Murray Hill

Murray Hill is a New York City comedian and drag king entertainer. He is the entertainer persona of Busby Murray Gallagher, although this persona is maintained even in private settings. Murray Hill is the self-proclaimed "hardest-working middle-aged man in show business". In The Encyclopedia of Lesbian and Gay Histories and Cultures, Jack Halberstam praised Hill for "transforming masculinity and exposing its theatricality with profound results". The New York Times called him "the current reigning patriarch of the downtown performance community" and the Seattle Weekly called him a "pioneer" of drag kings. Biography Hill is transgender and started performing in 1996, when the cutting-edge chic of the East Village waned as the neighborhood gentrified, the art galleries moved for cheaper rent in Chelsea, and the music scene shifted to the Pacific Northwest. His celebrity impersonations include Elvis and John Travolta. Hill was part of a 1990s wave of comedians and performers whose talent stood out in the Lower East Side and East Village scene, emblematic of the neighborhood as portrayed in the musical Rent. Hill is a frequent event emcee in Lower Manhattan, including the annual "Ms. Lez" competition, a bingo night with co-host drag queen Linda Simpson, and a variety of burlesque and theater performances.