The Big Picture

Dropout TV’s queer-friendly content continues with
Monét’s Slumber Party
, featuring drag queens, queer celebrities, comedians, and more.
Monét’s collaboration with Dropout led to the creation of this new variety series, developed through a collaborative process.
The show’s set design and games are carefully curated, providing a celebratory space for queer voices.

If you’re a fan of any Dropout series, you know that the platform that has emerged out of the remains of College Humor is filled with a wide range of cool and nerdy content. From Dimension 20, a series of Dungeons and Dragons TTRPG shows, to a wide range of game shows — including one that features a new format every episode — the streamer has something for everyone. And you may have noticed, as Dropout continues to expand, it’s become an even more safe and celebratory space for the queer community.

Following the release of Dungeons and Drag Queens, Dropout has continued working with stars like Monét X Change on new and exciting content. Now, Monét is launching her new variety series on the platform as she invites audiences to Monét’s Slumber Party. Billed as the “gayest party ever” the new series will feature a variety of games and segments with guests like Dropout mainstays such as Brennan Lee Mulligan or Grant O’Brien, as well as other drag artists like Bob the Drag Queen and Alaska Thunderfuck, along with comedians and queer celebrities like Adam Rippon, Rachel Bloom, and more! To celebrate the show’s premiere on Dropout I sat down with Monét to get all the tea on how the show came to be and what we can expect from the new series. You can read our full conversation below or watch it in the player above.

What Is ‘Monét’s Slumber Party’?
Image via Kate Elliott/Dropout

COLLIDER: I loved the first episode, and I’ve really been enjoying the slow but steady integration of drag queens into the programming at Dropout. How did that partnership first come about, and what made you want to get involved with Dropout?

MONÉT X CHANGE: The first time was Dungeons and Drag Queens Season 1. I don’t quite know how Dungeons and Drag Queens happened but thank our lucky stars it did. It was such an amazing season and such an amazing show to work on. Then, kind of like I did with my first talk show, The X Change Rate, I had done something to build, and at the end of Dungeons and Drag Queens, I got David Kerns and Kyle’s emails, and I emailed them, and I said, “Hey, I used to have a talk show called The X Change Rate.” I was like, “Let’s do something like that on Dropout,” just shooting my shot, right? And they were like, “Okay.”

I sent them all the information for The X Change Rate, and they were like, “We’re not looking for a talk show, but maybe we can think of something else.” We had a few meetings, we brainstormed some ideas, we came up with Monét’s Slumber Party, and then we all created it together. Now, here we have this beautiful show that I’m so beyond proud of because, number one, not only is the show really great and it’s really funny, but I feel like, ethically, I’m working with such a great group of people to work with. They’re just such a dream to work with. Everyone there, cast and crew, is so great, and I just love this show so much.

Excellent. I was wondering if you went to Dropout with the concept. So it’s a collaborative experience that you guys did.

MONÉT X CHANGE: Yes, Slumber Party was a collaborative experience. We came up with it together. We had a bunch of meetings, we chatted, and we talked. “What about this? What about this idea? What would you like to do?” And it became Slumber Party.

I love that. I love the whole concept for this series. It’s sort of a bit of wish fulfillment because, as queer people, we don’t always necessarily get to have the sleepovers you see in movies when we’re growing up.

MONÉT X CHANGE: Exactly.

How did you land on this concept?

MONÉT X CHANGE: It’s a little bit of that. Growing up, I wanted to go to slumber parties, but I was always afraid that I would get a boner for the really hot guy that I had to sleep next to, so I didn’t really participate for fear of outing myself. But I always wanted to go to slumber parties with my girlfriends and just hang out. This show gives that vibe, but, as I do, in a very New York City sensitivity way. It’s just a bunch of queer people having cocktails and talking about real things, about love, life, sex, happiness, joy, sadness, all those things, and guests come over.

