Hi, I’m Trixie Mattel and this is my last meal. Every person has exactly two things in common. We all gotta eat and we’re all gonna die. Today’s guest is the winner of Drag Race All Stars, season three, and there’s a hell of a lot more. She’s an entrepreneur, a podcast, or a dj, a folk singer, a hotelier, and the skinniest legend around. Last time she and I were under the same roof. I was tucked and she was not. Trixie Mattel, welcome to the show. Oh my God. What? What genital tucking are you talking about? I’m talking about the genital tucking. How much do you remember from DragCon 2018? With DragCon, you just lay there, you put your legs in the air and you let it happen. Like, I don’t even remember. My experience was a lot more active. At some point you were doing a live musical performance. And I was acting as trade. I believe the term is for Kimora Black and Yara Sophia’s tucking demonstration. They did not give us any of the equipment, and so it was just straight duct tape all the way through. So while you were singing Being a Star, I was ripping duct tape outta my butt hole in an LA Convention Center handicap stall. I. Lake ships passing in the night. One. Thank you so much for joining us. Uh, two, have you thought about your last meal before girl? Uh, yeah. I mean, the way I drink, it’s always on the table, you know? That’s a good point. I am a person of habit. To me, the world is so crazy and there’s some things I can control, and oftentimes when you live in hotels and planes and trains and automobiles, having a familiar meal. Like sometimes the only part of my day that can be regulated is that I know that this chain restaurant will serve food exactly the same everywhere I go. Jimmy John’s is kind of like the the Christ figure in your own narrative, I think Like saving you from absolution. Totally, of course. And every time I have a sandwich, I nail it to a cross as you should. How often do you think about death in general? All the time. Was this like from a young age or is this like as you get older, that you are the skinniest, legend and the youngest person to ever live your practically a baby, but as you get older, does that creep into your mind more? All my wildest dreams came true before I was even 30. Mm-hmm. Everything I could have ever wildly imagined happened, and so I felt like it was the universe. Being like, let’s throw a few bones. ’cause you know what’s coming at 35 mm. The bus, something, you know? So I have always felt like I’m on borrowed time. And that’s why the universe was like sprinkling me with gifts because I was like, oh, I’m gonna die later sooner. Um, but I thought it would be around 35. I’m 35 now, and whatever happens from here on out, I’m happy with. And honestly, do I wanna be 60 doing drag? Lemme tell you, I’m not gonna look like RuPaul. It’s gonna be a, a Shrek Fiona situation. You wanna get to that last meal? Of course. I didn’t come here to talk Trixie for the first course of your final meal on this earth. We have the number six veggie sandwich from Jimmy John’s. Nothing but the finest. And then we have the fresh fried beer battered Wisconsin cheese curds. We did import the cheese curds straight from Wisconsin. No, you didn’t. We absolutely did. We also are using a uh, believe Milwaukee’s best light. To beer batter them, and then we have the Diet Coke. Of course. Cheers. Thank you so much for being on the show. Cheers. I mean, listen, I know the girls at home are like, everybody yells at me that Diet Coke is bad. Mm-hmm. You know, it’s, it’s really made me think normal soda is all too sugary and crazy. It’s not fizzy enough too. The sugar gets in the way and the fizz and I’m here for the fiz. No, I guess I drag queens love straws, but I’ve been trying to get off the plastic straws. Apparently. You guys are fine with it. Um, you asked me if I’d been canceled earlier. No, but I can’t wait. Isn’t this fucked up? You know what I’ll do with these sometimes, and you can do this at home. You chop these up into small pieces. You can use ’em as rollers for your barbies. I have never done that, but that is beautiful. I will say I love Jimmy John’s, and I love this number six. It was one of the best when I was vegetarian, like, you know, 15, 20 years ago, living in Milwaukee, it was one of the best like fast food vegetarian atoms. Isn’t that great? Look at the quality. People hate Jimmy John’s too. And I, some people, but I also love Subway. I like sub sandwiches. Is that, is that so bad? I think you were talking about like your Midwestern roots and loving chains, feeling the comfort. What, I’m sorry. I think you were talking about your Midwestern roots and you really love chain restaurants. Is this bringing you back? So I love this place. I used to be a delivery driver for a place called Bert and Gerbert’s. That was a sub sandwich place. I’m sorry. They called what? Erbert and Gerbert’s. Berts and Gerbert’s Uhhuh. In this economy? Yes. Yes. Well, not anymore. They’re closed. Oh yeah. But I used to be a delivery driver for them. I. And I sold sub sandwiches and I still love Jimmy John’s so much. Sometimes after work I would leave Urban Gerbert’s in my outfit and go in like my urban Gerbert’s outfit to the Jimmy John’s and I’d feel like a traitor, like big sunglasses, like, you know why I’m here? Just put it in the bag. Didn’t even have the decency to cover up, put a sweatshirt on. Nothing. You wanted them to see you, huh? Well, I put on a bed sheet and cut holes in it, but then I was a ghost. It was all very weird. You know, it’s like a French bread and it has just a provolone cheese, shredded lettuce, cucumber, tomato. Um. Mayo. It’s like not a lot to it, but I’m one of those horrible people that doesn’t like flavor. Mm-hmm. Just gimme the nice bland roll of, of, of food item. Like I would do very well in space if there, here’s your mashed potato, uh, granola bar. This kind of feels like a sandwich. That would be 3D printed on the NASA space station. You know what I mean? Like there’s something unreal about this. There’s no cracks. In the bread. I had to crack it myself. It’s delicious. I thought you had chosen Jimmy John’s because you have trauma from Potbelly sandwiches. Rejecting your open mic audition in Milwaukee. Let’s talk about it. Let’s talk about