January 2, 2023 • 33 mins
The royalty is here! Alec and Loni welcome the UK’s Next Drag Superstar, Danny Beard. Taking time while backstage on tour, Danny reflects on winning the crown, her favorite moments and what’s next. They all talk about the importance of treating people with kindness and respect. Ever wondered how the UK and American drag scenes differ? Danny has you covered. Plus, if you thought keeping a beard while doing drag is lazy, think again!
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Speaker 1 (00:06):
Hello, Hello, Hello, and welcome to another episode of Squirrel Friends,
the Official RuPaul's Drag Race Podcast. If we talk about
all things RuPaul's Drag Race, and we're so excited today,
and by we, I mean me and America's sister, the
Queen of show Business, Lonnie Love. I am so excited
because you know, what do you think about Alex Mappa
(00:28):
Squirrel Friends is that he watches all of the drag races.
I don't do anything else. And he was so excited
about the UK. You know, Dreg, I'm like, you know,
because I'm an American girl, I'm like, I love the
American ones. But Alec has been talking about the drag
Race UK and has been raving about all the queens,
(00:50):
but especially this queen named Danny Beer. So we're gonna
surprise Alec because we have Danny Beer today. Good Danny Beard,
bearded queen, winner of season four is here today. Lonnie.
I started watching, yeah, and you were right. I mean,
this queen is like now I have to start. I
(01:13):
have to go back and watch the old episodes at
the very very beginning, because when I say the looks phenomenal,
the personality, the inspiration, the stories, I mean, just a great,
great winner for UK. This is a great season. I'm
gonna name drop when I last time I saw Michelle
Visage UK season four hadn't come out yet, and she
(01:35):
told me, I'm not gonna tell you anything, but you
were gonna fall in love with this cast and this cast,
you know they had. The three top queens were cheddar gorgeous,
amazing looks, Black Pepper, Black supermodel girl that I was
telling you about, absolutely gorgeous, and Danny Beard. Now you
were in the United Kingdom not that long ago. You
were in Ireland. Have you been to London? Have you
(01:56):
spent some time in the United Kingdom. I love London,
I love I love Europe, but um, London is very
very to me. They're more outgoing with their fashion, much
more experimental, alternative, and that's what I saw this season
on Drag Race U K. You're absolutely right. I was
(02:16):
just I was just amazed at the fashions and I'm like,
I gotta go all the way back and look at
the other seasons because it's just phenomenal. What were in London?
Were you working or were you on vacation? No, I
was working in London. We actually I was on the
West End. I was in a play and nice. Yeah,
you were in the West End and it was it
(02:41):
was a great experience. And you know, I met the
wonderful people of the UK, and you know, I met
a lot of queens over there, and there's something about
them when we talk about entertainment and loving entertainment and
knowing who they are and not trying to be something
that they see everybody else being themselves there themselves. They're individuals,
(03:04):
if I can say it like that, and that's what
makes them unique, and that's what makes this UK version
is totally different from the American series. And it was
just a great series. So back it up here for
a second. You were in a play at in the
West End. I want to know what play it was?
How long it ran? Oh? This was this was like
ten years ago. Yes, it was like over the Moon
(03:28):
and it was me and it was some young up
and coming performers and I just you know, how you
just do things Because I've never been in London, I
ain't ever been awhere, i ain't been out the project
and the West End is Broadway that it was their Broadway,
and it was just it was an experience I have
(03:49):
to get back there. I've done comedy over in London,
and their sense of humor is very different. Yes, it's
very they say they take the piss out of everything.
They're very they're very self deprecating, and they also don't
like they don't like when people put on airs exactly.
And that's why I killed over there. I'm very self deprecating, right.
(04:11):
I also love how diverse London is. Like every time
I get off the plane there, I'm like, this is
a black city, this is the Indian city, this is
the African city. Like it's really like, I'm always like
so surprised and delighted by it. It's so much fun
over there. Well, our producers were able to snag Danny
(04:32):
Beard actually performing, but she took time out of her
performance to talk to us. So that's why I'm excited.
I can't wait for this interview. I know Alec is
gonna lose it, so we're gonna take a quick break
and we're gonna come right back with Danny Beard. Whoa,
(04:57):
and we're back, squirrel friends, We have Royalty with us today. Royalty.
She is hilarious, fashionable and is the first bearded queen
to win a season of drag Race and looking at
the zoom video we're using right now, she doesn't look
that orange today. Please work into the program. UK's next
drag Superstar, the winner of season four, Danny Beard. Danny Ahead. Well,
(05:23):
first of all, congratulations, congratulation. I have become big fans
watching you on the UK. Actually, Alec was the one
he watches all of the drag races, and when he
told me about you, I actually started watching. Thank you
so much, honestly, and I've seen you on the show
as well, and I never thought anyone like me would
(05:47):
ever be on this show. So to hear people say
not only have they watched it, or like because of me,
or they've watched it and they love me, it's like,
it's crazy because drag Race shows the person behind the persona.
People get to fall in love with that side of you,
and that's something in my tenure career as a queen
I've never had. So it's been the most crazy. How
(06:11):
many weeks I don't even know how many weeks it's been,
I've gone straight on the road. I don't even know
me asked from the elbow, kind of swear on here,
just yeah, I drop the C bomb don't worry, guys,
quite clean. Listen. We had Bender La Crema on the
show and he was talking about how in the beginning
of drag people just did it because they loved it.
There was never any expectation to be famous. And you
(06:33):
said yourself that now you never thought somebody like you
would ever be on the show. How has the experience
being since the show aired for you? Was it immediate?
The response, I'm exactly the same as Bender that like, yeah,
the reaction has been crazy. I didn't expect to have
messages from all around the world, you know, new fans
(06:54):
from all around the world. That is still so nuts
to me. It's really not to me that I'm going
shopping in like local shops and the people know me,
and it's I'm on tour at the moment across the
UK and I'm everywhere ago people are like, oh my god,
it's you. Like the amount of people that watch Drag
Race of the UK, it's surpassed Drag Race. Just Drag
Race fans now and middle aged moms and granny's and
(07:18):
I've literally just come upstairs from a meet and greet
to join this this wonderful call. And the variation in
people is crazy. It's touching so many people and so
many people get something from it. It's honestly been a
pleasure to do and I'm still not I don't think
my feet have touched the ground yet. I really don't
think my feet have touched the ground yet. It's been
(07:40):
next level. Well, let's talk about your experience on Drag Race.
Your favorite memory. I know you have a lab, but
was one of your favorites? Do you know what? I
love doing the Rusical? That Rusical Week was one of
the best episodes to sit back and watch as a
fan of the show anyway, was great to watch to
(08:02):
be a part of it. When I say the rest
of this cast this year was the most talented, I'm
not just saying it for a fact. I don't think
there was a single bad performance. I think the episode
as a whole was great. The runway theme was great.
