Watching Sarah Jessica Parker Perform 'Let’s Have a Kiki' onGleeWas 'Surreal' for Scissor Sisters' Jake Shears (Exclusive)

Mar. 15, 2025

Jake Shears in June 2024 and Sarah Jessica Parker in ‘Glee’ in 2012.Photo:Dave Benett/Getty; FOX

Dave Benett/Getty; FOX

It’s probably safe to assume that no one inScissor Sistersever expected the band’s 2012 hit “Let’s Have a Kiki” to become something of a Thanksgiving staple. But then cameGlee. AndSarah Jessica Parker.

During a recent chat with PEOPLE, the band’s frontmanJake Shearsreflected on show’s 2012Thanksgiving episode, in which Parker and theGleecast performed a mashup of the song and “Turkey Lurkey Time” from the 1968 musicalPromises, Promises.

“I remember when that came on — onGlee,” Shears, 46, said. “I threw a party at my house, and we all sat there, and Sarah Jessica Parker doing the intro for the song, I think, was one of the most surreal things I have ever seen in my life.”

Sarah Jessica Parker in ‘Glee’ in 2012.FOX

FOX

In the show’s fourth season, which found glee club alumni Kurt (Chris Colfer) and Rachel (Lea Michele) living in New York City, Parker played Isabelle Wright, Kurt’s boss at Vouge.com. The Nov. 29, 2012, episode saw Isabelle joining Kurt and Rachel at their apartment for Thanksgiving, unexpectedly bringing along dozens of her fabulous friends — includingRuPaul’s Drag RacefavoriteShangela.

“I was just like, ‘What is going on?’ ” Shears recalled thinking of the number. “But it was gorgeous.”

Jamie McCarthy/Getty

The mashup was the kind of unexpected, slightly questionable thing that onlyGleecould get away with. It was high camp, a label often associated with Scissor Sisters, and one thatthe band came to resent.

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“I got to meet Gore Vidal right before he died — which was a very special moment for me — and I’ll never forget he turned to me said: ‘Camp is just another word for those who have no talent,’ ” Shears said in a recent interview withNME, adding that it “made me a little crazy” when the band was described as “camp.”

Scissor Sisters recently announced a reunion tour, their first since 2012’s Let’s Have a Kiki tour. The band will play dates across the U.K. next spring, albeit without Ana Matronic.

Most recently, Shears wrote the lyrics for the Elton John musicalTammy Faye,which runs on Broadway through Dec. 8.

source: people.com