Latest / Live! with Fefe and Freddy / Special Guest: Riley Poppyseed | Creative Block & More

Transcript

Special Guest: Riley Poppyseed | Creative Block & More · Live! with Fefe and Freddy

• 0:25
  Hello you. Hit the intro, but you didn't
• 0:27
  hit the go live button. I hit it at the same time.
• 0:33
  Don't try to call me out on something that you don't know
• 0:36
  nothing about. Don't do that.
• 0:45
  No, Sir. Welcome to live with Fifi and
• 0:48
  Freddie. This is your Wednesday night
• 0:51
  conversation. I am Felicia Fifi minor and is
• 0:57
  that a wigs of a Kyle? Wig it is not.
• 1:00
  No, this is my this is my one of my motorcycle helmet wigs that
• 1:04
  took me way too long to turn into these fucking spikes, but
• 1:08
  it's fine. OK.
• 1:10
  You could tell us later, I guess.
• 1:15
  And you may have noticed we haven't had a guest in a long
• 1:19
  time, long time. But you know, down here we have
• 1:26
  Riley. Poppy seed.
• 1:28
  Yeah. Why do we?
• 1:30
  Not have where is our we need. We need sound effects.
• 1:34
  I don't understand why we don't have sound.
• 1:36
  Effects I'm not let you do that. Go ahead and.
• 1:40
  I feel like we we at least need like applause and like booing or
• 1:46
  something like I feel like we need, but I don't understand why
• 1:49
  we don't have those things. No, not a gay ghost, Boo.
• 1:56
  Going to be a way for me to. I'm going to have to figure that
• 1:58
  out. I will figure that out, damn it.
• 2:01
  I leave that to you because every time I try to figure out
• 2:03
  new technology, it breaks while we're on air, not while we're
• 2:07
  testing it while we're on air, right?
• 2:10
  So yeah. That makes.
• 2:11
  Sense I don't want to do that yet.
• 2:14
  So we have Riley here tonight and then we are talking about
• 2:18
  creative block, you know, You know, and then so much happened
• 2:26
  in the news. Yeah, yeah.
• 2:34
  Hide your wives, hide your kids. Terrible out there.
• 2:40
  So I don't even have a question this week 'cause I thought this
• 2:44
  week was too heavy with all of it.
• 2:49
  All of it. I was like.
• 2:53
  Yeah, it's been making me real depressed and more than anything
• 2:58
  real angry. Like, especially with like ice
• 3:04
  they have made their way. I live in a red state.
• 3:07
  I sadly live in Ohio so ICE is everywhere right now.
• 3:13
  They like have a whole bunch of protests and like my city is so
• 3:17
  cool sometimes 'cause when bullshit like this happens
• 3:20
  they're like well let's fucking ruin Ice's life.
• 3:26
  People that like found where they're staying at in hotels and
• 3:30
  they'll be like parties where. Everyone in the.
• 3:33
  Hotel and just plays hella loud noise and honks their cars all
• 3:37
  night. Oh wow.
• 3:39
  Yeah, yeah. Like my my city.
• 3:43
  That's fucking fantastic. Wow.
• 3:47
  Yep, and protesting everything and I've been meaning to go to a
• 3:51
  few protests with with like 'cause I have like I actually
• 3:59
  tore my ACLA while ago and so with the cold weather, it's
• 4:02
  really really making it hard for me to walk for a long period of
• 4:06
  time. Oh, is this a common thing among
• 4:09
  drag kings? Tearing it.
• 4:12
  Listen, OK, I did not tear my ACL.
• 4:15
  I have a bone spur that is growing into my Achilles tendon.
• 4:20
  It's a complete. I am wondering is this like a
• 4:23
  common theme I mean? But you know what?
• 4:30
  I'm sorry that we have to actually do shit on stage.
• 4:33
  I mean, you can't. Just walk around and pick up.
• 4:36
  Fucking. Tips and like we actually have
• 4:38
  to work for our fucking money to make half.
• 4:40
  The amount and. Some like, you know, yeah, no,
• 4:45
  that's not how we roll. We have to work twice as hard
• 4:49
  for half the recognition and half the fucking money because
• 4:51
  you know. That's also why I'm, like,
• 4:53
  wearing such a nice outfit to show that, like, drag kings can
• 4:56
  look fucking incredible because we do have to work twice as
• 5:01
  hard. And I was like, if I'm gonna be
• 5:03
  on a live stream, represent drag kings, Let me put.
• 5:06
  On their. T-shirt and right, I do have
• 5:09
  sweat sweatpants on but. Hey, hey, we don't talk about
• 5:13
  them. That's OK.
• 5:16
  I got I got put jamma pants. On I have no pants on at all.
• 5:22
  Like, oh, and we hope to God that Felicia doesn't have to
• 5:26
  stand up at any point during the live stream.
• 5:30
  That's for Patriot. That's for Patriot.
• 5:32
  For Patriot. There you go.
• 5:37
  Hey, who's Patreon? At this point.
• 5:41
  Anybody. Anyhow, let's do some
• 5:44
  housekeeping. We we'd like to thank our
• 5:47
  patrons. See, you can join our Patreon
• 5:52
  community by going to patreon.com/live with Fifi and
• 5:56
  Freddie. We'd like to thank our patrons
• 5:59
  Bill, Brandon, Cassandra, Chris and Michelle, D, Drake, Jensen
• 6:03
  and Michael, Casey, Starr, Carrie and Corey, Joan, Laura,
• 6:08
  Madame, Eskew and the Grand Arbiter, Nicole, Patricia, Mason
• 6:11
  and Shannon. Yes, say again, applause.
• 6:17
  We have no applause. I'm in AI have I have signed a.
• 6:23
  Family for you, and a huge shout out to Wigs of a Kind for
• 6:30
  supporting us this season. This is a Wigs of a Kind wig,
• 6:36
  circa. It's a few years old for sure,
• 6:44
  but they hold up well. I will say they they absolutely
• 6:48
  hold up that. Depending on how I feel, but
• 6:54
  nonetheless. Oh, but Marissa's having a sale,
• 6:57
  so if anybody needs hair, go check out Wigs of a Kind on like
• 7:02
  the Facebook and stuff, 'cause she's having a sale and she does
• 7:06
  all like she does big hair, she does updo, she does pageant
• 7:10
  shit, she does stuff for the masculine presenting folks.
• 7:16
  Usually when I'm wearing a wig, it's a Wigs of a Kind wig.
• 7:18
  This shit is not Wigs of a Kind. For more than 10 years, that's
• 7:24
  all I'll say. It's not like I'm just promoting
• 7:28
  somebody that decided to support her podcast.
• 7:30
  We've been knowing her for a long time.
• 7:34
  I just realized I 100% did not fill out anything.
• 7:38
  What did I do I. Haven't.
• 7:39
  Anyhow, if you want to support us, you can message us or just
• 7:45
  send us a blank check and we'll fill it out and we'll take care
• 7:51
  of the rest. Don't worry, Just blank check
• 7:55
  it, figure it out, it's fine. We'll keep calling the merchant
• 7:59
  services to see how much the balance is.
• 8:03
  It's fine. We'll do the work this weekend.
• 8:08
  Are you trying to figure that out right now?
• 8:12
  I yes, I was looking at my calendar.
• 8:14
  I was like, what did I because I completely forgot that we did
• 8:16
  cab and go whoopsie, I look, I'm old.
• 8:21
  I didn't. Fill it out either to be honest,
• 8:23
  let's. I'm like, and that's literally,
• 8:26
  but it was it was so cap bingo was was interesting.
• 8:29
  This time around I. Will it was fun.
• 8:31
  We had a good crowd, which it's fine.
• 8:36
  It was like it was, it was a good crowd like but also my
• 8:40
  oldest brought his girlfriend so that was.
• 8:43
  Fun. And and my daughter's friend was
• 8:49
  there and she didn't realize that it was our event.
• 8:53
  She saw my car and then texted my daughter and was like, is
• 9:00
  Freddie downtown? But we're like on the.
• 9:04
  And actually, when you buy tickets.
• 9:07
  When you buy tickets, we're not on the little like thing.
• 9:11
  I don't even think we're mentioned in the description.
• 9:13
  I don't think. Well, it's possible, I don't
• 9:17
  know, but it still like her friends don't see me in drag, so
• 9:25
  like they know I do it, but it putting two and two together
• 9:30
  often doesn't, you know what I mean?
• 9:31
  Because it but she's the only one of her friends that's like
• 9:33
  that's 18. So she was like, Oh my God, I'm
• 9:37
  totally going to cap bingo. And I was like, yeah, like, so.
• 9:40
  And yeah. And my daughter was like, yeah,
• 9:42
  that's. So I also want to say that it
• 9:45
  turned into like a Maury Povich slash Jerry Springer kind of
• 9:50
  moment because then exactly fireworks.
• 9:56
  I see that's not there's a. Fireworks.
• 9:59
  So then your kiddo decides that he's going to tip us slash
• 10:05
  bribus slash, let me win slash let me slide.
• 10:10
  Like can you just call out my numbers with?
• 10:14
  Let me be clear, there were other people tipping, but not as
• 10:19
  well as him with his $2.00. Oh, yes, no, no, no, $1.00.
