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Armistead Maupin's Tales of the City
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'Tales of the City' on Netflix: Yes, Compton's Cafeteria Riot Really Happened
Netflix knew what it was doing when it scheduled the Tales of the City revival to drop on the first Friday of Pride Month. The series, like the ’90s mini-series and novel series before it, is a celebration of all things LGBTQ. Fitting of the show’s groundbreaking and progressive legacy, the new season has an impressive LGBTQ pedigree.
In addition to coming from show runner Lauren Morelli (Orange Is the new Black) and featuring an entire queer writing staff and lineup of directors, the new cast members are a who’s who of LGBTQ Hollywood. Big names like Ellen Page and Victor Garber have major roles on the new show, and it also gives major exposure to new talent like Garcia, who plays Jake. The show also features Murray Bartlett and Matthew Risch from the gay HBO drama Looking, and gay cast members from Mad Men (Bryan Batt), Frasier (Dan Butler), and Caroline in the City (Malcolm Gets). With actors from all over gay Hollywood in Tales of the City, you know the show had to pull at least pull one personality from the Emmy-winning cultural juggernaut that is RuPaul’s Drag Race. They did–and you meet this queen at the beginning of episode 1!
The character is Ida, the person that runs the super cool queer bar and performance space The Body Politic. Or as Shawna puts it, a “queer feminist burlesque co-op.” If Ida looks and sounds familiar to reality TV fans, especially if you’ve watched a recent season of Drag Race, that’s because Ida is played by Caldwell Tidicue, a.k.a. Bob the Drag Queen.
Bob the Drag Queen appeared on Season 8 of RuPaul’s Drag Race, where she bested the competition thanks to her quick wit, natural charisma, and unclockable humor. She ended up winning the whole damn thing, becoming America’s next drag superstar (for one year, until Season 9’s finale).
This isn’t Bob’s first foray into acting, either. You can stream the drag-filled comedy Cherry Pop on Netflix, which features Bob as Kitten Withawhip. Bob also appeared in episodes of High Maintenance and Playing House.
Of course it’s not easy to miss Bob the Drag Queen, wherever she is. That deep voice and laidback sass is unmistakable. And in the revival of the ahead of its time Tales of the City, Bob gets to represent for the current mega-popular queer show in the universe that arguably started it all 25 years ago.
