She’s BACK! The return of LIPSYNC1000

Jonny Woo on the evolution of drag, and the return of his acclaimed contest LIPSYNC1000

To say LIPSYNC1000 has been a success, would be a slight understatement. It’d be like saying Princess Beatrice is “a bit posh” or that Aleppo is “a bit untidy”. No, LIPSYNC1000 isn’t merely a success…it’s a GAMECHANGER. A lock stock roadblock, all-tits-blazing, lipstick-smeared, wig-tearingly, drink-spillingly, privilege-checkingly kaleidoscopic implosion of madness!

If you’re unfamiliar, let us paint a picture; every year at creative hub/pub/performance venue The Glory, a bunch of drag hopefuls (or as John Sizzle would say, a bunch of nutbags) enter the competition with a lipsync number in the hope of winning a £1000 price and/or the chance to gig around the UK and even the WORLD with The Glory’s fabulous family of calamitous cohorts.

Dylan Jones chatted with LIPSYNC1000’s sparkling MC and Glory co-owner Jonny Woo (pictured), to get the full fishnet tights lowdown.


So Jonny, after the monumental success of last year’s Lipsync1000, what does this year hold?! Is it gonna be different, is it gonna be the same?
The skill level of lip-syncing has definitely gone up a notch in London. Partly from our competition, and maybe partly from RuPaul’s Drag Race. People want to be fierce don’t they. But I’m looking for a little bit more of an old school vibe this year. I want to see people deliver some really great songs. Because the old school lipsync was about illusion and owning a song, and inhabiting a song, and making the audience believe that you’re delivering it, that you’re singing it. And a lot of the more traditional lipsyncs would take one track, but find comedy and theatre within one track. So whilst I’m always up for a mash-up, I’m personally on the look-out for something a little bit simpler this year.

OK! So you don’t people to rest on gimmicks like mash-ups and stuff?

I wouldn’t say they’re gimmicks! We just had a lot of it last year. And I think a mash-up is a great way of showing off your virtuosity, but sometimes the joy and the humour gets lost a little bit. Because there’s too much focus on being fierce.

Well The Glory’s all about taking joy in being a mess isn’t it.
Oh yeah we love a mess. I’m always a great fan of the mess. 

You mentioned RuPaul earlier. What do you think of the way RuPaul has influenced drag?
I don’t think RuPaul’s drag is very funny. I don’t think it’s happy drag. It’s not inclusive. It’s its thing. But I don’t think it’s fun, to be honest. There’s such a mask over it, and people are so busy pouting and being fucking fierce.

And saying “yaaas”
Oh “yaaas” is quite funny actually isn’t it.

But you could say it’s good that he’s influenced a lot of new young kids to do drag…
Oh yeah. But it was basically a TV format that was a hit wasn’t it. It worked really well. And obviously there are tonnes of people doing drag now. We get more people doing drag here as a result. I think the drag scene in London is as strong as it’s ever been. It’s definitely got a new character. The older drag scene went out of fashion really. And I think younger audiences weren’t really responding to it. But now there’s definitely a massive diverse audience for drag.

Well you’ve always kind of bridged the gap between old and new drag.
I think I do tend to bridge the gap. That’s definitely where I sit. Because of my age. Because I’m 44. Because I used to go to gay bars where they had provincial drag acts. Because I remember knocking on the door to get into a bar. So I’m a fan of the old school. And I’m a fan of heritage. We like gay heritage here. And maybe sometimes the new drag doesn’t acknowledge its heritage as much as it should. Or could. There’s a whole army of people who have gone before.

So have you had any entries for the competition yet?
Yeah we’ve already got some people coming in.

How’s it looking?
I think it’s gonna be great. This year, I’m personally looking for new upcoming performers. To expand the program that we have here, and also looking for people who might be able to come to Glastonbury, or who might be part of my Un-Royal performance at the end of the year. I want to find some new, fun performers. People we can book. There can only be one winner, but that winner might not be someone who’s bookable. They might just have a really great act. But I’m gonna be here every week. So if you’re nice to me, then who knows.

So even if you might not win, it’s still worth coming to get yourself seen?
Oh yeah, it’s good to get on the radar. Crystal Lubrikunt didn’t win. The Nightbus didn’t win. I do loads of stuff with them now, they’re definitely part of the family. Maxi Moore does stuff with us now. Emma Kroeger didn’t win, we use her increasingly. A lot of people who entered and didn’t win definitely went on to do great stuff. There was a handful of people who came to Glastonbury. And became part of the National Theatre show we did this year. It’s a great way just to get into the fold. There aren’t many opportunities in London for you to come and show yourself and practice your act. There aren’t many open spotlights. Hardly any. I think we should do one here really.

Well Lipsync1000 is one.

Well yeah, that’s the closest thing to it at the moment. It’s a great way of just showing me, and us, a few minutes of what you can do.

So to finish up, give us a quick outline of the rules of Lipsync1000.
Well there aren’t many rules actually. It’s a drag competition. It’s a drag queen competition, not a drag king competition. We’ve got a separate drag king competition. But a man or a woman can be a drag queen. But I want to see your interpretation of that. Lipsyncing is the main thing that you’re showing me. I want to see your lipsync. You have four minutes to do what you want to do on stage. And that’s pretty much it. Turn up on and time. Don’t be a cunt. Bish, bash, bosh, off we go.

Heat 1 of LIPSYNC1000 is on Wednesday 15th February at The Glory, 281 Kingsland Road, E2 8AS. 8pm onwards. Free entry!

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