May 31, 2022
John Waters has been called many things: the Prince of Puke, the Peoples Pervert, the Pope of Trash. But, above all, hes a storyteller. For nearly 60 years hes offered a uniquely subversive form of social commentary by bulldozing through contemporary notions of American good taste. No other film director would devise a scene where an outrageous reprobate played by the greatest drag queen of all Waters longtime collaborator Divine eats an actual dog poo. But Waters did this in his 1972 cult classic Pink Flamingos, and never looked back.
By the time he made 1988s big-hearted comedy Hairspray, Waters was inching ever closer to mainstream success. Hairspray has since been adapted into an enormously successful Broadway musical and glossy Hollywood blockbuster that put John Travolta in the dragged-up role originated by Divine. Its safe to presume no Hollywood remake of Pink Flamingos is coming any time soon.
Now 76, Baltimore-based Waters continues to move with the times by sending them up in his own transgressive way. Hes recently published his debut novel Liarmouth, a gloriously sordid romp about an amoral femme fatale who makes her living by swiping suitcases from airports. The fact Waters gives his antiheroine an almost cutesy-sounding name Marsha Sprinkle only makes her more shocking.
Hes also bringing his latest spoken-word show, False Negative, to London's Barbican Hall for back-to-back Friday night shows on June 10. If its anything like this interview, you can expect observations that are pin-sharp, articulate, and playfully provocative at all times.
Nick Levine: What are your main targets in False Negative?
John Waters: When you say targets, that means that you think Im attacking. Actually, I make fun of the things I love. Its a little bit of an attack. It is [me] trying to understand the new rules of every outlaw society Ive ever lived in since the moment I first rebelled, which is probably the first time I heard Elvis Presley sing. Im also giving you a humorous take on how the world has completely changed since Covid: how humour has changed, fashion has changed, sex has changed, everything.
NL: Do you feel as though you can make fun of anything, as long as you have the right intentions?
JW: I think you have to be extra careful. I dont do a lot of Holocaust jokes when Im not Jewish. I dont do a lot of African American jokes. But good humour has always walked that ledge of what you can get away with. I make fun of things I love, and I think thats what has enabled me to get away with this for 50 years.
NL: Youve also just published a brilliantly irreverent novel, Liarmouth. Do you think the line of what you can get away with is different in a spoken-word show? Can you get away with more because its in the moment?
JW: When you say anything out loud in a show, one reporter can write it down [and publish it] out of context. And that thing can be more remembered than a whole book. But they have the right to do that, so you have to watch what you say. There are lines in Liarmouth that certainly go over that edge of what you can get away with, but so far I think people are reading it in the exact same tone that I give everything. They get it. My fans have helped me all of these years because they are angry and they have a good sense of humour. They can laugh at themselves and the seriousness of their peers [political] battles.
I make fun of things I love, and I think thats what has enabled me to get away with this for 50 years John Waters
NL: Liarmouth's lead character, Marsha Sprinkle, is wonderfully appalling. Has she been living inside you for some time?
JW: Well, I think she would be able to get along with Serial Mom or Dawn Davenport [Divines character in Female Trouble]. I think that she would feel comfortable in my world, certainly. But she was a character that I totally made up as somebody who would be different from what political correctness is today, and different to anything my friends feel. I dont know anyone that could hate their body as much as Marsha. Even defecation infuriates her because she didnt get to think it up. She tries to kill her need to defecate by only eating crackers so she can just shoot out little pellets. I know what she means; I wish I didnt have to do that every day, too.
NL: The book also features a character who performs plastic surgery on pets, which feels like the kind of ridiculous thing that actually could happen.
JW: I bet that is already is happening in Los Angeles or Monaco, where people would want their dogs to look rich. I look at some people [whove had work done] and think: Did they want to look like that? And my friend Pat Moran says: No, they want to show theyre rich by proving they can afford to have a facelift. Its the opposite of what Id want if I ever had a facelift. Id go to Switzerland where it would be underplayed.
NL: I read an interview with a British celebrity who said she doesnt have work done because it makes her look younger, but because it makes her look fashionable. For her, its a status symbol.
JW: For me, its the opposite. Though I tell ya, Deborah Harry had it and she talks about it all the time and she looks great. She is a great star, so Im not saying everybody shouldnt do it. But I think I probably got asked to appear in the new Calvin Klein campaign because I do look old. I talk in my show about why you shouldnt get plastic surgery, and bring up a lot of celebrities that never would have had a career if theyd gotten it.
