Richard Margery, commonly known to folks as LadyBeard, is an all-rounded entertainer. He is a crossdressing pro-wrestler and heavy metal singer that has gotten really popular throughout the world thanks to a YouTube video.
During the Visual Arts Expo, LadyBeard was one of the guests that performed during the event’s closing ceremony. Needless to say, PC.com couldn’t pass up the chance to interview the manly, yet feminine entertainer.
PC.com: Can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers who have yet to be impressed by your greatness?
LB: Malaysia, lovely to meet you! My name is LadyBeard! I’m from Australia but I live in Japan. I am a pro wrestler, heavy metal singer, idol, and genki presenter!
PC.com: How long have you been living in Japan?
LB: I’ve been living in Japan for almost two years. It would be two years in October, so I’m still new. I actually came on an inflatable boat and it took 17 months (laughs).
PC.com: You’ve been living in Japan for two years. How have you been picking up the language and was it easy to learn the language?
LB: That’s actually a really interesting question. Japanese, generally, is not as hard as some of the other Asian languages. For instance, Cantonese was an absolute nightmare to learn. In Cantonese, there is no grammar to speak of, but the pronunciation is a nightmare.
Japanese is the exact opposite in that the pronunciation is straightforward, but the grammar is all over the place and there are politeness forms and variations. But like any other language, if you have no choice but to learn it and use it, you’ll pick it up fast.
PC.com: You have plenty of experience going to Comic Market as a cosplayer. How was your experience in your first Comiket?
LB: In my very first Comiket, I wasn’t cosplaying. I was in Japan for about two weeks and was a patron, a visitor. The event was massive, epically huge; you walk around and the whole thing just leaves you bewildered. And the quality of the cosplay were so high, which was amazing as well.
The unique thing about cosplaying at a convention like Comiket is that people are only there to take photos. When you’re taking photos in a studio, you pose for a photo, check if it’s good, then go back and pose again till you get it right. In Comiket, you pose until you can’t anymore, then you switch to a different pose. The whole time, a flock of photographers will be taking photos, then they’ll thank you and another person fills in the empty spot straightaway. This year when I did Chun-Li, it was two hours straight of Kung Fu! The photos taken later in the day has me covered in sweat, because it was brutally hot. When I got home, I couldn’t move parts of body like my wrists and ankles, so I laid down and fell asleep at 7pm. But that’s actually the most striking thing about Comiket: The photos just never stop.
Of course, I feel that when you’re cosplaying, the most important thing is to think of yourself as a performer instead of a model. A performer doesn’t want to break the performance, so you want to keep moving the whole time and stay in character as much as you can. It is very challenging but I recommend it, because it will improve character work very, very quickly.
PC.com: How long have you been keeping your beard and how long have you groomed it?
LB: I’ve made a terrible mistake around 5 years ago of shaving my beard. Obviously, it was a very sad period of time in my life. It was horrible and I don’t really want to get into too much detail, because I might cry (laughs). I think the most important thing about beard maintenance is a healthy diet and exercise, because that will cultivate proper health and enable correct hair growth and so on. It is also important to meditate on your beard growth I feel. I think meditation at least 3 times a week on the foundation of a healthy beard growth is crucial. There is an element of Zen involved in maintaining the perfect beard.
(the above is an excerpt of the original interview published in the November issue of PC.com, you can call up the office to purchase a copy if you’re a fan of LadyBeard.)
