(00:00)
Crystal Lubrikunt: Y’alright? Got your cuppa tea? Then let’s go!
My name is Crystal Lubrikunt; I’m a camp drag performer and international potato from London, and welcome to my brand new podcast What Are You Like?! Each episode I’ll be inviting a fabulous special guest on and we’ll be finding out what they REALLY, are like. It can go one way or another, but be prepared for good vibrations, good conversation and most of all, campery.
So start strollin’, grab your cuppa tea wherever you may be in the world, whatever you may be doing, just make sure you use the right amount of lube- biscuits! I said… Biscuits! And let’s get started.
(00:35)
Crystal: A master of their craft for almost three decades, my first guest on What Are You Like?! Is nothing short of a drag legend. From writing & starring in over 10 headline cabaret shows and tours across America, and the world, to making iconic appearances in Will & Grace, Too Wong Foo Thanks For Everything Julie Newmar!, Trick and Wigstock: The Movie, to interviewing fellow icons such as Liza Minelli, Bea Arthur, Jane Fonda and more! To - of course - creating Youtube GOLD direct from her living room, and her local supermarkets it’s the entertainer, the comedian, the activist and one of my personal inspirations, the legendary… Miss Coco.. Peru.
(01:18)
Crystal: Hello Coco!
Miss Coco Peru: Hello Crystal
Crystal: How are you doing on this Tuesday - well - lunchtime for you, evening for me?
Coco: I’m on a diet - Crystal’s wheezy laugh can be heard in the background -
It’s only the second day so it probably won’t last, I’ve lost all willpower but (er) i’m fine i’m a little warm, it’s warm here in Los Angeles.
Crystal: I bet, I bet it is, it’s warm here and that says a lot, here in little ole’ London.
(01:41)
Crystal: First & foremost (um) thank you so much for being my first guest on What Are You Like?! It is an absolute honour and a privilege to have you here.
Coco: Thank you.
Crystal: My absolute pleasure, and.. I’ve just got a quick question for you; what are you like?
Coco: What am I like?… I am complicated! - Crystal joyously laughs - You know?
Crystal: Aren’t we all?
(02:03)
Coco: I am a complicated person person I (um) I… I run the gannet of… - you know - if anybody has seen my show I do think I give them a fair glimpse into what it is to be me (you know) even though i’m doing it as Coco, I’m telling autobiographical stories so… (you know) I can be a very kind, loving… Generous… Thoughtful person and I can be a monster sometimes
Crystal: I believe everyone deserves the right to be Dr. Jekyll AND Mr. Hyde, or in our regards Dr. Jekyll and - Coco joins as they say in unison - MRS Hyde.
(02:42)
Coco: But I’ve always said, and i’ve even expressed it in one of my shows, I believe that everyone has a light side and a dark side and I’m much more interested in being around people who can be honest about both of those sides, anybody that is (just) 100% telling you that they’re… A light person (um) they scare me more than the people who can admit to having (um) dark moments. And that’s where my comedy comes from, is that I-I try so hard to be (er) correct in my thinking and my behaviour and my comedy comes in all the times that I fail.
(03:25)
Crystal: But that’s the thing (is that) It’s always when you’re working with someone and they say “I’m a good person” That’s when you immediately they’re a bad person!
(03:33)
Coco: Oh I know (you know) I made that mistake once, I was with these guys (um) who have a podcast, they’ve had it for many years and I was feeling very vulnerable because of the way I’d been treated by this (um) presenter where I was doing my show, and I-I was not treated fairly and I kept saying to these guys “I’m a nice person!.. I’m a nice person!” And these guys still to this day hold it against me, in a funny way but (um you know) I guess it sounded ridiculous to them that I kept telling them that I was this nice person like I was trying to convince them but it-it was because I was in this vulnerable place of feeling (um) like I had been treated poorly, and didn’t deserve that because “I’M A NICE PERSON!”
(04:20)
Crystal: Yes!
Crystal: Absolutley! Now speaking of your shows, I last saw you perform at The Royal Vauxhall Tavern in London, April 2018. And must I say it was bloody fabulous, it was joyous, it was (you know) it-it pained me to hear (that you were) The word ‘retirement’ come out of your mouth, it (was just it) ached me because I want that experience that I had watching you to be a shared one for generations to come, but thus is life. Now you were scheduled to come to London (er) at the start of the year, I did have tickets, but unfortunately (um) Corona virus has prevented that from happening (but) I just wanna ask; will you be planning to come back and give us (that show) that 2020 show (er) in the future when we are all able to.
