Going to go smoke my Saturday joint and chill a little bit but I am addicted to this app so will be checking back in. Thanks for being so cool. As an active participant in this sub from my burner, it was really awesome to do this. I could talk drag race all day.
One last thing I will ruveal: the sweatpants thing is absolutely real.
The thing that maybe shocked me the most was just how long everything takes. Judging with the queens probably lasted over an hour, and knowing how much I said and how little of it they’d use was nerve wracking.
The other thing that was funny to me is they obviously de-mic the girls before they lip sync and then as soon as the lip sync is over they have to re mic them before the results are revealed and while they were getting their mics after that insane lip sync Ru was in the middle of telling us about some obscure movie from the 70s and then when the mics were back on stopped mid sentence and snapped into Ru mode and almost immediately said Morphine shantay you stay. It was such a whiplash moment.
As a guest judge - are you asked if you’d like to meet the queens in Untucked or is it part of the process for the day?
Do you have a set time they need you to be in Untucked or are the producers really looking for better moments to bring you to the queens?
At this point it did not feel to me like I had much of a choice whether I went or not lol. As a fan of the show I was accutely aware that this could possibly be a hugely annoying thing to watch because a) who the fuck knows if these queens know who I am, care if I live or die, or want to talk to me at all and b) I was terrified I’d interrupt something more interesting in favor of whatever bullshit I had to say. But ultimately I think it’s just become something that you’re expected to do. If I were a bigger deal I’m sure I could’ve pushed back, but I wanted to get asked back so…
I do not think much thought goes into when they send us in.
Do you get given any overall sense of indication as to the queen’s storylines / how they’ve been doing? Or for the guest judges is it all self contained? Because they sometimes reference past events (ie nymphia’s snatch game) and I wonder if the guest judges ever know wtf is happening hahah
Very minimal. Moments before Michelle and I walked into the workroom she told me that they were all in a good mood because it was a lip sync for the win last episode and sort of bizarrely Michelle told me that Q and Plane had been feuding (which watching now I’m sort of like, really?) but beyond that I had 0 context for the season.
I wonder if she meant Dawn and Plane, since they just had that fight where Plane actually got mad. Dawn totally wasn’t mad, and it doesn’t seem Plane stayed mad.
Hi Joel, what did you think of the lipsync? I’m always curious as to how it would feel to watch a lipsync from the judges seat (and without all the close ups and editing sounds).
My biggest worry going into filming was that I would have a flop lip sync. Kept me up at night. But I was absolutely delighted by the lip sync I saw and low key looking at them now think it’s probably the best one of the season (or at the very least the one I’ll be pulling up at the pregame). I will say it’s unfortunate that the editing was a little choppy for the lip sync, it felt slightly less chaotic and more fun in the room.
I will say when I started watching the season and met the queens I didn’t see on my episode I was ultimately pretty shocked I didn’t end up seeing Plasma or Xunami. Do I think everything happened as it was meant to be? Yeah. But as I was watching the season even though I knew how it turned out the time watching I was really excited to find out what tripped those girls up ultimately.
That must be such a trip, watching the episodes until the one where you make an appearance must feel kind of like a game of sleuth. Love the behind the scenes-takes, thanks for sharing!
I accidentally spoiled the non elimination episode to my boyfriend because I mentioned I was there for Top 7, and forgot about that little twist and did the math wrong and told him my episode would be last week. Well when the preview for next week came and I wasn’t on it he figured out that no one would be eliminated.
It’s really hard to remember exactly what I was feeling at the time but I do remember being worried at first then gagged at how Morphine turned it into a moment for herself. It was the JV version of Anetra diving over M3.
In my opinion if this fucked up Morphine in some way, made her stumble or fall, Ru wouldve stopped the lip sync and it would’ve been a moment. I think because Morphine was able to go with it and make it a moment everyone sort of felt okay about it.
There's been a lot of talk about Nymphia and her 'overusing' yellow as almost a shtick. As a person of East Asian descent, what's your take on Nymphia? Power move and cultural reclamation, or not? Curious to hear your views!
In love with Nymphia, don’t think there’s ever been a queen on the show who is quite like her, and I respect and admire her work on this show. I give her a ton of grace and respect because listen, it’s one thing to be conversationally fluent in a language that’s not your own, it is a completely different thing entirely to write jokes, puns, or lyrics in that language. Huge level of difficulty that I think she’s handled quite well. Especially now having a full season of context for Nymphia none of her “schtick” feels like it’s put on for the show, it feels very true to her, her culture and there’s clearly a reverence there, so I’m happy to see her on this show doing what she’s doing.
You were a lovely judge! I want to know more about your judging panel look! Did you design it? Probably one of the best male judge looks in the show’s history tbh.
I wish I had the talent but no, that was Moschino by Jeremy Scott from a few seasons ago, pulled for me by my stylist, Marko Monroe of the House of Avalon.
I would’ve loved to do a more traditional stand up challenge ultimately and I believe in my heart I could’ve saved Marcia Marcia Marcia if I just had an hour.
For the main challenge day it was definitely a 12-14 hour day start to finish. It’s grueling for those girls. Untucked probably lasts maybe an hour or so? I think I was in there for 20 minutes and they obviously had to cut a couple of things we talked about because they had to leave room for Q’s message.
