Pearl Lam (林明珠): Hello, this is Pearl Lam Podcast and now I’m at Peninsula LA. And I have the pleasure to have this fabulous Jackie Beat with me.  I mean,  Jackie, can you tell, can you tell the audience about your journey, about yourself?

Jackie Beat: My journey, well, it was over an hour drive here. Is that the journey you’re talking about? My journey? I love that word. Well, I am a drag performer. I always say I’m drop dead gorgeous, larger than life, world famous drag superstar Jackie Beat. And I’ve been performing for over 35 years before, you know, Drag Race, the television programme starring Ru Paul. Before that, and before it went kind of mainstream, there used to be about six or seven of us.

Pearl Lam (林明珠): Only six or seven?

Jackie Beat: Well, I’m just saying there were six or seven drag stars like me, Lady Bunny, Sherry Vine, Varla, Jean Mirman, Coco Peru. So if there was a part in a movie or, you know, a big gay pride celebration or they wanted a drag queen to come to Europe, you know, for a party, it was us. And now there’s hundreds and hundreds and hundreds.

Pearl Lam (林明珠): I love drag queens. I’ve always loved drag queens performances.

Jackie Beat: I hate them. No, I’m just kidding.

Pearl Lam (林明珠): How did you how did you decide that you want to be a drag queen?

Jackie Beat: Well, I think it’s sort of a rite of passage, or it used to be back in the day again before I knew that.

Pearl Lam (林明珠): Never mind.

Jackie Beat: I know you said you may wear one.

Pearl Lam (林明珠): Yeah, you have too many diamonds on your earrings. You’re too glamorous.

Jackie Beat: I’m too creative. Those earrings were not earrings. They were actually part of a necklace that I took apart, and then I made them into earrings. So it’s my own fault.

Pearl Lam (林明珠): You are creative.

Jackie Beat: Well, let me explain.

Pearl Lam (林明珠): Artistic and creative!

Jackie Beat: Back in the day before Drag Race and before, like drag was mainstream, gay men, you know, on Halloween would dress up and go to West Hollywood. And I did it with my friends and I kind of did it with a different attention to detail, if you will. Like, we all dressed up and they thought it was funny. And I was like trying to look good. And I had, you know, fingernails and, you know.

Pearl Lam (林明珠): So and so you have a total look even during that time.

Jackie Beat: Yeah, and then it kind of dawned on me that when you’re in drag, you’re neither male nor female, but you’re kind of both. And people don’t take what you say very seriously. So you can sneak in political stuff. You can pretty much say whatever you want. The world has changed.

Pearl Lam (林明珠): Very sensitive.

Jackie Beat: People are very sensitive these days, but I really, I kind of found my voice.

Pearl Lam (林明珠): But you know,  to be a drag. Yes, you, you put your costumes, you put everything together and you drag. But it’s not just that because you write and you can rap. And this morning I’ve been spending time looking at your YouTube videos. My God, you really can write the lyrics. And you rap so well. So well. [Thank you]. So you can’t just, you know, you can’t just, you know, dress up like a dragon going out. You are actually a performer and also writer as well.

Jackie Beat: Well, some people can just dress up and, you know, if you’re on TV and you have the catch phrase, you know, people get excited to see somebody that they’ve seen on TV. But I always say, can you pick this performer up and put them in a completely different venue with an audience that doesn’t even know who they are, has never seen them on TV and can they be entertaining? And a lot of these new drag queens, they can’t. I sing live, I’m funny, I’m in the Writers Guild. I’ve been in movies. Like I’m I’m an entertainer and I study.

Pearl Lam (林明珠): and you’re very quick. Whenever, whenever people give you an interview, you just answer just like you know, and it’s funny.

Jackie Beat: I mean, again.

Pearl Lam (林明珠): Fabulous…

Jackie Beat: Thank you. I don’t want to gloss over all that, but a lot of these drag queens today, and I know this is going to sound like I’m bitter, but they can’t even put a sentence together. It’s like you are an entertainer. Like what is going on here?

Pearl Lam (林明珠): Maybe they they just want to look pretty.

