- Look at you, all professional.
You've been doing a lot of these. I can tell.
- Yes. Been plowing through them, which has been good.
You know?
- I know you like to plow through things.
- You know it.
Especially from the back, especially from the back.
- [Male Announcer] This is "What a Joke"
- [Female Announcer] with Tom Papa and Fortune Feimster
- [Male Announcer] on Netflix Is a Joke radio.
- When you first started doing drag,
did the comedy part come later? Because I mean,
a big part of your show is basically stand up.
- Yeah. No, it, it kind of started, I was just filler,
you know, I was the, either the,
the new queen that came into the show
and I would have to lip sync
and do all that shit that I can't stand now.
But I'm not good at it. So that's why I don't like it.
But when I, when I see people do it well, it's,
it's pretty amazing, but I was kind of the filler
and then, once they saw that I had a mouth,
then I was stuck to talk
while people were doing costume changes.
So it all kind of just happened.
If you can imagine this on a Wednesday night at 1:00 AM
in New Orleans, doing a drag show,
and these people are waiting for a show and I'm the asshole
that has to fill in the gaps.
So drunk people were not fond of me.
And that's kind of how my nastiness began. You know?
You know what I mean? There's nothing worse.
- Yeah, a good defense. - Yes!
- It's survival.
- Completely, completely.
I mean, 1:00 AM on a Wednesday.
Like what the hell? Like who the fuck is out? Yeah.
That's, that's, that's new Orleans.
- I love it. And now you're selling out all over the world.
- Thank god.
It's giant shows.
- Well you're not,
you're not doing too shabby yourself
mam, okay? - Me? Come on.
- Let's get real here.
I'm seeing all those sold out dates. You know, we just,
we just do what you gotta do.
You just go and they say dance, monkey dance,
and I'm dancing as fast as I can. You know, you got to.
- It was such a great platform for you though,
because you're so funny and you're unique.
And also you can sew like,
nobody's business.
- Well, that helps.
You know, I mean, I think that was, I mean,
the show now I look at it, "Drag Race",
and it's just a completely different show
than when we did it
because we were season six, which is what? Eight years?
I mean, it's probably eight years since we filmed.
And what was crazy is I was just a different setup then.
And I was grateful that I had the opportunity when I did it,
but you got to go in prepared. And in my day,
the drag queens did sew. They did sing. They did act.
They did, you know, they did everything. Now,
they're just little Instagram bitches
that look pretty and they go,
"I want to win a hundred thousand dollars".
I'm like, what content do you have?
What substance do you have? You know?
- Yeah.
But we live in a world of Kardashians.
So, I mean, I guess that's,
that's how it is now. Right?
You know, it's that if you're pretty, you go far,
but us ugly people.
Us ugly people had to work.
- Us ugly people gotta work.
- Yes bitch.
(Fortune laughs)
- I'm tired.
- Exactly.
- Well do you think it was "Drag Race" that,
that opened people's minds so much to drag queens.
'Cause now like people are all about drag.
- I think with everything it's, it's good and bad.
You know, it's great to have the exposure,
but it's also kind of fucked up
that people assume that what they see on "Drag Race"
is all that drag is.
And that's unfortunate too.
So I think it's the good and the bad, you know,
but the fact that drag is being played
in people's living rooms. I think it's amazing.
You know,
I've had grandmothers and a 13 year old boy in heels
come to my show, which is just insane to me, but I go,
"How cute is that"?
You know, like if they can experience that
or if they find it non-threatening, that's good.
You know? I mean, I hope it continues to ride.
I mean, they're putting out season after season over there.
So I have no idea where we are.
I don't know who half these bitches are.
So I said, I'm glad I did it when I did it.
- Yeah.
- It's been an amazing ride, you know?
- Yeah. - Yeah.
- What parts of drag do people that aren't familiar with it,
that they don't see,
that goes beyond the shows.
- Oh, well that ain't glamorous at all. I mean,
I like to keep show after show after show after show,
I like to do at least six in a row
and then go to another one.
I don't want to have too much time in between.
I don't need too much vacation time. You lose momentum,
you lose, you know, you lose the fire in it.
So I do that a lot of shows back to back and with that,
you know, we're on a bus,
you're slipping from one city to the next,
you're finished the show. You're getting out of drag,
you're loading the bus you going.
And I also have to do a meet and greet every night.
That's 150 to 200 people. So I do that before the show,
- The meet and greet before the show.
- Yeah well I do that,
mainly because I am a drag queen
so I won't be sweaty after the show.
And also they're not drunk yet.
And they're still scared of me, which is good.
So it.
speeds it along. - Wow, that's smart.
- You know what I mean?
- Yeah.
- If, if you do it after the show, with some drunk bitch.
She's going to cry till I get her fucking life story.
She's going to discuss it. You're sweating.
The pictures never look decent. So I figure, you do that.
And the other advantage too, - Smart.
- And I don't know if this works for you guys,
but when I do that,
then even if the whole show goes to shit,
let's say there's 2000 people and it's, you know, 1500 suck.
I know that those first 20 that I met,
I know who's the drunk one.
