Bunny approaching!

July is coming to a close, which means Lady Bunny is fast approaching! Check her out on July 29 at Celebrities, but before you do, here's our exclusive interview from this month's issue of V-Rag.

THE LADY BUNNY
Interview by Michael Venus
Photo by Sergio Kardenas

If you’re talking about quintessential Drag Queens, this “Lady” is at the top of the list when it comes to movers and shakers and leaving a LEGENDARY lasting impression. I remember the first time I ever saw Lady Bunny live was at Stone Wall 25 Celebration in Central Park in New York City many moons ago. I was fascinated by her high-pitched southern belle voice and her sick, sick sixties style and sensibility, with numbers that always seemed to shock and offend. The “Lady” always manages to keep her manners in the gutter with her nutty humor, crass-trash talk and campy performances that celebrate pop culture with her twisted parodies. Bunny continues to appear on stages all over the globe, sharing her sassy sentiment and has been at the forefront of the Drag Movement that started out of New York in the late eighties and early nineties. This coincided with her outdoor drag festival Wigstock, an event that continues to this day (although currently on hiatus). I met The Lady Bunny ten years ago in NYC and later that year performed at Wigstock, which was surreal and fabulous. Over the years, Bunny has visited and performed in Vancouver for us, hosting Wiggle, Pride events and appearing on The House of Venus Show. She remains a hilariously quick-witted Queen who has become a cultural icon, and who isn’t afraid to be herself and speak her mind when it comes to social and political issues.

When I caught up with Lady Bunny, asking simply how she was, her reply was as colourful as her skirt; “The recession has really hurt my hooking business – or could that be my advanced age? So I’m touring more. But that’s not a real complaint in a recession. I just hate that nervous feeling when the wolf’s at my door. I want that wolf to come inside and fuck me...again. But I would never dream of having sex with an animal that was underage. Unless they were already dead. I do maintain certain standards”.

Right there she set the tone for the interview – classy and great wholesome family fun. The Lady Bunster has a duet with Drag Sister RuPaul that they co-wrote called “Throw Ya Hands Up”, which appears on Ru’s new album. “We were reminded of what drew us together as roommates in Atlanta in 1982 – our sick sense of humor. She is a nut! Since [the collaboration] we’ve been in contact more than we have in 15 years! Mainly throwing things at each other,” recalls The Lady Bunny. The pair have known each other for twenty-five years and re-bonded while filming Another Gay Sequel where she says, “It was super-fun with a wonderful cast. But it’s tough learning those lines – and I didn’t even have that many! It’s one thing to go over them with the script in front of you, but recalling them while the wind on the beach is whipping your false eyelashes so fiercely that you feel like you’re about to take flight à la Sally Field as The Flying Nun. But that TV show’s so old that I’m dating myself. Too bad no one else wants to date me! That’s why I bring date-rape drugs to all of my shows and dose myself in front of the audience while reminding them that I’m about to receive a huge cash payment.” Now that’s hard to follow! So what’s next?

Currently, Bun-Bun has a cameo on Tori Spelling’s new show on the Oxygen Channel, travels, performs and DJ’s all over the planet as well as her two weekly club residencies – Splash on Sundays and the all new Rockit! in NYC where she spins her delicious disco treats. Bunny says she loves Manhatten in the summer. “A lot of people think it’s gross because of the humidity and the dirty streets so they escape to Fire Island or the Hamptons, but the kind of guys I like can’t always afford to take vacations! There’s nothing quite like the ripe perfume of an unwashed homeless man’s hemorrhoids. But I don’t have to tell you that.” Class all the way, Bunny.