I'VE ALWAYS BEEN TOO MUCH Ft. Sasha Velour
Summary
Sasha Velour joins Jemele to discuss her new season of RuPaul's Drag Race, how she became a drag queen, and how she got her start in the entertainment industry. She also talks about how she went from being an aspiring drag queen to being a reality TV host, and what it's like being on RuPaul s Drag Race.
Transcript
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If you're not weird and creepy, like, you have no intensity to draw on to be interesting on camera.
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Exactly, that's my point. I'm like, you would be shocked.
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Like, I was like, the way some of y'all would be shocked to meet famous people and see how normal and weird they are.
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Like, any award shows, like, and all those party girls.
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Especially when you see them in, like, casual settings.
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If I sent this to Dumois, she would have a field day.
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Hey, everyone, and welcome back to another episode of the Comment Section Show.
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Sorry, me, your fave, everybody knows me, who cares about me.
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Today, we have the iconic, the legendary, the wonderful, the amazing, Sasha Velour.
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I am so honored every time I have one of my fave drag queens on the show.
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I think I'm going to say red because I'm thinking of your iconic, so emotional Whitney Houston
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I work year-round, but it gets really intense in June.
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Well, this is, I guess, the choice I made today.
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And you just finished filming your season of We're Here.
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I joined the cast before it was Bob, Shangela, and Eureka.
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And they brought in four new queens, me, and Priyanka, and Jada Essence Hall, and Latrice Royale.
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They just put us in places where what we were doing was illegal.
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And we were corrupting the country and the youth.
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Which is kind of a fantasy because it's like you get tired of seeing it online and being
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Well, I know you're not this way, but I'm like, don't engage with the haters online.
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But I, you know, we all have that drive to like fight back and stand up for the truth.
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And past that too, it's like you never really get those opportunities in person because you
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Like you'll never see each other as far as like you're not going to hang out or like see
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In local spaces, like you're never going to run into each other.
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So it is truly a chance for you to be able to like speak your mind in a safer environment.
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We're there like mentoring drag kids who do have to see these people and share space and
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grow up in that area and like remind them that they do have the power to speak up to
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even people that they're going to see again and like in their community.
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Like you don't need to let that silence you, that fear.
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Or alter how you see yourself or what you choose to pursue in life.
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Because obviously I've told a lot of the queens too, that have come on the show too,
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like drag has been around forever, which we all know.
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Well, most of us know, but for some people it's like brand new, like it's just something
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they just saw because now because of RuPaul's Drag Race, it's been so like mainstream, which
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is a beautiful thing because more eyes on it means more understanding, but it also means
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So how has that been for you as far as like drag becoming more mainstream lately, as far as
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like how you operate in the industry, seeing new up and coming people who want to be in
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You know, but every time there's new people welcomed in, it's like it forces all of us
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And the more people know about drag, just the more love there is.
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I feel like people's excitement in drag helps them, around drag helps them like be cool
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It's like, maybe it starts with just, oh, that's so entertaining.
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But then, you know, we're queer looking people and yet we have to get used to seeing us in
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the world because we're, to quote the show, we're here.
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In my show that I've been touring, because I wrote a book about the history of drag called
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And I've been doing this show about it and I play footage of these like World War II drag
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shows that they would do on US Army bases that they consider like the height of patriotism,
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And we need to show them like to get attention, you need to do something to deserve it.
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Something fabulous, something memorable and iconic.
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Why don't you catch up to me slowly at the top?
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I think too, I would love to, if we will backtrack a little how you got into drag and like what
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drew you to it in the first place, like why that specific art form and then like how
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It's a little cringy, but the Stonewall Riots got me into being a drag artist.
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No, I'm not that old, but I was doing my good like coming out research and learning about
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Now everyone's like, you know, a drag queen started the Stonewall Riots.
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I didn't know there was anyone other than like white gay men there because that's how
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kind of how it had always been presented and discovering that it was like, it was trans
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So I was reading like Sylvia Rivera's story about it and realizing, okay, drag's like
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not just about dressing up and feeling your fantasy, although it definitely is that.