I got to do my favorite runway, which was the
Audrey to Plant look unbelievable. That was the next level.
(08:24):
It was like our special guest on The Muppet Show
is Danny. I fully expected you to come out with
Kermit the Frog and Miss Figgy at any moment. It
was unbelievable. Very kind, thank you. And then I think
as well the end of the end, the lip synco
on that episode was so dramatic with like Dakota and
Baby and then everything baby Dakota was leaving and then
(08:46):
Baby did leave. It just gave me everything as a
drag Race fan that you want from a drag Race episode,
and then to be in it was as well, just
next level. I'm interested in what made you want to
audition for drag Race. Yeah, I had a very successful
career here in the UK as a cabalret queen. I've
done Britain's Got Talent years ago and that opened lots
(09:08):
of doors and that gave me a great platform. But honestly,
I was still not getting the opportunities that the drag
Race skills were getting. It. I knew, oh god, I
hope this doesn't sound big headed. I knew that I
could do the job just as good, if not better
than some people that's caf and I was like, if
you can't beat them, join them. And I was nervous.
(09:28):
I thought, am I going to get asked to shave
and booted out in episode two? You know? Is it
gonna go to it up? But I think you've just
got to have confidence within yourself and just go in there.
And I enjoyed every moment, and I think everyone around
me did, and I think I just felt like it
was my time. I've been honest as well in the past,
(09:49):
like this was my third time applying for the shirt,
like I really wanted it this time. And I also
had said to myself, this is the last time, because
I found myself getting into this path and of applying
for the show, putting everything into this application process, being
really down. But I didn't get it. And it's the
first two times. It almost knocked my confidence a bit.
(10:12):
What's wrong with me? I'm not good enough? Right? The
reality is it's none of the things you think it
is when you're applying that This was the first tape
I put in that wasn't that I paid someone to
professionally edit. This was my tape. I did the questions
the first time round, just answered them in my room,
and then again I answered them in my room in drag.
(10:33):
I think this was the first time I really showed
the casting producers who I was really, if I'm honest,
because it was the time I was like, this is me.
If you don't like it, I'm done right, you know what.
That's the thing I was about to say. A lot
of queens come onto the show and it takes them
like a couple of episodes to warm up or to
come out of their shell, or to kind of display
(10:54):
who they were. And I felt like, what I appreciated
about you, and I wrote you on Instagram like a stalker,
is that your vulnerability. You were confident in such a
way where it wasn't. You were confident but not cocky.
You were you were competitive in a way that didn't
diminish anybody else. There was always and you did this
(11:14):
thing that Bianco del Rio does is that Bianco del
Rio can be an insult queen all she wants and
take everybody down, but she doesn't have a mean bone
in her body. Do you know? The intention behind it
is to entertain. It's never to be evil. And you
kind of at the at the very very last episode,
you said I'm a good person, and I think that's
(11:35):
what shone through with you. Were you always like that? Yeah?
If I'm honest, I'm fastly thank you for comparing me
to someone like Bianco, because she's someone that I've looked
up to for a very very long time, and actually
I got a chance to wear it with Bianco a
couple of times years ago, and one of the things
I learned from her then was she was so gracious
(11:57):
and lovely to every person. She went lovely everyone backstage,
and I just thought, what a nice person. And then
I stepped onto the stage and she read me to
fill And that's what I do in my shows, you know.
I read the audience, I read myself, I read celebs,
and I just thought, that is the magic formula. She's amazing,
(12:18):
and it kind of gave me more confidence to be
shady because I knew I was a nice person like
she is, and like I still now at my gigs,
make sure at the end of the show, I go
to the bar staff and just say thank you and
say thank you to all the stuff. And I just
think little things like that leave you in people's memory.
And I did the same onset like Ruth said. You know,
(12:40):
she said, everyone loves working with you. Hear like you coming,
You're nice to everyone, You try and remember everybody's name,
you say good morning, good night, you turn up and
do your job, and everyone enjoys working with you. And
she went, never lose that because you will have a
very long career in show business exactly. And I just
remember sat there and that's when I thought, oh God,
(13:00):
I'm in the tick too. Chat I've made it to
this point. I was like yeah, And at that point
I was like, whatever happens RuPaul's just validated everything and
made me realize that drag Race is a dream making machine.
This is only the start. So I was just so overwhelmed.
(13:21):
And I still have, like I said before, my feet
haven't touched the ground. So many amazing opportunities are coming
in for me, things I've dreamed within for years, and
I can just I can never be more thankful for
the opportunity. Honestly, it's changed. I'll cry now You're gonna
get to years out of me. But we got to
(13:43):
talk about these looks because Alex every week was talking
about the look. Alex, what was your favorite look? Well,
you know everybody loves a little Shop of Horrors one
that was a really big show stopper. I kind of loved.
The biggest trick with drag Race is making this new right.
It's like, you know, you could come out and if
(14:04):
it's like you're if you emulate any other queen. At
any other time, it's going like, well, she's like doing
Trixie McTell or she's doing so and so. And I
never felt that about you when you stepped outside of
your comfort zone and did the blue ruffle dress with
the white makeup exquisite, and and you had this way
(14:25):
of like you have a beard. That's the original thing.
Nobody's ever been a bearded queen who's ever won before.
But I didn't notice the beard after a while. Like
even though in that ruffle thing, you kind of reinvented
the wheel about like what is drag? You know, that
was one of my favorite you know, what was your
favorite look? Ye? What was your favorite? Ruth said the
(14:45):
exact same. It just never got shown. So that's really
interesting to hear you say, well, that's what squirrel friends
is for. We pick up the slack, you know what
I mean. But honestly, honestly, Gales, I mean, the plump
was my favorite look. I knew it was going to
it into it and you know, I probably could have
bought a brand new car instead of that plant, but
(15:06):
I just wanted to just do this ridiculous thing. I
really loved the neon look, like the Juno pit Alien inspired.
I felt really like country doing that kind of say
that I just did. And maybe maybe the ruffle look
because so many people come up to me and say
the same, like you look so pretty. I never see
myself as a pretty drag queen. That's not the kind
(15:28):
of drug that personally interested me to do to myself.
I think when I did it, I was shocked. The
shot a pretty good emotional Yeah. I was like, I
was like, I look pretty. I was like I stood
in the mirror to the girls and they were like,
get you out for her, and I was like, no,
I look really pretty. It made me go out and
buy a course it. I'm like, okay, look, let me
(15:49):
give my fair and of course it come help me
tie this up. Yeah, you're really doing You really kind
of broke the mold this season of like they change
the ideas of like who can win? And I love
it when people kind of like break apart the series
about like Jinx Monsoon did that too, kind of changed
(16:12):
your idea of like what is a drag superstar? And
I love you talking about your family and Liverpool and
I've never been to Liverpool, but I was looking at
the pictures online today and some YouTube videos. It seems
like a pretty rough maritime town and a lot of
drag comes out of there. Can you explain the kind
of juxtaposition between this kind of rough se town and drags.