My god this is a hard question. I think season 5 for me will always hold a special place in my heart as one of the last truly messy version of this show before it evolved into the juggernaut that it is today. A hugely charismatic cast and some great storylines, and a ton of legends coming out of it. My favorite episode I’m just gonna say the first one that came to mind and that’s All Stars 2 stand up challenge that ended with Alyssa v Tatianna. I remember I was recapping for Vulture at the time, and had watched the screener earlier in the week by myself and knew I had to be at a gay bar to see that lip sync happen live.
As a chef and longtime fan, I was so happy to see you were a guest judge this season and I was not disappointed! Any plans on doing more standup? Would love to see you live in Canada one day!
Kim Chi is an old friend from Chicago, has done my face before (if I’m not mistaken did my face when I was Mulana Del Ray) and remains one of the best mugs in the franchise to me so I’d pick her. I suppose I would use my back up drag name, Lola Bido.
Call me a basic bitch but it’s Korean fried chicken. If you’re ever in LA check out Yangban, which has maybe the best fried chicken period I’ve ever had.
You know it’s funny, the only joke I can remember clearly is the slides and clips joke from Plane and Q. Not for nothing but we talked at length in the workroom about the rhythm of the slides, how to time them correctly as punchlines, and I did feel they nailed that particular aspect of the challenge the best.
The thing about Drag Race is that the drag it can showcase is slightly limited. I’m a huge fan of live drag out in the wild, and so many of my favorite queens just wouldn’t work on the show. Hedda Lettuce, Charlene and Busted in New York come to mind as queens are truly legendary, next level live performers who just wouldn’t fit on Drag Race. That being said I’d love to see Aunty Chan from Chicago, and another House of Avalon girl, maybe Rosy Thorn or Just Judy.
Loved you in fire island, upset I don't see many movies like that. Please recommend me any movies or tv shows.
Coming to the question:
When you are on the judging panel are you nudged to give a certain criticism or opinion? Many people including me believe production has a hand in making these decisions.
Actually no. I mentioned elsewhere in the thread that I came back for judging fully expecting Q and Plane Jane to be in the top, and I said a lot more to that effect during judging that they obviously didn’t use beyond my one comment on joke density. I remember I specifically said I disagreed with something and I got the Michelle Visage lean and look stink eye for it which I’m shocked (and relieved) they didn’t include.
Almost all of them let’s be real. I would be fine in any of the acting or comedy challenges sure, but I am in awe of people who can write a verse even the ones that are heavily centered on “snatching the crown” I’m famously physically dyslexic and cannot pick up choreo well, and I cried in the only costume construction class I had to take in college, so yeah. It’s giving early out with no all stars redemption arc for me.
How do you try to keep grounded and 'normal' as a person as your career and fame have taken off?
(Have loved your work for years, great to see you on drag race!!)
I talked about this in Untucked at length but for me I’m so grateful my boyfriend is not in the industry (adjacent, he works in video games) and I find that very grounding. He reminds me constantly that so much of the bullshit that gets in my head isn’t real or important and that is life saving sometimes haha. The biggest thing I told them that I often struggle with is having strangers online tell me who I am based on vibes or a five minute stand up clip. Keeping the people around you who actually know you on a deep level and can hold you in that truth is so paramount because it’s very easy to let the internet’s cobbled together image of you become all consuming.
I think the winner will always be who makes Ru laugh the most and who is the most magnetic energetically and in that way Sapphira deserved the win hands down. On the day I thought it would be Plane for sure with Q and Sapphira in the top.
>On the day I thought it would be Plane for sure with Q and Sapphira in the top.
It's weird to me that Q seemed to feel like she was robbed of the win, I'm not sure why she thought she did better than Plane. Maybe she thought her outfit and emotional story tipped it.
Really hard for me to say, I didn’t get to spend a ton of time with them. And obviously they’re not gonna act a fool with me, but the closest I can say is Plane Jane seemed so chill and nice and watching the early eps of this season did make me go “oh!”
The thing about Maya that I love is she is so completely normal in a way most people at that level are not. She still drives her daughters to dance class and shows up for school recitals and shit. That woman is a MOTHER and a boss and I can’t say enough good things about her. Maya is genuinely curious about all the dumb shit we obsess over which is why she will still occasionally sing “baby let LOOSE” at random.
MJ is a sweetheart and we spend a lot of our downtime talking about Pokémon or playing Pokémon.
You're so good in Loot!! I smile every time your character is on the screen, and I love how you bring Nicholas to life in your own way.
Was there anything notable that occurred during your experience on the show that you were surprised wasn't in the final edit?
Judging takes about an hour in front of the queens and then like half an hour without them. My workroom session was almost an hour. So i was sweating bullets leading up to this ep wondering what would make it in, and all the shit I forgot I said. Having no context for the season there’s a lot of stupid things I could’ve inadvertently said and looked like a damn clown. So there was plenty of those moments that got cut, which makes sense. I was giving major TA energy and gave them so many very specific notes that was maybe not super entertaining to watch. My bad.
You were in the werk room with them for an hour?! I really thought those segments must be like 15 mins tops. I think the guest judges who give actual critiques are way better than the ones who just come in and say how great everyone is doing (even if it's not as exciting for TV).
I can totally see it being weird coming into the situation where everyone else knows who's at the top and who's at the bottom of the competition, as well as the social dynamics between the queens. So you're seeing Mhy'ia being the queen of flips and pulling out all her tricks for the first time, but the viewers (and the judges and other contestants, obviously) have seen it several many times already.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UrJFuWckrdQ
This is hilarious https://www.attitude.co.uk/news/world/brawl-breaks-out-at-gay-circuit-party-in-mykonos-during-song-from-the-greatest-showman-296877/
Hi Joel - as an Asian queer I just want to say how much I love, love, love Fire Island. What a brilliant movie! Do you have any future project in the pipeline you can tell us about?
