Life with Nat - EP192: DANNY BEARD!

Episode Date: January 22, 2026

The Greek Gods have spoken, and sent us their newest recruit - Danny Beard (now on tour as "Mr D, God of Wine and Drama" in the new The Lightning Thief, The Percy Jackson Musical). Danny is best known as being a Drag Race UK winner, Celebrity Big Brother alum, and general entertainer extraordinaire. Nat and Danny chatted touring, growing up LGBTQIA+ in Liverpool, and the "Power of No". It's a romp! Find more from Danny here - https://www.instagram.com/thedannybeard Including details about their show "Homecoming" Hoxton Hall, London 7th May O2 Academy, Liverpool 30th May And OBVIOUSLY go and see them full in their Demi-god role - https://www.instagram.com/percyjacksononstage/ Enjoy! xx Please subscribe, follow, and leave a review. xxx You can find us in all places here; ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://podfollow.com/lifewithnat/view⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ We're on Facebook: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.facebook.com/lifewithnatpod⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Nat's insta: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠@natcass1⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Marc's insta: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠@camera_marc⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Niece's insta: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠@natsnieces⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Tony's insta: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠@tonycass68⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Linny's insta: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠@auntielinny.lwn⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ MORE LIVE SHOWS! 07/02/2026 Brighton, The Forge ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠TICKETS⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ 08/02/2026 Newcastle upon Tyne, The Stand ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠TICKETS⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ 25/02/2026 Folkestone, Quarterhouse ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠TICKETS⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ 28/02/2026 Colchester, Arts Centre ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠TICKETS⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ 07/03/2026 Manchester, Fairfield Social Club ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠TICKETS⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ 22/03/2026 Leeds, The Wardrobe ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠TICKETS⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ 29/03/2026 Bristol, The Gaffe - ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠TICKETS⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Book Club: January's Book - ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Wintering by Katherine May⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Nat’s solo chats - any rants always welcome. We're talking big career changes, the constant comparisons with others on social media... and the audacity of teenagers! Scraping the Barrel - SCAN AND SHOP VIRGIN NO LONGER! Bonce vs list! - Are you a list maker? Always collecting for Nostalgia Fest! What’s brewing with the Nieces - AGEING & non-negotiables Things we’re nagging with Linny about - More lateness stories and some cleaning questions, please! The Tony talks chatter - Keep your DIY questions coming A 'Keep It Light Media' Production Sales, advertising, and general enquiries: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠[e-mail]⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

and welcome to Life with Nat. I hope everybody is good. Hope your week's going well. You know it? I feel like the birds are singing. Things are getting a little bit better. Scraping through January. How many days in January?

About 425, M? 426, I think. Fair enough, fair enough. Emma's here to say hello to you all. Hello. How are you, darling? Yeah, all right, all right. Good.

Yeah, the January. Long old slog, isn't it, mate? It's been too long already, and I think we're barely halfway through. But we're all right. We're getting there. We're getting there. We've been busy, haven't we?

We've been having lots of chats and bits and sorting out live shows and travel. It's all quite exciting, isn't it? Got some nice bits coming along. Logistics and just exciting, making sure that we're doing everything for the podcast in general and getting more of the video bits. Yeah, yeah, you're doing super well.

Putting all the effort in. It's nice. It's really nice. Very, very good. This year is, a year which I'd love to grow. So you've got to put effort in and I think it's the same with anyone.

You know, if you want something to succeed and do well, you've got to put the hours in, you've got to put the time in and things don't happen overnight. So a little bit of patience, a little bit of perseverance, but loving it as always. I mean, in a few months' time,

we would have been doing this for two years, M. Flipping heck. It's bad, isn't it? Yeah, so in the words of the sew along, we've put the seeds in. The plants are going, but we're let's put some fertiliser and TLC on it and get some great big bastards. Yeah, massive flowers and all of that, yeah, it's good.

Two years. It'll be two years in April, yeah. Oh, my God. Yeah, we'd have to come up with a little plan for the anniversary app. That'll be nice. We'll do something fun. So today, we are having a little chat with Danny Beard, which I'm extremely excited about him. Such a cool person.

I met Danny. I did CBC, Little Brother's Big Brother. Is it called that now? Is it? Or am I old? CBBC is the kids channel as well. B, B, B, B, Big, Big, Big, Big, B, what's it?

Because it was celebrity Big Brother, Little Big Mouth. Little Mouth. No, but yeah, you're going back ages now. I don't know what I'm talking about. Anyway, the spin-off late-night show for Big Brother, Celebrity Big Brother, I was on with them and we had a really good time and we really clicked and we had a right old laugh. What I loved about Danny is immediately you can see their drive and passion, which is quite outstanding.