I think every drag queen now has been influenced by Divine: almost none of them are square like they were when we were growing up. Back then, they all wanted to be Miss America John Waters
NL: Drag has changed so much in the last 15 years: partly because of RuPaul's Drag Race, and partly because of social media. Do you think it can still be genuinely subversive?
JW: Well, I think it is more accepted than its ever been. And I give RuPaul great credit for that. I think every drag queen now has been influenced by Divine: almost none of them are square like they were when we were growing up. Back then, they all wanted to be Miss America. Now they all have an attitude, they have an act, and they have a certain rage in them. To me, drag kings do that better sometimes now, because they can sometimes pass even better [as the gender theyre sending up] and that makes them scarier to people. And so I think there still is a way for drag to surprise people.
NL: Do you ever think of where Divine might slot in now, or is that almost too weird?
JW: He would be on the show as a judge and he would be a man. Divine was not trans: he had no desire to be a woman, though he would be for the [trans] movement and the freedom of it. But Divine was an actor; towards the end [of his life] he wore expensive mens clothes. And one thing Divine was really struggling on, that RuPaul has figured out more than anyone, was to have a great look as a man, too. Thats really important, I think. If youre going to be a celebrity drag queen, you have to have both looks down. But Divine changed things [back in the day] because he would go to drag concerts with a chainsaw and scars on his face. Other drag queens hated him because they knew he was making fun of drag, but in a new way, and especially because he was overweight. No other drag queen was like that at the time.
NL: We have this expression in the UK: national treasure. At this stage in your career, do you ever feel like a kind of alternative national treasure?
JW: National treasure? That expression makes me think of April Ashley. Well, I would never brag like that. But when people come up to me and say I saved their lives or made them feel good about themselves when they were younger, Im amazed. And Im really honoured that I did that. But I just try not to feel too much like a twisted Mother Teresa.
John Waters will be performing his all-new, stand-up comedy monologue False Negative at Londons Barbican Hall on June 10. His novel Liarmouth is out now.
Excerpt from:
John Waters on Divine, Drag Kings and Political Correctness - AnOther Magazine
- Politically incorrect - - March 31st, 2024 [March 31st, 2024]
- Dileep critiques impact of political correctness on comedy films; says Movies will become dry - TOI Etimes - March 6th, 2024 [March 6th, 2024]
- Keeping Up With Spongy Political Correctness; Turbines Make a Sudden Move Offshore - The SandPaper - February 1st, 2024 [February 1st, 2024]
- Disney's Snow White Live-Action Remake Ignites Controversy - BNN Breaking - February 1st, 2024 [February 1st, 2024]
- Political correctness is strangling comedy and with it our British sense of humour - The Telegraph - January 29th, 2024 [January 29th, 2024]
- The absurdity of political correctness - Fiji Times - January 29th, 2024 [January 29th, 2024]
- Claudine Gay, Jimmy Lai, and the truth of things - Catholic World Report - January 20th, 2024 [January 20th, 2024]
- Rochdale has exposed the horrors of political correctness - Spiked - January 20th, 2024 [January 20th, 2024]
- Michel Valentin: Political correctness and swastikas - Missoulian - November 15th, 2023 [November 15th, 2023]
- Letters to the Editor | Nov. 12, 2023 - The Philadelphia Inquirer - November 15th, 2023 [November 15th, 2023]
- How the free world can prevail - Geopolitical Intelligence Services AG - November 15th, 2023 [November 15th, 2023]
- The Die Hard Survival Guide To This Year's Office Holiday Party - Fisher Phillips - November 15th, 2023 [November 15th, 2023]
- Who Won The Third Republican Debate? - FiveThirtyEight - November 15th, 2023 [November 15th, 2023]
- Although Many Have Tried To Change Name Of Devils Tower ... - Cowboy State Daily - November 15th, 2023 [November 15th, 2023]