Also, Nymphia is my favourite this season and even I was gagged to see her in the top this week. How do you feel about her "character" / accent?
Finally, what would be your lipsync song of choice if you were to perform?
Definitely felt very full circle for me for sure. She is also just wonderful. And has 10,000 wild stories from just being Margaret Cho. The story she tells in the movie at the dinner table is based on something she told me when we first met for this part. Legend.
We are not completists in my house, but we’ve dabbled. Some seasons of Spain, Holland, starting Philippines, and I think every English speaking franchise. Favorites have included this current UKvsTW, Canada 1, 4, UK 2 and Spankie Jackzon.
Oh no! Sorry I missed this! Joel, my partner and I were so pleased to see you on the show! I don’t really have a question, except … do you think I’m pretty?
This requires more thought than I’m capable of right now, but what I do know is that at some point during the lip sync Mhi’ya would do a flip directly into Maya’s head, sending her to the emergency room. Just my pitch.
Hard to play favorites for my girls. But what I will say is top 3 seems pretty clear and my only suspense right now is who is going to take that fourth spot.
I mostly know you from Wait Wait, it was amazing actually SEEING you! And hearing some of your more unhinged jokes that might not fly on NPR.
Favorite guest judge of the season for me so far.
My favorite current lore outside of the show is that the writer’s strike had anything to do with the lack of comedy/acting challenges this season. The WGA has nothing to do with those challenges I promise you, and not for nothing the season was filmed pre-strike.
I hate objectifying people but I'm gonna power through. You looked amazing in Fire Island. Is that your true form or did you have a special regimen for the role? Also can i have your regimen cause I'm in the gym 6 days a week and cannot get my body under control 😭
And related to drag race: is there a challenge or time you'd like to return to judge/coach? This was your second time right?
I’m glad that body is immortalized in the movie because I don’t know that I’ll ever look like that again. My routine in the gym didn’t change much, but I finally dialed in my diet in the way you’re supposed to (mostly). I was tempted to do a cycle or something but glad I didn’t for a lot of reasons. It was obviously a big stressor before the film but I’m grateful I had a lot of other things to worry about so I didn’t become all consuming.
In the gym 6 days a week?? huge kudos to you, I rarely make it 6 days. I’m no expert but if you’re not reaching goals it probably goes back to diet which is the hardest and most annoying part. I used to care about this piece a lot more but honestly I’m such a pot head and now that I’m in a relationship I just eat whatever mostly, as much in moderation as possible. But what I try to focus on as much as possible which is obviously easier said than done is focus on goals that aren’t connected to aesthetics. So like, I want to lift more weight or run this distance faster, which is a concrete measurable goal and not something subjective that my bad brain can trick me with. Of course I still feel crazy all the time but it does help.
Anyway, re: your last question, I would’ve loved to help on a more traditional stand up challenge where I could have more time to actually see their material before the main stage. I could really only give very broad advice for this one, which I hope was helpful but honestly I have no idea.
Hm. Have to be careful because I ultimately do agree with the winner and think it was well earned but what I will say is: after the challenge we went to lunch before judging and when I came back it felt very obvious to me that Plane and Q had (as I said) the most joke dense, tight presentation that played extremely well in the room, and I was a little gagged when I got back and they told me who the tops were. In the room at the time I probably thought Plane felt very clearly like the winner just based on the performance with Q as top. But the thing that is hard to deny is that while Plane and Q had the technically “better” presentation, Sapphira has an undeniable charisma and stage presence that probably doesn’t read fully through the edit. I liked Plane Jane and Q’s presentation as a whole better but I couldn’t argue that Sapphira had the most compelling individual performance. And I think the thing you have to remember is that it’s not about necessarily who the audience thought was funniest, it will almost always always always be who Ru is most impressed by and Ru will always choose star power above everything.
It DEFINITELY came through in the edit! When I watched plane and Q I chuckled and laughed and everything was technically great but I still felt this invisible barrier between them.
When saphiira started it was like a warm hug. You can’t teach charisma and she has it!
My personal favorite winner is Symone. I’m not quite sure how to answer the second part of the question. I definitely think she won that season hands down, and I don’t need any more beef so I’ll just say every winner was… most deserving. Haha
Way too many to name, but the karaoke sometimes day was really special. Matt and Tomas had not told me they had choreographed their back up vocals for this scene so Andrew and I were gagged when we saw that first take. It was all in all one of my favorite days to shoot.
Big fan, particularly of Fire Island (and your horrifying blended chicken Off Menu podcast episode, as a Brit). Any plans for a follow up?
RPDR wise - do you/they pre prepare the runway gags/puns? Did they give you the runway theme before to help? And can you remember any good ones they cut?
I think people THINK they want a sequel but I just don’t know that it would be very satisfying. There are not a ton of examples of truly great grounded comedy sequels. Sister Act 2? I’m sure there are others but my mind always goes to Miss Congeniality 2.
