Cap and Gown the House Down

It’s draguation season! This week, the All Stars write commencement speeches sharing personal stories and advice on life. Then, Alec and Loni give some behind the scenes details about what it’s like to mentor a contestant on the show. Plus, the queens ‘veil it’ with their runway looks. 

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:04):
Hello, legendary legends, kitty girls and lady kids of all ages.
Welcome back to Squirrel Friends, the official RuPaul's Drag Race Podcast.
I'm Alec Matha and I get to say, here's Lonnie Love,
America's sister. I am so happy to are pre Tappy
All Star Season seven, which is on Paramount Plus. How

(00:25):
are you today, Alex. I'm excited. I'm still recovering from
the excitement of being on a billboard in Time Square
with you. We were just talking about it. I called
every friend in New York City. I have several, believe
it or not, and I told them all, if you're
in Times Square, and everybody in New York is like,
you're gonna make me good at Times Square, It's like
nobody who lives there would be caught dent Times Square.

(00:46):
But I did have a couple of friends who live
in Hell's Kitchen who went to Times Square and waited
the twenty minutes it took for our faces to come
up and sent me videos and everything, and I think
I forwarded them to you as very exciting. It is
sixciety yeah, thank you MTV. Have you ever been in
Times Square? This is why it was so moving from me, Lonnie,
I used to live in New York City. I was

(01:07):
a starving n y U student. And while I lived there,
I worked, you know the half price ticket booth in
Times Square. I used to work there in Times Square.
This is pre smartphone. We had to run to the
theaters to get the tickets to sell in Times Square,
and I was so broke. I remember one time scraping

(01:28):
together enough money, maybe like two or three dollars so
I could eat its barrow, so I could get a
slice of pizza. Now look at you. Now, your face
is in Times Square, in Times Square, So where was
your first billboard, Lonnie? Where was your first kind of like, oh,
that's me up there. That's something. Well, I've been in

(01:49):
Times Square. Maybe this is probably my third time within
twenty years of doing stand up comedy. Was it for
the real? It was before the real? I had one
or a show that I was doing a long long
time ago, many moons ago, and then the second one
was for the real and that was so exciting, and

(02:09):
now this one. And it's always the beginning, So I
love at the beginning. Positive, it's positive, positive. So I
heard it's gonna be up there till July. So if
you're in Times Square and you take a picture of
it and you d m it me or Lonnie on Instagram,
we will follow you. We will follow you, and we're
going to repost it. So and we thank everybody for

(02:30):
listening to us, world friends. This is a recap episode.
So since it's a recap episode, spoilers ahead. Spoiler alert
because we're talking. We're talking, and hold back. And if
you're riding in a car or something and you haven't
seen it yet, or if you're at home listening to
us while you're doing the dishes, stop listening if you
don't like spoilers, but keep listening if you just want

(02:51):
to hear the dulcet tones of America's sister Lonnie Love.
But you know what this is episode five. It was
one of my favorite episodes because it had to do
with education. I feel it's education. I love education. Anybody
that knows me, I love this type of play on education,
and so this was one of my favorite episodes. For

(03:13):
the Maxi Challenge, this week, each queen will give a
draguation commencement speech and we're gonna see Carson and Nicky
Glazier mentor the Queen's. We also had a runway theme
called veiled It. They'l had the lip sinking and we
had the blocking. So episode five was one of my

(03:34):
favorite episodes. They're all jam packed, Yeah, all jam packed.
They're all different, and this is why we love drag
Race because every episode is entertaining, its inspirational. It's colorful,
it's fashionable, it's stylish. It's like, you know what I'm
describing you, Alec cut it out some speech list. Now

(04:00):
you're a college gal. You went to college right for
your engineering degree. Yes, Now, while you were getting that
engineering degree, you were like, I can't wait to engineer?
Or was there some part of your going this is
plan B in case like stand up career doesn't work.
I always knew that it would be planned B because
you gotta understand where I come from. A Detroit Brewster project.

(04:21):
Shout out to the people my project kids are the
Brewster Projects still there. They just torn them down. But
for people that don't know, the Brewster Projects gave us
Diana Ross, gave us Lily Tomlin and a host of
other great performers. Because we all know that love. Oh yes,

(04:41):
when I was a little girl, though really really little
Diana Ross used to ride through the projects in her
big white limousine after a concert and she would just
ride through the whole neighborhood and she would wave, and
us little kids, we would just follow her and follow
the card and I could run. And for me a

(05:02):
little girl, seeing her on TV and then seeing her
ride through the area was always inspirational and she was
beautiful and it was something to aspire to. So every
time she was in Detroit, every time she or Yea,
she would ride through the projects. And it took me

(05:23):
twenty five years and I was finally able to meet
miss Diana Ross. And when I told her about that,
of course she remembered. It was just great. And her daughter,
Tracy Ellis Ross and Ron Ross we always see each other,
always hugged. Evan, her son came on the reel and

(05:43):
I was able to interview him and his wife. So
the whole Ross family, they're like my extended family. That
is a full circle moment, a very full circle moment.
Did you cry? Was it weepy when you met her?
Of course, I'm very emotional. Anyway. It was just so
great because she was to me, our original queen. I mean,

(06:05):
people have to understand that back then in the sixties,
what they did with motown and if you study my town,
Barry Gordy, he would take these women and men and
he would put them in etiquette classes. He would put
them in hair and makeup. So that was like for
the first time, especially for African Americans, to see women,
especially African American women glamped up with the sequence, with

(06:28):
the high hair, you know, beautiful shoes, and that was
my first taste of glamour. So I just have to
thank miss Diana Ross for that. And um, you know,
and when I see queens, you know, emulate her, I
get inspired and special. Yeah, that's special to you. I
mean it's a childhood hero. And the thing is like,

(06:49):
I'm old enough to remember seeing Diana Ross on the
Ed Sullivan Show. That's how old I am. And I
didn't have the black context that you had of so
to me, she was just like the ultra glamorous woman
who had eyelashes on the top and the bottom. Yeah. Yeah.

