Justin Vivian Bond on smoking nuts, fraught gift-giving, & the resurrection of Kiki & Herb

For many people, even the idea of listening to an imbibing nonagenarian with the voice of a thousand ashtrays spout their non-filtered “truths” is the ultimate holiday trigger. And yet, for thousands of adoring fans, a night with Kiki & Herb has become a warm Christmas tradition. 

Starring trans cabaret legend Justin Vivian Bond as Kiki Durane, a washed-up, 90-something lounge singer who delivers her scathingly hilarious politically incorrect view of the world, and Kenny Mellman as Herb, her mostly silent and hapless accompanist who she met while institutionalized, the duo is synonymous with spiked egg nog, foul-mouth festivities, and mash-ups of some of our favorite pop stars from Taylor Swift and Billie Eilish to Miley Cyrus and Velvet Underground.

The pair continues the tradition this December with a seven-city U.S. tour of Kiki & Herb, O Come Let Us Adore Them, kicking off at Washington, D.C.’s Howard Theater on December 6, followed by shows in New York City, Chicago, Dallas, Austin, San Francisco, and Los Angeles.

It’s been a busy and challenging 2023 for Bond, one that began with the passing of their mother in January, followed by months of outrage over the onslaught of bills in numerous states around the country challenging transgender rights. To respond, Bond did what they do best — turn to song and address their indignance in a Pride month installment of their Joe’s Pub residency titled “What Have You Done for Me Legistlately.”

In addition, Bond toured considerably, playing gigs at Manchester Pride, The Dublin Fringe Festival, and the Spoleto Festival in the critically lauded “Only an Octave Apart” with Metropolitan Opera superstar countertenor Anthony Roth Costanzo. 

Bond also received Queerty’s Pride50 Catalyst Award in honor of their decades-long career and commitment to queer visibility, telling the enthusiastic crowd, “The queens are not backing down!”

During it all, Bond turned 60 and marked the milestone birthday with a series of Diamond Jubilee concerts at their artistic home, Joe’s Pub, the cabaret venue at the iconic Off-Broadway Public Theater (original home to Hamilton, A Chorus Line, and now Alicia Keys’ new musical Hell’s Kitchen) where they return for a wintry wonderland. 

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Queerty caught up with Bond as they prepared for their upcoming tour to chat about the holidays, unlikely inspiration, and the return of Kiki DuRane.

I just finished one show at Joe’s Pub and am preparing to resurrect Kiki one more time. My recipe for reinvention is …

I’m always taking my own emotional temperature (sometimes rectally!) and then using my art to respond to it.  I’m a cabaret singer for many reasons but one is that I can change my shows as much as I want whenever I want, and I answer to no one. Songs are how I tell my story, and my story is constantly evolving. 

My Kiki & Herb collaboration with Kenny Mellman has been ongoing since we were in our early 20s so it’s like stepping into familiar, albeit sometimes terrifying, territory. At this point, Kiki is like a fabulous old bathrobe I just can’t bring myself to throw out. 

My genesis for Kiki Durane …

Kiki was deeply inspired by my friend Nancy’s mom, who had been a burlesque dancer in Baltimore in the 1950s. She gave up show business when she had her kids. When I met her, she was in the midst of radiation treatments for the cancer that would eventually take her life. She was funny, scary, opinionated, and glamorous even when she was dying. My conceit was, “What would she have been like if she’d never quit show business?”

The one thing Kiki likes most about Viv …

Her shoes. 

The show that changed my life …

I saw a production called Belle Reprieve, which was a retelling of A Streetcar Named Desire starring Bette Bourne as Blanche and Peggy Shaw as Stanley at The Victoria Theater shortly after I first moved to San Francisco. It was queer performance at its best. It was a collaboration between Split Britches from New York and Bloo Lips from London, and both of these performance troops are legendary. It was subversive, raw, smart as f**k, and funny as hell. 

The queer theater maker everyone should be paying attention to now…

Cecilia Gentili’s show Red Ink kept getting extended at The Rattlestick Theater in the West Village. It’s a one-woman trans memoir with brilliant writing, and Cecilia is one of the most charismatic performers I’ve ever seen. She was in Pose, and had an all-star team behind her: an original score by Grammy winner Andrew Yee, projections by Drag Race winner Sasha Velour, and wardrobe by designer Gogo Graham. 

What I love and despise about the holiday season …

The smells of the holiday season always get me. Walking through Christmas tree stands on Second Avenue, the smoke coming from the nuts roasting near Central Park, cookies baking in the oven, people all perfumed up for parties… I love all of it. 

The gift-giving and receiving is fraught, however, because it’s a bit overwhelming, and I’m bad at shopping for other people. I am better at giving experiences than things. My life is fairly well curated as it is, so I don’t love getting presents other than cat-friendly flowers or expensive jewelry — and who can afford that? 

I would much rather spend time with someone I love instead of wasting time trying to figure out where to put some unnecessary item I don’t need, no matter how cute it is. 

Jake Shears once kindly mentioned a Kiki & Herb Christmas show as one of his artistic inspirations. I had a similar formative experience when …

When I was a kid, I saw a production of Hello, Dolly at a local nursing home starring the senior citizens who lived there. It was a sight to behold! That pretty much set the aesthetic for the rest of my career.  Older people in sequins and feathers is where it’s at for me! I think Jake Shears can probably relate to that as well. Hahahaha! 

Kiki & Herb, O Come Let Us Adore Them plays a six-city tour this December with stops in Washington, D.C., New York, Chicago, Dallas, Austin, San Francisco, and Los Angeles.