It's really magical to watch. The professionalism, you know, the way they sort of, I don't know, just hold court in a room. So, yeah, we had a really good night. And obviously they were on with Patsy. Oh, yeah. Aw. Which was, I loved watching. I watched it obviously because Patsy was on it and she's like my sister.

Yeah, are you basically related to Danny then as well? Because they've been housemates. Sort of. Patsy is your sister. First cousin once removed sort of thing. Yeah, yeah, yeah. But I loved that series. Donna Preston was on it as well, who I have to say, went to the Panta at Christmas and she was

sat next to us and we did get on like a house on fire and we have exchanged numbers and we do send quite a lot of expletive messages between each other but she's promised me she's coming over for a sleepover and she wants to do a pod oh my god well so I'm collating all of that series all of the contestants uh it was a really cracking one so I'm looking forward to it are you setting up your own celebrity big brother that series own house version, you're going to do, re-host it just at yours with all the same Big Brother contestants. There's a couple of people I wouldn't have in, but we won't go into that. No, no, no, no. There was a couple of shockers in there, but, you know, there always are. They're always are.

I was in the Big Brother House years ago with a few shockers. Michael Madsen, God rest his soul, not with us now, but he was a character and a half. And I was also joined by the Playboy Twins. Okay. Which was an interesting one in because between them, there wasn't many brain cells, should we say. Did you know what they worked before, becoming housemates with them or? No. I'm not really, yeah, I'd not come across them anyway, should we say. Oh, well.

Yeah, it's just not really my bag and I didn't really click with them. Didn't have a lot in common, should we say. No. But I'm looking forward to talking to Danny about all these experiences. I've also had a look and I've seen that he was a contestant on Britain's Got Talent which I don't remember.

It was nine years ago, mind you. But I think to go on that stage nine years ago in drag, you know, it takes a lot of courage and actually when you look back at the videos, it's quite shocking how Simon Cow is on the videos. You know, head in the hands, eye rolling. It's quite, quite, you know, quite. an interesting one and I think it's really great to see how far we've come along.

They cut it like Panto and really played it up but you can't deny the effect that must have had on a lot of people. Absolutely. Involved psychologically. Yeah. I think so. Or people watching. Yeah.

But yeah, we've come a long way which is fantastic. And so the reason Danny's coming on is they want to have a great old chat about the fact they are appearing in a fantastic new play. It's a musical and it's called The Lightning Fief and it's the Percy Jackson musical and it's a Bill Kenwright production so going all around the UK and Danny is playing a grumpy Greek god

of a wine and drama which sounds absolutely bloody perfect quite frankly. That is the kind of god I could get behind If I had a choice in which Greek God to meet, we've got Poseidon, we've got Venus, you know, we've got all the ones that we know about. But this Mr. D, I'd be like, oh, are you? Come into my house. Let's have some fun. You can swap them out for some of those shockers from the celebrity brother.

Yes. And they can come along and join you, Patsy, Danny, Donna. Not the Playboy twins? No. All right. And not Michael Madsen because he rest in peace. Yeah, yeah. That's the only reason you're not inviting him.

It's true. But then the Greek gods, how old are they? So we could invite him, couldn't we? Possibly. Oh, yeah. Yeah, it's all getting a bit complicated. Oh, yeah. Let's just have a nice chill chat.

Well, we're over complicated. Loads of people always ask about you, you know. So I think people all really love to hear what you've been doing and what you've been up to. How is January going for you? Yeah, it's been a tough start of the year. Things, lots of changes, lots of unexpected. You just could deal with it. And I got that book, you're reading for Book Club.

Did you get it? Wintering, yeah. And I started reading that. How you're finding it? Yeah, I mean, it starts, there's a lot of, stuff that makes you go, oh, look, I probably shouldn't be complaining about my issues that, you know, there's a lot of health difficulties and stuff where you go, yeah, fair enough, you've got the right to kind of, but they've done it really well and talked about how,

there's all sorts of things that. Loads going on. I think I'm really, you know, near the beginning also. Yeah. But I think as we get into it, I think there's going to be lots of life lessons and it's really calming. And yeah, I'm excited to get, you know, I'm really into it. I went to the gym this morning, Emma.

Oh, lovely. The new one nearby. New one nearby. It was very, very nice. I did 10 minutes on the stair, stair master. Oh, yeah. Now, I'm not very good at walking up and downstairs as it is, as you know. Oh, no, clumsiness.

To do the stairmaster. Yeah. I was only on there seven minutes. I thought I'm going to fall over in a minute. I can't concentrate anymore. I did about nine floors. That's a lot. That is.

