Jinkx Monsoon nails Jennifer Coolidge impression – and it may even be better than her Judy Garland
Brand new Jinkx Monsoon impression just dropped, and this time it’s Jennifer Coolide. (NBC/Getty/Steve Granitz)
Queen of Snatch Game Jinkx Monsoon has unveiled an expert Jennifer Coolidge impersonation, and honestly, we are not worthy.
The RuPaul’s Drag Race legend, who made her debut on Broadway this week as Chicago‘s Matron ‘Mama’ Morton, flexed her legendary imitation skills during an appearance on Late Night with Seth Meyers on Thursday (19 January).
After revisited her truly brilliant Judy Garland and Natasha Lyonne Snatch Game impersonations for the host, she was challenged to deliver an impression of The White Lotus star and bona fide gay icon Jennifer Coolidge.
Immediately adopting Jennifer’s signature squint, Jinkx got to work.
“Whaaaa, wowwww. You know something Seth? The gays just love me,” she mimicked.
Pointing to her breasts, she added: “Thanks to the gays, the three of us have been in show business for 40 years and going strong.”
Jennifer Coolidge has been feeling all of the love recently after winning a Golden Globe and Critics Choice Award for her role as Tanya in Mike White’s The White Lotus.
Meyers then attempted his own slightly rough Coolidge impersonation. Always the comedienne, Jinkx laughed: “Are you sure that’s not Owen Wilson?”
During their conversation, Jinkx also revealed that she only started doing drag after watching Chicago as a teenager.
She explained how the Oscar-winning 2002 film adaptation of the musical starring Renée Zellweger and Catherine Zeta-Jones influenced her decision to get into drag for the first.
“Chicago is pretty much the reason I started doing drag. I was 15-years-old, I was a ‘boy’, and I saw the movie Chicago and I thought ‘those are the roles I should be playing, I guess I have to start dressing up like a woman now’.”
The 35-year-old added: “It was pretty much two weeks later I was a fully fledged drag queen.”
In a beautiful full circle moment, the All Stars 7 winner received a rapturous round of applause this week after her debut performance in the Broadway adaptation of the film.
Jinkx is the first ever drag queen to take on the role of Mama as Chicago extends its record as the longest-running musical revival in Broadway history.
Discussing the opening night, Jinkx thanked the LGBTQ+ people in the room for showing up.
“I have to say I am so proud of the LGBTQ+ community for opening night because the energy was palpable and as we were getting closer and closer to my first entrance, you could feel a rumbling building. There was just uncontainable excitement,” she explained. “It was the most generous audience.”
By the end of her first performance, Jinkx had received multiple standing ovations and been pelted with flowers, according to audience members.
Her astonishing success in Chicago comes despite the fact that she only had a week to rehearse for the role.
Jinkx Monsoon is starring in Chicago on Broadway until 12 March.