(07:10):
And then in the eighties when I started watching Dream
Girls when I was a student in New York, then
I was fully immersed in all of the supremes mythology
and the looks that the Supremes did are so influential
in the world of drag. It's like there's a glittered,
sequined dress that's covered. Everything is covered in sequence their

(07:32):
their clothes were impeccable. Definitely. So we love our inspirational
women and men that help us to celebrate drag. Which
is why drag Race is important now because this is
a moment that's being recorded. There are now contestants on
the show who grew up watching drag Race who have
already been influenced by it. Wow, that is just awesome.

(07:54):
But that tells you what can happen when we all
work together. And this is reason why you see this
movement of drag and Paul and this is world why
you know, we never thought that this would happen. So
since we're talking about drag Race, let's get into the five. Yeah,

(08:17):
So the work room after the blocking the Vivian one
and she blocked mone which was the right right because
money had not been blocked. But she had a star,
so that was very important. Now Jenks was annoyed to
have one but not be able to receive a star
because she was blocked that week before. Well yeah, I mean,

(08:42):
but it's it's the game, it's what you you know,
it's what you deal with. Then it feels like I
feel like Jinks since Jenks has been so successful that
she's going to be blocked every week if she's not
in the top two. You know what, That's what happens
when you have talent, Alex people always hate this, go
hate They're gonna try to block you a the times.
You gotta you gotta come up with the strategy, you know.

(09:03):
But my girl Roger had no wins and no stars
from last week, so episode I was like, she's been
almost there. Her and Evie both have you know, they're
so different. Raja is the older, more experienced queen. Evie
is the person who's she's different, totally different, totally her

(09:24):
own person. But they've been making it work in this competition.
That's why they're legends. So I wanted to see them
explode a little bit more for episode five. Me too,
especially Raja because she killed it during Snatch Game and
Evie killed it during the Fairytale Challenge. Her Big Bad
Wolf was absolutely amazing. Rajah with no wins and no stars,

(09:47):
maybe she's like selling this episode. The Vivian revealed that
she wanted to block Jinks again but couldn't because Jinks
was in the top two. And you know what, now
you're starting to create some drama. I've been waiting in
took episode five. And this is the thing. Jinks and
the Vivian, they're both the same when it comes to

(10:08):
their talent, and they're both so competitive and this is
creating drama. And you know what, we gotta have a
little drama. I was playing for it. I was waiting. Okay,
the camaraderie is starting to wear off. I think as
the steaks are becoming very apparent. It's two thousand dollars.
It's two thousand dollars. And these girls also spend a
lot of money on looks to get here, So that

(10:31):
two hundred thousand dollars, it's really good at come in handy. Yeah,
and they got to cover that. So yeah, so there's
no mini challenge this week. RuPaul comes through the door. Hello, Hello, Hello,
And this time she was dressed as EMC Hammer. You
know what, EMC Hammer without a shirt. She was Emcy
Hammer without a shirt. I can't explain this. It was

(10:53):
like a suit with that was sleeveless that she wore
with gloves on, metallic hammer pants and boots and long
typewriter dance and you know, because Rue Paul is so tall,
it's a different look, but it works. It works for
her because it's like she puts the glam to it.
So she comes in. She announces that each of the

(11:15):
queens must write and deliver uplifting commencement speech for all
the dragu It's around the world, whether they're getting a PhD,
NBA or beauty license from the International House of Pancake Makeup.

(11:35):
And what I loved about it is that they're going
to actually workshop their speeches with Carson Cressley and the
guest judge, Nicki Glazer. Can I say that I love Nikki?
She is a comedian. She currently has a show called
Welcome Home Nicki Glazer. It's a it's a reality show
about her and her family and things like that. I

(11:56):
love female comics. Anytime the female comics, I loved them.
Have you worked with her before? Yes, I have worked
at her and we do the daily pop and she's
just a wonderful, funny, can get it type of comics.
So I was glad to see that she was. I
enjoy her on all the roasts on Central. She's pretty brutal.

(12:17):
Rue tells money. Because they're blocked, they get to choose
the speaking order, which is always like a big bone
of contention on all of these comedy challenges. This one
is tricky though, because it's not necessarily a comedy challenge.
I mean, you can give a funny draguation speech, but
you know, since it's a draguation and commencement speech, they
want a little bit of earnestness, a kind of like

(12:38):
a sincere moment somewhere in there. So this is tricky.
Have you ever had to do a commencement speech? No? Never.
I was never a leader in school. I was very popular,
but when it came to actually doing something like like that,
I was no. No, I would never. Did you give
a speech in school? My first commencement speech for my college,

(13:00):
which was Perview and University. It's an HBCU in Texas, Yeah, Perview,
Texas UM. I had to give it. It was two
years ago and it was a makeup commencement because of
the pandemic. So the president said, would you come down
and do it? And let me tell you to think
about commencement speeches. You want to make them inspirational, but

(13:21):
you also want to make them short and to the point,
and you also want to add a little humor. So
that's what I was really expecting to see from the Queens.
Even though we're high on funny, there needs to be
some type of inspiration. That's the assignment. So it just
can't just be joked. So what was your inspiring message?
What did you tell the people in Texas? My inspiring

(13:42):
message was like, I'm glad y'all made it. Y'all made
it through a pandemic. Y'all in made it through college.
You can do anything now. You can do anything. You
know that's good. So it's like, and that's what you do.
You take simple little things and you know, of course,
you try to clude a little bit about yourself. So
that's why I was automatically thinking this is going to

(14:05):
be a very good challenge because it's not necessarily being
one jokes jokes jokes. Can you add a story or
can you add something inspirational? So that's what I was
looking for that, But then there was a twist. Twist
revealed that the top two of the week will receive

(14:28):
two Legendary Legend Stars, one to give to another queen
and one to keep for themselves. I was like, oh,
that changes everything. And originally I thought that when they
said you're gonna get two stars, that you would just
get two stars and you would get to keep too.
So it was like, oh my gosh. So if somebody
has one already, they're gonna have three, but they have
to give one away. Yeah, because I was like, well,

(14:50):
I just keep both of them for myself. That's how
I'm getting to the finale, and I'm not going to
give away my legendary legend star. But then this is
the thing. Okay, RuPaul said that money gets to do
the speaking order. Now you're a comedian, how important is
it say it's an open mic? Okay? How important is