Jackie Beat: I think, I think that’s a part of it. I think it’s like YouTube, social media, social, you know when they put filters listen, I use filters, I use a coffee filters. I use a used coffee filters. That’s how it looks so good on social media. But no, I mean, I feel like I, you know, I’ve studied theatre and I’m a writer and yeah, I’m just very proud that, you know, I can sing rock’n’roll. Like you said, I can rap.

Pearl Lam (林明珠): Yes you can rap. I I saw you rapping 2 videos. My God, you rap well and and also those words are so yeah.

Jackie Beat: Dirty.

Pearl Lam (林明珠): Dirty some of them is. It’s funny you’re talking about penises. There’s one.

Jackie Beat: Yes, I that’s a huge part of my act, no pun intended. I keep looking at this camera, but this is actually my camera. Yeah, at a certain age, the side view isn’t so great, so let me focus on my camera. No, yeah, I I kind of tap into that the 12 year old and everybody like, you know what I mean? Like, Oh my God, that’s nasty, That’s naughty.

Pearl Lam (林明珠): It’s so naughty.

Jackie Beat: And, and some people, you know, they think like, oh, I, they’ll be like, I want to go see your show. And I’m like, well, it’s very dirty. And they’re like, oh, I love it, but they have no idea. Like I take it as a challenge because I’ve written hundreds of song parodies.

Pearl Lam (林明珠): Why are you? Why? Why do you call yourself the world’s biggest bitch? Are you really the world’s biggest bitch? Come on.

Jackie Beat: I’m really not.

Pearl Lam (林明珠): No, exactly!

Jackie Beat: Out of drag, out of drag, I’m a total sweetheart, yeah.

Pearl Lam (林明珠): I I love bitches anyway, so yeah.

Jackie Beat: Yeah, they it’s the character.

Pearl Lam (林明珠): Interesting. It’s all about interesting. I love bitches.

Jackie Beat: So yeah, I just think that I can get it all out in the character and then in my real life I can be nice.

Pearl Lam (林明珠): So you have another personality to go out.

Jackie Beat: Yeah, yeah, but it’s not too different than my own. Here’s the thing people don’t realise. Comedy, when you really boil it down, is just focusing on the negative in a funny, creative way. We don’t need to tell jokes about sunshine, lollipops and rainbows. I need to tell jokes about some of the ugly stuff in the world. And I used to write for Joan Rivers. Nobody told Joan Rivers not to tell a Holocaust joke, and people would be laughing in spite of themselves. They’d be like, I don’t want to laugh at this joke. This is about something horrible.

Pearl Lam (林明珠): You you used to also write for Margaret Cho Alvera and Rosie O’Donnell, right? And what and how was those collaboration like?

Jackie Beat: Well, I I now. I included Rosie O’Donnell on that list because I wrote a song for Roseanne. Ah, and and Rosie O’Donnell to sing together called I Got You Bitch, which is the Sonny and Cher song. I got you babe. And so, yeah, if I, if I write one thing and you do it on stage, then you make it into my into my resume. So. But no, I love writing for I always say I write for all the loudmouth bitches. You know, like Roseanne, Joan, Joan Rivers, you know, Margaret Cho, Sandra Bernhardt, like they’re all just. I love a mouthy broad.

Pearl Lam (林明珠): So when you were young, do you like, do you go?

Jackie Beat: Are you insinuating I’m not still young?

Pearl Lam (林明珠): I‘m talking about, I’m just kidding, like under 10 years.

Jackie Beat: Old OK OK 20.

Pearl Lam (林明珠): Years ago when you were a child, Yeah. Do you? Do you go into your mother’s closet and start stealing her her clothes and start dressing up?

Jackie Beat: I honestly don’t remember doing that, but I do remember they had in their bedroom, my mom and dad had a, you know, a big old school dresser and the top drawer was the skinny little one that was like for cufflinks and like my mom’s jewellery. And I used to kind of marvel at the jewellery. I don’t remember actually putting clothes on or like walking around in her shoes, you know, But I did do impersonations, you know. Oh.

Pearl Lam (林明珠): Oh!

Jackie Beat: I felt like maybe I felt like I didn’t need the outfit, but I would do like Carol Burnett and you know, Cher and you know, just funny thing and funny commercials, you know, and my brother and sister who were older than me, they always kind of embraced it and knew that I was like a little entertainer and be.