it. Let’s get into it. Yeah, so I lived in Milwaukee for a long time, all through my undergrad and the potbellies on the east side. The week I auditioned for RuPaul’s Drag Race, I auditioned for Drag Race. And I auditioned to sing and play guitar at the Potbellies, and I got on RuPaul’s Drag Race and the Potbelly said, no thank you. Not at this time. I don’t remember what I sang. I’m sure. I’m sure. It was like, you know, wonder Wall or something cringe, you know, great song. Turns out there’s a surplus of white men playing guitars. Yeah, yeah. Who knew? So I did the other cringes thing now, which is be a white man who DJs. Yeah. How did you decide that? Because in the solid pink disco tour you’re gonna be DJing, uh, you had this like very hard turn to like a June cash kind of figure earlier in your career. Mm-hmm. Why DJ now? Well, during COVI, when all the bars were closed, all my beautiful gay bars in the world were just shut down. Mm-hmm. And I just coming up in drag, you get used to the thum of thuma, you get used to your local DJ up in the DJ booth. Breaking a brand new song to the bar and everyone hears the hottest, coolest, freshest music during Covid. I went out and bought a club standard setup and just put it in my living room and just chained myself to it. And just learned and learned and learned. And it’s a great art form because you can never learn enough. There’s always, when you work with another DJ or something, you look over their shoulder, you see them do something you’ve never done. You’re like, wow, that’s cool. Yeah. Yeah. So come see my salt pink disco tour. It’s a little like, I was always that person in the car who needed the ox cable or I ped. Yeah, I get that. So it’s like having the ox cable and being paid for it. Uh, dig into the cheese curves please. This is a Wisconsin galaxy that I’m not that familiar with, girl. Lemme tell you. Okay. So I lo I love being from Wisconsin. I, you know how lady Gaga’s always like I’m a good little Italian girl from New York. Mm-hmm. That’s me being like, I am from Wisconsin. So. So this is a beer battered fried cheese curd. Sometimes in the world, people are like, I’ve had cheese curds. This is a beer battered fried cheese curd. They basically create a batter with real beer. And if you’re in Milwaukee, they’ll usually use the beer that they make in the bar. Yeah, Milwaukee’s cool. ’cause a lot of the bars have their own brewery. They make their own shit. It’s really cool. And they deep fry it, and so you have a crunchy exterior with a soft, like gooey cheese inside and it’s amazing. Has anybody in here not had one of these? Everyone one. Are we not supposed to break the wall? Throw one. No. Break the wall, but do whatever. Throw one in dad’s mouth. If he consents to it, will you eat it? It’s so good. It’s gonna change your life. How are you with lactose? Jake? Come on. Jake. Come on. Eat a cheeseburger. Jake, don’t be shy when you fuck. Why am I the first person to offer food to you guys? Are you guys okay? She’s pretty fucked up. The food insecure staff here. Oh my God. Are you supposed to get them to do work if they’ve already eaten lunch? No, that’s what we threatened. I know you won’t give lunch. And for legal purposes, that’s a joke. This is like the fourth time I’ll have gotten canceled. What do you think? It’s good, right? There’s so many good restaurants where you can go sit and order one of these mm-hmm. With people who’ve never been to Milwaukee, and sometimes you can build something up and it never delivers. Mm-hmm. People always love these. It’s so awesome to see how much like love you have for Wisconsin. I love it in general ’cause so many people could like see your story and immediately put it into a trope, right, of like growing up gay in a rural town in Wisconsin. Then finally making it to the big lights of LA and getting to be themselves and like, you know, forsaking where they came from. You wrote a song called This Town. Yeah. It was like really sort of a, it was a complicated song, but it’s kinda a love letter to the small town. What did you want people to take away from that song? Is it rude to chew and eat on this show? Is that what everyone’s doing? That’s what everyone’s doing. I’m the most disgusting eater possibly. And I try and gonna say something about that. I can do it even more. ’cause that’ll make you look better. By comparison. If you spit food on me, I’ll that my eyelashes and it will go right back to you. Okay. I think I’ve seen that anime before. Yeah, totally. Totally. Um, I love Wisconsin. It’s beautiful. The people are sweet. Um, it’s just really nice cool people. Mm-hmm. It’s not as religious as the South. And so even though we do have, you know, Catholics and Lutherans and all that and, and, but Wisconsin to me does not feel predominantly scary Christian. Mm-hmm. I mean, we have conservatives obviously, but you know, we still have a lot of hippie dippies. Yeah. Like I grew up in a family where my mom was such just a stoner hippie who was like, do whatever you want. Fall in love with whoever you want. Live your life. Who cares? And I went to a town that was so small. That I went to like kindergarten with the same people I went to like high school with. It’s like, yeah, I might have been Swishy or whatever, but you’ve seen me be swishy since we were like at nap time. Mm-hmm. You know? So I never really got bullied. ’cause it’s like we all know each other’s moms. What car we drive, where we live. I go to your dad’s hardware store, your mom. You know, like yeah. We’re just so in each other’s business. I never had a bad experience really in a small town. You know, being able to go to school and have friends and go to a small town football game was just like, I loved it. Does part of you really yearn to go back to that, like when we’re talking about you aging, being 80, 90, still doing drag and Shrek and Fiona of course, like, do you see yourself back from a small town like that? Oh yeah. Mm-hmm. I don’t like. Nut for Los Angeles. Like who does I know. Really? You, you wouldn’t know where to nut. There’s no center city. Where do you even nut Pasadena. There’s nowhere to nut. Nowhere to nut. There’s nowhere to nut. How’s a single place in nut in la No. And I love, um, you know, I currently have a home