Make The Yuletide Gay: The Jinkx & DeLa Holiday Show is headed to KC

Photo by Jacob Ritts

Just when you thought December couldn’t get any more festive, along comes The Jinkx & DeLa Holiday Show. For the last seven years, drag queen superstars Jinkx Monsoon and BenDeLaCreme have been putting their acclaimed musical theater talents to good use. The duo co-write and co-star in a new holiday-themed production each year. 

When we talked to Jinkx and DeLa a few weeks ago, they were hunkered down in Los Angeles, putting the finishing touches on this year’s yuletide extravaganza. “We lock ourselves in a room together for eight hours and create the holiday show for a month,” Jinkx says. The show comes to The Midland Theatre on Thursday, Dec. 12.

The revered queens became BFFs while ascending the drag ranks in Seattle and then became household names thanks to various powerhouse stints on RuPaul’s Drag Race. Jinkx—who jokingly refers to herself as an “internationally tolerated drag queen superstar”—went on to become the first queen to win Drag Race twice. 

We kibitzed with the two divas about their upcoming nationwide tour, which celebs they have an affinity for (RIP Dame Maggie Smith!), and, of course, their enduring friendship. 

The Pitch: I feel like the two of you have been besties for more than 300 years. Do you have a favorite memory of each other—Or one that really sticks out?

DeLa: Wow. We have been through so many things, both small—in that they’re intimate and personal—and, like, obviously huge on a public stage. When Jinkx and I first met, we were just a couple of crazy, young drag queens running around Seattle, and it was like the before times. We used to just go out all night long, and it was just so much fun. We used to just kiki, and I think about that a lot. 

But then, on the other end of it, when Jinkx won All Stars, we were in Australia together. I had been obviously by her side throughout the years since her first season and seen all this growth that people just were so blown away by.  It was incredible to get to witness Jinkx experiencing the world catching up with everything that she’s done. Plus, all the skills she’s developed that we’re always in there but were sharper than ever. I was just so proud of her. 

Jinkx: That was really nice. I was gonna say the time when DeLa’s wig was coming off. It’s on video. You could see it on YouTube, actually. But we were doing a show with Peaches Christ, a very good mutual friend. We were doing a drag parody of Hocus Pocus. And DeLa was playing the Kathy Najimy role, so she had this big wig that twists and turns. In our first show, she was having a wig malfunction. I could see it sliding off her head, and I could see her trying to hold it! This is her big solo dance number—and she’s got a dance break that requires both arms. So, I kind of sneak up behind her. I tap her on the shoulder to let her know I’m there. I put my hands on her head, held her wig in place, and then moved around with her so she could do her dance.

Then, I let go so she could take her wig and continue the rest of the song. It was like one of those moments where I was like, ‘Should I do something? I’m gonna do something.’ And it was that sisterhood—supporting someone on stage and sharing a stage, rather than saying, “Haha, look at them.” That was a moment where we were like, “No, we care about putting on a good show, not about drag queen rivalry.“

The audience went more nuts for that than any moment of catty, bitchy rivalry that we’ve ever played on stage. Like, we’ve done all the jokes at this point. They loved watching us support each other more than watching us fight. And we took notes.

Photo by Jacob Ritts

Who’s a celebrity that’s on the top of your list to meet?

Jinkx: Eric Andre. I feel like I keep trying to get his attention. Like, “Hey Eric.” No, I just think he’s awesome. 

DeLa: I actually feel like I have been sort of co-mingling with mine since I moved here, but I am still so nervous around her. We’ve met a couple of times and interacted online, but Jennifer Tilly—I love her so much. I am such an insane fan of the entire Chucky/Child’s Play franchise. That’s how I got into her. But she’s obviously a queer icon from Bound. She’s an Oscar nominee.

And if you watch her interviews from when she was up for her Oscar for Bullets Over Broadway, you will see that she did all these late-night interviews. She is such a loose cannon, where she is always in control. No matter how many men tried to direct the conversation to her boobs, she was always like, “I’m an Oscar nominee!” I am just smitten with her. 

DeLa—I’m so sorry about Dame Maggie Smith, who you performed on Snatch Game! 

DeLa: I know. She was such a treasure. She was an icon for so many years. Obviously we’ve all celebrated her in her later years as an actress, but man, she was tearing up that screen since she was young. 

Jinkx:  And stages and theater. She was, by all accounts, the real deal. 

Did y’all ever connect?

DeLa: No, but I’d like to think that one of her minions somewhere made her watch a clip of Drag Race on their iPhone at some point. And she sort of went “Ooohh” and moved on with her day. Even that—just thinking that that may have happened thanks to some gay intern somewhere.

Jinkx, you had a balls-to-the-wall villain role on Doctor Who. What other TV shows or series would you two kill to be on?

DeLa: Speaking of Jennifer Tilly—Don Mancini, if you’re listening, I want to be on the Chucky TV series so badly. It is my one television obsession. I am so in love with it, and if anything comes out of this casual friendship with Jennifer Tilly, I hope it’s that.

Jinkx: I’m obsessed with Agatha All Along right now. So, I’m hoping that there’s going to be another season or another extension of that story. I love the Marvel Universe. As a queer person—as a queer nerd—I’ve always identified with the Marvel Universe of how those who are gifted are ostracized and become these weird caricatures of who they could have been if the world hadn’t treated them like a freak. Sound familiar?! I want to work with Marvel someday, and they’ve really got me hooked with Agatha.

When did you both realize you had this obsession with Christmas?

DeLa: It’s actually sort of the opposite. I started doing Christmas content—Christmas shows—back in 2007. Actually, Jinkx was in some of the holiday shows that I created with some other artists in Seattle. It was before we decided—when I stepped away from that in 2017—to create our work together. But I started doing that work because I hated going home for Christmas so much. I dreaded Christmas every year. It was a thing where I was like, “Well if I say I have to work on Christmas, I don’t have to go home.”

But the result of that was making a show for queer people—where their family time is hard, going home is hard, and we’re all inundated with all those messages at the holiday season. Like, let’s reclaim that. Let’s invent family, tradition, and homecoming for ourselves. That is the spirit we have—And now, Christmas is my favorite time of year because we are the family that I love, and we created the tradition that I love.

This is the 7th year—and seventh iteration—of the show. How do you top yourselves artistically every year? Wait, that sounds dirty. 

Jinkx: Listen, if I could top myself, I wouldn’t need a lover, right? DeLa and I have a simple rule every year: Clear the board. Last year was last year. This year is this year. We used to have a formula we kind of stuck to. And then, one year, we went, let’s throw out the formula and just see what happens if we start from scratch all over again. And so, now, we’re kind of starting from scratch every year. 

This year is a particularly exciting and tumultuous year, which just means there’s lots to talk about. There’s lots to have a conversation with our audience about. We’re building a show from the ground up. Luckily, there’s lots of wonderful pop music this year, but we also like to use standards and classics, anything that serves the story that year. So, this year, we’ve cooked up probably our most zany adventure for Jinkx and DeLa to go on together. And yet, it’s still a Jinkx/DeLa holiday show where we take a holiday classic, turn it on its side, and put it through a very queer, very drag queen-oriented lens.

Interview gently edited for length and clarity.