This excerpt is posted with permission via the AJC.

Bob the Drag Queen wears many hats. She recently launched a clothing line, owns a cosmetic brand and is currently touring with Madonna. Earlier this year, she dropped an EP “Gay Barz.” The performer, podcaster and comedian admits she has a lot on her plate. But she wouldn’t trade it for anything.

“It’s fun, though,” she said via Zoom. “It’s easier to maintain than it seems.”

This week, Bob the Drag Queen will perform a stand-up comedy set at Atlanta Symphony Hall as this year’s Party with Impact comic. For Bob, the show is a chance to return to her roots, literally and figuratively: comedy is her first love and she always enjoys visiting her hometown. The Columbus native credits her time at Morrow High School for fueling that knack for performing arts.

Bob was crowned the season eight winner of “RuPaul’s Drag Race” in 2016. Since then, the drag superstar has hosted television shows (including the Peabody Award-winning “We’re Here”), performed several comedy specials and continues to have the unabashed confidence that fans fell in love with. She’s looking forward to sharing that with the Atlanta audience during the show.

Although Bob has lived in Los Angeles for three years, she can see herself eventually moving back to the South.

“My family still lives here — in Henry County,” the 37-year-old said. “I just love having a chance to go back to Atlanta, seeing friends from high school, seeing friends from college, but also, you know, I was like an adolescent in Atlanta. I moved to Columbus by the time I was an adult when I was 18, so I never really had much adult life in Atlanta. A part of me always feels a little bit like a kid again when I’m back in Atlanta.”

Bob describes herself as a “stand up comedian through and through” who has found joy in making people laugh for nearly 15 years.

“These are just my thoughts being spewed out to you all in a way that I find humorous...,” she says. “I usually think of a premise that I find a little bit interesting and then I find a way to make it funny. For example, I talk about, misogyny in the gay community. I was thinking about how a lot of these gay guys think they’re above misogyny or above being shady to people because they’re a marginalized group themselves, so I just go into that and find the humor in it.”

Bringing joy to others during a year where anti-drag legislation seemed ubiquitous isn’t an easy feat. A law in nearby Tennessee, which placed drag performers in the same category as strippers and prohibited public performances outside of an adult club, was found unconstitutional in June.