- I am not okay with this.
- Hold on. Hold on.
We're going to strap you into this.
(Alyssa screams)
(Motoki laughs)
Hold on.
(upbeat electronic music)
- Hey I'm Alyssa.
- And I'm Motoki, and this is Expert Amateur Fraud.
A show where we try to figure out who the expert is,
and who's the fraud.
- Today we're going to be interviewing
three drag queens!
- Drag queens.
- Wow.
- Okay, okay.
- This is, okay, this is going to be interesting.
- I'm so ready.
- Do you think you're going to be able to tell.
- I've never even been to a drag show
- Really? - And I've been wanting to.
- Okay. - So this is perfect for me.
- I have some friends that do drag.
- Okay.
- And like literally when I see them,
I'm blown away. - Yeah
They look like different people.
- Yeah.
- Oh, I'm so down. - Oh, absolutely.
- Mostly just face, or are we like,
am I tucking?
(slow motion) Am I tucking?
(Motoki laughs)
(show tune instrumental music)
(cheering)
- Hello! - Come on in
- Nice to meet you. - [Miss Shu Mai] Miss Shu Mai.
Today, I'm going to try and get one of you
into quick drag in under 15 minutes.
- Oh! - Yeah.
And then we're gonna do a little runway walk together.
- (Motoki and Alyssa) Rock, paper, scissors, shoot.
- Yeah, I'll be first.
- Okay, cool!
Yay! - This is a wig cap.
We're gonna just pull all your hair back.
- I got a big ol' head.
- You look incredible.
- So beautiful, and we're done!
Can I get you to throw these on.
- I'm jealous.
- I'm gonna throw a bit of bold lip on you,
and then we're gonna make it glitter.
- Now what did you say your, your name is again?
- [Miss Shu Mai] Miss Shu Mai.
Shu mai, if you are unfamiliar,
is a hot, steamy, juicy pork dumpling.
- It's perfect. - [Miss Shu Mai] Yeah.
- [Alyssa] Well, I love it. - [Motoki] Okay, okay.
- [Alyssa] You're brushing the wig.
- I'm brushing out a nice little bang wig.
- Oh, bangs.
- Bangs.
- Do you think I could pull off bangs?
- You would look really (bleep) in bangs, honestly.
(crew laughs)
- What'd you say?
- You would look really (bleep) in bangs.
- Is that?
- [Miss Shu Mai] That's a good thing.
- [Motoki] Is that a good thing?
- That's a good thing.
- I love that.
So I would look (bleep) in bangs (laughs).
(Miss Shu Mai laughs loudly)
Am I allowed to say that?
I feel like I would do anything
you told me to do (laughs).
- [Miss Shu Mai] Oh yeah? - [Alyssa] Yeah (laughs).
- [Miss Shu Mai] Get some bangs, bitch.
- Why is Motoki more gorgeous than I am (laughs)?
- [Miss Shu Mai] We love this, we love this.
As a queer, Asian American,
- [Miss Shu Mai] You know, a lot of the times I
never really felt myself
seen in a lot of media.
Especially growing up as a kid,
- [Motoki] Sure. - [Alyssa] Absolutely.
- Like, my role models were always like cartoon characters.
But it was always the female ones I was always drawn to.
- Mhm.
- And so I always wanted to be able to celebrate
my femininity in a certain way,
but obviously that wasn't allowed to me growing up.
- [Alyssa] Right.
- Once I discovered drag, you know, this is basically me,
not only being able to like heal that inner child
- Yeah.
- From the past,
but also be able to like be the superstar that I needed
to see in me growing up.
What is a persona that you've always wanted to take on,
that would make you feel effortlessly powerful?
- Oh gosh, that's a hard question.
- [Miss Shu Mai] It's a good question.
- Something taken on?
- Debuting for the very first time,
welcome to the stage, Purple Ranger!
(Alyssa cheering)
- [Miss Shu Mai] Yas! Wow!