• 10:25
  It was $1.00. It was $1.00 because my
• 10:29
  daughter's friend doubled it and put it in.
• 10:31
  That's how it turned. And then and then more, but
• 10:36
  doubled at least his $1.00. Yeah, no, I was like, bitch, you
• 10:39
  work, you're a manager. Your girlfriend is a manager.
• 10:43
  In fact, you have two gigs. Like, what the fuck?
• 10:46
  He's like, I'm gonna tip you this dollar and I'm like, I
• 10:49
  don't know what you think that's gonna get.
• 10:50
  You oh that $1.00. And then he tried to claim the
• 10:59
  older women that were sitting like he was sitting at a table
• 11:01
  with two other women that he didn't know.
• 11:02
  But they, like, tipped us better than that.
• 11:05
  And he was like, but collectively, I'm like, no, no,
• 11:07
  no, no, no, no, no, not collectively.
• 11:10
  You don't know them. They are not your people.
• 11:13
  You don't get to jump on there. For the E thing, I was like, no,
• 11:17
  no ma'am, don't get involved in family matters, OK?
• 11:20
  Because this is not going well for you, OK?
• 11:25
  We need you to cut ties before they get.
• 11:30
  I don't know and. Then their car got no, not my
• 11:36
  son's, but the women that they were sitting with remember well.
• 11:38
  We don't know them so. Well, if you're watching, we
• 11:42
  hope your car got unbooted. Yeah, yeah.
• 11:47
  Sorry, we have disclaimer, we have nothing to do with that.
• 11:50
  We don't know anything about it. We just show up and host the
• 11:53
  gig. So not responsible for parking
• 11:57
  or validating. Stepdad needs to teach him
• 12:00
  better. I teach him plenty, thank you
• 12:02
  very much. And tipping a dollar, that's.
• 12:05
  Like. He's texting you because.
• 12:07
  He. Knows threats of I'm gonna text
• 12:09
  mom and then I heard. Oh, no, I text.
• 12:14
  I texted her first, but like, I, I'm, I was like, no, no, I'm
• 12:18
  telling he's like, I'm gonna tell mom.
• 12:19
  I'm like, no, I'm gonna. Tell her hers.
• 12:24
  So you know. Am I welcome?
• 12:30
  Am I welcome? No, you're already here and you
• 12:36
  have, you're literally live here and you never come to play now,
• 12:39
  so. No.
• 12:39
  Well, we know the reason anyway. I think that you need.
• 12:45
  And I wasn't necessarily, no, I wasn't really talking about her
• 12:48
  ADHD. So for those of you listening on
• 12:53
  the podcast, my partner says that both our son and her friend
• 12:57
  told our daughter at the same time that you were talking about
• 12:59
  her ADHDI wasn't talking about her ADHDI was talking about her
• 13:02
  being gifted. Because the folks at the table
• 13:07
  next to us, we're talking about how one of the women over there
• 13:12
  were smart. And I was like, look, being
• 13:14
  smart ain't all it's cracked up to be because my daughter is
• 13:16
  gifted and struggles with unloading the dishwasher.
• 13:20
  Like I'll find we'll find random shit places where like who was
• 13:24
  the last person? Like where is this right?
• 13:27
  I'm like that. She just puts it somewhere
• 13:29
  because I'm like, you know, so being smart is great.
• 13:34
  Works out for everyone. But also.
• 13:37
  Anyway, so it, it was fun, you know, we had a, a group that was
• 13:43
  sitting closest to the table. They were fun to say the least,
• 13:52
  and I couldn't tell who was who with who with who, but they were
• 13:58
  like, yeah, she never gets there.
• 14:02
  And. I I think the, the gentleman
• 14:07
  sitting at the like the head of the table, like the end of the
• 14:09
  table was with the woman to his yes, he was with the woman on
• 14:16
  his right. And then the two, the smart
• 14:19
  woman and then the other dude, I think they were together.
• 14:23
  I think that's that's how that one's working.
• 14:25
  Not how that goes anyway. It was.
• 14:33
  It was. But that's pretty much all I
• 14:34
  did, I didn't do. Anything at this weekend?
• 14:37
  I don't. I didn't leave my house either.
• 14:41
  It was beautiful outside, but I don't remember ever like going
• 14:45
  outside. I remember like going to put the
• 14:46
  trash cans to the curb and then thinking it's so beautiful out
• 14:50
  and then like going back inside. It's really nice.
• 14:55
  We got a new, a new screen door thing for for the back because
• 14:59
  the kids have figured out the kids, sorry, the pigs have
• 15:02
  figured out how to open the the sliding screen door.
• 15:04
  So we got like a metal screen door to be able to like install,
• 15:08
  but it hasn't been installed and it's currently just sitting.
• 15:13
  So at some point it will have to be my partner's like, well, it
• 15:16
  needs to be painted first. I'm like, OK look, maybe we
• 15:18
  should install it and then paint it because otherwise it'll.
• 15:20
  Never get installed. And I.
• 15:25
  Oh, I know what that's like. I'm like.
• 15:30
  This is why things still look like this back here.
• 15:34
  You're welcome. This is why you only see this
• 15:41
  much of my drag. You're like, didn't you clean it
• 15:43
  up? This is all that matters.
• 15:46
  I clean enough to walk in the room.
• 15:48
  Yes. Can't you tell?
• 15:49
  Yeah. I can't even say I have
• 15:53
  necessarily a clear path from the door to here.
• 15:56
  That terrifies me. It just it will be eventually
• 15:59
  enough. It's clear ish.
• 16:03
  It's fine. Riley, how was your weekend?
• 16:05
  What did you do? What have you been up to?
• 16:08
  Tell us about your life, Because ours is.
• 16:12
  Pretty uninteresting. I feel you with the whole drag
• 16:14
  room catastrophe because mine looks horrific, which is why I'm
• 16:20
  also in my bedroom. Like it's, it's to the point
• 16:24
  where I, but, but my weekend has been good This this year has
• 16:33
  started out with me doing a lot of self-care, looking for the
• 16:37
  artist behind the art, you know, So I've been pulling for a
• 16:43
  while. I actually won a pageant like 3
• 16:48
  years ago and they had like a pageant on Sunday.
• 16:51
  So I had to go a. Former Three years ago, I I won
• 16:57
  a pageant. It lasted forever.
• 17:02
  It didn't last forever. How many years ago was?
• 17:09
  That a long time. 2019 is when I won mine and then I kept it
• 17:16
  forever. Yeah, but I was wondering if
• 17:19
  that was part of it. How many years did you have to
• 17:24
  say? I didn't step down until 2220.
• 17:35
  20. One No 22.
• 17:39
  I thought it was 22. When it I think it was 22.
• 17:44
  You've had it for a long time. I don't remember.
• 17:48
  I did. I had it.
• 17:49
  I think it was 20/19/20. I had 2021.
• 17:53
  God, I don't even remember anymore.
• 17:54
  All I remember is that it gave me fucking COVID.
• 17:56
  So fuck Arkansas. That's like I managed to get,
• 17:59
  like I managed to get through the entire fucking pandemic and
• 18:02
  unscathed. And then I went to.
• 18:03
  Arkansas, same thing happened to me.
• 18:04
  I didn't catch COVID until like way after Weird.
• 18:09
  But but yeah, my weekend has been like pack and filled and
• 18:12
  just like taking care of myself outside of drag, so it's been
• 18:18
  pretty good. Self-care is the best care, so
• 18:21
  I've been very happy. Amen.
• 18:24
  Amen. Yes, yes, I will.
• 18:28
  I will. 2nd that. I will absolutely second that
• 18:31
  one. Like that's that.
• 18:33
  And that actually, that actually kind of leads us into my team.
• 18:41
  For this week, let's do it. So my tip isn't really like a
• 19:01
  tip tip. It's more like I wanted to have
• 19:04
  sort of a discussion since we've got Riley on and you know, we
• 19:07
  all deal with this like creative block crap, you know, and it's
• 19:12
  like in every artist, doesn't matter how often you perform.
• 19:16
  It doesn't matter, you know, whether you are a national title
• 19:20
  holder, whether you, you know, perform regularly or only once
• 19:25
  in a while. Like everybody deals with this
• 19:27
  creative block. So I would like to kind of talk
• 19:30
  about the creative block or even the burnout that we experience
• 19:37
  as as performance artists, you know, and like that lack of
• 19:42
  motivation where it's like, I really should do this thing,
• 19:44
  but. Or.
• 19:48
  We have a. A gaming themed event coming up
• 19:52
  and my brain is like in like this weird spiral that is like
• 19:58
  the spinning wheel of death and I.
• 20:02
  Go. I have, I have a con coming up
• 20:05
  in March that I have to come up with two numbers for and I know
• 20:10
  what one of them is going to be. But I have, I don't have a
• 20:13
  costume for it. I don't even have my mix made.
• 20:16
  I know what it's going to be. I think I kind of know what my
• 20:19
  second number is going to be, but also I'm not entirely sure.
• 20:22
  And again, I have nothing for it.
• 20:24
  And we are almost existing almost two months away.
