On Point With: Paulie Popsicle

Trivia titan and shadowcast star Paulie Popsicle is Astoria’s flavor of the season!

Thotyssey: Hi Paulie, thanks for chatting with us today! Beautiful weather is upon is, which is sometimes good and sometimes bad for nightlife… but it’s fun to live in, at least! Are you outdoorsey in the spring and summer?

Paulie Popsicle: Yes, today is actually the perfect weather–not too hot or cold. I’m actually the furthest thing from outdoorsy, lol. I grew up here in Queens and am a 100% city boy! Camping and outdoorsy activities are usually at the bottom of my list… but I am pushing myself more to do things outside of my comfort zone!

I guess this is a good seasonal question: do you eat popsicles?

Yes, lol. That’s exactly how I got my name. I was eating a popsicle in front of Avant Garbage once, and let’s just say my “technique” caught her attention… and at that moment I was donned “Paulie Popsicle!”

That’s our girl! So to those not in the know, can you explain you role in nightlife… in particular with the Astoria scene?

Absolutely! I’m both a personality (emcee / host) and a character actor. I currently host monthly trivia at Albatross, and I’m also part of Midnight at 6, which has been putting on drag parody shows at Icon for the past two years now. We’ve currently been working on Reefer Madness: the Drag Musical that opens this Saturday 4/20!

Much to discuss! Were you always into genres like theater, musicals and comedy growing up?

Yes, I’ve been “entertaining” since I was a toddler. My sister and I used to put on concerts for our family in our living room growing up. Our favorite TV show was Kids Incorporated on the Disney Channel (I’m dating myself, lol). We both loved to sing and “be in the spotlight.” We loved comedy as well; Mel Brooks movies like SpaceBalls and Robin Hood, Men in Tights were our favorite! I specifically remember always loving that style of comedy. Theater wasn’t until college, when I decided to become an actor.

Were there any productions in your earlier performing years that you loved being a part of?

Yes, in college. We did a series of vignettes by Christopher Durang (who actually passed away last week, RIP) called Naomi in the Living Room. It was my first experience being in a camp comedy and being able to play several “over-the-top” characters, and I loved every moment of it. That was a life-changing moment for me in terms of being an entertainer.

How did you come to find yourself in Astoria nightlife?

After “leaving the biz” for about five years, I started becoming a “regular” at Albatross on Saturday nights at Sutton Lee Seymour’s shows and Wednesday nights at Avant Garbage’s Gayme nights. I was craving live entertainment and community, and Albatross is the best place to do that. After a while Avant and I became close friends, and very quickly she picked up that I was an entertainer myself… which then pretty much opened the floodgates!

Regarding your monthly trivia night, which returns this Tuesday… what kind of questions do the kids want? That deep divey pop culture stuff, actual “I wish I paid attention in school” stuff, current events, etc?

We actually do all of the above! I have a recurring trivia game called “Grammar Skool Dropout” which is a take on Are You Smarter Than a 5th Grader. It’s always a fun reaction because it’s either “Oh, I remember this!” or “I should have paid attention more,” lol… either way it’s always a fun time. Other popular trivia games have been “Naughty Trivia,” where we all get an education on sexuality and kink, and “Yearly Review” where we revisit all of the memorable moments in pop culture and world news that happened in the past year. It’s loads of fun hosting, and a lot of work on the back-end getting the games together… but the payoff is everyone having a great time!

Can you tell us how Midnight at 6 came to be, and what have been some of your favorite moments with past productions?

It all started with the idea to do the iconic shadowcasting of Rocky Horror at Icon back in May of 2022; I played the criminologist. The energy that was in the room was unexplainable. Not only were we having fun on stage, but you could feel the audience having even more fun watching… which made us go even further with our choices on stage! It was such a memorable show that the idea to do the same exact thing, but with Hocus Pocus, came to be. My favorite moments are playing characters in Hocus Pocus that I would never be cast in in real life, which we found out very quickly is comedy gold.

Werk! Next up will be, as you said, the Reefer Madness shadowcast appropriately on April 20th (showings at 2pm and 6pm) at Icon! For those not in the know, Reefer was originally an anti-marijuana propaganda film from the 1930s that draws some wild conclusions about the evils of cannabis; it became a camp classic in its own right that inspired a musical of the same name in the late 90s! What can we expect from Midnight at 6 and director Angela Mansberry’s take on it?

In appropriate Midnight at 6 fashion this is a shadowcasting of the 2005 movie musical starring Alan Cumming, but with our own twist! For the first time, we have edited the movie and added our own “flair” to it. What you will be seeing on the TV screens is our own “piss-take,” and also modernizing some of the moments for a 2024 audience. Angela Mansberry as the director has completely set a new bar for Midnight at 6! Having a professional theatre background as well, she elevated the show into live theatre, but with a drag twist. We are giving you full dance numbers, choreography, lifts… the works! We are so very proud of her, and ourselves, for the work we put in since January. The audience is not ready for what we’re bringing!