Bob the Drag Queen 'fully obsessed' with League of Legends ahead of Broadway debut

Bob the Drag Queen said he is "fully obsessed" with the video game League of Legends as he prepares to make his Broadway debut in Moulin Rouge! The Musical on Jan. 27. He will play club owner Harold Zidler under his non-drag name, Caldwell Tidicue, he said in a video call from his Burbank studio.

He described the role as the culmination of a 17-year dream that began after his first move to New York and said he had not been auditioning for the right things. Bob rose to prominence after winning Season 8 of RuPaul's Drag Race in 2016 and popularized the catchphrase "purse first." Two years later he played the nurse Belize at Berkeley Rep, began writing the novel "Harriet Tubman: Live in Concert," which was published last April, and co-hosted the HBO series "We're Here."

In the interview he described staying up until 6 a.m. playing League of Legends and called himself "fully obsessed." He also spoke about personal routines and preferences: carrying many bags, running Purse First Studios in Burbank, switching to sugar-free Red Bull because he is prediabetic, using floss picks after past dental problems, and receiving a hair transplant of 3,500 hairs in a 12-hour surgery followed by nightly red-light therapy.

He is scheduled to debut on Broadway on Jan. 27. These are edited excerpts from the conversation.

Key Topics

Culture, Caldwell Tidicue, Moulin Rouge, Rupaul's Drag Race, Harold Zidler