Continued from Part 2...

What are your favorite arias?

My favorite arias…  Well, first of all, I only listen to Maria Callas.  That it.  I'm one of those Maria Callas freaks, who only enjoys her; and I have a difficult time listening and hearing other singers, because I feel she is just so widely different and special.  So, for her arias, my favorite is “D’amore al dolce impero.”

I also love her “Casta diva,” and I love her live version of “Una voce poco fa,” from her 1958 Paris concert.  And the Tosca she recorded at the Met, in 1964…  Oh!  And her “La mamma morta” is really - really, it’s one of the few songs you can listen to and cry; so I try not to listen to it a lot, because I don't want it to lose its effect.  

What is your favorite thing about yourself?

Oh, fuck.  I mean, I'm not someone who typically talks highly of himself.  So, I would say my favorite thing about myself is my tenacity: I'm really driven. And I set difficult goals, and see if I’m able to achieve them.

Are you really engaged to a guy, in Spain?

I'm not engaged to him yet; but we're planning on getting engaged, yes.

Mazel tov!

¡Gracias!

Who was the last person to make you laugh?

My boyfriend, Keke, made me laugh today.

What was your favorite Halloween costume from childhood?

From childhood?  I was a ghost, I think, eight times in a row.  My family will never let me live it down.

But ten years ago, in Chicago, my two best friends and I dressed as The First Wives Club; and we won a costume competition, at a lesbian bar!  It was great!  Straight people kept asking if we were three Hilary Clintons; but as soon as we walked into a gay bar, everyone knew immediately.

What are your five strongest impressions?

My number one impression is Liza Minnelli.  If you asked me right now to do Liza Minnelli, for the rest of my life – just talk like her – I could do it.

So, yeah… Liza Minnelli is a big one.  I do great vocal singing impressions of Britney Spears, Christina Aguilera, and Mariah Carey (Mariah's just for those whistle-tones I do.)  I also do a great Katharine Hepburn.  And, a great Skeletor, from He-Man.

Huh. Interesting repertoire…

Oh, Skeletor belongs: He’s pretty gay.**

Now, you’ve got a connection to a lot of the queens from RuPauls Drag Race.  Who do you think are the three or four truest comedians, from that show?

So, my best friend is Bob the Drag Queen.  And I'm not saying this because he's my best friend, I'm saying it because I mean it - Bob is, in the truest sense of the word, a stand-up comedian.  I mean, Bob is an actual, bonified stand-up comic; and I would put him at number one.  He is wildly, wildly, wildly funny; and I truly, truly love him.

I got the chance to see a couple of queens do stand-up and I was really, really, really impressed by Alaska [Thunderfuck].  I thought she had such a different tone.  She was so creative, and her jokes were very funny.  I love Alaska.  

And I know she wasn't on the show, but Miss Coco Peru, forever.  

And Lady Bunny: I fucking love Lady Bunny!  Is it standup?  Sure.  And it’s stand-up mixed with cabaret.  So, if you can throw another on there, I'd say Lady Bunny.

And perhaps that’s the best place to end; with the name of the twisted genius who once intoned “Touch a nurse: Don’t rehearse.”

Matteo Lane
Comedy Cellar | Rio All-Suite Hotel & Casino
Click HERE for info

Get into it!
#ComedyCellarVegas

[Editor’s Notes: * “D’amore al dolce impero” is an aria from Act 2, of Gioachino Rossini’s opera, Armida (1817).  “Casta diva” is the soprano prayer from Act 1, of Vincenzo Bellini’s tragic opera, Norma (1831).  “Una voce poco fa” is an aria from Act 2, of Rosinni’s opera buffa, The Barber of Seville, or The Useless Precaution (1816).  “La mamma morta” is an aria from Act 3 of Umberto Giordano’s verismo opera, Andrea Chénier (1896) // ** The hood, the abs, that voice, and those cheekbones?  Skeletor wasn’t just gay; she was a high-queen, on an intergalactic level.]