Image Credit: Albert Sanchez & Pedro Zalba

Bob The Drag Queen clearly likes to get out of the house.

It was just a few short months ago that she wrapped up her gig as the emcee to pop queen Madonna‘s massive, career-spanning, globe-trotting Celebration Tour, which culminated in a Rio de Janeiro show that made history with the largest audience ever for a stand-alone concert.

And now she’s ready to hit the road again, bringing her brand new comedy show This Is Wild! to theaters across North America this fall.

Oh and somehow in between all of that, she managed to find time to sharpen her back-stabbing knives and ship off to Scotland to compete in the highly anticipated third season of Peacock’s hit reality competition series, The Traitors? (Whether she’s a Faithful or a Traitor, those other b*tches better watch out!)

Meanwhile, the RuPaul’s Drag Race winner keeps it real on her hit podcast Sibling Rivalry with Monét X Change, regularly drops original songs that are absolute fire, has her own fierce inclusive clothing line House Of Bob, and consistently makes the internet a funnier place.

What we mean to say is: Bob works really, really hard to keep us all entertained, and we are not worthy.

But we couldn’t resist the chance to chat with Bob before she embarks on the This Is Wild! tour, inviting her to be the latest guest in our rapid-fire Q&A series, Dishin’ It. In our conversation, Bob opens up about life on the road, getting to witness the power of Madonna up close and personal, and that time she ate sh*t in front of a crowd of A-list celebrities.

Is there a piece of media—whether a movie, TV series, book, album, theater, video game, etc…—that has played an important role in your understanding of queerness and the queer community? Why does it stand out to you?

I wish that my answers were unique—they’re not. You know, RuPaul’s Drag Race is probably the show that’s impacted me the most in my life. It really, literally got me into drag. I saw Season One, Episode One in real time, and I remember watching it being like, “Oh this is amazing.” And then I saw Bebe Zahara Benet win and I thought, “Oh my god, I can do that.” By the way: I was right.

I also loved watching To Wong Foo growing up. To Wong Foo was really one of my favorite movies. Not a single gay actor in the film—I mean, there were gay actors I’m sure, but not a single out gay actor in the main cast, let’s put it that way. But a lot of New York City drag queen icons were in it, like RuPaul, and I also even got a chance to perform at that club before it shut down before COVID—though I think it actually reopened?

And there have been lots of films that are not explicitly gay, but they’re definitely gay-coded, you know? The Devil Wears Prada, Bring It On, Living Single, and The Color Purple—which is explicitly queer—because I’m a Whoopi Goldberg maniac. You asked for one thing and I literally named 18 things. I was like, “Let me go to IMDB and list everything I see.”

So, you’ve got your new solo tour This Is Wild in the U.S. this fall, and you JUST got back from shows in Australia. Do you feel that the audiences are different there versus in America? Do they have a different sense of humor there?

Well, the vibe there is a little more calm than America right now. They’re not on the edge of political upheaval in Australia—they’re down to earth, mate!

No, the drag scene in Australia is actually not that bad—it’s relatively lovely there, and especially in the towns Adelaide and in Melbourne. Also, I am “a drag queen,” but I really don’t want people to think of this as a “drag show”—you’re not going to come and see some lip-syncing; it’s not Werk The World. This is not the bingo that Fufu LaShoo hosts down at The Manhole Cover, you know what I mean? This is not when your favorite drag queen Lavonda Bridges does drag brunch down at The Lipstick Lounge. This is a stand-up comedy show.

But, yes, there are gays there [in Australia]. At least two that I can confirm for sure are engaging in gay activity, which I know from first-hand experience. No, lots of girls, gays, and theys came to my shows! It’s not a very strong “straight guy audience.” One or two usually come in, but they have to be vouched for—straight guys do not come into my show unattended, please.

Also, you’re still pretty fresh off of traveling all over the world for the Celebration tour. Do you like life on the road, or is it something you’ve just learned to get used to? Are there certain things you do—or maybe pack with you—to make travel more enjoyable?

I actually don’t like traveling. My favorite place in the world to be is home, or on the stage—and there’s no stage in my home, so I’m torn between the two. I love being on stage, but I don’t love traveling to the stages. The act of traveling itself, for me, is not particularly fun, and I’m also not much of a tourist; I don’t go out much. I don’t go see things when I’m in towns, you know? I’ve never been to The Bean [in Chicago.] You know it’s not actually called The Bean, by the way? It’s Cloudgate, or something. And it doesn’t like like a cloud or a gate… it looks like a bean.

Anyway, I’m used to traveling now, so I’m not suffering. But some people like to travel, and I’m not that girl. To quote Idina Menzel: “I’m not that girl.”

I sleep on planes—I can’t stay awake on planes. Usually, before we’re off the ground, I’m asleep. And airports do bring out the worst in everyone, I believe. And if anyone who works in an airport is reading: I do not think that straight guys should be allowed to work in any position where you have to deal with customers. You can load things onto the plane, you can fly the plane—although I prefer a lesbian—but I don’t want a [straight] flight attendant. Like, I want to feel comfortable in the air, and you know what won’t make me feel nice? A straight man hovering over me and asking if I want a Diet Coke! I do not want Carl standing over me asking me if I want ice.

