‘We’ve become so politically correct that they just made Dick Van Dyke change his name to Penis Von Lesbian’
Still going strong and performing her show “Trans-Jester” to sold-out audiences each Wednesday at The Stonewall Inn, Lady Bunny—drag queen, DJ, comedian and the most desired host in New York’s nightlife scene—will be taking her show to New Orleans and London this spring. She began her show in April, and the dates keep being extended due to high demand.
Get Out! caught up with the hilarious queen once again and shared some questions and answers with her.
They have extended your show until at least the end of the year. That’s amazing.
We do it on Wednesdays. The show has been sold out. I think people really need to get out of the house after this toxic election season and have a laugh. This show talks about politics and gender politics, and asks, “What can we still laugh at?”
So this is still the same show that you started last April?
I’ve updated it here and there. I’m going to do it in New Orleans, and it looks like London in the spring. I think the stage at Stonewall is the perfect place to ask, “What does LGBTQA even stand for?” When I heard Donald Trump say LGBTQ—even Donald Trump is now politically correct? Stonewall, which was landmarked since I started to run here, has some power to ask questions, like where we are going. It’s where the struggle for gay rights began in this country. Maybe Stonewall isn’t the slick, chic spot that you take a first date out to, to impress them, to get a drink, but I’ll tell you what, that’s where people just naturally converged. It’s a legendary space.
I was there the other night.
I’m always shocked at what a young crowd goes there. Ten years ago, when I worked there, it wasn’t nearly as young..
I heard you DJ at the Lips 20th birthday. You’re pretty good!
Oh, thank you. That was the best party.
That was fun.
Yeah. We don’t get dressed up like that anymore. I’m trying to get dolled up to see Chita Rivera at Carnegie Hall tonight. Listen, there are things that have changed about New York, of course, but now I feel even more of a responsibility to get out, to pay my respects to all these people that are still doing stuff. I think a lot of us, including me, bitch about how nothing is going on in New York. So I help support these things when they all going on.
I feel like people don’t support each other as much as they used to.
We are basing the gay community on a club community. Straight and gay, we are on line all the time. It’s free, and you don’t have to leave your home. You can get dick—I mean, you can get that on your phone.
That’s true. So, what is the strangest or funniest reaction that you’ve ever had from someone in the audience?
A lady from Syria came to see the show. A friend introduced her. I make a joke about Syrian refugees in the show. I thought, “Uh oh, here comes the lecture.” She said, “We have a saying in my country: the best humor comes from the worst tragedy.” And she gave me a hug. Now people are frowning on the saying “Hey, you guys,” because it might exclude women. But “Hey, you guys” is what every housewife says to mean “you all.” I think that if you treat people with respect, the labels mean less. And they don’t know what all the sexual configurations are, like CR and CES. These are new sexual configurations in the media, but I don’t think a lot of people know what they are. So I kind of catch the audience up with some of these words, like transgender and heteronormal. We are all supposed to know them, or else.
Do you have anything new coming up that you’d like to promote as well?
This is my only show, but I’m working on a DJ gig in the city of Miami in late November. I do love to travel, and I’m going to New Orleans with the show, so I’m just enjoying that.
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