Wendy Nelson, co-owner of Main Street Bar & Cabaret, introduced bingo nights and karaoke events a few years ago to attract a more diverse crowd. “We didn’t offer brunches at first, but we quickly found out that there’s a huge demand for them across genders and sexuality.” There’s a lack of entertainment for the younger gay community here,” he says. We’re close to Newport Beach and relatively central. Australian Luke Nero opened Strut last September because of the opportunity the location offered. No matter the vibe, drag shows are business decisions. “There’s this feeling of being able to experience an alternative culture in a lighthearted way.” “People love the sense that drag shows feel mildly taboo, even though they’ve evolved to be much more acceptable these days,” Atkisson said. “It’s just a great show that everyone can enjoy, gay or straight.”ĭorothy Atkisson, the former manager of Velvet Lounge, noted that drag shows owe some success to their vaguely voyeuristic, somewhat subversive appeal. Everyone knows it’s all in good fun.”īrandon Taylor attended the brunch at Strut to support performer Lexi Vaughn. “So they come out of curiosity and experience the inclusivity and love, and they come back. Statuesque Xotica Erotica at Strut opines that many in the audience have never seen shows quite like these before. “It’s fun, and it’s a great way to celebrate friendships.” “These girls are more beautiful than we are,” Perry says. That’s exactly what attracted Cherri Perry, one of seven birthday celebrants recently enjoying a Sunday drag brunch at Strut. “People love the glamour and the comedy.” “I think people love how outrageous we are,” agrees cobalt-eyed, narrow-waisted Niobi McQueen, who hosts bingo at Catmosphere Laguna as well as several shows at Main Street Bar & Cabaret. “Queens poke fun at ourselves, and we offer the guilty pleasure of bitchy wit that’s somehow never mean but doesn’t hold back.” The shows’ allure might be a reaction to overzealous political correctness, says Endora, leader of bingo nights at Main Street Bar & Cabaret. What is it about these shows that so delights and entertains?
In a sign of how mainstream drag has become, even Catmosphere Laguna, a cat cafe and nonprofit cat rescue, takes pride in promoting its every-other-Saturday drag bingo nights. Most of the performances take place at gay bars such as Strut in Costa Mesa, the venerable Main Street Bar & Cabaret in Laguna Beach, and until March, Velvet Lounge in Santa Ana.įortunately for fans, drag shows don’t depend only on gay bars anymore.
The shows draw a variety of people, but especially women, who are attracted to drag bingo and brunch as the perfect places to celebrate birthdays and bachelorette events.
Drag shows are not for the easily offended: The jokes are raunchy, the bodies are bodacious, and the wigs are a mile high (and wide).