- [Mayhem] Y'all know him as Eugene, honey,
but you gonna get a taste of the one and only
Cheyenne Pepper!
(crowd cheers)
- [Man] Oh, this is cunt, bitch.
- [Cheyenne] I've never had hips like this.
( techno music playing)
- [Cheyenne] You host, you greet,
and then at some point around midnight,
you're gonna have the drag show.
- Then it's showtime.
- (techno music plays)
- [Mayhem Miller] How ya'll doing out there?
(crowd cheers)
- It's my birthdaaaaaaay!
( crowd applauding)
I always treat it like I'm the queen here,
it's my night, this is my domain, this is my queendom.
My drag daughters are gonna hit the stage tonight
and give you a fantastic show.
Because, honey, here in LA, we give you good drag.
And especially in my fucking family,
we give you the best.
Are ya'll ready?
( crowd cheers)
(pop music playing)
- [Cheyenne Pepper] Ah.
( painful laughter)
- If it hurts, it's working.
- That is my balls up here,
and then my dick is back here, at my butt.
- Cheyenne Pepper!
(crowd cheers)
(pounding sound)
- [Mayhem] You know, this is going to be
your first paid gig?
I hope you don't get too nervous.
- Alright.
- Knock, knock.
- Hi, mama.
(laughs)
- This is so small.
- I'm a small, dainty woman.
- I know, but how do you fit so many small, dainty women
here at the same time?
- I don't need big, grand things.
(laughs)
- Well, at least not to get dressed in.
(laughs)
- This one, the biggest difference
is that the eyes are more closed off.
- As long as it's not too high, high arch.
Just kind of more what it naturally would be,
but you can make it thick and really illustrate it.
- [Mayhem] You're gonna go up there.
First of all, it's going to be uncomfortable.
We have a catwalk.
Feel free to do whatever you want up there, know your words
look good, have a drink and just
say a little prayer and keep going and see how it goes.
(techno music plays)
- [ Cheyenne] On a busy week,
how often would you work?
- I normally work every night.
- [Cheyenne] Every night?
- [Mayhem] No matter what.
On Saturday's, I will pull a double
because I have a brunch show, here at Abbey.
After that's done, I fight traffic
back to Riverside, do my show there that night.
It's nonstop.
(techno music plays)
- For me, a typical night it starts during the day.
Soon as I get up, I have to pull music,
find out what I'm feeling that day.
Then I go to my storage, pull costumes, looks.
Then get on the road.
Once I get there, that's when I prepare, get ready,
do my makeup, and once I feel the energy of the evening,
and how the girls are backstage,
who else is in the show, like that's how I gauge
where I should take the performance for the evening.
- Yeah
- The main thing while you're doing this,
especially if you wanna be an entertainer,
is to make sure the audience is
having a good time with you and
sometimes people wanna do drag for the wrong reasons.
Especially with it now being main stream,
everyone wants to get famous from it.
That doesn't come with drag for a lot of people
and then you get disheartened
when it doesn't happen for you.
So it's like what are you going into drag for?
Do you have something to say?
Are you a true artist?
You have to be there for the right reasons.
You have to have something to say.
You know, it's not always about the aesthetic.
There has to be a passion underneath it.
- [Cheyenne] Um.
- I went into drag race thinking
okay, well I'm a known queen,
this might work in my favor, but it was weird
cause it really didn't.
When I was there, I want to stay true to myself
and I wanted to keep to myself, which bit me in the ass.
- Well, I feel like people are seeing more of the real
Mayhem, even afterwards, that's not even based on the show.
They're seeing your actual performances being turned into
memes
- (Mayhem laughs)
- [Cheyenne] You know what I'm saying?
- [Mayhem] That's the good thing!
- [ Cheyenne] You performing
at Mickey's how many years ago?
- [Mayhem] That was like almost nine years ago.
- [Cheyenne] Nine years ago and
that's just you being talented.
- [Mayhem] Just me blinking.
- [Cheyenne] Yeah.
- [Mayhem] How do you control an audience by just blinking?
- How long have you been doing drag for?
- Officially will be 17 years this years, ``this year.
- So Mayhem Miller, the drag queen, is almost legal.
(laughs)
- Almost`
- Yes, so how long does it take,
say like a local drag queen to sort of
rise up to get to a point where they can host a night?
(laughs)
- It's like horror story when, what did they call her?
- The Supreme.
- The Supreme, yes.
You have to wait for the Supreme to just lose her powers
and stuff.
- Then it's surprise bitch.