in Milwaukee where my mom has a house there. And so when I bought my mom a house, like my aunt, my sister, they all live in a big house over in West Alice. So when I’m home, I can go visit them. I get sad when gay people have a different situation and so they don’t feel that way about where they’re from. What happened to your dog? Checkers? Okay. Thank you for asking. Yeah. Um, I’m still concerned, so I’m a lifelong vegetarian. You’ll notice there’s no meat on the menu today. Um, my neighbor, Mrs. Lewin, I. She called and we have black bears where I’m from, like a lot of bears in Wisconsin. You know, if you leave your trash out like cars, like, like, uh, hungry bears will just come up to your house and sniff around. They, I’ve never known them. They killed somebody. But, uh, they came up to my neighbor’s house and my dog’s in the backyard and my neighbor called and goes, ah, checkers is in the backyard and there’s the bear. And checkers is just getting it eaten. Checkers got eaten by the bear. Isn’t that horny? No, that’s not horny tricks. Yeah, I’ve been trying to affirm everything you’re saying. No, your dog getting eaten by a bear is not horny. He was just getting it. That’s a horny phrasing. I know of a dog getting eaten by a bear. I’ll say that. But you know what’s sad? In a small town, like in a small town 20 years ago in Wisconsin, they’re a little too quick to put animals down. Whereas I think in the city, I’ve seen people, they will eat themselves at a house and home making sure their diabetic cat has insulin. You know what I mean? In LA people will be like, I will. I will risk it all. Yeah. Yeah. And that, that’s how it should be. You think, I don’t even eat the animals. This is gonna get, I’m gonna get canceled so many times we’ll figure this out. I have had the conversation about like, how much, how high would the vet bill have to be for our cat Pippin to, you know, just there’s a number. Everybody has a number, baby. I think that’s that. I think that about people. So I think you’re okay. Where do you value me at so far? Have we known each other for about four years? You’re good, you’re good. I, I go to bat for you. Maybe another basket of these. I don’t know. We got some more in the back. Yeah. Maybe I’ll come for, but. You know, I love my mom. There’s a price for everybody, right? She wouldn’t want that burden to be on you. Of course not. You know what I mean? She’d be in the hospital like, just pull the plug. She’d be like, just do it. Whatever. Hi mom. I love the way you talk about like what could be perceived as deeply traumatic shit. Are you talking about it with so much humor? And I know you’ve said that you don’t like to trauma dump mostly because you just find it uninteresting. I do. Why is that? What do you find interesting? Weirdly, I always think that trauma’s the only thing that bonds us all. But I also caution, you know, some people who will watch this might comment that I do this because bad things happen to me. I don’t think being creative is a prerequisite. You know, there’s, there’s not, the prerequisite to that is not trauma. I. Do you ever feel like you have a duty though, to say you’re fans, people who, I’m sure you’ve gotten thousands, millions of messages from people saying you explaining that traumatic story and seeing you become this big successful person has helped me in a way. Do you ever feel that sense of duty to fans or that’s, you know, not on you necessarily? Well, first of all, you said duty. Mm-hmm. And you said it a few times. Um, but that’s funny. What I, it’s no matter now matter. That’s comedy now. That’s comedy. That’s comedy duty. Can we put an edit on duty? Duty? Yeah. I have noticed, um, over the years that. People’s relationship with Trixie mm-hmm. Has like very little to do with me. Mm. It’s their own experience. It’s like, um, sometimes people will be like, oh, I found your show when I was in the hospital, my mom was dying. And we would watch you on YouTube all the time. Yeah. Or people are like, I started watching during Covid. I was so scared. And just binged your shows or people all the time on the YouTube channel, which you can all subscribe to, you know, this my channel’s like, like this, but like. Kinda like their set is way nicer and more expensive too. Way nicer, much better producer. It’s the whole thing. Yep. And we feed the camera people. You gotta stop doing that. They’re not gonna wanna work. They’re not gonna wanna work Trixie. But, um, I just try to take my responsibility very seriously, which is. To make something I think is fun and funny and I enjoy mm-hmm. And deliver it in a way that’s like accessible and can make people feel good. A hundred percent. And it’s, it’s always been comforting for me that like, oh, people are not consuming me. They’re consuming an image of me. They’re consuming a product that I’ve made. Do you view like. Trixie the character as a product that you’ve made in a sense. Like how much of like Brian is inside Trixie, where does that Venn diagram go? Um, do you, have you ever seen men in black? Yeah. Do you remember when the face opens that little alien’s in there Uhhuh? Well, that’s me. Which one’s? Which? Well, I’m the little one. Okay. And then, you know, I’m that and this fake thing. So you know, my idol is. Elvira? Mm-hmm. One of my other idols is Peewee or RuPaul. Some chunk of them is in there, but primarily I don’t think of it as me. It’s interesting the way that we frame drag, because there are so many, and people think of drag as you referred to yourself as a cross-dresser earlier. People think of drag as cross-dressing, but there’s a band called KISS that I like. They dressed up like clowns ’cause otherwise they would’ve just been old Jewish men and they looked way cooler. Dressing like clowns from the, from space shredding on a guitar. And there’s like a lot more drag out there than we sort of register in certain ways. Those of you who might be watching this, who might have a problem with the way I look, don’t worry, I’m never gonna come down to the Applebee’s and surprise you with a performance. You’ll be fine. She’s going to Chili’s folks. It’s happening. I feel God in his Chilis. Gino Garmin’s chilies Jason and tells Kevin, I’m coming down to the Jimmy John’s and I’m doing a