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It's also being really loud for the community and like activism is about taking big risks
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Put them together and you've got something gorgeous.
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And then, then I learned Sylvia Rivera and Marsha B. Johnson maybe weren't even at Stonewall.
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Because they wanted to like preserve the right legacy about it because it had been co-opted
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And so I'm like, that's like, that inspires me about drag.
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Like it doesn't have to be a hundred percent true.
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The messaging was real and always has been real.
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And it's also very important, I feel like, to continue the legacy regardless of who's
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carrying the torch as long as it's being carried, which I think is a beautiful thing too.
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Just be like, as long as you tell the story, like just tell the fucking story.
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So when was your first time like ever really trying drag that you can remember?
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So first time I went out in drag was in my hometown of central Illinois, a town called Champaign
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And I like, I had a fake ID and I went to the club.
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Thankfully I didn't match the ID anyways because I painted so ferociously and I was really nervous
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and I went up to the drag queen host and was like, I went in full drag and then was like,
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She was like, well, it's not happening tonight because we have a whole plan.
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But then I went back like a week later for their open drag night and entered the competition
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and I got second place and I got a booking out of it.
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My first paid booking of $25, which actually covered what I had spent on the outfit because
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Doing drag for 10 years, you become a legend whether you like it or not.
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I'm very honest and very mean to my drag friends.
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I actually think scraping off my face like every night and then painting it back on.
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They say Marilyn Monroe like shaved her entire face as like an exfoliating thing.
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Did you like go to college in New York or did you just go straight into working?
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And then I went to a art school program because I was like, I'm not like a theater comedy music
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I was like, I want to sit in a dark room and just like draw pretty things.
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But in rural Vermont where I was in art school, I started like walking around in drag and
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hosting like drag race viewing parties for all the people in town.
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Was it easier once you got over there, obviously, in like New York, Vermont area?
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And it was like the fresh start of having no family, no connections.
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So you came up in New York first and then that's when you auditioned for Drag Race.
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So I'm glad I did not get any callbacks for that one.
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And then season nine, I had like been running this show for a while.
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I auditioned with my iconic Gollum snatch game that then I wasn't allowed to use because
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Bianca was like, I was like, I've heard it's kind of like American Ninja Warrior, but you
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Sew and sing and entertain and tell jokes and all of that.
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You just go back to your hotel room and spiral looking in the mirror.
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I told her, I was like, I've had a lot of losers on the show, so maybe that's why they
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They had to win all stars in order for it to be fun.
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I think it's less fun the second time, I imagine.
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She was like, because everyone's rich and famous and like has a lot more at stake.
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I was absolutely no one with garbage drag, as everyone who's watched season nine knows.
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And so how has it been now that you're like, now that you won Drag Race and you are Sasha
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Valor, like, how was the transition into like just entertainment as a whole?
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Was it like easier than just doing like, you know, the shows in drag or was it a little
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I feel like I'm staying in, I've just really stayed in like my own lane.
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Like, I'm interested in doing the things I'm interested in.
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And getting a tour all over the world with them.
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If there's a TV project that's like really exciting to me, like we're here.
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I was literally like banging on their door asking to be included.
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Um, and I, I don't know if I've figured it out what I'm doing yet.
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The beautiful thing about it is that because drag is so popular now in like mainstream entertainment
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culture, it's made it a very viable possibility for people to like make money off of it.
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Cause for the longest time it was just like, this is something I just love to do and I don't
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Like you'll make money here and there, but it wouldn't be like the full blown career
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could be now, which I think is really fucking cool that like so many of you can, are so
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beloved now by people outside of the community that we can like see you as entertainers now,
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Um, I wish we would learn how to like run businesses now cause that's surprisingly required.
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Um, just like my first year I was like, I'm making money.
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I'm going to buy costumes and then it just sort of all balanced out.
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How has the, um, reaction been like, or how was the reaction like from your like close friends
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Like when you were first in drag versus like now you do this for a living.
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Was it like, um, positive or, uh, you don't have to talk about it if you don't have to.