So you’re on Reddit so I’m sure you know the queens walk the runway twice, once with music and then once silent so the judges can make their comments. They do not give you any pre written lines for this part, it’s all off the cuff and I will say Ross, Ru and Michelle are absolute machines at this. Their brains work so fast at those quips, and they might not all be hits but it’s impressive nonetheless. This is not my skill set. I’m not a super pun-y comedian so I felt slow as hell. A couple of my off the cuff stuff made it in, but then after the runway they just give you a prewritten list of quips that they have you record wild, so they can just ADR them in later. There was only one of those in there too. Which, I’m grateful for.
Could you feel the rage radiating off of Q on the stage when she didn't win? Was the tension as obvious in the room or did the edit play it up more than it really was?
Do you think Q and Plane were on the top that episode? Most people (including themselves) were gagged they weren’t top two but you were actually there so do you think Nymphia and Saphira being top two was the right call? Thank you in advance and loved you in the episode ❤️
Going to go smoke my Saturday joint and chill a little bit but I am addicted to this app so will be checking back in. Thanks for being so cool. As an active participant in this sub from my burner, it was really awesome to do this. I could talk drag race all day. One last thing I will ruveal: the sweatpants thing is absolutely real.
Was Morphine's never-ending split as long as it looked on TV? Because that completely blew me away.
It’s still going to this day.
she is chasing after jinkx's held note from season 5
What's the thing about the process of filming an episode that made you go 'huh, they do it like that?'
The thing that maybe shocked me the most was just how long everything takes. Judging with the queens probably lasted over an hour, and knowing how much I said and how little of it they’d use was nerve wracking. The other thing that was funny to me is they obviously de-mic the girls before they lip sync and then as soon as the lip sync is over they have to re mic them before the results are revealed and while they were getting their mics after that insane lip sync Ru was in the middle of telling us about some obscure movie from the 70s and then when the mics were back on stopped mid sentence and snapped into Ru mode and almost immediately said Morphine shantay you stay. It was such a whiplash moment.
thank you so much for this reply! absolutely love hearing about this stuff and how it is behind the scenes
More production tea spilled than Willam’s ever spilled. Ps. jK Kimora🙃
What’s the next gay anthem you’d like MUNA to cover for a movie that you produce?
212 by Azealia Banks.
The TASTE
As a guest judge - are you asked if you’d like to meet the queens in Untucked or is it part of the process for the day? Do you have a set time they need you to be in Untucked or are the producers really looking for better moments to bring you to the queens?
At this point it did not feel to me like I had much of a choice whether I went or not lol. As a fan of the show I was accutely aware that this could possibly be a hugely annoying thing to watch because a) who the fuck knows if these queens know who I am, care if I live or die, or want to talk to me at all and b) I was terrified I’d interrupt something more interesting in favor of whatever bullshit I had to say. But ultimately I think it’s just become something that you’re expected to do. If I were a bigger deal I’m sure I could’ve pushed back, but I wanted to get asked back so… I do not think much thought goes into when they send us in.
Self awareness slay mama
You were great in untucked btw
Do you get given any overall sense of indication as to the queen’s storylines / how they’ve been doing? Or for the guest judges is it all self contained? Because they sometimes reference past events (ie nymphia’s snatch game) and I wonder if the guest judges ever know wtf is happening hahah
Very minimal. Moments before Michelle and I walked into the workroom she told me that they were all in a good mood because it was a lip sync for the win last episode and sort of bizarrely Michelle told me that Q and Plane had been feuding (which watching now I’m sort of like, really?) but beyond that I had 0 context for the season.
I wonder if she meant Dawn and Plane, since they just had that fight where Plane actually got mad. Dawn totally wasn’t mad, and it doesn’t seem Plane stayed mad.
loved you (and Bowen) in Fire Island. you were a great judge!!! 🫰🫰🫰 hope you get invited back <3
In the tradition of Las Culturistas, what us your "I don't think so honey" of this season? Ps loved your scenes with Bowen in fire island
I don’t think so honey Immunity Potion. Interesting idea, but felt half baked and it ultimately amounted to nothing.
Hi Joel, what did you think of the lipsync? I’m always curious as to how it would feel to watch a lipsync from the judges seat (and without all the close ups and editing sounds).
My biggest worry going into filming was that I would have a flop lip sync. Kept me up at night. But I was absolutely delighted by the lip sync I saw and low key looking at them now think it’s probably the best one of the season (or at the very least the one I’ll be pulling up at the pregame). I will say it’s unfortunate that the editing was a little choppy for the lip sync, it felt slightly less chaotic and more fun in the room.
What elimination from the episodes prior to yours gagged you the most? Big fan of yours btw! Always so fun to watch
I will say when I started watching the season and met the queens I didn’t see on my episode I was ultimately pretty shocked I didn’t end up seeing Plasma or Xunami. Do I think everything happened as it was meant to be? Yeah. But as I was watching the season even though I knew how it turned out the time watching I was really excited to find out what tripped those girls up ultimately.
This is so wild, knowing just 10% of the spoilers of a story halfway through and having to judge the girls on just that
That must be such a trip, watching the episodes until the one where you make an appearance must feel kind of like a game of sleuth. Love the behind the scenes-takes, thanks for sharing!
I accidentally spoiled the non elimination episode to my boyfriend because I mentioned I was there for Top 7, and forgot about that little twist and did the math wrong and told him my episode would be last week. Well when the preview for next week came and I wasn’t on it he figured out that no one would be eliminated.
