Drag legend Sherry Vine has been making audiences laugh for over 30 years
Sherry Vine has been pushing boundaries with her edgy parodies and jokes for over 30 years, and she still loves to perform just as much as she did when she started.
Video Transcript
- My wish is to make people laugh and have a form of escapism. And I do get the fact that I'm singing silly parodies. It's not changing the world. But I think if it can make someone who's really having a bad day feel good, then it is changing the world.
Hi. I'm Keith, a.k.a. Sherry Vine, international drag prostit-- legend. Drag legend. I can say that now. It's been over 30 years.
I grew up in the suburbs of Baltimore, Maryland. My childhood was definitely a split. Like my parents are so cool and amazing and supportive, but the school life was horrible. And I kind of would have to find a different route home from school every day just to avoid getting beat up. I lived in fear for 15 years.
But then I had the theater. I started performing really, really, really young, and that was always kind of my escape. I went to the University of Maryland in Baltimore for undergrad for theater, and it was there that I really was like, there's no doubt this is what I'm going to do
I auditioned for grad schools. I got into USC. And Anna Deavere Smith, who's an amazing actress and director, was a guest professor. And we had to do this project where we had to pick three real people and then create this dramatic environment where these people would exist.
I picked like this totally heterosexual businessman, this kind of nerdy art director and a drag queen in West Hollywood. And when I did drag on stage for the first time, Anna Deavere Smith pulled me aside and she's like, you should explore this. And I just kind of like took that seriously. And I was like, oh, this is fun. And it has evolved into a career.
Sherry Vine is-- she's a cougar, broken-down ex-showgirl with a heart of gold. And I think it works even more now that I'm not in my 20s trying to play someone in their 40s or older. Now that I'm in my 40s, it kind of works.
So this is kind of early Sherry Vine. This was always the kind of Sherry Vine, blond, showgirl look. This is very Sherry Vine. Hooker Barbie, that's what I'm going for, Hooker Barbie.
I think where I have evolved is that I focused on, this is what I do that makes me different than anyone else. This is what I do well. This is not what I do well. And I still sometimes like to step out of my box. But I really think I know what I do and don't do.
Outside of drag, my life is still all about preparing for the drag life. I mean, I'm a workaholic. A lot of my friends get on me all the time of like, can you [BLEEP] relax? I'm like, no. I mean, actually I enjoy this. Every day is like, OK, what are the costumes I need for tonight? Let me rehearse these group of songs I have to do tonight. Tomorrow, I got to get my costumes and organize for that. I got to memorize my lines for that.
When 6 o'clock rolls around, I'm like, I did all of these things. Now I can relax. I can, like, truly relax.
"The Sherry Vine Show" is a comedy show. It's 98% parodies. And I do have a theme. It's all-- it's very adult. People might at first be like, oh god, she's singing a song about what? And then they're just like, oh, this is so dumb, that it gives them permission to just kind of let go and laugh.
It's just silly, you know what I mean? I'm just being stupid. And I think that people need to laugh. Everything in the world going on, it's like, let's have one hour where we can be stupid. And that's what I do.
- Ladies and gentlemen, [INAUDIBLE]--
- Woo!
- --Miss Sherry Vine.
[CHEERING, APPLAUSE]
- I thank you for coming to El Cid tonight. Hi! Hi. Wow. My name is Sherry Vine. Super excited. I have not done a solo show like this since February, 2020. Yeah, it's been a long time. Don't get too excited. It's just started.
After 30-some years of performing as Sherry Vine, I still love it as much as I did from the first day. I feel like I'm doing what I am supposed to be doing, what I'm meant to do.
(SINGING) I'll make a wish upon a star that a plastic surgeon near our bar will come to me and lift my face.
- She really needs.
- I really appreciate it. Thank you guys so much for coming. Big kiss. Thanks.
I love that there's so much diversity in drag. Otherwise it would be really competitive and boring very quickly. With "The Sherry Vine Show," people can come and just laugh. It's filthy, so it's not gonna appeal to everybody. And if one night of people that come and laugh their ass off and are happy when they leave, then great. I've done my job.
