“Who do you do?” –Classic Drag
Celebrity Impersonation. No matter what you feel in your heart, it is the backbone of drag.
At a certain point in gay history, before Snatch Game, celebrity impersonation was the cat’s ass in drag. If you could look, sound, and act like a famous celebrity—and pull it off!—you had a golden ticket.
Some (not all) famously impersonated people I think of would be Lucille Ball, Joan Crawford, Mae West, Cher, Joan Rivers, Bette Davis, Celine Dione, Liza Minelli, Carol Channing, Marilyn Monroe, and while I can’t name them all, some of my personal favorite celebrity female impersonators I’d want to mention are:
Chad Michaels https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ikwMn0fvLMg , now known for being a Drag Race All-Star, Chad had always done celebrity impersonation; however, she was, and I’d say still is, the best Cher impersonator in the game.
Jimmy James https://youtu.be/NreC_Yeu6SQ?si=zmvtJ8Q6FkMAGh7U , is most famous as the number#1 Marylin Monroe impersonator, to the point it literally looked and sounded like Marilyn was alive again.
Charles Pierce https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MXyHM-Y9b8c , mostly known for his Better Davis impersonation, traveled countless miles
Frank Marino, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fp1PXlBwaFAwas , a Joan Rivers impersonator in Vegas.
Derrick Barry https://youtu.be/cBV0VXrR15c?si=hMYpYB7GNVW0ok_Q , who was already a well known Britney Spears impersonator in Vegas long before her appearance on drag race.