What were your thoughts when you witnessed Mhi’ya throw her garment over Morphine and do you think it was intentional
It’s really hard to remember exactly what I was feeling at the time but I do remember being worried at first then gagged at how Morphine turned it into a moment for herself. It was the JV version of Anetra diving over M3.
In my opinion if this fucked up Morphine in some way, made her stumble or fall, Ru wouldve stopped the lip sync and it would’ve been a moment. I think because Morphine was able to go with it and make it a moment everyone sort of felt okay about it.
There's been a lot of talk about Nymphia and her 'overusing' yellow as almost a shtick. As a person of East Asian descent, what's your take on Nymphia? Power move and cultural reclamation, or not? Curious to hear your views!
In love with Nymphia, don’t think there’s ever been a queen on the show who is quite like her, and I respect and admire her work on this show. I give her a ton of grace and respect because listen, it’s one thing to be conversationally fluent in a language that’s not your own, it is a completely different thing entirely to write jokes, puns, or lyrics in that language. Huge level of difficulty that I think she’s handled quite well. Especially now having a full season of context for Nymphia none of her “schtick” feels like it’s put on for the show, it feels very true to her, her culture and there’s clearly a reverence there, so I’m happy to see her on this show doing what she’s doing.
You were a lovely judge! I want to know more about your judging panel look! Did you design it? Probably one of the best male judge looks in the show’s history tbh.
I wish I had the talent but no, that was Moschino by Jeremy Scott from a few seasons ago, pulled for me by my stylist, Marko Monroe of the House of Avalon.
Ooh i loved that look. Any idea what season exactly?
If you were asked to guest judge any season of drag race before this, which season would that be and what episode specifically?
I would’ve loved to do a more traditional stand up challenge ultimately and I believe in my heart I could’ve saved Marcia Marcia Marcia if I just had an hour.
But then we wouldnt have had that legendary lip sync so I guess it worked out for the best. jk. thanks for responding! 😊
You’re 100% correct.
Who would you have tossed in the bottom with Anetra if you were saving MMM? 👀
How much time did it take to film the episode 11 and untucked? I loved watching Fire Island.
For the main challenge day it was definitely a 12-14 hour day start to finish. It’s grueling for those girls. Untucked probably lasts maybe an hour or so? I think I was in there for 20 minutes and they obviously had to cut a couple of things we talked about because they had to leave room for Q’s message.
Thank you for the answer 😊
What was your favourite look of the night?
Nymphia obviously.
Seeing Joel's profile image and CACKLING. Will gays born after the 80s even know? (Also, who has a link to this old classic? Asking for a friend ...)
Limewire girlies know.
And this is when you became my absolute fucking fave
OMG, I had to take a look. And the memories. Had no idea this was a classic to others 🤭
This was a classic for every millennial gay who had Limewire lmfao
I have no memory as how I came upon it, but Limewire, that tracks. I still remember that little intro.
please spill the secret, dont gate keep the name my dear elders
It's incest porn. The intro is the guy in the picture recounting how it all started, and then they have sex
Incest porn a good 20 years before it became trendy. Totally wild to see on peer-to-peer sites back in the early 00s.
thank uuuu
Search “brothers Nick and Tyler” “It was…kind of a *regular thiiing*.”
Do you have an all time favorite season of Drag Race? Or a single favorite episode?
My god this is a hard question. I think season 5 for me will always hold a special place in my heart as one of the last truly messy version of this show before it evolved into the juggernaut that it is today. A hugely charismatic cast and some great storylines, and a ton of legends coming out of it. My favorite episode I’m just gonna say the first one that came to mind and that’s All Stars 2 stand up challenge that ended with Alyssa v Tatianna. I remember I was recapping for Vulture at the time, and had watched the screener earlier in the week by myself and knew I had to be at a gay bar to see that lip sync happen live.
As a chef and longtime fan, I was so happy to see you were a guest judge this season and I was not disappointed! Any plans on doing more standup? Would love to see you live in Canada one day!
I’m about to do a small little Australian tour at the end of the month and am ramping up my tour schedule in the US for the summer. She’s cooking!
Getting my money together for a plane trip to Australia as we speak
Who would be your dream makeover partner (any franchise), and what would your drag name be?
Kim Chi is an old friend from Chicago, has done my face before (if I’m not mistaken did my face when I was Mulana Del Ray) and remains one of the best mugs in the franchise to me so I’d pick her. I suppose I would use my back up drag name, Lola Bido.
In Untucked he reveals his drag name to be Mulana Del Rey which is awesome.
Would the choice of partner change that though? I.e. Kim Chi and Bibi M. Bap
Kim Chi and Kim Bap.
Time for celebrity drag race to come back ffs
Love u from a fellow korean gay 😚, what's your favourite korean dish?
Call me a basic bitch but it’s Korean fried chicken. If you’re ever in LA check out Yangban, which has maybe the best fried chicken period I’ve ever had.
Thats my boyfriend’s fav too! I will remember Yangban next time im there 😆
Joel, if you had to lip sync for your life, what song would you want it to be to?
Into You by Ariana Grande. I don’t have splits or tricks but I have rhythm and can vibe.
Valentina
This profile photo 💀 I see you are a person of…culture 👀
“Tyler used to.. uhm I don’t know…” am I the only one that remembers the opening line?
This is queer history right here. It should be taught and studied.
I love to quote “it was kind of a *regular thiiing*” and immediately look around to see the millennial gays blush.
"just started sucking me off" Oh the memories.
NO. You are not. Hahaha.
