Glennda and Friends: Queer Videos from the ’90s at the Walker Art Center

In 1990s Manhattan, a dynamic drag queen duo, Brenda Sexual and Glennda Orgasm, produced and cohosted a popular underground public access cable series The Brenda and Glennda Show. Taking drag out of the nightclubs and into the streets, their show boldly mixed political activism with humor, art, and visibility. In 1993, the show became Glennda and Friends, hosted by Glenn Belverio, who expanded the “post-queer” talk show format to feature provocative costars such as queer filmmaker Bruce LaBruce, transgressive author Bruce Benderson, performance artist Vaginal Davis, and guerrilla scholar Camille Paglia. Both shows chronicled the radical queer and drag scenes and activism that grew out of the first years of the AIDS pandemic, creating an inspiring and iconoclastic archive for today. 1991–1994, US, digital, 72 min.

A Q&A with Glenn Belverio and Jon Davies follows the screening.

The program includes the following episodes:
Seize Control of the Taj Mahal, 1991, US, digital, 14 min.
On the Campaign Trail with Joan Jett Blakk, 1992, US, digital, 29 min.
Glennda and Bruce Do Times Square, 1994, US, digital, 29 min.