No, it wasn't seven minutes. I'm lying to you. Genuinely, it was probably about three and a half four. Because I went on the other thing as well, the cross-trainer for four. I get really bored. But I do them all. I go cross-trainer, treadmill, da-da-da. And then I've done me 20 minutes.

And then I go around and do my weights. Nice. That's supposed to be really important. Well, I feel really good. And I do feel like it does make me feel more positive on these gloomy days. So I'm going to try and keep it up. up. I'm just very fortunate at the moment, or unfortunate, whatever way you want to look at it, that I'm not, you know, working loads at the moment, so I have the time to do it. So whilst

I'm around and the kids are at school, I just think embrace it and have a bit of me time. Don't feel guilty about it. Yeah, make the most of the space. Yeah. Because otherwise it's really easy to wallow in it in a... Just a worrying way, you know, in an anxious way. Yeah. So, there we go. We'll keep pushing. We're doing all right. But the stairs, I mean, it's the same with whenever the escalators are off on their tube. Yes. And you have to treat those the stairs.

My eyes go doubled. I get really wobbly. So I can't imagine. Yeah. I can't imagine. The stair master, yeah. So it's just three steps and they keep disappearing. And, you know, it's a funny one.

But it's meant to be very good for your ass. So I had a guy. And how was your ass? Well, it's still on me It's still there But it's just meant to maybe lift it a bit Because mine, you know It is sort of

It used to go like that And now it's sort of more of a Avicado Rather than a peach Yeah So I'd like to Lift it up a little bit Step by step

Three steps at a time You'll get there Mind you they do amazing leggings now Emma Oh Oh, the scrunchy bum one that was on trend for, was that during COVID or something? It was big in TikTok world where that thing that's got like elasticated right in the bum crack. That's it.

And just go, wow, that is exactly the opposite of everything we were working to in fashion. Now it's, yeah, full on like big padded leggings. It's quite amazing. I mean, some of the attire you see at the gym is, Fascinating. Yeah, are people wearing fashion to the gym? Lots of fashion going on. There's a lot of fashion.

A lot of people with her hair done, makeup on. Lots of phones out. I feel, you know, I suppose it's part of their job. It's a bit more, yeah, they sell it as a lifestyle that sort of, yeah, that sort of gym a little bit, isn't it? It's more of a wellness centre. It is, yeah. But in the gym, I think, oh, my, I couldn't go in there a makeup on.

No. Absolutely sweating. So I'm in, do what I need to do, and out again. Jump in the pool, have a swim. Nice. Quick steam. Yeah. Very good.

Lovely. Oh, very good, very good. So, yeah, don't feel guilty about having the time to do it because I'm sure within the next couple of weeks, something will happen, and that'll be it. I won't be able to use it anymore. I'll be flat out Yeah Because this is the come before the

You know what the next Next documentary Next exam All these sort of things Whatever you're doing next Oh I keep thinking about my exam I keep thinking Please can I just have the result

It's horrible I've got to wait till March the 19th March is it okay So yeah that is It does go out of my head You know Yeah And then there's just little parts of me

And then I think about it think, oh, can't wait to find out. It's quite a lot of pressure. Because it's not just like anybody going to do a course and maybe their immediate family, you know, immediate family know or best mates, but, you know, anyone who watches the documentary is going to know if I passed off, you know, pass or fail. Yeah, there's sort of a little, yeah, the added expectation and the, yeah, external.

Although, because it's for the documentary and it's, It's not now your career and continuing life relying on it in the same way. Oh, no, of course. But you still want to. You still want to have done your best. I'd like to succeed. I know I did my best in the time I gave myself. I mean, I should have been doing a lot more, but last year I was really busy.

So I've done the best I can. We'll just have to see what happens. Yeah. This is the bit of the control the things you can. Don't worry about the things you can't. It's done now. Yeah. Done.

Dusted. Nothing I can do about it. I've got everything crossed for you. Which is why I fell over on the stairs again. Oh, sugar. The acrobat studio, your new foundation. Use PDF spaces to generate a presentation. Grab your docs, your permits, your moves.

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Acrobat Learn more at Adobe.com slash do that with Acrobat Oh, Danny's arrived Here they are How are you? That's giving a glare I'll turn that off

Oh look Does it sound all right, honies Look at your little studio You look gorge How are you? Bab, how are you? I'm really good, thank you I'm very, very excited

that you wanted to join me on here Thank you We had a scream last time we saw each other so why not? We did have a laugh. And I was just saying to the listeners, because I did a little intro, how genuinely taken aback I was at how you kind of control a room and how professional you are and your drive. Oh, that's so kind.