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Um, I'm so glad I'm lucky to have like, my grandma was always like dressing me up in
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So it's honestly like her spirit is looking down on me being like more, more, more sequins.
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Um, my mom passed away before I like really got into drag.
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She saw the very beginnings of it and she was like very nervous about everything.
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So often I'm like, I'm glad she, sometimes I'm glad she wasn't like here to watch all
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that cause she'd be so nervous that that would like freak me out.
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Um, but my, my dad just is like blissfully into it, which I love.
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And then my drag friends, I've like my closest drag friends who got me started in New York.
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Like when I got my TV show produced about my drag show nightgowns, like they were the
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And actually Sasha Colby and I go back to that.
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My fucking girl TV, but, um, Quibi short lived.
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Oh, the reason I was asking is because like, I was curious, like on we're here, obviously
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no spoilers, but how was it like mentoring young kids who are looking into drag or they really
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And they're just feeling a little unsure or afraid, which is natural given the climate.
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Like I've always said, I don't want drag children.
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That's why I was like, I'm still figuring this out.
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Like we can be siblings and figuring out together.
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But then I was like, actually, that's like, that's kind of good parenting too.
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We're just, I'm going to support you to find your own way.
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Like, I'm not going to tell you how to do it my way.
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Cause that's probably, you're probably going to hate that if I do that.
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Um, and everyone really did come in with their own sense of what their drag would be
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And then also, you know, not just that I had to, did have to teach them how to like
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But I think that's a beautiful thing that you were able to, even, even like, I think
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openness and vulnerability, like by itself is inspirational to young people who are coming
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But you being just honest about like, this is what I'm doing, but I'd love to help you
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You don't have to have all the answers to inspire kids.
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To like encourage, making people feel like safe enough to take big risks.
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And now that you've been doing this for a while now, like, how has social media been
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I'm always like, is it like the welcome package they typically give you, which is just like
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But even sometimes even from people who you're like, you should be supporting queer people.
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That's the same thing with me when I have women who hate on me.
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I got your back, but you don't have mine, apparently.
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It's always like, that's the only kind of hate I've told people is that actually kind
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And then you, like, you want to, I, or at least I always want to, like, take it serious
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and be like, oh, gosh, do I, do I need to consider this note?
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That's the only kind of hate that I actually sit with if it's valid, if it's not based
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But even criticism about, like, your looks and stuff, you're, like, the looks you serve,
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It's when I don't love how I looked, but I'm like, you're right.
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I got a comment the other day on one of my videos, and it was from a person that loves
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And they were like, yeah, I don't know if she used to do lashes different or something.
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And I was like, first of all, deleted that comment.
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But I was like, she hit me because she's right.
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But that's why I was like, still, you don't need to be.
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We like to be gassed up even when it's not totally there.
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Sometimes when I'm promoting stuff I'm doing, I'm like, and if you don't like it, don't tell me.
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But this is actually a perfect transition into our topic because we're talking about terrible
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men online who hate musicals and think theater and actors are, like, too much, which you
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So, like, you said you weren't really a theater girl, but now you're doing a show.
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Well, I've always been too much, so in my own ways.
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So, yeah, I just, like, I love putting on a drag show.
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Love, like, seeing the audience live in front of me.
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For me, it's, like, so much more fun than filming a TV show.
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I can't even imagine, especially with your iconic, like, so emotional lip sync.
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I try to, like, my challenge is to always deliver on stage, like, period, 10 times better
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Like, because I know they come knowing that reveal.
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I'm like, oh, you thought I could, all I could do is take off gloves and a wig?
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Let me show you what I've got, I don't know, in my tights, or, no, not that.
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How did that, how did you come up with that, the petals in each glove and then in the wig?
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Like, was that just an idea you had, or you were, like, oh, T?
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And I was, like, oh, like, this should be a he loves me, he loves me not moment.
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That then just, like, escalates, because she's really going off in that song.
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So whenever I come up with a performance, but my thing is I kind of, like, overcompensate
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for not being a good dancer, and so I come up with these little, like, gestures and use
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Like, I love to think of kooky things, like the gloves and the wigs and the projections.