(15:11):
the order for you to say you've got eight people?
If you're picking the order, how important is that order?
It's really important. The first one you have to kill it.
If you're first out of the gate, you have to
come out swinging. And I don't mind being first if
I can do that, because the first one has to
read the room, and while the other comics are waiting
to go on, I can watch you kill it and

(15:32):
get an idea of what the room is like. Right,
So the first one is tricky, but I don't mind it.
I know comedians. Do you know Jessica Kerson? Yes, I
love Jessica. She will never go on first. She and
I said, why she goes? I always bomb if I
go on first, and I've never seen her bomb. Of course,
I've never seen her go on first. I think second
or third is great. And if you go on last,

(15:53):
you're the headliner and you have to kill no matter what,
You're the last one up. People are have gone through.
I have other comics before you, so you also have
to keep that energy going and you have to be
the cherry on top of the Sunday? Do you go
last a lot? Are you a last comic girl? I
do headline, so I have to go last now. But

(16:16):
if I had to pick, this was the order that
Money did. She put herself first, then Shay Trinity, Raja, Jada,
Evie Jinks, and then she put the Vivian last because
she was upset at the Vivian for blocking her right.
But in my opinion, being a comic first of all,

(16:40):
I think if I was Money, I wouldn't have put
myself first. I would at least put one or two
people and get the crowd warmed up. I would not
have put myself first, and I definitely wouldn't have put
the Vivian. I would actually put the Vivian first. I
would have pushed her out of the boat first and say,

(17:01):
check out the water, see how deep it is, what
the temperature is, and you go first, because I think
first as trickiest because you have to kill right away.
We'll get to that. But I didn't really like the order.
Do you think she really put herself as a disadvantage
going first. I think she did. Okay, I think she did.
I will say I think order does matter. It matters,

(17:23):
It absolutely matters. Like I said, I would have put
the Vivian first, and then maybe Shay, and then I
would have put myself third. Yeah, I would have put
myself second or third. That way, you kind of get
a sense of everybody. When I was doing stand up
when my son first came to live with us when
he was five, we adopted our poster kid. I would
go up at the improv on Melrose first and then

(17:46):
take an uber home. And also, and when you do
stand up in a club, we have something, I don't
know what you call it, the funk off light, the
red light, like your turns up, get off the stage.
And when I first started doing stand up, the minute
I saw the thing, I would stop talking. I would
like be in the middle of a story. Okay, that's it.
By it's a good way to get off. But now

(18:10):
I know, okay, that's the light. I got to have
to shut up. Just just take your time. Now, this
is the thing because Rue Paul for this twist is
giving the top two winners two stars one extra star
to give. Monet was trying to use the extra stars
as leverage, so she was going to each of the queens.

(18:32):
Of course, she went to Trinity and saying, you know,
if you get in, will you give me a star?
And if I win, I'll give you a star. She
was plotting. She was plotting it. Yeah, yeah, she's all
about strategy. Bob the drag Queen says that money is
obsessed with strategy. Really you can tell. And so then
we go into the actual work shopping, and Jinx didn't

(18:54):
see worried. I think speaking challenges are Jinx is forte
and the Vivian seemed to a strategy as well. She
didn't seem intimidated by the positioning Jens doesn't seem to
be worried about her placement, and they said they wanted
to make it tough for the Vivian to follow. But
since those two have similar talents, you know, in terms
of characters, in terms of performance and acting, neither one

(19:16):
of them seems intimidated by the other. But the star
twist has all of the queens excited because now you
can use the star to kind of like show someone
that you like them. And it's like, we only have
at this point to people that don't have stars, right,
Raja and Evie, you know what the strategy for me

(19:38):
would be, because if you have a star, there's a
target on your back. So I would give my star
to somebody who hasn't won anything any stars yet, either
Raj or Evie, because then it would take the attention
off of me. Do you think that works. That's a
notable strategy. I would have done that strategy too. But
there's only one queen that hasn't been blocked that has

(20:00):
a star, which is Jada ses Hall and Trinity was
making sure to poke fun because in the strategy is
to remind everybody, hey, she's never been blocked, but she's
got a star, So that's another part of the strategy.
She's really good in that workroom. It's during the turd
She's really good at getting everybody agitated. It was like, hilarious.

(20:23):
What did you think about the work shopping between Carson
and Nikki? I thought they were really supportive and Nikki
the kind of advice she gives is the kind of
advice I like because doing stand up or performing in
front of people, it's short attention span theater. Yes, you
gotta keep it tight, you gotta keep it quick, you
gotta keep it funny. We don't have five minutes for

(20:44):
you to get to a punchline. And this challenge in
a roast challenge, in comedy challenge, you gotta come out swinging.
And I feel like that was the advice she gave.
It was funny because during the work shopping with Nikki
and Carson, Shay got him and you know, I got emotional.
Whenever Shay gets emotional, I get emotional too. But they

(21:08):
told her, and they gave her great advice was to
use that. Both of us have been coaches like that before.
How did you feel when you were coaching, because I
know when I was coaching and it was the actual
roads for the comedy. All of the queens took my
advice except for one we know who that was Oh

(21:33):
my god, Utica. I love her, but it was like, okay, okay,
we really trying to help you, and some people are
like that. Some people are like, you know, yeah, I
know you're trying to give me advice, but I want
to go my own way and that's cool too. I
was a coach during the Storytelling Challenge and it was
right before the finale of All Stars six. So I
had so Neat, I had Ginger, I had Trinity Caboat

(21:57):
and a couple of other people, and my coushing was
about like heightening their strengths. I wanted to point out
what was good about their story and kind of steer
them away from things that I didn't feel were as strong.
Like when Ginger came out, she was so prepared, but
it seemed like a prepared answer and less like as
spontaneous I'm going to tell you a story. So I

(22:20):
wanted her to be a little less not less prepared,
but make it seem like it was less of a
speech and more like us all sitting around and having
a ki ki over. See that's the reason why I
like this type of challenge because, first of all, especially
with this group of queens, they're all legends, they're all winners,
so we know what they can do when it comes

