No need to panic… Zanax is here to fill your candy bags this Halloween Month!
Thotyssey: Happy Almost Spooky Season, Zanax!
Zanax: Hello hello!
I’m guessing you have many looks to share with us these coming weeks.
I do! This is the first time in three years I won’t be scare acting, so all of my haunting energy is going straight to my gigs. I’m really grateful to be able to be booked each week in October doing something crazy. My favorite pastime in drag is talking movies after the gig, and that especially applies when I’m dressed as the horror movie. Expect to see a return of my Gabriel from Malignant look!
That red zombie-ish mask pinned to the top of your Instagram? That’s particularly horrifying!
Haha, thank you! He’s my special tumor mask; it has been called the most terrifying drag number ever.
You Insta is actually a treasure trove of fear and beauty! While some looks have clear inspo, is there other stuff that you just pull out of your imagination, or fever dreams, etc.?
I pull from my imagination a lot! At the end of the day Zanax is a comic book character, and his face reflects that — especially in the early years. His backstory is a Pinocchio-esque robot boy who got thrown away for not acting in line with his girl programming. Now he’s figuring out how to fit in with society on his own terms, but doesn’t really know how. This has taken on many forms over the years, so any time you see a number, it’s another piece of his little universe.
All the way down my Instagram you can see the mirror selfie that started it all, when I was on *substances redacted* in college and left alone with my roommate’s colored eyeliner. That was a huge starting point of what would later be my default drag face.
How long have you been Zanax now?
I’ve been doing this for four years, all over the Tri-State area! I first did drag in 2019 for my college drag show, then in 2021 I finally started performing in Brooklyn when I lived directly in between Metropolitan and Rosemont. Early “Mad Mondays” were my true start; I met performers from every area of the city there that I’ll still see today!
Where are you from originally, and were things like horror, makeup and performance always in your wheelhouse?
I’m originally from New Jersey! Jersey is home to a lot of horror icons: Camp Crystal Lake was based off a New Jersey summer camp, and you can tell; Chucky has the thickest Jersey accent; Jersey Devil; the Pine Barrens as a concept; Atlantic City in general. So horror has always been a piece of me growing up. I joke that I didn’t grow up watching Drag Race, but I lived for Face Off on Syfy. If you don’t know it, it was like Project Runway but for SFX artists. It had a really organic following, and by the end of its run it felt like an art critique show rather than a competition — which is how I like to look at drag — although sometimes those judges got to be just as catty as Drag Race.
I’ve also done cosplay since I was a teenager, and that’s been a really fun part of myself with drag to tap back into that energy. I mean I haven’t worn my Megamind costume in years, and people still ask me about it!
I tried to search for you in Insta the first time, and I got a curt message from IG telling me I shouldn’t be looking for drugs on their platform. That actually happens with a bunch of different searches… even “Lolita,” which is a real name that people have!
LMFAO! Oh my God, that has been happening for years. I tell people “It’s Zanax with a Z because that’s how it should be spelled” on the mic for a while now, so that usually works! I did once watch a drunk guy type “xanaxwithaz” in the Instagram search bar, and that was a new one. There’s also a king named Papa Xan out there, and I am so mad I didn’t come up with that pun first.
You’re also an accomplished artist.
Here’s one drawing I’ve done of Zanax in his full cartoon form — just a robot boy with detachable body parts. Sadly, I can’t do that part on stage yet. My stickers and flyer art (and all paintings and etc.) can be found at my art account, which has detracted from fan art over the years. I keep a whole lot of worlds up here.
Box office business for movies has been declining as more people go to streaming, but horror is still going strong. The horror streamer Shudder is also popular. What are your thoughts on the current state of the horror industry, and have you had any recent faves?
Help, you made me open my Letterboxd! It’s funny, I feel like a lot of genres right now are at risk with AI, streaming, and etc. But horror has had a really solid last few years. Obviously I loved Sinners; I felt like I was watching Lost Boys for the first time. Sadly I didn’t love Weapons, although I wanted to. This October I want to try and catch those screenings in NYC where they show old horrors. I’ve somehow never been to Spectacle in Williamsburg, and that needs to change.
