Trixie Mattel Talks Drag Race Season 16, Trixie Motel Season 2 & DJ-ing At NYE

Out: You're constantly booked, busy, and blessed. How's your schedule looking for New Year's Eve?

Trixie Mattel: Oh, hold on. I have to put on my glasses. Hold on. Oh my god, Bernardo, you're looking so beautiful today!

Thank you. Thank you.

I couldn't tell because I didn't have my glasses on. But yes, I'm excited. Dreamland New Year’s Festival is my very last DJ gig of the year. I feel like I'm getting away with murder because it's like, I'm doing a New Year's Eve-vibe gig, but I still have off on New Year's Eve. So I thought, 'It's not technically a New Year's Eve gig, so I'm not doing a countdown on my DJ set.' But I was also like, 'You know what? If people drink enough, I think you can do a countdown to midnight on any night of the year and people will be like, 'Five, four, three...' So who knows? I might trick people and just do a countdown at 8 p.m.

Yeah, let's pretend that it's already New Year's and just live in the fantasy. Why not?

I'm a 34-year-old gay. If we can do the countdown at 9 p.m. so that the after-hours can be over by 11:30 p.m., we can all be in bed by midnight. But not really… I go on at 1 a.m. When I have a DJ gig that's very late, I have to psychologically trick myself. I'm like: ice bath, slap myself in the face, three Red Bulls.

We're all very excited that you're hosting The Pit Stop for season 16 of RuPaul’s Drag Race. You've done this a few times before, but how excited are you for this new season?

Thrilled. Full disclosure, I started filming already, so I'm like four or five episodes into the season. I always feel so cool doing The Pit Stop because I see the episodes. Literally, unless you work at Paramount, I'm like the first person to see Drag Race. So I'm the first one to see the girls and follow the girls. I know who goes home, I know who flops at each challenge, and I love being secretive. You know what I should do? I should develop an alternate persona, start doing fantasy Drag Race, and start betting. And then I can start making money on the side. I bet I could make a hundred thousand dollars.

But no, but I love doing The Pit Stop. I love when Bob [The Drag Queen] does it. I love when Bianca [Del Rio] does it. I love all the hosts. I personally love doing it, and every season I DM the people at Paramount and say like, 'Hey, let me know if I can do The Pit Stop. Let me know if I can get Pit Stop.' I love that job, it's so fun. And whenever I can, when I'm not touring and stuff, I'm so grateful to do it, because they let me pick guests.

And I'll say this: we are really striving this year for The Pit Stop. There are some really good guests, people we've never had before. Queens from Drag Race we've never had on The Pit Stop. A lot of people are getting flown out and flown in from other cities. In other seasons, it's been a lot of L.A. queens… but we have girls from all over flying in to do The Pit Stop this season. It's really cool.

That's exciting to hear. I know you can't spoil anything, but are the season 16 girls werking it and serving it, hunty? What's your overall impression of the cast so far?

Can I warn you that this season has some dynamics? There are some high highs… and my god, there are some dogs, b*tch. I won't say who, but there are some beautiful faces. There are a few faces that are so beautiful, my god. Great styles, great bodies, great hair, great comedy, all that. And then there are some dog-face b*tches, and it's amazing. It's amazing! But you know what? I was a dog-face b*tch on Drag Race, and so I can say that.

Listen, if you've looked perfect on Drag Race the whole time, I don't trust you. Bianca [Del Rio], I don't trust you. But for those of us who have flopped, those of us who have looked like sh*t, those of us who have watched it on TV and learned, 'Oh, that's not as cool as I thought it was.' I can really speak about that as a Pit Stop host, because I've won, I've lost, I've flopped, and I've succeeded. So, I feel for the girls when they're struggling and I celebrate them when they pull through.

I love doing The Pit Stop, I get so invested. Everybody knows I barely watch the show between seasons, but when I get Pit Stop, I bulk up on the last few seasons and then I make it like my job. I become a Drag Race fan again for another six months, where I make the show and get really deep into it. I learn all their names and follow all their Instagrams. I feel like Andy Cohen and these are my drunk housewives.

I also wanted to ask about Trixie Motel, which has been picked up for a new season/spinoff. What can you tell us about that?

It's very cool. They announced that, this season of Trixie Motel, we're doing our home. So this season we are focusing more on my partner and I as the family unit. We're focusing more on us balancing our relationship, running a business, and renovating our home. With the motel being open, and guests coming and going… believe me, the renovation was just the beginning. Opening and running the business is a whole ‘nother drama.

Renovating the home this season, not to spoil anything, but David and I are a lot more hands-on, a lot more involved in the actual doing of the renovation. And renovation is hard. There's a reason why there are so many shows about it. You have to be insane to renovate, and we definitely are.

There were so many times during the first season where we were like, 'We're never doing this again.' But once we finished the motel and it was so perfect, we were like, 'Oh, we could do it again.' It's a little like childbirth where it's like, painful, but then you're like…

You forget.

You forget.

There were so many times in the first season of Trixie Motel where I could see it on your face. Your face was just like, 'Wait, this is way harder than I thought.' And I know you weren't just performing for the cameras.

Not at all! If you watch me on Queen of the Universe, Trixie Motel… I don't hide anything. It all comes out on my face. Let's just say that, as a drag queen, I have a heavy dollop of delusion, right? I think I can do everything. But renovation really teaches you that, well, it's cute that you wear your little shoes, and your little wigs, and your little makeup. But contractors, renovators, decorators, electricians, plumbers… you ain't got sh*t on any of them. It's hard business and it is expensive. The truth is, Lisa Vanderpump said this to us in season one: 'Everything takes twice as long and costs twice as much.' And that is true.