I really mean it. But in a really kind way, do you know what I mean? Not saying that you're a selfish bastard and, you know. Yeah. I mean, I'm a drag queen. There's a certain amount of self-centeredness there in any drag queen. But I appreciate that. I love people.

I'm in the best job in the world for loving people. It's so true. It's so true. I feel the same. I absolutely love it. Oh, I've got a canary that I bought in Panto this year, by the way, so it's going to make noise. Oh, I'm a canary. I don't know why I honestly, I don't.

Honestly, I'm not well. No, I need to know the story behind the canary. I'm sorry. Well, basically, I was in Panto and Wolverhampton, and by the stage show, there was this pet shop, and I went in, and I felt really sorry on this little... orange canary in this tiny cage. And I was saying, I'm going to buy that. And I had it in Panto in the theatre in my dressing room with my dog, Fanny. And they were fine.

And then I bought her a nicer, bigger cage so it can fly. What's her name? The bird. Yeah. She called Bab. Because she's from Wolverhampton and everyone says, you're right, Bab. I love Fanny and Bab. I feel like you could have a brand of something.

Yeah, Fanny and Bab. Fanny and Bab. I don't know what it would be. Well, no, but have a think about it. You're very, you know. Dog food, I'm like, creative.

Beautiful. Honestly, I'm like, it's like the Osbournes house this minus a couple of shit. Yeah. I was having a look back. Do you mind talking about? I know it was nine years ago,

but I was having a little look back at your auditions for BGT. Oh my God. I was having a look and because I don't remember that series nine years ago. Oh, I don't know, maybe I just wasn't whatever I was doing.

Oh, I probably. I probably had my baby, actually, because I had Joni then, so there you go. But you're there doing your thing, amazing. But I kind of was a little bit shocked at the kind of reactions from Simon and the head in the hands and all of that. And it made me just go, I want to ask you about that because look how far we've come. I know. How do you feel about that, looking back at all that? Well, do you know, it was a great learning curve.

At that time, there was no such thing as drag race. There was no other way of taking myself out of pubs and clubs and touring, putting myself on a bigger stage. Like, I was already working across the country and internationally as a drag queen, like as far as I could go. So it was the best opportunity to do it. And Levoire, who's just unstricted. She'd run it a few years before me with the London gay big band.

And I thought, well, if she can do it. And God La Bois. And she can sing, I love her. She's everything she's got she deserves right now. But I thought I can do that. And I mean, I was delusional. I was like 22 and I thought, I can do that. And I learned so much.

But so brave to do that at that age. Yeah, and the way I looked as well, it was quite brave when I look back. I think that there was some choices made, wasn't there? I love the Diamonti beard. There was choices made. Just interesting and a little bit short of. rocking to watch, but as you say, a brilliant, brilliant platform to get out there. Yeah. And in my mind, I thought, this is it. I'm going to, everything's going to change.

I'm going to be able to do telly. I'm going to be able to tour more. And in some respects, that was true. But it was like, it was a great, like, launch into an industry, a bit of a back down, a bit of, you know, and you know what the industry is like, it's constantly like this. So sometimes you, the flavour of the month. And sometimes you're like, what? coming in, what's next. Absolutely. I mean, I'm in it now. You know, you're busy, busy, busy.

Last year, busy, busy, busy. And I'm a bit like, oh, what's happening this year then? But, you know, sometimes you've just got to sit back and not panic about things. Yeah. And I have said no to a lot this year. Good. Because it's how I've felt. I didn't want to say yes to everything.

Now I'm panicking now, thinking, oh, fucking hell. But I'm sure it'll be fine. See, this year's different for me because I just did a select big brother at the beginning. With my sister, we need to chat. Yeah, oh God, she's not. I absolutely love Patsy. But yeah, like, so this year, again, I thought, oh, everything would be like, I remember, like, when Ryland did Big Brother and everyone loved him,

and it was like, and I was hoping Telly would be the same for me. But you did, I tell you what, you came across, it was brilliant. And I'm not, I promise, I'm not sitting, you know, I don't smoke up people's arces, I promise you. But I loved it and I watched it. Patsy was there. Donna was amazing. You,

I just thought it was a great, a great series, actually. Yeah, it was. And it was a nice, nice set of people, mostly. Yeah, mostly. Mostly. So I, I was lucky in that sense.

But I think I'm just always hungry for more. Like, listen, I'm sweet. I'm doing well. Yeah. I've got a lovely place where I come back and I live. Your hat, can I say I've got kitchen envy? It's nice. in it, the dusky pink.

It's so beautiful. It's really, really gorgeous. I can't see it, but I do have a disco ball in. They've got a proper disco ball that gets the party vibes going and a little disco. Like, we've been kicking discos all the time. I love it. I love it. But you're talking about all this year, not doing this, not doing that.