Pearl Lam: Because you loved performing since you were young? Yeah. And then?

Jackie Beat: Well, I’ve also talked about this before. My mom was also very depressed, so as the little gay boy, it was my job to make her laugh or make her smile and try to entertain her. And like, mommy, don’t be in a bad mood here. Look, I’ll be funny. It’s so.

Pearl Lam: Funny, yeah, but how did this comedian streak of you came, I mean.

Jackie Beat: Well, also if you’re.

Pearl Lam: Because you need to be really clever to, to write these, these comedy, you know, and very quick to answer questions. So is it?

Jackie Beat: Did you hear the ghost? Probably my mother saying you better answer this question correctly. I’m the reason. No, listen both my parents were very smart. Both my parents were very funny. Oh really? Growing up in Scottsdale, AZ in the 60s and 70s my parents best friends were a gay couple named Bob and Jim. So there was no shame and it was very accepted. So as far as being funny, I think it’s partly because I grew up with a sense of humour and also not to, you know.

Pearl Lam: It takes a lot of confidence.

Jackie Beat: Well, if you’re a little gay boy in Arizona, you get bullied and you quickly learn if you make somebody laugh, they won’t beat you up.

Pearl Lam: You can get away with it, yeah.

Jackie Beat: Yeah.

Pearl Lam: Did you really think that you want to have this profession?

Jackie Beat: Oh, I never in a million years would have guessed this. No right. It really came from doing it that one Halloween.

Pearl Lam: Just one Halloween.

Jackie Beat: And then being like, Oh my God, this is like a bottomless pit of creativity. And I say this often, you know, there’s drag kings, which are women that dress like men. Now, whatever floats your boat. I’m not going to throw anybody under the bus. But one of the reasons I chose drag is because women in this society and in show business and everywhere get to express themselves more than men. Whether it’s a, you know, like a, a torch song, you know, this very campy song you know all about. You know, how the man treating her wrong or it’s hair and makeup and the outfit and the shoes and the jewellery. Like there’s so much more.

Pearl Lam: That you can express.

Jackie Beat: That you can have fun with and express. Men have a wall of machismo. So if you’re a drag king, and again, I’ve seen amazing drag kings, but to me it’s like Sinatra, Elvis, a rapper. It’s about putting a wall up of machismo. And sometimes that’s funny for a woman to be like this misogynistic, you know, sort of. But for me, I gravitate towards everything feminine, which is a little weird to say even out loud these days. What is feminine? It’s all societal. When I’m online and somebody’s saying like, Oh my God, that little boy shouldn’t be wearing that. You know, sometimes they’ll have like a video of a little boy dressing up and like, you know, or in his mommy’s heels, people will be like, Oh my God, that little boy. And I’m like, this is all fake, right? You realise this is all man made. Like we were not; like cavemen didn’t wear pants. Exactly, exactly. Cavemen did not wear pants. At some point we decided this is what a man wears and this is what a woman wears. And then some people will complain and say like, Oh, your your drag is offensive to women. [Why?] And I’m like, what woman comes out of the womb with triple eyelashes and two hours of makeup? This is more. This has nothing to do with like an actual female.

Pearl Lam: Absolutely agree. I think you know from young I love watching drag queens show. Love drag queens? Always.

Jackie Beat: And you got the.

Pearl Lam: And I got you. You’re fabulous.

Jackie Beat: Well, let me just say one thing regarding like that you’ve always loved drag queens. There’s a certain type of person in the world I will never understand. People who want less. Do you know what I mean? Like less colour, less culture, less fun, less, you know what I mean? Like these people who are like build a wall. Now listen, this country is different than it was 150 years ago. Maybe we do need some new rules and we need to rethink things so we can actually take care of the people who are here. But the people who use can I say a bad word? Of course you can like to like for a politician to say shithole countries, like, do you have any idea? And I know what he’s talking about. He’s talking about like Mexico, yes, Africa. Do you have any idea how amazing those cultures are and what they have given the world?

Pearl Lam: Absolutely, absolutely. Mexican culture is amazing.

Jackie Beat: Yes. So I don’t understand these people who want less. Like I want every kind of food. I want to taste every kind of food.

Pearl Lam: You’re you’re very adventurous.