(05:10)
Coco: Yes, I-I look forward to it. I love performing over there, (I wanna tell you) when I first performed in London, it was in 19- (oh god, I don’t know) one? Two? Three? Somewhere in there? And I (um) performed at the place called Freedom Cafe, it was Marc Almond’s boyfriend and he had American drag queens come over and do shows, and I was one of them… And I performed there in London and it was a completely different experience back then performing for a (er) a British audience because they did not know what to make of me.
(05:48)
Here was a drag queen telling autobiographical stories, in a theatre setting so they were sitting very quietly like it was theatre, and then I realised I’m gonna have to start laughing at my own jokes with my piano player to give them permission to laugh. And then it (kind of) let them know (like); oh no this is-yeah, and now with YouTube and this (sort of um) whole world of this drag explosion (and’m) our humour is becoming more interconnected… d’ya know what i mean?
(06:22)
Crystal: Totally.
Coco: Going to London now is like performing here! The audiences are equal!
Crystal: It really-really is.
Coco: (I) When I first was coming back most recently I (um) in one of my shows I mentioned; Target, and I-I asked them I said “should I change it to something else?”
Crystal: We know it!
Crystal: Walmart and Target!
Coco: And the audience cheered! And I thought; my God what a different (you know) what a different world it is to perform now in, in-in London,
(06:51)
Crystal: I guess its similar to when we go over to America and we mention Primark?
Coco: Yeah! I love Primark.
Crystal: See?
Crystal: Thats great! We’re gonna move on to our first section Coco are you ready?
Coco: Yes.
Crystal: Lets bring on ‘7 Things’
(07:05)
Crystal: Coco I’ve got in touch with one of your drag relatives that is Kiki Ball-Change (@KikiBallChange) of New York City.
Coco: …Yes?
Crystal: And they have described you in 7 words and we’re gonna go through those words now and decipher why they’ve chosen those words. The first word, it’s an obvious one I find; is ‘funny’. Were you always a funny person Coco?
(07:35)
Coco: Yes, I-I think I was, I grew up in the Bronx in (er) very working class neighbourhood… And I was born late in my parent’s life so I hung around my parents and their friends, who were hilarious and I thought in my mind they were celebrities (and) because they were so funny (and) so I just soaked them up and became an observer at a very young age (and) so (um) I think that’s where my humour comes from.
Crystal: Like a humour in humility.
(08:02)
Coco: Yes, I worshipped those people.
Crystal: And the second word is; ‘fabulous’. Were you always fabulous?
Coco: No I was not always fabulous and to this day I’m a huuge nerd.
Crystal: I love that, i think deep down we are all nerds, I love nerds (um) especially the sweets! Third one is; ‘wonderful’.
Coco: Boy she’s- (what a)
Coco: She’s kissing my ass!
Crystal: Kiki! Is giving you the good ole’ schmooch! I love it, I love it.
(08:26)
Coco: ‘Wonderful’, well I will say this: Kiki wrote to me as a fan and said “I would like to redo your website for free, because, your website looks like an old person’s website.”
Crystal: I… love that.
Coco: “And I asked some of my friends if they thought your website looks current and they all agreed it didn’t so I would like to offer you that.” And I have always loved young people, I’ve always wanted to (um) foster their careers (… you know) and I said “Sure! Lets work together” And then she did that and she asked if I would be her drag mom and I’m a terrible drag mother!
- Crystal chuckles -
(09:10)
Coco: But (um) I said “Of course!” (you know so) Maybe that’s where i’m ‘wonderful’ is that I… I sort of open my arms to her where she was just a fan but to me my fans are everything, truly, and so I was like “Yeah lets-lets do something together” so that’s how that came about.
Crystal: And Kiki is becoming the most phenomenal performer in the New York scene; such a brilliant talent and a joy, and I think it’s very fitting that you two are now drag relatives because you’re both one in the same in the terms of the- DEFINITELY, ‘wonderful’ (er) ‘fabulous’ and ‘funny’ department.
(09:48)
Now the fourth word is which (kind of) links that one to the next is; ‘considerate’.