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And then I can just, like, you know, step, step, step, and it's still exciting.
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The audience deserves that, so I'll use whatever I have.
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Like, did you write it yourself, or did you have, like, friends that you wrote it with?
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I've done two solo shows that I've traveled the world that I've written myself, like,
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My really close collaborator, Diego Montoya, who makes, like, he won an Emmy after working
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And he just, like, creates these sculptures, and we, like, kind of feed off of each other,
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So, and then I try to maintain those costumes for, like, a year as I'm sweating.
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Yeah, I'm going to wear this bitch till the wheels fall off.
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But I'm about to do this new show headed for Broadway, hopefully.
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We're premiering at La Jolla Playhouse, which is, like, the pre-Broadway place in the world.
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And that's co-written with Moises Kaufman, who wrote The Laramie Project, which is, like,
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one of the most important works of queer theater in history.
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I've always been scared to death of auditioning.
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And then when I'm behind the table, I was like, oh, I had nothing to be scared of because
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on this side of the table, we just want each person to succeed.
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Like, we have a problem and we are hoping that you're the solution for it.
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That's actually a really good way of looking at it.
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I've only done a couple auditions, but they were, like, self-tape auditions.
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Even when I did the last one I did, which I can't say what it's for because I don't
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I had to, like, read lines, but I was convinced I could do it myself.
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I could just, like, record the other line on the voice note and, like, time it.
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But then I was like, then it's too mechanical and I'm not doing it organically.
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So then I had to ask my boyfriend to help read with me, but then he had to watch me and
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Close your eyes or something when you're watching it.
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I was like, something about that is just making, it makes me so nervous.
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I could do something in front of thousands of people, but it's like, doing little auditions
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So I guess the thing, lesson I've learned is, like, they really want you to succeed.
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Like, if I get one in the future, I hope that helps me because I get super nervy in those.
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Especially, it doesn't help that the very first audition I ever did, they made me sing.
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And I, even though I told them I couldn't sing, I, I, I very explicitly said I couldn't
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I was like, are you guys going to put this on Reddit?
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I honestly sang, oh fuck, what song did I sing?
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I sang the song Songbird, but I did the version that Naya Rivera did on Glee, which like,
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first of all, shooting for the fucking moon, bitch.
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Why, why did I pick a hard song sang by a really talented singer?
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Like, I don't know why that one, if I had to guess, I was just thinking, maybe because
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I actually did do that to someone in the audition.
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They asked me for a minute acapella, and I was like, um, okay, yeah, do my best.
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I think they got it, and they were like, oh my god, she actually sent it.
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She actually fucking did it, and they blocked me.
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I think they were just razzing me, to be honest.
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Okay, so the topic for the guest, which is men who hate musicals, which I think, I love
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So, when people don't like it, I'm always like, you're so boring.
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It's so silly, but I'm like, but everyone in there is talented.
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Okay, so this first video that applies to our topic, it says, in this video, a trans woman
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is telling a story of how she got a request to audition for a musical that was looking
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At the audition, she says she asked the casting directors if she could change keys because
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she's a tenor and the songs were written for soprano.
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They refused and said they wouldn't change any of the music.
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And she was really disappointed that a show specifically looking for trans actors wouldn't let her
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But I also think it's strange if you don't adjust keys for, you know what I'm saying?
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And also, the audition process, like, when you come in person to audition, there's, like,
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So they know what you look like, what you sound like.
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And then they bring you in and then you do it again and then you do another one and then
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I feel like specifically casting trans people, like, you know the voice part of it all is
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No, you're not going to have sensitivity around that.
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Like, when you're explicitly looking to cast trans and non-binary people.
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And, like, why wouldn't you be more amenable to that?
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Like, this one says, some trans men can reach those notes.
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They wrote those songs already and they don't want to rewrite all the harmonies.
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Well, if it's a role for a woman, a trans man's not going to want to play that.
00:28:12.040
I'm like, so you're being hateful for no fucking reason.