(22:40):
to the fashion, when it comes to the makeup, when
it comes to the looks. But give them a challenge
that is actually going to challenge them. And I think
this is what this actual challenge did for a lot
of them. I know, Raja during the work shopping told
Carson and Nikki, Hey, I'm just gonna come out as
this character. And it's funny because when she said a

(23:03):
little bit of it, we all looking like a girl.
I know it was a misleading edit. I think a
lot of the time, you know, people will talk about
my outfits a disaster, I don't know what I'm gonna do,
and they'll come out and it's great. But Raja came
out and said she was going to give a commencement
speak talking about all these spiritual concepts and precepts, and

(23:25):
both Nikki and Carson were like, I got nothing, like
I don't know, I don't know. And then when Evie
came out, she didn't have anything. She was she did
have failed. Her theme was failing. Yeah, she just came
out to them like, yeah, I'm gonna talk about failing,

(23:46):
and so as a viewer, I'm like, girl, okay. But
you know what, there's a grain of truth in that,
because you learn more from failing than anything else. Like
we talked earlier about bombing, and just like you learned
from bombing, you will learn what not to do. The
worst audition I ever had was for Star Trek and

(24:07):
I was playing one of the away team, and it
was all technical jargon, you know, according to the triangulation
of our instruments, blah blah blah blah blah. And I
tripped the minute I opened my mouth. I was mush mouth.
And then it just went worse after that. And at
the very end of the scene the Star Trek audition,
I'm supposed to fall off a cliff and die, so
I said, I'm already dead. This is the worst audition

(24:28):
I've ever had. So I after I finished speaking, I went, oh,
like I was falling off the cliff. Nobody thought it
was funny. It was just and I was like I
could feel my face getting hot, like I was just
so mortified. So that's my bombing story. But I learned
that people who right star trek taking very seriously. So

(24:50):
compared one time, Alec. This is years ago. I played
a dead body for SVU. What yes, you have a
scene before? Were that or did you? Were you just dead?
I was just dead, you know, like they cover you
up the body because I really needed the money. And
I was like, okay, I need this Bundy. No, I'm
not gonna have any FaceTime. It doesn't matter. It's check right.

(25:13):
I kept breathing and the director kept going breathing seconds
and I was like, I'm sorry, I'm sorry. My stomach
is big and I can't only hope my breath and

(25:35):
you know, the cloth kept going up and down. Was
it a crime scene or were you in the morgue already?
I was in the morgue supposed to be silent, and
you can't hear me breathing, and then you can see
my starting. I love that I was murdered on NYPD Blue.
That was that we have that in common. We both
the murdered on crime procedurals. But see, this is the

(25:58):
thing about the fail. Because us I couldn't die, I
ended up getting an extra part where I was living,
and that is my fail story. Okay, many moments ago,
if you'd been able to control your breathing, you would
have gotten that part with more screen time, you see,
so I can relate to what Evie was saying. So

(26:20):
that's okay. So we get through all of the workroom
and then we go to the main stage. We go
to the main stage, and you know what, I want
to talk all about the main stage because there were
some pretty exciting looks. And we'll get to the main
stage right after this break and we're back the main stage.

(26:48):
The looks were pretty I mean, they were pretty right on.
Oh definitely. Let's start off with Rue Paul's outfit, because
you know that's always my favorite. The lights go out,
you see the silhouette done, Dad, I'm like, oh my goodness.
I mean Rue Paul is just it's an off the

(27:12):
shoulder gown that is roused on one side of her hip,
and it's multicolored stripes horizontal stripes, which you could only
get away with when you're seven feet tall. Um, I
mean truly, I mean, I wear a shirt different color
than my pants. I look like a fire hydrant because
I five for she had this kind of like pink

(27:32):
top bodice that went into a lighter shade of rose,
into yellow, into peach, into orange into black, an aqua
kind of reveal underneath that long skirt, and again it's
it's beautiful. Only Rue Paul could wear seven colors and
it works, okay. And of course that blonde hair. It
reminded me of blonde Betty Rubble from the Flint Stounds.

(27:57):
Loved it, loved it with the long diamond ear rings. Yeah,
it's gonna be rare for her to get it wrong.
I can't think of any time where it's like, I'm
not that crazy about that. You know what, Once you
know your look, you're okay when you know what you need,
you know what your color, your hair, you know everything.
And we've seen RuPaul have different color hair, but I'm

(28:19):
really feeling the blonde that she's been wearing this whole time.
So you have Nikki as the guest judge, you have
Carson Cressley, and then of course our favorite Michelle Facade,
and we start off with the speeches, So tell me
your thoughts on those, Okay. So Mona comes out and
she has this frow that's kind of kidn play. It's

(28:43):
it's a little jumie like, remember kidn play, If it
ain't don't hurt, nobody ain't get hurt nobody. I was
that Tony, Tony Tony anyway, kidn play. She has a
kidn play kind of bro with the pick sticking out
of it, and she has on her graduation gown like
in she's the first one out of the gate, and
I thought she gave a perfectly respectable performance. But since

(29:07):
it's so the first one out of the gate, she's
feeling the room. She's kind of feeling where is this
gonna go? Which is why it goes back to what
I said. I didn't want her to go first, and
she was able to choose the order. Now, what I
will say is that the opening was a little quiet,
but that ending was massive, I mean, inspirational. It was great.

(29:28):
But if she would have put someone before her, but
she ended strong. It was a good speech, but it
would have been better if she was maybe second. I agree,
I agree, I agree. Next up of Shade. I loved
her speech. First of all. I loved her graduation look.
She had like this little hat with fur cock to
the side, fascinating. I love that. And I think her

(29:52):
speech was out of all the speeches true to form
because she talked about being this young queer person and
being able to use that and it came out so emotional,
and it came out so inspirational. And this is what
I love about Shade. She is using everything in this competition.
You know when you saw her see Naomi Campbell and walking.

(30:16):
She keeps using that and that's why you know she's
a winner. She's a legend because she knows how to
take her vulnerabilities and make it into something and put
it in the challenge and it comes out wonderful. She
values her own story and she was personal talking about
being in school, talking about not having the confidence I though.