number. Um. When people have problems with drag, you notice these people don’t have problems with Madea. Dana Carvey. Yeah. White chicks, Tootsie. They have a problem with gay people cross-dressing. A hundred percent. They don’t have a problem with on Saturday Night Live, someone putting on a wig and playing a woman that week. Yeah. They don’t care about that. Like the gap. Girls, like cross-dressing goes back so far and they always have a problem with it when it’s the gay people. Yeah. That’s all I’m gonna say. When the gay people are cross-dressing, then it scares you. Hmm. And I think basically the whole world goes well, then you do this, and then you get married, and then you’re gonna have a baby. And then you do this with gay people. I never get bothered by anyone about when are you gonna get married? When are you gonna have a kid? Like, I have ultimate freedom. And I think sometimes things like being married or having children or having a a normal job can feel like a cage. Yeah. And homosexuals represent so much freedom. Mm-hmm. And I think in some ways that level freedom calls into question the system in general. And then that really pisses people off because they’re like looking at what they purchased with, they’re like, was I duped? Trixie, for course number two of your final meal, we have the Pene, no mushrooms, sub broccoli from Noodles and Company. And then we have, this is Scratch made. We did Bucatini Cacho. As you have, uh, so lovingly pronounced it here, please. I don’t, I don’t think that’s how you pronounce it. Think it’s catch B. Yeah, catch B. Well, that’s the Wisconsin variety. It’s actually from Wisconsin. Wisconsin. By way of Italy by way. Yes, of course. You know, it’s like chicken Parmesan Alfredo. They’re all Italian American conditions. Can I dish you up some ketchup? Of course. I don’t know what happened, you guys. My last meals were a kale salad. A green juice. I don’t know what all this shit is, to be honest. Am I the fattest? You’ve ever seen in your life with all the, with this stuff, you are nowhere near the fattest C word. That’s your word. You can say it. I, I can’t say it that I’ve seen. Would’ve felt like cultural appropriation if I said it. You know what I mean? No, I think it’s fine. You can say too, I don’t care. I don’t know. I already, I already don’t. You guys think you should say it? I already killed the thing. I saying, what if I say it and you mouth it? I don’t like, I don’t like where this is going. I don’t like where this is going. Listen, I was in the call of duty. Lobbies in 2004. Oh, no, no one’s going back. I’m not going back there. Trixie baby. They’re still in there. They’re still in there. Go play Fortnite. I don’t want to. Well, do you see why even when I was like running the marathon, I scarcely lost weight. Like when I was reading for the marathon, like how are you supposed to eat the days beforehand? Mm-hmm. I was like, that’s what I was gonna do anyway. And that’s what I, and that’s what I’ve been doing, car loading my whole life. Well, you’re out there shaking your shit on stage. You know, you’re basically running marathons every night doing drag. I love cio pe babe. It’s like four ingredients. Mm-hmm. I think it’s Pecorino cheese. Mm-hmm. Um, Parmesan. Mm-hmm. Salt and pepper, but mostly pepper. Noodles, noodles. And then you use obviously butter and water from the noodles to make it. That’s the Wisconsin version in Italy. They don’t use butter. We use butter in this ’cause we’re Americans. Yeah. Not homophobic. Not because in Italy there’s a. But rela po. They said some bad things. Um, they’ve atoned for it. They made a rainbow pasta box, Italy. Really? Brand. Yeah. Look up there. Well, they still got the Vatican honey. So they have a long way to go. Listen, listen. What is, I never eat in drag. I ever, this is so weird. Mm-hmm. I feel you want me to like spa you with this help at all? I don’t know. Like, I don’t, should I snort ’em? Like that’s, I’m used, used to doing, you know. I, that’s about the first time you got into character as Trixie. ’cause I believe it was at a midnight showing of the Rocky Horror Picture Show. Oh yeah. Did you feel like this big spiritual change, or No, you were just putting on a dress for the first time? It was such a mix up of like a theater of half drunk misfits. Mm-hmm. It was a great environment for me to start doing this type stuff because. Even like all the straight men were in like fish nets and glitter. So it was like before I could really say it was gay, I got to be comfortable with like playing with this type of stuff. At that point though, were you comfortable saying that you were gay, like to everybody that you’d met? Yeah, I don’t think my boyfriend knew, but everybody else pretty much had. Picked up on it. He could have had some hints. He had some hints. Oh yeah. You know, but I know you’re using a straw and New Die Coke guy making out. Yeah. It wasn’t the anal, it was this, it was the straw. Rocky Horror was still one of my favorite movies. And, um, from age 18 to 21 until I could go to clubs, it was a great environment for me to like play characters. I played an old man, a woman, uh, you know. Then you dress as an animal. Like I would just change up the look all the time. And when I started doing the All Pink blonde thing, I was like, oh, I, this is really something. I’m gonna do this. And then when I turned 21, I worked at La Cage Nightclub in Milwaukee and I did my first appearance, like, you know, I did a show and I went home and got in bed and like stayed awake till dawn looking at the ceiling and like being like, I’m gonna do this. Like, something was just like. You’re doing this. Yeah. I ask about your first time on Drag Race. ’cause back then the show was like a little bit smaller than it is now. Now it’s like the main pipeline if you want to become famous as a a drag performer. Yeah. Do you think that that inherent competitive nature has like changed the drag landscape in general? Less than 1% of drag queens do it as a full-time job. Yeah. But there are a lot of people who gun for it. Right? Because like everybody who grows up playing youth football, now it’s my time to shine. The straits are at it. Only 0.01% of them. Are you very athletic? I, I did go to college on a d on a, on a