Andrew Johnston’s annual Bitch Salad Gives Back fundraiser delighted an over-capacity audience at Buddies in Bad Times Theatre Friday night, raising money for both the theatre and the AIDS Committee of Toronto.
Setting the tone right off the bat, Johnston pulled no punches in his opening monologue, telling the audience that this may be the worst Pride yet, given the impending social-service cuts under Mayor Ford, Ford’s refusal to march in the parade, homophobic columns in the National Post by Barbara Kay, and the still-not-tired controversy about Paul Aguirre-Livingston’s “Beyond Gay” essay in The Grid, in which he claimed that the new generation of gay Torontonians is over Pride, the Village and the struggle for queer rights.
Johnston’s hilarious takedown of Aguirre-Livingston’s flippant attitude toward Pride included showing a picture of his Twitter avatar and comparing him to pre-liposuction Carnie Wilson.
After the show, Johnston told Xtra that he heard from multiple sources that Aguirre-Livingston was in the audience, but Johnston is not apologetic for taking pot-shots at Aguirre-Livingston’s appearance, attitude or writing.
For that matter, Johnston wasn’t at all apologetic for suggesting that the National Post change Barbara Kay’s bio-line to reference the frigid and crusty state of her genitalia and that her hobbies include feeding peanut butter to stray dogs in a way that certainly would not be approved by the OSPCA.
The evening featured the usual roster of very funny ladies, including Dini Dimakos, Rebecca Kohler and Shelley Marshall. The Cheeto Girls performed a mini concert of song parodies, the best of which were probably “I Get Compared to a Horse” (Willow Smith’s “I Whip My Hair”), in which she performed in a spot-on re-creation of Sarah Jessica Parker’s Carrie Bradshaw tutu from the opening credits of Sex and the City, and an Old Britney vs New Britney vs Madonna dance battle.
The boys from MTV’s 1 Girl 5 Gays made a cameo appearance before the intermission, reminding the audience to buy raffle tickets to support ACT before breaking out a Pride-themed parody of Rebecca Black’s “Friday.”
Headlining the evening was Drew Droege, who performed a selection of hilarious caricatures, including his signature Chloë Sevigny impression. You can see more of his videos on his YouTube channel:
Check out pics from last night in the Flickr feed below.
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