#72 - Meeting Our Biggest Fan

Hello, welcome to Smosh Mouth. I'm Shane. And I am Amanda, and we have a very, very, very special guest with us today. Aurora Matrix, the runner-up of Canada's Drag Race Season 4. Oh, my God. Hello. Super Big fan. Me too. I feel like this is so meant to be. You met at DragCon this year. Yeah, that was like months ago. I know. And you were like, Sarah Christ. And I was like, hello. She knows the lore.

And now you're here. I hear I am. I really did manifest this. I was like, I'm going to get on Smosh. Yeah, we learned after Amanda and Tommy met you that you are arguably our biggest fan. I mean, I definitely watch your videos every single night before I fall asleep. I think I literally sleep too, Smosh Mouth Podcast. Oh my God, is that relaxing?

I don't know, maybe it's like the brain rot conversations. Like, I don't know. It's because she's so dumb. No, I love that. No, it's just like when I'm like laying in bed and I hear Shane try to tell a joke and then just break before you even get to the punchline. It's just so comforting because I'm like, oh, I'm a fly on the wall. I get to listen in on other people's conversations. Oh my God, you really are a big fan because that's exactly what happened.

That is the most accurate description of this show. But really he warms up to tell a joke and then he just starts breaking before it happens. And then just falls apart. You think about the punchline and you're like, it's too funny. It's funny for me. I'm having a good time. You were getting a tour before we started recording and you were like naming out references to things. Like you recognized every room, you recognized small jokes here and there. I saw the chance mask from let's do this when you're like, how to cheat on a test.

All that. There was the crocs with the chicken on the feet when you guys were hitting each other with pool meat. Yes. Challenge. By the way, when you threw the pool noodle. I got a chance. And you got a chance. I was like, he's the chosen. He is the chosen. Oh my god. I love this. And you were telling us that you've been watching Shane since he was on So Random.

Yeah, it was definitely like when I was little just watching TV and like loved you. Honestly, loved the whole cast. It was just like one of those where it's like, I can put this on the background and it'll be entertaining every single time. So yeah, sitting here, I'm like, whoa, big fan.

I'll see you. You're real. I could touch you if I want to. And then I just fade away. You just disappear. I'm like, oh, never mind. It was a mirage. He's a hologram. It makes a lot. It's so funny. It was so random. When it was on, I felt like nobody was watching it. And then after five to eight years suddenly, people were being like, oh, I love that show. And I was younger. It's really cool. How old were you when you were on the show? I was 19. Oh, my God. Yeah. I was barely alive.

I graduated high school like two years ago. Oh my God. I believe it. I was born in 2000. Okay. Okay. Yeah, that's awesome. Aurora Matrix, you are incredible and a baby and I love that so much. So you're our biggest fan, I think, kind of, pretty much. Pretty much. I want to hear more about you. Like when did you start becoming a beautiful drag queen?

Oh, my God. Well, I've been performing my whole life when I was little. My parents put me in piano, in musical theater, in Chinese dance choir. So I've been involved in the arts pretty much my whole life. And then when I went to high school, I auditioned for the drama program. And my mom was like, if you get in, you can pursue this. But if you don't, then you're going to your regular school and you're going to go into like

Whoa! That's in the sciences. Ultimatum! Yeah, so if anything, it kind of made me want to do it even more, because I was like, well, I'm going to prove you wrong, and I can do it. So I did the audition for my high school, got in, and they're like, OK, fine, you could do it. And then it came back to applications for university and college. And I was like, well, I want to keep going with this. And they were like, OK, again, if you get in, you can continue. And if not, find something else to do.

So I auditioned and they accepted me on the spot. And I was like, well, acting conservatory, here we come. And since then, I've just been performing. And being in theater, I feel like I've always already been involved in makeup and the theatrics of everything and the extra-ness of everything.