scholarship with the DUI. With a DI. Yeah. It was on bicycle. You were a DEI hire. I sure was. Yes. No, I, I was a, uh, a shot put discus and hammer thrower in college, and they’re sick of me, God talking about this. Oh my God. But yeah, so sports were my life, so I understand that idea of like, there’s only 1% that’ll make it, but that’s what every, that’s what 100% are gunning for mostly Is drag similar? Well, so Edward’s famous drag queen says, winning isn’t everything but wanting to is. Mm-hmm. Yeah. Which is obviously the athletic spirit, right? Mm-hmm. I mean, that’s why I loved running was because it’s about your personal best. It’s not really about anyone else. It’s just about you and your goals. That was literally what attracted me to track and field over like football or basketball. Yeah. But I guess with drag, I mean I always wanted to do it and I always felt ambitious and I have this toxic trait, which is like believing in myself and I know that nowadays the kids like, that’s not cool. Mm-hmm. To be like earnest and believe in myself. Yeah. But I just always like believed in myself and. I’m very high on my own supply. I think Trixie’s cool. When I came up with Trixie and I started to really get the eyes down, I was like, this is great. Yeah. I was like, people are gonna love this. I thought that is incredibly rare these days. I was like, this is gonna be a great doll. It’s gonna be a lunchbox. I could see this being, and then all those things I thought it would be. It is. And so I know that that’s kinda like you ball bitch, but. I did think this like was possible. Yeah. And so I thought, I think trixie’s cool. I’m gonna try to make it as big as I can. And so even though I love performing. Making the business side of it, kinda my side hobby. I didn’t expect to enjoy the business side of Trixie as much. Yeah. Hearing how you came up with the idea of Trixie and it really is this like high-minded social commentary. I know you joke a lot and you’re just like, I’m just a silly cross-dresser and it’s disgusting, but also I’m skinny, but I never said so much disgusting. You never, sorry. You’ve said drag is disgusting. Before you didn’t say you were disgusting. That was me editorializing five. Damn. Number five, cancellation. But no. Talk about how I don’t come into your house and throw your shot. Put, uh, no. How, how much of them them weigh 16 pounds? Oh my god. Big. I don’t have big hands either too. So I did a lot of damage. So the hammer throw ended up becoming, you’d be great for drag. I’d be. You think so? Yeah, I, I’m so dainty and petite. What do you think my drag persona would be? Oh, um, let’s see. Do you hate Penny Rosa? I, I actually love Penny Rosa. It’s not great. Let me see. Um, what about you? I’ve, I’ve been working through this a little bit. Um, miss Steak, and I’m like a sexy butcher, you know, come in whole pig carcass, slung over my shoulder. Got my little boning knife. Let’s table that. We’ll, table that’ll table that. Well, you know, BBL. Oh, that’s good. Has, has that not been used before? Maybe not. Then you gotta start getting body work done though. Yeah. Are you ready to go under the knife? I’m really not. I can’t even go. I gotta go to the dentist first. Lemme go to the dentist, get a couple root canals that are necessary and then we’ll talk about BBLs. Yeah. Uh, when you came up with the character of Trixie, you know, it’s this blonde-haired, blue eyed sort of, uh, vapid rich person, but you’ve also said that, you know, you were raised by like low income plus size brown skinned Native American women. That’s this kind of big social commentary in a way. I think it was really. Smartly thought out. How much of that was intentional versus just what you wanted to express? Like any kid, I thought my mom was Beyonce. Mm-hmm. I thought she was so beautiful and so cool and so funny. And you know, she had dark hair and dark eyes and you know, my grandma, who was my other Beyonce, had dark hair and dark eyes, and all the women in my life had darker complexions. Mm-hmm. And then kind of like, maybe I wasn’t smart enough at the time, but I guess with the character, I became very interested in caricaturing, like Americanized. Ideals of like beauty and, and wealth. Mm-hmm. And I started to think of like the extreme body shape and like long thick hair and like rich but dumb. You know, like what are the things in America that we sort of like glorify that maybe when you put them in a clown mirror are a little grotesque and crazy. Mm-hmm. And I guess with, with Trixie, I always want it to look. Beautiful, but maybe make you think like, why do I think that’s beautiful? That’s actually kind of crazy looking, you know? So that was my goal, was to make somebody that was kind of like. Dumb and hot and free of care and like just vad and you know, I don’t like, I don’t really think that’s me under there. I think that’s sort of, I dunno. I think of like the hot girls I went to high school with, like what elements of those like unappealing personalities can I put into this person, you know? Yeah. We’ve also said before that everything you went through as a kid was an act one gun that sort of stacks up totally. And ends up in a character. It’s almost like a, as when you’re in drag, you have this, like this ID that can sort of like come out and express all these things. Do you ever think of a world in which, say you’re older, does Trixie ever go away or is Trixie always gonna be a part of your life? I’m very fortunate because if I ever did quit, I could still do it for fun, but. I want children and I, I have a hard time imagining I could do this and that. What? Bring ’em to Applebee’s for the performances. They got the Triple Dipper combos. I know, but what if we’re, what if we’re trying to do this and then there’s, you know, you know my, my daughter Shelby and Dolly over there, and they’re screaming, you know, that’s a fair point. So I don’t know, I don’t know how compatible it’ll be with some of the other things I wanna accomplish in my life. But for right now, it’s really fun and rewarding. But the world is crazier and crazier and. For me as a drag queen, the more inflammatory cross-dressing becomes. I like to poke the bear. I like the idea that someone will see me in this and be