Online: Soho Theatre on Demand
In a year without many new holiday specials, it’s a real treat to see a brand-new original show from two of the most distinctive Drag Race queens in herstory. Streaming on the Soho Theatre on Demand platform, which brought you the sellout theatre version of Fleabag earlier this year, Jinkx and DeLa’s Holiday Special is like downing a tin of Quality Street topped off with a pint of Cosmopolitans and tequila shots in a sticky-floored club – but all from the comfort of your living room.
Jinkx Monsoon was a Drag Race winner – and Ben De La Creme should have been, if she wasn’t up against the biggest triple threat in the show’s entire run, Bianca Del Rio, Adore Delano and Courtney Act, the fishiest queen since RuPaul herself (also Darienne Lake, who we don’t talk about). Against these bold and brash queens, DeLa struggled to translate her ‘terminally delightful’ persona into a win, but on any other series – as proven by All Stars – she would have been a champ rather than Miss Congeniality.
In this holiday special, the two queens come across less as drag performers, more as old-school entertainers like Lucille Ball and Carol Burnett. Their rolled-up hair and fabulous costumes that say Broadway (or panto) dame more than drag.
While the two look at home in this old-school setting, the standout number is an R-and-B-influenced track about getting up to no good with Santa and the contents of his sack. If nothing else, it demonstrates that DeLa’s rapping skills have improved since season six.
After a Biblical version of ‘Baby, it’s Cold Outside’ with DeLa as the Virgin Mary and Jinkx as the Angel Gay-briel, the two friends bicker their way through what a holiday special really means – presents, religion or just demonically possessed eggnog? The perfect blend of nostalgic sweetness and filth, this Holiday Special will have you laughing your Christmas stockings off. If you need something to brighten up your Twixtmas or New Year’s Eve, look no further than this extravaganza.
Jinkx and DeLa’s Holiday Special is streaming now until January 2021.