hoes video is because there’s become such a uniformed way recently: you must contour your nose or you must wear this kind of hip padding. I heard some queen talking about ‘Come on, Instagram my brows’. I don’t even know what the fuck that is?! It’s like when queens started wearing lower lashes around the time Bianca was on Drag Race. They’d never once thought of wearing them before.
Does that then take away from the individuality of drag expression?
Sometimes is does. If you’re saying this is the way padding must be done or the face should be contoured. Something that should be creative and different then becomes uniformed. I mean, there’s nothing wrong with looking polished and gorgeous. I’ve made a career out of it. KIDDING! At the end of the day, if you don’t have anything to do IN your gorgeous look, I’m really not gonna go out some place to see you.
The last time we spoke, we spent about fifteen minutes chatting about politics. It’s something you’re quite vocal on social media. What do you make of the rise of Donald Trump over there?
I would like to say I care about what’s going on in the country, but when you see the level of discourse is so low that people can actually support Trump?! Then I have to say perhaps Americans are so stupid they’ll get the president they deserve. If you want to turn Kim Kardashian – someone who got famous by sucking a dick in a video – into the most popular female ‘entertainer’ and tell me that’s showbiz then yes you can take a FOOL like Trump and jack him up to be President.
• Lady Bunny will be performing at West 5 on December 19th. For more information visit www.west5ealing.co.uk