The writer William S. Burroughs had good reason for dubbing John Waters the “Pope of Trash.” The filmmaker may have impeccable personal style, but his contrasting penchant for filth and the forbidden cemented him as the father of cult cinema. Far from resting on his tawdry laurels, Waters is hitting the road with a one-man comedy show that promises to shock, awe and be unapologetically him. Lucky us, he’ll be performing and celebrating his 80th birthday on the same day in Miami.

Waters’ fascination with villainy began in his boyhood days in the Baltimore suburbs, holding violent versions of Punch and Judy puppet shows at birthday parties at age 12. Gleaning inspiration from his surroundings, he and childhood friend Divine created short films on his front lawn — the “Dreamland Lot” — and ultimately drew together a band of misfit suburban kids like Mink Stole, Mary Vivian Pearce and Edith Massey.

With the release of 1972’s outrageous Pink Flamingos, Waters ushered in an era of underground film, and followed up in the 1970s with Female Trouble and Desperate Living. Even after Waters went mainstream, his movies still retained his trademark tackiness, with Polyester, Hairspray, Cry-Baby and Serial Mom all celebrating downtrodden, unconventional protagonists.

Part of this year’s Miami Film Festival, “Going to Extremes: A John Waters 80th Birthday Celebration” is a high-energy, unfiltered monologue only Waters could conceive and deliver. From right-wing female impersonators and pro-punk conversion therapy to extreme amusement parks and prank guerrilla placement of incendiary bogus book titles (in libraries that recently banned gay children’s classics), Waters is ready to defend humanity at its weirdest.

Waters is no stranger to live performance, having previously drawn huge crowds at Bonnaroo and Coachella and regularly hosted the Bay Area Mosswood Meltdown punk rock festival. In a time of highly polarized politics and discourse, here is John Waters — who doesn’t do social media — turning 80 and still going to extremes in his very offline offbeat way.

John Waters performs “Going to Extremes: A John Waters 80th Birthday Celebration” 7:30pm Wednesday, April 22 at the Adrienne Arsht Center’s Knight Concert Hall in Miami. arshtcenter.org ~ Olivia Feldman