Coco: ‘Considerate’… Yeah there’ve been moments where she’s asked for things and I’ve said “Yes” For instance when we went to RuPaul’s DragCon she was helping me out, so they give us this gift bag and there was lots of make-up in there that I would never use because I’m not creative that way and I stick to what I know, and so I was so please to be able to offer that to her (you know) whereas I know some other queens would probably take that home and I try to SELL IT and make some CASH…
(10:22)
…Coco Peru is a giver.
Crystal: We have a drag convention in the U.K. called DragWorld and (I) for the last two years have had my drag daughter Rougie assist me and we got a lot of free goodie bag stuff and I threw most of it in her direction, all I wanted was the black eye liner.
Coco: Yeah!
Crystal: That’s all I wanted. Now the fifth word is (Coco: Yes?) ‘warm’.
(10:45)
Coco: Well I think from the beginning of my career that’s something people have always associated… with me, and you saw my show it’s not all comedy, there is a sense of humanity and warmness to it. (Um) I think sometimes (er) a lot of people didn’t quite get that early on in my care- (I mean) actually a lot of people got it early on in my career because right from my first show I got a lot of attention back then. But I think a lot of these (sort of) people in my world (sort of) were put off because I wasn’t “edgy” enough… And to me, I thought I was very edgy by being a drag queen that could present other (er) emotional aspects to myself rather than just being (you know) “fierce” or (you know) have that cutting humour that tears people down, I can do all of that, but I wanted to present a more ‘full picture’ of who I am…
(11:45)
And-and show more sides to myself and I… I had doubts a long the way of feeling that ‘nerdy’ part of myself and I’m so glad that I stuck with it because now young people; when I can go to those places it really does resonate with young people.
Crystal: It really does.
(12:03)
Coco: And (um) that makes me really happy.
Crystal: Because I think even now it… is very much the same with social media; everyones in their own (sort of, you know) ‘paint by numbers’, in the way that people feel they should behave and feel they should act and how they should carry themselves, especially in the drag world so I think when someone comes along and they show such humility it’s commendable because (I think) especially in this day & age; people are thinking that ‘they need to do this’ and ‘they need to do that’ in order to get there and it’s something that I think is always a brilliant thing when someone can just be 100% themselves.
(12:37)
Coco: And anytime I’ve been sensitive in my show and people have (you know, sort of) have maybe been put off by that sensitivity (um) I-I just laugh cos I think (you know I-) the only reason I feel I can go to that place is because I have spent so much time in my show being angry, being self-deprecating, having that cutting humour (you know) that if-if I choose to have a moment that’s somewhat reflective or sensitive I feel like i’ve earned that.
Crystal: Absolutely, 100%. The sixth word; which I find most interesting of the seven is ‘candid’.
(13:13)
Coco: ‘Candid’… Maybe it’s because I’m a New Yorker?
Crystal: So what made you go to L.A from New York?
Coco: (uh) Well if I might say ‘so candidly’…
Coco: I was sick of New York, I grew up there! Honestly I started to feel that there were people moving to New York City who believed that in order to survive in New York City and to ‘make it’ you had to be ‘edgy’ with that edginess there was a rudeness.
(13:43)
And I just was thinking; this is MY city and native New Yorkers are not rude, we might be blunt, we might tell you how are feelings are, we might yell over a table to express how we feel about something, but we’re not mean. I just had so many times where as a effeminate gay man - in my own community I’m talking - that (I just) I just started to feel like I’m done with this city, it’s not the city that I want it to be. I still love New York, and I’m so happy that I’m from there but I think I was just ready for a change and I also got to a place in my life where I thought (you know what?) It’s okay that I like nature, and that I want to see a little bit of nature. Here in L.A I have (you know) my little lime tree that talks
to me, my lemon tree that, she’s such a whore I love her.
(14:35)
Crystal: Eurgh everything. (I mean) I live on the- to anyone that’s not from London? I say I am from London, to Londoners? I may as well be in another country. - Crystal laughs - Because I am amongst the forest, and I very much like being amongst the forest.
Coco: When I was staying the guy that produced my show that you saw in Hackney?
Crystal: Ah…
Coco: We were talking one night, there was just a fox sitting there and it was the most beautiful moment and I remember that moment of that fox surviving in all that madness…
(15:04)
And-and the thing was, it wasn’t (um) it wasn’t afraid, we just stood there (kind-of) staring at eachother it was a.. I-I remember that moment. I love-I love nature.