- North American Birds Named After Bad People Will Get a New ... - WTTW News - November 15th, 2023 [November 15th, 2023]
- "Imagining the Indian documentary combats Indigenous mascoting - The Michigan Daily - November 15th, 2023 [November 15th, 2023]
- Disney's downfall attributed to cancel culture The Tide - The Tide - November 15th, 2023 [November 15th, 2023]
- The Kremlin fuelled antisemitism at home. Then it blew up - Euronews - November 15th, 2023 [November 15th, 2023]
- The Vibes Are Off at the 2023 Venice Film Festival - Vulture - September 3rd, 2023 [September 3rd, 2023]
- Democracy and the Crisis of Authority - Asharq Al-awsat - English - September 3rd, 2023 [September 3rd, 2023]
- 10 Best Workplace Movies of the 2010s - MovieWeb - September 3rd, 2023 [September 3rd, 2023]
- The Social Contract Between Human Rights and International ... - Harvard Political Review - September 3rd, 2023 [September 3rd, 2023]
- A Requiem for Manners - The Imaginative Conservative - September 3rd, 2023 [September 3rd, 2023]
- Letter to the editor: Understanding God | TribLIVE.com - TribLIVE - September 3rd, 2023 [September 3rd, 2023]
- Karin Klossek: No More Home Office Freedom? Then I Quit! - finews.com - September 3rd, 2023 [September 3rd, 2023]
- Republican Attacks on Woke Ideology Falling Flat With G.O.P. Voters - The New York Times - August 6th, 2023 [August 6th, 2023]
- Discussions on unions, politics mark librarians' conference The ... - The Militant - August 6th, 2023 [August 6th, 2023]
- Serving the Sovereign - Magnolia Tribune - August 6th, 2023 [August 6th, 2023]
- A Philosophers Role in the Texas A&M Debacle (updated) - Daily Nous - August 6th, 2023 [August 6th, 2023]
- High school football: Walsh confident South is making progress ... - Salisbury Post - August 6th, 2023 [August 6th, 2023]
- War On Niger Republic Will Be War On Northern Nigeria, By Prof ... - SaharaReporters.com - August 6th, 2023 [August 6th, 2023]
- Introducing the Reason Crossword, a Weekly Puzzle for Libertarians - Reason - August 6th, 2023 [August 6th, 2023]
- From Relativism to Wokism: A Path of Confusion, Fallacy and Self ... - C2C Journal - August 6th, 2023 [August 6th, 2023]
- John Krull: Try this in a small town - Pendleton Times-Post - August 6th, 2023 [August 6th, 2023]
- Book Review: "Rodney Kills At Night" -- Engaging Company - artsfuse.org - August 6th, 2023 [August 6th, 2023]
- US stokes divisions on BRI, but will Italy fall into trap? - China Daily - August 6th, 2023 [August 6th, 2023]
- Whoopi Goldberg blows up over political correctness: 'We don't know everything you're not supposed to do!' - Fox News - March 31st, 2023 [March 31st, 2023]
- 'They mad over a forehead kiss?': Fans Cry Hypocrisy as Disney - Bastion of Political Correctness - Edits Out Ayo-Aneka Kiss Scene in Black Panther:... - November 16th, 2022 [November 16th, 2022]
- The silliness of political correctness THE FIRST STREET JOURNAL. - November 8th, 2022 [November 8th, 2022]
- Why Women Are So Susceptible To Political Correctness - November 8th, 2022 [November 8th, 2022]
- Cancel Culture: Its Causes and Its Consequences - November 5th, 2022 [November 5th, 2022]
- Why Did British Police Ignore Pakistani Gangs Abusing 1,400 ... - Forbes - October 19th, 2022 [October 19th, 2022]
- Where are the liberal defenders of Kanye West's freedom to speak? - New York Daily News - October 19th, 2022 [October 19th, 2022]
- Perfecting the "art of polarization": How these '90s conservatives created today's radicalized right - Salon - October 19th, 2022 [October 19th, 2022]
- Anna May Wong is now the first Asian American on US currency - The Black Wall Street Times - October 19th, 2022 [October 19th, 2022]
- Best of times, worst of times - The Spectator Australia - October 19th, 2022 [October 19th, 2022]
- When Rekha's beauty advice for young women was to be 'physically fit and definitely not fat': 'Fat is ugly' - The Indian Express - October 19th, 2022 [October 19th, 2022]
- Theatre Review: You should see The Doctor now - The New European - October 19th, 2022 [October 19th, 2022]
- The Utopian Horizon of Memory Art: A Conversation with Andreas Huyssen - lareviewofbooks - October 19th, 2022 [October 19th, 2022]
