Viva Las Gaygas: Drag, divas and unexpected lights | Page 2 of 2

Contents:

• HOW MATTHEW PERRY KILLED A GAY STORY FOR HIS CHARACTER ‘FRIENDS’
• VIVA LAS GAYGAS: DRAG, DIVAS AND UNEXPECTED LIGHTS
• VIVA LAS GAYGAS BABY!
• VIVA LAS GAYGAS
• VIVA LAS GAYGAS TICKETS

HOW MATTHEW PERRY KILLED A GAY STORY FOR HIS CHARACTER ‘FRIENDS’

It's Viva Las Gaygas: A Caso Cabaret! If anythg, jt happens Las Gaygas, stays Las Gaygas! Turner played Chandler’s parent Charl Bg, who performed as Helena Handbasket for her drag stage show Viva Las Gaygas.

’ I said y, bee there weren’t many drag/trans people on televisn at the time, ” Turner told the Gay Tim.

In a new book chroniclg the massively popular NBC s Friends, a wrer om the seri says that actor Matthew Perry (who played the joke-crackg character Chandler Bg) nixed a storyle that had him sneakg to gay bars bee he loved their tuna melt sandwich.

VIVA LAS GAYGAS: DRAG, DIVAS AND UNEXPECTED LIGHTS

Bg’s blogil father — who works as drag and burlque performer Helena Handbasket a revue lled “Viva Las Gaygas” — also beme a repeated punchle, subject to misgenrg and transphobia spe her beg a fabulo and self-assured dividual.

It’s unclear if Handbasket was supposed to be gay or trans, but the fact that the character was played early on the seri by a cis male and was later on portrayed by actrs Kathleen Turner suggts the latter. “Chandler and Joey were repeatedly mistaken for a gay uple, male characters were mocked for perceived ‘feme’ behavr, Ross is unable to handle the ia of havg a male nanny, and Chandler was equently portrayed as beg paranoid about beg thought of as gay.

In 2011, vio artist Tijana Mamula put together a 50-mute vio entled “Homophobic Friends” which showed the seri’ ongog e of queerphobic humor durg s 10-year n. In fact, wh the benef of hdsight, ’s easy to see how the show bolstered homophobia and transmisogyny our culture for years to, when Friends unr fire for s msy history wh queerns, fans and advot pot to the way the show was received upon s arrival the mid-90s.

VIVA LAS GAYGAS BABY!

Commentg on the show’s one-night revival 2016 for the Chigo Tribune, Bethonie Butler oped that “[w]rg Friends off as homophobic ignor the cln of Ross' ex-wife, Carol, and her partner, San, ” two supportg characters who helped propel the show to two GLAAD Media Award nomatns and one w for Outstandg Comedy ’s certaly te that any semi-rpectful portrayal of lbian love 1990s televisn was rare at bt, but that don’t mean San and Carol’s plotle was good. Ross unsuccsfully bids to attach his last name to theirs when namg their child “The One Wh the Sonogram At the End, ” and reflects glumly that he should have known Carol was gay bee she drank beer “straight om the n” the seri pilot (“The One Where Moni Gets a Roommate”); even when Ross and San bond “The One Wh the Lbian Weddg, ” ’s wh a dig at Ross’s masculy, as San asks him to dance wh the tongue--cheek offer “I’ll let you lead. Throughout the seri, Chandler exprs mortifitn at havg a “gay dad, ” as Charl’ g-out not only end Chandler’s parents marriage, but led to embarrassment om his schoolyard peers — embarrassment that ntu to adulthood, as the Friends st routely roasts Chandler on this topic.

VIVA LAS GAYGAS

Club lled “one of the bt half-hours the s format ever produced”), the fact that Chandler’s father performs a Las Vegas burlque revue lled “Viva Las Gaygas” is played for lghs when the gang nstcts a “quiz show” about how well they know one another. I put sre quot around “gay dad” and “he” the precedg paragraph bee Charl Bg’s genr inty is mangled throughout the seri by a team of wrers wh only the shallowt unrstandg of how trans and drag culture overlap.

Though Charl is referred to as a gay male drag queen and burlque performer, the character’s few on-screen appearanc Friends’ seventh season seem to dite she is actually a transgenr woman, given that she apparently prents as female 24/7 and is implied to have done so for years. (There’s more textual evince, too: when Chandler and Moni travel to see “Viva Las Gaygas” “The One Wh Chandler’s Dad, ” they’re waed on by a visibly trans wars played by Alexis Arquette — who don’t appear fond of Moni’s cuty bumblg over her pronouns.

VIVA LAS GAYGAS TICKETS

In a Gay Tim terview this Febary, Turner said “I don’t thk aged well, ” rellg of Chandler’s father that “everyone thought he was jt drsg up. ”Friends is not a toxic show bee of s overt homophobia or transmisogyny. That’s not a good thg for a show that peppers random episos wh queerphobic subplots and throwaway you n enjoy Friends 2018, more power to you, but be hont wh yourself about what you’re watchg: a bunch of whe people stg around and makg fun of whoever “acts gay” between hookg up.