"It’s Monsoon Season, Bitches!" The CL interview with RuPaul’s Drag Race winner, Jinkx Monsoon

(Copied with permission from Creative Loafing Tampa)

RuPaul’s Drag Race has turned American on to plenty of fishy and glamorous drag queens during it’s five seasons, but none have stolen more hearts than campy theater queen, Jinkx Monsoon. Jinkx (performed by Jerick Hoffer) went from this year’s underdog, all the way to winner, crowned by RuPaul herself. We had the chance to catch up with her as she prepares to bring her act to Tampa this weekend:

“America’s Next Drag Superstar”, Jinkx Monsoon has an incredible ring to it, doesn’t it? Congratulations on winning Season 5 of RuPaul’s Drag Race! Has it set in yet, really?

This week I was able to celebrate at my home bar Julia’s on Broadway in Seattle with all my friends and family! It is finally sinking in now that I’ve gotten the chance to really celebrate with those who were close to me throughout this entire experience. I’m finally ready to take on the whole wide world.

There has been a lot of catty, sometimes hate-filled discourse between drag fans, usually on the internet. You’ve really come out and risen above it all. What is it like to be a role model now, and did you foresee yourself becoming one before this whole incredible ride began? I never set out to become such a role model, but now that I have this opportunity I really enjoy spreading my message of positive thinking and positive energy. My Mantras and personal statements were more my personal inspiration to keep myself energized throughout the competition and less my aspirations to become a role model to the youth but now that I’ve been given that opportunity I definitely want to use this exposure as a platform for social change!

And along those lines, how can Jinkx Monsoon impact the drag community, and even the LBGT community as a whole, during your reign? I think Jinkx Monsoon stands up for all of us who challenge the American standards of gender beauty and self-identity. I think she is a role model in the fact that she marches to the beat of her own drum and does things her own way in spite of the way that everyone else would like her to do things. I plan on speaking out on equal rights issues and the gay rights movement and progressing our social consciousness forward to make this world a more accepting and inhabitable place for all of the different people who live here. Jinkx Monsoon the character definitely isn’t a paragon of social etiquette, but Jerick Hoffer the performer wants to use this as an opportunity to spread a positive message.

You had quite a bit of opening up, on the show about your relationship with your mother and your upbringing. I had a lot of mixed emotions about opening up about my family, but ultimately I decided to share certain parts of my story because they are huge turning point and what made me the kind of drag queen artist and human being I am today. I think that you can learn just as much from the tragic moments in your life, if not more, as you can from the successful moments in your life. My mother and I have resolved these issues years ago, but due to the episodes airing we’ve been able to reflect and really grow from this experience as a family. Drag race more or less brought my family back together in a time when we were kind of disparate and my personal recent success has motivated my brothers to really go for their life dreams and I fully support them and all the things that they do to accomplish their goals in life. When people ask me if I set out to be a role model to the youth of America, I respond that I just set out to be a role model to my younger brothers and if other people can take positive messages from that, I’m happy to provide.

My absolute favorite Jinkx episode was when you gave American veteran, Dave, a makeover on the soldier challenge. Girl! You made us all tear up. What did you get from that challenge? It was really easy to be compassionate and caring with Dave because Dave is a compassionate caring person himself. I learned so much from him about the history of the gay rights movement. I learned a lot from him about what veterans actually went through before they were able to be out in the military. Dave has risen above so much adversity in his life and he really lit a fire under me to rise above all my challenges and Drag Race. He believed in me every moment of our time together and it fueled me to keep my head in the game. I have stayed in touch with him since the filming of Drag Race and I feel lucky that I got to take home the crown not just for me, but for Dave and for all the people like Dave who lay down the brickwork for the gay rights movement to be where it’s at today.

You’re such a talented and gifted performer and actor. How different is drag from acting? Is drag just a deeper form of method acting, in your opinion? Drag is acting. If you’re doing your job right you’ve created a character and a persona that is unique from your own. I think of drag less like stage acting and more like commedia dell’arte. You create a form to live in, a persona that has life and history of its own and you portray it for your audiences whether you’re on stage or just walking around. If you’re in costume and you are in drag, you’re in character and that’s the way I see it.

You describe yourself, Jerrick, as “kind of a goof, and a little bit of a dork,” and Jinkx is “the life of the party”. Where does the light switch flip for that transformation? For me the transformation isn’t complete until every element is in place. It’s not enough just to have the make up, the costume, the shoes, the wig on one at a time. They all have to be in place together for me to feel like Jinkx has come to life. The persona of Jinkx has evolved throughout the years, but when I look into the mirror and i see Jinkx looking back at me, that’s when I fully snap into character and the rest is kind of out of my hands. It’s all improv, it’s all on the spot decision-making as my character. Jerick is definitely a dork, but Jinkx is the life of the party because Jinkx insists on being the life of the party. That’s just who she is, she wants all eyes on her at all times.

As I mentioned, you’ll be performing here in Tampa at Hamburger Mary’s on May 19th, and I can’t tell you how excited we are to have you. What should we be expecting from Jinkxalicous? When you come to one of my shows, come with an open mind and be ready to experience whatever might happen that night. I take my job as a performer extremely seriously, and I spend all day trying to concoct the perfect show for that specific audience. I never know what I’m going to do until that day because I really want the inspiration to hit me, but what you can be assured is it will be a top notch performance from a passionate performer.

If Little Edie (Grey Gardens) and Jinkx’s namesake Eddie Monsoon (Absolutely Fabulous) came backstage after one of your drag shows, what do you think their reactions would be? I hope that little Edie would feel honored by my tribute to her and I hope Edina Monsoon would try to hire me to be her body double for special appearances. Basically I hope they would save my homage to them as a portrayal of my absolute love for who they are and not take any offense to any of it. Or if they did take offense to it I hope that we could laugh our way through it without a lawsuit. Ha ha! RuPaul’s Drag Race Season 5 Winner, Jinkx Monsoon performs at Hamburger Marys in Ybor, Sun., May 19. No cover, reservations strongly recommended, call 813 241 6279 for availability.