- Then some little new bitch
comes out of nowhere and she's like
hi, give me that microphone real quick.
(laughs)
I was very fortunate.
Just met the right person, they gave me the opportunity
and said hey do you want your own night?,
and that was at rage.
People would come see the show
and be like oh my god, Mayhem's a great hostess.
She's great on the microphone, bring her over here.
So then I would go, just go from club to club
and people would just offer me hosting gigs.
So, that's how I kinda became
the Supreme of Southern California.
- Ooh the Supreme of Southern California.
- Uh huh
- Does that make me one of your coven?
- [Mayhem] Yes.
- Yaaaaaas.
- We build a house, as a family.
- So basically drag queens are like Game of Thrones?
- Very much so.
- Who would people recognize,
that was part of your sisterhood?
- Morgan McMichaels, Delta Werk,
Jewels of Long Beach, that's a good group right there.
My drag, like it really brought out
brought me out of my shell.
I was a very shy person, I'm still a shy person,but
when you're the focal point of an evening
everyone's looking at you, it forces you
to come out of that shell and say, you know what?
Okay, I have to be that superstar everyone thinks I am.
- [Cheyenne] Yeah.
(laughs)
- And so yeah it completely
changes everything and you go from being,
oh I'm just gonna try drag and just hang out
for a night to`oh no I am the drag.
- [Cheyenne] Ever since we met over four years ago,
I've been dabbling back and forth in drag.
And for me, it's, I've always been very open
about it's not a serious profession for me,
something I really respect and I adore, the art behind it.
I decided to do drag for the Streamies last year,
when we hosted and I decided to do drag
because, especially in the Try Guys,
I really want to represent the
queer community.
Just visually, you see someone
rocking that, especially an award show hosting,
I was like look, gays represented, queers represented,
LGBT is here in the house.
- [Mayhem] Yeah.
- I was upset afterwards, when I thought like,
why was I not fully the Cheyenne Pepper
like Mayhem taught me to be?
And I think it's because I was treating it like a job.
- Open bar closes half way through the show,
so don't be afraid to double fist while you still can.
Luckily, my face rests so bitchingly
( laughs)
they're like, oh it's Cheyenne Pepper,
she just looks like she's gonna punch somebody.
- If you're not having fun, it shows.
And if you're not having fun, then
the audience is not having fun.
- [Cheyenne] You know, I think the first time
I really felt some joy out of doing the drag
was at my birthday recently.
(soft rock music plays)
- [Cheyenne] My wig came off, my heel fell off,
but I didn't care and by the end,
everyone was like that was great.
- [Mayhem] You just didn't give no fucks.
- Yeah.
- And you were just in the moment
having a good time, so that's why it was a good performance.
- I think this needs to be a little pinker on the lip.
May be a little too close to the skin tone.
We're going real drag tonight.
Paint the brows down, big ol' lips.
I wanna look like a rich Asian,
crazy rich woman in the Isle of Sheseido.
- Oh, bitch.
- You know, adjust her how you like.
You look great.
I'm fucking pissed , 'cause now I'm like
uh, do I need to bring out my Nia Preene outfit now?
(techno music plays)
- It gets very soft once the nails come on,
then I wanna touch everything.
- [Mayhem] Yop.
- [Cheyenne] Yop.
- [Mayhem] Yop.
- [Cheyenne] Yop.
Yop.
- [Mayhem] The art of hosting a gig is being a good hostess.
Just like at any kind of party that you throw,
you wanna be able to engage with people
and make them feel welcome and that's
how you build a successful night,
is being a social person.
(techno music plays)
- [Mayhem] Anyone can be at a party
and just sit in a corner and don't do anything,
but if you really engage with the people
that are there, they're gonna come back and see you again.
- [ Cheyenne] Yeah.
- [ Mayhem] And especially if you're
look good, you smell good, and you offer them booze,
like, you're always going to have a good time.
- Just so that ya'll know,
my sis is gonna let me have this, ya'll.
(laughs)
- I don't know her.
( screams)
- [Mayhem] This house of mine is filled
with a lot of big personalities.
(laughs)
- We have over here on the throne
Ms. Bootz Dreya Simone- Miller
- Hello, yaaaas.
- We have over here, tucked away honey,
Ms. Jazmyn Simone.
- Owww!
- Yaaas.
And our special guest in here Monique Heart honey
from Ru Paul's Drag Race.
- [ Drag Queen] The goopery.
- The goopery.
(sings Happy Birthday)
- To me!
