Before the queens of “RuPaul’s Drag Race” season 16 performed for invited members of the Television Academy, their guests, and the assembled media on Monday evening for an Emmy season FYC event, Michelle Visage took some time to chat. Paramount made the smart to hold this massive event at a Culver City, California public library for both tongue-in-cheek (“the library is open”) and political (the unwarranted attacks on drag queen-led story hours) reasons. It was decidedly not glamorous and Visage, perhaps one of the most public and loyal allies of the queer community, could have cared less. She loves the art form. She loves the community. Spend five minutes with her and it’s clear she could talk about the show, and ballroom, and drag for hours on end.
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Visage also happens to be incredibly busy. The woman is a hustler of the first order, and that’s a sincere compliment. The three-time Emmy Award winner is a permanent judge on “Drag Race,” “RuPaul’s Drag Race: All Stars,” “RuPaul’s Drag Race UK,” “Drag Race UK vs the World,” and, “Drag Race Down Under,” where she took over as host for her good friend Ru a few months ago (more on that later). Plus, she hosts the “Drag Race” after-show “Watcha Packin’” and is usually doing something either on screen or on the stage in the U.K. for whatever remaining few weeks she has a year. But, her position on the venerable reality competition show has given her a front seat to what she accurately describes as the “evolution” of an art form. And it reached another creative peak with season 16, reportedly the show’s “most watched” to date.
“Drag evolves like everything else does. It’s just evolution,” Visage says. “So, how we started out was like old-school drag. And we started moving forward and then YouTube and TikTok and Instagram and all these things are outlets and teachers for these queens to learn how to do it at home. So, 11-year-olds were watching ‘RuPaul’s Drag Race,’ learning how to paint their face that make it onto the show now. And it’s like they’ve manifested it by working hard at that, but they haven’t gotten out there to do the hard yards, the clubs. So, there’s all these certain things that we’re used to old school drag queens doing. The newer breed doesn’t do as much, but there are plenty that still do as they come up.”
During our conversation, Visage professes her love for a TV “villain” such as Season 16’s Plane Jane, how much time she had to prepare to take over hosting “Down Under,” whether she’d ever appear on the upcoming celebrity version of “The Traitors U.K.,” and clarifies her love and hate for the color…green (prepare yourselves Charli xcx fans).
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The Playlist: You shoot so many seasons of “Drag Race” a year.
Michelle Visage: Yes!
Do you have to take notes? Do you take notes on each season so you don’t forget? Or is your memory that good?
My memory is not that good. Do I take notes on each season? No. Maybe I should. It’s a good idea. I wish I thought of that.
What do you remember of this one, “RuPaul’s Drag Race” season 16?
I remember them all being really, really good. This is one of the finals where I said, and it doesn’t happen a lot, where I said, “Anybody could win and I’d be fine. I’d be fine.” More times than not, I’m committed to one. This is one where I would’ve been happy if any of them won. I love them all for different reasons.
Granted, you’re traveling all over the world, you’re shooting different seasons. Do you try to rewatch the episodes beforehand or while they’re airing?
I do. I try. You’re right. Depending on where I am and not even the time zone. It’s like when it gets loaded on what streaming platform. I can’t watch it because I’m abroad. Then I have a VPN and you do all the magic. That’s the truth. I do my very best to watch them because let us not forget that I’m there for the judging portion of it and sometimes directing, sometimes being part of it, sometimes in the werkroom, but not really. So, when I see it, I don’t know the storylines. I don’t know if you’re a villain. I don’t know what happened to you in your childhood. I don’t know these things. I only know that you’re on the main stage doing this challenge and I like it or I don’t.
So, after what you experienced on the main stage, were you surprised that Plane Jane had a reputation as a villain?
I had no idea. So when I watched it, I was like, what is she doing? I was here for it though. That’s camp, that’s drag. I mean, I love a villain. I love an ingenue. I love all the roles I do. That’s what makes a TV show.
What do you enjoy about doing this job, what, 300 days a year?
What is not to enjoy? Everything. There’s not a minute that I take for granted. I love it all. Can you imagine a job – and I’m being serious – how lucky I am that I get to sit next to my best friend who I laugh with all the time, who I’m with anyway, we get to travel together, we get to laugh on an airplane. I get to sit down next to him and then we get to watch the most entertaining show in the world for a living. So I mean, I know how can you be upset with that. Not a second.
Plus you get paid too.
And I get paid. Not a second goes over my head
This season in particular, was there anything else that you remember that stood out about these queens besides the finale? Did you feel their runways were more interesting? Were they more interesting lip-syncers? Is there anything that popped to you while recording it?
You can’t say that because every single time I see a queen it pops. So I think for me, what changes every season is the obvious. It’s the queen. So, if you meet a new person, you’re going to have a different reaction. And that’s what I go off of the visceral gut reaction that I have when I see a queen for the first time. And especially, there’s pretty much nothing I haven’t seen at this point. And there’s things that drive me crazy at this point, which we all know a leotard, chaps…
Green.
Green! I’m O.K. with it.
You’re O.K. with green?
I’ve always been O.K. with it. It just turned into something [in the legacy of the show]. Certain greens I’m not O.K. with. So, it’s just how they do things now to make it different and make it stand out, that really excites me. So when I do see something new, it’s like what? Yes, yes.
Do you remember any of the runways this season being particularly impressive to you?
