Alaska Thunderfuck
Appearances
Money Rehab with Nicole Lapin
The Business of Drag with Alaska Thunderf*ck (RuPaul's Drag Race)
Couldn't do it.
Money Rehab with Nicole Lapin
The Business of Drag with Alaska Thunderf*ck (RuPaul's Drag Race)
So I had to make it work.
Money Rehab with Nicole Lapin
The Business of Drag with Alaska Thunderf*ck (RuPaul's Drag Race)
I mean, I guess that's how we tell the story. I don't know. I think I was driving my friend Jeremy nuts and he was like studying in grad school and I was being an unhinged drag queen pothead. So I got my own place and it seemed like a great idea until it was like infested with roaches. And it was just like, it was like stalled. It was like just like a dead end.
Money Rehab with Nicole Lapin
The Business of Drag with Alaska Thunderf*ck (RuPaul's Drag Race)
I was like, I don't know if I can do this out here.
Money Rehab with Nicole Lapin
The Business of Drag with Alaska Thunderf*ck (RuPaul's Drag Race)
I did.
Money Rehab with Nicole Lapin
The Business of Drag with Alaska Thunderf*ck (RuPaul's Drag Race)
And so when... The folly of youth.
Money Rehab with Nicole Lapin
The Business of Drag with Alaska Thunderf*ck (RuPaul's Drag Race)
I mean, that is what you think. Yes, that is what you think. And then it was like, then I got, you know, we wrapped filming and, you know, Sharon, who I was dating at the time, the first phone call we had was like, the cat ran away, the house burned down. Like, it was just like everything was a disaster. So no, getting on Drag Race doesn't make all your problems go away. Shocking.
Money Rehab with Nicole Lapin
The Business of Drag with Alaska Thunderf*ck (RuPaul's Drag Race)
Yeah. I mean, that took a really long time.
Money Rehab with Nicole Lapin
The Business of Drag with Alaska Thunderf*ck (RuPaul's Drag Race)
It took a really long time to value my life outside of drag as it relates to drag race. It took a very long time. And... That's really important.
Money Rehab with Nicole Lapin
The Business of Drag with Alaska Thunderf*ck (RuPaul's Drag Race)
I think that's important with any career. It's like you have to have something beyond that because if that evaporates or slows down or goes away, like that can't be your whole existence.
Money Rehab with Nicole Lapin
The Business of Drag with Alaska Thunderf*ck (RuPaul's Drag Race)
It's like the movie The Substance.
Money Rehab with Nicole Lapin
The Business of Drag with Alaska Thunderf*ck (RuPaul's Drag Race)
Yes. Oh, yeah. We were very, very poor. Oh, yes. It was a disaster. It was like, are we going to keep the lights on? Are we going to keep the heat on?
Money Rehab with Nicole Lapin
The Business of Drag with Alaska Thunderf*ck (RuPaul's Drag Race)
Yes.
Money Rehab with Nicole Lapin
The Business of Drag with Alaska Thunderf*ck (RuPaul's Drag Race)
Because I can't do anything else. That was it.
Money Rehab with Nicole Lapin
The Business of Drag with Alaska Thunderf*ck (RuPaul's Drag Race)
So, yeah.
Money Rehab with Nicole Lapin
The Business of Drag with Alaska Thunderf*ck (RuPaul's Drag Race)
I ride my bike a lot. But also when I was in L.A., I was like I would ride my bike to gigs sometimes like in drag. So in like, you know, 2007, if you saw a drag queen on a bicycle going down Santa Monica Boulevard, it was probably me.
Money Rehab with Nicole Lapin
The Business of Drag with Alaska Thunderf*ck (RuPaul's Drag Race)
Yeah.
Money Rehab with Nicole Lapin
The Business of Drag with Alaska Thunderf*ck (RuPaul's Drag Race)
Well, it's been almost eight years at this point.
Money Rehab with Nicole Lapin
The Business of Drag with Alaska Thunderf*ck (RuPaul's Drag Race)
And I had been making music with my friends Tomas and Ash. And Ash is an amazing songwriter and Tomas is an amazing song producer. So like all my music was done with them. And so we had that relationship. And at a certain point, Tomas was like, so I'm thinking of doing a musical. Do you want to write it with us? And so I was like, sure. That'll be easy. It was not easy.
Money Rehab with Nicole Lapin
The Business of Drag with Alaska Thunderf*ck (RuPaul's Drag Race)
It was very difficult, but we did it.