• 20:30
  Yeah, you got some stuff. No, no I don't because I'm also
• 20:35
  missing like I also have my honeymoon which is immediately
• 20:39
  the. Prior.
• 20:41
  So yeah, I, I don't, I don't have, I don't have the time.
• 20:45
  I think I don't. No, for all of us.
• 20:47
  I don't have time. So, yeah, so and I've been, I've
• 20:52
  been struggling with the, with the inspiration, with the
• 20:54
  motivation, with the, you know, and I keep hoping that like
• 20:58
  it'll be one of these things that happens where all of a
• 21:01
  sudden I'm like, Oh yes, I know exactly what I'm doing.
• 21:05
  Because that happens sometimes like when I am like, I know if
• 21:10
  I'm, if I'm really struggling with like motivation and stuff,
• 21:13
  sometimes I just have to wait and hope that something will
• 21:17
  just click and then it'll be better 'cause that happens
• 21:21
  sometimes where it's like, you know, but sometimes it also
• 21:25
  doesn't. And I have to force myself into
• 21:28
  that inspiration. And it's, it's hard, especially
• 21:33
  with, you know, we, we've talked about sort of the last, the last
• 21:39
  year or so or the last half of last year.
• 21:42
  I know I'm like, let me shift this way.
• 21:46
  The last half of last year was rough as far as drag and shit
• 21:55
  for me. And we've kind of, we've kind
• 21:57
  of, we haven't talked about why, but we have talked about that it
• 22:01
  was a thing. And it was, you know, it, it
• 22:05
  really put me into a slump as far as, you know, creativity and
• 22:11
  'cause it was, it was one of those things where it was sort
• 22:13
  of like, well, then what's the fucking point?
• 22:15
  Why bother, you know? And so I've been in that sort of
• 22:19
  a headspace for months and it's, I'm, it's proving difficult to
• 22:27
  bring myself out of it. And, you know, especially, you
• 22:32
  know, I going into, we've also talked about me going into this
• 22:35
  year with the sort of knowing my worth and, you know, not willing
• 22:42
  to compromise on that, knowing that I am talented, you know,
• 22:47
  and I know these things and I know that when I put something
• 22:51
  on stage, it's good, you know, 'cause I, I hold myself to a
• 22:54
  standard that I, I, so trying to pull myself back into being
• 23:05
  inspired and into being motivated and kind of getting
• 23:09
  over that, that creative blog. And I'm always curious to kind
• 23:14
  of learn how other artists managed to pull themselves out
• 23:18
  of that. So discuss.
• 23:23
  Riley, go first. I.
• 23:30
  So recently I was also in a like creative block.
• 23:36
  I decided that I was going to look out for myself in November
• 23:40
  and like take a drag break because it was just like for the
• 23:44
  past two years, maybe even three, I've been just doing drag
• 23:49
  non-stop during that time. Like I was doing drag full time,
• 23:55
  traveling the country, everything.
• 23:58
  So I was like, I'm giving myself a break in November.
• 24:01
  So I did that. But then as I was on my break, I
• 24:05
  like was starting to make more friendships and connections with
• 24:10
  people. And I was like actually like, I
• 24:14
  kind of like not doing drag right now.
• 24:19
  And it honestly wasn't until this weekend when I was like cuz
• 24:25
  I had also been in a funk cuz I was just so out of drag and drag
• 24:29
  wasn't in my head at all. But then I was like, oh, I have
• 24:33
  Black History Month coming up like next month.
• 24:36
  And. I need to come up with new
• 24:39
  things, but I don't know, like I, I, I was like, I don't know
• 24:45
  how to even start. So honestly, after going to the
• 24:50
  pageant and seeing like a different type of drag and just
• 24:55
  seeing like, 'cause it was for a mix title for like non binary
• 25:01
  people, but there were like a lot of alternative performers
• 25:04
  there and like for their talent portion.
• 25:08
  Like it was like a good variety of everything, like, you know,
• 25:13
  classic dancing, the house down drag, nice horror drag.
• 25:19
  There was somebody that tap dance on roller skates like it
• 25:22
  was. Shit, that is fantastic.
• 25:27
  I made a video of. That and that really inspired me
• 25:30
  and like, and I also like went to an Art Museum recently and I
• 25:36
  learned that like for me personally, when I'm in a funk,
• 25:40
  I need to go see some kind of creative, cool, unique art form,
• 25:47
  whether it's visual art where I can just look at it on the wall
• 25:51
  and be like, this art looks so cool and different.
• 25:54
  Or if it's me going to like, I don't know, a comedy drag show
• 25:59
  where people think outside of the box.
• 26:02
  Like that type of stuff inspires me because I am kind of a quirky
• 26:06
  weirdo with my drag. So when I see that, that
• 26:11
  inspires me. And like after this week and I
• 26:14
  was like, OK, now I have the inspiration to like do these
• 26:18
  things that come up with these cool weird costumes and
• 26:22
  everything. So art inspires me to create
• 26:25
  art. I get that.
• 26:27
  I I that that happens with me sometimes too.
• 26:31
  And it depends on it depends on where I'm at in my funk.
• 26:34
  Like I'll go and either, you know, it'll it'll either be
• 26:38
  going to going to a different drag show because I don't get
• 26:42
  out much because I am. Old and.
• 26:45
  Drag shows start late and I'm like, Oh my God, this is the
• 26:49
  same shit that I see all the fucking, you know what I mean?
• 26:52
  Like it's got to be something that really piques my interest
• 26:54
  for me to want to go to a drag show these days because
• 26:57
  otherwise I'm like, it's the same 5 people doing the same
• 26:59
  shit that I always see. And like, even if they're doing,
• 27:04
  and even if they're not doing exactly the same number, it's
• 27:07
  basically the same number with a different song, you know what I
• 27:09
  mean? So it's like, yeah, I'm like, I
• 27:14
  this is I, I don't, I, I don't enjoy predictable drag.
• 27:19
  Like if, if, yeah, I don't. So like depending on who is in
• 27:25
  the cast, depending on who's performing, I'm like, I know
• 27:30
  that I've, I will have seen this before, you know what I mean?
• 27:34
  Like, so it, it's, and it's hard.
• 27:37
  I've been doing this for 20 years.
• 27:38
  So it's like I, I need more, I guess to tickle my fancy when it
• 27:44
  comes to drag shows. So, you know, but a lot of times
• 27:47
  I'll go and I'll be like, oh, I like this concept or oh, that's
• 27:50
  really cool. I never thought about that.
• 27:52
  I wonder if I could take my own twist on something like this or
• 27:57
  like if it's something that like if I've had an idea for a hot
• 28:00
  minute that's sort of been sitting on the back burner for
• 28:03
  like ever, and then someone does something that's adjacent to it.
• 28:08
  Not because I Lord knows I don't like copying.
• 28:11
  Nobody wants to copy anybody, you know what I mean?
• 28:13
  But it's like if somebody does something that's sort of like.
• 28:15
  Micro quick of there are people that just.
• 28:18
  Quickly, Oh, for sure, that'll just do the same thing.
• 28:21
  And it's like, no, I want to do my thing, but sometimes it's
• 28:23
  like, oh, that's a really cool idea.
• 28:26
  OK, so my idea was this, OK, now I see how I can do that, you
• 28:31
  know what I mean? So it's like, OK, so something
• 28:33
  that kind of kick started to, you know, hot wire shit
• 28:38
  something. But I also have to be in the
• 28:41
  mood to like go to a drag show or leave my house for any
• 28:46
  reason. And like with the with the con
• 28:50
  coming up, usually just the theme itself is enough to kind
• 28:55
  of inspire me and and stuff. And this year, because of shit
• 29:00
  that happened with other things last year, it's been really,
• 29:04
  really hard. So do you.
• 29:07
  Find it to be a traumatic response like.
• 29:11
  Absolutely, because when you know, right, So you know,
• 29:18
  something happens and it gets, you know, when you're like,
• 29:23
  well, fuck, and you just sort of shut down and you're just like,
• 29:28
  well, what's the point anyway? You know, why do I even bother
• 29:30
  doing this? Why don't you know what I mean?
• 29:31
  Even though this con is something that I enjoy and I
• 29:35
  have enjoyed and it's something that I love doing, but it's been
• 29:41
  hard. Now the one number that I
• 29:44
  already kind of have the concept for is there was a a song that
• 29:50
  popped up on my Spotify. That.
• 29:53
  I'm like, I don't even know what the fuck this is.
• 29:55
  I was like, what is this? And I would like Shazam did so I
• 29:57
  could see what the song was and I was like, oh, and knowing what
• 30:00
  it was and listening to the lyrics, I was like, oh, I
• 30:03
  totally gotta do this thing. Of course, again, concept, no
• 30:07
  costume, no anything, but at least the bare bones is there
• 30:09
  and I have to figure out. What?
• 30:12
  Right. And I have to figure out what
• 30:13
  other, what else I can mix in with this song because the song
• 30:15
  itself is really short. So I'm like, no, I need to make
• 30:17
  it better and bigger. So I need to do something.
• 30:18
  But at least I have that. I'm not sure about the other
• 30:25
  portion of it. I'm like, I have to do one more
• 30:28
  number and I'm like, well, I have this, I have this mix that
• 30:32
  I guess I could do if I if I tweaked this thing and made this
• 30:36
  costume here, OK, I guess I could do that.
