HOLLY HARKNESS
(Holly) Okay. I was… I was at the Lunar Fair in New Jersey.
A lovely New Jersey drag queen named Cookie Doe—she just put out something on Instagram that was like, “Anyone who wants to show up, show up.” And my friend—well, we don’t talk anymore—but St. Valentine, a lovely performer… yeah, they were like,
“Hey, Cookie’s looking for performers. Do you want to come do this?”
And it was like a newcomer’s one-minute lip sync. Everyone just did one minute.
(Holly) Insane. It’s like… a quarter of a song. I dressed up as a clown. It was a half-black, half-white outfit. And my face was half normal, half, like, clowny white face. The hair was falling apart. And I did Circus by Britney Spears.
(Holly) Yeah, yeah. One-minute version. And it was fun. It was outside.
It was one of those places where, like—you know when you go see the cows at the State Fair?
(Holly) It was in one of those covered pavilions. And the audience—it was bad.
They were on bleachers.
(Holly) So you know how at Hens, we can walk right up to people, interact, all that?
(Holly) None of that. They were all up on bleachers. And I had this huge space—like, not a football field, but like… This massive space I’m just walking around in.
Couldn’t get tips, couldn’t really interact… It was so… god-awful. But then my second one... That was better. I did Poison by Bell Biv DeVoe. And I was Poison Ivy. It was a tiny basement show. Just a sliver of a runway for a stage. But it was packed, people screaming at you.
There was a pole—it was fun.
(Holly) That felt like my first real time.
That was the moment I was like—“Ooh… yeah.” I got the bug.
(Holly) As Holly? Yeah—those were all Holly.