This past Saturday, I attended the South Side Family Pride event at the Beverly Unitarian Church. I had the pleasure of interviewing drag king Alyce Meyer– aka Myles O’Hare– after the drag king storytime portion of the event.
Q: Can you introduce yourself?
A: Absolutely. My name is Alyce Meyer. I am a drag king. My drag king persona's name is Myles O'Hare. Alice uses she/her pronouns, Myles uses he/him. I love to put on performances in different drag arenas. I've done a couple gigs at bars. This is my very first story time, so I was super stoked to do it. I decided to cosplay as “Mr. Frizzle” today, and I had just a ton of fun with the kiddos.
A: Absolutely. My name is Alyce Meyer. I am a drag king. My drag king persona's name is Myles O'Hare. Alice uses she/her pronouns, Myles uses he/him. I love to put on performances in different drag arenas. I've done a couple gigs at bars. This is my very first story time, so I was super stoked to do it. I decided to cosplay as “Mr. Frizzle” today, and I had just a ton of fun with the kiddos.
Q: And what got you into being a drag king?
A: When I was very young, I wanted to dress up for Halloween. My parents were kind of against Halloween, but there was one year, I don't know why, they let up. And I decided I wanted to dress up like a guy. I wanted to put a mustache on. I wanted to do all the things, muscles and everything. I was just an 11 or 12 year old kid who was just like, “I want to look like a guy.” And so I never forgot about that. And as I grew up, I noticed, you know, as I kind of got out of my parents' house, and started looking into cosplay, having more Halloween adventures, where I could actually dress up. I was like, wow, I'm leaning towards kind of masculine figures a lot. And then I found out about drag, and it was like, “oh my goodness. There's an arena for this. This is great.” So I leaned heavily into it, and have not looked back.
A: When I was very young, I wanted to dress up for Halloween. My parents were kind of against Halloween, but there was one year, I don't know why, they let up. And I decided I wanted to dress up like a guy. I wanted to put a mustache on. I wanted to do all the things, muscles and everything. I was just an 11 or 12 year old kid who was just like, “I want to look like a guy.” And so I never forgot about that. And as I grew up, I noticed, you know, as I kind of got out of my parents' house, and started looking into cosplay, having more Halloween adventures, where I could actually dress up. I was like, wow, I'm leaning towards kind of masculine figures a lot. And then I found out about drag, and it was like, “oh my goodness. There's an arena for this. This is great.” So I leaned heavily into it, and have not looked back.
Q: What advice would you give to people who want to do what you do?
A: It's to absolutely try things. Don't limit yourself. Be like, let's try it. Let's see if this works. With that in mind, when it comes to applying your own facial hair, please ask the experts first. And whatever parts of you you feel like you want to use tape on, ask people who have done it before. That was a mistake I made. Let me tell you, duct tape is painful to remove.
So kids, don't use duct tape on your body. Don't do it. Not even once. For anyone who wants to know, there's something that I use called Leukotape, I get it off Amazon and it’s pretty fantastic. It does hurt to remove unless you use baby oil. So, get in baby oil, you are done.
A: It's to absolutely try things. Don't limit yourself. Be like, let's try it. Let's see if this works. With that in mind, when it comes to applying your own facial hair, please ask the experts first. And whatever parts of you you feel like you want to use tape on, ask people who have done it before. That was a mistake I made. Let me tell you, duct tape is painful to remove.
So kids, don't use duct tape on your body. Don't do it. Not even once. For anyone who wants to know, there's something that I use called Leukotape, I get it off Amazon and it’s pretty fantastic. It does hurt to remove unless you use baby oil. So, get in baby oil, you are done.
Q: Have you wanted to do a Drag King Story hour, or is it completely new for you?
A: This is something I've wanted to get into. More of the area that I began in was with something called Chicago League of Lady Arm Wrestlers. They hired me when I was young, early 30s, to be their “card daddy.” In wrestling matches, there will be a person that goes up and holds up the card and it tells who's performing next. That was me. I'd dress up and drag be in the card daddy while you've got all these women arm wrestling and stuff. And it was fantastic. I was like, this arena is great, but I have a friend, Jacob GingerForest Welch. He's kind of like a, he's kind of a drag father, if you will, a drag mother. And he would do drag story times every single week at the Jerry Sandwiches place he used to work at. I went to one, and it was just so inspiring. I was like, “oh my goodness, this is so, it's so low key, but it's so fun.” And you get so much back from it. It's just a really beautiful experience. So I've been trying to find something like this for a while.
