Keith Cole (performance artist)

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Cole at a mayoral debate in 2010. He is in the second row, first from left

Keith Cole is a queer[1] Canadian performance artist and political activist. Originally
from Thunder Bay, Ontario,[1] he is currently based in Toronto, Ontario. An alumnus of York
University's Fine Arts program, Cole has worked in film and video, dance and theatre
performance, both as himself and in character as drag queen Pepper Highway.[1]
His theatrical work has included the shows Mine, Alma, The Needle Exchange and Dodged
Bullets/Missed Opportunities.[2] He also appeared in Maggie MacDonald's play The Rat
King, Luis Jacob's A Dance for Those of Us Whose Hearts Have Turned to Ice and Jim
LeFrancois' musical revue Arthouse Cabaret, garnering a Dora Award nomination for Best
Male Performance in a Musical in 2008 for Arthouse Cabaret.[3]
He has produced and hosted live events in Toronto, including Porn-a-Roake, a comedic
event which blended karaokeperformances with amateur porn videos, and Cheap Queers,
an annual performance night of LGBT entertainers at Buddies in Bad Times. He was also a
contestant in the original 2006 edition of Canada's Worst Handyman,[1] and was named the
winner in the final episode.
Cole is most famous for an incident in December 2004. While hosting a fundraiser at
Buddies in Bad Times, the audience appeared to be losing interest in some of the
performers — accordingly, during one of his introductions he pulled down his pants and
began to urinate on the stage.[4] Although he was publicly criticized by Fife House, the
event's beneficiary, he has noted in subsequent interviews that the press attention he
gained from the incident actually advanced his career.[4]
He has been the subject of two songs by Toronto-based queercore band Kids on TV, "We
Are the New Keith Cole" and "Still On About Keith Cole". Cole performed a vocal in the
album version of the former song, and directed the music video for the latter.
In 2013, Cole participated in Salvatore Antonio's Truth/Dare: A Satire (With Dance), an
interactive audience participation show which featured staged reenactments of scenes
from Madonna's 1991 film Truth or Dare, at Buddies in Bad Times during Toronto's Pride
Week.[5] The show's cast also included Adamo Ruggiero and Gavin Crawford.[5]