(30:38):
I did like when she said I was popular then.
And she also said you can't shade the sun. You
can't shade the sun, and it's certainly drew in her instance,
but I think that's part of the magic of the show,
is kind of like the more of yourself that you reveal,
the more vulnerable you are, the more personally you are,

(31:00):
the more the audience leans in. And she's really good
at definitely. Up next, we had Trinity the Tuck. Trinity
was hilarious as usual, but again I love how she
incorporated her personal story. She talked about this story where
she had to quit school to take care of her
grandmother who was ill, and how that shaped her as

(31:21):
a person. But that also made me feel about like
what type of person she was. You know, somebody who
is in the dynamic of a family member is in
trouble and they need me, So what is my decision here?
And not everybody would make that decision. Some people would
go and step back grandma bike exactly. But she was
able to use that story weaving in and she added

(31:44):
jokes because she says, you know, you can't say tasso
without ass so it's like and she's so warm. She
looked fabulous. She had this sequence cap and matching gown
with a peach scarf. She looked beautiful. She was very
had a great mix of heart and funny, so I
really enjoyed her speech. Up next was Raja. Okay, so

(32:06):
this is why it was a misleading edit, because when
she was doing her prep with Nicky and Carson, I
was like, that was the preview of her bombing. But
she was great. She was great. It was all about like,
don't take it seriously because we're all going to die.
When she said that just kind of leveled everything. It's like, okay, alright,

(32:30):
that is that is a hard, cold truth. But she
somehow made that fun. She was trying to be like
this guru, this sec leader. So at first, like you said,
it was misleading because you're like, uh. But in her
speech she gave five things for graduates to look out for,

(32:51):
and one of them being peg of taxes. Boy. But
it was all practical, lived with. But it was also
funny because at one she says yes and be kai
even to the poor people because you never know when
a camera is a row, she's to record your good deed.

(33:14):
I was really funny. Next up was Jada Essence Hall
who comes out in that purple drag you. I love
that all the graduation gowns were like drag themed. They
were all kind of they were the most glamorous imagine.
I loved her opening line she said, good evening bitches.

(33:36):
I don't know why. It's a simple line, but coming
from Jada Essence Hall, it was hilarious. She's a good
evening bitches. Yeah. And again she doesn't take herself seriously
so and she has this character who's kind of full
of herself, but it's still endearing, So only somebody who's

(33:57):
endearing can say something like I'm proud of myself just
as much as the rest of the panelists as proud
of me. And then she said, hold for applause. I'm
gonna say that from now on, if i feel like
I'm dying on stage, I'm just holding for applause. I'm
just holding for a plaus And I think Jada was
able to tell her story in her speech as well.

(34:19):
It's wonderful. You know, up next we'd have Evie and
she started. She opened up with a prayer to the
creator and she says to Paul, that was a good
foundation for the rest of her speech. I thought she
did really, really great. I thought that she was honest
in herself. I was waiting because of the workroom and

(34:43):
her saying, I'm just gonna talk about failing. You are right, Alec.
The failing theme worked for her. Yeah, yeah, because it
was real, it was emotional, it was inspirational. I think,
you know, with social media and everything, with TikTok and Instagram,
we're all getting a version of people that's perfect and
put together and done. And she talked about like life

(35:06):
is grittier than that. You know, you have to mess
up in order to get to a certain place. And
so I loved when she said good luck and fuck
it up definitely. And her graduation look was hilarious. She
had all these like drawings on her gown of cats
and clouds and I don't know what it was, but
it was oddly she's Queen of the queerdos and once again,

(35:29):
and she had that kind of Cruella de Ville wig
with black bangs and white on the side. She was awesome.
Next up we had Witchy Pooh. We had Jinx Monsoon. Oh,
what do you like about her? She came out dressed
as a witch, and she said, clearly I was expecting
to go to a different graduation of some kind. So

(35:50):
she's already armed with story, a version of like the
moment before, which is she's so detailed, And so she
comes out, she's kind of spouting all these spells and everything,
and then gets to the meterse speech, and she gave
a wonderful story about trauma and processing it. And at
first you going, where's she going? This? But a good

(36:13):
comic And you could tell Jinx is so good at
comedy that she knows how to suck you in and
then she goes boom onny and she did a call
back to the actual car story within the story. So
she's just excellent. I mean, she knows what she's doing.
She told a story about getting hit by a car

(36:33):
in Amsterdam and getting up again and not feeling the
effects till later. I just gotta class process the trauma
while it's happening. It was so good. It was It
was really really good. And it's kind of like she's
just demonstrating week after week that she knows how to
play this game. She knows how to play the game.
It was funny because at one point RuPaul actually did

(36:56):
a call back to Jinx's story and says, I was
the one driving the car. It's classic. It was me,
it was. It was one thing I will say, because
this last person was the Vivian. I'm glad that Money
thought to put Jinks and then put the Vivian because

(37:20):
I think this kind of tested a little bit. Yes,
I think it made the Vivian step her game up,
and she did. She stayed in character the whole time
as somebody who was drunk at a graduation, and it
was an interesting choice for her to make because apparently
she's sober, and she was very good. She was stumbling
right out of the gate, and I kind of agreed

(37:42):
with Nikki and Carson, like, I don't know if this
is gonna work, but it did. It did. It did
because she is an excellent performer and she understands timing.
Like you said, throughout everyone's speech, she was in character.
I mean at one point she had lips gonna teeth.
You know, she was falling over, leaning over. He was

(38:05):
a mess. And I believe this is a genius of
the Vivian is that she's like, how can I remind
people that I'm coming up and actually make people anticipate
coming up? That's how you do it, and she did
it well. The speech was funny, she was funny. Her
timing was on She's a headliner. This is what handliners do, baby,
that's what headliners do. It made me think of, like,

(38:26):
what was my drunkest moment in public. I was once
staying at the wind and I was going down for
the breakfast buffet. I was hosting a Pride event, and
I guess I'd stayed out really late the night before,
so I'm going down a brunch. I'd woken up at noon,
and I got into an elevator full of black women
and they were all giving me a really shady look

(38:46):
like and I was like, what's that about? And so
we're riding down the elevator and one of them tries
to because you don't even remember, do you? And I
was like what because we had to walk you back
to your room. You got to the elevator and said
you were lost and that you couldn't remember where your

