The Troupers

'Tis the season

4-Dec-05. If you can't avoid Christmas — and that's impossible — the next best thing is to mock it. So, on Saturday night, Bret, Chuck, Gordie, and I went off to Club Whatever to see the Troupers' Christmas show.

The Troupers is a band of four, sometimes five, insanely creative guys who dress up in drag and perform wickedly funny parodies of songs. Mind you, this is not the Barbra Streisand look-alike kind of drag; this is more Milton Berle kind of drag. Every number, of course, requires a complete costume change, and occasionally audience members are conscripted into the act for a share of embarassment and fun.

The Troupers do a monthly show, and it's always completely new. There's never a repeat. As much as I can tell, they do it just for fun. Their shows never have a cover charge, and they donate their tips to some charity. On Saturday, the bar's owners matched the tips and the proceeds all went to the Desert Aids Project. As I recall, it amounted to a donation of around $3500. And they must have good day jobs to afford all the costumes and wigs.

Bryan in one of his more fetching ensembles

The Troupers take a final bow The one in civilian clothes is joining the troupe for next month's show

For more pictures, see the slideshow (sidebar).