Hedda Lettuce brings her take on Mommie Dearest to St. Pete July 18

Try to forget the name Hedda Lettuce. Easier said than done. Try not to smile when it rolls off the lips. Hedda Lettuce. Grinning yet? If you can't forget that name, and you can't help but chuckle when you say it aloud, then you're one of thousands who have had the distinct pleasure of learning about New York's premiere drag queen.

Once you see herâ┚¬â€and she's hard to missâ┚¬â€all you remember is the lime colored blouses, shamrock eye shadow, and chartreuse hair.

â┚¬Å”When I walk in the room, everyone knows who the green-haired lady is,â┚¬Â she says during a recent telephone interview.

And that infamous green hair is slated to appear at The Palladium Theater in St. Petersburg on July 18.. In honor of the 30th anniversary of the release of Mommie Dearest, the Tampa International Gay and Lesbian Film Festival has invited Lettuce to brin her talkback presentation of the film to the stage.

â┚¬Å”It's the night of my birthday, by the way,â┚¬Â she says with a laugh. â┚¬Å”It's going to be really wild. We just celebrated my 11th year doing classic movies with my stand-up, and I actually did the Mommie Dearest interactive the Thursday before New York Pride to a sold out crowd of around 1,000 people.â┚¬Â

â┚¬Å”We have a live accompanist, so it becomes like the silent movies of the old days,â┚¬Â she says. â┚¬Å”We underscored the movie, highlighting stuff that doesn't have music and kind of pushing it forward and to the edge. Then I do my commentary, filling in dialogue in certain areas. It's like Mystery Science Theater meets Rocky Horror.â┚¬Â

And Lettuce sees the experience as more than just simple entertainment.

â┚¬Å”When you have a roomful of people screaming out the lines with you, it's not just a movie anymore, it's a religious experience, it's like church. It's like gay church.â┚¬Â

What's in a name?
â┚¬Å”The truth of the matter is, I was trying to come up with a good drag name, and the first name I had was one of those terrible â┚¬Å”Missâ┚¬Â names. Miss Fortune, Miss Understood, something like that,â┚¬Â says Lettuce. â┚¬Å”This is a true story, I went to sleep and had this dream and the name popped up in the dream. So when I woke up, I went to a friend of mine and said to her â┚¬ËœI had this dream and the name Hedda Lettuce came to me, I think that's what I'm going to call myself.'

â┚¬Å”And she said â┚¬ËœThat name is terrible!' and I replied â┚¬ËœIt may be terrible, but it's also catchy.' Whether you know me or not, you laugh when you hear the name.â┚¬Â

The versatile actress/singer/comedienne began her career in the early 1990s in New York City through activism.

â┚¬Å”I got started through organizations like ACT UP, and there was another off-shoot group at the time called Queer Nation,â┚¬Â she explains. â┚¬Å”They dealt with other issues besides HIV and AIDS, it was a lot of political issues in the gay community, and oppression, things of that nature.â┚¬Â

But it was her role in Queer Nation that gave birth to the performance side of Lettuce.

â┚¬Å”Queer Nation was the group that I used to do street theater for, and we used to go to Sheridan Square Park and lip sync on the street for money,â┚¬Â Lettuce recalls. â┚¬Å”We had a boom box and a sheet to change behind. We made a lot of money, and had a few cigarette butts thrown at us, but on a whole it was rather successful.â┚¬Â

From the streets to the stage
Lettuce then began her progression from street corners to stages and the small screen, where her credits include appearances on networks like MTV and Comedy Central, as well as parts in programs like Sex and the City and Ugly Betty.

â┚¬Å”It was a natural evolution,â┚¬Â she says. â┚¬Å”I got off the street and start performing in bars and clubs. I got into a lot of stand-up comedy, and was the first drag performer to headline at Caroline's [On Broadway].â┚¬Â

She says that her ascension through the entertainment world was aided by the fact that at the time there wasn't an oversaturation of similar acts in the marketâ┚¬â€an issue she sees todayâ┚¬â€and Lettuce is grateful she isn't just starting her career.

â┚¬Å”There are just so many of them [drag queens] now, and most of them are willing to work for a prune Danish, a cup of coffee, and a cigarette,â┚¬Â she says.

But Lettuce has taken her career to a higher level. Her stint on Project Runway is perhaps one of her most well-known appearances, and she was very conscious in making sure that was the case.

â┚¬Å”It was fascinating because there we were, 12 queens, and drag queens are not usually wallflowers, but I suppose when they all got there they were so in awe of Heidi [Klum] and all that they wanted to be on their best behavior,â┚¬Â she says. â┚¬Å”But I thought â┚¬ËœLook at this. This isn't fabulous.'â┚¬Â

So she set to changing things. Not subtly. Not gradually. But all at once.

â┚¬Å”So I thought to myself, â┚¬ËœWhat's a girl to do to get a little attention in the company of all these drag queens?' I knew enough about reality television to know that the loud, slightly bitchy one gets the most attentionâ┚¬Â she says â┚¬Å”And luckily I was paired with a designer who really wasn't doing what I wanted to do, so I was very expressive about that.â┚¬Â

Her plan to make a splash worked so well that her impact was felt for seasons to come.

â┚¬Å”I became an adjective for a â┚¬Ëœdifficult client',â┚¬Â Lettuce says. â┚¬Å”They were still referring to me, saying â┚¬ËœOh don't be a Hedda Lettuce.' I certainly made an impression.â┚¬Â

But her progression didn't stop there. Lettuce has been in a number of Hollywood and independent films throughout her career, and is especially proud of her appearance in 2011's Go Go Crazy, a mockumentary that follows those involved in a go-go dancing contest.

â┚¬Å”I play a matron at this club in Philadelphia, and there was this contest to pick Go-Go Boy of the Year,â┚¬Â she says. â┚¬Å”It was a lot of improvisational comedy, which I'm good at and love, so I was able to do what I do and have a lot of fun.â┚¬Â

What about her appearance in To Wong Foo, Thanks For Everything! Julie Newmar?

â┚¬Å”If you burped, farted, or sneezed, you would have missed me,â┚¬Â she says. â┚¬Å”I was a victim of my own provocative beauty. The ugly ones get all the screen time and the pretty ones are just a flash.â┚¬Â

And what about her â┚¬Å”Queen of Greenâ┚¬Â title?

â┚¬Å”That developed later in my career, probably within the last seven years or so,â┚¬Â she explains. Lettuce says the title began to stick after her regular appearances on Sirius XM Satellite Radio’s OutQ Channel's The Derek and Romaine Show.

â┚¬Å”Every other week I do my â┚¬ËœQueen of Green' segment on the show, and what I do is take green topics and make them comical so they're easier to understand and not preachy or overly intellectual,â┚¬Â she explains. â┚¬Å”I just bring them down to basics and have some fun with it.â┚¬Â

More Info
WHO: Hedda Lettuce
WHERE: Palladium Theater, St. Petersburg
WHEN: Wednesday, July 18
TICKETS: TIGLFF.com