"Similar to the Ms. Universe Pageant, if all the contestants were hairy and liked Budweiser." That's how a press release once described the Mr. Lower East Side Pageant, the annual underground competition to find Southeast Manhattan's ultimate representative of arty masculinity. While the contestants are usually mostly straight, the audience for this yearly freakfest is often heavily peppered with gay men, and at least two previous winners are card-carrying LGBTers -- 1999's first-ever winner Jonny McGovern and 2002 champ Neal Medlyn. In 2009, hottie actor Jason Schwartzman even showed up to witness the wild contest.
The smackdown to elect the new Mr. LES consists of a one minute talent segment, swimsuit and eveningwear competitions, and an all-important question and answer round. Anyone male can enter (last year's entrants included a kitten called Pickles), regardless of their neighborhood of origin, and the more audacious, the better (another 2009 entrant wore little beyond a series of pseudo-ladyparts and went by the moniker Mangina). The Rev. Jen (who also helms the Rev. Jen Anti-Slam every fourth Wednesday at Bowery Poetry Club) hosts the festivities, which she has called the "thinking woman's Chippendales."
For a video homage to previous Mr. Lower East Side winners, check out this clip on YouTube. For a Village Voice slideshow of 2009's colorful race, click here.
The Mr. Lower East Side Pageant
When: Wednesday, December 1, 2010, 10 p.m.
Where: Bowery Poetry Club, 308 Bowery, between Houston and Bleecker Streets
Admission: $7