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I think if you can't rewrite it, at least not the few lines you have her sing, maybe
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You know, sometimes people are like, can you change the key?
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I mean, I'm not tone deaf, which is what I told the people I auditioned for, by the
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They said, based off that video you sent us, I would disagree.
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I'm like, I'm not tone deaf, but I, I like, I wouldn't say I'm a singer by no means.
00:29:02.240
There's a reason why I gained a platform from being funny.
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If I'm being honest, I think I would be too powerful if I could sing.
00:29:14.100
They were like, if I give you the ability to sing, who knows what you'll do?
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I feel like comedians make the best, like singers and actors.
00:29:23.860
The knowledge of like how fucked up people are, which is like what you draw on to make
00:29:40.480
I hate when like people act like the text of a show is like so sacred.
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Like I, but maybe that's because like, I love to completely change the meanings of songs
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The track of a really famous work of music just to serve my performance.
00:30:04.080
And how are you going to perform like a musical from the like 1930s or 40s and not update the
00:30:12.260
And if you're going to do it with all trans people and then it's like Oklahoma, no changes.
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It makes, it's, it's, it feels like almost petty because it's like, you just are refusing
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Like there's no, there's no valid reason why you wouldn't want to make those kinds of changes.
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And this next one says there are trans women that have soprano voices.
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You're already asking for trans women who can sing or, and are willing to be on stage
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You start ruling people out because you're just too lazy to change the key.
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I'm, I doubt you're going to have many left after that.
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And it's like, you know, let's cancel this production.
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I'm not usually like that, but there's no point.
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I feel like if they're requiring people to be as, as like cisgender as possible, like you're
00:31:21.500
And then you're just exploiting trans people at that point.
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You're not even like, not even really creating an environment for them where they can feel
00:31:33.260
This next video, this says the title text over this TikTok says, does anyone feel like
00:31:40.200
And the person says they've been trying to watch sitcoms, but all of the acting is bad,
00:31:46.620
And then this first comment says, I think you're also just aware that they're cringe theater
00:31:51.500
Who do you think was in movies and shit before?
00:31:57.680
You know, what's so funny is like me doing this now.
00:32:00.300
I'm like most like really, and you know, this really, really famous people like, like
00:32:14.260
Like if you're not weird and creepy, like you have no intensity to draw on to be interesting.
00:32:22.600
Like I was like the way some of y'all would be shocked to meet famous people and see how
00:32:28.740
Like in a casual setting, like any award shows, like, and all those girl awkward, the freaks
00:32:38.520
The amount of people I've met where I'm like, are you good?
00:32:46.340
Like sometimes I leave interactions and I'm like, that was weird.
00:32:56.000
I sometimes start overthinking it, especially when you see them in like casual settings,
00:33:00.260
like in the most casual setting, like a house party or like an intimate dinner.
00:33:04.940
And you see them talking and you're like, damn, if anyone, if I sent this to Dumois, she
00:33:13.760
Now offline, we're going to have to have some conversations.
00:33:16.960
I was like, if I sent this to TNT, you guys would be shocked.
00:33:22.540
And they're, they are very like, like you said, awkward.
00:33:26.380
They like the social aspect of being able to converse.
00:33:34.460
I feel like, I feel like acting for a sitcom especially should be a little like cringy over
00:33:44.700
Even if you watch like old, old sitcoms, like, like the Brady Bunch or like the Wonder
00:33:53.580
Like, I feel like there's more subtlety, more nuance now, but I don't know.
00:34:06.840
Like in Friends, for example, I'm like, okay, those two women, one of them was unemployed
00:34:11.960
and one was a fucking line cook and they were living in a two bedroom fucking fully furnished
00:34:23.560
No conversations about like taxes or grocery shopping.
00:34:34.580
Also, I saw that TikTok and they were bashing ghosts, which is my favorite sitcom right
00:34:40.860
It's like where this couple inherits a mansion in upstate New York that has like all these
00:34:47.620
ghosts living there and then she hits her head and can see all of them and communicate
00:34:51.260
And they are very over the top characters from all different time periods.
