My pride

I did not attend the Gay Pride Parade this year, but then, I never do. I have nothing against it -- in fact, I've really come to appreciate obnoxious expressions of gayness in my old age (thank you, RuPaul's Drag Race!). It's just that I had to have brunch for my boyfriend's birthday, and I hate parades and it was hot and...and...and, in the words of Florrie Fisher when she began an entirely unsolicited story that she decided against telling midway through, it's not important! 

But what I did do on Sunday was watch the entire episode of The Joan Rivers Show devoted to Paris Is Burning on YouTube. Dorian Corey, Pepper LaBeija, Willi Ninja and Freddie Pendavis (whose name Joan pronounces like "Pen-dovah," much to Freddie's amusement) and PIB director Jennie Livingston all sit on Joan's coach (and in millions of living rooms when this aired in 1991) and talk about being gay and drag balls and slang (Joan is legitimately perplexed by the term "24/7!"). It's all gayer than just about anything you'd see on daytime TV today, 19 years later. It's a beautiful thing, but not more beautiful than Pepper LaBeija's outfit, which looks like Big Bird crossed with an entire stage production of The Wiz crossed with fierce.

Above is my favorite segment (the final one), in which a mini drag ball is staged and women from the audience are called down to strut their stuff. Women pretending to be men pretending to be women are generally so much more off in their aim than men pretending to be women. That extra layer makes all the difference. Below, I've embedded the rest of the episode (it's annoying to dig through that YouTube account to find it so I got you). [via CNTRL+W33D]

Update: Ugh! What is going on in my life? My secondary YouTube account was deleted over clips I posted MONTHS ago (I'll be reupping stuff over the long weekend) and then this shit goes private? Lame. But I'm used to lameness, so I saved all the flv files. You can download the five parts of this episode below. Nobody gonna breaka my stride.

Download Part 1

Download Part 2

Download Part 3

Download Part 4

Download Part 5

Comments

[Brian from Seattle]

I was enthralled with this when I saw it last week - it was like the "missing footage" from PiB. Really amazing stuff; explains a lot and yet leaves you with more questions...It should be added to the extras on the DVD.

btw, I think it was "Pendavis" in the movie - pen-dah-vuss

[Dodger]

I had never heard about this documentary til you had first posted about it a long time back. Now it's amoung my favorite docs and probably my favorite one about human beings and culture. I would've never imagined this being the focus of a daytime talk show, but now that i've seen it, it's just so perfect for early 90's Joan Rivers Show.

[Jamie]

Thank you for this!

[Kathy]

I remember this and the "club kids" episode with James St. James and Leigh Bowery from around the same time. Joan had awesome guests. Oddly enough, I'd never seen Paris Is Burning in its entirety until this year, about a month before season two of RuPaul's Drag Race. (I didn't have cable last year, so I still haven't seen all of season one.)

[Kitty]

Oh my god, Rich, thank you so much for putting these all in one post. I am pretty much creaming my pants in excitement for when I get to go home and watch this. Paris is Burning changed my life.

[Rob]

Rich, you are giving me my life by posting this!

Paris Is Burning made me a better gay man and a better human being. It's in my top five favorite films of all time.

[Dio]

I was able to see Paris is Burning in my English 101 class this last semester (extended discussion of critical models on Heart of Darkness, blah blah blah @[email protected]), but we had to cut it short at the last maybe 10 minutes. I loved the doc dearly. Thanks for sending us to this, I feel even more fulfilled.

[ger]

Fantastic. Thanks so much for this. I'm looking forward to some pictures of Winston Labeija.

[Courtie]

Rich I am hyperventilating right now.
Thank you so much for finding this.

[teeme]

was that Caroline Manzo from RHONJ at 6:47 in the first video?

[Nikki]

Teeme - THANK YOU. She popped up twice, and I swore I was losing my mind. I even pulled up a current picture of her to compare. It MUST be...right?

[tia]

i'm too late. the videos are private now :(

[Cassie]

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!

[david]

re:update---LUH u Rich, you go boy

[Jen Luna]

I learned about PiB from an episode of Donahue back in the day, but never saw this episode of Joan Rivers...brings back memories...

[tia]

thanks, rich!

[agelessbbw]

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[iman]

Thank you *so* much for the downloads. I'm so entranced by all these amazing people. (Also Joan Rivers not knowing what 24/7 means? Hilarious)

[vibram five fingers]

Wow,I am pretty much creaming my pants in excitement for when I get to go home and watch this. Thanks for sharing.

[vibram five fingers]

It is a fact that all gayer than just about anything you'd see on daytime TV today, 19 years later. It's a beautiful thing, but not more beautiful than Pepper LaBeija's outfit, which looks like Big Bird crossed with an entire stage production of The Wiz crossed with fierce.

[herve leger dress]

Thank you for providing such a good thing!

[removals liverpool]

Thank you for reminding me of the past - i love this song