Money Rehab with Nicole Lapin
The Business of Drag with Alaska Thunderf*ck (RuPaul's Drag Race)
Yes, the initial kernel of what it is, I like the idea of it being two rival drag houses. So it's like, originally it was like, this is the singing house and this is the dancing house. But it turned into just like, we're kind of the same, but we hate each other sort of thing. Which is, you know, that's how it goes in life sometimes. And then we wanted to have like a family element to it.
Money Rehab with Nicole Lapin
The Business of Drag with Alaska Thunderf*ck (RuPaul's Drag Race)
So one of the drag queens has to call her brother, who she hasn't talked to in five years. They don't get along at all. And then her brother comes into town because he can possibly help them get out of financial trouble. He brings along his son, who's 10 years old, and who just...
Money Rehab with Nicole Lapin
The Business of Drag with Alaska Thunderf*ck (RuPaul's Drag Race)
His father doesn't know what to do with him because he's like, he wants to wear his mom's glasses and he doesn't, he isn't connecting. And then he discovers drag and is like, oh, wait, like this is kind of sickening. I love this, you know?
Money Rehab with Nicole Lapin
The Business of Drag with Alaska Thunderf*ck (RuPaul's Drag Race)
And so it's about all of those things. There's a lot of like family elements to it, whether it's your biological family or your chosen family.
Money Rehab with Nicole Lapin
The Business of Drag with Alaska Thunderf*ck (RuPaul's Drag Race)
And yeah.
Money Rehab with Nicole Lapin
The Business of Drag with Alaska Thunderf*ck (RuPaul's Drag Race)
I can't imagine. I don't know. I think that it would be great, probably, because it's like... When you have shame as a young person, which there was a lot regarding being feminine or dressing in flamboyant clothes or whatever. When those things are completely not allowed, then it becomes like shame. And then you have to spend a lot of time unlearning that. And... reintegrating that into yourself.
Money Rehab with Nicole Lapin
The Business of Drag with Alaska Thunderf*ck (RuPaul's Drag Race)
And so I guess there would have just been like less time having to unlearn stuff.
Money Rehab with Nicole Lapin
The Business of Drag with Alaska Thunderf*ck (RuPaul's Drag Race)
Well, And just a side note, my mom is now the biggest fan of Alaska, of me, and my biggest supporter. She told me don't play like a girl because she was trying to protect her child. You know what I mean? That's how it was. But, yeah, I mean, the fact that, like... Children being in proximity to drag is now like a hot button political issue. We started this eight years ago.
Money Rehab with Nicole Lapin
The Business of Drag with Alaska Thunderf*ck (RuPaul's Drag Race)
That was not even on the table. So it's a little preposterous that our musical is literally about that.
Money Rehab with Nicole Lapin
The Business of Drag with Alaska Thunderf*ck (RuPaul's Drag Race)
But it's also like wonderful. I mean, you know, I mean, when... When it's our turn on the chopping block, which it is sometimes with politics, we know what to do. This isn't a new story. And we know how to fight back and we know how to organize. So we know how to lean on each other. And so that's what we're going to do. And the musical is part of that.
Money Rehab with Nicole Lapin
The Business of Drag with Alaska Thunderf*ck (RuPaul's Drag Race)
right now when it's like that's exactly what we need yeah and people come back so many times oh there there's a couple who has seen the show 16 times as of today oh my god so will you write another musical oh god when i yes i mean maybe i don't know yes yes yeah why not i love it right here right now another musical will there be a drag the musical the movie That'd be great.
Money Rehab with Nicole Lapin
The Business of Drag with Alaska Thunderf*ck (RuPaul's Drag Race)
I would love that too.
Money Rehab with Nicole Lapin
The Business of Drag with Alaska Thunderf*ck (RuPaul's Drag Race)
Yeah.
Money Rehab with Nicole Lapin
The Business of Drag with Alaska Thunderf*ck (RuPaul's Drag Race)
Oh, okay.
Money Rehab with Nicole Lapin
The Business of Drag with Alaska Thunderf*ck (RuPaul's Drag Race)
Okay.
Money Rehab with Nicole Lapin
The Business of Drag with Alaska Thunderf*ck (RuPaul's Drag Race)
Okay.
Money Rehab with Nicole Lapin
The Business of Drag with Alaska Thunderf*ck (RuPaul's Drag Race)
Okay. Okay.
Money Rehab with Nicole Lapin
The Business of Drag with Alaska Thunderf*ck (RuPaul's Drag Race)
I don't think I've done that. You don't think? I don't know. Again, brain full of holes. But no, I was always dating older guys so they would buy stuff for me.
Money Rehab with Nicole Lapin
The Business of Drag with Alaska Thunderf*ck (RuPaul's Drag Race)
Oh, I have. Wait, I have. Okay. Yeah.
