Drag Is a Drag: 'Hot Mess' Brings, Well, Hot Messes to XL

The words "Laddy Bunny" and "42nd Street" just go together like "Snooky" and "chlamydia" or "Kim Kardashian" and "red-hot poker up her ass." The Bunny has been working The Deuce since the Johnson Administration --�Andrew Johnson.

So it probably wasn't much a stretch for her to team with another drag legend, the woman whose eyelashes can be seen from outer space, for a night of cabaret at the new XL club, inside the about-to-opened hotel The Out.

The every-Wednesday party promises to bring you the best of the city's drag divas. The night I saw, it seemed that every diva and her dentist was up on stage. But it was great good fun, with those zingy one-liners that made such shows so much fun (as long as you're not in the first row and wearing something that doesn't agree with her color scheme).

The fact is, XL, which is a disco catering to the hot-hot-hot boys much of the rest of the week, makes a really great cabaret space. I wouldn't be at all surprised if owner-promoter John Blair begins to book legit cabaret acts there.

With round tables filling the dance floor, hushed candle lights, a great sound and light system, and a large stage, this is a great venue for lounge acts and mid-level rock bands.

But back to the business at hand. The show stretches on a bit (don't they always?). But I witnessed its maiden voyage (the only time the word "maiden" will be used with these two). The capacity crowd ate it up big-time, with non-stop laughter --�some even with, not at, the gals on stage.

Seriously, New York is the world's epicenter of all things drag --�just ask a New Yorker. So it's about time we got a first-class venue to display all the talent. Let's let the girls have some time off walking 42nd Street and make them walk the catwalk!

For information about "Hot Mess," go to XL's website.