Our very special guest this week is Varla Jean Merman, a renown drag performer, a comedienne, and singer who has filled cabarets and concert halls across the world… including the Sydney Opera House and Carnegie Hall! She’s appeared on Ugly Betty, Project Runway, All My Children and the feature length independent films Girls Will Be Girls (2003) and Varla Jean and the Mushroomheads (2011)— but today she is all ours! We talk to Varla Jean Merman about her experiences performing drag from the early 1990’s until now, including her unique incorporation of video projections in her shows as well as her legendary use of props of tremendous scale over the years. Now synonymous with drag in Provincetown, we talk to Varla about doing shows today and what it is going to be like as things are beginning to open up in nightlife. She tells us all about living the sweet life of love!

Linda Simpson joins us to tell us all about her book The Drag Explosion, featuring snapshots of the downtown and East Village drag scene of the late 1980s and early 1990s. We ask her about the history of the _My Comrade_ zine and all about exploring the East Village scene of New York in the 1980’s and 1990’s. Linda brings us backstage memories about RuPaul, Tabboo!, Lypsinka, Leigh Bowery, Lady Bunny, Michael Alig, Coco Peru, Mona Foot, the Pyramid Club, the Palladium, and more.