The Hollywood Reporter (Weekly)
‘It’s Not a Very Hard Job’
Ambies host and drag queen Trixie Mattel on how she’ll roast her fellow podcasters with her trademark sass
Why did drag superstar Trixie Mattel start a podcast with her fellow RuPaul’s Drag Race alum Katya?
In one word, “Insanity.”
“‘Podcast’ is such a strong word,” Mattel says. “I don’t know what she and I do over there.”
But after more than 150 episodes of The Bald and the Beautiful, Mattel says it’s the project she loves most out of the many she helms with Katya. She describes it as “Trixie and Katya after dark,” in which the two best friends notably record the pod and appear on the YouTube version of the episode out of drag and discuss their larger-than-life stage personas and the drag industry, while poking fun at celebrity culture, television, music, memes and more.
“I think the podcast at this point is our real show. I mean I love [web series] UNHhhh, and I love doing the Netflix show [I Like to Watch]. But Bald and the Beautiful really now is the one I would save in a burning building,” Mattel says.
Mattel, a winner of RuPaul’s Drag Race All Stars, is also CEO of Trixie Cosmetics, a New York Times best-selling author and a musician. She’s soon to add the title of host of the Podcast Academy’s 2024 Ambie Awards, which takes place on March 26 at the JW Marriott L.A. Live.
Mattel, who says the impetus behind starting The Bald and the Beautiful was a desire to do a project that doesn’t involve hours of drag-prep time, is a connoisseur of podcasts. Her favorite titles include Office Ladies, Las
Culturistas and Scam Goddess, all of which she listens to at normal speed because “life comes at you fast enough.”
The prep for her show is admittedly minimal: Mattel creates a list of potential topics in her iPhone notes app — current ideas in contention include “Lana Del Rey getting pushed on the ground at the Super Bowl” and “straight male flight attendants,” which she describes as like “watching a dog walk on its hind legs” — but the majority of episodes are driven by the rapid-fire banter between her and Katya.
“I’ll lay a card, and she lays a card, and it’s almost like slapjack. We’re just throwing jokes until one of us erupts, and then it’s like we reshuffle and start again,” Mattel says.
She plans to bring her trademark sass to her Ambies hosting gig.
“I’m going to tell you something that the podcasters don’t want you to know,” Mattel says, leaning forward. “It’s not a very hard job. They all act like you don’t understand what it takes. I’m like, Mary, most of you don’t even run your own audio equipment, most of you don’t run your own cameras and you don’t dress up. Basically anytime I’m not in drag, I realize how easy everyone’s job is.
“I’m not in the interest of coddling podcasters. They’re not ER nurses, you know, they’re not first responders,” she adds. “They’re not volunteering, giving haircuts to unhoused people. As podcasters, we all have to be grateful, because at the end of the day, we would still do it for fun. It’s my favorite job.”