• 30:39
  So it's like it's, it's starting to kind of, it's starting, but I
• 30:46
  don't have a lot of fucking time.
• 30:48
  So I'm like, I'm like, I need this to be faster.
• 30:52
  Like this slow burn is not working for me.
• 30:55
  Like I'm trying to get the flames going.
• 30:58
  And it's like you have one little like piece of charcoal
• 31:00
  that's just like, and I'm like, no, no, no, we're not smoking
• 31:05
  here. We're not smoking.
• 31:06
  This is not a low and slow. This is like I need to get a
• 31:11
  sear on. So I need y'all.
• 31:14
  I need to get the flames going like I need.
• 31:16
  This low and slow bullshit is not going to work for me right
• 31:18
  now like I need to so. It's.
• 31:22
  It's tricky. It's rough.
• 31:25
  I would say definitely understand both turns.
• 31:32
  Your turn, their turn. But I feel like I am creative by
• 31:41
  force because technically I do this for a living, not drag, but
• 31:49
  all things creative as they pertain to like graphic design
• 31:54
  and web design and all these things.
• 31:58
  And so like my brain is constantly like, oh, Spitfire,
• 32:02
  this Spitfire, that Spitfire, this Spitfire that I lot, I
• 32:07
  write a lot of things down. Do I remember all the things?
• 32:12
  Do I go back sometimes, Sometimes.
• 32:15
  Or sometimes the creative pieces are in different order, like
• 32:22
  I'll be at work at the end. I'll do like how you did, and
• 32:26
  here's something on Spotify while I'm working, I'll be like,
• 32:29
  girl, that is a good mix right there.
• 32:31
  Let go. Mm Hmm.
• 32:34
  And then I lose the paper that I wrote it down on.
• 32:37
  I have, I have. I have like notes in my phone so
• 32:40
  I won't. Oh, I need to start putting them
• 32:42
  in my phone. And if I, if I should Sam it and
• 32:46
  if I Shazam it, like if it's something I'm not like I either
• 32:48
  I want to remember or whatever, If I Shazam it, I can go back
• 32:51
  into my Shazam and look at what I've I've Shazam So I can be
• 32:54
  like, oh, because that's like like I, I, I love it when
• 32:58
  people, you know, ask me about like my creative process because
• 33:02
  they're like, you know, how, how do you come up with a number?
• 33:04
  And I'm like, Jesus Christ, like it literally depends.
• 33:07
  I don't know, like there's. Process I.
• 33:09
  Just I don't like your. Ideas that creep in and then all
• 33:12
  of a sudden I'm like, I'm going to do that.
• 33:14
  Like it'll be one of those things where, you know, maybe
• 33:16
  it'll be like a random fucking song that like pops up on us
• 33:19
  something. And I'm like, that's could be
• 33:22
  I'm like I told like as soon as I hear it, I have a concept, you
• 33:25
  know, or it could be I see like a costume number or something
• 33:30
  or, you know, piece. And I'm like, oh, look, this
• 33:31
  thing, I'm going to make an entire fucking number based on
• 33:33
  this thing right here, you know? And it's like, but.
• 33:37
  Do you ever get inspiration? So sometimes.
• 33:41
  OK, tonight I'm getting ready and then I saw another costume
• 33:46
  and I was like, oh, keep this one right here, keep this
• 33:55
  costume right here. You're going to do it, you're
• 33:58
  going to do it. And then I never get around to
• 34:00
  it. But you know, like, but you
• 34:04
  know, it's kind of like the idea that you had you, you're like, I
• 34:07
  have it on the back burner. I see it, I see you right there.
• 34:11
  But do y'all ever like either come up with a concept and then
• 34:21
  like years later you're like, oh, maybe I'll go back and get
• 34:26
  that, you know, and somebody will think, Oh my God, this is
• 34:30
  so new. No, girl, no it's not.
• 34:35
  Yeah, I I definitely have. Over the winter I was booked for
• 34:41
  a Christmas brunch and for years, like I I like used to be
• 34:47
  so obsessed. This is so cheesy.
• 34:49
  I used to be so obsessed with the acapella group Pentatonix.
• 34:54
  Yeah. And.
• 34:57
  They had this sick up on the House top cover that they did.
• 35:02
  And I was like, I'm a get to it. I'm a get to it.
• 35:05
  But just creating a Santa Claus outfit was stressing me out.
• 35:10
  So I never got to it until December when I like like you
• 35:15
  did like looked at a costume piece and was like, wait, if I
• 35:19
  put this, this, this and this together, it'll make like a cool
• 35:23
  Sansa outfit. And so finally this year, after
• 35:30
  fucking what, 3-4 years of sitting on, I finally got to it.
• 35:37
  Created that number. I, I do that shit all the time.
• 35:42
  Like it'll, it'll be like, well, I have these things like I
• 35:45
  literally have an entire outfit that is sitting around because I
• 35:50
  have a specific number that I got this outfit for.
• 35:54
  Oh, Oh no, we lost Riley. Or at least we lost the.
• 35:59
  Video We lost the video. Oh, did y'all see?
• 36:02
  Me, Riley, did you touch things? No, no, we can't see, no.
• 36:07
  I promise. I didn't touch it this time.
• 36:09
  Oh God, Riley touched something again.
• 36:12
  Oh no, what's that? Can.
• 36:18
  You hear me? Yeah, we can hear you.
• 36:21
  We just can't see you. You can't see me.
• 36:24
  Fine. You.
• 36:26
  No, you're completely black. I mean other.
• 36:29
  In the sense that the screen is. Like.
• 36:33
  Yes, I am. Black.
• 36:36
  But before we all get cancelled. I can say that I have a black
• 36:40
  friend. It's fine.
• 36:42
  Oh yeah. Oh Yikes.
• 36:45
  We do not condone this behavior. Oh my.
• 36:49
  God, oh that's crazy. I can't see me.
• 36:52
  Y'all can't see me at all. No, no, no.
• 37:02
  Oh, all right, Grandpa. Look, do you?
• 37:03
  I don't know what kind of. Oh no.
• 37:11
  Oh my God. Well, and your part is next, so.
• 37:17
  No. Did you did you touch a button?
• 37:20
  What did you like to see me? Oh, do you wanna sign back off
• 37:26
  and then come back? Do you wanna?
• 37:27
  Do you wanna go out and try to come back in again?
• 37:30
  Yeah, I'll be back. OK, you're fine.
• 37:37
  But I do have, I'd like I said, I have this outfit that I've had
• 37:42
  a number it in the works for like ever.
• 37:48
  And Riley is still black. No way.
• 37:53
  It looks like you're like sitting in a dark room.
• 37:55
  Or you've got your camera covered.
• 37:58
  I do not have my I can see myself crystal clear.
• 38:03
  What in the world? I I am so sorry y'all, I don't
• 38:12
  know. What?
• 38:12
  Happened. You're fine.
• 38:15
  It happens all the time on this gig it it does.
• 38:19
  It's fine, It's fine. People got to see you for like.
• 38:24
  10. Half an hour or so.
• 38:26
  Oh, I'm. Sorry.
• 38:28
  So if you could try to like sign out of it completely, like close
• 38:33
  the what is it, the Internet Explorer?
• 38:38
  Yeah. And then?
• 38:39
  OK, I we'll do that. I'll try to make it quick.
• 38:43
  Sorry you're. Fine, take your time.
• 38:46
  We got you. Trust us, we've messed this up.
• 38:50
  All the time still talking about the the outfit, like I've I've
• 38:54
  had this outfit, I I need to do the things with it that I want
• 38:58
  to do with it to be able to create this number that I've
• 39:01
  literally had in my head. I have all the songs.
• 39:03
  I haven't made the mix yet, but I have all the songs.
• 39:05
  I have like all the things. I just need to do it.
• 39:09
  I always get to. The point where I love when I
• 39:12
  finish the mix and then I'm like, what am I going to wear
• 39:17
  now? Right.
• 39:19
  There's that. And like, I pulled this out like
• 39:22
  I was like, this is like vintage Freddy.
• 39:24
  I made, I, I made it forever ago and I love it.
• 39:28
  It's one of these things that I've been holding onto that I'm
• 39:30
  like, oh, maybe I should downsize.
• 39:31
  But I actually really love it because I painted it myself and
• 39:34
  you can't really see the back obviously because I'm, you know,
• 39:38
  but the back has a really cool like spine piece on it.
• 39:40
  And I was so proud of myself when I painted it.
• 39:43
  And I want to like embellish it and actually stone the hell out
• 39:45
  of things, but. I had the time to do that.
• 39:54
  So I'm like, I've, I've held on to it forever.
• 39:57
  I This is the first time I've worn it in years, but you know.
• 40:03
  Yeah, I need to do a massive purge 'cause I don't fit into a
• 40:06
  lot of things, but. I know I need to be the same
• 40:08
  but. As.
• 40:10
  Far as creative block, sometimes it's just stepping away that
• 40:16
  helps. I like Riley's idea of going to
• 40:20
  like Art Museum. Back in the day, I used to go to
• 40:28
  a whole bunch of poetry slams 00.
