Gay&Night-ZiZo April 2014

Sissy
that
walk
What can we say about
RuPaul’s Drag Race at
this point? It’s probably
the best reality show
on TV, it has changed
the way the audience
perceives the art of drag
and it has given the gay
community enough oneliners
to last more than
a decade. With season 6
underway and auditions
for season 7 already
announced, it was about
time to catch up with the
original drag superstar
RuPaul, and
ask her exactly how to
‘sissy that walk’.
TEXT: MARTIJN TULP
PHOTOS: MATHU ANDERSEN
Last time we spoke, season 1
of Drag Race had just started
airing in the Netherlands. It’s
almost ve years later now.
Did you ever expect the show
to achieve the level of success
that it has?
Hell yeah, of course! I mean, I go into
everything thinking ‘this is going to be
a great success, people are gonna love
it as much as I love it’. Of course, that’s
not always the case. But I would never
go into something thinking ‘this will
never work’. I always think everything
is gonna work.
How do you feel the show has
grown over the years?
We had to set a precedent in the
beginning, set a vernacular for the audience
to follow. We started, but now
they’re up to speed, and they know
the tone, the rhythm of what our voice
is. That’s how it’s changed. We’ve
been able to become more twisted
along the way, which is so much fun.
Nobody wants to drag around their
slower little brother, you know? Now
our little brother is all grown up, and
we can take him to all the places that
we want to go.
The show has denitely had
its eff ect on drag culture and
on the way the mainstream
views the art of drag. Is that
something you’ve noticed as
well?
Oh yeah! Gay culture has always
influenced pop culture, but there’s
usually been a ten-year gap. It was a
slow trickle. But now, because of social
media, and because of our show, they
get it much faster. It infiltrates the
language, fashion, other reality shows.
We have a reality show called The Real
Housewives here; those women end
up behaving and taking on a lot of our
language. But that’s true of gay culture
throughout history: gay people
have always influenced pop culture.
We know there’s been some
mutual irting going on with
Lady Gaga: she’s been very
vocal about being a fan of the
show and wanting to be a
judge, and you appeared on
her holiday special. But she’s
RuPaul on season 6 of Drag Race
not listed as a season 6 judge.
What’s happening there?
We filmed season 6 way before I appeared
on her holiday special. The
main reason she hasn’t been on – and
we’ve asked her every single season –
is scheduling. That’s always a big pain
in our necks. Everybody’s working.
Our judges are there for a long time.
What ends up being on the TV show
is only a fragment compared to the
amount of time it takes to be there
and film it. It’s a huge commitment,
and a lot of people don’t have that
kind of time.
As host, mentor and judge,
which of the staple challenges
(like the snatch game, the
acting challenge, the sewing
challenge, etc.) do you usually
look forward to the most?
Oh, I love Snatch Game! I think the
Snatch Game really does test the girls’
ability to be quick on their feet. That’s
what that challenge is really all about.
You get to see what their pop culture
references are, and how able they
are to riff and be funny on the spot,
in a character. It really tests their pop
culture history, and their drag history.
They’re both closely related. Drag
has always been a commentary. Drag
mocks things that all culture takes seriously.
So it’s important to know what
it is you’re mocking, you know?
Which do you think you would
have been exceptionally good
at, if you were a contestant?
All of them! [laughs] That’s why my
name is on the credits! I’ve done every
single one of those challenges. In fact,
all of the challenges are based on
what I’ve done in my career. I’ve been
doing this for 32 years. If you want
longevity – not just in a drag career,
but in any career on the planet – you
have to be able to adapt. That’s what
humans have over any other animals:
our adaptability. Especially in show
26