Poboys, Drag Queens, and Cowboy Mouth Are Back

June 3, 2020 It's New Orleans: Happy Hour Comments Off on Poboys, Drag Queens, and Cowboy Mouth Are Back

There’s nothing more totally “New Orleans” than poboys, drag queens, and Cowboy Mouth. That’s why, till we can go back in bars and hang out, Happy Hour photographer Jill Lafleur picks this show as her favorite from the past few years to revisit.

Drag Queens

Poppy Tooker dwarfed by her own portable drag queen

Meet The Queen of Drag Queen Brunch – Poppy Tooker like you’ve never heard her

Poppy Tooker is New Orleans first lady of food. From her weekly TV appearances on Steppin’ Out to to her weekly radio show and podcast, Poppy is the best known foodie in the city. Poppy’s latest venture is a collaboration with a large group of drag queens to produce a strong of drag queen brunches around town, culminating in her 6th book, simply called Drag Queen Brunch. You could have found out any of this information in any New Orleans publication. What you won’t have heard anywhere but here is the explanation to this sentences Poppy utters by way of her current situation: “I’m not dead and I’m not knocked up.”

Cowboy Mouth

Fred LeBlanc sings Somewhere Over The Rainbow (yes, seriously)

Cowboy Mouth’s Fred LeBlanc brings down the house with this performance at the now extinct Wayfare

Fred LeBlanc is the larger than life front man of the band Cowboy Mouth. If you’ve ever been to a Cowboy Mouth show or heard any of Fred’s media appearances you have probably thought Fred’s life is an open book. Well, there might be a couple of chapters of the book you hadn’t heard about. Probably doubtful that you’ve heard Fred’s opinions on marriage or cross-dressing anywhere else. Or known anything about his relationship to the Poboy shop, Melba’s Po Boys.

Poboys

Scott Wolfe, the Poboy magnateman behind "You Can't Beat Wagner's Meat"

Scott Wolfe Sr – The man behind “You Can’t Beat Wagner’s Meat” and the extraordinary experience that is Melba’s Poboys

Scott Wolfe Sr is the owner of Melba’s Po Boy Shop, on the corner of North Claiborbne and Elysian Fields, the busiest Po Boy shop in the world. Scott is also the owner of the wildly successful local New Orleans grocery chain, Wagner’s. Yes, he’s the marketing genius who came up with the slogan “You can’t beat Wagner’s Meat.” Scott’s extraordinary flair for marketing can be found in full display at Melba’s where they’re open 24 hours a day, have a giant laundromat where each machine is named and themed for a local New Orleans celebrity – you can wash your clothes in the Fred LeBlanc machine for example – and a 24/7 daiquiri shop.

See if you can get a word in

Fred LeBlanc, Scott Wolfe, Grant Morris, Poppy Tooker, with a headless Asher Griffith shooting the Facebook Live version of the show

This Happy Hour is a classic no-holds-barred conversation with people who are comfortable in their own skin and not hesitant about telling it like it is.

Jill Lafleur’s photos from this show were taken when the show was recorded at Happy Hour’s one time happy home of the now shuttered Wayfare. Enjoy this dip into our Best Of collection, we’ll be back to hanging out in bars when they let us.