00:34:56.160
Like every week when it drops, I'm like, must watch immediately.
00:35:06.700
Have you ever watched The Summer I Turn Pretty?
00:35:10.000
It's super like young, like teen rom-com type deal.
00:35:17.060
Every time it comes out, I'm like, oh, I'm locked in.
00:35:28.760
Sometimes when I see people talk shit on like silly little rom-coms or whatever, like even
00:35:34.200
the one that Anne Hathaway was just in, what was it called?
00:35:41.960
And I love a cheesy rom-com and I love Anne Hathaway.
00:35:46.060
I just wasn't really vibing with the writing, but like it was too, that was a little too
00:35:52.620
That stuff is like, you want that on an airplane?
00:35:58.100
I was like, I thoroughly enjoyed myself watching it, even though I didn't enjoy it that much.
00:36:22.160
I'm like, some of you guys are so fucking boring.
00:36:26.440
What is an example of good acting in their mind?
00:36:29.880
Also, how exhausting to watch something so serious and like traumatizing all the time.
00:36:41.140
Where like everything's really subtle and it's like the eyebrows raised for every line.
00:36:49.980
And it's meant to be like subtle, but it's not.
00:36:53.300
You're like, do you know real people are crazy?
00:37:00.240
That's why I said it takes a little weirdo to be able to act properly and like a normal person.
00:37:08.040
This next one says, nobody takes themselves seriously anymore.
00:37:20.540
Most comments when I like try to talk about political things, which are important to me,
00:37:24.040
I was like, yeah, you need to take yourself less seriously.
00:37:28.840
Like I am wearing four pairs of tights and clown makeup right now.
00:37:37.620
There's not a lot of serious going on in my life all the time.
00:37:40.780
Um, uh, this one says they're just unoriginal and it's like they're acting a part that already
00:37:50.440
Like if the writing's bad, that's not their fault.
00:37:52.940
And you know what's funny is that Anne Hathaway movie, I remember seeing something that someone
00:37:57.120
had asked her like, oh, like, are you, you know, planning on doing a sequel to this
00:38:06.260
And I said, I hope you got a big fat bag off that movie and you left, girl.
00:38:10.920
Like you just made like seven mil off that shit and just walked away.
00:38:20.960
Even like Meryl Streep has done some like silly rom-coms too.
00:38:27.460
And honestly, sometimes maybe they just want to fuck around.
00:38:31.040
Maybe sometimes they're like, okay, well, I did all this serious shit.
00:38:34.800
I'm going to do a silly little rom-com where I fall in love with a 24 year old.
00:38:45.500
I was like, you got to have at least one, like one little fuck off movie.
00:38:54.580
It's like, it's just like Joey King when she's in the kissing booth, but then she was also in
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00:40:04.080
That sounds like she could do, but could any of you do the kissing?
00:40:13.900
Joey King could do fences, but he couldn't do the kissing booth.
00:40:32.880
I feel like people, like you said, they either take themselves way too seriously or not serious
00:40:38.540
I feel like also, too, this kind of energy gives me, like, someone who just likes to
00:40:44.860
So they're kind of like, well, I don't like it.
00:40:47.100
It's just not my, like, okay, well, you're not going to win a fucking medal because you
00:41:02.720
It's the same exact thing as, like, people who say, like, oh, people who are obsessed
00:41:07.740
I'm like, okay, but you're obsessed with her in a different way.
00:41:12.780
Like, and honestly, I feel like someone who is, I feel like comfortable and confident in
00:41:19.180
who they are can acknowledge when people have talent.
00:41:22.560
Even if it's not something that you particularly enjoy.
00:41:25.860
Like, you don't need to hate and talk shit on it just because you personally don't like
00:41:30.660
Like, you know what I do when I don't like art?
00:41:34.680
Like, if it's just not my vibe, I'm like, eh, that's not really my vibe.
00:41:37.280
I still consume it because I'm a masochist about it.