(39:07):
room was. We took you to your floor. We watched
you back to your room, and I was like, I
don't remember. I did not. I had no memory. That's
why I don't drink anymore. I did not remember. Oh
my goodness, an elevator full of black women saved my life.
We always safe, Thank you, sisters, because I wouldn't have

(39:29):
you here at this podcast. It wasn't beyall always save me.
The Vivian's face plant at the very end of the
speech was so good, so good, and she stayed there.
She stayed there so long that Rue Paul said, she, Okay,
get this bit up to see all right. I was

(39:51):
so good. I love a good face plant. That was really,
really amazing. So we go from the challenge where I
think everybody did a pretty solid job. I mean, the
thing is about the all winner season is like some
people do better than others. But I haven't seen anybody
bomb yet and any co Yeah, not completely. I mean
you can. But when they're strong, though, Alec, they're strong. Yeah,

(40:13):
like when it's strong is strong. I think Rajah was strong.
I think the Vivian was strong. I really appreciate it.
Shay and her story and people were different, but when
they were really strong, they were really strong and they
stood out right right. They all understood the assignment. I think.
I think certain people were more successful than others, but
each and every one of them understood the assignment. Speaking

(40:34):
of assignment, we're going to the main stage runway, and
so the runway starts and Rue says, I misheard it
because I thought she said Nail. I did too. I
thought she said failed it. Oh, so we both need
to get our hair and checked, is what I'm hearing.
We both have to get a hearing test. It's veiled
it and the first one up is Mona Exchange And

(40:58):
I thought this was so clever. Her dress was all
made out of feathers, so she's like a bird and
her veil was like a birdcage over and beautiful. It
was a baby blue mixed with red feathers. White center.
It looked like it was shaped in a heart in
the center, and then the rest was all blue feather

(41:21):
It looks soft and plush and beautiful. It looks so pretty,
And I love this ham at the bottom. That the
how the skirts really tied at the bottom. That reminds
me of a lot of things my mother wore in
the sixties. You know, those tight pencil skirts that came
down at the bottom. It was so pretty and I
got it. I was like, okay, they I know. That's
when I hit me to her, like okay, veiled it. Okay,

(41:44):
all right, It's gonna take a while, but I can learn. Uh.
This was beautiful. The next up was Shay kool A
and I love this again. She values her own story
and she said this was a tribute to her grandmama,
who is a big gardener. It was a gardening outfit
with a long veil that was pleaded, and in fact,

(42:05):
the whole thing was pleaded, multicolored pleaded pants suit with
a dress on top of the pants. And it kind
of reminded me of those Miaki pleaded outfits that Cecily
Tyson used to wear. The Yes Yes with the matching
had they call him accordion plates. And the reason why
you like them is that when she was walking, it

(42:26):
just flowed. Everything just flowed, and her veil, which was
the long pleaded like a nude color. It's so wonderful
and it did remind your gardening, but it was a
glamorous gardener. Glamorous gardening, Like I don't want that to
be anywhere near the dirt or carrots in my backyard
because it's so beautiful. But I love when she talks

(42:48):
about her family and when she says that her dragon,
its highest form, is a tribute to the black women
are life. This was a perfect example of that. And
I love the way that veil flowed in back of her.
She was like a really glad gardener or beekeeper. Definitely
your drag Mama came up. Now, Trinity the Tuck. She
had on an all red and her veil was actually

(43:11):
what was like a hat, and she had this really
super long train. They're calling her Trinity the Train now
instead of Trinity the Right, and she actually was like,
this is the last time I'm gonna wear a train
and RuPaul said, no, keep it going. You know what
I mean, It's like it works for you. This is
what you do. This is what we spent from her.

(43:32):
All read very beautiful. It looked like it had ruffles
the shoes, and she said that the train was really
heavy because at the end of the train were like
they looked like a bunch of roses on the end.
And I mean, when I say just a beautiful red bride,
she looked like to me, I just love her and

(43:54):
I love her style, and I love how she's so
ladylike and she knew the assignment and she did it well.
Is veil is so theatrical because it's a veil that
turns into a train and the train, You're right, it's
gossamer in the middle and at the end there's all
these rosebuds that are absolutely beautiful. And again, I love
her looks because I look forward to it every week

(44:15):
because I know she's not going to repeat herself. I
know that she's done a lot of trains, but this
doesn't look like the previous trains that she had worn
and the other chaln No, She's gonna do something different
and nothing is wrong with that, if you're going to
do something, I love that. But this next look was
very different from Raja. Okay, I love this. She came
out with a magazine, a giant magazine, and back of
her that said the word of will on it, which

(44:36):
is French for veil of como. So she came out
and this is the thing about Raj. Raj's six three,
all right, so you put her in these platform heells
she's at least six five six seven, But this big
background in back of her that's practically a billboard shrinks her.

(44:59):
The gm a tree of a big magazine backing you
up actually made her look smaller. And then she showed
up a ton of leg like she's wearing this very
ruche black dress that looks very drapey, but it's two
different lengths. The back is full length and the front
only goes up halfway or bus and she matched it
with blue evening long gloves. And I just thought this

(45:22):
was such a creative look. It was something totally different. Um,
but we know Rajah as our model queen, so to
come out like this having the whole magazine as her veil,
it's like it was creative and I loved it. Yeah,
it's beautiful. She's our fashion girl, and now I think
about that every time she comes out into the right way.