Crystal: I used to live in the centre of a town called Brighton, (and it was) I lived in the centre of the centre and I remember being very suffocated and the minute that I moved back home and was amongst the forest, and had the opportunity - and I have dogs as well so I have (sort of) giving myself a reason to go out and go for walks, especially in isolation and it just is the ticket.
(15:36)
Coco: Yeah, my nephew from Spain lives in Brighton but now he lives in a town outside of Brighton but his biggest complaint about Brighton was about the loud seagulls.
Crystal: Ah yes. Ah… - Coco laughs - Ahhhhh yes… And that’s not a euphemism for the drag queens. (Um) The last word of the seven things by Kiki Ball-Change of Coco Peru, is ‘inspiring’.
(16:00)
Coco: Well I think that (um) yes my-my shows have always been compared to group therapy sessions where people- I have always tried to make my shows so authentically ‘me’ and yet at the same time make them so relatable that people sit there going “oh my god, this is my story” or “this is how i feel” and that was my goal when I created Coco was that (um) I wanted- I knew that storytelling was what really changes people and can inspire people and I wanted people to come see my show and relate to me despite the drag. I wanted them to forget that I was in drag and really… just go ‘is this a man? Is this a woman? Is it a she, he?’ and then realise; none of that matters, what matters is the words, what I’m feeling, how we’re relating to each other, that’s what’s most important to me.
(16:56)
Crystal: It’s like you go on stage and you become everyone’s guardian angel?
That maybe (like) schmooching on ya’ tusch too much but that’s what it felt like for me (I was) I was in Coco’s world, Coco was my auntie that I did not know I had for a solid 90 minutes and it was everything.
(17:16)
Coco: And I have to tell you; that’s why i love- I-I even hate saying the word ‘fans’ but (um) my fans / friends / Coco Puffs, whatever they wanna call themselves, I-I feel just as - what you just described - I feel that from my audience… where I feel less alone in the world, I feel like there’s other people who think like me when I hear a laugh or cheer or I see someone shedding a tear, it makes me feel less alone so I’m getting something out of it as well except… I’m getting cash.
- Crystal laughs -
So, you know… even better.
Crystal: Absolutely! Eurgh!
- Coco laughs -
Coco: A girl’s gotta make her coin as the kids say!
Crystal: 100%! Now we’re gonna move on to our second section of this interview; it is ‘True Love’
- a slow guitar jingle plays as notable American television personality Thorgy Thor saying “Ok i.. am OBSESSED with mustard, I can’t believe I said that out loud’ is played over it -
(18:16)
Crystal: So what is something you’ve loved and been in love with since birth that still resonates with you today? Something that you’ve been brought up with or known that, since you’ve been able to think and, operate that you’ve always loved and is still with you as one of your biggest loves today.
Coco: Right, so when my manager (um) and you & I were writing before, I was asked if I wanted these questions before we actually did this interview and I chose no, because I wanted whatever the first thing that was to pop into my head be, what we talked about.
Crystal: I appreciate that.
(18:52)
Coco: So what first popped into my head is; music.
Crystal: Ah.
Coco: So when I was a kid… my mother - I had an older brother & sister, I also had another sister that passed away 3 months after I was born, so she was 15 but my other brother & sister were older than her and my brother was already out of the house and he had said to my mother: “Promise me you’ll play the baby music” So my mother used to play music for me, classical music as a kid, and I just think that-that got into my DNA somehow…
(19:27)
And so even to this day when I write, I will listen to music to foster whatever that emotion i’m trying to get in my writing i will listen to music that (sort of) connects me to that emotion… whether it’s funny or heart-warming, whatever it is, and then I (um) So I use music as a creative tool to write.
Crystal: One of the surprises from seeing your show was hearing your beautiful singing voice… Is there a song that you sing at your shows that, if you could pick one song to sing for the rest of your career; is there a particular song that completely jumps in your head right now?
(20:06)
Coco: No… No, there isn’t but one of the songs that I was determined to always sing was The Killing Moon by Echo & The Bunnymen, and (um) and I sang it in that show (and um) to me it’s such a hauntingly beautiful song but what was (sort of) great about it was people who knew the song from the 80s said; “I never thought of the song in the way you interpreted it” and I didn’t change any of the words, and that’s why I (sort of) love the magic as well, not changing the words to a song, but giving them a perspective that (maybe, sometimes) people never thought of it in that way.
