Melissa McCarthy: ‘Drag Queens helped launch my career’

Bridesmaid’s star Melissa McCarthy has said New York City drag queens helped to launch her career.

The actress confessed to arriving in New York with little more than $45 in her pocket and took to comedy clubs in order to escape her tiny apartment.

“I was thinking, ‘how hard can it be?’” she said in an interview with Rolling Stone.

“It was me there with my lovely gay guy friends and I was dressed like a big old drag queen.

“I went by Miss Y. I had a gold lame swing coat on, a huge wig, big eyelashes…”

Melissa said she used to frequent Stand Up NY, where she would take to the stage and perform stand up next to some of the city’s most iconic drag queens.

And although her time as Miss Y is over, Melissa confessed to bringing a little of the drag queen feistiness to every role she plays.

“I really like to watch the bolder ones who are overly confident without anything to back it up,” she added.

“I love the person in hot pants and a tube top that should not be wearing them that is just like, ‘I look f**kin’ good!’ I love that person!

“It’s somebody that’s somehow not bought into all the we-should and we-shouldn’t.

They don’t give a s**t. I have a real obsession with people who just do not care.”

Recently, Melissa showed just how adaptable she is, when she played White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer for SNL.

• Nov 29 2023

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