And then my friend who lives out here tagged me in the post [for the pride event], and here we are.
A: This is something I've wanted to get into. More of the area that I began in was with something called Chicago League of Lady Arm Wrestlers. They hired me when I was young, early 30s, to be their “card daddy.” In wrestling matches, there will be a person that goes up and holds up the card and it tells who's performing next. That was me. I'd dress up and drag be in the card daddy while you've got all these women arm wrestling and stuff. And it was fantastic. I was like, this arena is great, but I have a friend, Jacob GingerForest Welch. He's kind of like a, he's kind of a drag father, if you will, a drag mother. And he would do drag story times every single week at the Jerry Sandwiches place he used to work at. I went to one, and it was just so inspiring. I was like, “oh my goodness, this is so, it's so low key, but it's so fun.” And you get so much back from it. It's just a really beautiful experience. So I've been trying to find something like this for a while.
And then my friend who lives out here tagged me in the post [for the pride event], and here we are.
Q: There’s a lot of fear surrounding drag, especially for story hours, due to the narrative that there is a predatory “agenda” being pushed. Is there anything you’d like to say on that, and how can we dispel these myths?
A: If you look at drag from a very high level, it's, in some ways, just another vein of cosplay. How many parties have had clowns at them? You hire an adult who dresses up in a wild costume, talks in a silly voice, performs tricks, interacts with the kids.
No one says no about that, right? So what is the difference between playing with gender? Also, clothes have no gender. Anyone can wear anything, clothes, makeup, nail polish, all of it. Folks have been entertained by drag for longer than they know, especially with a lot of celebrities. Robin Williams, Patrick Swayze. Like, come on. One of the most “manly men” in the history of “manly men” played one of the most beautiful drag queens in existence in To Wong Foo. To dispel the myths, there's already so much data out there. There's no work that I need to do. Folks can look it up. I'll just keep doing my thing and keep adding data in the positive column.
A: If you look at drag from a very high level, it's, in some ways, just another vein of cosplay. How many parties have had clowns at them? You hire an adult who dresses up in a wild costume, talks in a silly voice, performs tricks, interacts with the kids.
No one says no about that, right? So what is the difference between playing with gender? Also, clothes have no gender. Anyone can wear anything, clothes, makeup, nail polish, all of it. Folks have been entertained by drag for longer than they know, especially with a lot of celebrities. Robin Williams, Patrick Swayze. Like, come on. One of the most “manly men” in the history of “manly men” played one of the most beautiful drag queens in existence in To Wong Foo. To dispel the myths, there's already so much data out there. There's no work that I need to do. Folks can look it up. I'll just keep doing my thing and keep adding data in the positive column.
Q: Is there anything else you'd like people to know about what you do,
and what the future for this field is going to look like?
For me, it’s honestly more of a hobby. It's a hobby/part of my persona that I need to tap into every once in a while to feel like me. So, my advice would be whether it's for aspiring kings, aspiring queens, aspiring furries, aspiring cosplayers, aspiring anything, if there is something that makes you feel more like you, and it's not hurting anyone else, do it. Absolutely do it. Because when in your life, are you going to do it if not now? Start feeling it out now. Have fun.
and what the future for this field is going to look like?
For me, it’s honestly more of a hobby. It's a hobby/part of my persona that I need to tap into every once in a while to feel like me. So, my advice would be whether it's for aspiring kings, aspiring queens, aspiring furries, aspiring cosplayers, aspiring anything, if there is something that makes you feel more like you, and it's not hurting anyone else, do it. Absolutely do it. Because when in your life, are you going to do it if not now? Start feeling it out now. Have fun.
Social Media
Instagram: @mylesohare
Venmo: @alyce-meyer
Instagram: @mylesohare
Venmo: @alyce-meyer
