In Los Angeles, I've never witnessed so much
die-hard astrology like, belief.
Well you're from Massachusetts,
it's not encouraged
to speak up about your witchcraft.
I know!
If the witch trials had happened in California,
they would've been like, "You should open a produce stand."
- That's true. - They would've been like,
"You're a witch? Girl, you should do an up-cycling Etsy."
Hi, it's me Trixie Mattel.
And Katya!
And we are two queens who like to watch.
And today, we are watching a documentary
about the mysterious, the dazzling,
the um...
Possibly gay.
Possibly gay,
astrological legend, Walter Mercado.
Oh you know who this person is?
Oh, I do, absolutely.
Oh, I had no idea.
He's kind of like, Latin America's
astrological Richard Simmons.
A flamboyant, you know what I mean.
I couldn't think of a movie more built for you,
gay astrology and disappearances.
When you take a look at him,
I think a lot of questions will be answered.
Fierce.
Oh my God, this documentary has
costumes, wigs, makeup, Telenovela,
drama, different cultures...
Showbiz scandals, heart attacks...
Religion, spirituality. Reanimated tissue!
Woo!
Let's hit it, I'm excited to learn.
Oh my God, look at the cape!
Is this one of your characters?
It is Siegfried & Roy,
plus Richard Simmons, plus Jan Crouch.
- Yes. - Plus um,
Suzanne Somers.
Tell me that doesn't look like
a wax figure of a person right now.
That would be at the Hollywood Wax Museum,
but it'd be on the top floor
where no one usually goes, by like Clark Gable
and people would be like, "Who is that?"
Walter was unique, he was different,
he was a pioneer.
Anybody who's ever gonna compete on Drag Race,
take this idea and run with it.
Oh, the ponytail! Very androgynous.
El señor Walter Mercado.
He's like a gay, Spanish Vincent Price.
Oh my God, totally!
Oh! I know, I know, I know.
It's like Dolly Parton, the Pope, Liberace.
He's so costume-y, like he's two seconds,
from wearing like a Cher "Believe" tinsel wig.
I couldn't tell which one was him.
What happened to Walter Mercado?
Probably has his own planet somewhere.
He is such a queen,
there's no better exit than telling no one.
- You know? - No (bleep)!
One day, a bird
fell in the yard,
and it was dying,
and I took the bird–
Walter would not have approved
that cartoon of him.
And suddenly the bird start to flap his wing
as it start to get better, and it began to fly.
That little bird, Liza Minnelli.
Fliza Minnelli! Shut the (bleep) up.
People in the village would knock on the door of my house.
Meet and greet.
Walter's selling VIP meet and greet experiences
for $150.
- Yeah. - You get a signed poster.
And they began touching me,
touch, touch, touch, touch, touch.
I believe in all the gifts and the fantasies.
I have this cousin, cause you know,
I am fully Caucasian looking.
Yeah.
But I am from just off the reservation,
and my uncle,
he doesn't like being photographed, or mirrors,
cause it's something about spirits with him,
he doesn't take photos. They say in my family
if you take a photo of him
he doesn't show up in the pictures.
When I saw other boys, I know that
I have another way of life.
My brother was all the time riding horses-
"And I was doing the hula hoop."
I love that he's so innocent,
he was like, "I can't be gay..."
"I'm Jesus."
"I'm not gay, I'm godlike."
I decided to create a famous person in me.
She is doing drag!
So, let me get into this, you're gay,
you live in California, do you (bleep) with astrology?
I think I'm the last person who doesn't.
People here (bleep) with astrology,
and the EMTJ personality charts,
- Yes. - People wanna be
told what they are, so they have direction.
Yeah, they want a blueprint,
they wanna, they want some kind of map,
they want something that has nothing to do with Jesus.
So if you're really into astrology,
it's like a fun quirk you have,
versus, "I'm really into Christianity."
That's like, "Ahh," you know, they're like,
"That's fine, but stay over there."
- Yes. - People also thought
it was a science to study the bumps of your skull.
Phrenology! I got a phrenology model, yeah.
I bet you do.
- Yeah. - Take that wig off,
there's a phrenology model right under there (bleep).
My fontanels are still soft.
My name is Willie Acosta, and I'm Walter Mercado's–
Isn't it crazy that everyone
can speak English, and none of us can do anything.
We're just a bunch of ignorant (bleep).
Trash.
I came to Walter's life very young.
Honestly, this is the oldest drag queen at a bar
who's just had enough work where she can do
- every character illusion. - Yes.
You know when older queens have
a little cheeks, and a little lips
and they can do Cher, Bette Midler, Judy Garland,
- Totally. - Like, everyone.
What's her sign?
Her sign is Sagittarius.
And she is Pisces.
He assists me with my costumes–
The way he made people believe him
through the TV is through makeup
and hair and costume.