like, Ugh, I like that. Like if the world got so progressive that drag wasn’t even interesting. There’d be like, no gas in the tank for me. That is funny to think about. Like drag is kind of only interesting because of how conservative. It’s gotten because there’s nothing shocking about this if it was just, if it wasn’t taboo to a large majority of people, even drag queens sometimes sit around in dressing rooms and go like, we are not even that interesting. Hmm. We are not worth taxpayer dollars. Legislating against, we’re not. I, I just kind of feel like, are you bitches for real? Yeah. Don’t you have potholes to fill, like base level things? Yeah, we aren’t us. I don’t e And by the way, we’re also not a monolith. I don’t wanna read the kids at the library. I don’t. I never have. And I never will. Yeah. But I don’t think that no one should, like when that was happening or you know, like just two years ago, I sold out a show in Florida and I remember the governor calling the. Then you in forbidding them to serve alcohol to adults. 3000 people on like a Wednesday night, couldn’t get a glass of wine. They came home from work, put on an outfit and came to the theater to see a show and they couldn’t even get a beer because what they’re gonna flip out and, and be gay. I don’t like what is, what’s gonna happen. Yeah. I think when you see. More and more irrational behavior, you start to understand like, oh, that’s not the real reason you’re, you’re doing this thing. Right? Because like you said, when I first saw like militias showing up to drag shows at like a strip mall dive bar in Irvine, California, I was like, oh, this is very silly. But was any of that surprising to you as somebody who’s actually been in the community or you’re like, this is insane, but business as usual for just, you know, a, you know, queer demographic being targeted, you know, smarter people than me who may be. Are more pessimistic. Probably aren’t surprised by that. I was, I mean, when I was 21 starting dragon nightclubs, it wasn’t as bad as it is now. It was poking the bear then, and it was a little sexy and dangerous, and now it’s like. I feel like conservatives have this. I conservatives think that dry queens go home at night and they unroll a map like risk and they go, we’re gonna take Illinois next. Like, that’s not happening. Mm-hmm. Yeah. I just sometimes am amazed that they give us so much credit that they think we’re like plotting and grooming. I’m like, we’re not, we’re not plotting the way you think we’re plotting. I mean, we are plotting for things like being able to marry who we want or if I died, make sure my husband could, uh, make sure he can still. Be a parent to your children or we want these normal things. We’re not like gunning to go jump split in a, for in an elementary school. We, I’m not, they probably don’t even tip drag queens drinks are weak at elementary schools too. Thank you. Drag queens don’t even feel like doing the drag shows in gay bars that they’re booked for drag queens are going above and beyond. Like, come on. I mean, I don’t mean to say we’re not dangerous ’cause of course we are because we disrupt a very mm-hmm. Old system. Not that queer people need a campaign for basic rights, but I have a good pitch for you. Hear me out. Drag queens. Go fill all the potholes in local cities, take sexy shoots around it. Like honestly, if the government’s not caring for you, they’re spending their time with us. You go spend time with the people Hearts and Minds campaign. I don’t know what to fill a pothole, do you? There’s probably a drag king named Philip Pothole. Philip Pothole. Come on the show, fill a pothole. Philip. Wait. Is that what I said? Or what you said? I think we hear what we want to hear. Trixie for the final course of your final meal, we have a whole bucket of red vines. This is fresh. You can tell by the shine on them. We have a large goblet, full of high chews, and then two pints of Cherry Garcia. Ben and Jerry’s ice cream. This was all just delivered to us from the seven 11. They just threw it right at the door. Sometimes with when these are really frozen, you can barely eat it. We should probably start with this. We should start. Well, we like to get it to a nice, this is like a nice chef temp again. James Beard Award finalist, you know, but I’m a fan of like melted ice cream. I put mine in the microwave for a couple seconds. Really soften it up a little bit. Mm-hmm. My God, I do the same thing with my ice cubes. What? But you know, when you wanna make ice, you gotta have the ice tray. That’s how they get you. What am I high right now? What are you talking about? No. Can I tell you, last night I had a bag of gummies and I said, I think these are. I, I think these are fives. They were tens. That’s happened to me at a couple festivals and there’s still music artists that I can’t listen to without getting a panic attack. ’cause they had too many gummies. No, the rail. Andy Sho. Oh my God. I’m, I’m the same with Kid Rock. I have a panic attack. That’s a fair point. That’s a fair point. Listen, is he here? You know, I don’t know. Is it okay? To disagree with Kid Rock’s politics, but really like that song picture with Shel Crow. Oh, uh, no, no, you’re canceled now. And I can say the F slur. I think that’s how this works. You’ve transferred it back to me. You punted the football over here by liking kid rock. Love wins. It’s, it’s, I wanna ask you about burnout from working so hard because you recently took like a several months sabbatical and you made a video about it and you initially said like, I feel uncomfortable talking about this to people. I’m wondering, after you hit publish on that video, was it more or less comfortable than you thought? After seeing all the responses, obviously everybody knows I. Had Trixie Motel season two come out. Mm-hmm. You know, by the time it come out, um, you know, David and I had already separated. Mm-hmm. So I had to go promote the show and like, you know, the show was on tv, you know, showing a relationship you’re not in anymore on TV was very dissonant. Sure. And hard. And crazy. And. I, um, started to get arthritis from all the stress and my jaw and my, my knees and my elbows were all locking up. In the mornings, I would wake up with my jaw locked shut