So one day, I was like, oh, there's an open stage in Toronto. Let me just go. I love makeup. I love theater. Mash it together. And here I am, Aurora Matrix. Wow. Yeah, that's kind of how it all started. So you were born in Canada. True North, strong and fierce. Wow. I was always curious how people get into, like,

Drag like you know like how do you get your start in it? You know like like so many other types of Performing you kind of understand like oh if you want to get into stand up you go to open mics if you want to get into acting get an agent you audition But drag I've never understood. Where does it start like it's pretty much the same thing like the open stages are just

a stage where performers can just come for free. They're not paid or anything, but you can do a number, kind of get your name out. And that's how I started my very first time performing, actually. There were people in the crowd who, who booked shows and all that. And they saw me. And after my first two numbers, they came up to me like, we would love to book you. Like, are you free on Tuesday? You can come to my show, do a couple of numbers. And that's kind of how I got the ball rolling, went to that Tuesday show. And they're like, oh, we have another show on the Friday. Do you want to come? Oh, you started like gig life.

Yeah, so that's kind of how it started. And I was still doing school full-time at this point. I was in my first year of university. So I was juggling school, doing shows until like 4 a.m. and then going to like a movement class at like 8.30. And I'm showing up and all my classmates are like, did you not have a show last night? I was like, yeah, I've slept for two hours. But here we are. Let's go. Let's do some yoga or something. Like, I don't know. Damn.

That's so intense. Yeah, but that's how I knew that I really wanted to do it, because I was willing to sacrifice my sleep, my sleep, my mornings, my school life to do it, because I was like, oh, this brings me joy. It doesn't feel like work to me. I genuinely do enjoy doing it. How did you come up with your name?

Oh, yeah, that's a good question. I always say Aurora, like the princess, matrix like the movie. Bad ass. Aurora is the chosen. I mean, that is quite little. That's chosen there. Yeah, so I had my start in makeup and people always said that I never really had an ugly phase because I started doing makeup before I even did drag.

So when I first started doing drag, I already had my face down. I already kind of had an idea of what I wanted my drag makeup to look like. So I always joke like, oh, I'm like princess of war, I'm a sleeping beauty, I'm a pretty girl. And then Matrix, because when I perform, I'll give you splits, I'll give you turns, I'll give you drops. Like bullets are like you. Yeah, like bullet time, like I'll give you a back bend where like my hair is literally touching the ground. There are clips of me online of like me jumping off of a stage, like six feet off a stage doing a split.

Oh yeah, I've seen that. Things like that, you know. You're unbelievable. When I'm like in drag and performing, adrenaline takes over and you really don't think and you just kind of, you just go for it, you pay for the consequences later. You're stuck in a split, you're like. Yeah, I feel like you guys can relate to that with like Smosh and just like fully committing to jumping off speed, doing a split. Yeah, I can relate to that.

I could do a split. Can you? Yeah. I like it was my goal. And then I failed horribly. And then one day you were like, hey, I did the splits. And I was like, that's cool. It was. I wasn't trying to do it. I just love doing yoga and stretching and then doing strength training. And then all of a sudden I got into it. And I was like,

And then I was like, I'm going to get out. I hope. You're like, a new move has been unlocked. Literally, it was unbelievable. It felt so good. I was so proud of you. But to jump off the stage and going into it, I'm not sure I can. It's easier. The momentum just pushes you. What? What?

Look, gravity's your friend, you just gotta trust the process. And you have to like rehearse that or do you just sometimes just go for it in the moment? The latter. Wow. Yeah, I never rehearse any of my numbers unless they're like dance numbers with dancers and everything. But I'm very like feel the music, whatever I feel in the moment. Maybe I know like, oh, at this chorus, I'm gonna do some trick.

after this bridge when it builds up to the last course, I'm going to do a trick. But I never really plan out what I'm going to do, because I also just feed off the audience, depending on what they're giving, then I'm going to give that back. You're a true performer. You're like an improviser. 100%. You are. Yeah. And also the audience has to earn.

The tricks. Yeah. When I first started performing, I would do a ballad and be doing like six splits. And I'm like, why are we doing a split in a ballad? It's like Celine Dion, like in a gown. I'm like, zab yort.

But you know, I learned and like, you have to let the audience kind of want and make them work for that trick. And it makes the tricks more impactful, right? I love Celine Dion so much. So if I saw that happen and you did six splits, I literally- That'd be cool. Okay, well, if you're ever in the audience and I'm doing a Celine Dion song, I will do a split for you. Okay, thank you so much. It's funny, in Toronto, we have a couple like signals. This is split. Yeah, that makes sense. This is jump off a chair.

