Murray Hill (performer)

Murray Hill is a New York City comedian and drag king entertainer. He is the entertainer persona of Busby Murray Gallagher, although this persona is maintained even in private settings. Murray Hill is the self-proclaimed "hardest-working middle-aged man in show business".

In The Encyclopedia of Lesbian and Gay Histories and Cultures, Jack Halberstam praised Hill for "transforming masculinity and exposing its theatricality with profound results". The New York Times called him "the current reigning patriarch of the downtown performance community" and the Seattle Weekly called him a "pioneer" of drag kings.

Biography
Hill is transgender and started performing in 1996, when the cutting-edge chic of the East Village waned as the neighborhood gentrified, the art galleries moved for cheaper rent in Chelsea, and the music scene shifted to the Pacific Northwest. His celebrity impersonations include Elvis and John Travolta. Hill was part of a 1990s wave of comedians and performers whose talent stood out in the Lower East Side and East Village scene, emblematic of the neighborhood as portrayed in the musical Rent.

Hill is a frequent event emcee in Lower Manhattan, including the annual "Ms. Lez" competition, a bingo night with co-host drag queen Linda Simpson, and a variety of burlesque and theater performances.

Hill was the opening act for a tour of the rock band Le Tigre and has opened for The Gossip. He has performed at parties given by Joan Rivers and Liza Minnelli; and his acts incorporate homages to Joey Adams, Benny Hill, Sammy Davis Jr., and Henny Youngman.

Hill had cameos in the 2006 John Cameron Mitchell film Shortbus and a 2010 episode of Bored to Death on HBO. He also appears with burlesque performer Dirty Martini in Dirty Martini and the New Burlesque. Hill and Michael Musto appeared in the video for TV on the Radio's song "No Future Shock."

Hill is part of the cast of the 2022 comedy-drama Life & Beth, the 2022 series Somebody Somewhere, and host of the 2023 Hulu comedy competition Drag Me to Dinner.