Chi Chi LaRue : Unmascara-ed (Part I)

(Editor's Note: I had the chance to talk with Chi Chi LaRue recently and we had a wide-ranging discussion on everything from his early years to his views on racism in the Gay Porn Industry. Please note that the interview has been edited slightly for continuity's sake.)

MOC: Why don't we start with your early years? You were born in Hibbing, Minnesota…

CC: I was.

MOC: And I did some research on that and it looks like a very small town in
Northern Minnesota...

CC: Yes, It's called Hibbing.

MOC: Two trailer parks, one hospital, one bus route. What was that like?

CC: No, it's actually, it's not that small of a town. It's, it's kind of farmland-ish outside and a little small town-ish like a little more - I don't want to say metropolitan because it's really not - I mean the closest city is Minneapolis, 200 miles away from Hibbing. It's, it's a small town. It's very small town U.S.A.

MOC: When did you, what age did you leave for good?

CC: 1982. (That's when I moved to Minneapolis.)

MOC: What would was your experience like growing up. I mean, you're obviously a very, uh, would the word "vivacious" be strong enough, personality?

CC: Yeah, I had a big personality and some times you know it got me punched in the face and in the hallway because of insecurities on other people's parts. But, you know, I was always friends with all the girls [and] some of the guys. I was popular in school but [it was] because I made myself very, like, funny. I was always making people laugh and I was always the entertainer.

MOC: Do you look back now and say that was a survival mechanism?

CC: Absolutely! Totally. Yes.

MOC: Did you always know you wanted to dress up in women's clothes?

CC: I think so. I think so. I used to always want to be Cher for Halloween. Any reason when I was young to...Halloween was always the best because then I could, I could justify dressing up.

MOC: How old where you when you first got dressed in drag?

CC: Oh, God...Oh, you mean you like for real? For a show?

MOC: Yes.

 

CC: Well, I did a contest at First Avenue in Minneapolis with three other guys. And we dressed up and did The Weather Girl's "It's Raining Men." And we won the contest but it was "Hag Drag." I kept my moustache on. So it was kind of like a “campers” kind of drag. You know.

MOC: Okay, so you left. And now your story is fairly familiar to anyone that knows you or The Industry. But I do want to touch on one thing. You went to Catalina [Studios] right around the time when AIDS was starting to ravish the community, is that correct?

CC: I started working at Catalina in 1987.

MOC: How did you get the job? Did you just walk in the door?

CC: I had moved to LA and had enough money just to, just to… (his cellphone rings in the background) pay the rent, to get the apartment and then we were - my friend Kevin and I - were completely out of money and we both needed to find a job. And he actually found a job right away at, like, Nordstroms or something and I was looking through one of the gay rags and I came across an ad for a salesperson at Catalina. And I went to Catalina and I got the job right away because I knew the product so well. (I had worked in an adult bookstore in Minneapolis.)

MOC: Now it says on your Wikipedia page that you've done hundreds of movies so I tried to count and I came up with 254.

CC: I've done probably over four hundred.

MOC: I don't think Paramount Pictures makes that many movies in ten years!

CC: Yeah, but I used to do 'em, like, Oh God, I used shit out a movie four times a month.

MOC: So, was it was that quick from, you know, casting to post-production, you could produce that kind of...

CC: Back in the days when I started I was working with Joey Stefano and Andrew Michaels and Tony Davis and those people...Those people were in every movie that I did. So, you know, Sharon Kane...I was doing gay movies, straight movies, bisexual movies, transsexual movies, solo jerk-off movies, girl-girl movies. I was doing anything. You know that anybody wanted. I'd do it.

MOC: I know this may seem like a stupid question but after doing movie after movie after movie, given the range of genres, doesn't IT every get boring?

