“An Evening with Jane Whitney.” Receive a Ralph Lauren gift set with your purchase. Woman smoking while reading gossip magazine under hair dryer in salon. Avon clerk. Acrylic nails and day and night dangle earrings…
“Everything looked so elegant!” Delta Work harks back to the bygone era of 1980s and ’90s fashion and fantasy in Los Angeles, which was her initial inspiration. She spent her childhood summers getting her hair done at her aunt’s Total Look salon, reading magazines at home in Norwalk, and watching the golden age of talk TV like “The Marsha Warfield Show.” I spent countless hours doing it. She vividly describes the picturesque salon, from the Jafra products to the Patrick Nagel prints on the walls and the ashtray on the armrest. It’s no surprise that the drag queen turned Emmy-winning hairstylist and luxury public access podcast host is obsessed with details. This is part of her love language.
“Belly Delta” is Delta Work’s weekly YouTube talk show where she invites “gorgeous-looking, impromptu-speaking, and attractive guests to sit on her couch” and chat about matters related to “Belly Delta.” Masu. This typically includes things like snack rankings, retail drama, and queer history. On Thursday, Delta will celebrate his birthday and the launch of his podcast in 2025 with a “Very Delta Live” event at Hamburger Mary’s in Long Beach.
“Berry Delta” has built a loyal fan base. Last month, Artforum named it one of the best TV shows of 2024, ranking it alongside established network shows from HBO and ABC. “We decided it was a luxury talk show, and to me it is. Just because it’s on YouTube doesn’t mean it’s not a talk show,” Delta asserts.
To achieve that luxury, Delta Air Lines combined a public access-style facility made from set leftovers with a glamorous department store makeup counter at Forever Dog’s mogul media studio in North Hollywood, 90 We changed the environment to look like a talk show desk from the 1990s. She spent a lot of time working behind the scenes to perfect the featured pieces and artificial flowers in Delta’s collection. Every fall, she decorates her desk like a suburban house waiting for trick-or-treaters, rotating it with gaudy seasonal decorations like a dollar store.
Before competing on “Drag Race,” doing celebrity hair and makeup, and VMA performances with Miley Cyrus and Taylor Swift, Delta was a performer and producer on Dream Girls Revue and Ripples in Long’s Drag-a-Licious. He frequented the local competition circuit for clubs like . Beach and drag-o-rama at Ultra Suede in WeHo, all you need is a wig and you’re full of energy.
Nightclub drag shows will always hold a special place in Delta’s heart. She bought a “Natalie Merchant”-style dress in Los Angeles in 1994 to wear to a Halloween rave at the urging of a cosmetology and journalism classmate at Cerritos College, but her real drag debut was Oz, the legendary gay bar in Buena Park. Fashion superstar Raja Gemini offered her a spot as his understudy after months of appearing on his Sunday night show. Delta grabbed a CD from her car, Catalina’s “DJ Girl,” and took to the stage wearing a handmade black tube dress, heels with cut-off backstraps, butterfly clips, and Claire’s pink feather boa.
Performing online felt like a natural progression. “I realized this was a place where I could connect with people,” Delta says. “I’m not a dancer, I’m a fine romantic. Maybe I don’t need to watch you tap your toes ten times. I can do other things.”
Delta’s early guests included close friends such as stripper and mother Natasha Estrada and Halloween Horror Nights decorator Eddie DeBarre. In pivoting to include the Queen, she thought it would be more fun to incorporate the Queen into her world and didn’t want to ask the same questions as other media outlets. “I realized we’re branding this show ‘What’s your favorite chip?’ Why? If you had to drink a diet soda, which one would you drink? Anyone. There is stupidity.”
“Frying small fish” is a term Delta uses to acknowledge the creepy frivolity of some of the show’s topics. “I can’t solve the world’s problems. I try! But what can I control? The stupid things we do every day.” Serving the Community That’s not just a saying. She loves making uplifting personal cameo videos, not only as a source of income, but also to interact with fans who can’t go to nightclubs. Last week, she donated the proceeds from her cameo to fire relief.
Her “Go Off Delta” rant includes falling in love with Target over lack of cilantro causing confusion in “majority Hispanic areas,” denying corporate pride, and L.A. restaurants. It’s a relatable monologue that covers everyday topics such as soup disappearing, Zillow fraud and airport drama. . Her interview will follow. Last season, she asked Countess Luann de Lesseps of “Real Housewives of New York” fame to make fart sounds, learned about TikTok influencer Sugar & Spice’s favorite public restrooms, He and drag queen-turned-Broadway performer Jinx Monsoon analyzed why black licorice is difficult to swallow. . Delta Airlines also gets to the core of its people, creating an environment where strange histories unfold all at once, including broken down cars, behind-the-scenes dreams, and rhinestones.
Delta Work’s YouTube show focuses on “the stupid things we do every day.”
(Sean Vadella)
When asked about her passion for incorporating queer history into her podcast, Delta can’t help but tell meaningful stories about friends and role models who have passed through the same places in different timelines. She remembers Madame Pamita playing punk gigs at Peanuts on Santa Monica Boulevard on her nights off between drag shows. Lesbians like my friend Lori hang out at Little Frieda’s Coffee House in Weho and support people living with HIV. She becomes wistful and emotional as she remembers the legacy of LA and her loved ones that still lives on in her music. “When I’m driving and I’m listening to a song and I’m in that space, I think, ‘What if I could go back there again?’ Would Lori have been there? Maybe I was there.” Maybe she was at Denny’s? Maybe she was doing a show? I think about that when people come to the show.
“Belly Delta” creates overlapping queer maps that traverse time, bring memories together, support each other’s experiences, and add new pieces to the never-ending puzzle of connections. Her podcasts feel like being in an old-school gay bar, where an intergenerational group learns from each other, sharing outrageous stories, hot gossip, and survival tips, always interjected with laughs and wondering what’s next. looking forward to it.
When asked what’s next, Delta has big dreams. “I hope ‘Berry Delta’ continues to travel and is aired on TV. You could be a QVC salesperson, let’s sell! Let’s talk about perfume. Maybe the movie ‘Berry Delta.’ What could it be? Who would play me? Probably Rosie O’Donnell! ”
Details aren’t boring for Delta Air Lines. They are a way of countering the push towards sterile commercial narratives and recognizing highly considered elements that many overlook in the hustle and bustle of modern life.
“Every moment, every breath, her smell, what he said, what shoes were they wearing, what color were their shoelaces?” It’s a protective suit against the threat of erasure of queer life under a president in office. “We don’t want people to remember what we wore in 2024 because no one will write it down or the interviewer won’t ask, ‘What did you really think?’ . what happened? Now, more than ever, in this moment, we need to document everything. ”