I think what really sold me on the idea was when they brought about the idea of having this puppet character, and I was like, “I love that!” Like, give me Pee-Wee’s Playhouse. I’m so down. It’s a really interesting thing that I don’t think I’ve seen done in recent memory, or ever maybe, that there’s a queer show this way, featuring these elements. So, I think it’s different, and it makes me very excited about it.

Absolutely. I loved the inclusion of the puppet and Mama, as well. Can you talk about having Mitch and Mama be co-hosts with you as mainstay elements on the show?

MONÉT X CHANGE: You look at any of these late shows and there’s always a sidekick kind of character, and I was like, “Why have one when we can have two?” Mitch and Mama add so much. Both of the actors are so hilarious, Jonathan Kidder and Priscilla Davies, and they both injected so much personality and gave the show so much life. Again, I’m all about making your thing special, and I think that having these characters makes the show special and makes it the thing that people want to come back for because it’s a different thing. I love having those characters on the show.

I loved Mitch asking for help taking a dick pic. That is just such a crazy intro.

MONÉT X CHANGE: I mean, don’t we all? Sometimes you see them, and you’re like, “Who helped you take that picture?” If someone sends you, like, a cute booty pic, I’m like, “How did you get that angle?”

“This is highly produced.” [Laughs]

MONÉT X CHANGE: Yeah! Who knew all along it was Mitch out there helping folks take their nudes successfully?

How Monét X Change Created the Perfect Slumber Party Fantasy for Dropout
Image via Kate Elliott/Dropout

The set design for this show is like something out of a fever dream, in my opinion. It’s so gorgeous, and I love the colors. Can you talk a bit about creating the space for Monét’s Slumber Party?

MONÉT X CHANGE: I guess I will call him my COO, the chief operating officer of Monét x Change Industries, Patrick [Minor], we developed this color palette of colors that I like to work with a lot and use a lot. So, we sent the team this color palette, and we’re like, “Let’s create something in this world.” And, obviously, because of my name, Monét, we try to use a lot of those puns and a lot of those virtues throughout the set, and things that I love, like my vanity. And again, the thing I wished I could have done as a kid, have just a bunch of hot guys on my bedroom wall, but I didn’t, so we wanted to put that in there. We had like a nice cityscape in the window.

We went back and forth on a lot of iterations. Our beautiful, beautiful, amazing set designer, she would come back with a lot of really great ideas, and we would fine-tune and tweak, and, “Maybe try more of this…” So it was just a collaborative effort, and helped create the space that felt very me and looked very charming and also cool. I wanted to have a cool bedroom like Zack Morris or Kelly Kapowski from Saved by the Bell. So, I think we succeeded in my version of that.

It’s so stunning. I wanna hang out there. You also have so many fun, slumber-party fantasy looks that you’re turning for the show. How did you come up with each look for each episode, and do you have a favorite?

MONÉT X CHANGE: Oh, my favorite is definitely the pajama set — the pinstripe white and sherbert-y orange color. I thought it was this nice, oversized thing from my amazing, amazing, amazing stylist team. There were three people who worked on the show, and they really, really, really did a great job of getting elements that I felt sexy and cool in. Honestly, one of them I found on my own from Amazon. Listen, everything doesn’t need to be something from Gaultier or whoever. That’s nice, whatever, but I’m like, “No, I’m a real-ass girl, and sometimes I buy my clothes from Amazon, and that’s what you’re gonna get.” It’s just true to me. It’s how I would dress myself.

Luckily, the stylists are like, “Okay, Monét, not everything can be from Amazon. We can also get some nice things from Neiman Marcus.” [Laughs] So they were definitely helpful in achieving that vision. But I like a nice high-low, you know what I mean? You can have some nice elements and cheap. I mean, the wig is always expensive. Each one of the wigs I wore was at least $1,500 for just some hair. So, we like to mix it up and make it all fun and economical when it needs to be.

I love that everybody is arriving in pajamas, and I feel like I need to up my pajama game now and actually invest in them.

