Tush! Showcases the 'Best of Seattle Drag' at Beacon Hill's Clock-Out Lounge

In 2018, drag performer Betty Wetter set foot in Beacon Hill's Clock-Out Lounge to talk to owner Jodi Ecklund about hosting a show. Betty Wetter had been performing for a few years at that point, co-hosting a regular show at Cha Cha Lounge on Capitol Hill, as well as performing in and hosting other shows, like bingo and trivia nights at other clubs. Word got around, and for the newly opened Clock-Out, bringing a certain kind of drag show to Beacon Hill was just what Ecklund wanted. 

"[Jodi] messaged me and said … 'I want to bring drag to the Clock-Out Lounge, but I don't want it to be like anything else,' which is exactly what I was looking to do as well," Betty Wetter said. 

"We sat down — this sounds so cliché, but it feels like it was yesterday — we sat in the back corner of the Clock-Out, and I remember my very first thought walking in was, 'That gold curtain is going to be iconic, and 30 years from now, we're going to look at pictures from this event and know exactly where we were.'"

The Clock-Out's gold curtain turned out to be the backdrop for the wildly successful drag variety show Tush!, arguably the best drag show in Seattle. Tush! has shows every night of this Pride weekend (all sold out!), and celebrates its seventh anniversary next month. (Betty Wetter herself just celebrated 10 years as a drag performer.)

"The show just really became, for lack of a better term, a sacred space for queer people to come and celebrate and to be away from the typical," Betty Wetter said. "I think the most important aspect of our show is the dynamic between the audience and us. … There's some special energy in the air between us that just really makes it unique."

Tush! eventually garnered a cast of regulars: Beau Degas; self-described "artsy weirdo" Miss Texas 1988; Amora Namor; Pupusa; drag goblin Angel Baby Kill Kill Kill; and frequent guests, like Moscato Sky, Clara Voyance, and more. Beyond just piled-high wigs, costume reveals, camp, and lip-synching, Tush! is a special blend of comedy, burlesque, dance, and art. It's a variety show where performers make artistic choices that go beyond the typical bounds of drag, sometimes wild and weird, and on some occasions, even a little earnest. 

"The core cast of Tush! is truly the most amazing lineup of performers you could ever ask for," said Courtney Hoppus, a fan who has attended for the past six and a half years. "The artists have a place to really play and push the limits on their crafts … and we, the audience, eat it the fuck up!"

Miss Texas 1988, for example, has taken the stage before dressed as a Twister board, inviting the audience to play Twister on her as a way to comment on consent and touch. Another time, she came out dressed as Earth, her performance a commentary on climate change. 

Adam Brozowski, co-owner of Queer Swing Seattle, an LGBTQ+-inclusive swing dance club, is a longtime fan of Tush! "I grew up in Seattle, and I've gone to drag shows since I was a teenager," he said. "Tush! is really bringing back the absolute best of Seattle drag." 

Brozowski explains that when RuPaul's Drag Race rose to become the pop-culture phenomenon it is today, it inspired an explosion of drag, but it came with some trade-offs. "[Drag Race] elevated the art form in a good way, because there's a lot more opportunities for people to do [drag]. But what we kind of lost was that underground scene, the diversity of drag kings and queens and people doing avant-garde things," Brozowski said. 

"As a Seattleite, you want to go support local queens who are doing really innovative things. And those queens need a space where they feel that they can be that and do that. And I feel like Tush! and Betty have created that space."

The magic behind Tush! comes from a few elements: Betty Wetter encouraging performers to lean into their unique artistic ideas; the eager Tush! audience (shows typically sell out within a couple of days or less); and the support of Ecklund and the Clock-Out. 

"One thing that can't be denied is working with Clock-Out Lounge, working with Jodi," Betty Wetter said. "She's someone who cares so much about artists. … We're able to pay artists to do what they want to do. And I think that's something that lacks in most drag performance spaces and most performance spaces, period. That has really offered us the space to really put on the best show."

The lion's share of ticket sales go directly to the performers. The higher pay has led to greater long-term stability for the Tush! cast, so performers can pay rent and bills by doing what they love. Over the years, the show has grown from once a month to three times a month.

To celebrate Pride weekend, the Clock-Out has a three-day Tush! Extravaganza. Sunday is a special "Betty and the Boys" theme that pairs Betty Wetter with male and masculine-of-center performers Android Allure, Woody Shticks, Luminous Pariah, modern dance duo Drama Tops, Genesis, and Peach.

Betty Wetter opened a show in June by reading a passage from An Evening at the Garden of Allah, an oral history of a Pioneer Square gay cabaret active in the 1940s and 1950s. "I open the show with a passage from that book, showing that what we're doing in this space is so similar to what queer people were doing almost 100 years ago," she said. "And we'll carry this tradition, you know, we're part of Seattle's queer history."

If you missed out on tickets for this weekend, you have a few more opportunities to snag them for next month: one on July 10 and a seven-year anniversary show on July 24 and 25. In addition to the Tush! regular cast, there will be guests spICE and Klaus, and the comeback of a very special dress.

"I talked about that gold curtain earlier — I had this idea for our five-year anniversary that I wanted to find that fabric and make an outfit out of it. I told Jodi that; we were sitting around after the show one night, and she marched to the back, came back out, and threw this bag at my feet. It was just leftover curtain fabrics," Betty Wetter said. "I'm bringing back my curtain dress for the show." 

You can purchase tickets to Tush! at the Clock-Out Lounge website.