(crew cheering)
- [Alyssa] Oh my God.
- My megazord is quaking.
I think that anyone can do drag,
because drag is an art form
that isn't tied to gender, it's not tied to ethnicity,
it's not tied to age.
Drag is an art form where you can take wigs or makeup
or theatrics or performance and be able to
uncover who you really are.
(everyone cheering)
- Hello.
- I'm obsessed.
- Hi, I'm Jordan. It's nice to meet you.
- [Motoki] Hello.
- Jordan, hello, Alyssa.
- Hello, and you are?
- Purple Ranger. - [Jordan] Purple Ranger.
- Yes.
It's new, and I'm working on it still, so.
- It's like if Zooey Deschanel and Joey dirt, like
(Motoki laughs) - Joe Dirt!
(crew laughs)
- Okay. I'll take it.
- Today, I'm going to get you some hair.
- Okay.
- And we're going to learn about some contouring.
The way you reshape the face
to trick people into thinking you're a woman.
(bell dings) I think we're gonna put you in a wig cap.
- I was feeling pretty left out.
- Yeah, join the wig gang.
- Yeah, thank you.
I'm gonna wrap this up like this.
I actually do wear wigs, a lot.
- Oh, perfect.
I don't.
- [Alyssa] you don't? (bell dings)
Is this okay?
(Alyssa laughs)
- You know what.
- Oh, I'm in blue?
- Yeah, well I'm wearing blue and so, so will you.
- I'm obsessed.
(Alyssa laughs silently)
(Motoki laughs loudly)
- I have nothing but time for this!
- I am not okay with this.
- [Jordan] Hold on, hold on.
We're gonna strap you into this.
(Alyssa screams) (Motoki laughs)
- Hold on.
Maybe some bangs will help, right?
- You want me to hold it up for you?
- How is that?
Is that better?
- It is actually.
- It's not.
- Please just do some makeup.
- [Jordan] Yeah, we're gonna fix it.
Basically, what you do is you take dark and light shades
of makeup, to trick the light around you
to make your face look like it's a different shape.
So I start all the way up at like the sideburn area.
- Sideburns, okay.
- [Jordan] And then I just take it down like that,
like straight down.
And then from here I do the jaw, and I kind of start out
just, just below where I was before.
And I just like do that sort of thing.
That to make my nose look
like it's a little turnt up.
- Oh yeah, I like that.
- I don't think you needed nearly as much as I put on.
- Okay.
- You look great though.
- Really?
Cause everybody's kind of scarily looking at me.
(Alyssa and crew laugh)
- [Jordan] It's gonna be fine.
- I'm scared.
- [Jordan] I can fix it. - Okay, okay.
- It's moments like this,
that I appreciate how good I look.
(Alyssa laughs)
- How good you look?
- Okay, Jordan! (Jordan laughs loudly)
- So basically you'll take this powder.
This is a great,
this is actually really fierce powder.
I use this one myself actually.
Put it under your cheekbones.
Are you ready for the reveal?
- Yeah, Wow! - [Jordan] It's not that bad.
It's not that bad. - Oh my god.
(Motoki laughs)
I do kinda feel iconic.
- We're gonna try this other wig, cause it's a little nicer,
and I thought it was really funny
to put you in the blue one. - Do I look like Elsa?
- I can't tell if you look younger or older.
- Do I still look scary?
- [Jordan] No, I'm into the gray hair.
(Alyssa laughs) You look great.
- Okay.
Absolutely, anybody can do drag.
I mean (laughs), I'm doing it.
So if I could do it, anybody can do it.
(everyone cheering)
- Hello.
- I hear you're having some sort of a drag queen bootcamp?
- Pretty much. - We are!
- Good thing I'm here.
My name is Evian Voss, like the waters.
- Wait, did you ever see the parent trap?
- Yeah, of course
- You're kind of are giving me Evian vibes.
- Who the hell is Evian?