MONÉT X CHANGE: [Laughs] You know, that’s funny. We were talking about what the guests were gonna wear, and they said they pajama thing, and I was like, “Guys, I don’t think people are gonna wear their pajamas.” Every guest would come, and they were like, “Thank god, I’m so happy I got to wear pajamas.” I was like, “Yeah, I know, right? That’s what I think too!” [Laughs] But I’m happy everyone was on board. I thought people would be like, “Girl, I’m not gonna be on set in pajamas,” but everyone did it, and everyone looked great.

Who can resist being cute and comfortable?

MONÉT X CHANGE: You know what I mean.

What Kind of Games Will Be Featured in ‘Monét’s Slumber Party’?
Image via Kate Elliott/Dropout

[Laughs] Exactly. So there’s a pretty fun musical number in that first episode. Are you guys actually gonna use that as the theme song?

MONÉT X CHANGE: You know, you’ll have to wait and see. I don’t want to give anything away, but maybe that song will come back. You have to wait and see about the little, “How much does it cost? Monét!”

It’s so catchy. It’s been stuck in my head all weekend.

MONÉT X CHANGE: It’s a good song. It’s really good. Alaska [Thunderfuck]’s verse, no surprise to anyone, Alaska is such a great songstress, so hers is so good.

Absolutely. That segment did seem to play specifically to the guests’ strengths, especially Rachel [Bloom] and Alaska, who are known for their campy lyrics. Are the games for each episode sort of catered to the talent that you have?

MONÉT X CHANGE: We came up with a lot of these games before we knew who the talent was. When we were casting each episode, I think there was an element of that that we wanted to definitely– Like, Rachel Bloom, she had an entire show, so, of course, I wanted to have a music episode. So Alaska and so Jujubee, as well. We wanted to definitely put people where their strengths were, but all of these games were created before we ever had a cast. It just all lucked out that people were able to do the episode that we wanted them to do.

The stars aligned. Will there be more musical numbers in the coming season?

MONÉT X CHANGE: Music adjacent, yes. And if there aren’t enough music challenges in this season, y’all, you just have to ask for Season 2. A Season 2, we can definitely honor your request of more music episodes, for sure.

Excellent. With each of the games in the trailer for the full series, it looks like you guys are playing tons of different things. Are any of these games going to be recurring segments, or is it all new each time?

MONÉT X CHANGE: No, the games are all new each time. There are some segments in there that are recurring, but the games are all new each time. We have segments, like “Love, Monét” and “Reader Round Table,” that are mainstays, that happen consistently throughout the episodes, but all the big games, like “Don’t Wake Leather Daddy,” all these games are ones are different every episode.

That’s so fun. I also really loved the “Love, Monét” section, so I’m excited that that’s gonna come through each time.

MONÉT X CHANGE: I love hearing about people’s conundrums in love because we all have them. We all have some version of that, so I love, love, love, love, love that segment. I love hearing what people are going through.

It also gives a really good bit of engagement with the audience so they can see themselves getting those questions answered from such wonderful people.

MONÉT X CHANGE: Exactly. For sure.

With all of the fun games coming up, do you have a favorite that you’re looking forward to fans seeing the most?

MONÉT X CHANGE: I think “Don’t Wake Leather Daddy” was such a fun twist on that game we would see on morning cartoons: “Don’t wake Daddy!” Those are really fun games, so I love “Don’t Wake Leather Daddy.” It was so chaotic, it was so ridiculous, and, of course, whenever Bob [the Drag Queen] is involved, a lot of ridiculosity and chaos is bound to happen. “Don’t Wake Leather Daddy” was definitely one I’m happy we did with him there. It was insane.

How Monét X Change Landed Such a Star-Studded Lineup for Her New Dropout Series

You and Bob have such a great podcast together and a great working relationship. How did you go about recruiting Bob for the show?