• 40:31
  Oh oh, oh ohh, there we go. Straight from you.
• 40:35
  Are back there you? Are.
• 40:37
  Yes. Yeah, OK.
• 40:40
  I'm just, I'm gonna, I'm just gonna assume that you were like
• 40:43
  on dial up and somebody just picked up the phone.
• 40:44
  Like I feel like that's probably happened.
• 40:47
  Y'all I literally don't know what happened.
• 40:49
  I could see myself perfectly. No, you were.
• 40:53
  If you go back, if you go back and watch the replay, you'll
• 40:56
  see, you'll be able to see that you go, you go black like your
• 40:59
  screen is not the like, not a thing.
• 41:01
  It looks like somebody had like turned off the lights and just.
• 41:05
  Or that you literally were just like.
• 41:08
  Yeah, like that. Me no more.
• 41:10
  I'm good. Like.
• 41:14
  Dang, I'm sorry y'all. I'm sorry to everybody.
• 41:17
  Look, our audience is used to this shit.
• 41:20
  OK, great. I feel like it wouldn't be our
• 41:25
  show if either like on a premiere or a night that we had
• 41:28
  a guest or something, that something didn't go
• 41:30
  technologically sideways. I hope this doesn't happen
• 41:33
  often. I'm just kidding, it does happen
• 41:36
  often. It happens often.
• 41:37
  Don't let her fucking tell you that.
• 41:38
  No, that's much fun. So, you know, if people are, if
• 41:45
  people are struggling with, you know, a creative block, whether
• 41:48
  regardless of what it is, whether you're a performance
• 41:50
  artist or a writer or painter or whatever, you know, we'd love to
• 41:54
  hear what you do to kind of get yourself out of it.
• 41:57
  You know, what do you do? Talk to us, put it in the
• 42:00
  comments, whatever. I love also because like
• 42:11
  sometimes after you take like the break, you find something
• 42:16
  else creative to be creative with.
• 42:19
  Like if I haven't taken photos in a while, go do that instead
• 42:23
  of trying to focus more on like, what should my look look like?
• 42:27
  What should I, you know, how should I design this flyer?
• 42:29
  Like go do something else. And then sometimes your brain is
• 42:35
  kind of sneaky and it's like, you remember that mix you were
• 42:37
  working on it. You're like, but right now I'm
• 42:43
  taking pictures of like birds. But your brain is like, you
• 42:47
  remember that mix that we were working on and you're like, get,
• 42:51
  damn it. And so then, you know, the
• 42:53
  juices start flowing. You're like, I, I guess I'm
• 42:56
  working on this now. So I don't know if you all have
• 43:00
  that, like, do you go do something else?
• 43:02
  And then all of a sudden your brain is like, Hey, we need to
• 43:05
  get back to that mix or we need to finish stoning that costume.
• 43:10
  Yes, yes and no. I think for me, yes, sometimes
• 43:14
  that that happens, but also that it ends up it's like, oh shit,
• 43:19
  you need to get on the thing, not hey.
• 43:20
  Look, I do have those. It's like, Oh my God, you only
• 43:23
  have two weeks to do the thing, but.
• 43:27
  He has been like texting me and I'm like I'm working on the mix
• 43:31
  right now. I'm like for, for me, I think
• 43:35
  one of the things that kind of helps me sort of reset my brain,
• 43:38
  I think when it comes to drag and stuff is spending time with
• 43:44
  people that know me outside of drag.
• 43:50
  Cause a lot of, and I, this is, I always say that you can like I
• 43:56
  know who my friends are based on whether or not they know my
• 44:00
  government name and whether they use my government name 'cause
• 44:06
  there are people that know. But you, you do sometimes weird,
• 44:13
  weird. Like in the one sentence, I'll
• 44:15
  use different names and pronouns because that's, but yeah, it
• 44:20
  right. That's just, you know, whatever.
• 44:22
  But like being around people that know me outside of Freddie,
• 44:27
  because sometimes being Freddie is a lot of pressure.
• 44:31
  And that's not even like, I don't even, I don't even
• 44:33
  necessarily do a lot. Like I, you know, I, I, I don't
• 44:40
  perform a lot in, in like bar shows and you know, stuff like
• 44:44
  that. But it's still because I'm as
• 44:49
  Freddie, I'm more public facing than as me.
• 44:54
  So being even being out and about, it's like you always kind
• 45:00
  of have to be on and you always have to, you know what I mean?
• 45:03
  So being around people that know me outside of drag and know me
• 45:08
  outside of Freddy is really nice sometimes because I don't have
• 45:13
  that pressure and it gives my brain a break from being on.
• 45:18
  And then I'm able to kind of be like, you know, talking about
• 45:23
  random things, talking about theater.
• 45:24
  I have a lot of theater friends, you know, which so we, you know,
• 45:29
  talking about theater, talking about this, talking about that.
• 45:31
  And then a lot of times something will click and I'll be
• 45:34
  like, oh, I could totally do this thing based on a
• 45:38
  conversation that we were having or whatever.
• 45:40
  And it's because I'm not dealing with the pressures of being
• 45:44
  Freddy in that moment. That makes sense.
• 45:49
  So, Riley, do you feel the same way or 'cause you, you said you
• 45:55
  travel a lot. How do you like recharge the
• 45:59
  drag? I'm just gonna.
• 46:00
  Throw that out there. Recharge the creative battery
• 46:06
  when there's so much like Freddy says, like the pressure of being
• 46:11
  performative, Like, yeah. That's a good question.
• 46:16
  Usually with traveling luckily like you can just do the same
• 46:20
  number and people won't know because you're in a different
• 46:23
  place. Until the pictures come out and
• 46:26
  then I'm like, you just did that fucking number.
• 46:31
  You did it twice, in fact. I'm dead and would do it again.
• 46:36
  Yeah. I mean Taylor Swift has been
• 46:38
  touring for like 3 years and singing the same songs in the
• 46:41
  same order. And look, lots of money.
• 46:45
  If I was a billionaire then I'd do whatever the fuck, but she
• 46:51
  like, shows a little more leeway there.
• 46:55
  Yeah, but it definitely does help when I'm given theme shows
• 47:01
  because that's a. Good theme.
• 47:02
  That's me too. That sparks like a whole
• 47:06
  different side of creativity for me 'cause like I want to do the
• 47:13
  theme well and especially if it's like in a different state
• 47:17
  or something, it's like these people are paying good money to
• 47:22
  bring me. So it definitely inspires me to
• 47:26
  really dig deep and really think about like a unique way that I
• 47:31
  can go about doing it. Like I was booked in like a
• 47:36
  fairy tale show at one point and I was like, you know what, I
• 47:40
  should do a Shrek number. And so like I came up with this
• 47:45
  whole weird, you don't know where it's going, Shrek number
• 47:51
  and just just theme shows definitely like.
• 47:54
  And we, we appreciate you being perfectly adequate here in
• 47:59
  Arizona when you were out here last summer.
• 48:02
  No thank you for having me, I had fun it was really hot and I
• 48:05
  don't know why y'all live in such a hot area.
• 48:09
  Fucking August. I'm like, why did we do this in
• 48:12
  August? And we bring somebody out in
• 48:14
  August, Like why? Why did we do this?
• 48:18
  I had such a good time though, but it was we just don't.
• 48:22
  Wear. The clothes.
• 48:24
  Experienced. Stay.
• 48:26
  Inside we don't go out. Wear clothes, I mean, Yeah, not
• 48:31
  wearing clothes does help. I.
• 48:33
  Mean it's 80 in December so jeez.
• 48:37
  I mean, that's not too bad. I would like it to be 80 here in
• 48:41
  Ohio. It's real cold right now.
• 48:43
  You know I won't be saying that in June when 80 gets here.
• 48:51
  Right, right, right. Yeah.
• 48:54
  You should come back out here during the summer because you
• 48:57
  know why the hell not? My birthday is in July.
• 49:00
  I'm. Like why is this not staying on?
• 49:06
  That's when you learn real quick how well your your your sealer.
• 49:11
  Stuff like like your setting spray works because you know, if
• 49:15
  it'll work here, it'll work fucking anywhere.
• 49:17
  Yeah, you walk, you walk outside in 10 seconds and it's like.
• 49:21
  Yeah. I did.
• 49:23
  Then you're like, alright. I did take your note though when
• 49:26
  I came to visit y'all 'cause you said that you like double and
• 49:30
  triple like setting powder on your face.
• 49:33
  Setting powder, then setting spray, then they gotta be glued
• 49:36
  Hairspray. Yeah, and I was like, wait,
• 49:39
  Freddy's on to something 'cause this bitch ain't moving.
• 49:43
  So thank you for that too. You're welcome.
• 49:46
  You're welcome. So speaking about having you,
• 49:51
  having you out, let's actually shift over and let's talk to
• 49:57
  Riley. We're gonna make you big now.
• 50:02
  So give us a brief sort of who are you?
• 50:05
  What do you do? Did you get to this planet?
• 50:09
  Right. We, you know, we like to make
• 50:12
  sure that everybody talks to you.