(45:43):
Next up Jada Essence Hall. She came out in an
all black sheer dress and everything was covered head to
toe black and sheer, and I could barely even see her.
If they hadn't have said that was Jada Essence, it
could have been anybody. But for me it worked. I
loved it, very very elegant, long fun. It's her. It

(46:07):
was very kind of widow in Barcelona morning. I mean,
because she had that kind of like a mantilla look
in the front. Now, if you were a raised Catholic
like me, this is what you wear to church in mourning,
but she makes it glamorous, and I would have liked
to see her face a little bit more. I like
the veil, I like the mystery of it, but it

(46:28):
did obscure her a bit, and she does the most
incredible makeup. I would have wanted to see her face
just a little bit more. But overall, I like this,
So I don't know how she would have shown it
in this outfit that's like, you know, unless she did
like a cutout and maybe rouged it or something or
you know, some type of way. But this is what
she chose. All of the faces. I mean, you're veiled,

(46:49):
but you know all of the other queens like Trinity
showing her face Shay kind of you don't didn't see
she's face, but it was it kind of worked. I
just wanted to see a little bit more of a
Jada's face. That's all next stuff. I love this. She
came out and I don't know how she got this material.
It's almost like a glitter Indian blanket. It's almost like
it's like Las Vegas meets the Southwest, like right, it's

(47:14):
this Indian blanket. So it's almost like this hippie look,
but it's so elevated. And her veil was like a
beaded curtain, you know, like when you walk in it's
like a hood. But then she has the beads to
veil her face and it's very colorful. This material was
like shimmery, and so when she moved, it moved with

(47:37):
her long beautiful. Yeah. I love this look. And also
that beaded curtain reminded me of how many times I've
been drunk in a bar and gotten caught in a
beat and curtain like it's a snider, wm keet me
out of here. You know how many times I've been
on stage and there's like a beaded curtain. I couldn't

(47:57):
find the opening that reminds you get here. The very
first time, I was presenting at an awards ceremony at
the Beverly Hills Hilton, you know where they have the
Golden globes. So nobody told me where to get off,
and the entire backstage was a curtain, and I kept
on looking for the opening in the backstage until I've

(48:19):
discovered that it was just a wall, a curtain covering
the wall. So I'm just like other presenters around already
talking and I'm still on stage trying to get the
funk off. Ridiculous. Oh like that's funny, Okay, up next,
Jinx Monsoon. This was magical. This was magical. She comes

(48:40):
out of this violent mermaid dress. I love a mermaid
gown on a drag queen because it's always flattering on
every shape. Eureka, O'Hara's done mermaid dresses. It looks good
and a big girl, it looks good. A small girl.
She came out in this what we call this violet
it's kind of like a violet mermaid gown. Yeah, it's
like a lavender and her l was in two parts.

(49:01):
Of course, the front was covering, but then the back
was lifted by. It looks like butterflies, butterflies, and there's
an underpinning under the veil. So the illusion is that
the butterflies are holding up the veil. It's sticking up
and back. I thought this was so original and interesting,
and I bet there are a couple of brides who

(49:24):
watched this and said, well, you know, I'm gonna have
a veil with butterflies holding up my veil. See. And
but this is what Jenks is known for. She's known
for the fantasy looks. She's known to give you that
fairy tale, fantasy princess. And so this was something that
was so creative and so original. And you know what,

(49:44):
this is the thing that a lot of people don't
realize that a lot of designers look at these rum
ray looks and then you know, like what you said,
and then the next season you'll see it in corporate
you know what I mean. That's why they watched drag Race.
Then the ideas of my Queen's give him credit, say credit.

(50:04):
That's right. So if Eve San Laurent or somebody comes
out with this next year, we're gonna be like you
stole it from James. She had a beautiful garden growing up,
growing up out of the top part of her decolletage.
There's actual blooms and greenery and and it even comes
out there's a detail in the sleeve where the flowers
are coming out of the sleeve. It's like a garden

(50:24):
is growing out of this dress. I thought it was
absolutely gorgeous. Dress was just unspeakably lovely dress. It was pretty.
It was a moment. It was a moment. Next you
had Pa Vivian who did this whole kind of s
and m gown. All right, So I know people who
are into this sort of thing. Oh you do? I do.
I met a guy in a bar in Atlanta who

(50:47):
not only told me he was into being immobilized, he
showed me pictures. He showed me pictures. Lonnie. He was
in a sleeping bag, like army sleeping bag, and they
were built growing all the way up to the sleeping
bag and a mouth opening, just a small mouth opening
for his face at the top of the sleeping bag.
And he gets off on being immobilized, and if that

(51:10):
sleeping bag was turned into a gown, it would be
what the Vivian is wearing. Well, this was a beautiful gown, Like,
I'm not touching that a b DSF. Have you ever
met anybody who's into b DSM and you're like, I
want you to tie me up? Are you like taxi?

(51:30):
Of course? Like where's my opin where I'm not tying
you up? I'm not gonna do you know my safe
word is banana? Like wait, wait, wait, what are you
talking about? What's gonna happen? You know what's gonna happen tonight.
Leslie Jones had a joke about that on SDL one time.
She's like, when I'm done with you, you're gonna be

(51:52):
like a shoe in the dryer. Just I'm all into that.
But you know, okay, I don't criticize people who are
you know, okay, I shut to get off, get off? Absolutely,
this is kind of like this was a B d

(52:12):
s M gown. She's tied up all the way in
the middle, the veils covering her face, and she has
a ball gag. I was like, okay, I think this
is edgy, though very edgy. This is very I think
this is like when she's talking about I want to
bring British drag to the runway. I think this is
very edgy. Okay, and you don't blame it on the Brits. Okay,

(52:36):
the breads bad because this is I liked it. I
thought it was very provounctive. Yeah, okay, I'm getting I'm triggered.
I'm triggered, alright, alright. So after the draguation speeches, RuPaul

(52:57):
had another surprise for all of the queens and she
wanted to give them a speaker, somebody that we all
know and some of us love. I know I do,
and that was speaker Nancy Pelosi. It was such a surprise,
and she came out in her yellow suit and she

(53:17):
gave it wonderful, just a wonderful little speech saying how
she was so proud of the queens for who they
are and being who they are. And I thought that
was a really nice surprise. I thought it was great.
And they even talked about that shady clap she gave
to Donald Trump after the State of the Union, the dress.
I thought they were so great and so smart of
them to have her on the show talking about voting.

