Courtney Act, Vanity Faire Kiki From Down Under in New Podcast

Australian drag superstars, best friends, and sisters in crime Courtney Act and Vanity Faire chat about a wide variety of entertaining topics in their new podcast, Brenda, Call Me!

From the political to the downright silly, nothing is off-limits. Each episode, which features plenty of high energy camp and sass, transports listeners into their conversation, no matter where they are in the world.

Meeting 20 years ago at the infamous Sydney drag nightclub, Stonewall, both Courtney and Vanity have become legendary within the drag scene.

Courtney first burst onto screens in 2003 when she made it to the semi-finals of the premiere season of Australian Idol. Since then, she made it to the top three of RuPaul’s Drag Race season six, appeared in shows like Celebrity Big Brother UK and Dancing with the Stars, and hosted the UK’s first bisexual dating show, E!’s The Bi Life. In 2014, she released her debut EP, Kaleidoscope, with her online videos having been viewed more than 40 million times.

In addition to the stage, Vanity has become successful in business. She and Courtney started the hugely successful wig company, Wigs by Vanity. Their wigs are donned by queens around the globe, including RuPaul herself.

OFM had the opportunity to chat more with Courtney and Vanity about the podcast, the upcoming season of Drag Race Down Under, and being open and honest with their listeners.

Hi, Courtney and Vanity! Thank you both for taking some time to chat with me about your new podcast, Brenda, Call Me! What can listeners expect?
Courtney Act: We have been friends for 20 years, and it is basically us having a good time and chatting.

Vanity Faire: We are usually on opposite sides of the globe, and we have successfully maintained and managed a wonderful friendship. We decided that we are so interesting, people would want to listen in!

CA: The original plan was, I would be in London and Vanity would be in Sydney. Then COVID and everything happened, so I ended up back here in Sydney. It has been great because we get to hang out each week for a couple hours, so it is like forced friendship time. It is lovely to have that actual face time with each other.

VF: You would think being in the same city for the first time in ages, we would have more time together, but we don’t. We have less because Courtney is a work whore and never stops working!

Who came up with the idea for Brenda, Call Me!, and why did you want to start this podcast?
CA: I think I did.

VF: You wanted a job to do during COVID.

CA: Where I didn’t have to get into drag. Nova Podcasts, I believe they approached my manager and asked if I wanted to do a podcast. Nova is one of the big radio stations in Australia, and they have a podcast division. I thought, ‘What could I do that would be fun? ‘Then I thought, ‘Oh, what if I do it with a friend?’

VF: We sort of talked about doing something like this before, and then it went away. Maybe we planted the seeds into the universe.

Have either of you hosted a podcast before?
Both: No.

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Is it as tedious and challenging as it looks?
VF: Oh, it is lovely. We have a wonderful team.

CA: Because we are working for a big company, we don’t have to do much. We are in a professional studio, and we just turn up for work. We have a producer, an assistant producer, an associate producer—they do everything for us. We just show up.

VF: We have a Zoom meeting on Monday, we talk about what we are going to talk about, and we have some guidelines. We obviously put a lot of work into the structure, what we want to talk about, and the way we present it.

CA: Then we don’t talk about anything we said we were going to talk about because we started talking about something else [laughs].

How has Brenda, Call Me! been received so far?
Both: Very well.

CA: I thought lots of people would listen during the opening week, and then it would just sort of trail off. However, the opposite has happened. The first week was very strong, but each week after, more and more people have tuned in and are subscribing. Each week, we have topped our previous week’s record. I have done a lot of unsuccessful things in my life, so it is nice to do something that people are enjoying.

VF: I fail at life, so I have a clean record. I did not have anything to live up to [laughs].

What do you hope listeners take away from the podcast?
VF: I hope they get an inside glimpse into our friendship.

CA: We have, as one of our listeners, Veronica, pointed out, astonishing honesty. We could not work out if that was a compliment or not.

VF: It was very loaded.

CA: I think we are very honest with each other in life, and we are very honest people in general. When we come together for this, we talk about stuff that does not seem astonishingly honest to us. We talk about mental health, body issues, growing up queer in suburban Australia, the shame of femininity. I think people listening have found that to be honest and insightful. I think we are at a point in our lives as women of a certain age where we do have some insight into our own lives and why the things that have happened to us have affected us in the way that they have. Then, we can articulate that in a way that seems to connect with people.

VF: Courtney and I also have very different perspectives. We have lived similar journeys, but we come from opposite sides of the spectrum. She’s functioning, and I’m not. I’m human, and she’s a robot. It balances out.

