A DECADE OF SPREAD EAGLE SCOUT
- by Tito Bonito / AUGUST 1, 2024

PHOTO BY IRIS RAY (2017)
Ten years ago, I decided to develop a routine that would become, arguably, my most well-known act.
It all started in the summer of 2012, when Mr. Exotic World 2009, Hot Toddy was auditioning dancers to create his next “Stage Door Johnnies”. For those who do not know, the SDJ (mostly Bazuka Joe) was a big part of the blueprint that is Tito Bonito. I had to be a part of this. According to Toddy, no one promising auditioned outside of myself and he recommended me to just do my own thing. At this point, I had already been performing for two years. Before I moved away from Chicago, he gifted me the idea of creating a “boy scout” routine and encouraged me to make it my own. He told me the only thing he could guide me with the act was to pitch a tent.
The idea I went with was to make a comedic yet political commentary on the Boy Scouts of America, who, at the time, were very anti-gay.
I wanted to be a really gay scout.
Then I went on the Cuban Missile Crisis US Tour and moved to Los Angeles. A few months later, I finally got the nerve to buy a secondhand scout uniform and put it on stage. As a “trial and error” artist, I tried a few different songs before finding the one that would inevitably become “the” music. At one point, I performed as a boy scout to the Spice Girls slow jam “Too Much” while eating a chocolate cake for a food-themed show. More than once, I used Kelis’ “Milkshake” while drinking a milkshake? For what reason? I’m still not sure.
It wasn’t until August 2014, when I came back to Chicago for the first time since moving away, that I heard the perfect song for my routine. I was working at Hydrate Nightclub for Shea Coulee's show and backstage I heard Nicki Minaj’s "Anaconda." It had just come out. The minute it started I remember looking to Shea sharply and asking, “what mashup is this?!” She informed me immediately that it was Nicki and I fell in love with the rest of the world. Once I started performing to “Anaconda,” the rest truly was history.
A huge moment in the act, the “assels”, was also not even a part of the routine until 2015 when I was inspired to start using them after watching Bunny Gee at the Kimo Theatre in Albuquerque, New Mexico.
After a few years of workshopping the act anywhere I could, I finally upgraded my costume in 2017, in order to compete at Burlesque Hall of Fame. I am so thankful to Nikita Bitch Project, Indigo Blue, Varla VaVoom, and my mom for helping me with my costume. Varla made the shorts tearaway and initially rhinestoned them, Nikita added snaptape to my shirt, Indigo Blue sent me a TON of patches from Troops past for good luck, and my mom sowed the patches to my original sash. I also want to thank Leslie Zemeckis for asking me to write a four-part blog on my journey taking the act from creation to BHOF. You can read those in my BLOG section (via TheBurlyQ.com). I took the BHOF stage and won "Most Comedic" that year! My first trophy ever and my top favorite moment with this act!
Another major highlight with this routine was when I was FINALLY (after 5 years of trying to convince her) able to make a duet version of the act with Jessabelle Thunder (who initially convinced ME to submit the act to BHOF instead of what I wanted to send). At this point in the story, The Boy Scouts of America also allowed gays AND girls, which really felt full circle.
After all this time, I am so honored and humbled by what this act has done for me in my life and career. It is because this act won at BHOF that I was able to tour it (historically) across Japan with TheAmericanBurlesque.com and in Australia in 2024!
Although, I have absolutely had so many incredible experiences traveling the world with this act; here is a Top 10 Countdown of the ones who gave me the best videos. 😜
