“Tip your performer – and be as loud as you want to be,” said a unicorn wearing a blue dress, a  rainbow wig and a golden horn. She described herself as “the hostess with the most ass,” and welcomed the crowd to the latest run of “Bushwick Got Talent,” a somewhat-monthly talent contest that House of Yes has been throwing semi-regularly for the last few years, give or take a global pandemic.

Aerials, musical theater, voice impersonation, pole dancing, burlesque, live singing, lip syncing, voguing, and drag were the arts and skills showcased on one recent night. The shared mission among those on stage: get the best scores from a demanding panel of judges, and make it to a final round and a prize of “222 dollars with 22 cents,” per host Pixel the Drag Jester, a resident performer and producer at House of Yes. Pixel, with her South Park and Bianca del Río inspired comedy invited us to forget it was only a Wednesday, let loose and get a little fucked up.  

Holding court with long entertaining monologues that veered, occasionally into, deep and constructive criticisms, were judges Mini Horrorwitz, Zoe Nightengale and C’était BonTemps. As the trio put it: talent, drama, iconic and cunt were the minimum expected from performers that night. But only one winning act got perfect scores from the whole panel.