‘God Is A Scottish Drag Queen’ brings laughs but not sacrilege to Tacoma and Olympia
Mike Delamont knows the title of his one-man show, “God Is A Scottish Drag Queen” is a two-edged sword.
“People don’t know what the show is,” he said during a recent phone interview from British Columbia. “And that excites some people, and it terrifies some people.”
Rest assured, acts of sacrilege won’t be committed when the Canadian comic brings the show to Olympia’s Washington Center for the Performing Arts on Friday, Dec. 6 and Tacoma’s Rialto Theater on Saturday, Dec. 7.
“God isn’t the punch line,” he said. “God is the comedian.”
The jokes aren’t at the expense of religion, they’re about God’s opinions — whether it’s on Justin Bieber or Jonah and the whale.
“There’s no curve ball. There’s no ha ha, gotcha,” Delamont said. “We just had a big run in Toronto, and we had two Anglican ministers, a husband and a wife, come to the show, and they loved it so much they offered that we could stay in their home and come and preach at their church.”
Road show
The show, which is co-written and directed by Delamont’s wife, Chantelle, is so popular the couple live on the road as they take its various iterations to venues across North America.
“We’re very much tied at the hip, and so it’s a good thing we really like each other,” he said.
There are four shows in the series, including the Christmas special. All are two-act productions with the same character. They get refreshed every year with an hour’s worth of new material.
“So jokes that have essentially expired get updated, because good comedy is ever evolving,” he said.
Although the shows seem improvised at times, Delamont let it slip that they are carefully scripted.
“So my hope is that (the audiences) leave with the feeling of something happened in the show that never happens on any other night,” he said.
Some jokes need to be tweaked depending on the country. American audiences, for instance, aren’t going to get Tim Hortons jokes (the popular Canadian restaurant chain.)
“You have to go, does Dunkin’ Donuts have the same situation? Or do we have to change the entire joke?” he said. “Figuring that out is always a on-your-toes moment, which is delightfully stressful.”
Christmas show
Although the Christmas special is his most popular, it doesn’t change much from year to year, Delamont said.
“It’s the least biblical, and it’s the stories that everybody knows,” he said. “Hanukkah, the celebrations, and then, of course, the Nativity and Christmas. But it’s for somebody who has never been to church or read a Bible or doesn’t know the story.”
Some jokes in the series are definitely geared toward a strong biblical education, but you don’t need one to enjoy them, he said. He likened it to “Shrek” movies that have jokes for kids and adults.
“Especially the Christmas one because it has such so much heart and nostalgia,” he said. “And it’s very sweet in its delivery.”
Drag
Delamont’s God character is now 18 years old. Since then, drag has become a four-letter word for some and evolved for others.
“Drag is whatever you want it to be,” he said.
The character came about after Delamont took a good look at Michelangelo’s ceiling mural in Rome’s Sistine Chapel, particularly the section where God gives life to Adam.
“He’s wearing ... it’s almost like a pink negligee,” he said. “Like in the old rom-coms, where the the mom’s boyfriend comes down wearing her nightie.”
At the same time, God looks peeved in the painting as he touches finger tips with Adam.
“He’s wearing this very effeminate dress, lying in a beanbag chair of babies, and he looks so angry,” he said. “What an interesting character that would be. So that was the original crux of it.”
He knows “drag queen” keeps some audience members away despite being more “Dame Edna” and less “Drag Race.”
“That’s what people are afraid of, which is fascinating to me, but the show itself is very loving and supportive of everybody, including the LGBTQ community,” he said. “There’s never any punching down. I don’t want anybody to be the butt of the joke, which makes writing jokes quite hard, but I want it to be an immersive and a supportive space.”
If you go
What: “God Is A Scottish Drag Queen”
When: 7:30 p.m. Friday, Dec. 6 in Olympia; 7:30 p.m. Saturday, Dec. 7 in Tacoma.
Where: The Washington Center for the Performing Arts, 512 Washington St. SE, Olympia; Rialto Theater, 901 Broadway, Tacoma.
Tickets: $29-$58
Information: mikedelamont.com, washingtoncenter.org, tacomacitytheaters.org
This story was originally published December 2, 2024 at 5:15 AM with the headline "‘God Is A Scottish Drag Queen’ brings laughs but not sacrilege to Tacoma and Olympia."