MONÉT X CHANGE: Bob and I are both each other’s favorite drag queens. So anytime we’re doing a project, I’ll literally just call and be like, “Hey, what are you doing on Tuesday? Great! We’ll send a car and you’ll be there. You’re gonna be a guest on my show. Thank you so much. Have a good day.” It’s always that energy. So, it was just a confirmation. He was touring with Madonna at that time, actually. How the shooting schedule ended up working, he ended up being in LA for the LA dates of Madonna, so it worked out perfectly.

I love that. I’m very excited about that episode. You have so many amazing guests coming up. Can you talk a bit about who all you have coming and who you’re excited to share these episodes with?

MONÉT X CHANGE: Oh my god, we had people like Atsuko Okatsuka, we had Brennan Lee Mulligan, who is the freaking Beyoncé of Dungeons & Dragons. Brennan was a part of the show, Naomi Smalls, Kim Chi. I definitely wanted to have drag. I’m like, “I am a drag queen.” Drag is such a big part of my identity, and I love my queens, so we had as many queens as we could, as possible. We even had local girls, like Meatball, who is not a Drag Race girl. She’s a Dragula, but I think Meatball is so funny. So, having just all different types of queer folks. Roger Mendez is a trans comedian who is freaking hilarious. So, just all different types of queer folk are involved in this show because I think it’s very important to always edify and lift up queer voices and queer spaces. That’s definitely something that made me very proud to be a part of this show, that the powers that be were in agreement with that. That makes me very happy.

As a queer person myself, I love seeing more TV shows where I can see my people. It’s so important.

MONÉT X CHANGE: Totally.

I love that in this first episode, you even get a little appearance from Sam Reich. Involving him in each little segment seems so fun. He’s ever-present at Dropout. What was it like having him on the show?

MONÉT X CHANGE: Fun fact, I knew the name Sam Reich, but I didn’t know what Sam Reich looked like, so when he did that cameo on the episode, I had no idea that he was Mr. Dropout. Obviously, what he’s done with Dropout is amazing. I was actually watching this YouTube thing about why Dropout is so dope and so fierce, and a lot of it is because of him. So, to have him just be an instant casual bystander on this episode, me having no idea who he was, was lovely. And for him giving me the chance to have this show, right? He was perfectly lovely, and he played along with the game. Sam was great.

Monét X Change Breaks Down a Day on the Set of a Dropout Series
Image via Kate Elliott/Dropout

Excellent. I love the entire vibe of this show. Can you give us a glimpse behind the curtain of what a filming day is like for an episode?

MONÉT X CHANGE: So we did two episodes a day. My call time on set was, like, eight, and we’ll go ahead and film the first episode by, like, 10:30 or 11:00, and we finished by, like, 1:00 or 1:30. We’d get lunch, and then we would do it again for the next episode, and be done by, like, 6:00 or 7:00. We did that for three days straight. It was a lot to get done, but again, it is because the crew is amazing. Everyone’s been so attentive.

I’ve done a lot of TV, things and filming, and this and the other, and people do not always take care of the drag. They don’t realize that drag is different beats. So, when everyone gets to go 10-1, which is an industry term for “to go to number one,” “to go pee,” they don’t realize I’m in drag, so that five-minute 10-1 break — it’s not gonna work for me because I have to go back there, I have to take nails off, I have to take a corset off. My 10-1 break is more like a 20-minute process. So, Dropout is really conscious of that. And I think the more that they work with drag queens, they’ve gotten really great at identifying a lot of these things, which again is reason 417 why they’re such a great company to work for. There are some companies that work with drag a lot, and they still don’t always treat the queens as queens, so I appreciate that in Dropout. It’s definitely something that made this experience amazing on these very long shoot days. That’s from 8:00 am to 8:00 pm — that’s a 12-hour shoot day.

I love that. It really shows that they care about who is on these shows and what content they’re making. It’s not just about making the content, it’s about the people.

MONÉT X CHANGE: Exactly.

