"I thought combining incest with necrophilia was some of my best work." ~Lady Bunny.

Underneath those towering blonde wigs lurks one of the filthiest minds in drag, but it’s also among the most overworked. It’s not just that Bunny’s busy performing her one-woman show, Trans-Jester, night after night, and flying from city to city DJing and making guest appearances between performances (though she is doing all that), it’s that her mind never seems to find a reprieve, especially from politics—politics of all sorts. Trans-Jester, whose name alone has sparked controversy within the LGBT community, is a raucous night of Bunny-befitting debauchery with all the envelope-pushing material you’d expect, but it’s also refreshingly stuffed with meaning and insight—an urgent plea for a reality check from a queen whose best work may come more from the gut than the gutter.

We spoke with Bunny after one of her recent performances in New York City and learned more about her positions on a variety of politics—gender politics, drag politics, and, of course, the US election.

GC: You’re very busy right now and Trans-Jester keeps extending its limited runs. How do you stay in such demand?

LB: It has been busy, but listen, it isn’t always sold out, and if there’s a night when there aren’t that many tickets sold I like to invite friends. If the jokes are inappropriate and you’re in a small crowd you might look around and say "is it okay to laugh? Is everyone else laughing?" but if it’s in a larger crowd, you just do what feels natural. If it feels natural to laugh at something that we’re maybe not always supposed to laugh at, you can. That’s always been the inspiration for my humor. The funniest things I ever remember were things said in church when I was a kid with my sister.  They’d pass out the envelopes to put money in that said, "The Lord loveth a cheerful giver." We would cross that out and write "The Lord hateth a poor person," or "The Lord loveth a cheerful bigot," and just sit there crying and screaming and pounding the floor laughing until we were escorted out. So, if you tell me I’m not supposed to laugh at it, that’s it. And of course, we all have jokes we tell in private. My goal is to try to get that humor out where everyone can enjoy it. My sense of humor developed in late night gay clubs where people were drunk and on drugs, so if you pulled out a dildo, or did something sick or wild, you were gonna get booked again. Now we’re very PC and mainstream and I think it’s a yawn.

GC: It’s an interesting tightrope. A lot of political correctness comes from people fighting for equal treatment, and from protecting rights and shaping attitudes, yet you point out that too much word-policing is causing just as much damage, or maybe more. Why is it important to lay it all out there?

LB: I feel that the over-emphasis on language actually stifles discussion. I tried to read an article that was explaining the difference between cisgender and cissexual, and you know what? After all that, I don’t give a shit. Because if I meet them, I’m gonna be nice to them, whatever they are. What I really can’t take is how we’re driving wedges in parts of the community that were always the closest, like drag and trans.

And I think it’s very dangerous to put people on boxes and demand that you know what that person is. For example, some of these trans activists who don’t like what I say have said, "But you’re a cisgender man." Well guess what, bitch, I don’t know what the fuck I am. You sure as hell don’t know what the fuck I am. You’re not cisgender if you modified your body, right? I’ve experimented with hormones. I’ve spent thousands of dollars on painful electrolysis because I didn’t feel that that beard should be growing out of my face. (My electrolysist moved to Florida and left me with half a beard, but that’s MY struggle!) Listen, the other thing that is so wild to me is that I personally revere the transwomen in my life. And they know that the reason that we’re so close is because that there’s a little bit of me in them. They know that. And there’s a little bit of them in me. Stop trying to drive us apart.

The world is a mess and we’ve got to look for allies, and make allies.  Dividing ourselves up and fighting over it is crazy to me. Don’t shout me down because of what I am, because I’m a cisgender white male, if that’s what your chart labels me. I might be fighting for Black Lives Matter and you won’t even hear my message. I might be your ally. Words are used differently at different times. Words are tools of comedians, and many professions. There are some black people who never want the n-word used. There are some black people who put the n-word in the chorus of their songs. There’s no one way to do this. You can’t put so much weight on labels.

GC: You do take positions that are not directly in line with popular gay attitudes, like not supporting Hillary Clinton in the US presidential election, and your blog is often very a serious outlet for your political thoughts. Why is it important for you, an entertainer, to take a public stance on substantive topics?