• 50:13
  You know, we're going to, we're going to do all this other shit
• 50:15
  first and then we're going to be like, OK, now tell us about
• 50:17
  yourself because, you know, whatever.
• 50:21
  Wait, so is this I'm telling people about myself?
• 50:24
  Is that what? Yes, this is.
• 50:26
  Yes, it is now you. That's why you are the big
• 50:28
  square. Oh, perfect context clues.
• 50:33
  I should have seen them. But hi everybody, my name is
• 50:36
  Riley. Poppy Seed.
• 50:38
  OK, they've gotten that already. You can, you can skip that part.
• 50:41
  We've like, OK that ship. Has this isn't an interview
• 50:43
  promise. Right, like we this is.
• 50:47
  He won the pageant already. Touché so about me from
• 50:53
  Columbus, OH I me trying to think of my bio and how my bio
• 51:00
  goes. I travelled all over the
• 51:03
  country. I was on a show.
• 51:06
  Don't watch it. Hey, it's cancelled so but.
• 51:19
  I I know a few people that were on the same show and.
• 51:25
  Wow, wow. Yeah, but I was, I was the first
• 51:32
  black drag king to be on any competition show, and I was the
• 51:37
  first drag king to make it to the finale of that franchise and
• 51:43
  didn't win. But that's OK.
• 51:46
  What else? It didn't sound like it was OK
• 51:49
  though. Oh no, it is.
• 51:55
  I still travel so it's OK. Right.
• 51:58
  But but anyway, let me think I. You are a producer.
• 52:04
  You produce things. Oh yeah, I was going get to
• 52:07
  that. But I'll, I'll go ahead and jump
• 52:10
  to it. Yeah, I'm like, I don't know.
• 52:12
  You look like you were struggling.
• 52:13
  I'm like, let me help you. Let me.
• 52:15
  Oh, thank you. I appreciate that.
• 52:18
  But yeah, I'm a producer for Thrust Fest, which is the Drag
• 52:22
  King Festival produced by me, Creamy Coochie and Throb Zombie,
• 52:28
  who was on Dragula. And we actually made an
• 52:31
  announcement today that we're having Thrust Fest in Toronto,
• 52:36
  Canada this year in July. And if you are a drag king,
• 52:41
  please feel free to apply and or if you would like to volunteer,
• 52:46
  we also have apps open to volunteer too.
• 52:49
  You can go to thrustfest.com to apply.
• 52:52
  It's a really. Y'all talk amongst yourselves I
• 52:54
  guess I'm going to do real quick.
• 52:56
  OK, bye. But yeah, please feel free to
• 53:02
  apply. We're going international.
• 53:05
  We're trying to bop around every which way.
• 53:08
  So we'll be in Canada late July. And yeah, if you enjoy what
• 53:15
  you're seeing and you're new to me, please follow me on
• 53:18
  Instagram at Riley Poppy Seed. And I'm trying to do better with
• 53:22
  TikTok. I have a few TikTok videos out
• 53:24
  but you can follow me on TikTok too at Riley Poppy Seed.
• 53:29
  Yeah, the quick infomercial version.
• 53:32
  I love it so you being the first black drag king and I would say
• 53:42
  that so I have been looking for. He's not the first black drag
• 53:47
  king. Oh my God, you should know
• 53:49
  you're he. Knows what I'm talking about on
• 53:53
  the show. I hesitate.
• 53:56
  I stopped because I was saying I was looking forward to you being
• 53:58
  on the show if you're by. Texting I'm texting my partner
• 54:01
  to ask her if I can go to Toronto in July.
• 54:04
  Oh, please apply. Toronto.
• 54:09
  Because I will passport. Perform again TBH.
• 54:14
  OK, so like I was saying, first black drag king on the said
• 54:21
  show, how important 'cause we talk about this often on this
• 54:28
  show is how important is representation and how do you
• 54:32
  see yourself supporting other kings like you?
• 54:40
  Yeah. So representation is so
• 54:42
  important. And I think it's important, you
• 54:46
  know, to have like BIPOC individuals on TV shows and just
• 54:52
  in your cast, in your local venues, plus size people, people
• 54:57
  with disabilities, all that good stuff.
• 55:02
  It's, it's because for me personally, when I first started
• 55:08
  out, I didn't realize that drag kings were really a thing
• 55:12
  because it was just to see a drag Queens.
• 55:15
  And then the more that I ventured out, the more I
• 55:18
  discovered drag kings. And then I started discovering
• 55:22
  black drag kings that were unapologetically black and even
• 55:27
  like doing numbers about, you know, the shit that we got to go
• 55:33
  through as black people. And that really inspired me.
• 55:37
  And you know, I feel like things like that can inspire, I'm going
• 55:42
  to say our white allies to do a little better and to show that
• 55:48
  representation is so important. And and I also like Speaking of
• 55:57
  representation, there is this beautiful troop that's in my
• 56:02
  city called the Big girl Burlesque Troop.
• 56:06
  And it is just plus size women of all shapes and sizes and
• 56:12
  colors. And I remember feeling like real
• 56:16
  self-conscious about myself for years and my body.
• 56:20
  But to see people that looked like me that were
• 56:24
  unapologetically showing off their body and loving their
• 56:28
  body, especially in front of strangers, that like y'all have
• 56:33
  saddened audiences where probably people have talked shit
• 56:36
  about performers on stage and stuff.
• 56:38
  Like I feel like it takes such bravery and such self love to be
• 56:45
  like I don't give a fuck what these people say.
• 56:46
  I'm a do it and to see that and see representation like that,
• 56:52
  that inspires artists like me and that inspired me to do more
• 56:58
  burlesque and drag. Like this is actually like a
• 57:01
  whole burlesque outfit and it was inspired by plus size people
• 57:07
  that I saw be unapologetically themselves on stage.
• 57:11
  So yeah, I think that it is just so important to showcase
• 57:16
  different people, different cultures, and there's definitely
• 57:19
  a beauty and an education to being inclusive like that.
• 57:26
  So it really is important to me. And I knew at the time too, when
• 57:32
  I competed that I would be the first black drag king on any
• 57:36
  competition show 'cause there wasn't any, which is crazy to
• 57:41
  like any time I say it, it blows my mind.
• 57:45
  But but being the first black drag king on any drag
• 57:51
  competition show, I didn't want to disappoint my people.
• 57:56
  And so like, even though it was your like a funny campy show, I
• 58:01
  still wanted to have little moments where I represented, you
• 58:04
  know, being black and plus size. So there was like a a runway
• 58:10
  that we did and I was in a jester outfit, but my outfit was
• 58:14
  made out of African fabric because I wanted to still, you
• 58:19
  know, represent black culture somehow in my art.
• 58:24
  And I did drag last and took off my clothes as a plus size person
• 58:31
  at the end for the finale, I had a period suit that had like, it
• 58:36
  looked like I was bleeding from my, from the bottom part of my
• 58:40
  pants because nobody that looked like me had ever like made it to
• 58:45
  that finale. So yeah, I, I think it's
• 58:49
  important to have representation.
• 58:51
  And also I am so happy that there are now more black track
• 58:57
  kings that I've gotten on TV. Pressure K.
• 59:01
  Percocet sex. King Molasses I They are truly
• 59:07
  so wonderful and I am so excited to see even more black beautiful
• 59:12
  drag kings on TV. So no, go ahead, finish, finish,
• 59:19
  finish your thought. And I was just going to say
• 59:21
  because, yeah, I have been rambling, but yeah, just please
• 59:26
  make sure if you have shows out there, be inclusive and you
• 59:31
  know. For people that say that, oh you
• 59:35
  know, we can't be inclusive, that's really hard to do, that's
• 59:38
  a bunch of horseshit because pretty much every show that I've
• 59:41
  ever produced has been diverse and inclusive in every possible
• 59:45
  way you could even imagine. So not that hard, y'all?
• 59:49
  Not that fucking hard. And but and you.
• 59:52
  Go for it since you since you brought up pressure K Percocet
• 59:58
  schemalasses so. Tell us a little bit about your,
• 1:00:02
  your thoughts on the first season of King of Drag, because
• 1:00:06
  you were on the not to be mentioned in a reality show.
• 1:00:11
  And we both watched King of Drag like I, you know, we, we both
• 1:00:17
  watched that, that from your season.
• 1:00:19
  Did you, Oh, you never fucking mentioned it.
• 1:00:23
  So I had no idea. I did say that I watched it, I
• 1:00:27
  don't think. You're right, I don't, but
• 1:00:29
  still, I don't think that, but I'm, I'm, I'm having done a
• 1:00:36
  reality show, you know, and one that still doesn't cause neither
• 1:00:43
  the one that you were on or king of drag had the budget that like
• 1:00:47
  the big two had when it comes to like drag reality shows, you
• 1:00:50
  know what I mean? So you were kind of in the same
• 1:00:53
  boat as far as that goes. But you know, give us a little
• 1:00:58
  bit of, you know, your your thoughts on kind of the first
• 1:01:03
  season of King of Drag and, and the sort of idea as a whole,
• 1:01:07
  like going into if they do it again, if they, you know, if
• 1:01:11
  they decide to go into play with it, whatever it is, I hope they
• 1:01:13
  do it again. But you know what?