But you are off on tour. I am. The Lightning Fief. Babe, it's a camp show. It's crazy. Do you know much about it? No, I've read obviously what I've been sent. Read the blurb.

However, can we just talk, sorry, Mr. D, who you're playing, sorry, the Greek god of drama and wine, can I, hello? It's a stretch. It's going to be a stretch. It really is. How are you going to do it? Do you know what? It's kind of like a cameo role in a sense of, it's,

I think it's the best role in the show. Don't tell the guy that playing Percy Jackson Act because he's a brilliant young actor and he's not off stage the whole time. It's action-packed. And I think it appeals to the younger generation that kind of grew up with it. People don't know what it is. It's a fab book and it's based on like Greek mythology and Greek gods. And obviously I'm playing this guy who has been sent by Zeus to run a summer camp for half gods.

They're called Half Bloods. And I don't want to be there. I hate it. And I hate kids. And it's great. So I'm kind of a little bit Miss Hannigan, Annie, giving that sort of vibe. It is. It's American. I'm playing an American character. The voice I'm channeling a bit of Bianca Del Rio, if I'm honest, with that gravelly, like, you know, I don't want to be here, kind of. That was terrible. Please don't. Please blare that. Yeah, so it's just fun and it's a bit silly.

Have you done a kind of number one sort of big tour before? This is my first one And I've just come out of Panto And people look down at Panto Oh Panto But if there's an art to Panto And it's theatre It's theatre

And you know what I always say about Panto For me It's one of the most important things In the theatre Because that experience Is the first experience For a child to go to the theatre You know most of the time

I would say And it's such an important thing So important. When it's done well, yeah. And I will say Wolverhampton, where I've just done it, they do it so well.

It's produced in-house. The budget is insane. We had mechanical dragon. I flew in the middle of the stage at the end of our one singing rise like a phoenix like Elphaba. It had production value. It had story line,

which often pantos. And it made sense, and it was fun and it was magical, and it transported them all into another world. And I think that's what Percy Jackson does too. So even if you don't love Greek gods, and I'll be honest, I'm not a Greek god kind of gal. But this story is, it's about otherness. It's about not fitting in.

And it's got themes of neurodivergence in there. Yes. The HD and not feeling like you fit in. And then learning to love yourself. And that's what really drew me to do this job, because that makes sense to me. I completely agree. And like you say, I think be open-minded when going to the theatre. You know, you may not know who Percy Jackson is and you may have not read the book, etc.

But just go and see stuff if it's near you. I always think that. I kick myself sometimes. I have the Hartford Beam, which is up the road. Nice. There's a Harlow Playhouse, which is up the road. You know, and I think I really need to have a little look at what's going on and go to the local theatre. And listen, I'm blessed because I'm in Manchester.

Well, I live just outside of Manchester now in the countryside, like Ram. bottomy way. And I'm 30 minutes from three amazing theatres that constantly have big stuff touring and then like smaller theatres in Manchester as well that produce. So I always kick myself and say, oh, I should have seen that,

I should have gone to that. Yeah. All right, my darling, my dog, Fanny's come to say hello to. Hello, Fanny, darling. But yeah, Percy is going to be great. I had my first rehearsal yesterday. Oh, gosh. And everyone all right?

I did a number one tour, right? I did a number one tour of a show called Bedroom Fars. It was an Alan 8thorn Fars. It was brilliant comedy kind of thing. And thank goodness, everyone was great, because three months on tour with people, you want to get on with them. Well, this is it.

Well, they're all quite young. Well, you're young. I'm 33, but I'm going to be like the nan. I'm going to get to bed. You'll love it. I know. I know. And the cast are brilliant.

The show's brilliant. And like I say, I love everything. everything that it stands for and what it means. So I'm excited to slot in because they've already been on tour for three months. And I'm joining the last three months. It's going to be amazing. And I think when someone goes in, when something's been going for, it really gives a bit more energy.

It gives everyone a bit of a boost. It changes things up because it can get samey tour in. So I think you're going to be the light. They'll be like, there, there she comes. Well, I hope so. And the other thing is, so this tours with Bill Cameron, right, and what we've been able to do is completely really. design the character as well.

So this has had like a US tour. It's been in the West End. This is its UK tour. This character I'm playing Mr Day has never been seen like this. And they've let me really be hands on with the creative. So I've like said, this is how the hair should be. This is the wig.

This is what the costume should be. And then I work with designers all the time. Ever since I did drag race, I have two main designers. And they make all my costumes in whatever shows. I'm in. So they've made it as well. and they know my body and it's, I'm dead excited if you can't tell.