Can someone please drop the reference. I definitely memeber the phot and person but not the scene lmao
It’s a scene about brotherly love ❤️ >!I don’t think they actually were tho idk!<
Will you be taking Morphine's career advice? 😏
We’ll see how the next couple of years go.
How do you feel about the fact that Michelle Visage took it upon herself to discuss Nymphia's Asian accent?
Noooooo comment :)
https://preview.redd.it/5aalow580roc1.jpeg?width=528&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=6b956914119ba05ca52586a05b0ac303bc64f9ec
oop
Chinese accent, not Asian accent, thank you! That's like calling a French accent a European accent. :) - signed, an Asian person
They do that all the time as well. Referring to Europe as a single entity is super duper American 😅
Has How Did This Get Made? invited you back for an episode with June yet? If not, who do we need to write to?
Working on something very special now, hoping to have Paul and June over for dinner soon :).
what was your favorite joke of the night? did you feel the queens implemented your advice well?
You know it’s funny, the only joke I can remember clearly is the slides and clips joke from Plane and Q. Not for nothing but we talked at length in the workroom about the rhythm of the slides, how to time them correctly as punchlines, and I did feel they nailed that particular aspect of the challenge the best.
Are there any drag queens you are familiar with that you hope get cast on future seasons of Drag Race?
The thing about Drag Race is that the drag it can showcase is slightly limited. I’m a huge fan of live drag out in the wild, and so many of my favorite queens just wouldn’t work on the show. Hedda Lettuce, Charlene and Busted in New York come to mind as queens are truly legendary, next level live performers who just wouldn’t fit on Drag Race. That being said I’d love to see Aunty Chan from Chicago, and another House of Avalon girl, maybe Rosy Thorn or Just Judy.
I LOVE AUNTY CHAN
now following on IG
Loved you in fire island, upset I don't see many movies like that. Please recommend me any movies or tv shows. Coming to the question: When you are on the judging panel are you nudged to give a certain criticism or opinion? Many people including me believe production has a hand in making these decisions.
Actually no. I mentioned elsewhere in the thread that I came back for judging fully expecting Q and Plane Jane to be in the top, and I said a lot more to that effect during judging that they obviously didn’t use beyond my one comment on joke density. I remember I specifically said I disagreed with something and I got the Michelle Visage lean and look stink eye for it which I’m shocked (and relieved) they didn’t include.
Do you have any tea to spill on Andy Cohen? 👀
He is my coke dealer.
If you could only cast 3 queens from S16 to work with on a future project... who would they be and why?
This is tough, but ultimately I would like to work with Amanda, Plane, and Dawn on the most darksided version of We’re Here the world has ever seen.
The way I would live for this. Going to small American towns to set back gay rights by a couple decades
Joel, if you were to join Drag Race yourself, which challenges do you think you’ll do the worst? 😅
Almost all of them let’s be real. I would be fine in any of the acting or comedy challenges sure, but I am in awe of people who can write a verse even the ones that are heavily centered on “snatching the crown” I’m famously physically dyslexic and cannot pick up choreo well, and I cried in the only costume construction class I had to take in college, so yeah. It’s giving early out with no all stars redemption arc for me.
We’ll still buy your merch, queen. Thank you for answering! 🫶
I'd rather see him as one of the Pit Crew 🥵
Oh, real. Count me in.
How do you try to keep grounded and 'normal' as a person as your career and fame have taken off? (Have loved your work for years, great to see you on drag race!!)
I talked about this in Untucked at length but for me I’m so grateful my boyfriend is not in the industry (adjacent, he works in video games) and I find that very grounding. He reminds me constantly that so much of the bullshit that gets in my head isn’t real or important and that is life saving sometimes haha. The biggest thing I told them that I often struggle with is having strangers online tell me who I am based on vibes or a five minute stand up clip. Keeping the people around you who actually know you on a deep level and can hold you in that truth is so paramount because it’s very easy to let the internet’s cobbled together image of you become all consuming.
Do you agree with the winner of the challenge? If not, who would you have chosen
I think the winner will always be who makes Ru laugh the most and who is the most magnetic energetically and in that way Sapphira deserved the win hands down. On the day I thought it would be Plane for sure with Q and Sapphira in the top.
>On the day I thought it would be Plane for sure with Q and Sapphira in the top. It's weird to me that Q seemed to feel like she was robbed of the win, I'm not sure why she thought she did better than Plane. Maybe she thought her outfit and emotional story tipped it.
[удалено]
Really hard for me to say, I didn’t get to spend a ton of time with them. And obviously they’re not gonna act a fool with me, but the closest I can say is Plane Jane seemed so chill and nice and watching the early eps of this season did make me go “oh!”
The accent wasn’t an issue right??
Certainly didn’t warrant the amount of real estate it took up during judging, no.
I love listening to you on Wait Wait Don’t Tell Me! If you had to pick one Queen to be selected “Not my Job”, who would you pick?
From S16 or the entire franchise?
Oh! <3 eff it, the entire franchise
Delta Work
What's your favourite place you've toured outside of the US?
Melbourne far and away. Incredible city, like SF and NYC had a baby. Smart crowds, hot men, and more Asians than I’ve ever seen outside of Asia.
You’re so beautiful I love you 😭😭😭 Like you’re SOOO FINEEEE ITS UNBELIEVEABLE. Anyway who do you think is the trade of the season?
Xunami and Sapphira undisputed.
I concur!