(53:39):
You know, I think the political reach of this, you know,
the audience because they come out with that vote sign
after every show, and we're coming up in a midterm election.
So I thought it was so smart. It's very smart,
and you know what, I love the way drag Race
always incorporates that. I remember when we did Celebrity drag Race,
we actually did like a mini challenge concerning voting. So

(54:02):
nice way to tie it in and not hit you
over the head. But it gives you a little like, okay,
just a reminder. It's it's the best kind of activism.
It's a perfect example of it's easier to catch bees
with honey than vinegar. It's like wrap up a political
message and a laugh that's very very powerful. There's so
much more to talk about, and we will right after

(54:24):
this break and we're back. Did you miss us? So okay,
now we're going to the judges. They're going to pick
the top two. Who were you on top? Too? Well?
I loved Raja and since she hadn't gotten a legendary
legend star yet, I was really really rooting for her.

(54:46):
And I would have been fine with either the Jinks
or the Vivian being the other part of it. I
thought it would have been Raja, and I thought maybe Monet,
but well, now I think about it, it would have
been Raja. I like that, and then I thought it
would have been Shay. That's what I thought, Shane because
of Shade's speech. But the top two that the judges

(55:07):
picked were Jinx, Monsoon and Raja. I was surprised that
the Vivian wasn't part of that equation because she was
super strong. But I agree with this. I think it's fine. Yeah,
I think the Vivian was surprised too. Did she have
like a shitty look at her face? I think I
think she was surprised, though. I do think that she

(55:28):
was surprised. So they had to live sync and they
lip sync to my girl Lizzo. I didn't know this song.
I wasn't familiar with Better in Color. Oh yeah, I
love this song. I love Lizzo. She's just a great girl,
fun songs. Have you met Lizzo? Yes, she actually came
on my talk show before she blew up. She came

(55:48):
on really yeah, and she had performed and that's when
she was trying to hustle and make it and to
see where she is today and to embrace her body,
to embrace herself. She's always been by positive, but now
to see a person like her blow up. It's just
nice to see her and she's just a great girl
and talk every now and then. Do Yeah, do you

(56:10):
get concert tickets? You know what? I buy my tickets. Now,
what I do ask for if I buy the ticket
is I will contact him and say can I get
a backstage pass? Yeah? Because I don't want to be
surprised or whatever, and so I do ask for that,
but I'll buy my tickets. I support all artists. I
just believe in I'm cheap. I asked for free stuff

(56:30):
all the time. That that's the Asian side of me.
I can say that because Okay, so the lip sync,
I thought they were both really really good, but again
they were doing different things. Jinks was really selling the
song and Rajah was being Raja and the winner turned
out to be jinx Monster. Definitely again, yeah, I had

(56:51):
to agree with that. Now that means that Jinks has
two stars. She has two stars, so she has the
biggest target on her back right now. And then they
said the twist was they're going to give out their
stars because they both get two stars, right, and they're
going to give out their extra star in the following week,
which I thought was like, well, now, that's a great

(57:12):
way to keep people tuned in. I mean when I
say that was a great twist because I'm like, Okay,
who they gonna RuPaul's like, no, next week, you're gonna
give you a star. I'm like, yeah, next week. I
love it. So jinx Son, she wins a cash tip
of ten thousand dollars and she could block a fellow contestant,

(57:33):
and she blocked the Vivian. Wow, that's shots fired. That's like,
I've got my eye on you. I think you're good.
And I think that's why the block has forced people
to be good sports, because it's the best backhanded compliment.
It's best up that you're blocked, but you were acknowledging
that this person is a threat to my placement in

(57:54):
this competition. I mean, that was the smartest move. Because
Jinks now has two stars, the Vivian only has one.
She can't win one for the next episode. She can
perform and she can win the money, but can't win
a star. Yeah, I don't know how any of this
is gonna shake out. I mean, I really don't unless
by next week, Raja gives her a star. Oh see,

(58:20):
I well, I don't know. I don't know. I wouldn't
give the star to somebody who has to, I wouldn't
already has one. I hope someone gives I'm hoping for
next week that someone gives. Yeah, because she deserves that.
She deserves that. What's your favorite moment from the show.
I love the speeches. I loved like I said, Shaise,

(58:40):
I love trinities, I loved evies. I loved everyone's speeches,
but those three in particular, I really love what would
love saying everybody's gonna die. That's gonna be a mean. Yes,
this is the thing about RuPaul's drag race. The best
means come out of each episode. You know how many

(59:03):
means of me I've seen with me going you violent?
I love it. My favorite queen from this episode was
sha I just love that gardening outfit and I love
her story. I love just hearing all about her. Yeah,
I would have to say I loved Shay. Yeah. Say,

(59:27):
we're both in an agreement. Do you stand by your
original winner pick well? You changed to the Vivian and
she had a tricky week. Yeah, and I'm thinking about
next week. Okay, the sister, she's not gonna be able
to get a star unless when gives it to her.

(59:48):
And I don't think Roger is gonna give it to her.
I know Jinx is not gonna give it to her.
I'll find out next week. All right, Lonnie, you cannot
not pick somebody for this week. You have to pick
a drag queen because this is a bet going. There's
a many petty at Steak. Really, you're gonna make me pick.

(01:00:10):
I'm gonna make you, okay, the person to win it all? Well,
probably in my opinion right now, and I probably will
change it next week, but that's me because I can um.
I'm sticking with Trinity just because she's got the fever.
She wants this so bad. But whatever, however it turns out,
if you talk about RuPaul's drag race and social media,

(01:00:33):
send these queens your love. It's so easy to leave
a shady comment or criticism of what you don't like.
But if you knew what these girls went through to
be on the show, he would show them a lot
of love. So just do that, because it's all about love, Lonnie. Love. Yeah,
I mean, if you see these wonderful queens performing and
it's something that you like. Just send him a little
tweet saying, Hey, you did great this week. I loved

(01:00:56):
you in this episode. It doesn't hurt. And where can
we catch you? Alec where you can find me on
my socials If you want to send me a nice note,
you can find me on Instagram and Twitter. Where can
we find you? Lonnie Love? You can find me on
Instagram at comic Lonnie Love or Twitter at just Lonnie Love. Okay, Now,
if you like this episode, why don't you rate and

(01:01:16):
review us on Spotify or Apple Podcasts and tell a
friend and listen to Squirrel Friends, the official RuPaul's track
Race podcast on the i hearn app, Amazon Music, or
wherever get your podcasts. Cash new episodes of All Stars
Season seven on air Amount Plus. We'll see you next time.
We'll see you then, Bye bye