(16:35):
It's exactly what it is. What you've hit the nail
on the heads. And I think with Liverpool, when people
going to night out in Liverpool, if they got fifty quids,
they spend on the outfit. But the look that good.
All the boys will buy them drinks and talking about
the girls here and yes they're all bright orange. We're
(16:57):
all the first person to take the pas out of ourselves.
We will shade ourselves first before anyone else. And I
think that it gives us funny bones and it means
we can do it to other people, which people love.
In drag. Life's not serious and some pretty dark times
have happened in my life. It was always a way
(17:18):
that we find the funny. And my whole family's like it,
like my dad's like it, my mom's like it. We're
all like it. We're all really funny. The story about
your dad, I love your dad and how he just
did he said, I just don't want to be on
I don't care if you get yea. Honestly, that really
sums him up. And he's this big butch Fireman X Fireman.
(17:42):
He's retired now, God bless it. And I don't know
why I ever had an issue tone him. I was
gay because he didn't care and even came into my
room and was like, Dan, do you think I've not
known my whole life like you used to walk around
the house in your mum's heels and get a chopstick
out with Thedrawal singing bib for years. This isn't a shock.
(18:06):
And then I was angry that it wasn't a shock.
I don't seem to be. I wanted to steal the
show here, and your mom sounds lovely as well. I
love the story that you told in the final episode
about getting roughed up at your school and such a
violent way, and your parents. Not everybody's lucky enough to
have parents around them kind of put you first and
(18:30):
get you to a safer place. And that's another miracle
about you that you had such a rough beginning with
people being so mean. What advice would you give to
young queens out there who are experiencing a rough time,
because you know they're listening to the show and watching
Drag Race and everything. It's the oldest, cheesiest saying. In
a way, it's become a bit redundant because it said
(18:51):
so much. But it gets better. And I remember being
at the point where I thought it never would get better.
I remember thinking the bullies made I went through this
emotional phase of thinking, these bullies have made me gay
because they told me I was gay before I knew
I was too. So I remember that confusing stage in life,
(19:14):
thinking I hate these people. They've made me this. And
I had so much hate, hate, hate growing up, and
as soon as I started falling in love with myself,
it really was when I started drag, because I just
created this personality, this person that was always inside, but
this mask and this armor of the the outfits gave
(19:35):
me that ability to shine it through. The more confident
I gott and Drag, the more confident I got out
of Dragon. And really I'm the exact same person in
our Drag just look a little bit better now, I think,
And I think that's where I've come. You know, well,
let's talk about the drag. Because you decided to keep
your beard, and what made that decision to keeping the beer. Now,
(19:58):
so many people say bearded drag is lazy, you can't
be bothered shaving, and they're right. I couldn't be our
shaving At first, that was the honest truth. I was like,
I'm not shaving. I want to get a disappointment at
the weekend was in Uni, and I hated it and
(20:21):
I hated wigs, and honestly, I was obsessed with like
Lee Barry and the club kids of the eighties, and
the biggest thing I learned from them was do it
your way. So I left the beard and I didn't
wear wigs and it just became my thing. And actually
now I realized it is actually harder having a beard,
because when I have shaved, that makeup goes on so
smooth and so quick over your chin area, and you've
(20:44):
got a beard. Honestly, you have to color it. And
even when I do it the way I do it now,
which is kind of you only see it when you
get very close up. You color it, then you're powder it,
and then you have to comb it all through. There's
a full process. Then you have to wipe the brooks.
It takes so much longer to do drag with a beard.
So now I would say to people who think it's lazy,
(21:06):
you've got no idea. But originally it was because I
was lazy because when you did the ruffle look you
had to change the color. Was that that was a
different process, right, So that was a makeup that tends
her to look bleached. It's a product you can get
in the UK. You can use it for eyebrows and
you comb it through your beard, kind of like a mascara.
(21:27):
So I did that over the beard to bleach my
beard the same as my hair without actually one to
put her upside on my beard. Got it. You know
what I love about the show is it gives us
an America an idea of you know, dragon different areas.
And it seems like after four seasons of UK Drag Race,
what I'm getting from the English queens is there's a
(21:48):
real premium on being an entertainer. Like here there are
look queens, they're dancing tweens. But I always hear them
saying drag Race UK, I'm a cabaret entertainer, or I
do a peer show. Can you give us idea of
what the drag shows are like in the UK, what
we would expect to see as tourists. It's so different
depending on where you go as well, like so many
(22:08):
different scenes have completely different styles of drags. So first off,
places like Birmingham you can expect your Ginny Lemon's very
character based drag. Manchester is very like New York. I
think Manchester's like New York. London's a bit like l
This is what I've heard from the American queens. So
this isn't my personal opinion because I don't know that Manchester.
(22:30):
Everyone's got a very strong brand, know who they are,
but they're not necessarily all entertainers. Some of them might
be club hosts or do lip sync through the night.
And then right across the UK you've got a cabaret
scene of about thirty forty queens or the core of it,
maybe not even that many, and they do the circuit.
(22:52):
I was part of that circuit. So there's queens on
there like Mary mack love War I know love what.
I did some cruises with her. I form brother. She's great,
She's amazing. So it's people like that. And again Mary
does the cruises and we basically will go into an
hour show in a venue, and they have these venues
all over the UK. Probably the most iconic one is
(23:14):
the Royal Vauxhall Tavern in London, and that's where we've
all worked a really cut our teeth. I saw that
Dame Edna experience there when I was there there again, Yeah, wonderful.
She's amazing and she's part of that same cabaret circuits.
So that's the real traditional circuit of drag in the UK,
and then it breaks off into you've got into the
(23:35):
queens like Ellis Atlantis, who have come off like glow Up,
which isn't a reality show over here for makeup artist,
and she's just next level but doesn't really leave the house.
So there's just so many different kinds of drag. But
I think if you're in the UK, try and see
a drag cabaret show. They're always about forty five minutes
to an hour. Most major cities have venues that do it,
(23:59):
and it's usually on a Friday and Saturday. Y it
sounds like Provincetown right, I've never been listening. I can't
wait to come to America. It's in the works for
next year. I'm going to see as a much drag
and eat as much food as I can. And we
can now wait, but something else. We can listen to
you right now. You have a podcast car the Gas
of Gaze. Tell us about it. Yes, it's me my
(24:20):
best duty. He is a DJ from the gay scene
and we've been best mates for years and it's our
real relationship and it's weekly. We've just been taken on
by a production company, which is amazing again the power
of drag Race, and we recorded in Media City in
the UK, which as real like BBC and everything. It's
a bit fancy now, but the premise of it is
(24:42):
we speak about what we've done that week. We catch
up with our lives with each other, and then we
answer things like listeners letters to every week somebody writes
in with a problem and then we do all the
we have like Snack of the Week. We're food obsessed.
