'Activist art disguised as boob-filled musical comedy'

The Kinsey Sicks pick their Perfect Playlist of comedy favourites

The Kinsey Sicks – described as ‘America's most potty-mouthed and politically outspoken drag a cappella quartet’ are currently performing at the Edinburgh Fringe. Here they share their Perfect Playlist of comedy favourites…

Golden Girls

Although we may be the only drag foursome in the English-speaking world who are not doing a Golden Girls tribute show (at least not yet), we still worship The Golden Girls for their sharp quips, snappy comebacks, withering side-eye, and sizzling sexual desire.

What better way to honour their decades-long reign as everyone's favour rite greying foursome than with this zingy compilation of their funniest bits:

Bette Midler: Otto Titsling

Our favourite Jewish diva with a comedic streak (some of us take after her!), Bette Midler belts the ridiculous and totally untrue story behind the invention of the brassiere (lovingly referred to as ‘the over-the-shoulder-boulder-holder’) with a campy and bawdy musical number from the movie Beaches.

The clear friction between the message of the show-within-the-movie and some snobbish audience members reflects the real world divide between the creative spirit and the industrial interests that can exploit it. It's activist art disguised as boob-filled musical comedy.

Mel Brooks: Springtime for Hitler

There's hardly a funnier way to diminish the pure evil of Nazi Germany than with Mel Brooks's Springtime For Hitler from The Producers.

In it, the titular producers stage a brazenly tasteless musical replete with tap dancing stormtroopers and swastika choreography – surely a shocking sight for audience members whose collective memory would easily recall the events of World War 2 which was a mere 20 years prior to the original production.

Our own founding member and current writer Ben Schatz shares Mel Brooks' penchant for punching up with a Jewish POV.

And also like Mr. Brooks, when we have the opportunity to amp up our own well-worn material we take it, just as he does in his updated version: by adding the swishiest Hitler you will ever lay eyes on.

Les Ballet Trockadero De Monte Carlo: The Dying Swan

High art meets high camp in this tour-de-force performance of The Dying Swan by Les Ballets Trockadero de Monte Carlo.

No other dance company in the world can fuse the extraordinary athleticism of ballet and the fabulous fun of drag with such seeming effortlessness than this celebrated gender-bending dance troupe.

Dame Edna: 2013 Royal Variety Show

With just a few words, the late great Dame Edna leaves the crowd (and then-Prince Charles and his consort Camilla) in hysterics in this short clip from 2013's Royal Variety Show.

Randy Rainbow: Sedition

Any fan of our biting satire, campy visuals, and lush harmonies should also be a fan of the inimitable Randy Rainbow, who pokes fun at former US President Donald Trump's infamous insurrection with Sedition – his one-man parody of the showstopping number Tradition from Fiddler On The Roof.