By Peter Lindblad
The size of the venue doesn’t matter to Bob the Drag Queen. It could be as small as a phone booth or as massive as Lambeau Field.
Bigger than life, the colorful, confident, and charismatic comic/actor also known as Caldwell Tidicue is going to be the same outrageously funny performer no matter the environment. Just wait until the Oshkosh Arena gets a load of her on March 26.
“I’m not going to tone down the material,” said Tidicue, whose risqué humor might make some blush, but it’s always relatable and full of sass. “I’ve been lucky enough to be able to perform for some pretty large audiences in my days, some pretty big crowds, and I’ve also been fortunate enough to be able to perform for some really small crowds. There were times before I started on ‘RuPaul’s Drag Race’ that I was performing in a bar, and there were more people working at the bar than there were patronizing it. But I have certainly had the ability to do some really varying shows.”
Self-described as “hilarious, beautiful, talented… and humble,” Bob the Drag Queen does stand-up in and out of drag, although the two do go hand in hand for Tidicue. Thinking back to her first time telling jokes onstage, Bob the Drag Queen remembered, “It was a rant like, ‘You know what I can’t stand?’ It was very Peter Griffin (from ‘Family Guy’) … ‘You Know What Really Grinds My Gears?’ And I went over well, because I had all my friends from my restaurant come see me.”
One thing Bob enjoys is interacting with crowds.
“Well, I love talking. I love talking to people. I’ve always loved talking to people,” said Tidicue. “Talking is legitimately my favorite thing in the world to do, which is why I think stand-up has worked so perfectly for me. I get to go up onstage and people pay to look up.”
It’s tough to establish an intimate connection with audiences at places the size of the Oshkosh Arena. Tidicue isn’t fazed. He claims to be getting better at communicating from the stage and “… making the comedy make sense together.”
While constantly working at his comedic craft, Tidicue isn’t all that interested about winning people over or educating them about the drag lifestyle.
“Well, it really isn’t up to me to define how they feel about me,” said Tidicue. “If they don’t like me, that’s not my business, do you know what I mean? I’m just trying to be myself, so I don’t really want to like … [concern] myself on whether they like me, or if they’re into me or if they like what I’m saying or what they’re feeling, I really try not to get wrapped up into it.”
One of the stars of HBO’s Emmy-nominated unscripted reality series “We’re Here,” where Bob and two other drag queens go to towns to set up drag shows with locals as the stars, Tidicue was the winner of season eight of “RuPaul’s Drag Race.” That gave her a bigger spotlight.
Even before that, though, Bob was a big deal in New York City, where he moved when he was just 22 years old and hardly had anything to his name.
“I think one of the proudest things, actually even before I got on ‘Drag Race’ … [was to] rise to top of the scene on my own merits, which is really tough to do,” said Tidicue. “I’ve got to say, being a popular new drag queen, working in that city… no small feat.” Check out our story on Bob the Drag Queen in the March issue of Out & About Wisconsin here: http://www.mirabelsmagazinecentral.com/digitaledition/index.html?id=83e97b50-e179-4833-b407-f4cb2600f133