- You are gonna be a drag queen today.
- Okay, yes. - Get, like, feel that
and own it and don't apologize or say that it's any less,
because when you look in the mirror,
you're gonna be like, "Oh she's real!"
- Okay, well, I'll be a drag queen, god damn it.
- Yay, I'm so excited!
(upbeat electronic music)
- So I'm a huge fan of RuPaul's Drag Race.
My experience with drag is virtually zero.
The reason that I wanna do this challenge is because
I'm curious what it's like to actually get in their skin,
to be dressed up like on of these queens.
One in particular stood out.
Her name is Miz Cracker and she is known
for an online YouTube series she has
in which she wears drag doing everyday things.
And I thought it'd be really cool to have her come in
and be my drag mother to show me the ropes
and transform me into a temporary drag queen.
(electronic music)
She is finally here.
I am joined by Miz Cracker.
- Hello!
- Drag superstar and contestant
on season 10 of RuPaul's Drag Race.
- Yes, absolutely, she's excited!
I started drag when it was possible to do drag
without knowing about RuPaul's Drag Race.
Since then, drag has become a
international, mainstream medium.
It's on the global stage.
- Part of what inspired me to want to do this
was you have this online series
where you do everyday things in drag.
So what is that like for you?
- Being in drag in public helps you learn
to separate how you look from who you are.
A tip that I give to people when they're starting out
on anything is empty your glass.
If you have this little glass that's half full
of knowledge about drag, I can't fill it up
all the way with all the knowledge that I have.
- I don't want this to be me inauthentically co-opting
what it is to be a drag queen,
because I'm not performing, I'm not lip-syncing,
I'm not dancing, I'm not doing any of that.
I'm just getting the aesthetic beauty part of it.
- I don't want you to downplay the fact
that you're trying drag as something illegitimate
because you don't do it all the time.
Don't think that this is not real drag.
Every time you're in drag, it's real drag.
So you are gonna be a drag queen today.
I'm gonna use 99% alcohol to remove
some of the oils from your face.
Now, you're gonna sweat throughout the day,
so it's gonna come off nice and easy.
- I feel like my face just got, like,
- Yep, yep. - Suctioned back.
- My daughter's not leaving that bar without her wig.
We're gonna take the glue stick,
we're gonna start at the inside,
and we're coating the backside of your eyebrow hairs.
Don't grease your whole face with the foundation stick,
just, like, under your eyes here on your cheekbones
and then spread it out from there.
Now we have a nice contour cream.
It's very telling that what we used on your face
for this highlight is called clown white.
Little pyramid of contour.
And a contour.
- Oh my god, that could be my drag name.
- You'll know, when you look in the mirror,
you'll be like, "I know who she is."
Now we're gonna contour your nose,
we're gonna bring it down to a nice little point.
There are many setting powders that you can use,
this one is the cheapest and the best, just like me.
- Do I look like Gollum?
- Gollum, yeah.
Look out, Sasha Velour, okay.
- Ah!
- So there, we've deleted your face
and now it's just shapes.
I'm going to highlight under your eyebrow.
We're gonna give your eyelid a little bit of dimension
by highlighting right in the middle.
I'm gonna put a wing on your eye.
- Okay.
Do you need, like, a card or something for it?
(record scratches)
- I don't need training wheels, girl.
- Ah, okay!
- I will murder you if you open your eye.
Did you open your eyes, look down again, I will
- I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry.
- Break your legs off and beat you with them.
I wanna dig around in your tear ducts
with, like, super sticky paint
and then I'm gonna powder over it
with powder that's just gonna definitely roll
under your eyeballs and back into your skull.
- I just, I have no idea what I look like right now.
- Next up, mascara.
- It feels like, almost like it's stuck
on the middle of my eyelid.
- Yeah, it definitely is stuck on the middle of your eyelid.
Your lip is moved by these little muscles
and there's a little groove
where the muscles connect to your lip.
You're gonna draw right in that groove.
'Kay, now, open your eyes.
Look at that, she looks gorgeous.
- [Producer] She looks great, yeah.
- [Miz] I think this is the prettiest queen
I've ever painted.
- Oh my god.
So, like, the front part is over here,
and then we're gonna flip it back?
- Yep. - Over? Okay.
- Yeah she's face down right now.
We're working her out from behind.
Okay.
(relaxed electronic music)
Okay, we're essentially done, now I'm just fucking around.
- We're done?
- Yep. - Okay.
This is weird because I have no idea
what I look like right now, so I'm still
picturing myself as, like, Matt the boy.
- Come here.
- Look down, and...
Oh my god!
- [Miz] She's a nice lady!
- Holy shit, oh my god!
- There you go.
- Oh my god, what?
- Just a woman.
- What's her name?
What was the one you said earlier, the first one?
It was, um.
- Anna Contour.
- Yeah.
- Anna Contour, right here. - There she is.
(You Are to Die For" by DJ Fashionista)
- So now I'm going to go around the office
and get some reactions from people.
Did you have no idea who I was?
- Thank you!
- Hey Hal?
- Oh my!
Hi. - Hi!
Did you recognize me?
- Really?
- Oh my god, I do do that!
- I'm hitting the streets and going on the subway
in full drag to see my friends at the bar.
They don't know I'm coming
and they definitely won't be expecting my new look.
I'm noticing that people are either flat out ignoring me
or, like, gawking at me, like cannot believe
what they're seeing, which feels kinda nice,
'cause nobody knows who I am. (clicks tongue)
(relaxed electronic music)
My padding's falling out, I can't fucking walk in heels,
I need Miz Cracker to come back and give me a full lesson.
It's like 40 degrees out here,
but I'm weirdly not even that cold.
I think there's, oh, thank you!
I'm about to be at the bar and I can't wait
to see my friends' reactions.
- My friends are shook.
And even though they still know it's me,
it's like they're interacting
with a completely different person.
I head uptown to see Miz Cracker at her gig,
and show some support for my rock star drag mother,
and to let her know how the night's going.
The exhaustion is hitting,
my dogs are barking from these heels,
and my time in drag is quickly coming to a close.
First thing is this wig.
Ow!
- Now, you're gonna sweat throughout the day,
so it's gonna come off nice and easy.
- One, two, ow! (bleep)
I'm just gonna try some baby wipes.
Oh, great, alright.
Oh, I need some, like, eye makeup remover for this.
It was incredible being transformed
into a drag queen by you, thank you so much.
- Oh, no, thank you.
For me, yesterday was just very exciting
and I was looking forward to your face
when you saw it in the mirror.
I loved it.
- I cannot fucking walk in heels.
- That's something that really can't be taught,
it's just something that you figure out
as you wear heels more and more.
A message that I would leave to you
and to anybody that wants to have a relationship
with drag is, make sure that is it absolutely
your own relationship to drag,
without anybody else interfering.