Into Itwith Sam Sanders
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She is the past, present, and future of drag to me.
Theyve never stopped us from existing before, she says.
Read an excerpt of the conversation below or listen to the full episode ofInto Itwherever you get your podcasts.
These things always go together.
We take steps forward and then get pushed backward.
Were seeing it everywhere.
Its also a caricature of sexuality.
When I see drag, Im not seeing queens saying,Look at how sexy and lusty I am.
What theyre saying is,Isnt this all kind of funny?
Arent these boobs funny?
Isnt this butt funny?
Isnt this makeup funny?
What is sex?Right?And fabulous and joyful, too.
Maybe the butt is funny, but it also makes you feel great, so go for it.
You do it for yourself, not to arouse people, necessarily.
Maybe what youre doing for yourself does make someone else think in a new way, and thats great.
But were all just living our own fantasies and encouraging other people to do the same.
When did you start doing drag?I started drag as a child.
I just identified with her.
Not Dorothy.Yeah, fuck Dorothy.
Im like,That tourist destroyed that poor green ladys sister and stole her clothes.
I started performing for my parents, and I would insist on doing shows if they had people over.
I would do the death of the Wicked Witch.
I would have a volunteer who would mime hurling the bucket of water on me.
Everything is falling into place.
Its a beautiful transformation from a glamorous 1950s ingenue to Gollum.
And then I performed Kate Bush, Wuthering Heights, as Gollum with the full choreography that she does.
That was a Halloween special.
I started getting booked all through the month of October.
Bob the Drag Queen gave me my first Manhattan booking because of that number.
These days, drag feels so much more mainstream.
Because I think, at its best, what drag offers is possibilities beyond that.
I think that were best when were a wink and a brush-off away from the norms that are accepted.
I read it pretending to be a radical activist who feels like drag is too commercial.
I read it as a grandma who worries its too shocking.
I just want people to be surprised and to give it a try.
I wonder what someone, like a young person like me, would think reading this book.
I know how much this would have spoken to me as a kid.
Or as even a teenager or in my 20s, I needed something like this.
The finale of this latest season ofDrag Raceis April 14.
If I dont ask you for a prediction, I wont have done my job.
Whos going to win?I think Sasha Colby will win and deserves it.
She is the past, present, and future of drag to me.
I mean, I do love them all.
But Ive been rooting for Sasha Colby for a long time.