Yeah, no, it sounds really, really exciting. And for all the listeners, I am going to put up all of the tour dates underneath this episode. Please have a little look. Yeah, we'll chuck up a link with everything in it and that will be there. And I'll put it on stories as well when this comes out. Yeah. But yeah, you're going to have an absolute ball. Do you mind being away from home?

Can you get back? I always look at tours and think, can I get home? Can I stay at home? No, this tour schedule is actually super, super, super. great for me because I get two days a week at home. It's six days a week. No, how many, five days a week. God, thank God I'm not a mathematician. Thank God, I'm a professional show off. Tuesday, yeah, lovely. Every week back home. So I'm coming home with the dog, wash me knickers, reset, and I am a home bird, you see.

Me so. So being a drag queen, I do so much different stuff. You know, if I'm not, doing one-off gigs, corporate, pride events. I'm doing my own tour dates, which I've got two coming up. Shameless plug. No, just tell me them and they will be on my, don't you worry about that? Where are they?

They are. I'm not looking at my phone. I am. Yeah. London, Thursday the 7th of May in Hoxton Hall and Liverpool, Saturday the 30th of May at the O2 Academy. It was only supposed to be one show,

so we called it homecoming, going back to Liverpool. And then the demand was there for London, so we've had a... London date. And what does your show and tell us? This is kind of like a work in progress. It's a proper traditional drag show. It's

with a new touring company, big touring company. So we're just testing the water. Do I like working with them? Are they going to, I'm asking for this, that and the other, are they going to put the budget there, which so far they are. Yeah. So it's lots of live vocals singing, which is what I'm known for.

And then really sharp witty comedy. If you've seen any of my previous tours, it's a little bit more stripped back in terms of we've not got my full live band this time, but we've done something different with the tracks. So it's not going to be like a press play on a backing track like you're in. Yeah, yeah. The RVT, not that there's anything wrong with it.

I've done that for over nearly 20 years. I've made it up every time. How long have I done drag? Let's say 20 years. I basically, I've done it for 20 years. 20? No, not that long. You're 33?

How old would I have been? Yeah, so you. 13? 15 years, 14 years? Yeah. 15 years. When was the first time you put on a pair of high-heel stilettos and thought, this is what I want to do?

When I was about six, my mum's. Yeah. I did used to walk around in my mum's stilettos. I'd get a chopstick out of the drawer, and I'd do bibbidi-bobbidi-boo. What's that in? Cinderella. Cinderella, al-a-da-da-di-da-da-da.

I used to al-a-do, walk round in a pair of heels and my dad would be like, for fuck sake. But then, like, probably when I was a teenager, like properly started getting into it, like I made it like a big secret. What was it like 20 years ago in terms of the drag scene, you know, I grew up in the Whirl?

I'm from Liverpool. I grew up in the Whirl. Right, okay. So what was it like, you know, growing up, did you feel like you had a community there? Not really, but I did in a sense of, I got like a Saturday job in her hairdressers, and she's still one of my best friends now, Katie.

I work with my friend Katie, and then she introduced me to two other guys who used to work there who had their own salon. So when I was about 16, 17, I started going out. Because there wasn't really anyone, they were all a bit older than me in the 20s, 19, 20. And they really took me under the wing and looked after me. My mum would be like, right,

you've got to be home for one in the morning, you're 17, you know? I'd be home for when she asked me to, but I'd go out and I just, and that's really where I started to find my community. And I remember I saw Viv out there, the Vivian. Yeah. You know, we all saw each other on this little tiny Liverpool gay scene. And I was obsessed with the drag queens, but I was too insecure to do drag out and about them. Maybe once or twice, I did it and I mean a bugger. If I can find a picture, I'll send you it. I looked a bugger. But I just love that feeling of armour, that, that feeling of like, oh my God, I'm almost invincible.

I'm this, it all it is is clothing and makeup and wigs and shoes and all of a sudden you've got this confidence. It's crazy. I think it's really interesting because also I think there are certain people that I know that I grew up with, friends, you know, whatever, where they won't leave the house, they want their hairfully done, they want a full face of makeup on, They want to look good all the time And I kind of get it I've always been, oh, me you know, I barely put a bit

Scrap of makeup on But I do, you know, for shows and whatever But I don't really, if I'm just hanging around Or doing the school run or going shopping That's me But I do get it I do understand people that want to feel good Now I think everybody,

regardless of gender, regardless of age, regardless of any of that I think everybody should try drag at some point and understand and then if you can really kind of almost peel it back, you can go, why did that? Why did it? That just make me feel this way.