(20:48)
Crystal: It’s the magic of music, it’s the magic of performance, and it takes - like you said - what was (um) beautifully - i should say - beautifully drummed into you (as a…) as a child through to now, is you had a sense of musicality and I think that readapting that song for people to listen to, that may have known it, thought they were listening to something brand new (um) it’s special. It’s so special.
(21:16)
Coco: Right, and what was really exciting to me was not only to the people who knew the song (er) reflect on the song, there were so many young people who didn’t know that song that then went out and researched it, cos they wanted to own it (you know)
Crystal: And that’s your gift (Coco: Yeah) to them. Which is…
Coco: I told you! Crystal! …I am a giver!
Crystal: Considerate! Warm! Candid! Inspiring! (Um) We’re gonna go to ou-
Coco: And sometimes, a cunt.
Crystal: You know with my name; I appreciate that.
Coco: Exactly. And darling, we need- that’s what it’s all about, keeping a balance.
(21:56)
Crystal: Always. A balance is absolutely mandatory in life.
Coco: Yes. And like I always say; if you’re coming to my (din-) to my house for dinner, and you can’t appreciate a good shit story over dinner? Well, we’re probably not gonna be dear friends.
Crystal: Acquaintances at best.
Coco: At best.
Crystal: Now lets move on to ‘Topic Of Choice’
(22:26)
Crystal: Now from music to current affair’s, food, film & fabulous things, to self care, to that one actor you enjoy or (you know) to that one biscuit you had the other evening that you wanna talk about, is there anything that comes off of the top of your head that you wish to discuss today?
Coco: The thing that I always wanna discuss (when-when) when it’s just open and they “what do you wanna discuss” I am obsessed- and my fans know this, with litter!
Crystal: Eurgh…
(22:53)
Coco: I don’t understand how anybody can throw even the tiniest piece of paper out on to our planet earth it just makes me crazy and these are the same idiots that throw things at the curb and one good rainstorm puts it right down into our rivers that wash right out into the ocean and they’re the first person to cry when a (you know) a dolphin’s choking to death on a plastic cup or a turtle’s got a straw stuck up it’s nose.
Crystal: The first person to share that video (Coco: Yeah!) on Facebook saying “this is so horrible”
(23:22)
Coco: Yeah they’re horrible and I’m like; well (whose) whose doing it?! Whose putting it- but see this (was the-this) was something I have been obsessed with since I was a child. I was put to work as a kid, when I was very young, and my job was to sweep the streets of my neighbourhood, and I grew up in the Bronx in the 70s, so it wasn’t the cleanest… and I grew up in a pretty clean neighbourhood… but even then it was still (um) people just didn’t think about the Earth in the way that they do now, but I did… and I used to fantasise about machines that would clean the Earth, I wanted to live in Disney World - not because of the rides but because it was clean.
(24:03)
So I’ve always been obsessed with it since I was a kid and when I was really little we were driving and I grew up on a little island in the Bronx and we had a North Easter storm, the tides had risen so high that the whole island was littered with garbage that had been in the water, it was stuck in hedges and just all over the sidewalks, and my mother said “Oh my gosh look at all the garbage that came up out of the water!” and I said to my mother “Mother Earth threw up on us” And I really always remembered that, that we had made the Earth so sick with our garbage she threw it right back up on us and (I-I) today I-I still feel that way, I agonise over it.
(24:44)
Crystal: I live - as I’d said - near a forest, and next to the forest is a film studios, and very recently a major movie that is (er) famous for it’s dinosaurs I shall say had just wrapped up it’s shoot in the forest, and they had tonnes of security all over the forest, and it security person and had (like) a pop up chair and (you know) they all had their packed lunches, and I walked past one of their stands later on in the evening where everyone went home, and their rubbish shoved into one of the branches of the trees.
Coco: Insane
(25:15)
Crystal: Is there a moment where you have caught someone littering and you’ve actually intervened and “excuse me!”
Coco: Oh, all the time! My husband’s terrified! And my family is always like “You’re gonna get shot one of these days!” (you know because) I can not keep my mouth shut. I’ll be honest, I’m going to be so honest with you right now…
Crystal: Do it.
(25:34)
Coco: It’s one of the reasons that I am now on Lexapro which is an anti-anxiety- I’m on a very low dosage - 5 miligrams - and I’ve been taking it for two years but my husband & I were in Spain where I am constantly (er) picking up garbage off of the beach, out of the water, people step over- they’re picking up shells and rocks i’m like: could you pick up (you know) could you teach your children to pick up gar- anyway… don’t get me started- but two people threw cigarette buds into the Mediterranean and I… lost it.