The Celebration tour was massive, and you got to be right there alongside Madonna the entire time. What’s something you learned from her, from watching her work all those months on the road?

I mean, Madonna is a particularly remarkable woman—she’s the hardest worker I’ve ever met in my life. And I guess, when I’m thinking about her age, I guess it seems less poignant to me now because I’ve known her for so long, so I’m not shocked that she can do a show like that. It’s only when I compare to other people I know her age that I’m like, “Oh, she’s really out there working really hard.” [Laughs.]

But she is the queen of pop, she’s clearly an extraordinary woman. Madonna has always been more fit than most people her age, pretty much throughout her entire career. I mean, go look at her in her 50s doing those jump squats—I believe it was the Sticky & Sweet Tour—during the song “Music.” Like, it’s impressive! She was in her 50s when she did the Super Bowl!

And she is physically strong. She does this thing when we’re on stage where she’s just heavy-handed, if that makes sense. She’d do this thing where she’d grab my chest, and every time I was like, “Jesus Christ, lady!” It was like Homelander tapped me on the chest, you know what I mean?

Speaking of Madonna and celebrity interactions: We hear you had an embarrassing moment in front of Taylor Swift at Madonna’s Oscars party?

Yeah, and Travis Kelce, Zoë Kravitz, Skai Jackson, Chloë Sevigny—they all watched me fall.

So what happened was: When you go to this party, you can’t just drive your car. They have a shuttle that drives you down to where all the cars are, unless you’re really famous. So, obviously, Taylor Swift is not getting in the shuttle with me and Chloë Sevigny, let’s be honest. But Taylor Swift didn’t know if she was getting in the shuttle or not, so she was at the front of the line blocking it, and I was like, “Oh my god this lady—I’m so tired, I need to go.” So, I step over the stanchion to get to my thing, and then Zoë Kravitz goes, “You better cut in front of Taylor Swift!” And I was like, “Yeah, I’m going to,” and I just kept kind of cooking it. And then, as Zoë Kravitz said that, I looked back and I slipped—because there was like condensation, so I slipped, and my hot chocolate fell all the way down my arm! And Chloë Sevigny was kind of looking at me like, “Heyyy girl.” [Laughs.]

And, while we’re getting into it, we have to ask: What’s going on with Amber Rose? Because, a few months ago, you and Monét X Change were the first guests on her podcast, I Hope They’re Not Listening, and then, bam, she’s speaking at the RNC!

To be clear, I think everyone thinks me and Amber Rose are buddies—I’m not friends with Amber Rose! I met Amber Rose that day, and that is the last time I’ve ever spoken Amber Rose. I am not a fan of Amber Rose. I did her podcast and it’s like, no shade, I don’t know a lot about you, I’m just doing your podcast! So, Cameron, if you come out as a Trump supporter down the line, I will be like, “Yeah, I don’t know him!” But everyone’s like, “This is your friend?” And I’m like, “No I was just on her podcast; I don’t know this b*tch!”

But she’s a bit of a conspiracy theorist, so she’s probably perfect for QAnon, to be honest. I mean, I don’t want to say the lepers are gonna eat her face, but, girl, you think that you’re gonna shine with these people? Like, you are a divorced lady with tattoos on your face, racially ambiguous, with a history of dating Black rappers—girl, you’re not their cup of tea. But she’ll find out—or she won’t. One of the two.

Also, these people will close their eyes to a lot of stuff. Do you remember when Michelle Obama showed her arms and they went crazy? But then Melania Trump just fully had her tits out, and they’re like, “No, she’s a patriot.” Right? Which, by the way, all the first ladies should whip their tits out—I’m for free the nipple—but I’m just intrigued by the hypocrisy.

And, to bring it back to your This Is Wild tour: What can you tease about the show—especially for fans who maybe haven’t had the chance to see you live yet?

It’s all new material—can you imagine if I was just doing my old material over and over again? No, it’s a fully new hour of stand-up comedy, and I’m really, really proud of it. This is truly my love letter to millennials—this is for you, boo-boo! And I do discuss “the Gen Z problem”—no I’m kidding. But Boomers and Gen Xers you’re in there, too. And Gen Alpha, you can stay home; I have nothing for you. Grab an iPad and watch Cocomelon.

But I’m intrigued by millennials being who we are because of events that we’ve witnessed in our lifetime—truly unprecedented times. I would love some precedent right about now! And I thought the last group to really go through something like this was probably the Silent Generation during World War II, you know what I mean? And so the show gets into that.

Who is a queer or trans artist/performer/creator that you think is doing really cool work right now? Why are they someone we should all be paying attention to?

I think right now—we’re talking about comedy, but this person is not a comedian; they’re an amazing hip-hop artist. Her name is Kamera Tyme, and she’s a great artist, one of my favorite rappers, and I think you all should go check her out. She’s really, really sickening.

The North American leg of Bob The Drag Queen’s This Is Wild kicks off on September 18. For tickets and more info, head to www.SeeTheDragQueen.com

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