and my, my, your body just starts to tell you that you’re doing too much. Mm-hmm. And, um, I guess because I had prided myself on. I guess all these opportunities feel so fleeting. And then I started to get sick. I started to get all kinds of inflammatory responses, rashes, sick all the time, cold chills, and I had to get off the internet and go away. Um, you know, I went to Kentucky for months and months and months and just hi out. It was just hiding and. Staying off the internet, it gave me a lot of perspective. I never really felt how great it was until I went on a break from drag. I’d ne I’d only had one break and my whole life I’d had one week off drag and it was because my appendix exploded. I had never been out of drag for longer than maybe a week. When everybody around you depends on you for money. Mm-hmm. When everything you do is someone else’s job. Those are very different feelings than the feeling you have when you start drag. Yeah, and I guess if I could do it all over again, I would’ve maybe figured out the value of keeping something separate. Mm. Everything felt like the last straw. Everything felt like I was, moments from crying. It was like too much. And I don’t want anybody to do what I did. None of this is that serious. We’re all gonna die in like five minutes. We’re all gonna die in like five minutes. I say that all the time, and by the way, I’m not a doctor. Katya’s really good at this. Katya’s like what are you crying about? Cross-dressing. Really, I mean like chill out. Have you ever had one of these. I, I have, I will say though, I have, uh, I have like, I have crowns, dentures, dental work. Dentures. Dentures. Exactly. I’m afraid all of the dentures. You think if I got dentures, they wouldn’t look better than this? No. These are veneers though. 50 grand for ’em. Uh, pure 50, pure white gold that I intentionally stained with coffee, like a kid’s art project to look. So part of me is. It’s the saddest thing that’s ever happened. I have a freshly unwrapped one. Can I, can I give you a freshly wrapped tie too please? Yeah. The grape is really good. So these are very popular. Japanese candy I love like sour punch straws. I love starburst and all that. These are just the best, they have like a rubber texture. Yeah, you like, you seem to like textures. Just kinda hard. Textures. They’re great. Do you think your billboard catching fire in Times Square was a good omen or a bad omen for how you’re gonna die? I remember I woke up and Twitter said, Trixie Mattel’s billboard is on fire. Click here to see who that is. All press is good press. Isn’t that awful? I was just happy to listen. Some of you bitches don’t even have billboards to catch on fire. Okay, honey. Um, talk to me about your relationship with V fff. Katya Kova. You two have had a fair amount of ups and downs in the document. What have you heard? What I watched the documentary Moving Parts 20 nineteen’s Finest. Yes. Before she went to rehab and they showed that whole, that whole journey, uh, which is incredible. Um, but what do you think the, like glue is that is holding your relationship together? Because it seems like you have some big fundamental differences in ways that are sort of. Love seeing, even talking about the idea of work ethic, right? You working yourself to the bone and Katya ripping cigarettes, just being like, Hey, it ain’t that serious. She’s actually slowed down on the cigarette. She slowed down the cigarettes. I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to put Katya on blast with the cigarettes. No one’s smoking cigarettes. She, on a good day, she’s pretty much quit. I mean she, you know, but you know, she goes to rehab, like people go to Costco. Sure. It’s like once a month. She has one of those cards with her face on it. They know it’s too crowd crowded. Yeah. Yeah. She gets her tires and her glasses and one of those dollar 50 hot dogs and gets out of there. Um. No, she and I have a great relationship with drag because we really are opposite. We never look like we’re going to the same event. We don’t look compatible. We’re not the same age. She’s eight years older than me. That’s like two high school experiences ahead. So we have very different references. It’s very nice of yourself to be able to spend time with the elderly like that. I know, thank God in my career, I always have someone a decade older than me, like, look, it could be worse, you know? Um, she’s just so funny. She’s hilarious. I mean, she really is the, the, the, my better half. I mean, she really, when we have to work together, I always feel like I don’t have to prepare anything. It’s gonna be great. She makes my job so easy. Yeah. And she has a very healthy relationship with, it’s just drag. Yeah, it’s not that serious. And I think she helps me not be so crazy about it. And I think I help her put a wig on and go to work because sometimes I think, you know, her obligations to me are the only thing that keep her showing up. You and her recorded a great episode of, um, about death. Mm-hmm. Where you talked about, uh, the great spirit. And you sort of belief in it ’cause you’re a Ojibwe Native American. Can you tell me a little bit about that and what the belief is? What happens when you die? It’s that like we’re all connected and we’re all here before we’re born and we’re here after. Yeah. And the time you’re alive does affect everyone. The things you do while you’re here do affect other people. So like, just don’t be a bitch. And also, I don’t know, it’s kind of sad, but when someone dies, they’re not really gone. I mean, scientifically they’re not gone. Right. Matters and creator to destroy. But also, I loved my grandpa. I still have dreams about him, and I always wish he would’ve been alive long enough to see me do like all of this. Mm-hmm. But he taught me to play the guitar, and every time I play guitar, I’m like. I mean, this skill that he gave me, he lives forever in this. And it’s that type of stuff. If your mom teaches you to cook or you got your dad’s sense of humor, whatever, people really kind of are here forever. Whomever you leave behind, whether it’s family or friends, what do they, what do you want that thing to be that they take from you? Like the way you got your guitar from your grandpa? I want my family