To call one out in particular? No. I can’t because I’ve just done three other seasons. so, that’s not on [this season’s cast].
I do have a question for you about U.S. queens in general. In theory, this season is now in the third generation of “Drag Race.” There was the first era that were you joined a judge. Then there was sort of that middle era between the program transitioning from Logo to VH1 and now we’re in this post-Covid sort of era of queens. How do you think these queens are different than the queens from five years ago, the Queens 10 years ago, or even 15 years ago?
I can say one word and that is evolution, my friend. We evolve. We evolve as humans. Art always evolves. Fashion evolves. Interior design evolves. If you think about it, we’re in kind of a nostalgia zone right now where I’m decorating a home right now, and all of me is just 1980s. I’m just in that zone and I’m O.K. with it. I actually love it. So drag evolves like everything else does. It’s just evolution. So, how we started out was like old-school drag. And we started moving forward and then YouTube and TikTok and Instagram and all these things are outlets and teachers for these queens to learn how to do it at home. So, 11-year-olds were watching “RuPaul’s Drag Race,” learning how to paint their face that make it onto the show now. And it’s like they’ve manifested it by working hard at that, but they haven’t gotten out there to do the hard yards, the clubs. So, there’s all these certain things that we’re used to old school drag queens doing. The newer breed doesn’t do as much, but there are plenty that still do as they come up.
Is there one thing about U.S. “Drag Race” now that season three-judge Michelle Visage wouldn’t have believed even in her wildest dreams?
Oh my God. The massiveness of it. The impact. I never doubted for a second that the show would have a cult follow because I’ve been a drag fan for as long as I can remember. I’ve been obsessed with it. When people in the community thought I was crazy for being obsessed with it, it was that drag was never “it” in New York City. It was always like, “Girl, you’re crazy. Why do you love it so much?” Drag queens were always there as a fixture, but it was never a thing. I’ve always been obsessed with it. So for me, I guess that season three Michelle Visage could never have imagined the impact. And seeing Ru do all of this for me, for somebody who’s been with him for many, many years, it’s so wonderful to see that for my friend.
That’s awesome. Your friend was also nice enough to take off some time for you to be able to host the upcoming season of “Down Under”
Yes! To have a number one bestselling book on the New York Times Bestseller List.
How much heads up did you get about the gig? Did you have any time to even mentally prepare for “Hey, I’m going into this, I have to do eight, 10 episodes”?
I had about a month. Ru was like, “I can’t make this work and there’s nobody else I want to do it. Will you please do it?” Not even will you. It was kind of like, “You’re going to do this right?” And I was like, “Yeah, absolutely.” And I just called my stylist right away. I was like, ” [Scream] We got to get on this because I’m doing this.”And it was like that type of thing. I didn’t really have time to stress about it too much and worry and think about what if I fail and let those voices enter. So. I just went and did it. I just did it.
You’ve done what, 20, 30, or more seasons of “Drag Race” where you’ve strictly been a judge. Did you have to change your demeanor and how you took the center space as host?
You know what? you would think, but I didn’t. I’m still me. I feel like I have a balance between mother and critic and that’s how I raised my own children. That’s how I was raised by my Brooklyn-born mother. So, I can only be me. So, when I came to get the job as the host the only thing I know how to be is me. So, I didn’t really change. I brought the same person to the hosting position.
And if you were to tease this upcoming season of “Down Under” with just one word…
I don’t know about one word, but I can say quite confidently, that this is the strongest season we’ve had. The caliber of queens, of personalities.
I know you would never do the U.S. version but they’re going to do a celebrity version of “The Traitors U.K.” Considering your experience in U.K. reality television, would you do it?
No. No. I told [“Traitors U.K.” host] Claudia Winkleman when she’s done hosting I’ll host. I would host it. I would love to host it. But Claudia is my friend. I’m not trying to take her job. I’m just saying no, I have done my job. I did the shows that I wanted to do as a competitor. I wanted to do “Strictly Come Dancing.” I would love to do “Dancing With the Stars” here. It’s because these are things I want to do. I did “Celebrity Big Brother U.K.” to get a “RuPaul’s Drag Race UK.” That’s why I did it. The only reason, and it took I think four or five years after that to even get it done. I didn’t want to be in that house. I did it because I wanted the attention for our show to get made. And it got made. It worked. So no, I wouldn’t do that. I would host “The Traitors.” I love Claudia. I would never take her job, but I wouldn’t want to be a competitor in anything else apart from “Dancing With the Stars.”
Two last questions, because I am such a fan of it, and just speculating, do you think we’ll get a third season of “Drag Race UK vs the World”?
I don’t know this, but I would say “Yeah.”
O.K.
Because it’s so good. I don’t know this right? I am just manifesting it with you.
We’re manifesting it together.
Together. Yes! It’s so good, isn’t it?
Yes. So fun. La Grande Dame is one of my favorites.
How amazing is she! Amazing. She’s utterly incredible. Obsessed.
And finally, my last question and I’ve got to back to green. The green on Charlie xcx’s album art for “Brat.” Is that a good green or not?
Not Michelle Visage Green is a yellow-based green. I like jade. I like emerald green. I like jewel tones. I like hunter green. I like forest green. I do not like any “green screen” green. Anything yellow-based.
I think that’s the Charli xcx green. [Laughs.]
“RuPaul’s Drag Race” season 16 is available on MTV and for purchase on iTunes and Amazon Prime Video.