Money Rehab with Nicole Lapin
The Business of Drag with Alaska Thunderf*ck (RuPaul's Drag Race)
I have. You've done that? I have.
Money Rehab with Nicole Lapin
The Business of Drag with Alaska Thunderf*ck (RuPaul's Drag Race)
I haven't.
Money Rehab with Nicole Lapin
The Business of Drag with Alaska Thunderf*ck (RuPaul's Drag Race)
Okay, great.
Money Rehab with Nicole Lapin
The Business of Drag with Alaska Thunderf*ck (RuPaul's Drag Race)
I've done that.
Money Rehab with Nicole Lapin
The Business of Drag with Alaska Thunderf*ck (RuPaul's Drag Race)
I feel like I never got credit cards. I've had debt before, but not credit card debt.
Money Rehab with Nicole Lapin
The Business of Drag with Alaska Thunderf*ck (RuPaul's Drag Race)
Like student loans.
Money Rehab with Nicole Lapin
The Business of Drag with Alaska Thunderf*ck (RuPaul's Drag Race)
Yeah.
Money Rehab with Nicole Lapin
The Business of Drag with Alaska Thunderf*ck (RuPaul's Drag Race)
I mean, I think I have. I think I got like, do scratchers count?
Money Rehab with Nicole Lapin
The Business of Drag with Alaska Thunderf*ck (RuPaul's Drag Race)
Okay, great. So I have.
Money Rehab with Nicole Lapin
The Business of Drag with Alaska Thunderf*ck (RuPaul's Drag Race)
I have.
Money Rehab with Nicole Lapin
The Business of Drag with Alaska Thunderf*ck (RuPaul's Drag Race)
Yeah, I went to Burning Man. And I was supposed to come back after three days. And I was like, I'm not leaving. So I stayed. And so they fired my ass because I was supposed to be back at work.
Money Rehab with Nicole Lapin
The Business of Drag with Alaska Thunderf*ck (RuPaul's Drag Race)
Oh, what an idiot.
Money Rehab with Nicole Lapin
The Business of Drag with Alaska Thunderf*ck (RuPaul's Drag Race)
Yes. All right.
Money Rehab with Nicole Lapin
The Business of Drag with Alaska Thunderf*ck (RuPaul's Drag Race)
Well, and I want to address this to drag queens or really anyone. I think it's okay to re-wear stuff all the time. I think it's great to re-wear costumes or dresses. Because I think there's too many clothes in the world. So it's good for the environment. But it also saves you money. And if you spend a lot of money on a garment... You should wear it all the time.
Money Rehab with Nicole Lapin
The Business of Drag with Alaska Thunderf*ck (RuPaul's Drag Race)
So don't be afraid to re-wear stuff.
Money Rehab with Nicole Lapin
The Business of Drag with Alaska Thunderf*ck (RuPaul's Drag Race)
Please, right? Yeah. Like, normalize that. Because why not? I think that we should culturally do that.
Money Rehab with Nicole Lapin
The Business of Drag with Alaska Thunderf*ck (RuPaul's Drag Race)
And it saves money.
Money Rehab with Nicole Lapin
The Business of Drag with Alaska Thunderf*ck (RuPaul's Drag Race)
Thank you so much. The pleasure.
Money Rehab with Nicole Lapin
The Business of Drag with Alaska Thunderf*ck (RuPaul's Drag Race)
Yes. I think her name was Amanda Love. Amanda Love or Amanda Hug and Kiss. I can't remember. But we walked into like a bar and it was like one of the first gay bars ever that I went into. And she was like lip syncing and doing a number. And I was like, why isn't she singing? I don't understand. Yeah. I had only seen like the birdcage and like Starina, like with the microphone, you know.
Money Rehab with Nicole Lapin
The Business of Drag with Alaska Thunderf*ck (RuPaul's Drag Race)
So I was like, I didn't understand what drag was.
Money Rehab with Nicole Lapin
The Business of Drag with Alaska Thunderf*ck (RuPaul's Drag Race)
No idea what she was doing, but she was huge and just like gorgeous. And yeah.
Money Rehab with Nicole Lapin
The Business of Drag with Alaska Thunderf*ck (RuPaul's Drag Race)
I feel like it was in like, I feel, I want to say like West Virginia or something like that. Like, I don't,
Money Rehab with Nicole Lapin
The Business of Drag with Alaska Thunderf*ck (RuPaul's Drag Race)
Yeah.
Money Rehab with Nicole Lapin
The Business of Drag with Alaska Thunderf*ck (RuPaul's Drag Race)
No, because I was like, I can't do that. I can't be that gorgeous and glamorous and beautiful. I was just like stunned. I just wanted to get drunk, you know.
