Feast of Fun: Gay Talk Show

In the world of female impersonation pageants there is no title more coveted than being crowned Miss Continental. Founded in 1980, The Miss Continental Pageant attracts contestants from all around the world and even some of the most beloved Ru Girls had their eye on the crown first before they went on to Drag Race. But with so many other pageants in the world, what is it that makes contestants so...

Callooh! Callay! Kamala Harris has been selected by Joe Biden as his running mate for the 2020 U.S. presidential election. Harris makes history as the first Black woman and the first Asian American woman to run as a vice presidential candidate on a major US party ticket. Although she wasn’t most progressives' first choice as VP, Harris strikes a delicate balance between the desire for representati...

One of the hardest gigs on reality television is to be the first queen sent home on RuPaul’s Drag Race. For many drag queens, getting on the program is a once-in-a-lifetime chance to show an international audience what they got. [Originally posted as FOF #2307 – Naysha Lopez Won Our Hearts – 03.16.16] Unfortunately, for the gals who go home early, it’s tough because they invest so much into their...

One of the most influential LGBT documentaries of all time is The Queen, Frank Simon and Flawless Sabrina’s 1968 film that takes the viewer behind the scenes of a tumultuous drag pageant held in New York City two years before the Stonewall riots. The landmark film, which has now been remastered and is available on Netflix, inspired the likes of Paris is Burning, Wigstock, Pose and RuPaul’s Drag Ra...

With the weekend coming up, we thought today we’d kick back, put a pizza in the oven and take a look at the goodies from the week and all the hot news-- ➤ A medical miracle: doctors grow a dong on a man’s arm to replace it. ➤ Jennifer Hudson wows the internet with her powerful and dizzying musical tribute to the late Civil Rights Leader John Lewis. ➤ As if Ellen didn’t have enough troubles, the ra...

How you talk and the way you sound matters, like, you know? A whole lot. Really! Our speech patterns, accents and word choices make a strong first impression. It influences the way people think about somebody when they know absolutely nothing about them. If you spend a lot of time around gay men, black women or drag queens, chances are you’ll greet them with a — hey girl! Many young male actors co...

Celebrities have always been welcome in our homes for their ability to entertain and help us escape the troubles of the world. But during the Covid pandemic, there’s a reckoning, and many celebrities that we adored before all hell broke loose are now facing their own crisis over their inability to relate to people and at worse, spreading misinformation that can cost people’s lives. Today we’re tak...

Muscle is the new drag. A lot of folks fell in love with the she larious Varla Jean Merman after seeing her play the ingenue in the iconic camp film Girls will Be Girls. When she made the film, she was already over a decade into the world of drag and ever since, she hasn’t stopped selling out shows across the globe. VARLA JEAN MERMAN: https://www.varlaonline.com/ But some things have changed for V...

Denise Chanterelle DuBois has lived an outrageous life right out of a TV show like Narcos or Orange is the New Black. A closeted trans woman in the 80s, Denise was a cocaine dealer in Southern California until she got caught with a kilo, went to prison, and then managed to get out after serving only four and a half months. In her new memoir Self-Made Woman, Denise takes us on a roller coaster ride...

Celebrities are just like us except when they fall on hard times, they get a boat load of money for endorsing embarrassingly crappy products. From useless fitness gadgets, to psychic phone services, to horrible food, the products that they are now schilling makes their fall from grace even more spectacular. Today comedian Matt Brown joins us to take a look at the most ridiculous celebrity product...

Although we like to think of our LGBT spots as permanent places that will always be there, the reality is that they come and go. Afterall, for much of human history, people were nomads, moving from place to place. Today writer and historian Owen Keehnan joins us to talk about the rainbow magic at the Belmont Rocks, a very public space in the heart of Chicago’s lakefront park where gender and sexua...

Gigi Isn’t just good, she’s incredible. For top three RuPaul’s Drag Race queen Gigi Goode, theater and art is a family affair- Her mom inspired her passion for fashion and performance and even her brothers are designers and engineers. After growing up watching RuPaul’s Drag Race on TV as a teen, Gigi Goode’s dreams came true. Not only did she get cast on the show, she got to showcase her talent al...

For much of history, the rich and powerful avoided the limelight because they knew once everyone knows your name and how rotten you are, the guillotine comes next. But then, something changed- “Keep my name out of your mouth” became “fake it til you make it" and fame and power became the ultimate goal. The rich hired publicists to capitalize on their image and now celebrity culture is another tool...