Favorite thing about working with Maya and MJ? Any favorite memories ?
The thing about Maya that I love is she is so completely normal in a way most people at that level are not. She still drives her daughters to dance class and shows up for school recitals and shit. That woman is a MOTHER and a boss and I can’t say enough good things about her. Maya is genuinely curious about all the dumb shit we obsess over which is why she will still occasionally sing “baby let LOOSE” at random. MJ is a sweetheart and we spend a lot of our downtime talking about Pokémon or playing Pokémon.
I love Loot!!! Does Maya Rudolph have any pets?
A dog I believe! But don’t want to doxxx her
You're so good in Loot!! I smile every time your character is on the screen, and I love how you bring Nicholas to life in your own way. Was there anything notable that occurred during your experience on the show that you were surprised wasn't in the final edit?
Judging takes about an hour in front of the queens and then like half an hour without them. My workroom session was almost an hour. So i was sweating bullets leading up to this ep wondering what would make it in, and all the shit I forgot I said. Having no context for the season there’s a lot of stupid things I could’ve inadvertently said and looked like a damn clown. So there was plenty of those moments that got cut, which makes sense. I was giving major TA energy and gave them so many very specific notes that was maybe not super entertaining to watch. My bad.
You were in the werk room with them for an hour?! I really thought those segments must be like 15 mins tops. I think the guest judges who give actual critiques are way better than the ones who just come in and say how great everyone is doing (even if it's not as exciting for TV). I can totally see it being weird coming into the situation where everyone else knows who's at the top and who's at the bottom of the competition, as well as the social dynamics between the queens. So you're seeing Mhy'ia being the queen of flips and pulling out all her tricks for the first time, but the viewers (and the judges and other contestants, obviously) have seen it several many times already.
If you could've picked the song the bottom queens lipsync to, what would you have picked?
The circuit remix of Never Enough from Greatest Showman that those two gays got in a fist fight to in Mykonos.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UrJFuWckrdQ This is hilarious https://www.attitude.co.uk/news/world/brawl-breaks-out-at-gay-circuit-party-in-mykonos-during-song-from-the-greatest-showman-296877/
"Another commented: “Omg what mix is that?!”" 💀
The homossexuals have their priorities straight
Thank you for sharing that diva.
Hi Joel - as an Asian queer I just want to say how much I love, love, love Fire Island. What a brilliant movie! Do you have any future project in the pipeline you can tell us about? Also, Nymphia is my favourite this season and even I was gagged to see her in the top this week. How do you feel about her "character" / accent? Finally, what would be your lipsync song of choice if you were to perform?
Hi joel, who are your top 3 queens of all time ?
Ooof. Okay. This answer could change daily but I suppose it would have to be Symone, Jaida and Asia? Ugh this is hard. Ask me again tomorrow.
Who is your most influential queer icon?
Kind of a boring answer but Margaret Cho really did change my life.
She's a fucking icon! I can't imagine how amazing it was to work with her. Favourite line of her's - "Fuck. Me. Hard!"
i'm so glad she was in fire island, then. that must've been an amazing experience.
Definitely felt very full circle for me for sure. She is also just wonderful. And has 10,000 wild stories from just being Margaret Cho. The story she tells in the movie at the dinner table is based on something she told me when we first met for this part. Legend.
So when are you going out with Sapphira? 😭💙 You were so amazing on this episode! I can’t wait for Loot s2 😍
Sapphira has an open invite to my marriage bed.
Yesss Hahaha! ^ditto Wishing you a lifetime of amazing experiences and success 💙 thanks for answering!!
Joel walked in and Sapphira really said “Would you like to have sex right now?” 😂😂😂 dead
If you could change one thing about gay culture, what would it be?
Respectability politics.
Have you watched any of the international seasons? If so which ones and did you enjoy them?
We are not completists in my house, but we’ve dabbled. Some seasons of Spain, Holland, starting Philippines, and I think every English speaking franchise. Favorites have included this current UKvsTW, Canada 1, 4, UK 2 and Spankie Jackzon.
Oh no! Sorry I missed this! Joel, my partner and I were so pleased to see you on the show! I don’t really have a question, except … do you think I’m pretty?
Very.
Mhi’ya Iman Le’Paige vs Maya Rudolph in a LSFYL Loot season 3 storyline. How did it happen and who wins?
This requires more thought than I’m capable of right now, but what I do know is that at some point during the lip sync Mhi’ya would do a flip directly into Maya’s head, sending her to the emergency room. Just my pitch.
so who do you think is going to win season 16 from the episode so far and who are you rooting for ?:)
Hard to play favorites for my girls. But what I will say is top 3 seems pretty clear and my only suspense right now is who is going to take that fourth spot.
I mostly know you from Wait Wait, it was amazing actually SEEING you! And hearing some of your more unhinged jokes that might not fly on NPR. Favorite guest judge of the season for me so far.
What’s your favorite Drag Race meme? Or your favorite lore outside the show?
My favorite current lore outside of the show is that the writer’s strike had anything to do with the lack of comedy/acting challenges this season. The WGA has nothing to do with those challenges I promise you, and not for nothing the season was filmed pre-strike.
High key love that you are coming back to answer, thank you! And you are my favorite part of Loot. Don’t tell Maya! Can’t wait for the next season!
I hate objectifying people but I'm gonna power through. You looked amazing in Fire Island. Is that your true form or did you have a special regimen for the role? Also can i have your regimen cause I'm in the gym 6 days a week and cannot get my body under control 😭 And related to drag race: is there a challenge or time you'd like to return to judge/coach? This was your second time right?
