1 hour, 18 minutes
Released: December 28, 2020
Recorded: December 8, 2020
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In this episode of WEBurlesque The Podcast, Viktor chats with Tiffy Twister and Brandy Snifter, the two co-producers behind LA’s most bizarre neo burlesque outfit: WTFlesque.
The two start by recounting how they met through the larger SoCal Rocky Horror Picture Show community and what it was like to be a shadow cast member when you are way too young to be up on that stage:
BS: “My first cast was the Malibu cast. We played three shows- I played Janet at 14 years old, that is not legal!”
TT: “I did not play main roles. I either played a Transylvanian or they hid me away doing spotlight up in the rafters like Phantom of the Opera.”
Eventually, their RHPS and eventual burlesque colleague, Blanche Dubois, roped them into doing a showgirl number for her circus themed wedding and the rest was history:
BS: “We did ‘I Enjoy Being A Girl’…and it was super cute and we all tore our clothes off each other….All of us had a really good time and Blanche decided to start the Hollywood Jane Review because of her wedding.”
TT: “It was really weird doing that in front of wedding guests.”
From there, they talk about their personal styles of burlesque:
TT: “I’ll make a storyline out of my acts and I’ll dance to that…comedy stories that are burlesque.”
BS: “I think my thing is making people feel an emotion that is unexpected…Because I feel that the sexiness comes with selling the shit out of that kind of thing. Because sexiness is obvious… it’s gotta have more than one layer.”
TT: “It gets a little tiresome when either her or I are the only one in the entire show that is not the pretty princess burlesque.”
And the challenges of trying to make a show that can be niche and shocking, but also accessible to a wider audience:
BS: “For me, it’s important that even if you are doing the deep cuts it’s kind of accessible…that even if you have no clue…you can still watch the acts and go damn that’s really well done.”
TT: “Even if someone didn’t understand what was happening, they were still entertained by it.”
Unlike some of their peers, both Brandy and Tiffy have decided to stay away from the realm of digital burlesque as they feel it does not match the character and aesthetic of WTFlesque:
BS:”This whole high production thing is not really us…I Know Tiffy has a lot of ideas, I just have some kind of weird mental block. Like how can we do this and give it the same spirit and the same spontaneity.”
TT: “We have to find the right way to do it.”
Despite the pandemic putting WTFlesque on pause, both women would say they have actually learned a lot about themselves in quarantine:
TT: “I’m a lonely person…before I thought I had no social life, but it’s even worse now so I just need to be a social whore…when Covid goes away.”
BS: “I have a pretty low self esteem and a lot of confidence problems and codependency type things… and weirdly enough I’ve learned to be ok with being by myself…I’ve never been forced to be with myself so much and I think it has helped me a lot.”
And like the majority of us, both are waiting impatiently to get back to producing at their homebase venue, the Canby:
BS: “The moment I realized this was our home…I didn’t ask the venue beforehand (if we could do fire)…I was like it’s better to ask forgiveness….and I look over at the owner (as the fire starts)…and she has the hugest smile on her face.”
credits
- Intro and Outro Music: “On A 45” by This Way to the Egress – used with permission.
- Interlude Music Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 License http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/
- everything else (c) White Elephant Burlesque Corp
WEBurlesque Podcast Network 