• 1:01:16
  What were your thoughts on it? Yeah, so singing kings on a drag
• 1:01:22
  competition show in general is a fucking win.
• 1:01:26
  And it was so cool to see like kings have a drag competition of
• 1:01:29
  their own. Still would love to see drag
• 1:01:31
  kings just present on, you know, drag race, the biggest one.
• 1:01:36
  But but it was just so cool to see so many kings that like I
• 1:01:40
  already knew about, just all competing against each other.
• 1:01:44
  That was like, that was a cool thing for me.
• 1:01:46
  I'm like, I know them, I know them, I know them and and I
• 1:01:49
  don't know, I know, I know these people.
• 1:01:52
  Yeah, with. Each drop I was like Oh my gosh
• 1:01:56
  and like the way that they just kept it such a secret.
• 1:01:59
  Part of me was mad because I was like now y'all told me that you
• 1:02:02
  were going to be on this but OK. But.
• 1:02:07
  But no, it was beautiful. Of course, it's the first season
• 1:02:10
  so there's like a few hiccups and stuff, but but for the most
• 1:02:17
  part, I really enjoyed it. I love to see King shine.
• 1:02:21
  And you know, I, I would, I would say because I noticed it
• 1:02:26
  also on King of drag. This is advice for anybody that
• 1:02:30
  wants to just compete on drag TV at all.
• 1:02:35
  Be before you even apply. Talk to yourself and make sure
• 1:02:40
  that you're mentally prepared to go through probably two or three
• 1:02:45
  weeks of doing drag and being critiqued on your drag and how
• 1:02:52
  how it looks and their interpretation of it.
• 1:02:56
  Just just remind yourself that you're good.
• 1:03:01
  Lord Lord knows there are people that would not be able to handle
• 1:03:05
  that. Their egos are too fragile to
• 1:03:09
  understand that you literally signed up for a competition.
• 1:03:12
  And this happens when people get into pageantry too.
• 1:03:14
  Like they get into pageantry, they get into things that get,
• 1:03:18
  you know, judged. And then they're like, well, I
• 1:03:20
  didn't fucking win and blah, blah, blah, blah.
• 1:03:22
  It's like, you're right. And I can tell you why you
• 1:03:25
  didn't win, but you don't really want to hear it.
• 1:03:27
  Like, I can tell you why you got the critiques that you did, but
• 1:03:32
  you don't want to hear it. All you want is the people
• 1:03:34
  around you that are like, Oh my God, you're so hot.
• 1:03:37
  You know, yeah, you just have to mentally be prepared for having
• 1:03:45
  your drag critiqued and for long hours because that was something
• 1:03:50
  that I also noticed with some of the contestants on King of Drag.
• 1:03:53
  Especially if you plan on making it to the finale, you get no
• 1:03:57
  breaks. You it's drag early in the
• 1:04:00
  morning to late at night. So just if you want to do that,
• 1:04:05
  think of if you're going to make it to the finale and think,
• 1:04:08
  okay, can I really do drag from 7:00 AM to 3:00 AM?
• 1:04:13
  Is that something that I can do and not have breakdowns?
• 1:04:16
  Or if I do have a breakdown, how am I gonna handle?
• 1:04:19
  That right? Can I make it good for TV at
• 1:04:22
  least? Like, if I'm gonna break it
• 1:04:23
  down, can I at least like, if I'm gonna have a complete
• 1:04:27
  fucking meltdown, can I at least make it good for TV and nothing
• 1:04:30
  else? Like, oh.
• 1:04:33
  Yeah, but but it overall, I loved King of Drag and I'm so
• 1:04:36
  happy that those kings are thriving and.
• 1:04:39
  You know, what did you think of, what did you think of some of
• 1:04:42
  the challenges? Oh, I'm trying to think.
• 1:04:45
  Back 'cause I thought like in some of them I'm like.
• 1:04:50
  The like some of them I felt were kind of like.
• 1:04:55
  The first one I didn't like, I didn't like.
• 1:04:57
  That felt like kind of amateurish.
• 1:05:00
  Well, the. I I didn't like that they were
• 1:05:02
  still in their like entrance looks right judge for their
• 1:05:06
  entrance looks after dancing and dates all day.
• 1:05:10
  I didn't like that white band they just had on mesh shit.
• 1:05:16
  It was like, but it was for me, it was weird 'cause it was like,
• 1:05:20
  on the one hand it was like some of them I'm like, OK, this is
• 1:05:23
  kind of pedestrian like really like we're, we're better than
• 1:05:26
  this. But then also they were, it
• 1:05:31
  seemed like sometimes they were asking them to do things that no
• 1:05:35
  queen would ever be able to fucking do.
• 1:05:38
  Like the like, the like for the like the first challenge with
• 1:05:41
  the boy band, like you're, you're gonna seriously make
• 1:05:44
  people come up with lyrics and choreography in what was it 30
• 1:05:50
  minutes or something like an hour?
• 1:05:52
  Like it was time. I'm like, you would never ask
• 1:05:57
  Queens to do this because the Queens would be like fuck you.
• 1:06:01
  There's no fucking way. So it was like, why?
• 1:06:05
  Like you were they're still in their entrance looks you're
• 1:06:09
  putting them in like weird jumpsuits or whatever.
• 1:06:11
  Like now everybody looks like a cult and you're like the ask is
• 1:06:17
  something for like the for the first challenge.
• 1:06:20
  The ask is something that is so like, like you, you literally
• 1:06:26
  most Queens could never and would never, you know what I
• 1:06:29
  mean? Again, it kind of it.
• 1:06:33
  They had a similar challenge on Drag Race, but you don't get 30
• 1:06:36
  minutes, you get like maybe like a full day or something.
• 1:06:40
  But right, like it was like the fact that it was so little time
• 1:06:46
  is that was one of the things I was like, because I think it was
• 1:06:48
  like it was like an hour. It was something like in like
• 1:06:53
  really short and I'm like, so you you want them to create
• 1:06:57
  lyrics. Remember the lyrics and
• 1:07:01
  choreography in this like short ass amount of time like that
• 1:07:06
  seems like a really big ask for the first challenge right out
• 1:07:11
  the gate like. That's what I.
• 1:07:14
  Thought like that seems a little like and then you're gonna like,
• 1:07:18
  I don't know. I, it was, it was some of the,
• 1:07:21
  I'm trying to think of some of the other challenges that I some
• 1:07:24
  of them were, I was like, huh, that's interesting.
• 1:07:29
  And I feel like that's something that.
• 1:07:32
  It was almost like they were out of order.
• 1:07:34
  It's something something like there was some Yeah.
• 1:07:38
  Like it was like sometimes I was like, oh, but this person and I
• 1:07:44
  I wish they would have either rubric or something for the
• 1:07:48
  judges. Yeah, because there were a
• 1:07:55
  couple of times when they literally said, well, they
• 1:07:57
  didn't complete the challenge, but then they won the challenge
• 1:08:04
  or they were safe. And I'm like, but they didn't,
• 1:08:07
  they didn't do it. Yeah, yeah, there were.
• 1:08:13
  There were definitely like a few hiccups there, but the first
• 1:08:17
  season where it's like you're learning, you know.
• 1:08:22
  So I try to be lean you towards that.
• 1:08:25
  But overall, like I enjoyed watching it.
• 1:08:28
  Like I really liked the horror episode.
• 1:08:31
  Yes. The one I really enjoyed and
• 1:08:35
  just also also I kind of like the well, I really enjoyed the
• 1:08:40
  finale between Dick von Dyke and King Molasses.
• 1:08:47
  I was like, I was hyped watching that because it.
• 1:08:52
  Was. Gags that just kept happening
• 1:08:55
  and the way that they're drastically different, right.
• 1:08:58
  Yeah. And they were still both
• 1:09:01
  entertaining. Yeah, I I lived for.
• 1:09:05
  That so I have a question for the both of you.
• 1:09:07
  Yeah, how would you? OK, so A, I didn't think that
• 1:09:15
  sometimes the judges critiques were like, you know, direct
• 1:09:20
  enough, 'cause you know how like I feel like, you know, like you
• 1:09:26
  can feel that like niceness and they're like trying to be
• 1:09:29
  something on TV and I'm like, no, tell them how it is.
• 1:09:32
  You don't like it. Like, but how would you have
• 1:09:39
  judged the first season? How would you have been a part
• 1:09:44
  of the judges panel? That's a question for both of
• 1:09:47
  you. Whoever wants to go. 1st, I love
• 1:09:49
  judging like pageants and shit, you know, I do, I scare people,
• 1:09:53
  which I think is funny. It's just because I have like
• 1:09:56
  RBF and I don't give anything away on my face.
• 1:09:59
  But like having I, I like being able to judge things like that
• 1:10:05
  because it gives me an opportunity to let people know
• 1:10:09
  where they can grow, which is sort of the point of being
• 1:10:14
  putting yourself in a position to be judged, Understanding, of
• 1:10:18
  course, that judging is purely subjective.
• 1:10:21
  But again, if you have like a rubric to kind of go by, it
• 1:10:26
  gets, it's a little bit easier. Like it, it's still subjective,
• 1:10:29
  but I think it gives you a little bit more objectivity.