Jackie Beat: Yes, yes. And I want all these different languages. If I walked into a restaurant and they, you know, you see these videos, somebody’s ordering a pizza and they’re like, why, why is the TV on a, on a Spanish? They, they start an argument like it’s not first of all, they own the business. It’s none of your business, but I just like more, more different kinds of people and there are people who are fearful of that.

Pearl Lam: You want differences. You want diversity? You want to learn?

Jackie Beat: How could you not celebrate diversity? You have one life, and you know what? Those people will. I always say this in my show. I’m like, if you’re the type of person who believes in build a wall, then you don’t even get to eat a Taco. You don’t even get to enjoy that culture at the simplest level.

Pearl Lam: How do you identify and the relationship between Drags and LGBTQ+? How do you see this?

Jackie Beat: I do have a song. First of all, I have a song, LGBTQ and A, there’s an old song by Tammy Wynette, she’s a country singer and it’s all, it’s called divorce, but she spells it out and she goes, our DIVORCE becomes final today. Well, I changed it to LGBTQ and A sounds desperate and sad like because they keep adding letters. So I do have a song about it about that, but a while ago I performed in Palm Springs and there was a table of these brittle old white ladies.

Pearl Lam: Yeah, wow. Very conservative.

Jackie Beat: Yes, because there are pockets of that. And I’m sure they were thought they were seeing a drag queen who was going to lip sync Céline Dion. That’s not me. So I was being very political and very in your face. And, you know, my songs are dirty. And if it’s not dirty, it’s, you know, political. So they just seemed really uncomfortable. And I went home. And, you know, the song from Sweet Charity. Hey, big spender.

Pearl Lam: Yes, of course.

Jackie Beat: Course, well I changed it to straight cisgender and it was all about how like you can’t come to a drag show and watch the clown and escape from your boring miserable life and then go vote against me. I’m a gay man under all this, you know, [Absolutely]. And this whole thing about like, grooming and indoctrinating children, Give me a break. I became a drag queen because I don’t want to be anywhere near children. If my friends have children, I think they’re adorable. I I can appreciate children, [play with them.] But like, do you know where you find a drag queen? At a gay bar at 2:00 AM. There ain’t no kids. So it’s completely a, you know, they’re just trying to redirect because we know who the real problem is in that. And I don’t want to get too heavy, but it’s kind of serious. Don’t attack and in class.

Pearl Lam: You can do as heavy as you want.

Jackie Beat: But you know, like, why? Why are you blaming this community?

Pearl Lam: And also this judge judgement is so unfair. Let me ask you, I mean, throughout your career and since you were a gay boy, have you been suffering discrimination and and has the society changes, changes And so, so. So now people are they embrace you because, you know, you have to, you know, drag is so mainstream now. Yeah. So you shouldn’t have any discrimination or anything.

Jackie Beat: There’s good points and bad points to it being mainstream, especially if deep down you’re kind of punk rock. OK, I want people to be a little shocked now. It’s like they look over at you and they’re like, huh?

Pearl Lam: No, but your song. But your song is pretty shocking for the main.

Jackie Beat: Thank you. Yeah. No, listen, I think it’s great. It’s like anything. I think it’s great that two men can walk down the street holding hands and nobody, [I think it’s wonderful]. And nobody throws a rock at them. But you do lose a little, just a little something. And it’s better that we don’t get attacked. But back when it was kind of a secret society and a private club and it was a little more artistic, do you know, like we had to, you had to be creative. Sometimes if I’m asked to do something and I’m not allowed to cuss, I’m not allowed to use bad words, I need to be more creative. And sometimes things get even funnier. Do you know what I’m saying? So back in the day when gay and drag wasn’t as accepted, there was something strangely more creative about it. You know what I mean? Like yes.

Pearl Lam: Yes, because they push you and you have to think other ways to.

Jackie Beat: Yeah, and like I said, it was more like a private club, you know?

Pearl Lam: But nowadays when you perform, you don’t go to private clubs anymore, right, because it’s pretty open?

Jackie Beat: Oh, I do everything. I’m like a prostitute. Whoever gives me money, I show up. You know, brunches, which is like 90% straight women, gay clubs, dance clubs. We do theatre, we do The Golden Girls, that TV show.

Pearl Lam: I read that you are very inspired by Bea Arthur.

