Pussy LeHoot celebrates 30 years of drag
By Glenn Gullickson

Kevin McSweeny’s 50th birthday also marks his 30th anniversary of doing drag shows in Phoenix, making it an occasion worth celebrating.

McSweeny’s Pussy LeHoot & Friends Show will observe the birthday-anniversary with a special production on Sept. 12 at Charlie’s Phoenix.

The show will feature an all-star cast of Phoenix drag stars who LeHoot has worked with in the past, McSweeny said. Those expected to perform include Barbra Seville, Claudia B, Ebony, Lady Cassandra and Celia Putty. LeHoot will watch the show, then do something at end.

Originally from Flagstaff, McSweeny said he saw his first drag show during a trip to Phoenix when he was 17 and remembered he thought that was something he would like to do.

While attending beauty school, he started entering talent shows and won a contest at Harpo’s, where he was hired to do his first drag show on his 20th birthday. He remembered that his first paycheck was $25 for two nights of performances.

The Pussy LeHoot name came after trying out names like Valentine Rose, Daisy Dalton, Topez and then Pussy Dazzles. One night, he was driving to a show with a friend who repeatedly used “hoot” as a catchphrase. “By the time I got on stage I was Pussy LeHoot,” McSweeny remembered.

Despite a desire to change the name, the Pussy LeHoot label stuck and she performed in clubs all over town, settling in at Charlie’s about 10 years ago. She regularly does the Sunday night show and Saturday patio shows.

LeHoot’s act includes raunchy humor and lip syncing to a repertoire that has a country flavor, McSweeny said. “I depend a lot on comedy,” McSweeny said. “I’m not a dancer. I could never sing.”

Along the way, LeHoot has collected pageant titles, including Miss Gay Arizona 1992 and Miss Gay Pride 1997. LeHoot has been Miss Arizona Gay Rodeo Association five times and won the international gay rodeo title in 2005.

McSweeny said LeHoot “blazed the trail” for plus-size drag queens when she was the first heavy-set contestant to enter the Miss Gay Phoenix pageant, which she won in 1989.

VITAL STATISTICS
Pussy LeHoot & Friends
8 p.m. Sundays; anniversary show is Sept. 12
Charlie’s Phoenix
727 W. Camelback Road, Phoenix.
www.charliesphoenix.com