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Shirley Q Liquor is a persona created by Long Beach, Mississippi resident, Registered Nurse and ordained Quaker minister, Chuck Knipp, a white man who performs in shabby drag and blackface. The character, a happy go lucky mother of 19 children, is exceptionally popular, especially on the internet and in the gay community. The character came into criticism in the year 2002 when protesters picketed a New York City performance, protesting Knipp's blackface performance as racist and misogynistic. The character was condemned by the left-wing National Gay and Lesbian Task Force and and a scheduled Shirley Q. Liquor performance in Boston was vetoed by the mayor. Democrat activist Keith Boykin has written that " Rather than challenging the ignorance of stereotypes, Knipp uses the stereotypes to show why he thinks blacks are ignorant."
This led to public response in support of the comedy of the character by various members of the civil libertarian, drag queen and gay community, including drag performer RuPaul, who calls Knipp's comedy "genius."
Knipp says of his critics' reactions, "Real racism is when a person judges his own and other's worth based on the colour of their skin and not the content of their characters. Shirley Q. Liquor is a self-aware, unashamedly black woman with a high camp attitude towards life. She is not afraid to embrace every cultural stereotype and subvert them for her own purpose, which is of course, 'ignunce'." Instead of cowering in fear at such symbols as the confederate (or usually) Mississippi state flag. she embraces them as her own. In her live shows, she usually walks on stage to the strains of "Dixie," then launches into a diatribe that she wants to be saluted with "Hail to the Chief" instead.
Shirley Q.'s "Daily Ignunce" is syndicated on morning radio shows nationwide and she has performed with Tracy Morgan, alum of Saturday Night Live.
Celebrity fans include the Fab 5 from Queer Eye for the Straight Guy, Patti Labelle, Jimmy James, Lipsynca, the B-52's, Don Imus, Grace Jones, Jean-Paul Goude, The Dixie Chicks, Naomi Judd and controversial rap group 2LiveCrew.Shirley Q's most famous skit "Pre-Flight Checklist," has been played on Air Force One and has been memorized by virtually every pilot and flight attendant in North America.
Knipp also portrays another bizarre character with a cult following, "Betty Butterfield," a chemically dependent pity-seeker who floats from church to church and leaves her reviews of each as mini movies on "Theatre of Ignunce."
The history of Shirley Q. Liquor as told by Chuck Knipp:
" I hung out with a bunch of black gay guys when I was in the Ole Miss band - and we used to stay up all night sipping Bacardi and listening to Millie Jackson and James Cleveland records. Then we would tape ourselves, doing skits in Ebonics. Those guys really gave me a grasp of southern cultural insights which have proved invaluable in the development of this high-camp drag act.
I created "Shirley Q. Liquor" as a joke recording on my home answering machine in 1992, leaving daily updates. Pretty soon, people were calling the number just to hear Shirley Q. and tying up the phone line. Amazed, I decided to accommodate them by getting an extra line and "her" own answering machine.
Before I knew it, my phone was ringing all day and night -- strangers, calling to hear the message.I changed it every day, telling little stories, and before I knew it, Shirley Q. had a following. That went on for years. No one knew who I really was -- a black woman- man? White woman? White guy?
I made a hundred copies of my phone act on cassette tape in 1995, took it to a local music store and sold out in 2 hours. I then began appearing on a local radio station in the mornings in character.
Then I started calling the conservative radio show, "The Black Avenger," and leaving crazy messages for Ken Hamblin, the host, in that voice. Soon, I was contacted by the American Comedy Network and began doing Shirley Q. 'bits' for them every week.
My comedy isn't racist, nor am I. I speak the unspoken. More than anything, my comedy makes fun of whites' views of blacks. My comedy pokes fun at everything, including myself.
That's what comedy is about, making us escape from everyday life and seeing the funny side.
I understand my comedy might not be what makes everyone laugh. That's understandable, but to call me a racist without knowing what my show is about or who I am is unjustified and is pre-judging me from a one-sided view. I welcome anyone to question me about my comedy or come to my show because comedy has only one color and that is the color of laughter.