Jackie Beat: Yeah, Bea Arthur.

Pearl Lam: Bea Arthur Thug Why? Why can we reason? Why? Why were you so, so inspired by her?

Jackie Beat:  She is just very intelligent and very dry and very funny and she’s also tall and and slightly mannish. She just seems like a tough broad. Like, again, another one of those loudmouth broads that I really gravitate towards.

Pearl Lam: And that’s why you have a personality of her.

Jackie Beat: And I play her when we do it live on stage and it comes so naturally. I have to talk like this. You have to give people what they think they remember. She didn’t really talk like this, but this is what they think they remember.

Pearl Lam: So and also when did you transform your career and start writing for like TV Fashion Police and then the other one is tripping the writ, the writ.

Jackie Beat: Yeah, that was a science fiction animated Series A long time ago. And I wrote an episode of that. Yeah. I, I, I am proud of the fact that, I mean, in Hollywood it’s very difficult to get your foot in the door, especially if that foot is in a high heel size.

Pearl Lam: Yeah.

Jackie Beat: And so I’m proud of the fact that I never really, like, I do the occasional audition and maybe somebody will be like, you know, will you send in a writing sample? But for the most part, I have not approached it like, please hire me. Please love me. You know, like these friends of mine who are actors, they go on these, like, interviews and auditions. And it’s so like, please, please, I don’t know how to explain it. It’s like, you know, and me, I’m like, I could care less. I’m going to do what I do. And then people come to my shows or they see something online and they’re like, Oh my God, this person’s funny. So I’m proud of the fact that I just do what I do and they gravitate to me. I’m not begging for a job. Somebody says oh so and so wants help writing.

Pearl Lam: People know and know that you can write, because you have to have, you know, at least one sample that people know is you know one success says before people will know that you can write.

Jackie Beat: Well, because they know I write my own show, so if they’ve seen the show or seen a clip from the show or maybe somebody that works with them saw it. I talk about this all the time. And we’ve since had a falling out because of our political differences. But years and years and years ago, Roseanne came to see my show. And afterwards she was like, Oh my God, you’re hilarious. I want to work with you. And I’ve heard that several times. And they never call. The next day, she called.

Pearl Lam: How wonderful.

Jackie Beat: Yeah. So I ended up writing for her, opening for her. Like, we were great friends. And so, yeah, credit where credit is due. So people hear about different things, Yeah.

Pearl Lam: When do you learn how to do your makeup?

Jackie Beat: Well, it was.

Pearl Lam: A drag queen’s makeup is really important. It is. And do you make your own dress?

Jackie Beat: No, no, who makes? I can’t do hair and I can’t.

Pearl Lam:  Do you do your own design and send someone to make it or?

Jackie Beat: Or well, I have a friend who makes all my clothes and I’ll go downtown, downtown LA and I’ll buy fabric and then you go and like this fabric. It costs more for me to park my car in downtown LA than this fabric cost. You know what I mean?

Pearl Lam: Like the Tallulah outfit?

Jackie Beat: It’s just very cheap fabric, but she knows my measurements and what I like. I like to pull it in here and have it loose in the back because if you are big girl and you have a belt all the way around you, it’s not cute. So she knows how to make it and I just buy, you know? And I do like matchy matchy, hence the hat.

Pearl Lam: So, but she made hats as well.

Jackie Beat: The hat existed, but she put the.

Pearl Lam: Fabric on it, yeah. And then so, so but from very beginning you don’t have the same person. No, no, no, no. So from very beginning, you go and buy.

Jackie Beat: Yes, you go buy stuff and you try to make it work. I used to go to Lane Bryant, which is like a store for big ladies. I used to call it plain giant. And I would buy like a nightgown, a short little like, you know, something to sleep in. And then it had a matching bed jacket because I don’t want to show my shoulders. And you know, then you have to shave everything. But then I would have, I would go buy feathers and have the feathers added to the sleeves and you know, the bottom. And so it was a little like customised. But no, back in the day I had no idea my makeup was so bad.

Pearl Lam: So, so then you gradually evolve or how do you do even the first time you look at a picture and then you try to do your makeup.