I’m also a massive geek for the online analog horror genre (think the Backrooms shorts and old “Slenderman” found footage), and that has seen a huge uptick in the last few years… which I love as an old YouTube horror enjoyer.
What’s old is new again! Let’s get into the gigs — you’re starting things off with a brunch on Sunday, October 5th!
I’ll be at Brooklyn Art Haus for brunch with my best friend Yaga Tigerlily. We are both little devils on the mic, so you’ll want to see both of us at our absolute worst behavior.
Then that night, Problem Child celebrates their dragiversary show at Wonderville starting 7pm, and you’ll be in the cast!
Contrary to any birthday show, this will not be a “Night of 1000” format. For PC’s birthday, they are putting all their friends into a LalapaRuza-style competition against each other. Not to be on brand here, but they have basically made a Saw trap for us. I have a lot of songs to memorize because these are not drag classics; these are PCs favorite songs. I know the George Michael, but now I need to know how “Yonkers” goes. Which is terrifying.
But I love PC; I talk to them every day, and we are two sides of the new wave enjoyers’ coin (they are a Talking Heads nonbinary, I am an Oingo Boingo trans guy). So I will gladly fight for my life at Wonderville for their enjoyment.
On Thursday, October 9th, you’re perfectly cast for “Villains Only” at Rubulad!
Yes! I got to be in two Batman villain-themed shows this year, so if you missed my Killer Croc mix where I shake ass in a scaley raptor mask, you can at Rubulad October 9th!
October 12, you’re back at Wonderville for the “Undertale & Deltarune Variety Show!” Basically these are two quasi-related online RPGs. What more can you tell us about this show and the related lore?
So Undertales one of the biggest indie RPGs of the 2010s; it was a massive deal. The creator Toby Fox has been releasing its prequel (sequel? kinda?) for the last few years called Deltarune. I’m going to be dressed as the lesbian monster named Undyne, but I do need the whole drag world to know about Mettaton. He’s like Him from Powerpuff Girls on ket. The music is also really, really great, so that DJ set [from Guilty Pleasures] I know is going to go crazy.
In general though, I love nerd shows like this — from drag shows at Wonderville to video game DJ sets I’ve gone to (“Critical Hit NYC” being one of them) It’s a very fun intersection of nightlife people and absolute nerds who will attempt to explain Magic: The Gathering cards to me at the gig (nobody has succeeded). Basically, we are total geeks that also go outside.
What else is coming up for you?
On the 18th I’ll be in the October edition of Clown Cult! I am so unbelievably hyped for that; I’ll be making something really special and terrifying for it. Also on the 19th, I’ll be stepping down as the reigning Stitch of “Witches and Stitches” (a horror themed drag competition); that’ll be at All Night Skate, and I’ll be judging the competition! Really excited for that one. There’s a few other gigs TBA, but it is looking to be a really crazy spooky season!
As we approach the new season of Dragula: Titans, might you have any interest in being part of that franchise someday? Or is all the “bugs and needles” stuff too much, lol?
When I started drag, I absolutely had my sights set on Dragula; a lot of my early drag years were formed by those performers. I was watching Seasons Three and Four as they came out, and it was peak.
Sadly the standard (and budget) for a Dragula performer has gotten pretty high in the last two years, and the way artists receive critique on the show isn’t something I see improving my drag by much. The challenges mostly don’t scare me; I feel like they’d at least be a funny story! But the show’s gotten to the point that the challenges feel less “prove how nasty and filthy you are!” and more “how do we humiliate our artists?” And that’s just not fun to me. That being said, I have thought about what my elimination scene would reference, and what I’d do for a finale.
All that aside, I will be watching the new Titans season! Disasterina is one of my OG favorites, and I will be biased to Jay Kay! I will always support performers I love who make it on there.
Okay, lastly: what is the best Halloween candy, and what is the worst?
Perfect question! Best chocolate is Heath bars, best hard candy is watermelon Jolly Ranchers. Do not put a Twizzler anywhere near me.
Thanks, Zanax!
Check Thotyssey’s calendar for Zanax’s upcoming appearances, and follow him on Instagram.
Thotyssey 