- She's (technical whirring)
the one that drank Evian water, the step-mom.
- Oh!
- The step-mom (laughs).
- That was quite a journey there.
- You're kinda scary in a good way.
- Oh good. Yeah, so what I'm going to do today
is we're gonna put some liner on.
We're just going to add to the situation.
- [Alyssa] Okay. - [Motoki] Sure.
So I've got some eyeliner here.
- [Alyssa] Oh, boy.
- What is your eyeliner experience?
- Just
- [Evian] Just a little? - Puttin it on.
(everyone laughs) - So when you're in drag,
you're basically painting for the back of the room.
You want to have the person in the very back,
maybe even the lobby, see you.
I'm going to need you to stand up,
because I'm just really tall.
- Yeah, we're the same.
- I feel like I'm in trouble with the principal.
- The way that I like to do it is make,
make it look like your eyes are being lifted.
You don't want anything droopy.
So follow the line of your lower lid.
Let's do it from the bottom line and head upward.
So that way it gives you a lift to your face.
- That's, I never knew that.
That's like a really, I'm like genuinely,
this isn't just for the camera (laughs).
- Well there you go, you're welcome.
Well take these tips home with you.
Well, I need you - Uh oh.
- To also feel like a drag queen as well.
- There was one more trick that I want to do, for you.
If you really want to be a drag queen.
You really have to get into a drag queen's shoes.
- [Alyssa] Uh oh. - [Motoki] I'm with it.
- [Evian] You know, take a walk in their shoes.
This is not the glamorous part of drag.
Please do not take a video of my feet.
Thank you very much.
- Not for free, at least.
- Thank you for, I'm not worthy of this.
- [Evian] Once you get the heels and the lashes on,
girl, you're a woman.
- I don't want to ruin these, wow.
- [Alyssa] Whoa.
- Oh (Motoki laughs loudly).
Where do you put your balance?
- You're going to need to find your center of balance
by maybe putting a little weight in your hip.
Okay, great. - Chest, chest out.
(record scratch) (Alyssa laughs)
- Sorry, what?
(Evian laughs)
- I know heels chest out.
That's how I get the boys.
Yeah, when you're walking make sure
you put one foot in front of the other.
There you go. Like you're on a tight rope.
Excellent, excellent!
- [Alyssa] Yep, like you're gliding.
- [Evian] Uh huh, uh huh,
you kind of look like you're on the prowl though.
It's a little questionable.
- A little too sexy,
it's like a, every
- Yeah, yeah, sexy's the word I was gonna use too.
- GTA 5 hooker.
- [Alyssa] Stick your butt out.
- [Evian] It's very Grand Theft Auto 5.
What the hell?
You actually been doing this a while?
- No (laughs) literally not.
- [Evian] Wait a minute!
- [Alyssa] Motoki you're killing it.
- Thank you, thank you.
- All right, give me my shoes back.
- No, they're mine now.
- Oh, he's a woman now!
You know, homecoming,
whenever you have to dress up for the week and it's like,
today is formal day, today is like black and white day,
today is, they didn't call it cross dressing day,
but they just said like swap day or whatever.
And so the boys would dress as girls
and the girls would dress as boys.
That was kind of my awakening for drag,
or the first time I experienced drag
and being more feminine
and playing with gender roles, really.
- I, for one, feel incredible.
- Yeah.
And you look incredible.
- Thank you.
And I know you're just saying that
so that I don't like cry.
How do you feel though?
I feel like, you know,
you had a big transformation today.
- Yeah.
I had some awakening for sure.
The second those boots came on,
I actually blacked out. - [Alyssa] I felt that.
- [Motoki] I don't even remember
anything to be honest with you.
- I mean, so we got three, three folks here.
Evian was like making me like tremble.
- Yeah, it was
- Which made me think like she's the expert.
- Slightly erotic.
- I was like, she knew exactly what she was doing.
- Yeah.