Were two chunky girls that love and so it's just
basically whatever we want to talk about, and it's growing
(25:03):
strength and strength. We've honestly, we've got fans all over
the world. We've got people in America and they know
we love snacks. We've been sent like boxes of Americans.
So it's a great little community within our community, and
we don't have a lot of time left with you.
I wanted to ask this, as the winner of UK
Drag Race, you get a digital series produced by Wow.
(25:26):
Have you started working on that and what is it
going to be? So we have. I don't want to
say anything to you because we're pitching it to some
TV channels, but what I can say is it's not
if it goes ahead what my ideas and their ideas are,
It's not going to be anything that's been done before.
I absolutely love WOW Presents and I love WOW. What
(25:47):
I said, this isn't a Wow show. There's no green screen,
there's no star cloth. I want money, money, put it
into it, and you know what, I think they want
the same for it. So it's going to be very,
very different than what's been before. And it's hopefully going
to be on TV properly here in the UK as well,
which is a proper first. So I'm really excited for that.
(26:09):
We look forward to that. So you're on tour right now.
So what tour are you on and what can we
expect next? So I'm currently on Christmas talk called Chanter
You Slay Me and previous winner Lawrence Cheney are hosting.
We'll go right up until Christmas eve. So I've literally
I think I was crowned a couple of thursdays ago
(26:30):
and I went on a massive UK and European on
the friday. I mean, I love working and I was like,
is this the right thing to do? But I've got
to go to basically every city in the UK and
meet all these amazing people that I've been telling me
they've watched me for the last ten weeks and the
fans of mine now, so what better gift than to
meet them people? You know what's next? So much lots
(26:54):
of television working here in the UK, which has always
been a dream, Lots more live where which is always
a dream. All the Queens and UK seem to go
directly into television, onto a television show like You're you
guys are all over the place immediately. Yeah, I think
there's a real demand for drag here and there's a
demand for good entertainers and drag races such a great
(27:16):
platform for that. We show so many different skills. So
it's a TV producer's wet dream really, So I'm really
lucky to have had some good daytime and yeah, lots
of nice things that happening. So I have to apologize
if I'm out of breath, I'm still sadly on my course,
I feel like I'm going don't die, but I'm sayre
(27:37):
in my course fabulous. Alec always has one closing question
for all of our queens, so go ahead out Okay.
So I always feel like drag is like a superhero identity.
You know. It's like there's you, our stage and and
then drag becomes this this identity you assume, almost like
a superhero. It's like Clark Ketterns this superman. And so
(28:00):
in a drag, what would you feel your superpower is? Wow?
In drag, I think my superpower is I don't know
how i'd say this, but it's almost like memory loss.
That's a bad way to say what I'm trying to say.
I think when I mention the power of dementia, I
(28:21):
think I have seemed to have this ability that people
forget everything that's going on in the life for the
forty minutes they're at the shore, and it's it's escapism.
It's like the power of escapism, and even for me
and everyone needs a bit of escapism, and maybe all
drag does it and that's why it's so great. But
I really feel it when the audience all just live
(28:43):
in that moment, and I think that's really my power,
and I do that through insulting them as well. Yeah,
so I must be doing something, all right, and I'm
telling people that they need to get a hair so honestly,
the power of escapism, let's go with that. I was thinking,
let's any we have enjoyed you so much, You're gonna
(29:03):
work forever because you have an act that you can
take anywhere. I mean, Bianca is selling out arenas all
over the world because she has an act. I think
it's the real test of a queen is like where
they go after the show. And I'm not worried about
You're gonna You're gonna do great things. Where can people
find you on your socials? You can find me at
(29:23):
the Danny Beard across all socials. And you just reminded
me and I should have mentioned this for what's coming next.
I'm actually I'm on at the O two Arena in
London with Bianca. I can't believe I forgot that. It's
just so much happening. I just forgot casually that I'm
appearing at the biggest venue in the whole of the country. Yeah,
that's happening, and that's through Graham off the show said,
(29:46):
Graham Norton's doing his variety show when he's asked for
me to be on that bill. And you know what,
we've got a merch idea for you. Go on Beard
Maintenance Tools, Beard Maintenance, the Danny Beard Beard Kick. Yeah. Yeah,
they sell it every show. The d baby Okay, sounds
like a ba, sounds like a badger. We love you, Danny,
(30:09):
thank you so much. You can't wait to make you
take care of my boys. We gotta take a break
and we'll be right back after these important messages and
we're back while Lonnie, that was a great interview. What
(30:30):
was your takeaway? Very inspirational what I saw on the
show I felt from the interview, and I really appreciate
that Danny also gave us some insight. I mean, we
got a lot of things. This is why we do
this podcast so that we can talk to people. And
I think it's you, Aleck. I think that they feel
so comfortable with you that they're like, you know what,
(30:52):
I'm gonna say this and I maybe shouldn't say it.
Whenever they say we shouldn't say it's become of Alec,
so thank you. What did you think of it? I
think you're right, it's because of me. No um. You
know what, we talked a lot on the show about
the power of being yourself, the power of being your
genuine self, and how ironically through drag, through dressing up
(31:13):
and putting on this makeup, you kind of discover this
essence about yourself, you know. And and that's what Danny
brought to the program today. And I was so delighted
to meet them. And that is the fun part of
the show is you get to be entertained by these
people on the show, and then you get to talk
to them in real life, and that's always cool. I
(31:34):
also thought what was interesting Alec was that she was
saying how she auditioned three times and this was gonna
be her last. Also, when we talk about the power
of drag race, you know, she's been doing drag but
you know, maybe her career was kind of stalling. And
(31:54):
then that's another reason why she wanted to do drag Race,
because she wanted to to get her exposure up take
a to the next level. But that tells you the
power of ru Paul's Drag Race is what it does
for people. It gives you that exposure, it gives you
that inspiration. So it's just another reason why we have
to support our queens and remember to tip our queens
(32:16):
and love them on all the socials. Alec is no
longer on Twitter, but he's still on Instagram and he
still needs to get to a million buy I'm scooching
up there. I'm getting up there. I've got thirty five
thousand followers. Five okay, we're gonna get you to three
(32:38):
and fifty. Okay. I promise You can reach him at
Alec Mapa on Instagram. You can catch me on Instagram
at comic Lonnie Love. I'm still on Twitter. I'm trying
to trying to hang in there. Love. It's hard hard.
I love that conversation. You can listen to This Girl
(33:00):
as the official rut Paul's Drag Race podcast on the
I Heart Radio app or wherever you get your podcasts.