You are what you are dressed as, that is so universal.
- Yeah. - It's why like,
with Dr. Oz and stuff, they're always in scrubs.
If they weren't in that, you wouldn't believe them.
Right.
You have to eat cookies too,
they're good for the system.
You want to see me fat?
You know, two guys who aren't lovers are like,
"You need to eat more, I want you healthy."
Staying in the same hotel room, yeah.
“Don't make me get (bleep).”
Which Sondheim off-Broadway
“Into the Woods” production is this?
Don Quixote on acid.
You saw his popularity just grow and–
By the way, thorny plants being thrown into an audience.
"Do you like tiny spikes?"
"Life is pain."
Walter Mercado was surrounded by fans.
Do people bring you flowers?
Yeah, pretty often.
On tour a lot, sorry I didn't mean to yawn
right when you said that.
Yeah, I–shut up!
We had people swarming out of the buildings in 15 minutes.
I remember seeing him on Telemundo.
Really?
I mean you know, flipping through the channels,
I didn't speak Spanish,
I just quickly jerk off and then keep going.
Shut the (bleep) up.
He has an augmented face that defies gender and age.
Daytime soap opera.
Have you had any plastic surgery done?
A special Botox, like Nicole Kidman.
God, he must be rich.
Or like, strangely poor.
Thank you very much and don't miss Walter Mercado's outfit.
"A pumpkin of a,"...
If she was at the pageant she'd be doing "Thriller"
and she'd pull that cape off,
and the dancers would come out.
Walter Mercado!
I keep thinking he's gonna like, sing.
I know.
♪”Get this party started on a Saturday night”♪
That's his number.
He would have been a great Bond villain.
Totally.
I want him to be the president,
his version of the presidential address
is just your horoscope.
I know, but unfortunately
the people who vote will be like,
"What kinda," you know,
Oh yeah.
- "What kind of queer..." - "What kind of queer..."
- “Yeah.” - Yeah.
Walter always take a pill called,
an I-don't-care pill.
That's words to live by.
So everything's slippery on my body.
The hate rolls off.
I use Vaseline.
I think that Walter had a lot more confidence
and security in himself than most people
from where he's from at his age
- at that time had. - Ever.
I mean, think of how many closeted people
were like, "You better work, (bleep).”
Like, "We know you're gay, and you're being gay for us."
- Do you know what I mean? - Yeah,
like a mascot.
Do you read as gay, you think? Right off the bat?
Not really.
No, I don't think so.
I don't think so.
You don't look feminine at all.
No, I don't look masculine either though.
I mean, I think you can tell I'm alive,
I like gay (bleep),
so like if you talked to me for 10 seconds,
I'm not going to be like,
"How about them Bears," or whatever, you know.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
You know, people like, "How was your day?"
I'm like, "Five, six, seven..." I catch a fedora, you know.
I'm ready for my number.
- Yeah. - Yeah.
You don't talk about sexuality, why is that?
Because I have sexuality with the wind,
with the flowers, and the garden–
"I.e. I'm gay."
"Are you gay?"
"Girl, I love nature."
"I (bleep) the winds."
I have sex with life, I have sex with everything.
“That ottoman? Feels wet, doesn't it?
Those curtains, they don't even open anymore,
they'll break in half.”
“That oven mitt you just slipped on.”
And I said, "Oh my God,
they are angels, I must be in heaven!"
"You're not in heaven, you're in Cleveland."
He thought she was strumming a harp,
she said, "Mama, this is a stethoscope.”
“This is not a scroll, it's a catheter."
- Boricua! - Boricua!
Holy (bleep).
He has a great moral authority.
I love a cape.
How many capes does one need?
The limit does not exist.
I'm also here for a mini-cape
one that only goes like, halfway down your back.
Totally, like not even to the elbow.
Here's the thing about astrology for me,
it speaks to my inherent narcissism.
It's like when Alyssa Edwards,
she's in a room full of drag queens
and she gets close to you and she goes,
"Out of everyone here, who would be the three?"
Which is like the craziest thing to be asked,
but also like, it's so indulgent
you're like, "Oh, let's get into it.
- Well..." You know what I mean? - Yeah, yeah.
Millennials know maybe more
about Walter Mercado than I do.
They stan Walter Mercado because
she's fun, she's kind of fluid with her sexuality
and her gender and she's spiritual...
Spiritual, but not religious.
- And she's mysterious. - Yeah.
It's also not "cool," especially like on the internet,
it's not "cool" to like, make fun of someone
for being gay or whatever, you know what I mean?
Right, yeah.
If we were in high school
talking about Walter Mercado,
people would be like, "What the (bleep)
is wrong with you?"
- Crucified. - Yes.
Fierce, that haircut.
My grandmother had that.
