If You’re Scared, Do It: Kaz Therese on Drag Kinging and They Will Be Kings

In this episode of The Kings of Joy Show, Danica Lani speaks with Kaz Therese - CEO and Artistic Director of WEREWOLF Productions - about their journey into Drag Kinging, coming out as non-binary, and creating their Drag King persona Brad Armpit. Kaz shares what it meant to step into drag as a Gen X artist who initially felt “a bit too old to kind of start the new thing,” and how Drag Kinging became part of rewriting “all the queer narratives that… were lodged in my brain by other people.”

Together, Danica and Kaz unpack the making of They Will Be Kings - a collaboration between Kings of Joy and WEREWOLF Productions - and what it means to create a work Kaz calls “a bloody big political joy.” They also talk about devised theatre versus Drag King culture (“Fast and Furious”), the lack of visible Drag King role models, and why Kaz believes “there’s absolutely no reason why Drag Kings shouldn’t be embraced in the same way as Drag Queens.”

This is a conversation about courage, gender play, community, and the radical act of taking up space. In this episode, we cover:

• Feeling “too old” to start - and doing it anyway

• Coming out as non-binary and finding freedom in gender expression

• Brad Armpit: satire, entitlement, and masculinity

• Why They Will Be Kings exists, and why it matters

• Drag King culture, visibility, and what needs to change • Kaz’s advice for aspiring Drag Kings: “If you’re scared… you should do it.”

Memorable quotes from Kaz: • “I thought that maybe I was a bit too old to kind of start the new thing.”

• “If you’re scared of something, then… you should do it.”

• “The show is just a bloody big political joy.”

• “It’s a radical act… to just do it sober, put on some costume, and just doing it because you want to.”

Resources: Claim Your Drag King Name in 4 Simple Steps (free): https://www.danicalani.com/dragkingname

Connect with Kings of Joy:

Instagram: @kings.of.joy

Website: danicalani.com

This episode was recorded at Bambuddha Studios in Sydney. Thank you to their team for producing and supporting this season of The Kings of Joy Show. Acknowledgement of Country:

Kings of Joy acknowledges and pays respects to the Gadigal people of the Eora Nation, the Traditional Custodians of the land on which we live, work and play. We pay respects to Elders past and present, and acknowledge that sovereignty was never ceded.