If you like this episode, make sure to rate and
reviews five stars please and tell a friend. You can
catch up on past episodes of Rup Paul's Drag Race
and All Stars on Paramount Plus, and you can also
watch Drag Race UK on Wow Presents Plus. Yes see
you so by
Hello, Hello, Hello, and welcome to another episode of Squirrel Friends,
the Official RuPaul's Drag Race Podcast. If we talk about
all things RuPaul's Drag Race, and we're so excited today,
and by we, I mean me and America's sister, the
Queen of show Business, Lonnie Love. I am so excited
because you know, what do you think about Alex Mappa
(00:28):
Squirrel Friends is that he watches all of the drag races.
I don't do anything else. And he was so excited
about the UK. You know, Dreg, I'm like, you know,
because I'm an American girl, I'm like, I love the
American ones. But Alec has been talking about the drag
Race UK and has been raving about all the queens,
(00:50):
but especially this queen named Danny Beer. So we're gonna
surprise Alec because we have Danny Beer today. Good Danny Beard,
bearded queen, winner of season four is here today. Lonnie.
I started watching, yeah, and you were right. I mean,
this queen is like now I have to start. I
(01:13):
have to go back and watch the old episodes at
the very very beginning, because when I say the looks phenomenal,
the personality, the inspiration, the stories, I mean, just a great,
great winner for UK. This is a great season. I'm
gonna name drop when I last time I saw Michelle
Visage UK season four hadn't come out yet, and she
(01:35):
told me, I'm not gonna tell you anything, but you
were gonna fall in love with this cast and this cast,
you know they had. The three top queens were cheddar gorgeous,
amazing looks, Black Pepper, Black supermodel girl that I was
telling you about, absolutely gorgeous, and Danny Beard. Now you
were in the United Kingdom not that long ago. You
were in Ireland. Have you been to London? Have you
(01:56):
spent some time in the United Kingdom. I love London,
I love I love Europe, but um, London is very
very to me. They're more outgoing with their fashion, much
more experimental, alternative, and that's what I saw this season
on Drag Race U K. You're absolutely right. I was
(02:16):
just I was just amazed at the fashions and I'm like,
I gotta go all the way back and look at
the other seasons because it's just phenomenal. What were in London?
Were you working or were you on vacation? No, I
was working in London. We actually I was on the
West End. I was in a play and nice. Yeah,
you were in the West End and it was it
(02:41):
was a great experience. And you know, I met the
wonderful people of the UK, and you know, I met
a lot of queens over there, and there's something about
them when we talk about entertainment and loving entertainment and
knowing who they are and not trying to be something
that they see everybody else being themselves there themselves. They're individuals,
(03:04):
if I can say it like that, and that's what
makes them unique, and that's what makes this UK version
is totally different from the American series. And it was
just a great series. So back it up here for
a second. You were in a play at in the
West End. I want to know what play it was?
How long it ran? Oh? This was this was like
ten years ago. Yes, it was like over the Moon
(03:28):
and it was me and it was some young up
and coming performers and I just you know, how you
just do things Because I've never been in London, I
ain't ever been awhere, i ain't been out the project
and the West End is Broadway that it was their Broadway,
and it was just it was an experience I have
(03:49):
to get back there. I've done comedy over in London,
and their sense of humor is very different. Yes, it's
very they say they take the piss out of everything.
They're very they're very self deprecating, and they also don't
like they don't like when people put on airs exactly.
And that's why I killed over there. I'm very self deprecating, right.
(04:11):
I also love how diverse London is. Like every time
I get off the plane there, I'm like, this is
a black city, this is the Indian city, this is
the African city. Like it's really like, I'm always like
so surprised and delighted by it. It's so much fun
over there. Well, our producers were able to snag Danny
(04:32):
Beard actually performing, but she took time out of her
performance to talk to us. So that's why I'm excited.
I can't wait for this interview. I know Alec is
gonna lose it, so we're gonna take a quick break
and we're gonna come right back with Danny Beard. Whoa,
(04:57):
and we're back, squirrel friends, We have Royalty with us today. Royalty.
She is hilarious, fashionable and is the first bearded queen
to win a season of drag Race and looking at
the zoom video we're using right now, she doesn't look
that orange today. Please work into the program. UK's next
drag Superstar, the winner of season four, Danny Beard. Danny Ahead. Well,
(05:23):
first of all, congratulations, congratulation. I have become big fans
watching you on the UK. Actually, Alec was the one
he watches all of the drag races, and when he
told me about you, I actually started watching. Thank you
so much, honestly, and I've seen you on the show
as well, and I never thought anyone like me would
(05:47):
ever be on this show. So to hear people say
not only have they watched it, or like because of me,
or they've watched it and they love me, it's like,
it's crazy because drag Race shows the person behind the persona.
People get to fall in love with that side of you,
and that's something in my tenure career as a queen
I've never had. So it's been the most crazy. How
(06:11):
many weeks I don't even know how many weeks it's been,
I've gone straight on the road. I don't even know
me asked from the elbow, kind of swear on here,
just yeah, I drop the C bomb don't worry, guys,
quite clean. Listen. We had Bender La Crema on the
show and he was talking about how in the beginning
of drag people just did it because they loved it.
There was never any expectation to be famous. And you
(06:33):
said yourself that now you never thought somebody like you
would ever be on the show. How has the experience
being since the show aired for you? Was it immediate?
The response, I'm exactly the same as Bender that like, yeah,
the reaction has been crazy. I didn't expect to have
messages from all around the world, you know, new fans
(06:54):
from all around the world. That is still so nuts
to me. It's really not to me that I'm going
shopping in like local shops and the people know me,
and it's I'm on tour at the moment across the
UK and I'm everywhere ago people are like, oh my god,
it's you. Like the amount of people that watch Drag
Race of the UK, it's surpassed Drag Race. Just Drag
Race fans now and middle aged moms and granny's and
(07:18):
I've literally just come upstairs from a meet and greet
to join this this wonderful call. And the variation in
people is crazy. It's touching so many people and so
many people get something from it. It's honestly been a
pleasure to do and I'm still not I don't think
my feet have touched the ground yet. I really don't
think my feet have touched the ground yet. It's been
(07:40):
next level. Well, let's talk about your experience on Drag Race.
Your favorite memory. I know you have a lab, but
was one of your favorites? Do you know what? I
love doing the Rusical? That Rusical Week was one of
the best episodes to sit back and watch as a
fan of the show anyway, was great to watch to
(08:02):
be a part of it. When I say the rest
of this cast this year was the most talented, I'm
not just saying it for a fact. I don't think
there was a single bad performance. I think the episode
as a whole was great. The runway theme was great.
I got to do my favorite runway, which was the
Audrey to Plant look unbelievable. That was the next level.
