Summer kicks off a series of queer comedy and drag shows in Prague

Newsletters sign-up

The Gay Agenda was founded in 2019 by California-born Jackson Smith (a.ka. Action Jackson). What started out as a queer-oriented stand-up comedy show has over time evolved into a massive production company featuring stand-up comedy, drag, and burlesque.

The aim of the project is to give voice to queer talent and drag in the Czech Republic. With Pride month on the horizon, the Gay Agenda will be bursting at the seams with performances happening all over Prague all summer long.

“I’ve been planning on expanding The Gay Agenda since I started it in 2019! It’s always been my goal to have a production company in Prague that caters to the LGBT community and our allies, featuring a wide array of comics, burlesque dancers, and drag performers. I look around and was wondering what was missing from the community, what I wanted to see. I wanted to go big," says Smith.

Jackson Smith, founder of the Gay Agenda — Jackson Smith's The Gay Agenda comedy show is dragging queer talent into the open.

This summer Smith will finally see his plans, which were initially derailed due to illness, realized: in June of 2019, just a few months after he started the company Smith was diagnosed with cancer. While he, fortunately, recovered, the past two years' Covid closures weren't kind to performers and venues.

"It’s finally 2022, and three years after starting this project, I’m doing what I’ve always wanted to do. To work so closely with Prague Pride, a RuPaul’s Drag Race winner, doing two shows for the Pride Festival, I’m so excited and proud that after years of hard work, it’s paying off. I’ve met so many great people along the way and I’m happy we’re all performing together this summer."

Here's where you can catch the glitziest and glam-mest shows of the 2022 Prague Pride Festival season featuring local talent and famous drag acts from abroad, including winners of RuPaul's Drag Race.

June 4│The Gay Agenda will put on a variety show at Rock Cafe this Saturday. It will be a night of drag, burlesque, and stand-up comedy in English. Featured performers will include Hayley the Strange, Chlorophyll Von Needle, Angelina Angelic, and more. Ten percent of the ticket sales will go to Prague Pride’s new community center, which opened last year. Tickets can be purchased here.

RECOMMENDED ARTICLE

Prague's only LGBTQ comedy troupe cracks jokes, topples barriers

On July 9│Vanessa Van Cartier is the current winner of Drag Race Holland and a former winner of the Miss Continental USA pageant, and the Miss Continental Europe pageant, two of the largest female illusion competitions in the United States and in Europe. Van Cartier will be the first winner of a European Drag Race franchise to come to the Czech Republic, and she’s also one of only three transgender winners of a Drag Race franchise. Tickets can be purchased here.

GAY MAY 2022 The Gay Agenda FB Vanessa Van Cartier One Night in Prague 315-621bc7a0756248a09af9307d20d9cf88 REDUCED 2 — Vanessa Van Cartier

August 10│The Gay Agenda will be again doing a Comedy Cabaret during the festival! The evening will again feature stand-up comedy in English and comedic burlesque performers, and the host of the evening will be UK drag star Paul Aleksandr. Tickets will be available soon; follow the Gay Agenda on social for updates.

August 11│The Gay Agenda will wow audiences with Pride Burlesque! An evening of strictly burlesque performers will feature a wide array of performers from the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Austria, the UK, and the US. Headlining the burlesque event will be Austrian and Vienna-based burlesque diva, Madeleine de Sade. Tickets are available soon; follow the Gay Agenda on social for updates.

After surviving cancer and Covid, Smith says The Gay Agenda is finally on track to be what he wanted it to be and is proud to be able to bring together and work with so many different artists.

"I’m not the only drag show in town. I’m not the only burlesque show in town. I’m definitely not the only stand-up comedy show in town. We all bring something different to the scene. Some burlesque shows are fetish or glamor, some drag shows are experimental and avant-garde. I just want to be funny. I just want people to laugh. I want to come to my shows and see comedy, forget their problems, and enjoy themselves."

This article was written in association with The Gay Agenda. Read more about our partner content policies here.