Jackie Beat: Yeah, and then you figure out that you have to shave your eyebrows off if you want to do this properly. And you learn what works and what doesn’t. And like, I see these drag queens and they have these skinny little lips. And let me tell you something out of drag. I hardly have any lips, but you need to paint a big lip and you need to have eyebrows that are higher. Like everything needs to be exaggerated. Yeah. So you just learn kind of what works.

Pearl Lam: And but then and then your jewelries. My God. God, how do you, you know? Yeah, you you make your own jewelries or.

Jackie Beat: You well, I.

Pearl Lam: Because you did make your earrings?

Jackie Beat: Well, this was this was a necklace or something?

Pearl Lam: You buy bits and then you transform it to your taste.

Jackie Beat: Let me tell you something, living in Los Angeles is amazing cuz Santee Alley and downtown LA is all about the most amazing fabric and jewellery and accessories. So I feel bad for anybody. You know, I have friends who live in other cities and they’re like oh it’s nothing like LA. You can find anything and everything.

Pearl Lam: But your whole personality, your whole persona, from your dressing, from your style, you created it.

Jackie Beat: Yes, I think it’s an amalgamation. I mean, it’s pretty much just me. Yeah, Like this is me at lunch. I will. I can be funny and entertaining. I mean, not like over the top, like, oh shut up. You know it’s annoying.

Pearl Lam: No, I remember just just I watched Doctor Jackie very funny talk dress and everything. Thank you. And then so.

Jackie Beat: Well the thing about Doctor Jackie is I specifically wanted, I thought if somebody’s walking in to get therapy, I wanted to be the least nurturing. Like everything I’m wearing is weird and even the set is like brutalist and cubist and everything looks like it might hurt you as opposed to being like, oh, this is such a warm space. So I wear weird things that look like I’m, you know, just came from a satanic ritual.

Pearl Lam: So funny.

Jackie Beat: Like I just, you know, you’re sitting down to, you know, get therapy and.

Pearl Lam: So, OK, talking about this, this doctor, Doctor Jackie is an episode that you created, [Yes]. And you create it and then you invite all your and all the other drag queens to come.

Jackie Beat:  A lot of drag queens, comedians, actors and actresses, yeah.

Pearl Lam: And then you and how and how many episode of that did you?

Jackie Beat: You do. We’ve done two seasons, 6 episodes per season, and I have to say the first season was 90% AD Lib and 10% scripted, which made it very difficult to edit. And then the second season was the complete opposite, 90% I wrote and then 10% like let’s have fun and you can ad Lib and go off script. Yeah. And it’s very, very fun. People can watch it on Out TV. Oh.

Pearl Lam: Really. And which one? Which is more successful, Season 1 or Season 2?

Jackie Beat: But I think artistically, I think both have their, you know, pluses, but I think the second season we kind of figured out what we were doing and we have such amazing guests.

Pearl Lam: It’s funny. And then there was another one about Queens. And then someone was asking you about who’s the most generous queen and who’s the other.

Jackie Beat: Oh yeah, I think that was, yeah.

Pearl Lam: Yeah, you see, I did watch everything.

Pearl Lam: Did of course of course meeting you. I have to do my homework, of course. And what is that? Because you were, you were, you were talking about who is the most generous queen and who’s you know.

Jackie Beat: It was just one of those little online like they ask you 5 or 6 questions.

Pearl Lam: It’s quite funny.

Jackie Beat: Thing was it.

Pearl Lam: Yeah, quite funny because you, you are funny.

Jackie Beat: Who did I say is generous? Oh, Bianca Del Rio. Yeah, she really is

Pearl Lam: And you said that when you go in and if you like a wig, it would just give you the wig. So it gives everything to you.

Jackie Beat: Well, I play dumb now. If we’re in a show together or she’s backstage, I will be like, oh, this wig is so messed up. And she’ll be like, get over here and she’ll fix the wig. But yeah, if she has, like, makeup, I’m like, what is that? And then the next day she’ll bring it to me or she’ll take off a piece of jewellery and just give it to me. Well, she’s rich. She’s really rich. Bianca Del Rio.

Pearl Lam: So let me ask you, let me ask you, you know, to have a successful career as a drag queen. I mean, how I always see, I see that a drag queen cannot continue with a very long time with a career. Is that right?

