CD: “I’m having a breakdown!”

 

JF: But I think it’s cool that people are seeing it. I still don’t feel in a place where I can be like, “Hey, I’m gonna go do this and people will show up, people will like it, and people will write about it.” Still, every time it’s like, “Okay, let’s try this one.”

 

CD: What draws you to a performer?

 

JF: I really like people that are comfortable being weird, people that are comfortable with themselves but also comfortable being weird. Also, I tend to shy away from people that are kind of sexist or racist. I like people that are kind of aware of that.

 

CD: Yeah. That makes sense too because it goes with the audience’s safe space, and trust.

 

JF: I also tend to like people that are very bold. I’m organizing this inner beauty pageant that happens once a year. I’m trying to get contestants. I’m trying to figure out people who surprise you; they don’t seem like they’re going to be good performers, and then they are.

 

CD: Who would’ve thought that this guy is going to pull it off?

 

JF: Right. Like this guy Geraldo I got for last year, he was a performance artist. I knew he was going do something weird. Every time I’ve seen him he’s been naked with a cinderblock dragging behind from a chain, just every time . . . [laughs]

 

But he’s very precise in his words, and you really just don’t know what he’s going to say. There’s a “Make your own swimsuit” competition in the inner beauty pageant, and I didn’t know what he was going to do, but he just took clothespins and put ‘em all around his body, attached ‘em to his skin and his body, and then attached only a bandana around his penis.