(08:24):
It was like our special guest on The Muppet Show
is Danny. I fully expected you to come out with
Kermit the Frog and Miss Figgy at any moment. It
was unbelievable. Very kind, thank you. And then I think
as well the end of the end, the lip synco
on that episode was so dramatic with like Dakota and
Baby and then everything baby Dakota was leaving and then
(08:46):
Baby did leave. It just gave me everything as a
drag Race fan that you want from a drag Race episode,
and then to be in it was as well, just
next level. I'm interested in what made you want to
audition for drag Race. Yeah, I had a very successful
career here in the UK as a cabalret queen. I've
done Britain's Got Talent years ago and that opened lots
(09:08):
of doors and that gave me a great platform. But honestly,
I was still not getting the opportunities that the drag
Race skills were getting. It. I knew, oh god, I
hope this doesn't sound big headed. I knew that I
could do the job just as good, if not better
than some people that's caf and I was like, if
you can't beat them, join them. And I was nervous.
(09:28):
I thought, am I going to get asked to shave
and booted out in episode two? You know? Is it
gonna go to it up? But I think you've just
got to have confidence within yourself and just go in there.
And I enjoyed every moment, and I think everyone around
me did, and I think I just felt like it
was my time. I've been honest as well in the past,
(09:49):
like this was my third time applying for the shirt,
like I really wanted it this time. And I also
had said to myself, this is the last time, because
I found myself getting into this path and of applying
for the show, putting everything into this application process, being
really down. But I didn't get it. And it's the
first two times. It almost knocked my confidence a bit.
(10:12):
What's wrong with me? I'm not good enough? Right? The
reality is it's none of the things you think it
is when you're applying that This was the first tape
I put in that wasn't that I paid someone to
professionally edit. This was my tape. I did the questions
the first time round, just answered them in my room,
and then again I answered them in my room in drag.
(10:33):
I think this was the first time I really showed
the casting producers who I was really, if I'm honest,
because it was the time I was like, this is me.
If you don't like it, I'm done right, you know what.
That's the thing I was about to say. A lot
of queens come onto the show and it takes them
like a couple of episodes to warm up or to
come out of their shell, or to kind of display
(10:54):
who they were. And I felt like, what I appreciated
about you, and I wrote you on Instagram like a stalker,
is that your vulnerability. You were confident in such a
way where it wasn't. You were confident but not cocky.
You were you were competitive in a way that didn't
diminish anybody else. There was always and you did this
(11:14):
thing that Bianco del Rio does is that Bianco del
Rio can be an insult queen all she wants and
take everybody down, but she doesn't have a mean bone
in her body. Do you know? The intention behind it
is to entertain. It's never to be evil. And you
kind of at the at the very very last episode,
you said I'm a good person, and I think that's
(11:35):
what shone through with you. Were you always like that? Yeah?
If I'm honest, I'm fastly thank you for comparing me
to someone like Bianco, because she's someone that I've looked
up to for a very very long time, and actually
I got a chance to wear it with Bianco a
couple of times years ago, and one of the things
I learned from her then was she was so gracious
(11:57):
and lovely to every person. She went lovely everyone backstage,
and I just thought, what a nice person. And then
I stepped onto the stage and she read me to
fill And that's what I do in my shows, you know.
I read the audience, I read myself, I read celebs,
and I just thought, that is the magic formula. She's amazing,
(12:18):
and it kind of gave me more confidence to be
shady because I knew I was a nice person like
she is, and like I still now at my gigs,
make sure at the end of the show, I go
to the bar staff and just say thank you and
say thank you to all the stuff. And I just
think little things like that leave you in people's memory.
And I did the same onset like Ruth said. You know,
(12:40):
she said, everyone loves working with you. Hear like you coming,
You're nice to everyone, You try and remember everybody's name,
you say good morning, good night, you turn up and
do your job, and everyone enjoys working with you. And
she went, never lose that because you will have a
very long career in show business exactly. And I just
remember sat there and that's when I thought, oh God,
(13:00):
I'm in the tick too. Chat I've made it to
this point. I was like yeah, And at that point
I was like, whatever happens RuPaul's just validated everything and
made me realize that drag Race is a dream making machine.
This is only the start. So I was just so overwhelmed.
(13:21):
And I still have, like I said before, my feet
haven't touched the ground. So many amazing opportunities are coming
in for me, things I've dreamed within for years, and
I can just I can never be more thankful for
the opportunity. Honestly, it's changed. I'll cry now You're gonna
get to years out of me. But we got to
(13:43):
talk about these looks because Alex every week was talking
about the look. Alex, what was your favorite look? Well,
you know everybody loves a little Shop of Horrors one
that was a really big show stopper. I kind of loved.
The biggest trick with drag Race is making this new right.
It's like, you know, you could come out and if
(14:04):
it's like you're if you emulate any other queen. At
any other time, it's going like, well, she's like doing
Trixie McTell or she's doing so and so. And I
never felt that about you when you stepped outside of
your comfort zone and did the blue ruffle dress with
the white makeup exquisite, and and you had this way
(14:25):
of like you have a beard. That's the original thing.
Nobody's ever been a bearded queen who's ever won before.
But I didn't notice the beard after a while. Like
even though in that ruffle thing, you kind of reinvented
the wheel about like what is drag? You know, that
was one of my favorite you know, what was your
favorite look? Ye? What was your favorite? Ruth said the
(14:45):
exact same. It just never got shown. So that's really
interesting to hear you say, well, that's what squirrel friends
is for. We pick up the slack, you know what
I mean. But honestly, honestly, Gales, I mean, the plump
was my favorite look. I knew it was going to
it into it and you know, I probably could have
bought a brand new car instead of that plant, but
(15:06):
I just wanted to just do this ridiculous thing. I
really loved the neon look, like the Juno pit Alien inspired.
I felt really like country doing that kind of say
that I just did. And maybe maybe the ruffle look
because so many people come up to me and say
the same, like you look so pretty. I never see
myself as a pretty drag queen. That's not the kind
(15:28):
of drug that personally interested me to do to myself.
I think when I did it, I was shocked. The
shot a pretty good emotional Yeah. I was like, I
was like, I look pretty. I was like I stood
in the mirror to the girls and they were like,
get you out for her, and I was like, no,
I look really pretty. It made me go out and
buy a course it. I'm like, okay, look, let me
(15:49):
give my fair and of course it come help me
tie this up. Yeah, you're really doing You really kind
of broke the mold this season of like they change
the ideas of like who can win? And I love
it when people kind of like break apart the series
about like Jinx Monsoon did that too, kind of changed
(16:12):
your idea of like what is a drag superstar? And
I love you talking about your family and Liverpool and
I've never been to Liverpool, but I was looking at
the pictures online today and some YouTube videos. It seems
like a pretty rough maritime town and a lot of
drag comes out of there. Can you explain the kind
of juxtaposition between this kind of rough se town and drags.