I think I'd find it hard to find someone that didn't enjoy some element of it, of the overextraness of drag. And like, I always say drag saved my life because when I was younger, I wanted to act. I auditioned for drama school after drama school, after drama school. And I'd be offered a foundation degree for 15,

grand, 10 grand. I couldn't ask my mum and dad to pay for that. So, you know, and then I had a whole period in my life where my whole dream was just to be on Holyoaks. I was that obsessed. And you did? And then I did. And Drag brought me back to all of this stuff. That is amazing. Did you love it as much as you thought you would? What? When I did Holyoaks? Yeah. I'll be honest. It's still one of my most favourite jobs I've ever done. And I don't think people fully understand how hard soap actors work and how good soap actors are. And I think especially Hollyo gets a bit of shit. I agree.

And these kids and these and adults, but I was on my scenes, I was working with two young actors. One of them had been in the soap Ruby for a long time since a kid. They were doing, they were getting their scenes changed last minute. They were doing hard-hitting storylines about terminal illnesses. and having real deep crying scenes one minute

and then completely getting all a wig back on and a hair and filming something from two weeks ago. And the skill of jumping in and out. It's lovely to hear you say that because I think you're right, I still think unless you go into it and have a look at what you do, I've seen actors, amazing theatre,

really good actors come into EastEnders and do it for a month and just say, I can't do this anymore, because it's so heavy all the time. Relentless. Yeah, it is relentless, yeah. And it's long days. Like, we were filming location shoots, and it was long days, freezing cold, stood around with coats and water bottles.

And I'm like, you guys are true person. Honestly, when it was frosty last week, when it was frosty, there I was, I did the school and I thought, oh, I could be standing on Albert Square for 12 hours today. Which, I'm not, don't get me wrong, I love it. We're two hand-formers in your bra. But yeah, I honestly feel so blessed. And I think I give myself, I don't know about you.

This is a question back to you. I think we all give ourselves so much of a hard time because this industry, entertainment, I use the word industry. I'm talking about entertainment. It's tough. And we don't know what's next. And we don't know, like the amount of times I've nearly give up drag

or ambitions to act or, you know, ambitions to do more telly or presenting or whatever. You'd be so, I think you should be presenting. Oh, it's my dream, but it's getting tele people on board. It really is getting the telepeople on board. And I can do it. Yeah. Without being big head of here, I can do it. And I think everything's about timing.

I'm blessed to be working in an industry that's tough. You know, I'm just telling you about going on a UK tour. I've got my own, you've done your pantos, you've got your tours, you know. I do P&O cruises as well if people want to come and see me on the cruises. Are they brilliant? Mate, they're so fun. Oh my God. I bet you get some characters on there.

Mate. Mate. My first experience of it, I thought, I don't know if this is for me. It put me on the roughest one across the North Sea. It was like, yo-ho. You know, all them videos on TikTok are like, I was in this cabin rocking. I thought I'm going to die here.

But it was so fun. The audiences were brilliant. The theatres, the sound, their lights. It's like, oh, I'm in a shopping centre in the middle of the North Sea, but they've got everything you could want. Yeah, do you know what? I think I'm up for a bit of a cruise. I'd like to experience it.

I would. You should go on the Jane MacDonald one, do an appearance, a PA. Oh, stop. I did Clapham Grand I did a podcast show I did a Christmas Yeah Clapham Grand's a brilliant venue

What a lovely venue Yeah beautiful isn't it I love the art deco It sort of feels like you're going back in time a little bit It's almost like a club But it's almost like a theatre Like it's just a great space And like I grew up in clubs and pubs

That's where I did all my training Yeah Like some people go drama school Some people grow up on a soap Some people do There's loads of different ways of doing it My training was the pubs and clubs and the circuits of the UK for 10 years, you know?

Incredible. And I'm so passionate about keeping nightlife alive and keeping that kind of live entertainment alive. So many amazing people come from that circuit. Yeah. And I worry a little bit because I have a 15-year-old daughter. God help me. She'll be out in the clubs with me in a couple of years. Absolutely, she will.

Well, I hope so. I hope that's where she goes. Yeah. I hope that's, you know. I do worry that is that age group still going clubbing? I was queuing. You had Red Cube. You had this one.

You had Emporium. You had all the day. And every night you had to be at the certain club. I went clubbing five times a week. It was the same year. I moved to Manchester because I watched Queer's Folken for. I want a bit of that. Yeah.

And it was like Manto Mondays. You could go out every single day of the week. And we did. Yeah. And how I got a first class on us. I mean, it was in acting. So, you know, the drama came with me. We were out all the time.

