Bianca Del Rio – Interview – Xpererience

Bianca Del Rio – Interview – Xpererience – by Niki Kaos.

Bianca Del Rio is an icon of the drag world. I first discovered her watching season 6 of Ru Paul’s Drag Race – and instantly fell in love with her sharp wit, brash style and the “it” factor great comedians bring to the stage.

She’s on her sixth world stand-up tour, a movie star, and written a book… Wow, this queen keeps busy!

RRX: Bianca, how are you?

BDR: I’m hanging in there. I am sweating profusely out here in Palm Springs.

RRX: We’re dealing with Hurricane Debbie, but I’m happier to be talking to Hurricane Bianca!

BDR: You know what’s funny? I’m not mad at Hurricane Debbie. I mean, she’s bringing in cocaine on the beach, I heard. So that’s a party! I’m living for her.

RRX: I love it!

My son and I watch RuPaul together. And when we saw you were coming Saratoga with your comedy tour, we had just watched your season.

BDR: Oh, how funny. That’s crazy!

RRX: Dead Inside is your sixth world comedy tour. What is making you dead inside these days?

BDR: You know, the insanity of it all is that I figured I am dead inside, because I now want my inside to match my outside. Which apparently, if you’ve seen my drag, you know… the morbid look of a corpse is what I go for.

But it’s just been wild. It’s been 10 years since I did this little bitty tiny show called RuPaul’s drag race. And it elevated my life, you know? I had been doing drag at that point for about 18 years. And here was this golden ticket to go on television, whether it be good or bad, you can make something of it. And it catapulted my, I use the term loosely, “career”, at the time. I had worked in bars and in theatre and was fortunate to make a living for many years. But television is a super powerful thing. I knew I always wanted to be a stand-up comedian. Drag was the ticket for me to get me there.

When Drag Race happened (spoiler alert – I win!) you get to a point where you realize, OK, this is it. I’ve got somewhat of the goods and I wanna hit the ground running. So, I just wanted to go out and perform for people. I’ve been very lucky to perform at Wembley Arena, which was 15,000 people. I’ve also been lucky enough to be in a club with 10.

And my favorite thing of all I’ve been able to do, whether it be television, stage, musical theatre, or film, I thoroughly enjoy just doing stand up with an actual live audience… because nothing beats it. I think the desire to perform has kept me going. And especially after the covid years, I’m just grateful to be out of the house and to see people again.

I’m a very lucky individual to have that amazing opportunity. And it all started with Drag Race. It’s crazy to think for me that was 10 years ago. We filmed it 11 years ago in 2013. I meet so many people, whether it be online or in person, who are like, “Hey, I’m watching the show now”. It’s crazy to think that it just lives on.

RRX: It’s an inspiration, and in some ways a guidebook for people who are queer and for people who are part of the LGBTQ+ community, to see the experiences of drag artists on TV.

BDR: What you just said is pretty amazing. For me, when I started drag in 1996, I was in a theatre or in a gay bar and it was very limited. There was no “exposure” on the level that it is now. So for me to think in my lifetime or in my career that this would be the case. Where it would be on television, it would be streaming throughout the world globally. Or that families would be watching it, I think it’s pretty amazing.

RRX: It was amazing to me. It was such an affirming experience on so many levels.

You’re an insult comic, which is what I love about you. Because I love Don Rickles.

BDR: Ah… the best!

RRX: And I love Rodney Dangerfield. And I really vibed with you on that.

On RuPaul they push all the contestants to excel in every area, you’re singing, you’re designing outfits, you’re dancing, right?

BDR: Well, you are put into this situation, and it’s either sink or swim. You really don’t know what is going on. You don’t necessarily know what they want from you or what anybody else is saying, because we’re kind of isolated. We’re cut off from the world for those weeks of filming. I didn’t know what to expect or even what the outcome was going to be until I saw it on television, literally 10 months later.

We’re not even allowed to talk to one another outside of camera. So it’s also a test for people.

RRX: Oh really?

BDR: Well, think about it this way from the production aspect. If me and someone have a fight and then we resolve it off camera that, how does that work for the audience? If it’s not on camera, then it doesn’t exist in this world. It’s a true test for people. Then most people can’t shut the fuck up, which is fascinating to watch.

RRX: We’re all fascinated by that.

Your sense of humor is everything. What drew you to wanting to be an insult comic?

BDR: Well, I don’t think it was an actual choice. It was just one of those things growing up as a kid I used to love to watch, you know, Johnny Carson and Joan Rivers and all of those types of people. And I didn’t necessarily think I would even be a comedian. It was, kind of, I was in theatre and went into the drag world. And in the drag world, someone was not available to host the show that night, and I was already in the drag show and I thought, I’ll do it. I don’t mind talking. And at that time, the cast that I was with, they were fearful of getting on the microphone and dealing with a group of unruly drunk people in New Orleans at one o’clock in the morning. So, for me, it was easy, and I enjoyed it.

Basically it started with me just killing time for people to do costume changes. And then it just kind of evolved for me. And I realized I like doing this more than lip syncing and the dancing and all of that madness. And there’s other people that can do the lip sync and the dancing and the madness much better than I can. So I said, leave that to them. And then it just kind of snowballed.

I don’t think it was until I went back to New York in 2005, where people asked, what do you do? When I was working in the bars and I thought, I guess I’m a comedian. Because I’m not singing for you. I’m not dancing for you. I’m not lip syncing for you. I’m basically talking shit. That was when I realized, oh, this is what I wanna do. And as far as how the insults came along, I mean, you know, imagine being a man in a wig in a bar, dealing with drunk people. That’s where that came from.

RRX: Well, you do it so well that I think you could be the best I’ve ever seen.

BDR: Well, you have impeccable taste!

RRX: I do! For more information on Bianca’s comedy tour and all her other fabulousness, visit her website at: https://www.thebiancadelrio.com

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