- I should be allowed to play any person, or any tree, or any animal: Marvel Star Scarlett Johansson Was Furious After Losing Trans Role Due to Insane... - October 19th, 2022 [October 19th, 2022]
- Videogames: the latest weapon in the culture wars - Spiked - October 19th, 2022 [October 19th, 2022]
- Jes Tom on Why They Love Chris Onstad's 'Achewood' Webcomic - Vulture - October 19th, 2022 [October 19th, 2022]
- Why Hungarys Jews Are the Safest in Europe - The American Conservative - October 19th, 2022 [October 19th, 2022]
- Why you should change your voter registration to Pennsylvania, Part 1: the insanity of Doug Mastriano - CMU The Tartan Online - September 22nd, 2022 [September 22nd, 2022]
- TIFF 2022 Review: Stephanie Johnes' "Maya and the Wave" Hits a High Watermark - The Moveable Fest - September 22nd, 2022 [September 22nd, 2022]
- Longing After the Fleshpots | Luke Burgis - First Things - September 22nd, 2022 [September 22nd, 2022]
- Where to Watch and Stream Jimmy Carr: Telling Jokes Free Online - EpicStream - September 22nd, 2022 [September 22nd, 2022]
- Opinion | Leicester Violence Has Exposed the Multicultural Claims of Left-Liberals - News18 - September 22nd, 2022 [September 22nd, 2022]
- America's Misguided Fascination With Royalty - The Atlantic - September 22nd, 2022 [September 22nd, 2022]
- The pending collapse of the United States of Political Correctness - The Hill - September 3rd, 2022 [September 3rd, 2022]
- Laurence Fox finds a role equal to his talents: the Breitbart biopic of Hunter Biden - The Guardian US - September 3rd, 2022 [September 3rd, 2022]
- Moving ahead as a party of one Times News Online - tnonline.com - September 3rd, 2022 [September 3rd, 2022]
- Google Bars Truth Social From App Store Over Lack of Content Moderation - Reason - September 3rd, 2022 [September 3rd, 2022]
- She idolised Thatcher, now Liz Truss is on the cusp of becoming Britain's next PM - WAtoday - September 3rd, 2022 [September 3rd, 2022]
- OPINION: Andrew Tate sparks a culture war: The perspective of a young man and woman The New Political - The New Political - September 3rd, 2022 [September 3rd, 2022]
- "I Know What It Means To Grow Up Without Much" Pro Golfer Harold Varner III Keeps It Real About Going To LIV Golf | It's All About The Bag!... - September 3rd, 2022 [September 3rd, 2022]
- The Lady Is Not For (A Populist) Turning: Thatcherian Ambiguities In Cas Mudde's Theory Analysis - Eurasia Review - September 3rd, 2022 [September 3rd, 2022]
- Dear Friends and Readers, The Brooklyn Rail - Brooklyn Rail - September 3rd, 2022 [September 3rd, 2022]
- 9/2 Flashback: On abortion | Fred Clark - Patheos - September 3rd, 2022 [September 3rd, 2022]
- The Kingdom Exodus Review: Lars von Trier Goes Full Meta With the Return of His Creepy Hospital Drama - Yahoo Entertainment - September 3rd, 2022 [September 3rd, 2022]
- Film Review: 'Explorer': The Amazing Life Story of Author and Renowned Overachiever Ranulph Fiennes - The Epoch Times - September 3rd, 2022 [September 3rd, 2022]
- Bill Maher Asks A Question Even A Meathead Cant Answer On Real Time - Deadline - August 29th, 2022 [August 29th, 2022]
- Exclusive | Pa Ranjith on 10 years in cinema, pan-Indian films, Natchathiram Nagargiradhu: 'I am waiting to see the ripples it creates' - The Indian... - August 29th, 2022 [August 29th, 2022]
- Opinion: In Alberta, children's early years of education are being used in a game of political football - The Globe and Mail - August 29th, 2022 [August 29th, 2022]
- Marvel Comics Removes Masters Of Kung Fu Mentions From Its Website - Bleeding Cool News - August 29th, 2022 [August 29th, 2022]
- Jimmy Carr's 'Terribly Funny' tour to be the biggest comedy tour to ever hit Australia - Beat Magazine - August 29th, 2022 [August 29th, 2022]
- Police need to be more focused on crimes that matter to voters, say Rishi Sunak and Liz Truss - iNews - August 29th, 2022 [August 29th, 2022]
- Hulu's Reboot Debuts First Trailer And Brings Paul Reiser Back To The Sitcom - GameSpot - August 29th, 2022 [August 29th, 2022]
- JMM claims 16 BJP MLAs in touch with party - Daily Pioneer - August 29th, 2022 [August 29th, 2022]
- France keeps blocking MidCat gas interconnection with Spain - EURACTIV - August 29th, 2022 [August 29th, 2022]