Jackie Beat: Well, there is a little bit. That’s one of the things about the popularity and the mainstreaming of it right now is like, you know, you do have your moment, you’re on Drag Race, you tour a little bit afterwards and the really good ones do rise to the top. But you it takes a lot of work and you have to actually do something again. I don’t want to throw anybody under the bus, but I don’t find it that entertaining to watch a queen just move her lips. You could never go to a comedy club and hand, you know, the person a CD and say just push play and I’m going to stand on stage and pretend like this. These are my jokes.

Pearl Lam: But I think a lot of drag queens is not just a comedian. They were just performing. I mean just, you know, singing.

Jackie Beat: I know, but is this 1967? Like, no, you know what I’m saying, where you would be like, Oh my God, that’s a man and they would pull their wig off at the end to prove that it’s a man. That’s a parlour trick. Like that’s that’s would your material work out of drag? And is this just a bonus? Like this is just the high concept character like Pee-wee Herman or Elvira, you know, like just a vehicle? Would the material work? Is it funny without all the drag? Or is that your only gimmick? And like I said, can they pick you up and put you in front of an audience? They could pick me up. Right now, I’m in a gay club on stage and God’s giant hand picks me up and puts me on a completely straight cruise ship. I could win those people over and make them laugh. I know. But not every drag queen can do that because it’s all about kind of cashing in on their TV fame. I know some queens that have been on Drag Race and we’ve been on tour in Europe, Australia, and I’m like, what do you do? You know? And then the tour is called Comedy Queens and I’m like, so what are you doing tonight? You know, each queen only has to do 5 minutes. That’s the easiest. It’s kind of hard in a way. Actually, I’m used to doing 90 minutes because you know, like what song do I pick? Five minutes is a little difficult. It’s like, here’s this gorgeous guy, you’ve got 5 minutes with him. I want some time, but here’s my point. I’d be like, what are you doing tonight? And they would be like, oh, I’m just going to wing it. Like what?

Pearl Lam: That’s it?

Jackie Beat: It like I wrote for Joan Rivers, you may watch her and think that she’s just winging it because she’s so good at what she does. She makes it seem like it’s coming off the top of her head. Honey, she had 10 writers writing 10 jokes each. That’s 100 jokes to choose from. Then she would pick five of the best jokes, and then she would blurt out three of them, acting like it just came off the top of her head. You have to plan ahead. You can’t just be like, oh, these people love me and they will let me get away with anything. So I’m not going to do any work and I’m just going to go out there and wing it. Tickets worth $45, bitch. .

Pearl Lam: I agree, absolutely agree and just personally just want to ask you how many wigs do you have?

Jackie Beat: OK, I probably have like 30, you know, kind of big, colourful, really styled, amazing wigs done by Billy Lemoore. If anybody needs a wig you can find Billy online. Also an amazing a drag performer in addition to a wig stylist, which always kind of helps if the person is a drag queen, they know like, oh, this needs to stand up to this, this and this. But I also have a collection of like weird little wigs that I got like at thrift stores, like short, like a short grey curly wig. I sometimes like to play funny characters. That’s another thing is I get bored. I love to do glamorous, but sometimes I like to do like a weird old lady or like, you know, a housewife who’s not very glamorous.

Pearl Lam: You like to play different characters.

Jackie Beat: Yeah, I do. I get bored.

Pearl Lam: Yeah, and how many dresses do you have? A glam girl like you.

Jackie Beat: It’s bad. It’s really shoes.

Pearl Lam: Shoes.

Jackie Beat: Not tonnes of shoes to be honest.

Pearl Lam: Not tonnes of shoes.

Jackie Beat: Well people, now I walk out on stage and I’m wearing flats.

Pearl Lam: Oh yeah, because when do you know how you have?

Jackie Beat: Do you know how old I am?

Pearl Lam: No.

Jackie Beat:  I’m 61, so now I wear flats and I have a joke in my show. It’s like, Jackie, why are you wearing flats? Because my feet hurt from paving the way, bitch. And if you make a joke like that, and I’m like, also, if you’re looking at my feet, I’m doing something wrong, you know what I mean? So I’ll let the young kids wear the high heels, the people.

Pearl Lam: You’ve done it enough right?