(16:35):
It's exactly what it is. What you've hit the nail
on the heads. And I think with Liverpool, when people
going to night out in Liverpool, if they got fifty quids,
they spend on the outfit. But the look that good.
All the boys will buy them drinks and talking about
the girls here and yes they're all bright orange. We're
(16:57):
all the first person to take the pas out of ourselves.
We will shade ourselves first before anyone else. And I
think that it gives us funny bones and it means
we can do it to other people, which people love.
In drag. Life's not serious and some pretty dark times
have happened in my life. It was always a way
(17:18):
that we find the funny. And my whole family's like it,
like my dad's like it, my mom's like it. We're
all like it. We're all really funny. The story about
your dad, I love your dad and how he just
did he said, I just don't want to be on
I don't care if you get yea. Honestly, that really
sums him up. And he's this big butch Fireman X Fireman.
(17:42):
He's retired now, God bless it. And I don't know
why I ever had an issue tone him. I was
gay because he didn't care and even came into my
room and was like, Dan, do you think I've not
known my whole life like you used to walk around
the house in your mum's heels and get a chopstick
out with Thedrawal singing bib for years. This isn't a shock.
(18:06):
And then I was angry that it wasn't a shock.
I don't seem to be. I wanted to steal the
show here, and your mom sounds lovely as well. I
love the story that you told in the final episode
about getting roughed up at your school and such a
violent way, and your parents. Not everybody's lucky enough to
have parents around them kind of put you first and
(18:30):
get you to a safer place. And that's another miracle
about you that you had such a rough beginning with
people being so mean. What advice would you give to
young queens out there who are experiencing a rough time,
because you know they're listening to the show and watching
Drag Race and everything. It's the oldest, cheesiest saying. In
a way, it's become a bit redundant because it said
(18:51):
so much. But it gets better. And I remember being
at the point where I thought it never would get better.
I remember thinking the bullies made I went through this
emotional phase of thinking, these bullies have made me gay
because they told me I was gay before I knew
I was too. So I remember that confusing stage in life,
(19:14):
thinking I hate these people. They've made me this. And
I had so much hate, hate, hate growing up, and
as soon as I started falling in love with myself,
it really was when I started drag, because I just
created this personality, this person that was always inside, but
this mask and this armor of the the outfits gave
(19:35):
me that ability to shine it through. The more confident
I gott and Drag, the more confident I got out
of Dragon. And really I'm the exact same person in
our Drag just look a little bit better now, I think,
And I think that's where I've come. You know, well,
let's talk about the drag. Because you decided to keep
your beard, and what made that decision to keeping the beer. Now,
(19:58):
so many people say bearded drag is lazy, you can't
be bothered shaving, and they're right. I couldn't be our
shaving At first, that was the honest truth. I was like,
I'm not shaving. I want to get a disappointment at
the weekend was in Uni, and I hated it and
(20:21):
I hated wigs, and honestly, I was obsessed with like
Lee Barry and the club kids of the eighties, and
the biggest thing I learned from them was do it
your way. So I left the beard and I didn't
wear wigs and it just became my thing. And actually
now I realized it is actually harder having a beard,
because when I have shaved, that makeup goes on so
smooth and so quick over your chin area, and you've
(20:44):
got a beard. Honestly, you have to color it. And
even when I do it the way I do it now,
which is kind of you only see it when you
get very close up. You color it, then you're powder it,
and then you have to comb it all through. There's
a full process. Then you have to wipe the brooks.
It takes so much longer to do drag with a beard.
So now I would say to people who think it's lazy,
(21:06):
you've got no idea. But originally it was because I
was lazy because when you did the ruffle look you
had to change the color. Was that that was a
different process, right, So that was a makeup that tends
her to look bleached. It's a product you can get
in the UK. You can use it for eyebrows and
you comb it through your beard, kind of like a mascara.
(21:27):
So I did that over the beard to bleach my
beard the same as my hair without actually one to
put her upside on my beard. Got it. You know
what I love about the show is it gives us
an America an idea of you know, dragon different areas.
And it seems like after four seasons of UK Drag Race,
what I'm getting from the English queens is there's a
(21:48):
real premium on being an entertainer. Like here there are
look queens, they're dancing tweens. But I always hear them
saying drag Race UK, I'm a cabaret entertainer, or I
do a peer show. Can you give us idea of
what the drag shows are like in the UK, what
we would expect to see as tourists. It's so different
depending on where you go as well, like so many
(22:08):
different scenes have completely different styles of drags. So first off,
places like Birmingham you can expect your Ginny Lemon's very
character based drag. Manchester is very like New York. I
think Manchester's like New York. London's a bit like l
This is what I've heard from the American queens. So
this isn't my personal opinion because I don't know that Manchester.
(22:30):
Everyone's got a very strong brand, know who they are,
but they're not necessarily all entertainers. Some of them might
be club hosts or do lip sync through the night.
And then right across the UK you've got a cabaret
scene of about thirty forty queens or the core of it,
maybe not even that many, and they do the circuit.
(22:52):
I was part of that circuit. So there's queens on
there like Mary mack love War I know love what.
I did some cruises with her. I form brother. She's great,
She's amazing. So it's people like that. And again Mary
does the cruises and we basically will go into an
hour show in a venue, and they have these venues
all over the UK. Probably the most iconic one is
(23:14):
the Royal Vauxhall Tavern in London, and that's where we've
all worked a really cut our teeth. I saw that
Dame Edna experience there when I was there there again, Yeah, wonderful.
She's amazing and she's part of that same cabaret circuits.
So that's the real traditional circuit of drag in the UK,
and then it breaks off into you've got into the
(23:35):
queens like Ellis Atlantis, who have come off like glow Up,
which isn't a reality show over here for makeup artist,
and she's just next level but doesn't really leave the house.
So there's just so many different kinds of drag. But
I think if you're in the UK, try and see
a drag cabaret show. They're always about forty five minutes
to an hour. Most major cities have venues that do it,
(23:59):
and it's usually on a Friday and Saturday. Y it
sounds like Provincetown right, I've never been listening. I can't
wait to come to America. It's in the works for
next year. I'm going to see as a much drag
and eat as much food as I can. And we
can now wait, but something else. We can listen to
you right now. You have a podcast car the Gas
of Gaze. Tell us about it. Yes, it's me my
(24:20):
best duty. He is a DJ from the gay scene
and we've been best mates for years and it's our
real relationship and it's weekly. We've just been taken on
by a production company, which is amazing again the power
of drag Race, and we recorded in Media City in
the UK, which as real like BBC and everything. It's
a bit fancy now, but the premise of it is
(24:42):
we speak about what we've done that week. We catch
up with our lives with each other, and then we
answer things like listeners letters to every week somebody writes
in with a problem and then we do all the
we have like Snack of the Week. We're food obsessed.
