Drag fans rejoice: Jimbo is coming to town! Chances are you’ve heard of the Canadian drag-clown-turned-fashion-icon and current reigning “Drag Race” All-Star. The drag legend sat down with Georgia Voice to discuss her journey and upcoming tour, Jimbo’s Drag Circus, which comes to Center Stage on March 16.
Hey Jimbo!
Hi. How are you?
Good! It’s good to chat with you. You just got back from the Queens Gone Wild cruise, right?
Yeah, that’s right. I was cruising the Caribbean with Kandy Muse, Heidi N Closet, and Jessica Wild. I took my family with me and a whole bunch of fans, and we had a big party out in the Caribbean.
So, Jimbo, you broke records by being the only contestant to be on three iterations of Drag Race in three years, and then you go on to win All Stars. I’m wondering, is this how you thought it would all turn out way back in 2020 when you started your “Drag Race” journey?
I had no idea that this was going to happen. I was a nobody queen from a small island off the west coast of Canada. I had like a thousand followers at that time, before I went on the show. I didn’t know any of the other contestants or queens. I was just a drag performance artist that loved drag and loved, you know, being on TV. So everything that’s happened since then has been a complete surprise, a total gift. I just feel so grateful for it to have gone the way it’s gone and to have the ability to go back and compete in three countries in three different years and tell my story and do my drag and my art, which is so important to me. So it’s all been life-changing and such a dream.
I know you’ve done a lot of touring and on “All Stars 8,” you talked about how close you are with Kandy Muse. I’m wondering what other friendships you’ve made throughout the franchise.
I keep in touch with all of my Canada’s Drag Race sisters. Scarlett BoBo I see whenever I’m in West Hollywood and over in the US. Tynomi Banks, I always love connecting with her. We just were at DragCon UK together. Priyanka; I was just messaging with my sister Pri, she’s always up to some really cool stuff. BOA is so awesome. We have a girl group chat on Instagram where we keep each other in the loop and share with each other.
[On] UK versus the World, I became really close with Baga Chipz. So, whenever I’m over in the UK, I always check in with my sister, Baga. I love seeing her and a lot of the UK queens. A’whora is a friend and Tia Kofi and so many other Drag Race UK queens. We just went over for [DragCon] UK and got to meet some of the queens from the new season, Michael Marouli and a whole bunch of the other ones, who I love so much as well. My sister Alexis Saint-Pete and I toured together before she was on Drag Race. I love those girls.
And then my “All Stars 8” girls, that whole cast, everyone is so sweet. Mrs. Kasha Davis is so supportive, such an awesome sister. And I love Jaymes Mansfield, she’s such a sweetie. And of course, my sister Kahanna is so amazing. And, you know, everyone has their own amazingness and I try to see them whenever I can. LaLa, I love LaLa Ri. And of course, we just cruised together with my three sisters from “Drag Race All Stars 8.”
So yeah, I try to be friends and keep in touch with everyone. I tour with Murray and Peter. I tour with Sasha Colby; she’s a good friend as well. She’s an amazing performer, a great sister. Alyssa Edwards and I are really good friends. We tour together and, yeah, it’s amazing how many awesome people there are in this kind of sisterhood, as it were.
That is really amazing. It was cool watching “All Stars 8” because we got to see you win, and then also for us here in Atlanta, we got to see LaLa Ri win Queen of the Fame Games. It’s cool to hear you mention her because she’s our local girl!
I love Atlanta. I performed in Atlanta, I think, three times [last] year. And it’s an amazing drag scene there and an awesome audience there. People are so supportive of drag and just so extra at the show, showing love and showing out. And LaLa Ri is just the most amazing performer and just such a beautiful person. I love going to Atlanta, and I love LaLa.
I love to hear that! I know you’ve toured everywhere, but this show — Jimbo’s Drag Circus — is your first one-woman solo tour, right?
