Bob the Drag Queen continues her touring era with her own headlining show
RICH LOPEZ | Staff writer
Rich@DallasVoice.com
After hanging out with the Queen of Pop for the last year, Bob the Drag Queen is not stopping for anything. BDQ emceed Madonna’s Celebration Tour, which stopped in Dallas earlier this spring. In June, she announced her own world tour — because nobody puts Bob in a corner. After finishing the first leg of her tour in Australia, BDQ kicked off her North American dates in September.
For the RuPaul’s Drag Race season 8 winner, these two tours mark yet another notch in BDQ’s post-Drag Race win career belt. Since taking that crown, she’s already received a Peabody Award, a GLAAD Media Award and a Television Academy Honors award for HBO’s We’re Here.
BDQ co-hosts two podcasts with fellow Drag Race alumni: Sibling Rivalry with Drag Race All Stars champion Monet X Change, and Town Hall: A Black Queer Podcast with Peppermint. She even has a book coming out next year about Harriet Tubman that is set in the present day, when Tubman’s about to drop a hip-hop album.
Despite her growing fame, Bob still considers herself just a normal gal.
As she was making her way to Texas to bring her This is Wild Tour to Dallas’ Majestic Theatre on Nov. 7, Bob took some Dallas Voice questions while checking out of her hotel. The life of a big name drag superstar is never-ending. But she talked about staying on the road, a little bit about Texas queen Shangela and the car she wanted to drive as a mere babe.
Dallas Voice: You jumped from one tour to another. Girl, aren’t you tired? Bob the Drag Queen: You gotta strike while the iron is hot. It’s not uncommon for a queen to work throughout the year.
Although it is a very different show, did the Madonna tour prepare you well for your own tour? Oh yeah, Madonna had these tiny little venues. I guess she’s doing pretty well. [Laughs]. We are doing very different things, and she is world renowned, you know. This is for sure more about my sense of humor than any musical abilities.
In your words, how do you describe this show? This show is my love letter to millennials. We are the best generation alive, and we have been through a lot.
Like what? Well, for sure the beginning of all this political nonsense. Oh no, not a recount! We had our first Black president. We have a Black woman as a major candidate. We’ve been through three Trump campaigns. We were children when 9/11 happened, and we invented social media. There’s humor attached to all that.
I’m very proud of this show and I think history will be able to tell us how we’re doing now.
Which came first, the comedy or the drag? The comedy came first, well before I ever did drag. The first time I did drag was in 2009. In high school, someone told me I was the funniest person they knew — and do not tell a person who loves attention that! I thought I’d have a serious career around public speaking, but I prefer doing it through comedy. And then I prefer doing that while wearing makeup.
You’re one of the queens who seem to have gone next level from Drag Race. How are you handling fame as it grows for you? I live a standard lifestyle. I’m not living like anything crazy, but I do feel like I’m famous. I just try not to be delusional about it.
Fellow drag queen Shangela has had allegations of misconduct and sexual assault made against her recently. You starred with her on We’re Here for three seasons. You’ve talked about Shangela publicly, but we have to ask about it because she is a Texas gal. How have you navigated that? I haven’t navigated in any particular way. You know, accusing a Black man of sexual assault happens a lot, and, oh my god, I don’t know what to believe. But you also don’t know what they’re doing away from you. I just hope that everyone involved gets what they are supposed to, and justice prevails.
I just don’t know why I’m getting dragged into it. It’s like I am a part of this, as if I was involved. People thought I was being silent on it, but I just didn’t know. And then some people thought it was why we weren’t back for season four of We’re Here, and I just couldn’t do it. I don’t know why the others weren’t invited back.
So this is our DRIVE edition, so as the big superstar famous drag queen you are, do you drive and if so, what? I drive a 2022 Toyota Venza that’s matte black. It’s a hybrid, too!
Can you drive a stick? I can! But I don’t have one in this car.
What car did you want as a kid? I wanted a damn Lincoln Navigator. You know, I’m from Atlanta, and those were huge in the hip-hop scene. That was the one I wanted.
For tickets to Bob the Drag Queen’s Nov. 7 This Is Wild Tour performance at the Majestic Theatre in Dallas, visit AXS.com.