With the exception of songs like Lady Gaga’s “Born This Way” or Diana Ross’ “I’m Coming Out,” very few pop songs written as a tribute to LGBT folks have ever reached the top of the charts. But that doesn’t mean the songs that weren’t so gay to begin with couldn’t end up being the soundtrack at our favorite bars, drag shows or pride celebrations. [Originally posted as FOF #2468 – Uncovering Gay Ant...

This weekend, Lady Red Couture, a well known drag entertainer in L.A. and the co-host of the youtube talk show Hey Qween died at the age of 43. Jonny McGovern, who co-hosted the talk show with Lady Red, announced the news on social media saying “It doesn’t feel real but the beautiful light that was Lady Red is gone. I love you baby. I will miss you every day.” [Please enjoy this encore presentatio...

The coronavirus pandemic is one of the biggest challenges we’ll face in our lives, the death toll is staggering but it also exposes the racism, police violence and corrupt leadership that America faces. Despite the current horrors, one thing that keeps us going is our relationships with wonderful people like our friend musician Tom Goss. TOM GOSS: http://tomgossmusic.com Today Tom Goss joins us to...

The year 2020 has turned the world of drag upside down and round and round. Since most venues have closed, performances have gone online and drag queens are speaking truth to power like never before. With the industry going through some contortions it’s oddly fitting that super elastic Yvie Oddly would be the last drag queen before the ‘Rona Pandemic hit to be crowned America’s Next Drag Superstar...

[Originally posted as FOF #1409 – We Love Mo’Nique, Jul 7, 2011.] One of the most fabulous Oscar winners in recent years is Mo’Nique– last year she won the Best Supporting Actress award for her stunning portrayal of Mary Jones, the vicious cruel mother in the critically acclaimed film “Precious: Based on the Novel ‘Push’ by Sapphire.” Her husband and writing partner Sidney Hicks recommended she ta...

[Originally posted as FOF #2780 – The Puerto Rican Bombshell, Barbra Herr, on Sep 17, 2019] Television in Puerto Rico in the 1970s and 80s featured drag front in center with many comedy legends cross-dressing for laughs. During that time, Walter Mercado, the flamboyant psychic astrologer and bombshells like Iris Chacon became household names all over the world. Iris Chacon was the spokesperson for...

Audiences are raving about Mucho Mucho Amor, the new documentary on the incredible life of Puerto Rican TV astrologer Walter Mercado. The film, titled after Mercado’s catchphrase “lots and lots of love,” gives audiences lots and lots to chew on with an unprecedented look into the private life of Latin America’s most beloved tv personality whose mysterious, gender non-conforming made them a queer i...

[Originally published #2801, on Nov. 11, 2019.] TV psychic astrologer Walter Mercado captivated generations of people all around the world with his Liberace inspired elaborate fashion and campy astrological readings which were often messages of hope. A household name in Latin America, Walter Mercado just passed away in Puerto Rico at the age of 87. Musician Gloria Estefan called it an end of an er...

It’s been 25 years since the Showgirls hit movie theaters to a confused and terrified public. Promoted as “All About Eve in a G-String” the movie is a demented rollercoaster ride through the eyes of an ambitious dancer Nomi Malone who screams, slams and screws her way to the top of a Las Vegas showgirl revue- Goddess. Nomi Malone is Goddess. Like Paul Verhoven’s previous film Basic Instinct, Showg...

If comedy is born out of tragedy, then parody songwriters have a lot to work with in these trying times. Today comedian and parody song enthusiast Amanda Cohen joins us to look at some fabulous parody songs stemming from the coronavirus pandemic. Amanda regularly hosts Flapper’s Comedy Clubs Speakeasy Comedy Showcase and moderates as a judge on I’m With Stupid – A contest between comedy songwriter...

We always think of Canada, our neighbor to the north, as an idyllic place where fountains flow with maple syrup, moose roam freely and everyone is happy riding toboggans to work. But, just like the folks in the US of A, Canada has its own problems with race and police brutality. Joining us today is comedian Brandon Ash Mohamed, one of the few out gay black comedians in Canada, to talk about his ne...

In a landmark decision, the United States Supreme Court ruled that Title VII of the Civil Rights law of 1964 does indeed protect LGBTQ people from workplace discrimination on the basis of sex. The ruling comes as a welcome victory in the midst of Coronavirus Pandemic and the fight against police violence with the Black Lives Matter protest. Are we finally overcoming centuries of oppression or will...