Meet America's oldest and longest-performing drag queen

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Darcelle XV may be 88 years old, but he's not letting his age stop him from taking the stage. As America's oldest and longest-performing drag queen, Darcelle has been entertaining for over fifty years. And with every performance, his groundbreaking work has inspired others to take the stage.

"I'm very proud of the fact that we were there in the beginning," Darcelle told AOL Lifestyle about first taking the stage in 1970. "[We] put our first show on in 1970 and there was nothing like this, nothing." Five decades later, the Darcelle XV Showplace has grown to become one of Portland's biggest stages for drag queens and other performers alike.

For Darcelle, the key to his work is all in a good performance.

"You can't look like the next-door neighbor," he said of the long and intricate transformation he undergoes in the makeup chair. "You have to bring them in here where they can forget their problems and get in a fantasy land and have a light time."

No matter the work, retire "is not in [his] vocabulary." "I'm going to do a kick and there'll be a pile of ashes on stage," he explained.

Meet more of Darcelle in the video above!