Money Rehab with Nicole Lapin
The Business of Drag with Alaska Thunderf*ck (RuPaul's Drag Race)
Yeah. Good. Well, yeah. Yeah.
Money Rehab with Nicole Lapin
The Business of Drag with Alaska Thunderf*ck (RuPaul's Drag Race)
Well, there is. I just didn't know about it. And I think we went to West Virginia because I was under 21 and it was like you could get into bars there. I don't know. My memory is full of holes.
Money Rehab with Nicole Lapin
The Business of Drag with Alaska Thunderf*ck (RuPaul's Drag Race)
I definitely did the contacts thing. Yes. Just because I liked like changing my appearance. I thought it was fun. And I always wanted to have dark eyes like I still do.
Money Rehab with Nicole Lapin
The Business of Drag with Alaska Thunderf*ck (RuPaul's Drag Race)
It was San Francisco that did that for me. I went to The Stud on my 22nd birthday, and there was a show there, and it was Duran Duran night, and it was a drag show. And Duran Duran is a bunch of guys. And so just that in and of itself was like, wait, like, sort of all the rules of what I thought drag was did not apply. And it was...
Money Rehab with Nicole Lapin
The Business of Drag with Alaska Thunderf*ck (RuPaul's Drag Race)
It was scary and it was funny and it was sexy and it was gross and like messy. And I just I was like, I want to do that. I want to do this. So I went back to Pittsburgh and I was like, I'm going to do drag now because of that.
Money Rehab with Nicole Lapin
The Business of Drag with Alaska Thunderf*ck (RuPaul's Drag Race)
It wasn't too long after that. And I picked up a flyer at Pegasus. And it was like a contest, a Chichi LaRue contest.
Money Rehab with Nicole Lapin
The Business of Drag with Alaska Thunderf*ck (RuPaul's Drag Race)
Yeah, the fishbowl contest. And I was like, I'm going to do that. And I'm going to win that.
Money Rehab with Nicole Lapin
The Business of Drag with Alaska Thunderf*ck (RuPaul's Drag Race)
Well, I don't like to brag.
Money Rehab with Nicole Lapin
The Business of Drag with Alaska Thunderf*ck (RuPaul's Drag Race)
Yeah.
Money Rehab with Nicole Lapin
The Business of Drag with Alaska Thunderf*ck (RuPaul's Drag Race)
No, no, that was it. It was like a lightning bolt. It was like instant.
Money Rehab with Nicole Lapin
The Business of Drag with Alaska Thunderf*ck (RuPaul's Drag Race)
Yeah, all the queens in town showed up because it was like $250 or $200. And that was like, I mean, that basically like with inflation, that's like a million dollars now. And so we were like... you know, everyone came out. And so I was very nervous, but I had a bunch of tricks and gags planned. In case I didn't know the song, I would still have something to do.
Money Rehab with Nicole Lapin
The Business of Drag with Alaska Thunderf*ck (RuPaul's Drag Race)
So I, like, put all this stuff up my skirt and I would pull it out as the number went on. And then the skirt would tear away and it would be a giant sign that said, I love Chichi LaRue. So, you know, sucking up to the host, stunts and gags, distractions. Those are the key to performance in drag, I think. And yeah, and I pulled, because you had to choose your song out of the fishbowl.
Money Rehab with Nicole Lapin
The Business of Drag with Alaska Thunderf*ck (RuPaul's Drag Race)
You didn't know what you were going to do. And I pulled How Many Licks by Lil' Kim and I happened to know every word of that. And so we did it.
Money Rehab with Nicole Lapin
The Business of Drag with Alaska Thunderf*ck (RuPaul's Drag Race)
Officially, yeah. Officially.
Money Rehab with Nicole Lapin
The Business of Drag with Alaska Thunderf*ck (RuPaul's Drag Race)
It felt great. I was bit by the bug. And that was that.
Money Rehab with Nicole Lapin
The Business of Drag with Alaska Thunderf*ck (RuPaul's Drag Race)
Uh-huh.
Money Rehab with Nicole Lapin
The Business of Drag with Alaska Thunderf*ck (RuPaul's Drag Race)
You did all your research on this. Like usually I have to explain all of this on podcasts. And you know everything. I'm so glad. Yeah.
Money Rehab with Nicole Lapin
The Business of Drag with Alaska Thunderf*ck (RuPaul's Drag Race)
Yes. I was like, I'm going to be a serious actor. I studied theater arts and I'm going to be a serious actor and I'm going to give up all this drag shit. And then I was like, being a serious actor is hard. And I lacked the discipline and the skills to do it. And I was like, I had to like have normal looking hair and I had to take my piercings out. And like, I'd wear like normal clothes.
