Festive and Filthy: Lady Bunny Puts the X in Xmas

Ho, ho, ho! Since we are stuck at home for the holidays, drag legend and icon Lady Bunny is bringing Christmas cheer and madness to us.

First, we can see her as a special guest in Murray and Peter’s A Drag Queen Christmas 2020. Co-hosted by Trinity “The Tuck” Taylor and Nina West, this livestream extravaganza features some of the most celebrated queens from RuPaul’s Drag Race and brings them together for a two-hour, holiday spectacular filled with a dazzling array of yuletide classics, complete with their own, naughty twist.

After that, make sure to check out Bunny’s 45-minute solo show filmed at the Stonewall, What Child Is This? In addition to stockings full of laughter, parodies, and dirty ditties, Bunny will don several glitzy, festive costumes along with patented giant coiffures.

According to Vogue Magazine, Lady Bunny represents the heart of what drag is all about. While her routines may be rooted in the gutter, her quick-witted humor is authentic, smart, and topical. Bunny is best known for creating Wigstock, NYC’s festival of love, peace, and hair grease, which became the subject of Samuel Goldwyn’s Wigstock The Movie (1995) and HBO’s Wig (2019).

OUT FRONT had the opportunity to chat more with Bunny about the holiday specials, the challenges she faced this past year, and upcoming projects we can be on the lookout for.Hello, Lady Bunny! Thank you for taking some time to chat with me. You appear in A Drag Queen Christmas 2020 alongside some of the most celebrated queens from RuPaul’s Drag Race. What can audiences expect?
There are a lot of drag queen Christmas shows and a lot of Facebook and Instagram Live shows, but A Drag Queen Christmas is actually a big-budget affair shot at a large theater with, like, five cameras on booms, excellent lighting, and a stage. It is far more intuitive. It looks like a television special. There’s some comedy; there’s glamour, dancing, multiple costumes changes, and as you said, favorite from Drag Race. I think this show stands out as the biggest budget, glitziest, and star-studded Christmas show that I am aware of.

Why did you want to be involved with this show?
Because it pays [laughs]. I did Murray and Peter’s Christmas tour last year, and I had a blast. It was really fun, and I am halfway kidding when I say because it pays because obviously most drag queens have not worked much in nine months. We shot this in nearby Connecticut, so I took a car service there, and because Connecticut has low infection rates, we all had to get COVID tests. It was really nice to hang out with people in a place where proper precautions were being taken. It is also thrilling to be in a big theater. Like all drag queens, sometimes I have big gigs; sometimes I have smaller gigs. It is fun to do some glitzy, new gigs, and this was a fun, group show with some queens like Jaida Essence Hall who I have never met before. I was very impressed by her.

You also have your own, solo, holiday, comedy show, What Child Is This? Can you tell us more about that?
Unlike a bevy of beauties in Murray and Peter’s A Drag Queen Christmas, this one is all me. It is very low-budget; it is shot at the Stonewall in New York City. Stonewall is very legendary, but it is probably not the place you would take a first date to impress. It has the look of a public access cable show, but it is 45 minutes, and it is all me. All dirty, crazy, and wild like I am. I also like to do the group show because I think I probably am the crazier one in A Drag Queen Christmas. There is comedy, of course, with Nina West and Trinity doing the MCing, but I am the crazier one. So, if you like that crazy, there are two shows to see me in.

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Your holiday specials have become quite a staple. What do you love the most about doing them, and why did you start this tradition?
Perverting religious lyrics in twisted song parodies. I always say that my Christmas specials are a wonderful gift to prudish relatives. If you are reconvening for the holidays and having awkward moments, then just put anything that I am in on the screen, and they will leave the room! Drag has changed and become very mainstream, but then there are drag queens like me who are a bit more old-school and like to tell dirty jokes that might be frowned upon by the PC community.

Many LGBTQ people will be struggling this year because they cannot get together with their chosen family or visit their safe place because of COVID. What advice can you offer to them?
Watch drag queen Christmas shows [laughs]. I am in the same boat, so what advice can I offer myself? This is a tough time, and it is a tough decision to not get together with your family. My parents do not live nearby, and I do not feel comfortable flying. They are also 85, and you are probably wondering how my parents are younger than I am, but we have to make sacrifices this year.

I think this coronavirus mess is going to be around for a long time, even though people are starting to get the vaccine. We are not supposed to get the vaccine until summer, so let’s be prepared to not have Valentine’s Day, maybe Fourth of July. This is an ongoing thing. When this first happened, New York was a hotspot. My mom asked me if I wanted to come home to Chattanooga, and I said, to be honest with you, I would not take a taxi right now to the airport, much less get on a plane. Also, I am not going to bring New York-strength COVID to my mom and dad, unless I am in the will!Do you normally spend the holidays by going home to Chattanooga?
No. I was there last year, but my sister lives in Philly, so we normally convene there. She has a large house with 13 cats that I am allergic to. So, we are going to do a Zoom meeting, which I hope somebody hacks with porn. That would liven it up a little. Zoom meetings can be a dud, but if that is the only way to see your parents, do it. Some people can’t see their relatives when they are dying in the hospital. We have to sometimes look on the bright side and thank our stars that we are not in that situation.