He looks like he would be an ice skater,
like that's Johnny Weir in 20 years.
Can they have kids?
We'd have to re-watch, Spinning Out,
available on Netflix, to find out.
When you're like, wasting away in hospice care,
do you wanna have the cameras on you?
I would think I would quit Trixie before it's like,
- Palliative care? - Yes,
like I would think I'd be done with drag by then.
I want it to be like,
"Wow, you should have seen her when she was younger though,
- she was great." - Yeah.
"She used to really kick..."
This is me by the way, two weeks from now.
Completely.
Carried in on a throne (bleep).
Geena Davis.
Geena Davis! Making her entrance.
Donald Trump wishes.
When I get old enough to be in a wheelchair,
that's what it's gonna look like.
You're gonna put like, a little, like
Super Nintendo controller right on the arm
of the chair, so you can, dial it in, yeah.
I'm about to freak out because–
I miss the meet and greets.
No.
I do, I do.
It's an amazing thing to be like, adored.
I mean, literally we do that.
We do do this, but it looks famous when he does it.
- It doesn't feel famous - Yeah.
- when we do it. - No.
He's not doing this to make himself feel a certain way,
like he's doing it for them.
You don't have to understand
what people get out of meet and greets.
Right.
Okay, if I had a museum exhibit,
I'd have something from my early drag,
like I used to wear, like swimsuits and stuff like that,
then I'd have like, you know, Drag Race stuff,
like, the thing I won in,
Yeah.
or like, that red latex thing was pretty cool.
Oh, so good.
I would have stuff from probably like every tour,
cause I think from all my tours,
I save the costume from that tour,
- like the main costume. - Yeah.
I'm so bad with like, archiving stuff,
because, A, I don't have much space-
Okay, I'm glad you said that because I'm lying,
I get rid of everything.
- I don't have anything - I’ve sold it all.
and people are always like,
- "What are you going to do when - I’ve sold it all.
there's a museum?"
And I'm like, "There's not going to be a museum."
Do you think I'm Stevie Nicks?
No, I'm not archiving my costumes.
I know, it's so–
I don't want to be the drag queen
who's like, "We have to archive."
I know!
I was very cute, wasn’t I?
You know what my retrospective's going to feature?
Just a giant bowl full of other people's teeth.
That they've given you.
Yeah.
My retrospective is going to be tweets from fans
that are like, "Your bangs, I'm crying."
Yeah.
The important stuff.
People will be like,
"I don't know who this is,
and I don't have any reference of her costumes,
but this tweet is serious."
"Her bangs made a young girl cry."
Yeah.
That’s precious.
How tragic would it have been to have
your whole career, and likeness and brand and
everything snatched away, and then not to have
this last little taste of appreciation for it.
It would have been like the ultimate gay tragedy.
Oh totally, and a lot of people don't get
due credit until later in life,
like people get big, disappear, or get (bleep) on
or get canceled or whatever,
and then later in life they get like a second wave
of appreciation because the (bleep) goes away.
I wanna live long enough
to have a little (bleep) gallery in Boston or something.
Like um, in the back of Dorothy's,
there'll be a little cardboard box
with some like, pixelated computer-printed photos of you,
maybe some green crayon written on the box,
“Admission $5.” Yep.
I'll be there, like, "I'm ready to meet and greet."
You know people leave like beads,
and guitars, and booze
at like Jim Morrison's grave,
what will people leave at yours?
Cigarette butts. You smoke and reminisce,
and then stub it out, and I'll be there.
And then step it out right on your dead body.
And then your (bleep) gray hand
reaches through the soil,
It'll come right up,
And grabs that little butt-
"I'll take that!"
And takes it back down.
Mine, they would drop off like "Teen People,"
and my hand would come out and be like,
"I already read this one," and throw it.
Yeah, "(bleep) you."
He will never leave.
♪ If you go away... ♪
♪ Di do di do dee ♪
♪ Di do di do da ♪
You at DragCon.
I've done that song before.
Walter Mercado is a force of nature.
He used to be a star, but now,
Walter is a constellation.
Ahhh!
Fierce.
His nurse is like, "Yeah honey,
here's a constellation pill, take it right now.
We need you to have movement tonight.
You've been constellated for a few days."
I know, I know!
Mucho Mucho Amor.
Can you roll your R's?
Yeah,
- Mucho Mucho Amor. - Mucho Mucho Amor.
If I had seen this when I was growing up,
it would've changed my life.
I don't think the outcome would've been different.
You don't think–
You think this would have made you
on the straight and narrow,
you would have been a real estate agent right now?
I could be out flipping houses right now.
Comment below, would you watch a show of Katya
earnestly to camera, giving college readings,
because I think, I think people would watch it.
I would love to do it.
I love that.
Yeah!
Mucho Mucho Amor.
¡Hasta luego!