Bob the Drag Queen, in character as Cookie for the “RuCo’s Empire” challenge. | LOGOTV.COM
“The winner of ‘RuPaul’s Drag Race,’ America’s next drag superstar is —” Wait a minute, I’ma get there. And don’t go acting like you don’t already know who won.
I first saw Bob the Drag Queen (not to be mistaken with Bob the Builder) a few years ago, when a friend of a friend dragged our gaggle to Barracuda in Chelsea for what was promised to be “the funniest show we’d ever seen.” Let me tell you, Bob did not disappoint, performing on stage for nearly two hours with an act that included original stand-up interspersed with a series of colorful takes on songs old and new.
“This sounds crazy — I’ve never been crazy about doing numbers,” Bob told Gay City News in an interview in April. “I’ve always been more personally in favor of doing my stand-up — just talking and chatting and having fun with that and creating my own stuff.”
Bob the Drag Queen takes the crown as RuPaul’s newest Drag Superstar
After that night at Barracuda, it seemed that every bar I went to featured Bob, who prior to “Drag Race” performed six nights a week at all of New York’s popular gay bars and was a winner of several of the city’s nightlife awards — including Gay City’s Best Drag Performer in 2014. So it came as no surprise she was among the 12 contestants on the eighth season of “RuPaul’s Drag Race.”
Watching the competition, it was even less surprising how quickly Bob became a instant fan favorite, working her way to the top three finalists alongside Chicago’s Kim Chi and Los Angeles’ Naomi Smalls. Some of Bob’s many highlights from the season included her impersonations: her Cookie character from the “RuCo’s Empire” challenge and her one-two punch of both Carol Channing and Uzo Aduba’s “Orange is the New Black” character for the “Snatch Game” challenge left audiences in tears.
When the time came to take home the crown, there could only be one winner and RuPaul chose Bob the Drag Queen, saying that “her charisma, uniqueness, nerve, and talent are GIGANTIC.”
I keep writing about Bob the Drag Queen because she keeps getting better. And if this season of “RuPaul’s Drag Race” is any indication, she will only keep on getting better. And better. I cannot wait to see what she does next.
To see America’s next drag superstar, visit bobthedragqueen.com. As her theme song suggests, she “snatching all the gigs in the neighborhood” — and the country. And the world.
