The Hostess with Something Extra: Miss Coco Peru

For over 25 years, Miss Coco Peru has been a household name within the LGBTQ community.

Starting in the early 90s as a downtown favorite in the cabaret scene of New York City after writing, producing, directing, and starring in her first show, Miss Coco Peru in My Goddamn Cabaret, she has since enjoyed an expansive career ranging intimate stage productions to appearing on film and television.

Coco has received worldwide acclaim for her work and has become a viral sensation on media platforms like Instagram and YouTube. She is also known for her long history of passionate activism, support for the LGBTQ community, and fierce dedication to AIDS-related charities and organizations.

OUT FRONT had the opportunity to chat one-on-one with Coco and talk about how she has been holding up during quarantine, her hit show Conversations with Coco, appearing in trailblazing TV shows like Will & Grace, and how drag has become a celebrated art.Hi, Coco! Thank you for taking some time to chat with me. How have you been holding up during this pandemic?
I have been doing OK. I think it has been a roller coaster for everybody. So surreal!

While in quarantine, you were posting these “Coco Thoughts While in Solitude” videos on your YouTube channel. Was that a therapeutic way to help you cope with the insanity?
Yes. It has been a real experiment for me. Of course, I am not dressing up in drag every day, it just takes so much work. Then I had a medical issue, pre-cancer on my lip, so I thought, I still want to reach out to my fans without having to put on makeup, so I decided to do these videos. The real challenge for me was, because I am such a perfectionist and because I am a writer, the challenge for me was to film something once, and that’s it. Like, if I fuck up, whatever. I am just not going to try and make it perfect. In a way, that was very freeing for me, and the wonderful thing was reading all the beautiful comments.

For those who do not know, how did Coco Peru come to be?
I wanted to be a part of the change. I was inspired by a drag queen in Peru, who, at that time in the late 80s, it was a very homophobic Catholic country. Yet, this drag queen had become famous in Peru and was celebrated. I thought, there is something about owning 100 percent of who you are that even the most homophobic person can sometimes sort of take a step back and go, okay, yeah, I respect that. That empowered me so much. Also, there were people, even in the gay community, who would say things like, well, we need to take things slowly or we need to play it right. Now is not the time.

I was always the person like hey, this is my life, now is the time. Change does not happen unless you completely push for it. Sometimes I do it through storytelling, I did march in the streets and whatnot, but all of us need to work together to create change, and pushing it takes people with vision and passion.

When you start touring again, and who knows when that will be, will you be performing a new show or another series of Conversations with Coco?
No, Conversations with Coco was something I did local here in Los Angeles, and they were hoping to turn it into a TV show. Who knows? Maybe it can still happen. My one-person shows, I have several that I do, and the one I was touring with was a best of show called Have You Heard?

I was taking some of my favorite monologues from all my shows. Like, there is a seven-minute monologue about performing at Wigstock. It is one of my earliest monologues, and it is the one that kind of put me on the map in New York City.

That has been a lot of fun, but I am going to start writing a new show. With my new show, I am thinking, I have learned some things doing these little Coco thoughts. My shows are so written, edited, rewritten, rehearsed, and I am thinking maybe with my new show, have it be much looser. Where it really is like a Coco thought video. We will see. This crisis has made me take a step back. I feel like everyone is improvising a new life and how they fit into it. I am thinking that as well, even with my next show. Let’s approach it in a completely different way.Would you like to continue Conversations with Coco?
Oh, I would love to! I believe that storytelling is the key to us feeling connected to something bigger than ourselves, and to each other. I do believe that young people love guidance, and when I first started to talk about my age on stage and growing older, my husband got very nervous and thought, oh God, you are going to lose the young people. They don’t want to hear about that because Hollywood is such an age-phobic town.

I said, I have never fit into the box of Hollywood or anything, so I do not really give a shit if people have a problem with getting older. I don’t, and I think young people are looking for mentors and that crazy kooky aunt or grandma because they are already writing to me asking, can you be my aunt? Can you be my grandma? So, I might as well just own it. Kids respect that; they respect truth. That has been part of my journey as well.

So, my point being, when I interview these other people, and we have this lovely conversation, I always try to make it feel like the stories being told are universal. When I interviewed Allison Janey, she talked about painful moments in her life. About the journey, about the choices, and that can inform anybody. It makes you feel less alone.

One time, I was on the phone with a friend telling them some of the troubles I have been having with life in general, and she said, I hate to say this, but I am so relieved to hear you saying this because I always think of Coco Peru as untouchable. It makes me feel less alone knowing that you are having the same problems. I think that is what Conversations with Coco is like as well. You hear these celebrities talk about their lives, and yet, you realize how relatable they are. It is inspiring to listen to someone who actually created a life for themselves.

