Bianca Del Rio – Not Today Satan tour hits Australia
BIANCA Del Rio is waiting at yet another airport, this time on the way to Vancouver to perform one of the last ever shows of her popular Rolodex of Hate tour.
Before the week’s out Del Rio, aka Roy Haylock, will have performed in Oklahoma, Texas and Memphis.
[showads ad=MREC] The winner of RuPaul’s Drag Race season six is known across the industry for his work ethic and he admits he’s only taken a week off to celebrate his 40th birthday in Mexico this year since being announced as a contestant on the popular reality show two years ago.
“I’ve always had a heavy workload, I’ve always enjoyed that and I think I’m at my best when I’m working extensively,” he says.
“I’m 40 and I’ve been around the block and I know this has been an amazing ride, so I think I’m a little more prepared than I anticipated… and do everything I want to do because it’s a golden ticket, here’s this amazing opportunity.
“By no means did I think I was going to be this successful or for it to be this exciting, (and) to see the world has been quite surreal.”
Born and raised in New Orleans, Haylock left his hometown after Hurricane Katrina in 2005 and moved to New York.
It was in the Big Apple he found work as a costumer on Broadway and Del Rio moonlighted as a stand-up comedienne, where she honed her talents as an insult comic.
As one of the most successful contestants on Drag Race — she was never in the bottom two in the weekly challenges — Del Rio made a massive impact on the show where she was known for her biting wit and sewing skills.
She became iconic for her ruthless, often hilarious, reads of the queens and even RuPaul herself. It’s a skill she finds people want her to do on demand.
I ask why people are so keen to be insulted by Bianca.
“I have no idea. Years ago people would run from me and now they welcome it, which is kind of insane,” Haylock says.
“Even if they comment on something I post and I respond to it, and even if they’re something nasty and I reply they’re like: ‘oh my God, I love you’.”
Del Rio is wrapping up a year of Rolodex of Hate shows, but she will only take a couple of weeks off before returning in 2016 with a brand new solo show called Not Today Satan — a catchphrase she made popular during her time on Drag Race.
“I’ve been travelling with this show (Rolodex of Hate) since last November, So, a lot has happened to the world and a lot has happened to me in that amount of I time,” Haylock says.
“With that I have a notebook and I type stuff into my phone as it happens and from situations that’s where it all comes from. So I just need to formulate it, calculate it and put it all together.”
A lot has happened in the past year politically, including billionaire Donald Trump’s unexpected frontrunner status as Republican presidential candidate. Haylock admits the 2016 US Presidential Election will be great fodder for Not Today Satan.
“Oh my God, of course it is. It’s a nightmare right now, it’s laughable,” he says.
“I usually don’t get too political, right now it’s quite interesting, the material writes itself.
“Somebody said: ‘if Donald Trump becomes President, we deserve it’, which I think is genius.”
While the writing is well underway for Not Today Satan, the internet was almost broken in the past couple of days with rumours Del Rio will be joining the housemates of Celebrity Big Brother UK 2016, following in the footsteps of Drag Race judge Michelle Visage.
However, Haylock denies he or his drag alter ego were ever asked to be on the show.
“I have no idea where that came from, I have no information… it’s amazing what goes into the internet and all of a sudden becomes fanfare,” he says.
In 2016 along with the new show, fans can expect to see Del Rio in the independent film Hurricane Bianca, a comedy about a New York teacher who moves to a small town in Texas, gets fired for being gay, and returns disguised as a “mean lady” to get revenge on the people who were nasty to him.
In my research for this interview, I stumble across Del Rio’s personal Facebook page which shows her relationship status as “engaged”.
I demand to know the gossip and it turns out Del Rio’s engaged to Haylock.
So, how do Bianca and Roy get along as an engaged couple?
“They’re fine! Bianca pays the bills, so Roy just shuts up and puts up with her,” he tells me.
Not Today Satan Australian Tour:
MELBOURNE: May 16, Arts Centre Melbourne, Playhouse
PERTH: May 18, Astor Theatre
ADELAIDE: May 20, Thebarton Theatre
SYDNEY: May 21, Theatre Royal
HOBART: May 23, Wrestpoint Entertainment Centre
BRISBANE: May 26, QPAC, Concert Hall