I don't think kids party like we used to party, but I think they are looking for other ways of being entertained. A lot of the times when I do shows or club appearances, people come to the club to see me, but they might not be drinking or they might be going to a house party after they've seen the show. Yes. They're buying a couple of soft drinks.

They're putting money in the... the till still. I just think it works a bit different to how, you know, back when we used to go out. I was on the old vodka, red pawn, champagne. Do you remember those, the shambles? No. Oh, shambles all the way. We used to have cheeky vimtoe. Oh, yeah. Mate, a blue wicked with poor, and then you would vomit, and it would be awful. Yeah, and I remember drinking a whole bottle of Malibu in about an hour.

See, I could never do Malibu. I can't now, lovely. I can't remember. But yeah, I saw a meme the other day. You know, I love, you know, a bit of doom scrolling. And it was, you know, 90s children, how brilliant it was, that your mum thought you were around your mate's house, but you were in a field after drinking a whole bottle of vodka.

With a bottle of vodka. Yeah. Those were the days. Well, you know what? My mum knew everything we were doing. And she would be like, no, your aunt go in the park and having a drink, all come round mine. You can have one.

Crater Wicked. That's what she'd be like. You can have one crate of wicked. I'd want you to do it at home. If you're going to do it, I'd rather you did it somewhere. Say she was actually quite cool, my mum. That's really, really good. And I do that because my mum and dad were older, very, very strict. And I just had to go out all the time. Yeah. Even my mate's mums would lie for me because they felt sorry for me because it was so strict. Yeah. Well, my mum was the mum lying. Yeah. Yeah. And now with Eliza, I feel like we have got a good relationship. and I do say to her, come here, she has a glass of wine. You know, people might not like that. I don't care.

I think if you can have it, you're not greedy for it when you're not, when you get out there. And like, if you, if you taught about boundaries, I think, and I think if you brought up, I think that, what's the worst thing? Don't look at that. Don't do that. You're going to want to do it. The more you're told not to do anything, you want to do it. If you go into a public toilet and someone says, don't look in the end cubicle,

I don't know about you, but curiosity kills the car. I'm looking in the end cubicle and regretting it. It's so true. I think that's the right thing to do. And if you look around the world, Spain, they're having a beautiful dinner and a glass of wine and they're all right. They're all having a glass of wine. And you find a lot of the, you look at sort of the older boys in Italy or whatever,

none of them are out of their skull. They all drink a bottle of wine. And then they're at an espresso bar having a panini at 2 o'clock in the morning. Quite civilised. So there you. Very civilised. The Brits are nuts. We are nuts, but I love it.

I do. I absolutely love her. It's been so lovely talking to you. Time has flown. I'm sorry about all the external noise of my house. I promise you, it's perfect. Well, you've got a glimpse into the chaos of my genuine life. It's so brilliant.

Two dogs. A boyfriend. A bed. Hello, boyfriend. Hi. He's working home. He's doing the working from home. Working from home.

Yeah. I saw a lot of people earlier working from home at the gym. Yeah, it's nice, isn't it? Well, you're working from home, but you're actually working. Well, I am. We are both working really hard from home. So hard, in it. What a lie?

I've actually got the school run, so I need to go. Go and get the school run. Enjoy this tour playing Mr. Ding. Thank you. And everybody, please, go onto the link. I'll post it up. Go and see it if it's near you. It'll be fantastic.

Fantastic. Donna Preston's coming here for a sleepover soon because she wants to be on the pod. I think you should join in. I'm there. I'm so gel. Dona, the best nights are with Donna Preston. Really? I would recommend doing the pod before the sleepover, just saying. I certainly will, and I'm looking forward to it. We met at the Palladium to go and see Panto there with Julian. And we've been messaging a little bit, because I messager after the B.B and said how brilliant it. I thought it was.

And yeah, we just clicked, which I knew we would, as I knew we would. So there you. Yeah. All right. You're a legend. Enjoy the school run. I will see you soon. I'm obsessed with you.

Thank you for Britain you've done on behalf of every gang. Oh, you're amazing. You're amazing. And I have no doubt we'll speak to you soon. Lots to love. Oh. Weren't they lovely, Em? Oh, so much fun.

Danny just is beautiful. Lovely. And the kitchen. I've got a kitchen handy now. But it's so nice to talk, so nice to have a laugh. And like I said, we did get another house on fire. How can you not? You know, it's just such a great energy.

And just so clever and so nice to listen to. And I hope everybody really, really enjoyed that because I certainly did. I hope you all have a really brilliant weekend. 0778-28-1919. Let me know what you'd like me to talk about in the future. Let me know your thoughts on this up today. And I'll speak to you very soon. Loads of love.

See ya. Bye, M. Bye!