I know who's the happy couple. I know who has
the boyfriend that's scared of me. I know.
You know, so
all of that works out to my advantage
because they're usually the first 20 rows.
So if anything, - Right.
- you've got them,
at least the people you see.
- Wow, that's smart.
- So that kind of works out as well. You filter them out,
you know, you find out what their problems,
whose anniversary, who's this, who's that.
So if all else goes to shit. You've got them.
- That's smart.
I always put it. I always put it after,
because I figure after the show,
they'll be impressed with the show.
And I'll be a bigger deal once the show is over.
- No, no, no.
- No, you're really making a lot of sense.
- No, you're the same piece of shit before and after.
(hosts laughing)
- How long does it take you now to get into drag?
- Oh, well, if you've seen me, it ain't no blending.
So it's quick.
It's literally just, I don't bother with that pretty shit.
I just trace circles.
- You're not doing a Trixie Mattel contour.
- Oh hell no. Hell no.
I can get ready in an hour, you know,
- Okay.
- But when you're getting into the venue,
I like about two hours 'cause I got to set up everything
and, you know,
get the smells out of the room, wipe everything down.
- You get the smells out of the room.
- You know how, you know those dressing rooms
ain't glamorous, you know.
- Come on. That's hilarious.
- So yeah, you just gotta kinda set everything up
so I can do two hours for sure.
I mean, I've had to do it in 45 minutes.
You know, it, it just varies on the night,
but two hours is nice because you're setting up the room and
you're getting in the zone. I can check my phone,
I can apply my lashes.
I can have a little sip of wine and you know,
- You do more than I do.
- But I know.
- I barely brush my hair.
- But see, but you've got it figured out.
Had I thought of that,
I sit and look at bitches like you
and I go "Damn. A flannel shirt and flat shoes. Damn."
- Come on. Come on.
- That's fucking talent, yeah.
- What's been your most memorable show?
- I mean God,
really the fact that I get to work is exciting.
So I just say all of them, but I did Carnegie Hall,
which was amazing to get to do and Wembley Arena in the UK,
which has 15,000 people, which is.
- That's crazy.
- Insane. Insane. Insane. - That's crazy.
But that's so cool.
- It's mindfucking. I must say.
But you still got to do the show
and just pretend like it's 10 people
and don't lose your mind over it. You know,
you can't play those mind games.
- Right.
- Yeah.
- Wow. That's impressive.
- You can't be faint of heart to go to your show.
- No, no, I don't think.
But, but that's also the thing it's,
I'm not allowed to do it on Twitter.
You're not allowed to do it in videos.
It's like if people are coming to see you,
you're in the environment, that's what it is.
So I've learned through social media that, you know,
tweeting or having camera phones
and all that kind of madness with,
with no context can be really, really frustrating.
And that's just what they run with.
So I think we've lost context in the world
thanks to social media.
So I just try not to give them anything to bait off of.
You know, I just let it ride.
If you want to come see me, be hateful,
come see me, be hateful. But we it's a tricky line online.
You know, it's a tricky,
it's a tricky way to go
because we've seen people get canceled or get ruined,
which is kind of fucked up.
But if you know where it's coming from,
it's funny to certain people,
it's almost like you're punished for saying or thinking,
but yet they'll say it all privately, which is,
what's so crazy about it. I find, you know,
if it's not for you, if it's not for you, it's not for you.
You know?
And I think a lot of people think that
you have to be for everybody and it's not.
If you don't like it, you don't get it. It's fine.
You know, there's somebody else for you to like,
but gay people are the worst
because the gays want to be liked by everybody.
And I go, "That's what you're doing wrong".
You know what I mean? I don't care if they like me.
But the gays want to be a role model.
They want to be an entrepreneur
or they want to be a fashion icon.
Look here faggot, just tell jokes. Just tell jokes.
(hosts laughing)
So I get bothered by all of that, I just go call it.
If you don't like it, move the fuck on.
It's very simple. You know?
- Yeah, no, absolutely.
And oh, before we let you go. Your podcast.
- Yeah, yeah.
Just started a podcast. Well you know, it's that thing,
my friend Brad Loekle has always said during COVID he says,
"You either come out of this with a podcast or an OnlyFans".
So I'm grateful that I
- I'm on OnlyFans.
- Yeah I can imagine. Girl!
- Just kidding.
- You can do it.
I mean, everybody's doing it. So yeah.
It was wild, the Starburns Audio had been at my ass
for about four years saying,
"Can you do one, can you do one?"
And I just thought at that time you had to be in one place
in one specific city doing it all the time. And I said,
"Nah, I don't know if I can commit to it."
And you know, and in that, that thing of like, "Oh shit,
"I got to talk for an hour".
Like, "What am I going to talk about?"
And then during COVID, you know,
after those first nine months, I was like,
"Okay, maybe I should take them up on this offer."
So it's been fun.
It's a nice format. And I don't have to get in drag for it.
That's the best part. You know?
I ain't gotta shave. I'm sitting there,
beard and hairy balls and all just like
talkin' smack. Talkin' smack.
- I knew they were hairy.
- You knew it. You knew it. You knew it.
(funky music)