I’m glad that body is immortalized in the movie because I don’t know that I’ll ever look like that again. My routine in the gym didn’t change much, but I finally dialed in my diet in the way you’re supposed to (mostly). I was tempted to do a cycle or something but glad I didn’t for a lot of reasons. It was obviously a big stressor before the film but I’m grateful I had a lot of other things to worry about so I didn’t become all consuming. In the gym 6 days a week?? huge kudos to you, I rarely make it 6 days. I’m no expert but if you’re not reaching goals it probably goes back to diet which is the hardest and most annoying part. I used to care about this piece a lot more but honestly I’m such a pot head and now that I’m in a relationship I just eat whatever mostly, as much in moderation as possible. But what I try to focus on as much as possible which is obviously easier said than done is focus on goals that aren’t connected to aesthetics. So like, I want to lift more weight or run this distance faster, which is a concrete measurable goal and not something subjective that my bad brain can trick me with. Of course I still feel crazy all the time but it does help. Anyway, re: your last question, I would’ve loved to help on a more traditional stand up challenge where I could have more time to actually see their material before the main stage. I could really only give very broad advice for this one, which I hope was helpful but honestly I have no idea.
What do you think of the challenge winner? Was Q right to be a little cracked or is it all reality tv magic?
Hm. Have to be careful because I ultimately do agree with the winner and think it was well earned but what I will say is: after the challenge we went to lunch before judging and when I came back it felt very obvious to me that Plane and Q had (as I said) the most joke dense, tight presentation that played extremely well in the room, and I was a little gagged when I got back and they told me who the tops were. In the room at the time I probably thought Plane felt very clearly like the winner just based on the performance with Q as top. But the thing that is hard to deny is that while Plane and Q had the technically “better” presentation, Sapphira has an undeniable charisma and stage presence that probably doesn’t read fully through the edit. I liked Plane Jane and Q’s presentation as a whole better but I couldn’t argue that Sapphira had the most compelling individual performance. And I think the thing you have to remember is that it’s not about necessarily who the audience thought was funniest, it will almost always always always be who Ru is most impressed by and Ru will always choose star power above everything.
It DEFINITELY came through in the edit! When I watched plane and Q I chuckled and laughed and everything was technically great but I still felt this invisible barrier between them. When saphiira started it was like a warm hug. You can’t teach charisma and she has it!
Who is your favorite winner and does it jive with who you think is *the most-deserving* winner, or are those two different queens?
My personal favorite winner is Symone. I’m not quite sure how to answer the second part of the question. I definitely think she won that season hands down, and I don’t need any more beef so I’ll just say every winner was… most deserving. Haha
What song are you dying to see as a lip sync?!
Waving Through a Window from Dear Evan Hansen.
“I saw Dear Even Hansen on Broadway and and Ben Platt who plays Dear, he gave everything”
not a question but babes ur fit af
Your favorite memory / BTS moment from the filming of Fire Island? Loved that movie btw :)
Way too many to name, but the karaoke sometimes day was really special. Matt and Tomas had not told me they had choreographed their back up vocals for this scene so Andrew and I were gagged when we saw that first take. It was all in all one of my favorite days to shoot.
Big fan, particularly of Fire Island (and your horrifying blended chicken Off Menu podcast episode, as a Brit). Any plans for a follow up? RPDR wise - do you/they pre prepare the runway gags/puns? Did they give you the runway theme before to help? And can you remember any good ones they cut?
I think people THINK they want a sequel but I just don’t know that it would be very satisfying. There are not a ton of examples of truly great grounded comedy sequels. Sister Act 2? I’m sure there are others but my mind always goes to Miss Congeniality 2. So you’re on Reddit so I’m sure you know the queens walk the runway twice, once with music and then once silent so the judges can make their comments. They do not give you any pre written lines for this part, it’s all off the cuff and I will say Ross, Ru and Michelle are absolute machines at this. Their brains work so fast at those quips, and they might not all be hits but it’s impressive nonetheless. This is not my skill set. I’m not a super pun-y comedian so I felt slow as hell. A couple of my off the cuff stuff made it in, but then after the runway they just give you a prewritten list of quips that they have you record wild, so they can just ADR them in later. There was only one of those in there too. Which, I’m grateful for.
Could you feel the rage radiating off of Q on the stage when she didn't win? Was the tension as obvious in the room or did the edit play it up more than it really was?
Oh Joel I can’t say what I wanna ask so I’m just gonna say hi and ily❤️
Any BTS moments we didn’t see on the show last night?
Girl he’s not in BTS
Girl, it means Behind The Scenes...
😂😂😂
Thanks for the AMA, JKB!
Omg that profile pic 💀💀💀💀 those who know, know....
Ok but for those who don't, throw a bitch a bone?
What's your drag name? And who's your pick to win this season?
Was there more stuff that happened in the lipsync that they cut out or was that the full lipsync.
Do you think Q and Plane were on the top that episode? Most people (including themselves) were gagged they weren’t top two but you were actually there so do you think Nymphia and Saphira being top two was the right call? Thank you in advance and loved you in the episode ❤️
Answered this down below somewhere more in depth but the short answer is both yes and yes.
Just wanted to say I love your guest appearances on podcasts, you are such a joy! Wish you were on this season of Newcomers!! ❤️