They say diamonds are forever. Apparently so is Tupperware, which is more within our gift-giving budget this holiday season.
Luckily for us (and much to our surprise), Tupperware seems to be all the rage these days thanks in part, to drag queens.
Out comedy performer, writer and New Jersey native Kurt Koehler makes the rounds nationally with as many as nine Tupperware parties a week as his alter-ego Aunt Cassie Rolle.
Koehler, who hails from Haddon Township, said he was introduced to the fast-paced and lucrative world of drag Tupperware parties while working on the West Coast as a comedy writer and director.
“My business partner, he and another friend started doing it out in L.A. about three years ago,” Koehler said. “They started pushing me to do it and I finally got laid off, and I saw how much he was making and I decided to jump in. There are only about six or seven people in the country that are doing it in drag. It’s kind of a small niche, so we all know each other.”
Everybody has had some experience with the unmistakable home product that is Tupperware at some point, and Koehler says there is some retro nostalgia driving his drag parties.
“I think it’s a kitsch factor,” he said. “When I think of Tupperware, I think of the 1970s and polyester and my family. I feel like sometime you have to have a gimmick. And Tupperware parties have been going on for 65 years. To get people to go to one now, you have to have something special to offer. That’s what we do. I sing a big Broadway medley. I tell jokes. Everybody tells jokes throughout the demo. It’s not your grandmother’s Tupperware party.”
Well, actually …
“Sometimes we get really old ladies and I have to clean up my act a little bit,” Koehler said. “But then you get the ladies that want to hear the dirty jokes.”
Kohler added that, while his shows do appeal to gay men, straight women are also a big part of his audiences.
“There’s a mix,” he said. “There’s more women but the gay men show up because they hear about the drag. They always have gay cousins, a gay brother, gay friends and hairdressers that are coming to the show. For our shows that we do on stage, it’s half gay and half straight women.”
Koehler will be in the Philadelphia area doing a bunch of Tupperware parties this weekend.
And, although they are private parties, you can always contact him ahead of time to see if it’s OK to crash one. You can also try to book a party of your own, but Koehler emphasizes these parties mean business — and the hosts have to understand a few things if they are planning to invite Aunt Cassie into their homes.
“There are rules to our party which we give to the hosts,” he said. “We explain that this is how we make our living. It’s not a free show. We have to sell it or we won’t continue to do it. I have to say as a gay man, when a gay man wants to do a Tupperware party, I say, ‘OK, is it somebody’s birthday? Because I’m not doing it. I’m not going to be your free clown for your party.’ So you always have to feel out why someone wants a Tupperware party. Do they just want to see a free drag queen at your house or do you want to try and earn some free Tupperware because that’s what the hostess does?”
We know what you’re thinking: Drag queen in your living room aside, why go through the whole party thing when you can just run to the local superstore and load up on Tupperware?
It turns out, Tupperware puts a lot of time and effort into staying relevant.
“They keep inventing new items through the years so they can keep the patents on them,” Koehler said about the brand’s longevity. “There’s always a main catalog that changes throughout the year. They relive some products that you are going to recognize from the 1970s or 1980s but with better colors. They do that because the Tupperware is guaranteed for a lifetime. So they need to keep everything the same size. You can bring something back from the 1960s and if it’s broken, Tupperware will replace it. So in that aspect, they keep the sizes the same because it works.”
Koehler added that, despite what you see on TV about people wanting cars, flat-screen TVs or jewelry for Christmas, Tupperware is the hotness this holiday season. And the products at his parties are the real deal your grandmother used to buy, instead of the disposable knock-offs you find in stores.
“They want it for themselves because a lot of people are cooking this time of year,” Koehler said about the parties’ enhanced appeal during the holidays. “You’ve got Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Year’s in a row. So that’s a lot of leftovers. And Tupperware is an investment. The stuff that you buy at the chain stores most of the time is made in China. Those aren’t guaranteed for anything so you’re buying it again and again. Ours is made in the USA. When I started selling Tupperware, I didn’t realize all the stuff I grew up with in my mother’s house that lasted all my life was Tupperware.”
For more information on Aunt Cassie Rolle and her Tupperware parties, visit cassierolle.blogspot.com/ or contact her at [email protected].