Bianca Del Rio is back! The season six winner of Ru Paul’s Drag Race and renowned glamourous clown is back at the Fringe this year with a hilarious routine that had the room cackling. From Covid-19 to All-Stars, Bianca’s got a lot to say!
Bianca walked out in a gorgeous yellow jumpsuit with her hair up in a lovely do, she looked beautiful- then she opened her mouth. That iconic voice we’ve heard on the TV was right in front of me, cackling away. The vibe in the room was electric as everyone was excited to see one of their favourite queens and to enjoy some live comedy (which none of us have seen in a while).
That was Bianca’s main focus of the night, how no one was out of the house never mind able to see a drag show. Yes, the dreaded Covid-19. Of course, it’s still the hottest topic of the world (I mean it was a global pandemic so duh) but every comedy show I’ve seen at the Fringe has brought it up. This is usually followed by jokes about zoom and working from home, and I’m a bit fed up with it.
So, when Bianca began talking about Covid I thought “here we go”- I was wrong.
Her lockdown was very different to a lot of people’s lockdown. Instead of binging on Netflix, she took on the role of being Ginger Minj’s porn fluffer. While we were stuck on zoom calls, Bianca was taking edibles in her house. It was so refreshing to have some silly, outrageous Covid stories instead of the mundane, at times overwhelming experience we all went through.
Her whole set was hilarious and had everyone doubling over. To be honest, I was expecting a lot more outrageous and controversial topics, as I had seen a lot of backlash toward Bianca and her shows in the past. I thought she teetered on a few risky jokes, but nothing I would say was extremely offensive. Either she’s toned things down or other folks are a bit sensitive to her sarcastic, “no-shit” tone. The audience and I loved the drama when Bianca started speaking about her Drag Race “sisters”. I’m glad Bianca didn’t speak about Drag Race too much, but I did love that she spilled some tea.
One thing I love about Bianca is her interaction with the audience. Some of the best moments in comedy come from the connection between the stand-up and the viewer. Bianca continuously asked audience members questions and involved them in her storytelling. Then it was our turn. Some of the audience had written down questions for Bianca before the show began and now it was time to have them answered. This was my favourite part of the show. Bianca was interacting with audience members and even had someone come up on stage to do a “catwalk”. It was lovely to have that closeness with her. Bianca could have done nothing like that and just performed without involving us. But by having that back and forth, we all felt connected which I think is what we really need with a performer considering how long we’ve gone without live comedy.
Bianca Del Rio is hilarious in her return to the Fringe. She is as funny and fabulous as you would expect and it’s clear how much she loves to connect with her fans.
Bianca Del Rio: Unsanitized plays at the EICC Aug 18-21, 23-26.
https://tickets.edfringe.com/whats-on/bianca-del-rio-unsanitized
Theatre Scotland 
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