Money Rehab with Nicole Lapin
The Business of Drag with Alaska Thunderf*ck (RuPaul's Drag Race)
I was like, none of that appealed to me. And it didn't make any sense to me. And so I was like, I can't do that. So I didn't know what I was doing. And so I did drag for fun just to like keep myself sane. Yeah. And I ended up getting a job just from like going out and drag and looking crazy.
Money Rehab with Nicole Lapin
The Business of Drag with Alaska Thunderf*ck (RuPaul's Drag Race)
You know I must. They must be somewhere. They're like the OG. And it was like a face. The eyes, nose, mouth on a white t-shirt. And just like blue eyeshadow. And that was it. And... And then it was like we did a yellow eyeshadow edition and like that's it. There are very few of those out there, but those are OG. I don't even know if I have any.
Money Rehab with Nicole Lapin
The Business of Drag with Alaska Thunderf*ck (RuPaul's Drag Race)
Yes. But the problem there is that it also takes all your money to do that.
Money Rehab with Nicole Lapin
The Business of Drag with Alaska Thunderf*ck (RuPaul's Drag Race)
So drag is like a conundrum because it costs a lot of money. Like we have a song in the musical called Drag is Expensive because it fucking is. And so you have to ride the line of like, okay, when I was first starting out, it was like, I'm getting paid, you know, $100 to do this. So that means I have to make sure I'm not spending more than that to get there. Yeah. To where all the things that...
Money Rehab with Nicole Lapin
The Business of Drag with Alaska Thunderf*ck (RuPaul's Drag Race)
I'm required to wear to do drag. Luckily, I wore a bunch of garbage. So that's the business savvy that we're here to espouse.
Money Rehab with Nicole Lapin
The Business of Drag with Alaska Thunderf*ck (RuPaul's Drag Race)
Yeah.
Money Rehab with Nicole Lapin
The Business of Drag with Alaska Thunderf*ck (RuPaul's Drag Race)
Well, the Blue Moon was special. And I've never had, like, a show structured like this. Andy, who was the owner and the manager... Believed in us and wanted the bar to not have a cover charge ever. So he gave us a chunk of $500, which we could use as we saw fit. There were three of us, usually four of us, but sometimes three of us.
Money Rehab with Nicole Lapin
The Business of Drag with Alaska Thunderf*ck (RuPaul's Drag Race)
And so we would take that and then we would like hire a guest to do it. We'd each get like $100 or $125, which was amazing. No cover charge. So all our friends could come. They'd get drunk on four locos and we could do whatever we wanted. I've never had a show like this ever since where it was structured like that. And I'm so grateful for that because it was such freedom creatively.
Money Rehab with Nicole Lapin
The Business of Drag with Alaska Thunderf*ck (RuPaul's Drag Race)
$40? Something like that. Something like that? Yeah. And so all the other stuff, I mean, selling T-shirts and making music and, you know, all of those things like that. No one was buying it.
Money Rehab with Nicole Lapin
The Business of Drag with Alaska Thunderf*ck (RuPaul's Drag Race)
When I was first starting out because no, no one bought a shirt.
Money Rehab with Nicole Lapin
The Business of Drag with Alaska Thunderf*ck (RuPaul's Drag Race)
No one bought a shirt. But I wanted to have it there.
Money Rehab with Nicole Lapin
The Business of Drag with Alaska Thunderf*ck (RuPaul's Drag Race)
To do it. Because I saw someone like Jackie B, who is a brilliant, you know, drag artist, the queen of fucking Los Angeles. And I was like, I want to emulate what she's doing. Even if no one's buying it, I want to have it.
Money Rehab with Nicole Lapin
The Business of Drag with Alaska Thunderf*ck (RuPaul's Drag Race)
Eyelashes. Eyelashes. Hair. Yeah. Makeup is expensive. Clothes. Shoes. All of it is so costly. And there's so many steps just to like get out the door. Yeah. Drag.
Money Rehab with Nicole Lapin
The Business of Drag with Alaska Thunderf*ck (RuPaul's Drag Race)
Yeah.
Money Rehab with Nicole Lapin
The Business of Drag with Alaska Thunderf*ck (RuPaul's Drag Race)
Yeah.
Money Rehab with Nicole Lapin
The Business of Drag with Alaska Thunderf*ck (RuPaul's Drag Race)
I had to make it work because I wasn't good at anything else. Like it wasn't like drag chose me and it's my destiny because every other job like it was like it just wasn't working.