LB: Because we’re being led astray by the media. Look at the media that created Trump. We know that Trump mocked a reporter with disabilities, called Mexicans rapists, wants to ban Muslims, mocked John McCain’s war record, called Carly Fiorina ugly, called Miss Universe Miss Piggy, meanwhile...what are his plans? What are Hillary’s plans? Why isn’t that part of the media representation? As insane as I am, I get positive feedback from being non-bullshit and thinking outside the box.

Listen, I’m from Chattanooga, Tennessee and my dad was an anti-draft counselor. He got a teaching scholarship in Africa when I was 11, and all of the rednecks around us said, "Oh, the Ingles love n-words so much that they had to move to Africa." Growing up, we were never allowed to go to the Armed Forces Day parade because my dad didn’t want us to celebrate violence and war . . . which is what Hillary Clinton represents! That’s the truth! I am very glad that my father, who I don’t always get along with, gave me that gift—the gift of being able to say, "That’s what you are all saying, but that is just not right or true in my book. These are my values and I have a seat at the table as well."

Gay people my age all support Hillary Clinton, but I don’t. I guess I’m just one of those fools who can’t shut up about injustice. During the course of doing Trans-Jester, not only was Stonewall landmarked by President Obama, but it was also the sight of the Pulse nightclub shooting memorials and I feel like this: I am a gay person asking for equal rights. I’m asking that of everyone, even the ones who may have been brought up by their family, church, or schoolmates to think that what I am is wrong. So, if I see someone stepping on somebody else’s rights, whether it’s Muslims who we’ve got no business attacking (who Hillary has voted to attack), then I’ve got to speak out against that. And for trans-people people being bashed, and Black Lives Matter, and women—everyone.

GC: In your show you call out the absurdity of trigger words—words that students claim are too sensitive to hear from their teachers so they’re banned in classes. How does that relate to what you’re saying now about speaking out, even when it’s unpopular in our own community.

LB: Just while doing this show and talking about "rape" as a trigger word on campuses, I’ve learned that 1 in 5 women on college campuses are raped. If 1 in 5 women is raped in college, how do you save for years to send your little girl there, knowing there’s a 20% chance she’s getting raped? That’s unthinkable to me. But do you ban the word "rape," or do you work your ass off to fix that? What if you have been sheltered from the word "rape" because you’re sensitive, and then you actually get raped? You’re gonna be a fucking basket case for the rest of your life. You go to college to broaden your horizons, not to tell your teachers what they’re supposed to be teaching you.

One university said it’s wrong to ask people where they’re from because that might imply you don’t feel that they belong here. A guy at one of my shows explained to me that a privileged white person might see someone Asian and say, "Where are you from?" too dumb to know that plenty of Asian people are born in this country. So, I said, okay I’m really glad you explained that to me because I can see that angle and understand how that might be irritating, but what’s to stop that Asian person from slapping his friend and saying "I come from the faraway land of...Detroit!" We’re looking for things to offended by. It’s the Oppression Olympics. I get offended by a lot of things, like the President getting sworn in on a Bible, but I don’t get crazy over every microaggression. You’re gonna get offended in life. You can’t be a protected, coddled little baby.

People who know way more about this than I do link it to a very entitled younger generation. People like me, as gay as a goose, are scratching our heads thinking "Okay, we went on this journey for equal rights and marriage, and went through AIDS, and where are we now? Fussing about Zer and Ze pronouns?" Have you met a Zer? Are we possibly going on and on fighting about something that is not a big issue for a lot of people, and then acting like there’s something wrong with a cisgender for being cisgender? Honey, there’s nothing wrong with you if you don’t want a sex change. That may mean you don’t understand what it is like but that doesn’t mean there’s something wrong with you.

And I’m not wishing AIDS on a new generation, but my friends were withering and dying before my eyes. It was dark. It was heavy. Now you’re telling me I’m a Zer if I have a beard and lipstick, and I’m a Ze when I shave off the beard but still have the lipstick. . . . Babe, you know what? You kids go and play. If that’s your biggest issue then you are privileged. If you have the time to worry about Beyonce’s jewelry in a video and whether that’s cultural appropriation, then you are very, very privileged.

GC: Your show manages to remain a hilarious, entertaining comedy set while truly hurling these grievances right in the audience’s faces. In a world that is so PC, how do you get away with this night after night, and do it so well that the show has to keep extending its run?