(26:07)
Crystal: Oo’h…
Coco: And that’s when my husband - Coco sniggers - said I think you might need medication.
Crystal: Eurgh! (Coco: Because!) I think people need medication for not being arseholes!
Coco: Well! Thank you Crystal because that was my response! (I said) He said “its cos’ you’re always outraged… you’re always outraged” And I said “well i’m outraged- part of my outrage is I’m outraged that no one else seems to be as outraged as i am! We should all be outraged!” But the point was that it was affec- I do believe it was affecting my ability to actually enjoy my moment, the moment that I work so hard.
Crystal: 100%.
(26:53)
Coco: To be able to sit by my husband on a beach (um) I do think the (um) Lexapro has made a difference in my life but it certainly hasn’t diminished my-my passion for a cleaner Earth (you know) all that garbage is a reflection of who we are as peo- (as) a human race.
(27:10)
Crystal: As I said it’ll be the Becky’s sharing it on Facebook that is the same to first break lockdown and go to a beach, and litter all over the beach.
Coco: Exactly.
Crystal: And it’s excruciating to witness it all, and the stupidity of the human race but here we are! - Coco sniggers - Here we bloody are! Now I think it’s time to take a breather and to take, a little short break.
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(28:18)
Crystal: So now Coco it’s time for ‘Pet Peeves’
Crystal: What! Coco is grinding your gears today other than litter?
(28:33)
Coco: Oh okay well! I grew up in a neighbourhood in the Bronx where you learned how to be a good neighbour and so I have a problem sometimes with neighbours who are not considerate, and who may be, blast music in their backyards… so on Sunday I was laying in my backyard reading (er) trying to enjoy my moment and my neighbours decided to blast their music and (um) see I had to remind them that other people also have speakers in their backyards that don’t blast their music cos’ they’re considerate neighbours, and I happened to be one of those neighbours so I go inside and I do this almost every weekend, and I blast my Alejandro Sanz - my favourite Spanish singer, one of my favourite Spanish singers and I was blasting him (yet) on Sunday to remind my neighbours that they’re not the only ones who can blast their music.
(29:30)
Crystal: Touche.
Coco: So then I had to write to my other neighbour who I like and say “i’m sorry about my loud music, i’m just trying to show them-“ and he said “that’s okay I feel like I’m in Epcot Center”
Coco: Cos’ they were listening to Armenian music, I was listening to Spanish music and he felt like-
Crystal: - in bold American accent mimicking a Walt Disney voiceover - “Welcome to the world showcase.”
Coco: Exactly! - Coco laughs - I have a neighbour that parks on his front lawn which is disgusting to me.
(29:54)
Crystal: Eurgh.
Coco: I have another neighbour who-who has abandoned his car in front of our neighbours house, he sometimes does it in front of our house and because of CoVid they’re not enforcing the laws so he’s totally taking advantage of that- Oh honey I can go on and on and on…
Crystal: Ay-yi-yi…
Coco: The problem is that sometimes I think “Oh I just wish I could just live somewhere where there are no other people” but then I know I’d go crazy because I need to be around movement and people and… so I-I have to find that balance I’m telli- and sometimes when I get crazy about (you know) the neighbours my husband will look at me and go: “10 milligrams?”
Coco: “Do we need to bump it up?”
Crystal: Oh my goodness… - Coco laughs - Oh my goodness, now I should ask you how has lockdown been for you?
(30:41)
Coco: Ah (you know) I have ups and I have downs like everybody else, the thing that’s getting me through it is that I count my blessings, that sounds so corny but when I was doing that little video series (of um) ‘ The Little Things Being The Big Things’ truly I… I- that got me through it. I went around my house and was finding all the little things that I could appreciate and celebrate, and so I continue… to try to do that. I- my hope is that creative people stay creative because whenever faced with challenges, that rebirth of real creative change is eminent and I’m hoping that’s the case.
(31:25)
Crystal: Me too… Me too, truly. We’re gonna go onto our next section and it is our last section of the interview which is ‘Somebody To Love’
(31:39)
Crystal: What or who are you currently enjoying in life? Whether it’s a new one or a love that’s always been around you, or if it’s a new singer you’re listening to or a new book that you’ve read, tell me… tell me all.