We can all agree that 2020 has been an absolute shit-show. What have been some of the biggest challenges and hurdles you faced?
The government shut down my place of work, and I am happy to comply with the restrictions because I do not want to get it, and I do not want to spread it. I don’t think people really understand this yet. If you cannot work at home, your paychecks have stopped, and your bills have not. This is dire. At the end of January when they end the rental assistance, 19 million people may be homeless. I think 40 million lost their insurance when they lost their jobs, and this is a predicament which I see few voices in the government trying to remedy. I am no fan of any republicans, but about a month ago, they offered us a $500 billion stimulus. Democrats widely rejected it because it was not enough. Then, for some reason, Trump, I guess wanting to get re-elected, he said go big or go home on the stimulus, then Trump and Mnuchin’s package went up to $1.8 trillion. Nancy Pelosi was asking for $2.2 trillion.

Now, you don’t have to be a very good negotiator to know that if you are asking for $2.2 trillion as your opponent comes up from $500 billion to $1.8 trillion, you are a fool if you didn’t take that. NanCy was playing politics. She even said in a Wolf Blitzer CNN interview that Trump just wants his name to go out on a check. Wolf, actually being a journalist for once and challenging people in power, he said people are in dire need, and he doesn’t think people care whose name is on the check. Nancy flipped out. She turned down $1.8 trillion and now says Joe Biden being elected was the reason why we don’t need a stimulus. No honey, I cannot take the cover of a paper that says President-Elect Joe Biden to my landlords and neither can anybody else.

The other thing that boggles my mind about politics is that people just look at it as a spectator sport. These stimuluses are our taxes that we’ve paid, and we are saying, spend this money on us now when we need it. They just passed a $740 billion defense act with no debate. It was actually a veto-proof thing to where Trump could not even veto it. They don’t have any trouble passing the budget to tear up other countries that did not attack us, when they could be using that money to rebuild this country. It makes it seem that both sides are really screwed up. I think we are heading into times of great distress. So, please enjoy your holiday because it may be the last one where you have a house to enjoy it in!

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What are you looking forward to the most about 2021?
My future right now is a question mark, so I hope the vaccine does take effect. I am not going to be working much until people can convene in audiences and on dance floors where I am DJing. So, I am focusing on that right now but also taking the spare time that I have to exercise more and get on a better diet. I do not have the excuse to say I had to eat pizza and pretzels because I was running late for my flight. I have no flights! I have not been able to socially distance from my refrigerator, so I am looking forward to having more time on my hands to focus on my health.

You also have a new Christmas single called “Santa’s Spreadin’ COVID Around.” How has that been received?
It has been received very well. It was a funny collaboration between my co-writer, Beryl Mendelbaum, and I, and it is a parody of “Santa Claus Is Coming to Town.” The premise is, Santa has COVID, and the song is urging him to stay at home. Let’s do this next year. The song does mention face masks and washing your hands, and it kind of paints Santa in a slight way as a Trump supporter who is going to ignore all the precautions.

I wanted it to be more lighthearted than preachy. The whole thing about the song, which I perform in A Drag Queen Christmas, it really touches on a nerve because we are all going into this Christmas season where it is supposed to be holly jolly and bells ringing, but we cannot even afford presents. The song taps into something where people do not quite feel right about the holidays.Another one of your current projects is starring alongside Bianca Del Rio in a new, on-demand special called HHN: Hateful Hags Network. You and Bianca have worked together for centuries. What do you love the most about her?
She is just so funny! Working with her is a learning experience because she’s got her timing down, and she is so quick-witted and well-groomed. Notice I didn’t say pretty. I admire her work ethic, and she has great ideas on the spot. HHN is fake news with fake boobs. We basically read about recent Drag Race happenings. All Stars 5, season 12, Drag Race in Canada and the U.K., and AJ and the Queen, which is ripe for jokes. My God, AJ and the Queen did the impossible. It made Cats look entertaining. HHN is in a news format, so we go topic to topic and read them all to filth.

Can you tell us more about your upcoming podcast, Ebony & Irony, with Monet X Change?
Monet is in London now doing a West End show with Courtney Act, so we started the podcast, but they switched up her schedule, so that will probably happen in January. Monet and I, we have worked on the road a few times together and really hit it off. We decided we would check it out and record one, and it turned out well, so we decided to proceed. New York clubs are not really open, so if you are a drag queen, DJ, stripper, or whatever, if you are not performing online, you are not performing.

Before we wrap up, are there any other upcoming projects we should be on the lookout for?
If you are a dance music lover, there is a B-side to “Spreadin’ COVID Around” called “Joy and Happiness.” It is something that people have really enjoyed. One of the main lyrics is “leaving negativity in the past.” I am pushing this one as kind of an anthem to leave negativity in 2020!

To stay up-to-date with Lady Bunny, follow her on Twitter and Instagram, or visit her official website. A Drag Queen Christmas is available on-demand at dragfans.com and streaming through January 31. What Child Is This? is available for streaming through January 4 at vossevents.com.

Photos Courtesy of Just Toby