(Happy Birthday continues)
- Did you have to do the man voice, at that part?
Mwuah, my daughter.
- This is All That here at the world-famous Abbey.
Ya'll ready for Mayhem, say yeah!
(crowd cheers)
- Uh uh, one more time 'cause this muthafucka
still didn't do it.
You ready for Mayhem, say yeah!
(Crowd cheers)
(pop music plays)
- [Mayhem] It's necessary to kinda
work in your local club scene.
Now a days, we can learn everything from Youtube,
but you kinda, that humbleness,
you kinda learn, uh don't do that in this show again,
you know what I mean?
Shit like that, if you think you that girl,
you just on youtube, woo woo woo,
the crowd will let you know at a local gay bar, amen?
- [Drag Queen] Amen.
- It'll be crickets.
- [ Drag Queen] Honey.
- When I say live, everybody give me some
energy up in this bitch if you breathin, live!
(crowd screams)
- [Mayhem] At the end of the day, you gotta
go to the club and be able to turn a party,
you gotta be able to socialize with people,
- [Monique] Turn the club.
- Yes, you gotta learn and you
have to have that mentorship to give you
that guidance, where to go, how to do
- [Drag Queen] How to do it.
- I also bought some special guest with me, tonight,
that I wanna share the stage with,
is that okay witchu?
(crowd cheers)
- Look at this audience, are they young, are they older?
Do they look like they'll be easily offended?
Are they af uptight crowd, you know?
You have to be able to read a audience really quickly.
Make eye contact.
You definitely want to accept every tip someone offers you.
- I've never been club environment, I've never take money.
Get all the dollars you can.
- Whenever a bitch gets on this stage,
give her some got damn money!
( crowd cheers)
- I'm performing, you're gonna tip me, alright?
- Yaaas Mayhem, All-Stars 5 winner.
- I'm not going to be a greedy bitch,
but some girls are awful at this, they'll be like, oh money.
(money crinkles)
- And they run off, no, that's gross
and everyone's like what the fuck?
So you make eye contact,
- Uh hm
- And you acknowledge them like, oh hi
oh is that money for me?
Oh, no, I'm not gonna grab it now.
I'm just gonna tease you and I'm gonna
look away, but then I'm gonna come back.
And then when you grab the dollar,
you have to touch their hand, not the money,
get their hand first, look at them,
- Really make a connection.
- Then slide it away.
Sometimes they'll hold on to it and you're like okay, let go
because there's more money I gotta go get.
A couple years ago, I had the opportunity
to put this individual in drag for the first time.
And I'm so proud that this amazing person has
continued to enjoy the art of drag
and spread it around to the world, to the masses.
I thank him so much for the opportunity he gave me.
And I'm so excited for him to hit my stage.
Are ya'll ready?
( crowd cheers)
From the Try Guys, ya'll know him as Eugene,
honey, but you gonna get a taste of the one and only
Cheyenne Pepper!
( crowd cheers)
( pop music plays)
- A lot of people think a perfect drag show
has to be full of high energy numbers.
Back, to back, to back, to back.
To me, that is a boring show because there's no levels.
In a drag show, you need to have levels.
Something that's high energy, as well as
having something that is emotional,
having something funny, having something that's mid tempo.
- [Cheyenne] Yeah
- You know, you have to give a audience variety
because not everyone there wants to see the same thing.
( pop music plays)
- You know, that was really exhilarating
because I got to just perform without thinking about it.
I just inhabited the song.
Nothing was choreographed, nothing was planned.
I just existed in the music and
I feel like it really showed,
that I was having a awesome fun time.
Look how many tips I got.
Look at all those tips, that is just from my performance.
I'm gonna go buy a burrito with
these tips, with Mayhem because
I'm really fucking hungry after werkin out.
The local drag scene is absolutely incredible.
I encourage everyone to go out and support
all their queens, who are working their asses off
in all the bars, around their city.
- The whole night life works as a unit.
We all keep the machine going and
these are our safe spaces.
This is where we all need to congregate
and have a great time.
( crowd cheers)
- [DJ] ( Sings Happy Birthday)
- Come on, mama, let's get that burrito.
- You want bean, cheese, meat?
- I want all of that.
- I want Dobo, but guac is extra.
- I got money
- I got money now too, shit.
- You got some money too?
( laughs)
( rock music plays)
- You're here to get the pussies wet,
- [ Cheyenne] And the dicks hard.
- [Mayhem] How you think I became the queen of the party?
- A lot of hard dicks and wet pussies.
(laughs)
- That's it, that's it.