Jimbo's Drag Circus world tour making stops in northern Ontario

Drag superstar Jimbo -- a winner in the RuPaul's Drag Race franchise from London, Ont. -- is starting the Canadian leg of her world tour in Toronto on Thursday and will be making two stops in northern Ontario.

Jimbo's Drag Circus (Supplied)

Drag Race fans can expect to see some of her familiar and outrageous characters from the TV show – such as Shirley Temple, Joan Rivers and Casper the Baloney Ghost -- along with her iconic adult humour in the two-hour live stage performance called Jimbo's Drag Circus.

"There's six different characters I play doing quick changes. I do choreo; I recorded the songs with my friend Andrew, it's all original music and above all, you can really come anticipating laughter," Jimbo, the recent winner of RuPaul's Drag Race All Stars Season 8, said in a video interview with CTVNewsNorthernOntario.ca

"You're going to have the best time at my show. I love making people laugh. I'm a clown, I'm a drag clown and I like to get silly and wild."

Jimbo the drag clown is bringing her 'one queen show,' Jimbo's Drag Circus, to North Bay. May 15, 2024 (Chelsea Papineau/CTV Northern Ontario)

The world tour started in Michigan at the end of February and the 'one queen show' will be coming to the Capitol Centre in North Bay on June 2 and the Community Auditorium in Thunder Bay on June 4.

"I absolutely love coming up north, I've been there once before and the energy there is so exciting, the vibe is awesome," she said.

"And I think it's really important to bring queer art to smaller communities like North Bay and Thunder Bay that don't get a lot of this kind of content and these kinds of live shows and it's really important."

The adults-only show is for audiences 18 and up and will be moving on to Australia in August.

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Known as James Insell out of drag, the 41-year-old received a degree from Western University before moving out west to work as a designer in the film and stage industry. Insell currently lives in Victoria, B.C.

It was a clown workshop that Jimbo said transformed her understanding of performance, later becoming a drag queen.

"Drag is all about love, it's all about self-expression and at the end of the day, really, just entertain people and make people laugh," she said.

She encourages people to be authentically themselves and says doing that was the biggest gift she has given herself.

"People have let me know that I have given them the freedom to be more themselves," Jimbo said.

"I invite in to get silly, to get weird and then to go out into their own lives and take chances and be a little bit weirder themselves."     

Jimbo appeared on Canada's Drag Race Season 1 and then went on to RuPaul's Drag Race UK vs the World Season 1 before winning on All Stars Season 8.

Victoria, B.C.-based drag performer Jimbo is seen in a photo posted on social media. (Image credit: @jimbothedragclown/Instagram)