Like you mentioned earlier, you two have been friends for 20 years. How did you two meet, and why do you think you two have remained friends this long?
CA: We met at Stonewall, which is a gay bar in Sydney, and I have seen Vanity in shows.

VF: I was established.

CA: Yeah, she was like the supermodel of Sydney drag. All the drag queens in Sydney during that time were of a certain vintage, and many were in their early 30s. Vanity was like 19 or 20. I just remember thinking she was beautiful, and I was in awe. A boy that I knew who said he knew Vanity said he could introduce me to her.

VF: I turned around and looked down, and there was this tiny, little baby Shane looking up at me. He looked like he was 12 years old.

CA: It was not love at first sight or anything. It was a banal conversation that did not lead to anything, but just like a good superfan before superfans existed, I admired Vanity. What she did on stage just spoke to me and who I was. So, I pursued a friendship, and we were sort of mixed in the same circles. I was a young, nubile twink.

VF: It took me a while to warm up to Courtney. She was very young, and I am not one to judge someone who does not make good decisions, but you made a few bad decisions at the time. That kind of reflected on you, and I was like, hmm, no. I have seen so many young queens and gays who come and go who wanted to be a drag queen but did not take it seriously. I was very serious about my craft. It was not until Courtney got into her first permanent show. In Sydney, it was all about production shows, what nights you performed, what venues you performed at, and how professional you were. Once you got into a permanent show, even though you were still very amateurish, it was like, ‘OK, you are taking this seriously now. Let me help you.’

As to why we have been friends for so long, I have no idea. I have given her lots of reasons to hate me.

CA: I thought you were going to say it’s because I have no redeemable qualities.

VF: I have basically tortured her for 20 years.

As two of Australia’s biggest drag superstars, will either of you be involved with Drag Race Down Under?
Both: No.

CA: It is not because we don’t want to be.

VF: I auditioned and got a decline.

CA: I emailed and said, ‘I’m here. I am available.’ That’s alright though, we are professional podcasters now. We are very excited to watch it on TV. A lot of our friends are on it. Maxi Shield, #teammaxi, we have known her for a long time, and she is one of Vanity’s best friends. Well, second best friend.

VF: Third, actually [laughs]. Drag Race is an amazing show and platform that has presented so many wonderful and talented drag queens to the world, and I would love to be a part of that phenomenon. I was upset for a little while about not getting on the show, but then I realized, this might not be my year. Maybe season two. I was very happy for my friends who did get on, and I am also grateful in a way because it was a tough slog. The queens had to get ready over Christmas and New Years while still in the middle of COVID. Then having to quarantine for two weeks, it was rough. So, maybe season two will be easier.

Courtney, you have probably been asked this many times, but if you were invited to compete on Drag Race for All Stars, would you do it?
CA: I love Drag Race, and I loved the experience of being on it, but I do not think I would go back to All Stars. I would love to because it looks like so much fun when I watch it, but I think the risk to the cost of benefit ratio does not add up for me at the moment. I now have a career that I love.

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Vanity, how are things with Wigs by Vanity? Has COVID impacted the business?
VF: Quite a lot, actually. Last year, we realized that was a break in the supply chain, which prevented us from getting lace front wigs. That was quite concerning considering that the business is based on that. We have been innovative and pivoted, and I have now released a new range of wigs called Glam and Go, which are much more reliable and have a cheaper price point. It is a fun product, which I have been wanting to do for a long time but just never got around to it. So, COVID gave me the opportunity to do that.

Now that we are in the swing of it, dare I say, they might even be better. The lace fronts took a long time to make. They were very difficult, and I had a very high standard, which made us the best in the world. It was a lot of effort and work to keep things at that level because quality control and production changes, and it is very difficult not being present in the factories to keep quality at the level you want. I have a good feeling about these new wigs, and maybe at some point, I will think about wholesaling them. I think lace fronts, which is what we are known for, pigeonholed me because I was good at it. I was proud of being the best at it. These new wigs have opened us up, and we have a few more other things in the works.

Before we wrap up, are there any other upcoming projects or anything else you would like to mention our plug?
CA: I don’t think so.

VF: No, I think that’s it!

Follow both Courtney and Vanity on Instagram to stay up-to-date, and Brenda, Call Me! is available on the Nova Podcast Network, Spotify, and Apple Podcasts. New episodes launch every Thursday.

Photos Courtesy of John McRae