Lucy Gellman Photos
Robin Banks was laughing hard, one set of artfully trimmed nails reaching toward a small ball cage, while another wrapped slowly, sultrily around her second Bloody Mary for the night. A large, gem-red ring glinted from her right hand. The balls shifted and whirred as they came rolling out of the wheel. She grinned, lips glittering Wizard-of-Oz red as they curved upward. She readjusted a balloon shoved down her tank top as she inched toward the mic to speak.
“Okay. G 26,” Banks offered. The room was silent for a moment, a few bingo cards rustling as people bent back numbers that corresponded to that number. Someone ordered a beer near the back. Then, a squeal went up from the front row.
“Biiiiiinnnnngo, motherfuckers!” a woman cried, raising her arms triumphantly. A packed house laughed in return, attendees setting their placards, bingo boards, and paper punch cards down for a moment and hoping for better luck the next time around. She ran onstage to collect her prize, an apron festooned with Dakota trivia.
Welcome to drag bingo, a new, free monthly installment at Cafe Nine that has not only taken bingo back from the geriatric crowd, but given it a decidedly sassy twist. Started as a collaboration between queens Robin Banks, Dixie Normous, and King Moe Porn(e), along with Cafe Nine bartender Jamie Arobolos, the nights are moving from a Cafe Nine experiment to a monthly celebration of acting funny, fabulous, and fully in control of the bingo board. The reason, Banks and the fouler-mouthed Normous say, has to do entirely with making audiences feel good before the beginning of the work week.
“I loved doing bingo. It was so fun,” said Banks after Sunday night, filled with a few high-stakes rounds and Christmas-themed lip-synced numbers that brought the house down. “I felt like it was an interactive comedy show with some prizes. I love to make people laugh and make sure they feel comfortable and included.”
Besides, she added, “it was all for fun.”