LB: We like to laugh at ourselves. From doing this so long I know where to pull back and add a joke, or say something self-deprecating. We need joy, and we need laughter, and we need togetherness. In chat rooms, it’s real easy to say "die cis scum" because there’s no tone unless you use an emoji (and I don’t understand emojis, except that eggplant one—I know that one baby, especially with the little squirts after!) and New York is a big city with progressive attitudes, but also that "eh, it’s NY!" attitude, where a Bronx cheer is a fart. That "cut the bullshit" kind of thing. I don’t know how this show would go over somewhere where they were very politically correct like Seattle. I’m not gonna say what people need, but I think we could all benefit from frank discussion.

For sure this show is somewhat older, saying, "You kids!" and pointing a finger at them. For SURE that’s what this is, and sometimes old people get stuck in their ways and need to get shaken up, but sometimes old people figured out a little something from being in the community for a while, and that’s why they’re still here.

GC: You’re still here, and you end your show with "I’m Still Here." Are you going to perform until the day you’re no longer here?

LB: I don’t know how to do anything else. So, yes, I guess! I do different things, like DJing and making some original music, but I love doing this, and I love doing it here at Stonewall. It gives it some power. This is where gay rights started in the US.

GC: I don’t think it’s because you can’t do anything else. You still have a lot to say, and your providing something important.

LB: I’m happy to hear you say that but I wouldn’t be so braggadocious (Trump word!) as to say that what I’m doing is important, but I’m glad people find it entertaining, and some people have said "you made me feel relevant" because, like me, they are scratching their heads over this generation.

GC: How about what this generation has done with drag, especially through RuPaul’s Drag Race? It’s more mainstream than ever—now people can name a dozen queens instead of just RuPaul and Lady Bunny.  Is this helping or hurting drag?

LB: Listen, the lesson of reality TV is that Paris Hilton or Snooki can become stars. They have nothing to offer. On TV, you can be young and beautiful and contour your nose and do incredible makeup, but if you’re not about something more than just the look, you’re great to look at. But I don’t see that as an entertainer. RuPaul, Hedda Lettuce, Vaginal Davis, Kevin Aviance—the reason we all went somewhere is because we had an act, not just a look. Great looks are wonderful, and I’ve hired Miss Fame to do my makeup because she’s so incredible, and Kim Chi looks absolutely amazing, but some of these people can barely walk in heels. Some of them cannot walk to a beat. Sure, there are a lot of new queens, and because they can do makeup so well they’re here right now.

There’s nothing wrong with being a beautiful mannequin, but I think that reality TV has taught us that you don’t need to be about something to be famous for now. I’m not interested in hype. I love Patti LaBelle, but if she puts out a bad song, I’m gonna tell you it’s a bad song. People say, "Oh Beyonce, you have to admire her business acumen, releasing all the singles as videos . . . " but they all suck. I don’t dance to business acumen. I don’t sing along to business acumen. I’m glad she was able to hoodwink you, but this, to me, sucks. I don’t tend to view things in the realm of hype, so if some queen has been on TV, I’d personally be a lot less likely to go and see her because she’s been on TV. If she’s someone like Kennedy Davenport who got standing ovations every night when I toured with her because she is a flawless dancer that can excite even my jaded old ass, that’s the one I’m going to see. I’m interested in talent. Reality TV thrives on trainwrecks and arguments—sometimes people are cast because they’re willing to come out as HIV positive, or they went to jail, or they both held the same pageant crown. . . . I’m just not interested in that. I’ll freely admit I’m too old too appreciate reality TV. I grew up with Carol Burnett and Lucille Ball. If you’re gonna be up there, you better have something to do. Looking great is just not enough.

GC: And that’s why you’re still doing something.

LB: Well, listen. I see a lot of queens who haven’t been on the show and who think their only passage to stardom is to be on that show. And I always tell them, "Honey, you need to find something that makes you unique, not cookie-cutter-I’ve-got-the-same-stripes-down-my-nose-and-lower-lashes-because-Bianca-del-Rio-had-them. Something that makes you unique. And once you find that, I’ll bet you anything that Drag Race will come to you.  And if they don’t you’re gonna have a career anyway.

And find a look you really love because if this does take off, you’re gonna be doing it a long time.

Related Articles

Contributor Brandon Schultz |

Person Lady Bunny |

Topic Celebrity Interview | Drag Queen |