Lady Boys on ITV

[gemma]

The performers at "Funny Girls" in blackpool are very good at what they do and they are very entertaining depite the miming. I would go see them again for sure.

[Ice Maiden]

i think that most 'drag' and cabaret is cr*p tbh

i have seen quite a lot of it over the years Tammy at Diamond Lils was not bad in Plymouth cos she could sing dance and shake dat booty (they were called bums back then LOL ) and used to seduce sailors on stage very funny as their mates screamed 'she used to be a man' she was cool about it and was very popular

you can probably count on one hand those with any real talent

Lily savage made it for Paul but in the end Paul was good enough not to need Lily thats proof of his talent right there

shut your eyes next time you are at a drag act and you will hear just how bad they actually are i mean you gran drunk at christmas has more talent

those that mime are just pointless as thats 50% gone right there take Danny la Rue
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q1NHh3gE ... re=related[/youtube]
loads more on youtube

or stanley baxter
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nJImglait_E[/youtube] 3.27 in
or
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aLq1aTTZ ... re=related[/youtube]

bottom line is they are third rate and have to wear a dress to 'have an act' thats pathetic inmo

People like Baxter remember were in the 70s and had massive spectacular shows very high budget and take the upstairs downstairs spoof he did that was every role of the cast men and women putting Alec Guiness to shame in http://www.tcm.com/mediaroom/index.jsp?cid=286342 kind hearts and coronets

Drag has become lazy and sleazy and bad drag reflects only on the transgender community as gay men take the dress off for the most part

its like anything else there are sleazy smokey bar stirppers who drop their knickers and wiggle their stretchmarks and there are high class burlesque acts that sing and dance in champagne glasses

both do few favours for feminists but i am pretty sure the burlesque with talent is at least the preferred choice

The LadyBoys are in this former category they mime (bad) they rely on their gender history for the whole act (bad) their talent should be enough no matter what gender they are - if celine dion said tomorrow she was born a man it would be sensational but it would not detract from the talent she has

you either got it out you aint and what worries me with that awful phillip grimmer madonna act in an effort to be 'inclusive' on these talent shows tpeople are humiliated further

i have just digitized tape 4 and will put details in about it on the archives section shows Esther in 1998 doing a show on drag and in the audiance they had Janett Scott and she sat there with dignity and explained about transness as did the Julia made famous from the series 'a change of sex' on the stage were 4 or 5 of the worse drag acts i have ever seen and one of them makes a good living from it - i give up

all i can say is people are easily pleased or rely on beer goggles for their acts to work let them all drink for a few hours first then go on you will go down better ;)P

Chris Biggins who played in porridge and I claudius does have talent but again his lack of work means he turns to pantomime dame - this man is talented - but drag just takes any true value away and in part i think is to blame for his lack of serious roles now http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0081811/ his work has dried up really in recent years relying on being a 'professional guest' now and appearing on anything that will have him - i think the panto drag has played a part in this when you compare it with his earlier body of work

there are plenty of professional gay men doing well at his age and older but they dont do drag ;)P well not very often LOL

Sir Ian McKellen is a case in point

[Lairiana]

For something so "pathetic", Ice Maiden, it brings in one hell of a lot of amount of money and viewers, and is a very popular form of entertainment.

I don't see anything that's pathetic about putting on a dress, a wig and a toxic amount of make up and going out on stage. It's what they want to do, and as such I think they should be allowed to. If you don't like it, then don't support it, it's that simple. "Cross Dressing" (or perhaps Drag is the right term here) has been part of the theatre for hundreds, if not a few thousand years. Shakespearean theatre had it, I believe the Ancient Greeks also did, yet that's not pathetic. Should pantomimes lose a tradition (i.e. the dame) because someone takes offense or finds it pathetic?

Is it any different to Matt Lucas (and other actors) using wheelchairs in sketches when they're not actually disabled? Is it offensive to disabled people, or have they moved past that? And if it's the latter, why can't the trans community do the same?

Just because you (or someone else) finds the performance of the Lady Boys or drag acts bad, it doesn't mean they are. If they were truly that bad, why are they raking in a lot of money?

[Millie]

So, this is the new hobby horse is it?

There are plenty of older 'out' gay actors who don't rely on drag to help them make a living, there's Ian McKellen and um........

Like drag, the lady boys show is an admittedly modernised reworking of something that has been going on for a long long time and Katoey have been making a living as performers for a very long time and is one of the only ways that young trans women can earn a decent living and have a shot at transition in a dirt poor society, more power to them.

It's a shame that I didn't go to one of the shows because I suspect that it is a very professional, well put together show, if it wasn't, I suspect that the performers would be working in a backstreet go go bar in Bangkok and not touring the world!

Isn't it hard enough for trans and gay performers without being derided from within. I personally don't think that Eddie Izzard is funny, and I certainly don't think that he represents me as a 'trans person', (nice goatee Eddie), as for Alex Reid? What exactly is his talent? But I wouldn't go attacking them at every opportunity.

I loved Danny La Rue as a kid and there he was, showing people like me that not all men were like John Wayne . He was also one of the most respected performers of his generation.

[Ice Maiden]

has been part of the theatre for hundreds, if not a few thousand years

thats down to oppression of females and prevention from acting the roles a tradition thats well past its sellby date imo

Little Britain - i cannot speak for disabled but it seems its around 60/40 offensive but that assumes those in wheelchairs who maybe offended are capable of complaining and writing on the computer forums of course too many variables there to argue that one

tradition - well as i said before it was pantomime tradition in the 20th century for a woman to play the Principle boy - Cinderellas love interest was another girl (if you will)

thats a tradition thats been dropped like a wet turd so why not get the drag acts switched to empowered women women can play hags of course they can as i said before look at Nanny Mcphee or the wicked witch of the west

Good Enough for an ugly sister?

Just because you (or someone else) finds the performance of the Lady Boys or drag acts bad, it doesn't mean they are. If they were truly that bad, why are they raking in a lot of money?

no it doesnt mean i am right of course but the ladyboys are a sexual act to titillate take out the gender element and what have you go left certainly not an act of note - even the title says it all Bangkok Review simply wouldnt sell as well

i just think television is getting worse and the archives we have prove it watching these tapes digitise on a monitor to me side all day everyday just shows how bad it has become and how much better it once was

Britains got Talent was a step back to the side show freak tent of 100 years ago - its something thats inside humans that they love freaks they love to oggle at people and wonder the ratings of bGT (with a small T) were high but like Simon Cowell i am simply very disappointed with it and thats the dilemma

would conjoint twins juggling get viewers? absolutely they have every right to be on the show and be represented but would that be exploitation? Trans fall into that area i think - once possessing a penis is not an act for goodness sake nor is still owning one