“Do you want to see me explode? Because I think you want to see me explode.”
Those are the 18 words that Emmy Award-winning drag queen Delta Work speaks at the beginning of every new episode of her hit talk show, Very Delta. Her monologue intros have been a secret inspiration for me as I work in food media.
“I still don't know, what's the difference between mild salsa and medium salsa,” Work says at the start of the 95th episode. Each week, the show features interviews and opinions from “RuPaul's Drag Race” alumni, burlesque dancers, comedians and other celebrities.
Work always has something to say before a guest interview, and on June 10, for nearly 10 minutes, he waxed poetic about fast food burritos and salsa, how spicy food is masochistic (and a form of boasting), good guacamole, friends who want to give you thin-skinned avocados as gifts, bad guacamole, the blandness of avocado toast, asking too much of cauliflower but not broccoli, healthy eating, and, finally, salsa.
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She takes short pauses between comments, but for the most part she speaks without pause, which is an impressive style of speaking and a big reason why moments from her show are regularly talked about.
The thoughts she shares at the beginning of each episode range from customer service to societal norms, and I find myself quoting her on snack foods, shrinkflation, Diet Coke, bread and butter pickles, Costco, raisins, and more to friends and loved ones, some of whom are still unfamiliar with her chatty style.
Wark is able to articulate with keen insight food-related phenomena that I had never been able to clearly understand, and I had to talk to her myself to understand how her mind works.
Delta Work, host of “Very Delta.” Courtesy of Delta Work
“I'm sitting at my makeup station at home, getting my fingernails done,” Work told me over the phone, after I told her I had lots of questions but wanted to respect her time. When I tried to listen to the clinking of acrylic nails, she laughed. “So I'm not doing anything.”
I tell Work that her monologues mainly deal with everyday quirks and annoyances that many of us often don’t talk about because they seem trivial.
But when she improvises a story about companies being stingy when it comes to shopping bags and ketchup packets, listeners feel a little better, knowing that her struggles are our own too.
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“Sometimes I think, 'I've always wanted to talk about this,' but it hasn't crystallized yet,” Work says. Watching her monologues, she adds, you can see that her thoughts aren't fully formed. To me, that's part of the magic.
“I'll talk about something, then wander off somewhere else and come back to it,” Work says. “Maybe it's a character flaw to be able to see both sides of things.”
Work tells his stories with the style of an observational comic strip, describing his everyday adventures as if they could happen to him – and often they did.
My favorite scene in “Very Delta” comes in an early episode, when Work recounts how a disgruntled, presumably irate, condiment-loving employee dealt with a mayonnaise-smeared Subway sandwich.
“I thought to myself, 'Hey, there's nothing I can do about this. There's something more I need to do,'” Work says at her trademark white desk, honing in on an oddly inspiring truism about life: “I just strip everything away. Sometimes you just have to strip everything away, you know?”
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These moments of comedy and wisdom have inspired many viewers — TikToker @verymemabledelta turned Work's sandwich experience into a catchy music track called “Mayonnaise,” while @boy2kmusic's “I Want House” has been viewed nearly half a million times. Work says these videos tickle his heart.
“I'm pretty obsessed with it,” she said, adding that she and her friends regularly perform their songs at their monthly get-togethers. “The stuff they come up with is just amazing. It's so cool. I'm always like, 'Should I perform this in a lip-sync drag show?' Maybe I should just come up with it myself.”
Work prepares to film its 100th episode. Courtesy of Delta Work
Work recently hit a milestone for “Very Delta,” filming the podcast's 100th episode in June, an occasion she filmed live in front of a studio audience at Hamburger Mary's in West Hollywood.
Work said the show was originally meant to be temporary because Raja, his former co-host on “Very That” podcast, was competing on the championship season of “RuPaul's Drag Race: All Stars.” He was surprised the show has lasted as long as it has.
“I think food is something that brings people together,” Work reflects, “and I think it's something that people abuse, myself included, because we use it as medicine.”
Work told me that her strong opinions on food often earn her a lot of backlash, including direct messages, and that she's sometimes nicknamed a “Karen,” but she also has just as many defenders as critics. Still, she embraces it.
She acknowledges that being able to talk about food and the minutiae of everyday life is a “privilege,” but says there are “so many bigger things going on.”
“Very Delta” by Delta Work
Work recounted her time as an only child raised by her mother, with her father rarely at home. She and her mother found solace in a small bakery called Muffin Break in Escondido, California. “I think I remember that moment because we felt safe,” she recalled. “No one knew where we were, so no one could find us. It was our private place.”
Given the context of that time, Work is sometimes drawn into monologues about nostalgia for '80s-style hospitality.
For her, that little muffin shop was a respite from tumultuous times, a reliable dining experience that ultimately shaped her expectations of the hospitality industry today — expectations that are evident all the way down to how Subway employees put mayonnaise on their sandwiches.
“That's what I'm usually concerned about,” she explains. “I want value, not a bargain.” She wants to know that, like at a muffin break, her bread isn't just buttered, it's buttered properly.