Coco: Oh well I first of all have to mention my husband and that, so (ah you know) for all the people out there that (you know) are either looking for someone or have someone, being able to to go through this with a partner of 25 years is really wonderful and that’s why I always encourage my young friends… that (erm you know) sometimes when you live in a big city it’s hard to find that special someone cos’ there’s just so many options, no one will ever be perfect.
(32:25)
But I found someone who (um) I’ve been able to grow with for 25 years (um) and it’s almost like having a bank account where you keep investing and you see these dividends (you know) and so afte- we just celebrated our 25 years together (um) on the 30th July-
Crystal: Oh that’s amazing.
Coco: So of course I’ve been reflecting on all of this and that’s probably why I-I brought it up is just- 25 years, where did it go? But it’s wonderful to have 25 years of memories that you’ve created together (and) and I find great comfort in that in this time.
(32:59)
Crystal: It’s beautiful, that’s so-so special.
Coco: I literally go to bed every night and I think ‘I can’t wait to wake up tomorrow morning so I can have my coffee’
Crystal: Eurgh.
Coco: So I’m really digging my coffee, I always loved coffee but I just… It’s those little things.
(33:17)
Crystal: It is.
Coco: I make a… two latte’s every morning for myself and… It’s called addiction I know - Crystal sniggers - it’s the caffeine i’m addicted to.
Crystal: I’m the same with sugar, I am the same with sugar.
Coco: But I’m-I-I’m really in-valuing that (er) those two coffees in the morning, I’m actually sad when I finished the last one but it gives me something to look forward to in the next morning.
Crystal: Absolutely.
(33:42)
Coco: And I also have been having (um) great joy in- I’ve been doing my little ‘Casa Coco’ online show and (um) what you said about earlier, what you didn’t expect from it? (um) Although I’m not doing a full show and there’s no way you can capture what you do in the theatre with lights, and sound, and that intimacy that you have with an audience, you can’t really capture that over a computer but you can (sort of) try to capture it. Sometimes I succeed I think because of the responses I get back from people and one of the responses is- “I didn’t know you sang” or “I didn’t know I was gonna feel emotional” or “that-that would really touch me that way” I found that so funny cos’ (you know) they only know me from shopping videos on YouTube, they don’t know the history I have of being a monologuist so, that’s been joyful for me to have my fans discover another (er) part of me.
(34:40)
Crystal: (I mean) I’m one of those fans (it was) it was a beautiful discovery (er) that night I saw you because I was someone that watched the YouTube videos, that’d seen you in these amazing movies and obviously Will & Grace as well… And to watch you live in your own show is watching you in your element, those things are great little parts of your talent but I feel (like) your solo show, and your solo show experience, is just the full package.
(35:11)
Coco: That’s where my passion was, when people come up to me like “I love you so much Coco” and I-I say “Where did you, how’d you, what show did you see?” and they’re like “Oh no I love your (um) Gran Theft Auto video”
Crystal Yeah.
Coco: And I’m happy but I’m always a little like; I really want you to see my show cos’ that is truly my passion.
(35:30)
Crystal: Is there anything that, over lockdown and over these past few months that has sprung a seed in your mind that after lockdown and once everything returns to its new normal, is there something that you would like to do that you didn’t have in you before?
Coco: (um well) I’m trying to see if I can publish something… so I’m working on that right now and it was something that I’ve been working on before the lockdown then it (kinda) fell by the wayside and I thought ‘well with this time lets revisit that’ (s-so) I’m working on that. (And um) I’m doing a little voiceover work for a new show called DeadEndia by a wonderful writer there in your country called Hamish Steele.
(36:11)
Crystal: Ah amazing.
Coco: (um so) That’s exciting, that’ll be on Netflix… (um) my illness, I keep waiting to get fired from it. - Crystal laughs - You know… but - Coco Chuckles -
Crystal: I think we all live with some element of imposter syndrome.
Coco: Well (it’s like) no one would’ve, I would’ve never imagined that Trump could be President, that we’d be on lockdo- I mean (it’s just like) nothing surprises me anymore.
Crystal: No! It doesn’t (it’s like) bring em’ on, bring em’ all on cos i’ll sit here and shrug my shoulders.
