Tina Burner Turns on the Boob Tube
by Mia Phillips
Tina Burner is so much more than a man in a pretty wig. She’s also a seamstress, makeup artist, dancer, singer, writer, comedian, with a pair of linebacker shoulders. Known for her appearances on RuPaul’s Drag Race season 13 and All Stars 10, Burner is setting up shop this summer at the Crown & Anchor, where she is performing her original show, BoobTube: Putting the HD Back in ADHD, all summer.
The majority of Burner’s life has been spent on stage. She first stepped out in front of an audience as a competitive tap dancer in her youth, eventually advancing to win a national tap-dancing competition. When it was time for her to decide where to go to school, she enrolled in a musical theater academy. There, she studied the ins and outs of performance. Later on, in the early 2000s, she pursued a career in music when she joined a boy band called 5th Ring. She reflects on those early introductions to the stage, saying, “I’ve done it all.”
Burner recalls her first time in drag as a completely unexpected event. As a joke, she agreed to host a karaoke night at a bar dressed in drag, and to her surprise, was invited back to host the following week, making her a professional drag queen.
Throughout the early years of her drag career, Burner began to develop the persona of Tina Burner. Her name is an ode to Tina Turner and the bond Turner’s music forged between Burner and her mother. “Tina Burner is my mom and I,” Burner explains. She found it symbolic to represent the icon through her drag. Burner says listening to Tina Turner’s music with her mother during Burner’s childhood empowered them both to rise above during tough times. Burner explains, “Tina went through so many horrible things… It’s about perseverance.”
It wasn’t until Burner was 30 years old that she began performing in drag, and she quickly learned it’s a lot harder than it looks. Burner’s name is a reminder of the importance of determination and hard work, values she attributes to both Tina Turner and her mother. “It’s also a symbol of fire,” Burner adds, “Burning everything to the ground and then starting over.”
Burner also developed a taste for the satirical side of drag: “I’m not supposed to be a woman, I’m not trying to be a woman. I’m a drag queen. That’s what it’s about for me: it’s camp,” she says. She began to embrace exaggerated silhouettes and experimental proportions in her style, adding, “It’s parody. Life is serious enough.”
Eventually, she outgrew her karaoke bar gig and began competing in pageants across the country. The competitive atmosphere pushed her to perfect her persona. “Pageants were a way for me to travel, to hone my craft, to learn more, and to receive constructive criticism,” says Burner.
Pageants also gave her a platform to reach larger audiences, an opportunity Burner took full advantage of. “You have a platform to be able to speak to people and use it as a superpower,” Burner says about performing. In 2019, her hard work in the pageant circuit paid off; she was crowned Miss Comedy Queen, earning the most points ever recorded. She reflects on the moment, “It’s not about the actual win, it’s not about any money you win, it’s not about any of that. It’s the culmination of the hard work and dedication it took to get there, and then being recognized for it.”
Soon after her monumental win, Burner made her RuPaul’s Drag Race debut on season 13 in 2021. While on the show, Burner was diagnosed with ADHD, a disorder that proved advantageous for her in a career sense. She explains that drag requires multiple skill sets, and having ADHD allows her to channel her hyperactivity into each of the facets without ever having room to get bored. She explains, “It was able to make my brain work a certain way.” She goes on to add, “[RuPaul’s Drag Race] made me a stronger person, more than I ever thought I could be.”
Four years after her debut, Burner made her return to the main stage of RuPaul’s Drag Race for All Stars season 10 in 2025. She proved herself to be a talented seamstress, actress, and rapper, demonstrating to audiences that comedy queens can do it all. Now she’s ready to perform for Provincetown audiences.
This summer, Burner is back in Provincetown, debuting her new show: BoobTube, a one-woman show honoring the decades of television that have helped shape her and her audiences. She wrote the show herself over the course of a year and intends to connect with audiences of all demographics. To Burner, Provincetown represents a melting pot of a myriad of talents, an aspect she says makes the town stand out compared to all the other communities she’s visited and performed in. As a jack of all trades herself, Burner uses her Crown & Anchor show to flex her muscles and show off all the individual talents that come together to produce her show. She says, “live singing, mixes, costume changes, it’s all there. I don’t think you’re going to find a show that’s so meticulously put together as mine is.”
Tina Burner performs in BoobTube: Putting the HD Back in ADHD at the Crown & Anchor, 247 Commercial St., Provincetown, Sunday through Thursday, 7:30 p.m., through September 11. For tickets ($40/$50) and information call 508.487.1430 or visit onlyatthecrown.com.
