"I'm finally getting out of the 'Race' frenzy," says Ben Putnam, aka BenDeLaCr�me, the 34-year-old Seattle-based drag performer who brings his full-length solo act, "Cosmos: Space. Time. Splash of Cran" to Oasis from November 12-14.
The distinctively ditzy BenDeLaCr�me proved a breakout star on the 2014 sixth season of "RuPaul's Drag Race" along with Adore Delano, Courtney Act, and season winner Bianca del Rio.
After each season's "Race" crosses its TV finish line, contestants find themselves reaping the benefits of mass media exposure in an incredibly hectic, more-than-year-long whirlwind of group performances and club gigs around the world.
"It's been awesome," says Putnam, "but you only get to do a couple of numbers at those events, and I've been looking forward to doing a full show of my own."
From the political and philosophical underpinnings of his superficially silly humor, to his unusual portmanteau billing �- which alloys his off-stage male name, Ben, to his female character name, DeLa (pronounced like Ms. Reese) and tops it witha dollop of Cr�me for general fabulousness - Putnam is a deliberate and thoughtful writer/performer.
"I generate a lot of impromptu material when I host shows or play clubs, but solo pieces, 'Terminally Delightfully' and now 'Cosmos,' are way more structured."
"I tend to make things over a long period of time. I go back and forth, come at things from different angles. I'll take notes when I'm out drinking with friends and jot down little observations, but the real work is when I sit at my computer and write for hours."
While DeLa regularly addresses her fans as "Treasures," Ben refuses to treat his material as such. "I edit everything relentlessly. I'll write pages and pages and end up whittling them down to two good jokes. I'm never precious about my material. Its important to realize that if something you write is bad or just doesn't seem to be working, it's not a reflection of who you are. It's part of the process."
" 'Terminally Delightful' was quite autobiographical, as first shows tend to be," recalls Putnam, who grew up in Connecticut where inklings of future dragdom emerged at an early age.
"I was one of those kids who, when I was seven and eight, would use bath towels to create wigs and dresses. I also started stealing and playing with my Mom's makeup when I was pretty young. When we played Get Smart, I was always Agent 99."
"I guess my first public appearance in drag was going as Marcia Brady for Halloween when I was 14. But I got serious about when I moved to Chicago for art school when I was 21. I started entering amateur competitions."
And winning.
"I felt very fortunate," Putnam reflects, "I thought, hey, there's a container for this, for everything I've been interested in since I was a kid. For such a long time I'd been drawn to makeup and costuming and camp - way before I even really knew what camp was. For me, doing drag was a clear calling."
"In the beginning, I thought, there's no feasible job as a drag queen, but I'll do this as much as I can and wait tables and tend bar. I thought maybe someday I'd be a restaurant owner."
"I was fiendishly single-minded, not so much trying to make drag a career, but about just doing what I loved." DeLa feverishly emceed, made club appearances, promoted drag and burlesque shows, first in Chicago and then in Seattle after relocating in 2006. "At some point, I realized it was all working out-I could actually leave my job bartending."
In "Cosmos" �- which spoofs the PBS science series - there's not so much autobiographical storytelling, but Putnam's personal ethos shines throughout.
"It's a cabaret show format, with singing, and video, and comedy in which DeLa is supposedly explaining astrophysics, outer space, and all sorts of science, but at the heart of it is the question of where each of us fit into the larger world."
"When I first started doing drag, I was young, effeminate and feeling pretty powerless in day to day life. When you first become a beautiful drag queen you get drunk with power and get snarky, and rude. But at some point, I started to feel like the drag character was seeping into me and I was becoming bitchy and angry and unhappy. So, I decided to become the inverse of that."
Instead of wicked sniping, DeLa takes cues from two of Putnam's personal drag favorites, Varla Jean Merman and Coco Peru.
"Instead of being mean and bitter character, I want to be sillier and happier and more candy-colored than reality. I feel like I'm just settling into the part of BenDeLaCr�me. It's what I've been working toward for my whole life. I think a drag performer can be a sort of spiritual leader for the community."
BenDeLaCr�me performs 'Cosmos: Space. Time. Splash of Cran' at Oasis. $25 and up. 7:30pm & 10pm. November 12-14. 11th St. at Folsom. 795-3180. www.sfoasis.com