00:41:44.340
But even then, I'm like, I've even, I was just talking to someone about this the other
00:41:47.060
day, but I was talking about how, like, there's a lot of power and autonomy in admitting when
00:41:52.600
Like, you're like, okay, I need to be a hater for, like, just a second.
00:41:55.420
I want to talk mad shit on this person who's never done anything to me, but they just,
00:42:00.220
And sometimes when you talk it and talk about it out loud and admit it, then you realize
00:42:11.100
Like, we can criticize TV shows for being badly written and having unoriginal characters.
00:42:15.620
But I think when it's just too general, it lacks the juiciness of a good read.
00:42:25.540
At least I'm admitting it when I'm being a hater.
00:42:27.300
I'm like, I have no valid reason to feel this way.
00:42:30.120
And then once you talk through it, you're like, that sounds kind of awful.
00:42:33.580
And then you recognize that that's alone with your friend's thoughts.
00:42:39.620
I will say, though, sometimes when I do watch things, I think to the point of, like, oh, they're
00:42:44.000
just playing characters they've seen before, I do think a lot of acting is drag.
00:42:47.760
And they're, like, portraying ideas of being a woman.
00:42:53.820
Like, when I go see a play, I see, because, you know, a lot of the actors are gay.
00:42:59.740
I'm like, it's a bunch of drag kings in front of me.
00:43:22.000
Yeah, a cowboy, like, giving Clint Eastwood, like, just the most manly person they can think
00:43:29.660
And that's, actually, you know what, that's so true what you said, too, because that's
00:43:33.160
also the same way they write women or, like, feminism.
00:43:37.180
Like, even in that fucking Anne Hathaway movie where you're just constantly doing PR for
00:43:40.480
it, they, like, there's, like, a part where she's, like.
00:43:44.620
There's, like, a part where the daughter's, like, telling her, like, oh, you know, and
00:43:49.960
And, like, not once have they talked about feminism the entire fucking movie.
00:43:55.920
You're kind of, like, as an audience person, you're like, when did he say he was a feminist?
00:43:59.660
And she goes, you don't want to be with a guy who's a feminist?
00:44:10.140
Where you're, like, real life people don't talk that way.
00:44:29.940
A lot of times it's, like, if it is writing, too, I always factor that in.
00:44:37.900
Because you can only work with what you have sometimes.
00:44:41.100
And, again, sometimes I think people are just, they're there for a check.
00:44:55.260
Well, when it comes to casting for your show, like, how was that process for you?
00:44:59.000
Other than just getting new perspective as someone who has auditioned before.
00:45:10.600
But I'm not going to be the only drag performer in the show, which is so important to me.
00:45:20.460
And I felt like, okay, I've learned more about this performer from seeing them put together
00:45:24.060
their own, like, three-minute number than you can get from a scene or even a song.
00:45:29.360
Because you get, like, their personality, their creativity.
00:45:32.000
And I think, you know, I'm always doing PR for drag itself.
00:45:40.400
And then we basically had them do a quick drag challenge, like, on Drag Race.
00:45:46.940
It was, like, get into some level of drag in, like, three minutes.
00:45:50.700
Because, like, we want to see what you look like out of drag.
00:45:54.840
And the moments as they were, like, in the corner digging in their bag, like, putting on
00:46:06.560
Someone had us put on Sade, Smooth Operator, and then, like, was turning around and doing
00:46:14.280
It was, like, actually the most brilliant thing I've ever seen.
00:46:18.040
And then you get, like you said, you get to be so creative.
00:46:22.320
And, like, you don't have to be any one type of queen or anything.
00:46:26.200
You can be all of it and then some, depending on what you like.
00:46:30.760
And was it, like, it feels like maybe it was, like, a rewarding process for you, too, because
00:46:36.680
And now you get to, like, kind of give that opportunity, like, of a lifetime to other people.
00:46:40.640
It's hard because it's, like, I just want to cast everyone.
00:46:48.660
And I got to, like, be an advocate for this thing that I love.
00:46:52.420
And, you know, tell people what is not to over.
00:46:54.960
I think I got to be a voice telling people not to overlook.
00:46:58.180
Certain kinds of art just because they aren't maybe what they've seen before.
