Emmy Award-winning comedian Kathy Griffin will headline the 2014 Best in Drag Show, an over-the-top annual fundraiser for Aid for AIDS.
“This yearly event is quite simply one of the most special nights you will ever have,” Griffin told TheWrap. “To call it a ‘drag show’ is not doing it justice.”
“You haven’t lived until you’ve seen a 6-foot-3 extremely muscular drag queen try to walk across the stage in 6-inch heels and a headdress while the audience quite ruthlessly is shouting, ‘gurrl down!’ This is the event that is completely politically incorrect,” she continued. “There is no holding back and I will certainly not break that tradition.”
This marks the 11th time the star of “
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After delivering the opening monologue, Griffin will take a seat at the celebrity judge panel alongside Academy Award nominee Melanie Griffith (“Working Girl”), Emmy winner Holland Taylor (“The Practice”), Emmy nominee Dot Jones (“Glee”) and Kathy Kinney (“The Drew Carey Show”).
The Best in Drag Show’s 2014 finalists (pictured above) are Seth Hancock (Miss Alaska: Tastee Freez), Sean Kim (Miss Hawaii: Suh Nami), Todd Wing (Miss Maine: Dotty Rae Johnson), David A. Flores (Miss New Mexico: D’vida Loca), Nicholas Mancini (Miss New York: Po Mi Saki) and Marcus Barela (Miss Washington: Willamina Wonka).
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The show’s returning host is Patrick Rush, who co-founded the event. Longtime participant Jeffrey Drew will direct and choreograph the production.
The show’s current version has been running since 2003 and has raised over $3 million for Aid for AIDS, a program founded in 1983 to help provide at-home care for patients battling the disease.
“As much as I could do at least a solid two hours of material just based on the drag names of this year’s contestants — I’m looking at you ‘Tastee Freez’ and ‘Suh Nami’ — the real message here is that this event gives 100% of the proceeds to Aid for AIDS,” added Griffin.