We heard she was your mom’s favorite drag queen… and guess what, she’ll soon be yours too! Pam Who?! answers her titular question for us all.
Thotyssey: Pam, hello! How has your summer been so far?
Pam Who?!: It’s been busy as hell… and I couldn’t be more grateful, thanks! How’s yours?
So far, so good! Always in search of the next dark air conditioned basement, lol! Are you a Beach Girl at all?
I absolutely adore the beach! I’m a Riis regular: the sand, the ocean, the boardwalk, and most importantly all the fun to be had after the sun goes down…
I hear that! So, where is your original town… and growing up, were you always a performer of some sort?
I grew up in rural Michigan and then spent ten years in Chicago, so I’m a Midwest girl at heart! I’ve always been a performer, for sure. In fact, my Midwest roots are directly responsible for my drag character. In the Midwest, if you meet a woman named Pam…you know you’ve met a woman named Pam. You won’t soon forget her, mainly because the only thing she’s had to eat today is a pack of Marlboro lights and a six-pack of Diet Coke.
I actually think you have kind of a retro 50s-60s-70s look, especially with the beehive wigs! Would you describe your aesthetic that way?
Absolutely. Sometimes 80’s and 90’s as well–she’s a mom in every decade!
How did you get into drag, and ultimately enter the New York nightlife scene?
I moved to Chicago when I was 22 and studied at The Second City, where I went on to do a couple of small productions there and at other comedy theaters around the city. I found drag shortly after when I realized just how freeing it was—you can do whatever you want on stage in drag. You wanna fist somebody on stage in full drag while eating a picnic lunch to a dub step remix of a Joni Mitchell song? Girl, do you!
I moved to Brooklyn in 2019 to attend graduate school at NYU, and was constantly in search of where to lay down my drag roots here. I quickly found a home at the absolute best bar in all of Brooklyn—All Night Skate. I remember walking in the door for the first time and thinking “I’m home.” The community we’ve built there is incredible. We are truly a family and love and protect each other fiercely.
You just had a recent show there at All Night Skate, how did that go?
It was amazing, thanks! I host a monthly show called “Your Mom’s Fuckin’ Drag Show” at All Night Skate on the third Thursday of every month, amongst other days and venues. My shows are always full of love and support. I book performers who all have wildly unique performance styles and points of view—each of them has something important to say, and deserve to be heard. It’s the kind of show you’ll be thinking about for days to come.
The next traveling edition of “Your Mom’s Fuckin’ Drag Show” will be at Brooklyn’s C’mon Everybody on Friday!
Yes! And I am so excited. C’mon Everybody is another venue that I love and respect dearly. It’s gonna be wild—there will be nine performers in total. And lemme tell you…the girls are ready to leave that stage wet, sloppy, and smellin’ like roses!
What else is coming up for you?
On the horizon for me are shows, shows, and more shows! We plan to expand a lot in the near future starting with a huge Halloween show at All Night Skate, so go ahead and give mom a follow and stay tuned for a lot more opportunities to catch me and the girls coming to a stage near you!
Very exciting! Finally: what was the song of the summer, and why is it “Woman’s World” (lol)?
LOL! You’ll have to forgive me, but I haven’t had time to listen to “Woman’s World” yet… mostly because I’ve been “WORKING LATE… ‘CAUSE IM A SINGERRRRR.” Whoops! It seems we’ve somehow arrived at the real song of the summer. Everybody needs a little “Espresso” in their life!
Thanks, Pam!
Check Thotyssey’s calendar for Pam Who’s upcoming appearances, and follow her on Instagram.
Thotyssey 