Background and career
Lady Bunny, previously known as Bunny Hickory Dickory Dock (born Jon Ingle, August 13, 1962), is an American drag queen, nightclub DJ, actor, comedian, and event organizer. She is the founder of the annual Wigstock event, as well as an occasional television and radio personality. She has released disco singles such as "Shame, Shame, Shame!" and "The Pussycat Song", and has hosted two one-woman comedy shows, 'That Ain't No Lady!' and 'Clowns Syndrome'.
Lady Bunny was born in Wilmington, North Carolina, but grew up in Chattanooga, Tennessee, and describes her childhood as having been "wonderful and [she] lucked out in the parents department". Her mother was a retired registered nurse and her father is a history professor at the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga. Her parents were Quakers and peace activists. Growing up, she would try on costumes and outfits, and put on plays with the other kids in the neighborhood. Her family lived next to a florist and she would collect the thrown out ribbons in the garbage and turn them into costumes for the plays. When Bunny was 11, her family moved to Ghana for a year to accommodate her father, who had received a Fulbright Scholarship. "It was the best year of my life", she said, remembering banana trees in her backyard and a giant snake that slithered on the road. "I still gag West African cab drivers by speaking the remnants of Fante. I can only say a few things, but it tickles them like crazy." She briefly attended Bootham School, a Quaker boarding school in York, England. Based on her experiences, Bunny regards the English education system to be better than the American one. Upon graduating, she enrolled at the University of Tennessee, where her father teaches, but later relocated to Atlanta, where she attended Georgia State University.
Lady Bunny says she has an affinity for trans women and has considered transitioning. She spends her public life in drag and uses she/her pronouns. Lady Bunny is seldom seen out of women's clothing. In a 2022 interview, Lady Bunny said "I guess if I had to label myself, I would say I'm probably nonbinary, but I don't feel the need to stipulate." Lady Bunny currently lives in New York City. She does not often discuss personal matters, and has no known romantic partner or children. She is color blind, which affected her outfit choices.
Ingle said that she voted for Jill Stein in the 2016 U.S. Presidential Election. Ingle has criticized members of the Democratic Party, including Kamala Harris and Hakeem Jeffries, citing their allegiance to corporate interests. She has also opposed Nancy Pelosi for her lack of support for abortion rights. Ingle expressed support for congressional candidate Melat Kiros in an interview with Briahna Joy Gray.
After university, Ingle became involved in Atlanta's growing LGBTQ nightlife during the early 1980s. There, Ingle met fellow drag performer RuPaul, who became a longtime friend and collaborator. Together with promoter Larry Tee, the pair became fixtures of the city's drag and nightclub scene, and for a time worked as go-go dancers for the band the Now Explosion. Ingle also appeared with RuPaul in several low-budget films, including the Starbooty series. Years later, RuPaul recalled that he had been the first person to put Ingle in drag, technically making him Lady Bunny's drag mother. In 1983, after several years in Atlanta, Ingle relocated to New York City with RuPaul. The two shared an apartment for a time and worked at the Pyramid Club, a venue that became a centre of the city's drag, performance art, and queer nightlife. One of Ingle's first performances in New York was a lip sync to Gloria Gaynor's "I Will Survive", during which Ingle fell onstage, losing both a wig and a shoe. During this period, Ingle developed a performance style that blended lip sync, dance and comedy, often combining self-deprecating humour with playful criticism of other performers between short dance routines. To support a career in nightlife, Ingle also worked a series of day jobs, including in an ice cream parlour and in sales for publisher Ralph Ginzburg.
Soon, Lady Bunny became one of the Club Kids and in 1985, she organized the first Wigstock, an annual drag queen festival that lasted until 2005, and was later revived in 2018. The idea to revive Wigstock came from David Burtka. Wigstock became the subject of Chris Moukarbel's 2019 documentary Wig, which included Debbie Harry, Kevin Aviance, Willam, and Neil Patrick Harris.
