This drag queen turns San Francisco home tours into theater

J. Conrad Frank, known for his drag persona Katya Smirnoff-Skyy, works with his partner Greggory Onzo-Tasher to record a virtual real estate tour at a property on California Street in San Francisco on Monday, March 30, 2026.

Brontë Wittpenn/S.F. Chronicle J. Conrad Frank, known for his drag persona Katya Smirnoff-Skyy, works with his partner Greggory Onzo-Tasher to record a virtual real estate tour at a property on California Street in San Francisco on Monday, March 30, 2026.

Brontë Wittpenn/S.F. Chronicle

Armchair fantasizing about real estate is such a well-known trope that there’s a whole “Saturday Night Live” sketch brilliantly likening it to porn.

Now a San Francisco performer is toying with the fantasy in a new way: with drag.

J. Conrad Frank is making video tours of properties while in full regalia as Countess Katya Smirnoff-Skye. The twist is, unlike with “SNL,” the fantasy can be real because Frank is a newly certified Realtor.

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But there was no hint of Frank outside of 4135 California St. in the Inner Richmond one unusually muggy afternoon. Instead, while fellow agent and Frank’s mentor Greggory Onzo-Tasher filmed, a redhead with a lightning streak of white in her wig whooshed her bubblegum pink skirts outside the property front gate, beckoning viewers inside with a quip about Anna Wintour.

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A little boy on a bicycle gaped as if a Disney princess had come to life before him. From a passing car, a passenger hailed Frank as a “queen” and flashed a peace sign.

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“Yes, I’m a 6-foot-2 retail Jew from San Mateo,” Frank told the Chronicle later, plunking his character’s python-skin handbag on a glass dining room table. “But I think as Katya, people are brought in, and you suspend the disbelief of the ridiculous stories that I tell — that are as true or non-true as they need to be.”

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At the four-bedroom, four-bathroom California Street townhouse, for instance, the countess was inspired to share anecdotes about Joan Crawford and Liberace as part of the tour.

When viewers indulge those white lies, Frank continued, “you’re already buying into this fantasy.” It’s the perfect mindset for contemplating buying a home where the closets have their own windows and the primary bathroom is big enough to fully flare a giant dress with a twirl across the marble floor.

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Call it “Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous,” but funnier, gayer and totally San Francisco — and all in three-minute TikTok reels.

Plenty of other Bay Area agents have sizable social media followings, and there’s much crossover among the theater and real estate industries. Ray of Light Theatre Artistic Director Shane Ray is a real estate broker, while Rainbow Zebra Productions, LLC founder Andrea Gordon is a real estate agent. Former “Beach Blanket Babylon” actor Shawna McNulty is also a Realtor. In both fields, Frank said, “You’re putting on a show.”

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Still, Frank isn’t aware of any other Realtor whose tours lean so far into theatricality.

A third-generation Bay Area resident, Frank has been performing Katya Smirnoff-Skye for two decades at venues such as Martuni’s, New Conservatory Theatre Center and Feinstein’s at the Nikko. He first recorded a real estate tour in character in 2016 for other agents, Michael Minson and Danielle Lazie. It was a success, but he was loath to leave his day job in his family’s makeup brush business, Marquel Ltd.

After the pandemic, however, he was ready for a career change.

J. Conrad Frank, known for his drag persona Katya Smirnoff-Skyy, wears a frog brooch while recording a virtual real estate tour at a property on California Street in San Francisco on Monday, March 30, 2026.

Brontë Wittpenn/S.F. Chronicle

As Frank was obtaining his real estate license, multiple firms courted him, he said, perhaps attracted by Katya Smirnoff-Skye’s more than 200,000 followers on TikTok. He signed with Vanguard in November in part because Onzo-Tasher, a longtime fan of his from Martuni’s, was with the agency.

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“I was like, ‘Well, Vanguard is the gayest real estate brokerage in the country. You have to work here,’” Onzo-Tasher recalled.

As of late March, Frank has posted eight drag tour videos and was in the process of closing his first sale. The online response has garnered him a new level of fame outside of the usual Martuni’s crowd.

“The checker at the grocery store the other day was like … ‘Wait, are you that drag queen who does the house tours?’ And I said, ‘Why, I guess I am,’” he said, with faux wide eyes.

While any number of drag personas might excel in the role of home seller, Frank’s alter ego’s unique personality makes her especially well suited to the task.

“I have an elegance and a poise about me” in character, Frank said. Developing Katya Smirnoff-Skye, he eschewed ingenue, villain and seductress types. “I just wanted to be benevolent,” he explained.

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In video after video, Katya Smirnoff-Skye’s vibe is like Glinda the Good Witch wanting to help each individual find her way home. But she has other facets, too. She’s a seen-it-all auntie who makes racy double-entendres and a batty innocent who calls a church espied from a roofdeck “a Catholic place.”

When she wants to escape a situation — a malapropism, a joke that went too dirty — she scampers off as if a giant show biz cane is yanking her offstage while she’s leading a queen’s procession.

Despite all the layers of eyeshadow, she’s also very genuine. The videos are unscripted, with each cut getting just a few takes, and the spontaneity shines.

“It’s a character that he’s honed for over 20 years,” Onzo-Tasher pointed out, “so it’s almost second nature to be thinking as Katya while looking around.”

The vintage, white snake-skin purse of J. Conrad Frank, known for his drag persona Katya Smirnoff-Skyy, can be seen while working with his partner Greggory Onzo-Tasher to record a virtual real estate tour at a property on California Street in San Francisco on Monday, March 30, 2026.

Brontë Wittpenn/S.F. Chronicle

That earnestness has both entertainment and business value.

“You’ve got to get people to trust you,” Frank said. “You’re helping people with the biggest purchase they’re ever going to make.”

In an era when the AI boom or bubble has driven San Francisco real estate prices even further out of reach, Frank’s videos serve a dual purpose. For one, they give only-in-San Francisco artsy cred to the upper echelons who can afford to buy and sell the region’s real estate.

“People are always like, ‘Do you show houses like this — do open houses?’” Frank said. The answer has been no so far, but he envisions possibilities. “For the right house, I might host a twilight tour or a champagne tour,” he said.

Brontë Wittpenn/S.F. Chronicle

For everyone else who can’t afford that life, the videos are tongue-in-cheek entertainment.

Every time the countess concludes a tour saying that the only reason she’s not buying a home herself has something to do with her two poodles, she slyly points out the absurdity of the market.

When she gestures over a balcony to a “foresty place” (aka the Presidio), she’s an everywoman, despite her clacking Baroque pearls and 700 yards of silk organza.

We’re all naifs when it comes to San Francisco real estate, and Katya Smirnoff-Skye is our glamorous mascot.

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