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Who would you love to interview?
There are two people who I would really love to interview. Because I did Jane Fonda and Lily Tomlin, I would love to do Dolly Parton. That trifecta of 9 to 5, and just because I am just such a huge fan, and she has had such an impact not only on me, but the world. Especially queer people. Then, on a personal level, I would love to interview Shirley MacLaine because I used to have these very powerful dreams about her after I saw Terms of Endearment. So, I would love to connect with her.

In addition to your live performances, you are also known for your roles in film and television. One of your most notable appearances was starring in Jim Fall’s 1999 film, Trick. Is it true that you were originally not supposed to be in it?
Yes, I was not in the original script.

How did you land the part?
Jim had asked me to help him audition for the first reading, and while I was reading the different roles against the other actors, Jim thought that I was funny doing the part that Tori Spelling would later play. When the auditions were over, he said, hey, how about you do it as Coco in drag, and I will just explain to the audience that a real woman will be playing this in the movie?

I said sure, so I did the reading, and everyone said the drag queen stole the show, you have to keep her in it. So, they were nice enough to write that little scene which I then peppered up with my little Coco-isms.Is a sequel still in the works?
Yes, it is. I have no idea when it will happen, but the script is written. It is actually a very lovely script, so I hope it does get made.

You also had the distinction of appearing in both the first and rebooted seasons of Will & Grace. What does a show like Will & Grace mean to you as an actor?
You know, my partner has a daughter, and she grew up in Oklahoma. I have been there, and it’s a nice state [laughs]. I don’t want to take a big ol’ shit on Oklahoma, but there was some stress with her having a gay dad. We had gotten the VHS tapes at the time, they were given to us, and she loved the show. I just felt like that’s how a show can actually change the world. I think back to when I was a little, there were no gay characters, if there were, they were sad or completely absurd. There were no gay characters on television that you could look up or feel connected to.

So, I realized that Will & Grace was so groundbreaking, and then to be included on it was so great. To be invited back the second time around, it was really wonderful. I felt as though the producers, everyone on that show, even the people in the background working on props and costumes, I think they just have it in the back of their mind that this queen survived in this business for 30 years without the benefit of being on a regular TV show. Let’s celebrate her.

I could not believe when I walked in on that set, they had Coco wigs everywhere; they had that neon sign, they had Coco coasters made. They went above and beyond what I ever expected to make me feel celebrated. It was great.

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When you first started drag, it was not celebrated or brought to the masses like it is today. We have mainstream shows like RuPaul’s Drag Race, and it is amazing how far drag has come.
I enjoy shows like RuPaul’s Drag Race, and I do think it has changed the whole landscape and drag world. There have been times when I have gone out to pitch things and whatnot, and production companies look at you like, a drag queen? I have had things said to me where I think I cannot believe they actually felt as though they could say that to me. I think that is just because of how they think about drag.

Now, all of that has changed, and I think World of Wonder had the vision. Their vision was bigger than the fears of what other people might have said. Like, that’s never going to last on TV. I always knew that it could before RuPaul’s Drag Race even came out.

I always knew there was room for drag on television. Even with my own show, yes, I wrote it thinking that gay men would be the only one that would come and see it, but I always thought it should be a bigger audience than that, and it started to turn into that. People started to bring their moms, their family, their children to see my shows. Shows like RuPaul’s Drag Race and the internet have just blown the doors open.

Can you tell us more about your digital horoscope series on LogoTV.com, Madame Coco Knows?
Logo had an idea, so they wrote to me and said, would you be interested in doing this when you are in New York doing your show. I said sure! We filmed that, and it’s unfortunate that the COVID virus hit because I am supposed to give people horoscopes, but who could have seen this coming?

It is meant to be a fun thing, but the horoscopes are real. They did their research and hired several people who do horoscopes, and those horoscopes are actually real. People have contacted me asking for a personal reading. I’m like, honey, that was all written. I don’t read cards or do horoscopes.So, I shouldn’t ask what’s in store for me? I am an Aries.
[Laughs] No, do not ask me.

Before we wrap up, are there any other upcoming projects we should be on the lookout for?
There is an upcoming project, but I am not allowed to speak about it yet. I am not superstitious, but I believe in respecting the timing of things. When the time is right, I will be at liberty to talk about it. It is something I can say that I am excited about. I feel like it is right up my alley.

To stay up-to-date with Coco, visit her official website, and follow her on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.

Photos Courtesy of Peter Palladino, Andrew Poegl, and Greg Bailey