• 1:10:32
  You know, there's certain things that you did not do or you did
• 1:10:34
  do, which is, you know, whatever.
• 1:10:37
  But like, I, I don't know, I, I would have enjoyed it.
• 1:10:41
  I like doing that sort of thing because, you know, regardless of
• 1:10:47
  whether somebody is on a reality TV show or not, there's always
• 1:10:55
  room for growth, you know? And like, nobody is, nobody is
• 1:11:03
  perfect in their drag. Nobody is perfect in their
• 1:11:05
  execution. Nobody is, you know what I mean?
• 1:11:06
  Like there's always, there's always room for growth.
• 1:11:09
  And I think that like, I don't know, I would have, I would have
• 1:11:14
  liked it. I would have.
• 1:11:15
  I would have. But I've judged obviously not
• 1:11:18
  reality about horror, but I've judged plenty of pageants to
• 1:11:22
  know to like be like, OK, well, this was the challenge.
• 1:11:28
  You did this, however, you fell short in these areas when it
• 1:11:33
  came to the actual challenge. So my suggestion for the next
• 1:11:37
  challenge is if this is the challenge and this is what
• 1:11:40
  you're supposed to do, make sure that the things that you're
• 1:11:45
  supposed to be doing to actually do the challenge are things that
• 1:11:49
  you're focusing on. Because otherwise, if you look
• 1:11:52
  great or if you do this thing but you don't actually complete
• 1:11:55
  the challenge, I will score you far lower than someone who
• 1:11:59
  actually completed the challenge.
• 1:12:01
  But maybe didn't execute it quite as well because the
• 1:12:06
  challenge is the thing, the thing.
• 1:12:07
  You know what I mean? Like you, you, if you don't do
• 1:12:11
  the challenge like you're supposed to bake a cake, right?
• 1:12:12
  So here's your your challenge is you bake a cake.
• 1:12:16
  You present me with a bake perfectly executed sirloin.
• 1:12:24
  Wonderful. The steak is cooked beautifully.
• 1:12:27
  I love it. It is rare.
• 1:12:29
  It's got a gorgeous sear on it. However.
• 1:12:34
  You did not actually. The challenge was to make a
• 1:12:37
  cake. You didn't make a cake.
• 1:12:39
  So regardless of how good this is, and I think that was part of
• 1:12:46
  the problem with some of the judging in that first season.
• 1:12:51
  I agree. What about you?
• 1:12:54
  I also agree that like some of the looks were incredible, but
• 1:12:58
  they didn't match the theme. So I would definitely dock
• 1:13:03
  points for not following the thing because that was the
• 1:13:07
  challenge. But but yeah, I've also judged a
• 1:13:10
  few pageants and competition shows or yeah, like local
• 1:13:15
  competition shows. So I would definitely be I I'm
• 1:13:19
  not a mean judge, but I'm an honest judge.
• 1:13:22
  So what I like to do is like, if I write down, like there's
• 1:13:26
  always going to be critiques from me, no matter how good you
• 1:13:29
  are, like Freddie was saying, but I like to write down what
• 1:13:33
  could be improved and then what I loved.
• 1:13:37
  And even if there's something that like, I don't love it, I'm
• 1:13:41
  still going to compliment you on something that stands out to me.
• 1:13:47
  So yeah, I I would be honest, but I'm not going to sugarcoat
• 1:13:51
  anything. Right.
• 1:13:54
  Yeah. Yeah, love that, love that.
• 1:13:59
  So I I feel like we are keeping you up past your that time as.
• 1:14:05
  I know we haven't. It's.
• 1:14:07
  Probably like I'm not going to touch my phone, but it's
• 1:14:10
  probably how long have we been going?
• 1:14:12
  OK, just don't touch your phone. Do not, do not touch your phone.
• 1:14:18
  Yeah, don't. Don't touch your phone.
• 1:14:21
  Yeah, 'cause I'm on the East Coast, so it's like 2 hours.
• 1:14:25
  But you're also. But you're young and I.
• 1:14:29
  Gotta work my human job tomorrow morning so.
• 1:14:37
  That's fine. You have bills to pay.
• 1:14:39
  We don't get it. I am independently wealthy.
• 1:14:47
  Can I have a dollar in that? Right, I'll see if my son can
• 1:14:51
  give you a dollar because that apparently is all he has.
• 1:14:54
  Oh shit. Well, and that's what I, we were
• 1:14:58
  saying like, oh, I guess that's all we're worth a dollar, right?
• 1:15:02
  Like, cool, thanks kid. You're grounded.
• 1:15:07
  Anyway, kid, do you have anything coming up?
• 1:15:12
  And where can people follow you, where can like make sure that
• 1:15:16
  get all of those things? Yeah, so you can follow me on
• 1:15:21
  Roly Poppy Seed, Riley Poppy Seed on Instagram and on TikTok.
• 1:15:26
  And it's just my name. It's no fancy uppercase.
• 1:15:30
  It's literally just my name, Riley Poppy seed and then
• 1:15:34
  upcoming shows. Oh, I'm trying to think of
• 1:15:38
  February. I know on Valentine's Day I just
• 1:15:43
  agreed to do a drag. Less routine.
• 1:15:46
  Actually, this one in Cleveland, OH for a Bellisson's Broadway
• 1:15:50
  theme show. So if you're in Cleveland, I'll
• 1:15:54
  be back. I'll also be in Indianapolis
• 1:15:58
  with Maurice Martini. I think it's February 6th.
• 1:16:04
  That'll be in Indianapolis, Thrust fest, that's going to be
• 1:16:08
  in Toronto, Canada, that's going to be late July and I think
• 1:16:15
  those are the big ones. Oh, and I'll be in Seattle.
• 1:16:20
  Got to figure out the dates but that's all.
• 1:16:27
  Does does Thrustfest have like the social media and stuff so
• 1:16:31
  people can go check out Thrustfest and follow, you know,
• 1:16:33
  all the things that are happening there?
• 1:16:35
  Is it just the website? Yeah, it's so we're also on
• 1:16:38
  Instagram. It's at Thrustfest and we posted
• 1:16:42
  like reels of the festival last year.
• 1:16:46
  And we have a whole highlight of classes that we did because we
• 1:16:50
  offered King classes and just like different classes on like,
• 1:16:55
  you know, how to create costumes, Q&A's, all different
• 1:17:00
  types of stuff. But you can also check out our
• 1:17:02
  website at thrust.thrustfest.com.
• 1:17:08
  If you go to thrust.com, we can guarantee what you may or may
• 1:17:12
  not find. Don't do that.
• 1:17:15
  Wait. Let me type that in.
• 1:17:16
  We'll be right back. I mean, you could you could do
• 1:17:19
  it, but I. Don't.
• 1:17:25
  Understand. Thank you, Riley, for joining us
• 1:17:27
  tonight. I know it's I know it's late and
• 1:17:30
  I know we kept you up past your bedtime, but we really, I'm, I
• 1:17:33
  was tickled that we get to have you on as our first guest this
• 1:17:37
  season. When we started, we started
• 1:17:40
  talking about like guests and your name was like what?
• 1:17:43
  Like right off the top of the bat, Like right off the bat I
• 1:17:45
  was like, we need to get Riley on for sure.
• 1:17:48
  So I appreciate you joining us, even though you apparently don't
• 1:17:51
  know how to work your phone. And that's fine.
• 1:17:55
  That's fine. Thank y'all for having me.
• 1:17:58
  This is so much fun y'all. Y'all have a beautiful day.
• 1:18:03
  Thank you for joining us, everybody.
• 1:18:04
  Make sure that you are following Riley on all of the socials,
• 1:18:07
  follow Thrustfest, do all the things.
• 1:18:11
  And if you would like to, I'm going to cross my fingers
• 1:18:15
  because we'll see if I can put together some sort of an
• 1:18:17
  application for Thrustfest. And if I make it in, if somebody
• 1:18:19
  would like to sponsor my travel, that would be fantastic.
• 1:18:22
  Yeah, please apply please for me and I will give you a good word,
• 1:18:29
  please. I know a producer.
• 1:18:32
  Thank you. So much again I appreciate.
• 1:18:40
  That thank you for joining us. Thank.
• 1:18:43
  You and thank you to everyone for watching us again on another
• 1:18:49
  one of your Wednesday night conversations.
• 1:18:51
  Make sure that you know if you're looking for a host to
• 1:18:54
  work your office party or circumcision, funerals,
• 1:18:59
  divorces, weddings, whatever it is, any event that you want, we
• 1:19:03
  got you. We got.
• 1:19:05
  You for you. We got you.
• 1:19:08
  And on the 28th we have The Drag Story, our annual fundraiser.
• 1:19:12
  28th of February, February Drag story hour.
• 1:19:19
  It's our gamer themed thing. It's our seven-year anniversary.
• 1:19:24
  Yay you're lovely hub. It's fine anywho.
• 1:19:31
  Good night. I'm just kidding.
• 1:19:36
  Riley is like, can we just sign off?
• 1:19:38
  Oh my God, I hit the fucking outro already.
• 1:19:40
  Is it great? Bye, you're.
• 1:19:42
  Good, you're good.