(36:36)
Coco: If I don’t hear from them for a while I’m like “Did I get fired!?” (You know)
So I’m working on that and I certainly (um) I hope that I have at least one more show in me before I retire- there are things that I-I think my next show, I’m gonna write it from the perspective of what you said earlier, that Aunt that you never knew you had? I really wanna speak to the young people about (um) who- (um) about the world they wanna create and the power they have to create that world… with the black lives movement I’ve been so inspired by young people out on the streets,
(37:15)
it’s certainly something I learned from the AIDS activism of the 80s & 90s, and it’s certainly what I learned from creating Coco… It’s that you are 100% responsible, not 50%, not whatever-percentage, you are 100% percent responsible for creating the world that you wanna live in and each of us have that responsibility, and drag taught me that as well… That as I created Coco, and I’m sure you learnt this as Crystal sweetheart, you created a character and as you’re creating that character you realise ‘oh my god… this is how I’m supposed to create everything in my life, I-I am the creator, may not always go as I’d planned but I have this active role in creating my life in the same way that I created Crystal Lubrikunt.’
(38:07)
Crystal: Wow… You took me there!
Crystal: You took me there, I- (just got) I got a free session.
Crystal: And I am thankful, thank you so much.
Coco: Well (um) I’m honoured to be here, and-and that I still have a voice and that young people still wanna hear from me, it-it makes me feel good.
(38:27)
Crystal: You are just such… an icon as a… sh-show woman, as… as an activist, and as just a staple in drag history, you are so loved, and so adored and I have friends upon friends a part of different generations that love & appreciate everything you do that we find ourselves quoting you, we find ourselves (you know) when you announce a date in London I get multiple messages from multiple types of people being like “are you going?”, “I-can I come with you?”, “can I- shall we get tickets together?” and it’s just the gift that keeps on giving with you Coco so if you do-
(39:08)
Coco: Oh my god that almost makes me wanna cry.
Crystal: It’s beautiful and i-you are the gift that keeps on giving as you said you are a giver, you are considerate, and I just think i-we are so lucky to have people like you on this planet and I really want you to realise that.
(39:22)
Coco: I am so happy to be a part of a drag sisterhood, and I know that drag queens- whatever their talent is, whatever they’re doing, (it is, you know) people used to go “Don’t call yourself a drag queen you’re so much more than that” and I would look at them and say “You need to open your mind about what drag is!” and it’s all valuable, it’s self expression, it’s creation, (it’s a-) it’s a celebration of owning 100% of who you are, I just its- (you know) All of it! And… gender, all-all of this exploration we’re on it’s just wonderful and I-I-it’s been an honour to’ve been a drag queen for 30 years.
(40:04)
Crystal: Now do you have anything to plug before we say our goodbyes today Coco?
Coco: Ah, just my (um) Casa Coco No.5 will be on- I think the date is August 26th will be my birthday celebration which is the 27th so (um) it’ll probably have a little bit of a birthday theme and I haven’t confirmed it yet but-I always usually have two guests and (I-) I’m pretty sure that one of them is gonna be that hateful queen Bianca Del Rio.
Crystal: Eurgh… I had the very big displeasure of having a Wagamamas which is an asian fusion restaurant dinner with her once and she was horrendous.
Coco: She’s-she’s just a miserable, miserable person… I love her.
- Crystal chuckles -
(40:47)
Crystal: Thank you so so much for taking the time
and talking to me on this Tuesday afternoon/evening, it has been a pleasure to have you as my first guest on What Are You Like?! Coco Peru.
Coco: Thank you Crystal and just know, as part of my craziness, I will get off of here and think about all of the things I should’ve said or all- did I sound stupid!?
I’m just letting you know that I will be filled with self doubt for the next few hours.
(41:20)
Crystal: Well do not because you have - Coco laughs - been everything and more and I am thrilled to have you.
Coco: You don’t have to say it, you don’t have to say it!
Crystal: I’m going to and it’s gonna be the fade out!
Coco: No! It’s my-It’s my craziness.
Crystal: Well I love your crazy and thank you so much for tuning in and thank you so much for listening listener but, thank you so much Coco Peru for being here.
Coco: Thank you Crystal.
Crystal: And that wraps up our very first episode of What Are You Like?! Thank you so much for joining me, I’ve been Crystal Lubrikunt, I’m extending my love & thanks to Miss Coco Peru for joining me as my very first guest ever. If you wanna hit me up its @CrystaLubrikunt on Instagram, that’s C-R-Y-S-T-A-L-U-B-R-I-K-U-N-T… I’ll see you in the next one but for now, stay camp.
- Episode ends -