- She gave me a tip about eyeliner that not even
the most feminine woman I know
would be able to tell me about.
- One stood out to me
as somewhat of a fraud.
- Oh!
- I thought Jordan was a fraud (laughs).
- I'm in the same boat.
- But, right?
- I think she was giving it away a little bit.
- She was.
But also then I was like thinking, I was like,
maybe that's part of her like, comedic essence.
- That's a good point.
- Of just kind of being like, whatever.
- There was one point where she said like,
oh I never wear a wig.
And I was like, what?
- [Alyssa] Yes!
- But you're wearing one right now.
- What did you thinks of Miss Shu Mai?
- Well, I'm a little biased.
- That was the one who, yeah, she did you over.
- Cause I'm doing, I am the product of Miss Shu Mai.
- I mean look, she had a very personal story.
Well, let's change that right now.
- Ya let's do that.
- So far, this is kind of what we think.
- But if we're wrong, don't kill us please.
- This is my voice like,
for this outfit, like I wanna lock in the votes (laughs).
- Yeah.
- I wanna lock in the votes (laughs).
Is that good?
Should we - No.
(Alyssa clapping) - Yay!
- Hello!
- Welcome back.
- [Alyssa] Welcome.
- You look great.
Zooey De-propel.
(everyone laughs)
- [Evian] Zooey De-propel
- We love all of you,
please don't be mad if we guess wrong.
- Yeah. - We will.
- [Motoki] Oh okay, - Oh!
- You are all literally so beautiful
in the way that you did your makeup,
and the confidence was just oozing from everybody.
So we were genuinely, like, having
the hardest time picking who's who.
(Motoki sighs)
(Motoki and Alyssa throat clearing)
- We thought the expert was Evian.
- (laughs) He has a lot of confidence.
I felt like you had a really good persona.
- It was just effortless for you to be Evian.
(intense music)
(buzzer) - [Motoki and Alyssa] No!
- I should have known!
You can't really walk in those heels (laughs).
(everyone laughs loudly)
- I believe we concluded the amateur is Miss Shu Mai.
- That is what we decided (laughs).
(Evian laughs)
- Yes, that is what we decided.
- Only time will tell.
(intense music)
(buzzer)
(Miss Shu Mai gloats)
- What is that?
What is this response?
We felt that Jordan was the fraud.
And I'm sorry (laughs).
(intense music)
(buzzer)
- Oh my god! (everyone laughs)
(Motoki laughs)
- I still have no idea!
Who's who?
- Oh okay.
- Good job (clapping).
- Nice. - Okay, okay.
- We were kinda on the right track.
- All drag is valid, all bodies are valid.
Like, you don't have to pad and have like boobs
in order to be a drag queen.
As a non-binary person myself,
it's helped me really embrace
and be able to celebrate and feel so much more confident
in my natural femininity.
- Hello! - [Alyssa] Oh my gosh.
- Sorry.
(everyone laughs)
- When I first joined LA's drag scene,
I started to feel like I wasn't really good enough
to be around all the other girls
and to perform and to earn the respect.
But, the reality is I just found what I was good at
and I really love comedy and humor.
And I just started doing that in drag.
And once I took the veil off and kind of became myself
and started doing my own thing,
I noticed that people cared and people paid attention.
And that kind of got me to the next level.
(everyone laughs)
- [Motoki] Wow. - [Alyssa] Okay.
- You're, had you done drag before then?
- So I'm actually a professional makeup artist.
But it wasn't my goal to fool them.
It was more just like,
I need to stand still because I know
I cannot walk in these heels.
But I look so good.
So, I was like, if I just stand still,
nobody's going to clock this.
Nobody's gonna know.
- Thank you so much for watching
We would love to hear your comments.
- Who looked the most glamorous?
Probably me.
- I think so (both laugh).
- Don't forget to like this up
and also subscribe if you enjoyed.
Catch you on the next one.
- And don't be mad at us.