Cunning Stunt Takes Manhattan: Introducing Club Cumming’s Breakout Drag King

Christine Fitzgerald Mon, April 6, 2026 at 9:11 AM UTC

0

When Club Cumming, the beloved Lower East Side nightlife haven founded by Alan Cumming, became the focus of the new docuseries Club Cumming on WOW Presents Plus, it felt like a dream for many of its performers. For drag king Cunning Stunt, it was both surreal and deeply affirming. A staple of the club’s stage and a fierce advocate for drag king visibility in Manhattan, Stunt brings rhinestone-drenched swagger, theatrical precision, and hard-earned resilience to every performance.

In this candid conversation, Cunning Stunt opens up about finding a home at Club Cumming, sharing a birthday (and a lesson in humility) with Alan Cumming, celebrating four and a half years in remission, and why drag kings are the future of the art form. From staging a Times Square billboard to manifesting international tours, this talented performer is proving that drag kings aren’t asking for attention – they’re commanding it.

Photo courtesy of World of Wonder

How did you first become involved with Club Cumming and what makes it different from other nightlife spaces you’ve performed in?

I first became involved in Club Cumming because there is another drag king by the name of Beau Dega who hosts a trivia show, and he had me come on as a guest for one of his shows. Darren, the owner, saw me at that show, and I’d mentioned that I hosted another show in Brooklyn, but I wanted to bring it to Manhattan. And Darren came up to me after that show and said, “Hey, I want you to bring it here.” So often we have to really fight to get a new venue, but Darren came up to me and asked, which I thought was wonderful.

And what makes Club Cumming different? There’s a lot of things. There’s a lot more of a family environment. We’re closer, I would say, as friends than coworkers than I find in a lot of other bars that I work at. And, on top of that, it’s one of the only venues in Manhattan specifically that is so welcoming and inclusive of drag kings. Manhattan, specifically, is not normally so inclusive of kings. That’s a couple ways they’re different.

What was your reaction when you found out the club would be the focus of this documentary series?

Honestly, a little bit of disbelief. I definitely think that it is a special place. I think that it is a unique place, but it seemed like such a fantasy, like a far-off dream, when it got pitched. It was very exciting, but honestly, not until we started filming did it really feel real.

What has working under Alan Cumming meant to you personally and professionally?

Working under Alan for me has been a huge lesson in practicing humility and practicing personability when you’re still really famous. So, one thing about me and Alan is we have the same birthday. We actually met at his birthday party and I was so nervous. I’d already been working at the club, and I was so nervous to meet him, and he was so sweet. He was easy to talk to. There are so many people, regardless of their celebrity status, who can be standoffish, but he is creative and he oozes this kindness even when it’s someone that he doesn’t know.

He joked with me about all the other celebrities that share our birthday, and so it made me feel like I was also a celebrity that shared that birthday or that it was my birthday party when it absolutely wasn’t.

I love your stage name. How did Cunning Stunt come to life? Was he born out of swagger, style, rebellion, or all of the above?

Definitely all of the above. Great question. I don’t know how much it gets into it in the pilot episode, but I started drag…actually, I am currently four and a half years in remission from stage two cancer. And so, the minute I started growing my hair back, I really wanted to get into drag. The first time I ever did drag, I was fully bald in the middle of chemo.

The name Cunning Stunt came from a joke that I’d made years and years ago back in high school. I think I heard it from some raunchy old man. I put it as a label on a photo on Facebook. And then, when I was in remission, I was in my mid-twenties. And I was like, there’s no way that this name hasn’t been taken. It’s the perfect drag name, and nobody had taken it. I was shocked but thrilled.

I originally wanted to hold up a mirror to a lot of the, honestly, comical ways that men can practice masculinity. And so, at the beginning I was a boxer, I was a truck driver. I did a lot of really traditionally masculine roles. And then this glamorous rockstar guy with the rhinestones started to come out more and more. I would say over the last two years, I’ve really leaned into him.

Drag queens have dominated media and now like it seems like drag kings are slowly getting into the spotlight with shows like King of Drag and things like that. How do you see drag kings evolving in culture?

In my opinion, drag kings are the future of drag and in the front of center of an inclusive world of drag where drag queens are not the standard for what the art form can produce. What the art form means, is that drag kings and even drag things are indicative of a future of drag that is more inclusive and I think more exciting.

I talk a lot in the show about how we fight tooth and nail for every platform that we have, and I was. I’m so excited that season two of King of Drag is about to start filming. And I’m so excited that we have an opportunity with this show, Club Cumming, to have drag kings that are on television showing our art and not in a competition setting. We are valid and engaging in our entertainment without having to be in competition with one another. Nothing negative about a competition format. I just think that this is a really wonderful opportunity for drag kings to say, Hey, that’s me up on tv. And that’s something that I can feel represented by.

