High-profile NYC drag queen Linda Simpson is a renaissance kind of gal—a nightlife promoter and hostess, a star of stage, screen and television, and a writer and webmistress. Known for her witty demeanor, fine-tuned camp sensibility and unique blend of sass and class, Linda embraces the role she was born to play—a reigning queen!
Linda's Timeline
Linda Simpson was born in the late 1980s, around the same time her male alter ego, Les Simpson, debuted the underground publishing sensation My Comrade, a "revolutionary gay magazine." Together they would go on to produce ten more issues until the magazine went on hiatus in 1994.
Linda's first of many nightlife ventures was the weekly bash Channel 69 at the legendary Pyramid club. The party emerged as the hub of the campy East Village scene and played a vital part in the early careers of such performers as RuPaul, Lady Bunny, Sweetie and Misstress Formika. Soon after, Linda became an annual headliner at the famed drag festival Wigstock.
As drag took pop culture by storm starting in the mid-1990s, Linda distinguished herself as a multimedia queen, including writing two monthly magazine columns—for Out and HX; co-hosting the groundbreaking gay cable TV show Party Talk; and acting in such projects as A RuPaul Christmas (for British TV), the indie film Postcards from America, and for stage, two black comedies at P.S. 122 that she also wrote—The Tranny Chase and The Final Episode.
During the 21st century, Linda has continued to enjoy a diverse career (with Mr. Simpson working much of the first decade as an editor and writer at Time Out New York magazine). My Comrade magazine was revived in 2004 to the delight of old and new readers alike. From 2006 to 2008 she produced the weekly party Slurp at the infamous dive bar the Cock. (The party was such a hit that she was hired to be the bar's promotional director.) In 2008, Linda again made her mark as an actress and playwright with The Bad Hostess, a provocative Christmas comedy that played at La MaMa Theater.
Currently, Linda hosts a totally hip version of Bingo twice a week with downtown It boy Murray Hill at the Bowery Poetry Club and Le Poisson Rouge. (Linda's other game night, Bingo-Ski, featured prizes and pierogies at the Ukrainian East Village Restaurant). On the web, she writes and produces two sites—My Comrade, featuring her campy and twisted take on current affairs, and Bitches in the Sky, a gender-bending photo novella bout the filthy rich, starring an array of New York nightlife personalities.
What They're Saying
About Linda:
"A worldly wit... A kind of mother superior of the New York drag scene." – The New York Times
"The thinking woman's drag queen." – Paper
"The ultimate hostess: a drag queen with no specific gimmick to speak of except for charm, wit, and a fondness for corny jokes." – ButtMagazine.com
"Linda Simpson quotes and quips for the quality-seeking queer in all of us." – Genre
Linda's for Hire!
- As a party promoter, she's renown for her fun-filled affairs. Need a drag queen, go-go dancer, DJ or other type of entertainer? Linda can supply you with the best! Her clients have included Exit Art gallery, Taharai fashion company and Sex and the City.
- As an MC, she's an engaging and delightful whiz on the microphone.
- As a hostess, she infuses any event with her outgoing and cheerful manner. And she always dresses for the occasion!
- As a television interviewer, she knows just the right questions to ask for an informative and fun-filled chat.
- As an actress, her specialty is comedy, but she's also excelled in dramatic roles.
- As a writer, her resumé includes magazine articles galore, three full-length plays and two websites, including a photo novella.