You have been on quite a few Dropout shows now, from Dimension 20 to Um, Actually. I was wondering if there are any other Dropout shows that you will appear on in the future or want to appear on in the future? This is my very thinly-veiled attempt to get you on Game Changer because I love Game Changer.

MONÉT X CHANGE: Okay, I want to get on Game Changer. I heard Game Changer is incredible. I’d love to do Game Changer. What I’m crossing my fingers for is that there is a Dungeons and Drag Queens Season 2.

Yes!

MONÉT X CHANGE: Season 1 was so cool and so dope. I want to continue on our campaign, if the powers of the Lordt in the sky allow it to happen. And yeah, I would love to do some more Dungeons and Drag Queens. It made me fall in love with Dungeons & Dragons, so I would be so down for Season 2.

I love that so much. Everyone in my own little fruity D&D chat is so obsessed. We were actually wondering what were those shoot days like and what was it like getting to play D&D and entering that world?

MONÉT X CHANGE: Those were long shoot days, too, because we did two episodes again, also, for those days. Similar to Slumber Party, they were about 12-hour shoot days. The thing that didn’t feel long about those is because Brennan is such an excellent storyteller. It was our first time experiencing it the D20 way, and just to see the story unfold how it did. We would play straight for about two and half to three hours each time, and then we’d take a lunch break and then do it again. Right after we finished the episode, we would film Adventure Party where we would talk about what just happened in the episode. So it was always so fresh and so exciting just to see the real, live freaking tears that were happening and like how emotional it got. I don’t think any of us were expecting to get emotional or to feel the emotion in a Dungeons & Dragons campaign.

They told us, and we were like, “Okay, yeah, girl. Whatever” Then cut to Episode 2, we were all like, [crying] “Okay, girl, whatever.” It was an amazing time.

And Brennan has such an incredible ability to tell a story that you just get pulled in.

MONÉT X CHANGE: I want him to read my obituary when I die.

Drag and Dropout Are a Match Made in Gay Heaven

I would listen to Brennan read anything. You also absolutely bodied your episode of Um, Actually. Would you return and defend your crown?

MONÉT X CHANGE: I’d love going back to defend my crown where I have made these other contestants my sons, as Nicki Minaj would say. Um, Actually was such a fun game and I think I really did a good job. I would. Yes, I would absolutely do a Season 2, for sure.

Dropout also recently aired their first stand-up special with Hank Green. Is that something that you would do with Dropout maybe in the future?

MONÉT X CHANGE: I didn’t know that! Yes, I would absolutely do that. Stand-up is what I’ve been doing over the past three years, and it’s been so fun. Actually, this fall I’m going back into my stand-up world and doing some new material and getting some more stand-up stuff done to record a special for next year. Yeah, I would absolutely do that. I didn’t know that they did specials. That’s amazing.

I think this is the first one, as far as I know, and so it’s very exciting and new.

MONÉT X CHANGE: Yeah, for sure.

Looking forward to the rest of the season of Slumber Party, what are you most excited for fans to see about this world that you’ve created?

MONÉT X CHANGE: I’m most excited for fans to see the fun that we all had doing the show. I think that that’s something that all the guests said to me when they were leaving. They were like, “Oh my god, this is so fun!” I’m like, “Yeah, I agree.” And I hope that when people watch the show, they feel that vibe, they feel that energy, and they see that we are just out there having a good old queer-ass time. I want people to feel the dopeness, the fineness, and the creativity that we all exhibited in our storytelling, in our answering questions, and in our advice. I want people to feel all of that.

I’m very much looking forward to the rest of the season and I can’t wait for everyone else to also see what you’ve created. I think it’s such an important fun show. In the world that we’re in, at this point, we need more fun, queer content, and I’m really appreciative of you spearheading that here and creating an even bigger presence for queer people at Dropout.

MONÉT X CHANGE: Thank you so much. That truly means a lot to me, and I’m happy to create the content. If people will watch it, if people are gonna click, I will be there to create it.

The first episode of Monét’s Slumber Party is available now on Dropout.

Watch on Dropout