- I mean it's kind of like the sisterhood of traveling wigs.
(upbeat electronic music)
- Baby, I'm gonna untuck these secrets with you, okay?
- My name, The Blair Bitch,
came from me binge-watching Gossip Girl
and The Blair Witch Project.
At the time I was living on the Upper East Side,
so I was like, "I'm the queen bee of the Upper East Side.
"I'm freaky and no one actually knows what I look like.
(gasp) "The Blair Bitch."
- My name is Jan Sport
and I've been doing drag for two years.
I like Jan Sport because not only do I think it's funny
and people will get the reference,
but I grew up playing sports all my life.
So I might be a drag queen,
but I love to go watch football with my dad.
I love to go to hockey games.
I played soccer for 14 years.
- I wanted to become a drag queen
because I went to school for musical theater
and then I didn't get a job after.
So I thought, "Drag queen!"
- My experience with tucking is (snicker) bleak.
I like to think of what I do more as cramming.
Or smushing.
- We refer to it as the monster mash in the business.
You just kind of just like (mouth pop).
- And it's probably my least favorite part of drag.
But let me tell you,
once you do it a few times it's nothing.
- And I don't think that you have to tuck
to be a drag queen.
There's so much androgyny in the field of drag now
that I live for and I love to do myself too.
Tucking hurts!
So if you need to free willy, then free willy.
Woo!
(upbeat electronic music)
- No cis men are not the only people who can be drag queens.
I know drag queens who identify out of drag
as gender non-binary, as trans.
Every single person on this planet can do drag.
It's all about gender expression.
- It started as men dressing up as women.
So then to tell the women that they can't dress up as women?
Is redundant and pointless, because it's an art form.
There's room for everyone and any queen
that does not think that's true
needs to stand down.
- It costs a lot of money to look this expensive, okay?
I would say that from head to toe right now
I'm in at least $1,500.
- It's easily the price of a small child,
if you like sumount how much money I've spent.
I'd try to give a number but I'm horrible at math,
and it would bring me to tears.
- I spend a lot on makeup, hair, costumes, nails.
But I probably spend the most on my hair.
I feel like it's the first thing that people see,
and it's instantly recognizable.
- I'm a proud wig addict, and I'm probably not gonna stop.
(mouth pop)
- It's expensive if you really wanna invest in it.
If you're not trying to invest in it
and you just wanna have fun,
you wanna do it on Halloween,
you wanna go do a number at a show,
it doesn't take that much to do.
(upbeat electronic music)
- Woo, child!
- I have maybe hooked up in drag, maybe?
- I don't like messing up my lips.
There's just too much that's going on here.
I've spent way too much time on this.
I don't wanna do that.
- There is those men that, they want the gorls.
Not the girls, the gorls.
You know what I mean?
So my drag is hyper feminine.
So I like to pad.
But I mean padding is another personal thing
that you can do or you can not do.
- If I wear full-on foam hip pads,
I look like an eggplant emoji.
It's not cute.
- So I went to good of old Raymore and Flanagan.
This is Raymore, this is Flanagan.
You take a turkey carver
and you carve out a shape, kinda like a teardrop,
and you get this lovely shape doll.
- Just because you think my butt is foam padded
does not mean you get to touch it.
So, respect!
- It really doesn't take me long at all.
Today it took me about five minutes.
I just rolled out of bed and came here.
- For me it takes me about an hour and a half to get ready.
With hair, body, face as we like to say.
- It can easily take me four hours.
I have been known to spend seven hours on a face.
I don't have any apologies
except for all of the gigs I've been late to.
I'm sorry and book me again.
- Rule number one in a drag queen arena.
If you see something you like, tip something.
If you see something you love, tip him twice.
- Tip drag queens!
Always!
If you go to a drag show,
have ones, have fives, have 10s, have 20s.
If you give me a 50, your request will come true.
- You should always tip a drag queen.
Especially if you're at a show at a bar for free.
- The least you can do is give a dollar
if you're enjoying the performance.
A five if you really really liked
and resonated with what somebody was doing.
A 20 if you have a request for a song
that you know that they want to do.
And an 100 if you are so blown away
that you just want me to leave,
because I will leave for $100. (laughing)
- Have you ever wanted to know what it was like
behind the scenes at a drag competition? (cat growl)
It's really not all that,
we're probably hugging and doing each others makeup.
I mean it's kind of like the sisterhood of traveling wigs.
- You know I think that drag queens have the reputation
of being really catty and being very harsh to each other.
But I found in my own experiences
that drag is really really welcoming.
I think that you have to go out
and get the respect of the queens who came before you.
I became their friends,
and they would help me when I had any questions.
- I wish that people knew that drag is more
than just fun crazy people in crazy wigs.
It's such hard work.
- You have to make a lot of sacrifices to be a drag queen.
When I'm singing,
that's something that I train for for my entire life.
That takes years of practice
and hours of cultivating numbers
and getting material for that.
I don't think that people really see all the hours
and the time that it takes.
- It's so many different art forms that you have to master.
You have to be on all the time.
We're neglected a lot of times as performers.
Give us the time of day.
Don't doubt what I can do performance wise
just because I'm a pretty girl. (lip smack)
- Are there any baby drag queens out there watching?
If so, don't be afraid.
Come up to us.
Ask us all the questions that you want.
- Don't ask me if you can do drag,
ask me how you can do drag.
The possibilities are endless.
- If you have an interest try it,
you might love it.
I'm a drag queen cause I need to do drag.
It's my life.
- I hope that I spilled all the secrets
and served you the tea that you were looking for.
If you have any crazy drag stories
just comment below, let us know.
I'm gonna read them.
I'll probably perform one of them
at one of my next shows.
So please let me know what you did.
(upbeat music)