CC: Ye-es. Of course! Absolutely. I've been doing it now for almost twenty-one years so it's, you know, it's one of those kinds of things that comes naturally. And I'm bored with it but once I get into it and if something's really good, it sucks me right back in. So, you know, it's like I dread some times going to the set and having to do the scene but the minute I get there and the scene is going really good, you know, I mean you're working with great people...I'm so blessed with our exclusives that we have right now and, you know, and have been able to work with some really great guys. And doing a movie like, let's just say for instance, my "Link:Evolution" movie...I've done "Links" before and I've really enjoyed doing them because they are so big and so wide ranging and I could do dirty things in them and be really creative and be really wild. And when I was doing this, this “Link: The Evolution," it was kind of daunting because I hadn't done one for such a long time and I was just, like, Oh God, I don't think I'm going to be able to do this and, you know, I was always second-guessing myself a little bit but that was stupid because the minute I was there I fell right back into it. It's like getting back onto a bike. And Ryan was spectacular. So, you know, I do get into it once I’m there and in the zone.

MOC: Let me ask you about something that I know a lot of people are not familiar with - your years directing straight pornography. You were with Vivid from 2003 to about 2006, is that correct.

CC: Yes.

MOC: And you had developed a very personal relationship with Jenna Jameson.

CC: Yes.

MOC: Is it really all the same? I mean, are straight scenes really that different from gay scenes in terms of sex.

CC: Porn sets are all the same. It takes a little longer to get the girls ready and the girls like to remain pretty - most of them - so when you mess their lipstick up you have to stop so they can redo it. It really was an outlet for me. It really made me appreciate the gay porn when I would go do the straight porn and I would work very hard. You shot... Straight porn you shot anywhere from three to five scenes a day.

And that could be very hard. By the fifth scene you were just like: Ugh! God! You know. But it's different in some ways and the same in some ways. You know, it was fun working with the straight guys and it was fun making the straight guys do things for me that they wouldn't do for a lot of people. And the girls - what was great about the girls was that they trusted me so much that a lot of girls would do things for me that they wouldn't do for other directors because I wasn't there to make them look bad. (Or to humiliate them.) Or to get my jollies off of making them do dirty things. They knew that I really wanted the movie the movie to be hot and I knew what looked hot and I was very excited while directing. I am a very excited director. I'm like a cheerleading. I'm very vocal. And I talk a lot. And editors (his voice rises up to emphasis this next part) hate me. But, you know, it's, it really does help the performers get going when I do my thing. We had girls come up and just say, "You're directing turned me on to no end. You got out of me what no one else could." So that's a compliment.

MOC: Now there's a story - and correct me if I'm wrong - but you were on the set of one of your movies and as one of the guys was fucking one of the women, you said, 'I want you to pull out and cum on the other guy. And he said, "No, that's gay." And you said...

CC: No, no. Kinda. I wanted the girl to lick his ass. And he said, "No, that's gay." And I said, "No. If I was your licking your ass that would be gay!" And it was with this girl named Lola who was fabulous. She's this fabulous Latin, gorgeous Latin girl and she's, like, "C'mon, throw your legs over and let me do it.' So, you know, a lot of the guys, there were guys who wouldn't do that for me. There were guys who would not let girls lick their butts. I don't know why.

MOC: Okay, let's talk a litle bit about your DJ-ing. You're quite an accomplished D.J. How did that all come about?

CC: It's funny and I appreciate that you say that but I'm not an accomplished D.J. I'm what I'd call myself...I call myself a drag queen juke box. I am, it's like when I'm DJ-ing and it's, like, we're having a party in my basement and we're playing records. Because I'm not a mixer. I don't mix songs together. I'm not a circuit D.J. I don't like music that doesn't have any words. I like to have music that's got words and, you know, I like to play Madonna and I like to play Britney Spears and, you know, I like to play old stuff like Blondie and Dead or Alive and things like that. That's the kind of D.J. I am. I can read the room really good. What I think is my quality in the D.J. area is that I can read the room and know what needs to be playing to get the room going. I've gotten a ton of D.J. gigs. It's just really, really blown up.

MOC: Because you’re a celebrity.

CC: Yeah, of course. It's the drag. If I was just going out of drag it wouldn't be anything...it's the drag.

Comments

[EuroboyFilms]

Great interview. Can't wait to have ChiChi in London next month!

[Nurse Vein]

CC I love you and have wanted to meet you for a long time. I look for you all the time at your place Dirty Deeds and The Abby in WeHO. Please come to Phoenix and see my show. Oh and thanks for discovering Johnny Hazzard. He's my dream boat.