The Tranny Pack

The beloved variety show has been woefully absent from our television screens in recent times. Though ABC did bless America with one episode of The Nick & Jessica Variety Hour, since the '70s-era golden age of The Sonny and Cher Comedy Hour and Donny and Marie, this fun-filled genre has been nowhere to be found.

Tonight an all-transgender troupe revives the vaudevillian art form with the "Tranny Roadshow," a cross-country tour of artists and performers. Jamez Terry and Kelly Shortandqueer, the organizers, describe the event on its Web site as a "unique variety show where the expression of gender and the expression of self are inseparable." They're also the co-founders of the Denver Zine Library, so it's not surprising that the "Roadshow" has a decidedly literary slant: Shortandqueer may read from his zine Do As I Say, Not As I Do: Family Lessons to Unlearn, while Terry may recite excerpts from the self-published Burn in Hell, Buddy.

In a nod to the customs of Donny and Sonny (see above), the performance also includes a guest-starring stint from another touring band of gender pirates, the Cross-Gender Caravan. Brooklyn resident Carolyn Connelly shares insights culled from her life as an "Irish-Italian Slayer-listening femme dyke," and Tennessee Jones delivers thought-provoking one-liners inspired by his tranny childhood in Appalachia. San Francisco favorite Charlie Anders, who edits Other Magazine, reads as well. Musical acts include Katastrophe, an emo-hop MC, and Judith Jordan, who debuts several songs from her punk opera in progress, No Easy Answers.

Despite this jampacked evening of entertainment, the show has another purpose: to educate the audience about the gender continuum. "We want to give people a well-rounded view," writes Shortandqueer on the event's site. "Transpeople are full human beings, and there's so much diversity within this group."