00:47:02.200
Or familiar with it as intimately as other people are.
00:47:05.820
And, you know, I admire that about you, especially you.
00:47:08.640
I know you made a joke about doing drag, like, PR.
00:47:11.280
But I think that's a beautiful thing because a lot of times the only way the door is open
00:47:15.640
is if we build it ourselves and open it and walk through it and hold it open on the other side.
00:47:20.920
So I think the fact that you're continuing to do that, even though you absolutely don't need to anymore,
00:47:26.160
because at this point you are Sasha Velour, so you could just be a famous drag queen
00:47:29.360
and just live your merry life and be a success and be fabulous, which you are doing.
00:47:33.620
But in addition to that, you're also offering more opportunity for other queens that are coming.
00:47:38.560
I feel like I'd be a total hypocrite if I didn't do that.
00:47:41.120
And it's like, I would be lonely because I love doing drag, like, with other people who inspire me.
00:47:46.520
But you're creating these new mediums, these new forms, like, you know, on Broadway and everything.
00:47:52.260
Drag has been in fucking Broadway forever, first of all.
00:47:55.040
But they've never let a drag queen write her own show before.
00:47:59.480
Yeah, like, written for, it's like, by us and for us kind of thing.
00:48:03.720
And I was, my gag, I'm still waiting for my free tickets because there's two shows on Broadway doing a rose petal reveal right now.
00:48:12.160
And they haven't reached out to give me free tickets.
00:48:14.180
So Spamalot and Titanic, I'm waiting for my PR invite.
00:48:23.480
But it feels like that's just, that's opening the door for me.
00:48:26.900
To actually, like, put the art of drag in its full form.
00:48:31.880
So that someone else can come and do it better.
00:48:40.760
And also, we deserve to exist, like, every marginalized person deserves to exist in every form of media.
00:48:47.820
And it's, like, the only way you achieve, like, acceptance is by exposure a lot of times.
00:48:53.180
So the more people see it, the more people, like, normalize it, even though it's been normal forever, just not to most people.
00:49:07.220
Like, you're tired of the same old characters being on TV?
00:49:10.380
Like, bring in people to the writer's room and the producing table who have not been represented before.
00:49:22.240
And to wrap this up, what would you say is your best piece of advice for whether they're looking into drag or maybe they're in the LGBTQIA plus community as a whole and want to be an entertainer?
00:49:33.700
What would you say is your best piece of advice for them coming up in the business?
00:49:42.040
Like, every time I've had success, it's because I did something I was, like, terrified to try and I thought I might fail at.
00:49:55.760
And just ignore everyone's advice except what's in here.
00:50:02.360
I think, too, like, if they don't have the life that you want, don't take advice from them.
00:50:08.800
And a lot of times people who don't have the life that you want offer it unsolicited anyways.
00:50:13.920
You can just ignore that because if they don't have it, you don't need to listen to their advice.
00:50:19.080
But I also think you felt called to it and you did it.
00:50:43.720
So my new show opens in August in San Diego, La Jolla, or in La Jolla, California, I guess.
00:50:54.720
We're Here is on HBO streaming Unmax season four.
00:50:58.740
There's a pretty intense reveal performance of mine at the very, very end that closes
00:51:03.700
So you got to watch the whole thing to get there and see all my drag daughters who know
00:51:17.580
And thank you all so much for joining us on this episode of the comment section.
00:51:21.140
Please make sure if you're not already, which I'm sure most of you are, follow Miss Sasha
00:51:28.940
It's going to be very, very incredible and moving and amazing.
00:51:37.680
Thank you so much for joining us on this episode of the comment section.
00:51:40.300
Don't forget new episodes drop every Wednesday.
00:51:42.740
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00:51:46.040
and for free on our favorite platform, Spotify.
00:51:48.440
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00:51:53.440
The way I fucking forget the name of that segment.
00:51:55.560
Old episodes will be uploaded on there, but don't yell at me anymore about this shit.
00:52:01.620
Thank you all for joining us and I'll see you next week.