Jackie Beat: The people who can’t sing and aren’t very funny and can’t put a sentence together. But I’m not bitter. But I do have tonnes of dresses.

Pearl Lam: Tonnes of dresses.

Jackie Beat: And not just dresses. I have a little storage unit behind my house in Altadena with racks of clothing for characters like thrift store, you know, ugly dress, weird this, you know, cut country. So my friend Sherry Vine does a show called the Sherry Vine Variety Show, and it’s on the same Out TV as Doctor Jackie. And no matter what we need, I’ve got it. Do you know what I mean? Like, oh, you’re going to play this woman who is at the County Fair out in the country. And I was like, oh, I have the perfect outfit. It’s this denim jumpsuit. Yeah, it’s.

Pearl Lam: So. So that means that you have a whole collection of 40 years.

Jackie Beat: Yeah, 35 – 35 years, yeah.

Pearl Lam: And you all save up. And so at any time you can just pick up anything you can just wear.

Jackie Beat: Pretty much, pretty much. Now, I think I mentioned this to you, my very favourite movie is Carrie, the original from 1976. And the reason is because the moral of that story, the point of that movie is don’t mess with the freak. You know, you never know. Be nice. So a friend of mine is doing a parody of Carrie later today. That’s why I booked this, to make the most of the makeup. Two birds with one stone. So I’m playing the mother, Piper Laurie Margaret White. She’s the religious crazy lady with the wild hair. Yesterday I was looking through my things, trying to figure out what to wear and I found like 6 different options and yeah, and the hair and like, you know, I found a big cross necklace. I just hit the microphone. I’m very unprofessional. It’s the caffeine. So I just, yeah, you got to be ready and you have to be organised.

Pearl Lam: Of course, of course I was watching YouTube as I told you this morning to to learn more things about you. And then I find out most of these videos was like 16-17 years ago. Why? Why don’t you have any update?

Jackie Beat: Well, because I feel like I was a little bit of a trailblazer. Like I was one of the first drag queens to do YouTube and make these song parodies and make music videos and I’ve kind of moved on. Like there’s a way to monetize it, but you have to stay on it. Does that make sense?

Pearl Lam: Absolutely makes sense.

Jackie Beat: Everybody’s doing it now. When I did it 16 years ago, I was one of only a handful and we could be popular and it could get a million hits. But now everybody’s making funny videos and everybody’s, you know, rewriting songs. So I’ve just kind of moved on. I’d rather do a live show, you know? I’d rather do Doctor Jackie.

Pearl Lam: So funny, Doctor Jackie.

Jackie Beat: You have to pick where you’re going to put your energy and YouTube, I’ve done it and.

Pearl Lam: You’re moving on, So OK, what is the next chapter of Jackie Beat?

Jackie Beat: I have a lot of stuff coming up, but one of my favourite things is we’re doing a show called Jurassic Drag starring, starring four of the really legendary queens, myself, Sherry Vine, Coco Peru and Varla Jean Merman. We had did it in New York, we did it in San Francisco. We’re trying to do a full tour and we are going to be doing it at Oscars downtown in Palm Springs on November 1st, which is the first day of Palm Springs Pride. And it’s the four of us, which is just kind of like, you know, it would be like, it would be like Paul McCartney, you know, Mick Jagger, you know, David Bowie and Prince. It’d be like 4 Titans of drag coming together for Jurassic Drag. And we make fun of the fact that we’re old.

Pearl Lam: I love it, but you know, getting old and getting still glamorous and fabulous is always a plus. You make all the women jealous of you.

Jackie Beat: Well, I don’t think they I don’t think they want to look like a rodeo clown slash whore.

Pearl Lam: But it’s not about how you look, it’s about the attitude.

Jackie Beat: Well, I’ve said this before.

Pearl Lam: It’s the attitude this.

Jackie Beat: Is why a lot of people in show business are like, Jackie, do not tell people how old you are. But I need to do it because the kids need to know there is no I’m not doing high kicks, I’m not doing splits. Do you know what I mean? I’m not doing acrobatics on stage. I may not wear the high heels, but fierce, fabulous and funny has no expiration.

Pearl Lam: Absolutely. And on this note, I want to thank you so much. Thank you so much for joining the podcast. Big kiss.

Jackie Beat: From a distance, it was worth driving an hour.