I also do the other voices portrayed in the Shirley Q. Liquor recordings, including Watusi Jenkins, Betty Butterfield, Elder Leroy, and "Mamaw."
From a newspaper article:When Knipp was growing up, he was very close to his family's housekeeper, Fannie Mae Turner of Monroe, Louisiana.
"Shirley Q.'s voice is an amalgamation of Fannie Mae Turner, and lots of other women i have worked with in hospitals or known as friends," Knipp recalls. "Fannie had 16 children and taught me to say 'how you durrin?' just like her when I was 5 years old."
Other influences on the character came from people he knew in his Texas high school. "Most of my friends in high school were the black girls, like El Doris, Shanita and Kulu," he said.
Knipp said he was something of a class clown in high school and was always imitating his teachers as well as the redneck, Cajun, Ebonics and other accents of his classmates.
When he first saw Rich Little on TV, Knipp knew he wanted to be an impressionist, even though he didn't go straight into show business. Another performer he remembers making an impression on him was Moms Mably on the Ed Sullivan show.
"I used to mimic her to my parents," said Knipp.
But Shirley Q. herself was born in a dream Knipp had.
"In the dream, I was an elderly black woman giving baths to nursing home patients and lost my temper. I woke up and was still talking like the character I was in the dream, saying, 'I ain't gots TIME to be washin' your behind!'"
Knipp performs standup comedy with the character. His first experience was a cameo, portraying Shirley Q. Liquor in a local community theater play, "The Last Knights of the White Magnolia." Shirley Q. fans packed the house to see the comedy, as did those who simply came out of curiosity after hearing some protests about Knipp, a white man, playing a black female character.
"I had no idea how to do this character as a live performance the first time. Up until then, I had been on radio or in a recording studio."
Then it hit me, "if I am going to perform this character onstage, I'll have to get in drag and paint my face a different colour." Some people ask if I do blackface. I don't think that's it. I use regular African-American make-up and all kinds of bright eye shadows. And I really like the pink wig. But I melt almost every time I perform live."
Now, Shirley Q performs live in sold out shows at comedy clubs, private parties and gay bars.
"The gay menz loves me as much as them bulldaggas does," says Shirley Q. "I think they thinks of me as the ignunt momma they never had. I thinks of them as my own chirrens, except louder and mo fruitier than mines is."
No, Shirley Q. is NOT politically correct, but she is a hit with many African-Americans as well as Caucasians. African-Americans? Really.
"They're overwhelmingly positive," said Knipp. "It never occurred to me that doing Shirley Q. was in any way racist. To me, it's total character immersion. Is she a stereotype of a bygone day? Certainly. But she's just real enough to cause what I call an 'anxious giggle' in almost everyone who hears her perspective. Everywhere I go, black folks tell me how much they enjoy it. Often they will tell me Shirley reminds them of a peculiar aunt or grandparent they remember. My favourite part of the show is when I go off on a rant about how ignunt white peoples is. The audience do not know what to do then.
As a comedian, I'm a firm believer that comedy is a way to heal past injustices, prejudice and hate. Laughter is healing and in my attempt to make people laugh, I think I can work just as hard as any social activist to make this world just.
I have seen prejudice and hatred and know it well. My hometown is in the heart of hatred, internationally known for many white supremacist groups that were head-quartered in Southeast Texas. I even received death threats when, as a nursing student, I commuted with fellow black students to and from Lamar University.
My character, Shirley Q. Liquor, was created in celebration of, not to downgrade black women. Shirley Q. Liquor, like most comedic characters, is a composite woman from a person I know and my own creativity - and also a composite of reverse stereotypes and cultural differences. Shirley Q. Liquor is just one character of many whom I do, but she has caught on because of her unique view of the world.
Knipp also supplies the voice for Shirley Q's best friend, "Watusi Jenkins," who frequently undergoes "shock therapy" for her mental illnesses.
"The webpage is an outlet for Shirley Q's opinions, and decidedly politically incorrect, or as Shirley says 'completely ignunt.'
Right now Shirley Q. Liquor is syndicated by the American Comedy Network and is played daily in over 300 radio markets in the U.S.
