Little Rock, AR
Transilient: You do stand-up comedy?
Robyn: Yes. It is so fun. Especially to get up there and announce myself as Robyn Adaire Tranny extraordinaire, and people are like, “Oh what? Are you really…?” I was told very early that people would hurt me if they knew the real me. So I thought, how could you possibly hurt someone who’s so nice and funny all the time? So I worked hard at being perfect. Don’t do anything wrong, fix your bed in the morning, blah blah blah. And it didn’t work. It didn’t stop any of the abuse that was coming anyway. But, it did make it harder for the outside world to attack me. Because it’s so difficult for anybody, the meanest person, to attack the nicest person in the room, because no one wants to look like a giant asshole in front of everybody. It’s been a strong defense.
Basil: So, is there one person in your life, living, dead, famous, real, that you really felt inspired by?
Robyn: Elvira Mistress of the Dark.
*Laughter*
Transilient: Why?
Robyn: In her movie, Elvira Mistress of the Dark, she comes to a small town and they’re all blown away by how she looks. When I was a kid, I watched that movie every day, because that’s how people reacted to me. I didn’t have huge tits and a little black dress and gorgeous makeup, I was just a little blonde kid, and people looked at me the same regard as they did her. And so I thought – there’s something that we have in common and apparently it’s called presence, and she taught me through that movie how to be kind to everyone who was so put off by me. And that was everybody.