Out got to premiere your animated holiday special with Katya for the Drag Race YouTube channel. Can you tell me about that experience, and how did you like the end-result?

It's a funny, small world. We got to work with Joseph Gerbino, who is a director and producer of The Pit Stop. Katya and I both are just in love with him in the way he works. He makes us feel so comfortable. So when he was like, 'Do you want to do this?' We were like, 'Yes!'

For Katya and I, we've done so many different types of projects together, but we had never done anything animated. I got to use my Wisconsin accent, which is always fun to bust out. And Katya is lazy. We said, 'You get to do this and you don't have to get in drag' and she was like, 'I'm in.' I'm in drag so much that I basically had to get out of drag to go do that. But for her, she was like, 'Oh, I get to be funny, act foolish, get paid, and not even have to put a wig on?' She was all-in.

I live in South Florida and I went to see the latest Trixie and Katya Live tour here in Miami. That show took place a few months ago, in March of 2023, and we noticed that no alcohol was being served that night. A lot of us found it very odd. And then you addressed the situation on stage, saying that Florida government officials had apparently threatened to revoke the liquor license of the venue if they served alcohol during your show with Katya.

Oh, I remember this!

Miami was one of the last dates on the tour, and you said on stage, 'Every single stop we've done there was alcohol, and I've just learned that you're all sober, there's no alcohol being served.' And you kind of opened up about how absurd the situation was. It's really lovely to see that you're back in Miami now to perform again, because I think we're at a different place now with these anti-drag laws being shut down. How do you feel about this crazy time in history for live drag entertainers?

My issue with that show was the undertone of local legislation. The undertone there was like, 'We think that if gay people drink, they will flip out and molest people.' I don't know where that correlation is, you know what I mean? I don't get that. So I remember that show and looking out at 3,000 or 4,000 people, all queer and straight people included… and there's plenty of people who don't even drink, shout-out to the sober people.

But these are people who work full-time, some who have multiple jobs, and this is the night where they're treating themselves to a night off… where they get to go sit with their partner, or friend group, and just get to relax. They have somebody entertain them, and they just get to relax. This is the one day a month someone took time for themselves, and they didn't get to have a glass of wine at the show. I was just mad for the audience. I was mad that the audience couldn't have probably the exact night they wanted, which is the entertainment, their friends, and a whiskey soda or whatever.

When has it ever been good when the masses legislate, you know what I mean? Not to mention, they're making it about drag, but it's about queer people. If it was a straight comedian who did a drag character, they wouldn't be taking away the alcohol. Listen, I'm Trixie Mattel, and nobody hates kids more than me, okay? I can tell you I'm not interested in kids at the show. I run a 21+ bar and a 21+ motel. I just found it so offensive, because they were basically treating the whole audience like, as soon as our lips touch alcohol, we will flip out and molest someone or attack others. What do they think we are?

And for the record, I'm a resident here and I've been to a million concerts at that venue. This concert from March was the one and only event that I've ever been to at that venue that did not serve alcohol. It took a while for us to understand that they weren't serving any alcohol, period, because the concert was headlined by two drag queens. And when you addressed it on stage, I could see that you were really upset – like a lot of us were – at the situation.

It's discrimination. It's f*cking gross. Like I said, people work 40 hours a week or more. This is a one-night-a-week or even a one-night-a-month where people were making plans for themselves to go see live theater. Live theater is hard enough. Most people, that might be the only live theater they see all year.

Let people sit and have a f*cking glass of red wine. Give me a break. Give me a break! You can go to a straight bar and be probably over-served until you can't walk, but you can't go sit and watch a drag show with a drink in your hand?

I wouldn't say that they told me not to say anything, but I wouldn't say that I was encouraged to mention it on stage. But I said, 'I don't f*cking care.' I don't care if this venue never has me back again. I don't care if this venue bans me. It just made me so mad. It's like, they really think gay people are one sip of alcohol away from a sex crime? Is that what they think?

That was awful. But we're so happy that you're back in Miami to perform. We'll always go see you, wherever the venue is!

Well, honey, put it on record: at the Dreamland New Year’s Festival, we are drinking, and we are gay, okay? I'm really excited. I pulled a beautiful little look. I hope the weather's not that hot. I'm always nervous about sweating my complete wig off in drag DJ-ing, but we'll see what happens.

My last question to you is: what can we expect from Trixie Mattel in 2024?

Well, obviously Trixie Motel season two. I just filmed all my interviews for that, so it's totally finished. I have my YouTube channel with videos every single week. Trixie Cosmetics also has a few launches. In fact, we already have the whole next year planned through holiday, all the products planned out.

There are also all my projects with Katya. We do our Netflix show, I Like to Watch. Oh, and spoiler alert: we have some good celebrity shout-outs, celebrity cameos, and guests on Netflix this year. In addition to me and Katya, we're kind of broadening the cast a little bit. We always get cool celebrity shout-outs from people in the shows now. When we watch a Netflix show, the star of that show will usually send us a message, stuff like that. It's really cool. And I guess I'm just going to be acting like a fool on the internet. That's kind of what I always do.

Any new music?

Oh, yeah! I'm working on new remixes for spring. I've been dumping a lot of time into my music production skills, and I want to remix more music. If you go on my Instagram, I just teased a 'Barbie Girl' remix. I'm going to drop a new 'Barbie Girl' remix after the holidays, probably in January. I love that song. I was like, 'I want to do something cool, and weird, and disco-y with it.' I'm working on a lot of remixes this year.