When the subject of her first on-stage appearance with the Suicide Girls’ Blackheart Burlesque show comes up, dancer Sunny Suicide suggests that a little clarification is in order. It seems that sometimes popular legend is better than the real event.

Google Sunny’s name and Blackheart Burlesque, and you’ll be directed to a Noisey article containing an eye-popping line. First, a bit of background. The New York–raised performer was running burlesque classes in the Big Apple when she heard that Suicide Girls was bringing a show to town. More specifically, that Suicide Girls—a Los Angeles–based online empire that showcases alt-looking models in various states of undress—was hitting NYC with a burlesque show.

Sunny, who laughingly—and proudly—describes herself as “totally gay”, was hell-bent not only on going, but also on being part of the performance. That mission was accomplished, leading her to tell Noisey after the fact “I pushed my way on-stage and tried to jack off one of the girls.”

As great as that quote is—and it’s been brought up with Sunny more than once—it isn’t completely accurate.

“The funny thing about that is that it’s always misquoted,” she says with a big laugh, reached on the phone in Los Angeles. “What I actually said was ‘I tried to lick jack off one of the girls.’ But either way, the quote totally works.”

What also worked was making an impression on the Blackheart Burlesque crew. Following her unofficial New York debut, she found herself flying to Los Angeles, where Suicide Girls—which has been running Blackheart Burlesque on and off since the mid-’00s—was auditioning dancers. Helping cull the hopefuls was choreographer Manwe Sauls-Addison, famous for working with the high-wattage likes of Beyoncé and Lady Gaga.

“I had been to a lot of auditions in New York, over 10 years, where I was too humble and respectful,” Sunny says. “Like, I do my thing, and if they don’t like it, I just leave. With this one, I was like, ‘I flew here, and I want this.’ All the girls were pumping water. I had a flask with Jameson’s in it. Manwe was there, and he turned around, recognized me, and was like, ‘Oh my God—you’re that crazy girl from New York who got up on-stage. My boyfriend loved you.’ And then he was like, ‘New York—do not disappoint me today.’ ”

Sunny not only didn’t disappoint, but is now the host of the current edition of Blackheart Burlesque, even though she doesn’t necessarily fit the profile of most dancers and models involved with the company. Founded in 2001, the Suicide Girls brand is built around images and accompanying bios of heavily tattooed and pierced goth-punks. Sunny isn’t completely uninked, but she isn’t going to make anyone forget about Kat Von D. Nonetheless, she’s fit in perfectly, bringing a renegade spirit—from the Jameson flasks on down—to the company.

That spirit fuels Blackheart Burlesque. In keeping with past installments, the production is heavy on pop-culture references, numbers inspired by everything from Fifty Shades of Grey to Game of Thrones to The Little Mermaid.

“I get to play Mr. Grey, and I’m excited,” the host says. “We’re already in leather and have the pasties, but it takes us all to a new level. People are going to want to go see the movie because of us.”

Even if you’ve seen Blackheart Burlesque in the past, Sunny suggests that this round won’t be the same.

“With the cast changes, the chemistry changes every time, and always for the better,” she says. “We had a tap dancer from Brazil last time, and now she’s tapping away during Rocky Horror, which she didn’t before. Things change according to what you have to work with. We have a girl from London who does a lot of pyrotechnics and works with fire, so we added that to our Tomb Raider number. You want to keep things fresh—we just did Canada last year, so you have to give the cast something new to work with, and fans something new to look at.”

Figuring out how to please audiences doesn’t stop there. Thanks to the Internet, we now live in a sex-saturated world, where what might have titillated even a decade ago is considered tame today. That’s presented a challenge. Sunny says that Suicide Girls isn’t shy about taking things further than most burlesque. Just don’t expect anyone to rush the stage and try to jack off a girl.

“When I did burlesque in the past, it was more about playing a character,” she offers. “With this show, this is what these girls are. They aren’t always playing a part—a lot of these numbers bring out that edge that is SG. Also times are really different now—it’s crazy what changes in 10 years. Sex is so mainstream, so now we have to kick it up a notch. Instead of insinuating that you’re going to grind on the floor, these girls are actually doing it and taking their clothes off. The things that are just teases in other performances are things that we actually finish for you.”

The Suicide Girls’ Blackheart Burlesque Tour plays the Rickshaw on Tuesday (April 7).