Interview with Miss Coco Peru

Miss Coco Peru gives us the skinny on who she'd most like to see in drag, talking to her wigs and the one line that made her infamous.

When was your first drag performance?

I think my first performance was in 1991 or ’92. It took place at a cabaret club in NYC called Rose’s Turn, otherwise known by it’s address “55 Grove St.” It was a very special time for me, both scary and liberating. And my hair was much bigger. Maybe that was the scary part!

How did the crowd react?

The crowd was amazing that first night because it was filled with friends and family… they had to cheer!

Do you name your wigs?

No, but sometimes I talk to them like people might talk to their plants, “Oh look at you, you poor tired old thing."

Who would you most like to see in drag?

All of world’s leaders. It would make the world so much more peaceful... and colorful.

Who's your favorite gay person?

My husband Rafael... he’s from Spain. We have been together for 12 years and last year we were legally married in Spain in a castle on the Mediterranean. I have said that so many times to people and I never get tired of it!

To you, wit seems to come naturally. Were you born with that talent or did life's circumstances make you that way?

My parents and their friends always said that I was funny... different. But my parent’s friends were also very funny characters from the Bronx who were always laughing, telling hilarious stories, and joking. I remember being fascinated by some of them and I think growing up around colorful, loud people was a thrill for me. And they cursed! Heaven! Later, when I went to school being “different” was not accepted. I was an outcast. That forced me to be more of an observer. At that time [it] was painful, but it did sharpen my sense of observation and my wit. In a way, my curse became my blessing.

But as far back as I can remember I wanted to entertain, so I think it’s a little bit of both... a natural need to entertain mixed with life’s circumstances. Certainly as Coco I have made people laugh by talking about the awkward, uncomfortable, enraging, and painful moments in life, because let’s face it, no one wants to sit for an hour-and-a-half and listen to how happy you are. It’s just not funny.

There is not a gay man breathing (or worthy of air) that doesn't know your legendary movie-stealing "it burns" line from Trick. Actually, most take your advice to the young Gabriel as fact. Did you ever imagine that one line would make you legendary?

The day I filmed that scene I went home and wept because I thought I had screwed it up. We had had readings of the film for five years before raising the money to shoot it, and of course for five years I had dreams of my scene being hilarious on film. But I left the set that hot July day in NYC completely devastated thinking that I had blown my one chance to shine in a gay movie. Then I saw Trick for the first time at Sundance and people laughed so hard you couldn’t hear the dialogue, and again, I wept. I remember going out later that night and people calling out to me “It burns.” That scene really did change my life. I also wrote most of that monologue so I am even more thrilled that “It burns” became a line that everyone remembered.

What inspires your shows? Are they all rooted from one single event of the past or current events?

My shows are just me talking about my life. But I believe that I loved listening to my parent’s friends tell stories because story-telling is an art, it is a way of keeping the community together, of relating and not feeling so alone and isolated, and that can be very healing. As corny and earnest as this might sound, I was determined to tell my story as an openly gay man who was embracing everything he had learned over the years to hate about himself (being an effeminate boy, a “sissy”, a “girlboy”). And not only did I want to embrace that, I wanted to own it and glorify it by dressing up in drag. Doing drag was an act of liberation and healing for me and I wanted people to experience that journey. I wanted them to understand that I, as Coco, was creating who I chose to be, and that choosing who you are is very powerful. And I believed that if people could listen to my story and celebrate drag, then in some way, the next generation of girlboys out there wouldn’t have to feel the shame I felt and waste years of their lives worrying and agonizing over what, in fact, is their natural beautiful self. All that said, I also really like to make people laugh. I had very good teachers back in the Bronx, many of whom have come to see my shows and have said, “We always knew he was funny... different!”

Hang out with Coco's wigs at Misscocoperu.com.