Were two chunky girls that love and so it's just
basically whatever we want to talk about, and it's growing
(25:03):
strength and strength. We've honestly, we've got fans all over
the world. We've got people in America and they know
we love snacks. We've been sent like boxes of Americans.
So it's a great little community within our community, and
we don't have a lot of time left with you.
I wanted to ask this, as the winner of UK
Drag Race, you get a digital series produced by Wow.
(25:26):
Have you started working on that and what is it
going to be? So we have. I don't want to
say anything to you because we're pitching it to some
TV channels, but what I can say is it's not
if it goes ahead what my ideas and their ideas are,
It's not going to be anything that's been done before.
I absolutely love WOW Presents and I love WOW. What
(25:47):
I said, this isn't a Wow show. There's no green screen,
there's no star cloth. I want money, money, put it
into it, and you know what, I think they want
the same for it. So it's going to be very,
very different than what's been before. And it's hopefully going
to be on TV properly here in the UK as well,
which is a proper first. So I'm really excited for that.
(26:09):
We look forward to that. So you're on tour right now.
So what tour are you on and what can we
expect next? So I'm currently on Christmas talk called Chanter
You Slay Me and previous winner Lawrence Cheney are hosting.
We'll go right up until Christmas eve. So I've literally
I think I was crowned a couple of thursdays ago
(26:30):
and I went on a massive UK and European on
the friday. I mean, I love working and I was like,
is this the right thing to do? But I've got
to go to basically every city in the UK and
meet all these amazing people that I've been telling me
they've watched me for the last ten weeks and the
fans of mine now, so what better gift than to
meet them people? You know what's next? So much lots
(26:54):
of television working here in the UK, which has always
been a dream, Lots more live where which is always
a dream. All the Queens and UK seem to go
directly into television, onto a television show like You're you
guys are all over the place immediately. Yeah, I think
there's a real demand for drag here and there's a
demand for good entertainers and drag races such a great
(27:16):
platform for that. We show so many different skills. So
it's a TV producer's wet dream really, So I'm really
lucky to have had some good daytime and yeah, lots
of nice things that happening. So I have to apologize
if I'm out of breath, I'm still sadly on my course,
I feel like I'm going don't die, but I'm sayre
(27:37):
in my course fabulous. Alec always has one closing question
for all of our queens, so go ahead out Okay.
So I always feel like drag is like a superhero identity.
You know. It's like there's you, our stage and and
then drag becomes this this identity you assume, almost like
a superhero. It's like Clark Ketterns this superman. And so
(28:00):
in a drag, what would you feel your superpower is? Wow?
In drag, I think my superpower is I don't know
how i'd say this, but it's almost like memory loss.
That's a bad way to say what I'm trying to say.
I think when I mention the power of dementia, I
(28:21):
think I have seemed to have this ability that people
forget everything that's going on in the life for the
forty minutes they're at the shore, and it's it's escapism.
It's like the power of escapism, and even for me
and everyone needs a bit of escapism, and maybe all
drag does it and that's why it's so great. But
I really feel it when the audience all just live
(28:43):
in that moment, and I think that's really my power,
and I do that through insulting them as well. Yeah,
so I must be doing something, all right, and I'm
telling people that they need to get a hair so honestly,
the power of escapism, let's go with that. I was thinking,
let's any we have enjoyed you so much, You're gonna
(29:03):
work forever because you have an act that you can
take anywhere. I mean, Bianca is selling out arenas all
over the world because she has an act. I think
it's the real test of a queen is like where
they go after the show. And I'm not worried about
You're gonna You're gonna do great things. Where can people
find you on your socials? You can find me at
(29:23):
the Danny Beard across all socials. And you just reminded
me and I should have mentioned this for what's coming next.
I'm actually I'm on at the O two Arena in
London with Bianca. I can't believe I forgot that. It's
just so much happening. I just forgot casually that I'm
appearing at the biggest venue in the whole of the country. Yeah,
that's happening, and that's through Graham off the show said,
(29:46):
Graham Norton's doing his variety show when he's asked for
me to be on that bill. And you know what,
we've got a merch idea for you. Go on Beard
Maintenance Tools, Beard Maintenance, the Danny Beard Beard Kick. Yeah. Yeah,
they sell it every show. The d baby Okay, sounds
like a ba, sounds like a badger. We love you, Danny,
(30:09):
thank you so much. You can't wait to make you
take care of my boys. We gotta take a break
and we'll be right back after these important messages and
we're back while Lonnie, that was a great interview. What
(30:30):
was your takeaway? Very inspirational what I saw on the
show I felt from the interview, and I really appreciate
that Danny also gave us some insight. I mean, we
got a lot of things. This is why we do
this podcast so that we can talk to people. And
I think it's you, Aleck. I think that they feel
so comfortable with you that they're like, you know what,
(30:52):
I'm gonna say this and I maybe shouldn't say it.
Whenever they say we shouldn't say it's become of Alec,
so thank you. What did you think of it? I
think you're right, it's because of me. No um. You
know what, we talked a lot on the show about
the power of being yourself, the power of being your
genuine self, and how ironically through drag, through dressing up
(31:13):
and putting on this makeup, you kind of discover this
essence about yourself, you know. And and that's what Danny
brought to the program today. And I was so delighted
to meet them. And that is the fun part of
the show is you get to be entertained by these
people on the show, and then you get to talk
to them in real life, and that's always cool. I
(31:34):
also thought what was interesting Alec was that she was
saying how she auditioned three times and this was gonna
be her last. Also, when we talk about the power
of drag race, you know, she's been doing drag but
you know, maybe her career was kind of stalling. And
(31:54):
then that's another reason why she wanted to do drag Race,
because she wanted to to get her exposure up take
a to the next level. But that tells you the
power of ru Paul's Drag Race is what it does
for people. It gives you that exposure, it gives you
that inspiration. So it's just another reason why we have
to support our queens and remember to tip our queens
(32:16):
and love them on all the socials. Alec is no
longer on Twitter, but he's still on Instagram and he
still needs to get to a million buy I'm scooching
up there. I'm getting up there. I've got thirty five
thousand followers. Five okay, we're gonna get you to three
(32:38):
and fifty. Okay. I promise You can reach him at
Alec Mapa on Instagram. You can catch me on Instagram
at comic Lonnie Love. I'm still on Twitter. I'm trying
to trying to hang in there. Love. It's hard hard.
I love that conversation. You can listen to This Girl
(33:00):
as the official rut Paul's Drag Race podcast on the
I Heart Radio app or wherever you get your podcasts.
If you like this episode, make sure to rate and
reviews five stars please and tell a friend. You can
catch up on past episodes of Rup Paul's Drag Race
and All Stars on Paramount Plus, and you can also
watch Drag Race UK on Wow Presents Plus. Yes see
you so by
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