When Mike Delamont first donned the floral power suit and bobbed wig, he knew it was going to be funny, but he never expected it to snowball into a trilogy.
Delamont toured the original installment, which covered topics such as evolution and the existence of heaven, through Vernon last year, and is ready to suit up again for God Is A Scottish Drag Queen II: The Second Coming at the Vernon and District Performing Arts Centre April 13.
“When we wrote the first one, it was what questions would people want God to answer? I thought that’s all people wanted to know,” Delamont said. “It wasn’t at all.”
Complete with a fake Scottish brogue, the critically acclaimed B.C. comedian toured the first instalment through the international fringe festival circuits and claimed Critics Choice Best Comedy at the Orlando Fringe Festival, Pick of the Fringe in Victoria, Vancouver, Edmonton, Winnipeg and Orlando, and was nominated for Best English Production at the Centaur Theatre and Best Comedy at Just For Laughs in Montreal.
“The show is more about society and life. There’s a lot of fodder for the show,” laughed Delamont. “It (The Second Coming) just expands on the theme. It’s a bigger and better version. You don’t have to have seen the first show to see the second. It’s an entirely different show.”
And it’s an series that has worked, with God Is A Scottish Drag Queen ranking among the highest grossing shows on the international fringe circuit and Delamont claiming 15 Best of Fest awards for his various works.
Expanding on the character Delamont developed alongside playwright Jacob Richmond for the cult cabaret Atomic Vaudeville, The Second Coming delves into comedic-based discussions around gun control, the LGBTQ+ community, evangelicals and everything in between.
“The goal for me is to be able to talk about sizable, important things, but my goal is they have to be funny,” Delamont said. “The show is certainly not heavy, but I could talk about big, important things. It’s nice to put things through a lens like that.”
Delamont’s “God” feels the bible needs an update or second episode, not unlike the series itself.
“A big part of it is what I call the gritty reboot of the bible,” Delamont said. “There could never be a preachy moment in it.”
Delamont does admit, however, that the title of the show can cause controversy.
“We were in Washington and had a protest (outside the show), because the title scares people sometimes,” Delamont said. “I think the title makes people nervous, but then they see the show and are like, ‘Oh.”
However, Delamont said, things aren’t always as they appear.
God Is A Scottish Drag Queen was written, in part, by Delamont’s wife who had a religious upbringing.
“A Lutheran minister said she just loved it and came back the next day with people from her church,” Delamont said. “If you know the bible, the show is even funnier.”
But, like Delamont himself, previous knowledge of the bible isn’t a requirement to enjoy the act.
“There has been an overwhelming response in the positive,” Delamont said.
Unlike the first God Is A Scottish Drag Queen, The Second Coming has acted as a conduit for sparking dialogue. And Delamont knew that the underlying message in his show was getting through to the audience when an audience member and father whose child identified as transgender approached him. The father, Delamont said, was supportive of his child but didn’t fully understand.
“After the show, he came up to me and said he had had an a-ha moment,” Delamont said. “I thought that was really cool.”
While he doesn’t preach, Delamont’s God shares humorous tales with, at times, insightful messages.
“I started playing this character in a cabaret series about 12-years-ago, and I never thought I would still be doing it,” Delamont said. “The character has never gotten stale for me. I always like to think of him in simple ways.”
The character has also sparked internal dialogue for Delamont, and a sort of spin-off show entitled Hell Ya! An Evening with the Devil was born.
“If God is a Scottish drag queen, what is the Devil?” Delamont laughed.
But God will come back for Delamont, who said that a third instalment is in the works, because, well, he simply loves the character.
“And the suit is very comfy.”
God Is A Scottish Drag Queen II: The Second Coming is the final performance in the Vernon and District Performing Arts Centre Society’s 2017/18 Special Presentation Series. Showtime is 8 p.m. Tickets are available for $25 adult, $22 senior and $20 student and are available through the Ticket Seller, 250-549-7469, www.ticketseller.ca.
Related: Nothing is sacred for this comedy ‘queen’
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