Feature: Gifts To Cabaret That Last All Year - Day Six

Will Nolan is a sketch comedy artist who has been working in New York City for over twenty years. In the early days of his career, he and fellow sketch comedy performer Melissa Bynum had a comedy group called Naked Dog Walking, and, one day, Will created a character named Leola. Leola was a septuagenarian redneck lady who worked in management at the local Piggly Wiggly in Waycross, Georgia, who had recently stepped into the light and come out as a lesbian. Therein lay the basis of this character that would become Will's main hustle for the next twenty-two years.

Naked Dog Walking disbanded. Will and his husband, playwright Stephen Kaplan, became fathers, and Will settled into corporate life. But Leola wasn't ready to retire and in 2012 Will began playing solo show festivals, small black box theaters, and nightclubs and, before he knew it, this wacky character he had created had a following, a fan base, and Will had a hit on his hands. Leola's Ladyland has been a force in his life and that of his family, ever since, winning awards and inspiring others, as Will uses comedy, monology, and human contact to reach audiences.

For ten years, a Leola show has been an hour-plus of Will reciting scripted monologues about Leola's weird life experiences, monologues laced with more than just humor - there were teachable moments and life lessons and gay history (Leola's most popular show is GAY HISTORY FOR STRAIGHT PEOPLE) - and throngs of fans that adore the Kelly Clarkson devoted, Jesus-lovin', deli manager who was lookin' for love while trying to save souls, one cabaret room at a time. After the quarantine and show business shutdown was lifted, though, Nolan returned to the pre-pandemic Leola residency at The Green Room 42 with a new kind of show - a chat show where Will and Leola could showcase upcoming acts for the club, and artists that audiences should know. Since that change in format, Leola has interviewed, in classic chat show style (opening monologue, games, chat, musical numbers), the likes of Tony Award nominee Sherie Renee Scott, cabaret icon Natalie Douglas, television star Brandi Burkhardt, and internet sensation Jennifer Leigh Houston. Leola has a huge following that turns up for in-person shows (some even dress as Leola) or tune in for the live streams, and, always, Will's husband and son are seated ringside (the young man has been attending the Leola show since he was six). It's a rare, undefinable thing that Nolan has created with Leola, unlike any other show in the industry. Is it a comedy show? Is it a drag show? Is it a monologue show, a storytelling show, or a talk show? Who can say? What can be said, though, is the Leola show is original, it is funny, it is informative, and it is a hit, created out of a spontaneous moment in a sketch comedy improv some twenty-three years in the past.

If she were a Broadway show, Leola would be one of the long runs.

Read the Broadway World Cabaret review of a Leola show HERE.

Leola's online presence is as follows:

Website: Click HERE.

Instagram: Click HERE.

Facebook: Click HERE.

Twitter: Click HERE.

YouTube: Click HERE.

Will's pronouns are he, him but Leola is she, y'all

Leola's future projects include:

Leola continues her residency at the Green Room 42 with Leola's Lady Land Lounge on March 30 live and live-streamed. You can also catch her on the road with Gay History for Straight People. Details at www.leolasladyland.com/calendar.

Photos by Stephen Mosher; Visit the Stephen Mosher website HERE.

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