Advertisement

In the first episode, they show you getting your billboard in Times Square. How exciting was that moment for you?

That was insane. That was a crazy moment. What ended up happening, to be candid, was the show came to me, one of the producers said, “Your name is Cutting Stunt. We really want you to do a big stunt. What’s the biggest stunt you can think of?” Right off the top of my head, I went, a billboard in Times Square, and they were all on board with it. At the time I was hosting Manhattan’s only drag king and thing competition called King’s Cup. We’re going to be doing another round of it next year, which I’m really excited about.

And so, for the finale for the King’s Cup competition, we got a billboard in Times Square with the Final Four competitors. So that was just an absolute, honor to be at such a place where so many people could see that drag kings are so exciting, so cutting edge and so worthy. What I like to say when I’m hosting is that you’ve given us your most precious resource tonight, which is your attention. Drag kings are worth your attention, and that was what I wanted to showcase with that stunt at Times Square.

What does being a drag king allow you to express that you might not when you’re out of drag?

There is a level of confidence, there is a level of invincibility that I allow myself when I am Stunt that I think would be too loud, too brash, too overwhelming and honestly exhausting to be able to do a hundred percent of the time. I get to be this larger-than-life rock star when I’m up there. And I don’t do that in my everyday life.

What advice would you give to someone curious about exploring performing as a drag king for the first time?

Oh my gosh. I love that question. So, for me, I got a lot of advice when I was first starting out about finding a really solid character that you want to do and fleshing that out, which I think is a great way to go about drag.

From a theatrical aspect for me, I would say that if you don’t want to go after it from a theatrical aspect, think of something that you want to embody. Think of something that is within yourself that you want to show people and think of a character, even if it’s just for that one number, even if it’s just for that one night.

What would that person wear? What type of music would that person listen to? How would that person move? How would that person walk? How would that person dance? And practice every aspect of embodying that character. It’s not just learning words and standing up on stage. It’s truly, for a moment, dropping yourself so fully into a character so that the audience is taken out of the moment that they’re living in, and they are brought into the moment that you are in.

So, I would say, start by really fleshing out the character. But, if it’s something that’s only going to be for one night or only going to be for one show, truly think about what you want to embody and what you want to bring out with yourself. And this is my concrete advice. Write it down. Take a pencil and paper and write down what you want it to look like – and also write out all of your lyrics. Write out every lyric you have, even if it’s an ooh ah, and say it four times sitting on your butt. Just rehearsing the words before you can try to get on stage.

The series follows you and some of the other performers chasing their big goals. What goals are you chasing now?

My goal is that I’m trying to do a North American tour here in 2026 and then I’m really aiming to do a European tour either early 2027 or summer 2027. I would like to take this on the road. I think that would be a wonderful next step. I’ve also been toying around with a line of my own fake mustaches. I wear a false mustache in my shows and I think it would be really fun to do a line of false mustaches.

I love your fashions. Do you create your own looks or do you work with designers?

I have one designer that I work with predominantly who is featured in the show. Their name is Alex Owens and their Instagram is @madebyao. And I was in a competition three years ago and Jay Kay, who was on Dragula, was one of the judges of that competition. And he looked at me and he said, you could be really great if you just rhinestoned your stuff – he did not use the word stuff. I said, alright, challenge accepted. So, for the last three years, I’ve decked everything out in rhinestones. And then for the last year my girlfriend, who’s also on the show quite often, is a burlesque artist. Between my designer and my girlfriend, we are rhinestoning everything. The wigs are stoned. The ties are stoned. The suits are stoned, down even to the sock garters at this point. So, I would say between myself and the two of them, we make up a team of three that execute all of my costumes. In fact, I’m sewing appliques down here this morning for a show tonight. It’s a lot of work.

What are you hoping people will take away from watching Club Cumming?

I’m hoping that people take away the idea that practicing queer joy and truly coming together as a community is an act of resistance. And when the world is falling apart around us, having your community, having the people that you can trust and rely on and share joy with, when the world is not a joyful place, is a way to reclaim your life, is a way to celebrate our lives and is a way to create power and to create resistance by pooling our energy, pooling our ideas, and creating a place where people can be creative, people can feel safe, and people can find a pocket of joy in really dark times.

Watch Club Cumming on WOW Presents Plus. Keep up with Cunning Stunt on Instagram.

Zendaya Told Us Exactly How She Knew Tom Holland Was “The One” — But She’s Still Not Telling Us If They’re Married

Taron Egerton and Brooks Nader Pack on the PDA in Santa Monica After Multiple Dates

Robert Pattinson Just Casually Called Aries a Relationship Red Flag; Was It Kristen Stewart Shade?

Original Article on Source

Source: “AOL Entertainment”