to swarm my money like a bunch of flies. I want ’em to fight over it. I want, yes, I want them to just take it, go down to Nordstrom and go off, like just spend it all in a day. I don’t care, and I just wanna leave the art form of drag better than when I found it. I just want it to be in better hands. Maybe drag queens get paid a little better, or the bigger audiences or more people are interested in it, or people treat us better. I just want. It to be better. Jake, you ready to get into the lightning rounds? Lightning round? I gotta try one of these. Do it. You guys can. You guys will put this on the crafty table. People love this here. Here’s the thing. Turtles, they can’t get killed by Red vines. Use that as a straw. That’s smart. That’s very smart shit. Kind of gross what you did. So Tom, I know. Well, you gotta hold on. Chicks up. I’m not proud of what happened. You gotta open your throat. Uh, who’s the one person dead or alive you’d wanna share your actual last meal with? Are you okay? I’m me. Great. Are you okay? He died from a red vine. Come on. Got me right at the back of the throat. You know, Dolly Parton’s got good food. Uh, what song do you want to be played at your funeral? Bob Shack by the B 50 twos. Oh, that’s so good. Um, if you would indulge me in 30 seconds or less, would you please read me to filth? I know you think you’re eating, but you didn’t. That’s correct. You left Crumbs. Uh, who’s your dream eulogize? Oh, I mean, Katia, but I think she’ll be, if I’m dead. She’s been dead for years, you know what I mean? Yeah, yeah. Um, you know, I heard that Post Malone was doomsday prepping, so I guess him he’ll be around. He, he really is Dukes day prepping. Yeah, I heard he is. Yeah, he was right there in that seat and we were talking a lot about it. I saw him on a plane once. I was like, that guy has face tattoos. They’re like, yeah, that’s Post Malone. I was like, oh. What animal would you wanna be reincarnated as a bird? I love birds. I love birds. Um, I love cockatoos. I love parakeets. I love, yeah. Three of them on top of your head right now. I know these, um, you know, I didn’t kill a bird for these. I shot a drag queen. Um, it’s just called recycling and spark. Yeah. Tiny little walnut brains. They’re gorgeous. You don’t have to think. And also, PSA, they are the most popular third most popular pet, but the number one most re-homed. So make sure you adopt a bird. Before you get a bird, do a lot of research. ’cause people get birds that dunno how difficult they are. That’s real. This is a real problem. Very real. In America. Yeah. ’cause birds live for decades. People get a parakeet for their daughter. Guess what? She goes to college and your bird’s gonna live 15 more years. You know? My next question is, what problem would you rather solve? The bird adoption crisis or drag shows being raided. Are you serious? Yeah, that’s tough. Because birds didn’t do anything. Birds didn’t do anything. Birds didn’t even wanna be pets. No. You know what I mean? The, the, the, the men in wigs are at least choosing violence. You know what I mean? You put that on yourself. Yeah, I know. Um, I gotta, I gotta look out for the drag queens. Okay. What’s your greatest regret in life? All this? Yeah. All this. No. Um. My greatest regret, oh, this is one I’ve been thinking about a lot. One of my good friends from college, his name was Mike, and we were roommates in college. Mm-hmm. And we lived together in the dorm, and then we had an apartment together. And after I moved out of LA he was a kindergarten teacher and we were always like, I’m gonna meet up with you. I’m gonna see you. Let’s meet up for, uh, Christmas. I’m gonna come over, let’s have a drink. And then, um, he, um, died in a bicycle accident. And it’s just one of those things where I was always like. We always say, we’re gonna meet up with people. I’m gonna get you next time. Like, don’t flake, make time for people, because we all think that we’re all here forever. Mm-hmm. And you never know. You never know. So whatever you’re doing, work or whatever is not more important than people. Call your mom, make time for your college roommate. None of this is that important. Yeah. But like, human people is very important. Finally, Trixie, are you happy? Very happy. Uh, this is, um, I can confidently say this is the happiest I’ve ever been in my life. Drag is so fun and the world is awful. But, um, we’re here for five seconds. Five seconds. I just feel like we’re gonna die all the time. Statistically we are dying all the time. Um, so I agree with you. Sometimes you just feel like it’s the best sosie of your time is to just worry. Yeah. It’s just not, you should care, but you shouldn’t eat yourself up worrying about anything. I was about to ask what your last words are, but. I mean, that’s a pretty good rendition. My last words, if they ask you to take your top off, get the money first. Oh, I’ve been taking the money second for a long time. Trixie, I cannot thank you enough. Truly, this is an incredible meal, an incredible conversation. Um, truly. I can’t wait for the full makeover that we’re gonna do. We’re giving me a full makeover. It. Oh yeah. You’re gonna come on the channel. What do you think about that? I’m really excited for it. I, uh, yeah, I have no idea what to expect. But I’m fully open to all possibilities, and before I take my top off, I will get the money. Okay, great. We have a huge paycheck for you. Uh, everyone. Check out the solid pink disco tour. Uh, what, what date do you got going on? You can get tickets@tricksandmattel.com. I’m playing everywhere. I’m playing the Hollywood Palladium. Ooh, I’m playing, um, New York. I’m playing everywhere. Nashville. Everywhere, Minnesota. Can I at least get like a discount code for coming on your channel? Of course. Oh my God. Thank you so much. Yes, of course, of course. Come dance with me. It’s really fun. Everybody wears pink in a blonde wig and just gets trashed. I’ll be in there fully talked aerodynamic like a porus. Thank you all so much for stopping my Mythical Kitchen. We got new videos out all the time. Check Tricks you out. Thanks again. Our new Mythical Kitchen staff collection is here. Grab yours today@mythical.com and become a part of the MK team. No culinary skills required.