I like to say it’s like a one-queen show. It’s a bit of an ensemble show in a way, because I’m touring with my musical partner Andrew Feels. He’s playing Jeepers, my musical accompanist, and he’ll be on stage with me. He’s playing this clown character of this old carny that’s toured with me and plays music for me, but we really did actually write the whole score ourselves for the show. And then I also have two backup dancers, Ander and DaRon, two sexy boys who are just incredible performers and movers. So, they’ll be on stage with me as well, telling each of the different characters’ stories.
Exciting! What has the preparation been like?
Well, I started off working in theatre and then in film as a production designer, a costume designer, and a costume maker. So, prior to being on stage myself and prior to being on Drag Race and now an international drag queen, I did production design and I was a storyteller through being a maker. So, this is my opportunity to use all of those skills and to use all those connections to tell my own story. I’ve written this story, I’ve written the music with my friend Andrew, I collaborated with the set design with my friend Marshall McMahen and an artist, Cat Dirty, and I’ve got my clown teacher, Britt Small, directing.
It’s sort of like I went back to my community and just said, “Hey, let’s put on an epic, awesome show, the weirdest show on Earth,” and people are going to laugh, they’re going to be surprised. I’ve got some really cool looks. [There are] three people in the studio next door, sewing away, working on the looks right now. So there’s awesome costumes, awesome music, and it’s going to be a spectacle.
What would you say audiences should expect from the show?
In general, I want people to laugh. When I’m thinking of these things, the intention behind it all is to really invite people in to just have a good time … I’ve written the script and I’ve also built in a lot of times for me to improv and break that fourth wall, which, you know, that’s what clowning is all about and that’s what I love so much about live performance. The hope is to invite people in, to make them laugh, to show them some weird awesome drag, and for them to leave going, “What the fuck was that? I can’t wait to see that again.”
I love the sound of that! You mentioned earlier that you’ll be doing different characters in the show.
I’ll be doing six characters from my time on “Drag Race.” I’ll be doing Eva Dents, my forensics sexy stripper investigator character. I’ll be doing Joan Rivers and Shirley Temple and my Casper the baloney ghost from my talent performance. And I’ll also be doing some video components where I do some Nancy Grace, which is another character I did on “Canada’s Drag Race.” So, kind of calling back to some things I love to do and then also a new character, Alphabet Annie, which is something I’ve never done before.
It’s going to be a combination of things I’ve done and things I’m trying new and kind of expanding on those stories. My Shirley Temple character is kind of an influencer now and she goes by Sweet Tea. She’s rebranding and she’s a hip-hop star. There’s going to be some new angles to the characters [to give] people a new dimension of me.
As you explain all of that, it sounds really cool; almost like a way to dive into Jimbo’s specific universe.
Yeah, exactly. The whole set is very big and the idea is really to see inside my head. And then, you know, with the music and the lyrics … the idea is really to create an immersive Jimbo experience where you just come in and you’re transported into my little world, my idea of a circus.
That’s so exciting! So, you won Drag Race, you’ve had your own talk show, created music, you did the cruise, and now you’re doing this tour. What is next? What are long-term goals for Jimbo?
Well, I want my sketch comedy television show, House of Jimbo. That’s a big goal of mine, to collaborate with other performers and entertainers to write original sketches and to kind of create a “Pee-wee’s Playhouse”-style show using my aesthetic, to create sketches and explore other drag and clowning and character work with other friends or collaborators.
Awesome! I saw in an interview you discussed potentially doing a biography in the future.
I was talking about that because there are facets to the story that I haven’t necessarily shared that are relatable or dark and funny and kind of twisted. I would like to explore that and dramatize that. I think it would be funny.
Well, Jimbo, It’s been awesome watching you from 2020 to now — so much growth and great drag and we love to see it! Thanks again for your time and I appreciate you!
I appreciate you, and I can’t wait to see you in Atlanta!
Jimbo’s Drag Circus started February 29 and will tour through the United States and Canada until mid-June before heading to Australia in August. The Atlanta show will take place March 16 at Center Stage Theater. The show is 90 minutes long with a 20-minute intermission. General admission and meet and greet tickets can be purchased at centerstage-atlanta.com/events/jimbos-drag-circus. You can follow Jimbo on Instagram @jimbothedragclown, or check out her website at houseofjimbo.com.