You guys have your own sign language. Well, just like within my group, honestly. So if I'm performing and my friends are in the audience, they'll do this and they're like, oh, I want you to do a split. Or this, I want you to jump off a stool into a split. And then this is cartwheel. Wow. Like it's baseball. And you're up there like.

You're giving your plays. Yeah. And then you do the splits right there. Oh, 100%. Yeah. That's so funny. Wow. There's a whole formula to my performances, for sure. That's so incredible. And so eventually then you go on RuPaul's, which is like... Well, not RuPaul's. I went on Canada. Canadian version. Canada's Drag Race. Yeah, sorry. But yeah, the Canadian franchise of it.

It's got it. Which is, I just feel like those shows are kind of like the pinnacle. Yeah, like did you know? The Olympics have dried. Yeah. That was, you were, were you, you weren't working towards that because you already knew that you loved doing it. But when you were, were you like, okay, I want to get on that? Was it one of your goals? It definitely was one of the goals. Well, when I started doing drag, Canada's Drag Race didn't exist.

It wasn't a thing yet. That's what I was going to say. So RuPaul's was way before Canada. Yeah, RuPaul's Drag Race, I think, was already on the 10th or 11th season at that point. And I just had loved it from discovering it in high school. I remember watching YouTube videos and finding funny compilations be like, what is this? People dressed in wigs? What are they doing? I remember the first time seeing it being like, this is weird. What are people doing? And then the more I watched it, I was like,

Oh no, I kind of love the extravagance of it all. Yeah, you're a theater kid. Well, I grew up listening to Beijing Chinese opera from my parents and Chinese dramas of ancient China. So it's always the biggest costumes, the craziest makeup, feathers, pom-poms, all that.

As I started watching Drag Race, I was like, wait, I kind of love this. And I kind of want to do that too. So I started doing drag. And then I remember the summer when the season one of Canada's Drag Race announced. And they were like, calling all Canadian queens. I was like, oh my God. I think I was.

19? You were in school. Yeah, so this was the summer after I'd finished my first year of school. And you were already performing? I was already performing. Yeah, I think by like three or four months, I was performing weekly. Wow. With school as well. Done. Yeah. So you hear the call and you're like, I must go. I must go, but I made a promise to myself. I was like, I'm going to finish theater school first.

I've already started, so I'm gonna finish school. And I went to my teachers at the beginning of my final semester and I was like, I don't wanna be an actor anymore. I'm gonna pursue being a drag queen. They're like, okay, okay. They weren't surprised because they knew that I was doing it. I remember in second year, one of my teachers pulled me aside and was like, you know, technically you're not supposed to be doing drag.

Because with the conservatory, you're not supposed to be performing outside of school. Because it's like you're supposed to be doing your training. They don't want you to revert back to old habits before you're fully trained. But I was like, yeah, but I'm not really acting with my out of drag legal name. It's kind of like a persona. Yeah, you're doing something else. It's a character, almost. So he was like, OK, well, I'm going to go to a staff meeting. I'm going to bring it up, and I'll let you know. And he never brought it up again. So I'm sure the other teachers were like, it's fine. Yeah. Yeah.

Exactly, you weren't. And if he told you that you had to stop, where are you going to? Absolutely not. Yeah. I mean, he's not at the gay bar's watching you perform, so like... Well... Well... You know what? You're right. You suddenly look out and he's in the audience, he's going... Yeah, you're going...

Blitz or I'm cutting you off. You're getting enough. Okay, so then you don't go to the first casting call of Canada's Drag Race. No, I don't submit a tape for season one. I don't submit a tape for season two. Damn.

for season three. Were you dying? Were you just? I was dying to do it and at this point I was starting to really make a name for myself in Toronto which was originally the goal. I wanted to be a regular girl in the city. If you say my name I want people to be like

Oh, I've seen her. She's at this bar or this bar. So that was the short term goal until Drag Race came around. I was like, oh, I need to do that now. But I made it very known online that I was going to finish school first. So everyone was like, oh, she's not going to be on. She's in school. She's in school. And then I posted that I graduated. And everyone online was like,

She's going on. She's going on. And that was also the year that I didn't post anything about the auditions. I didn't post like, oh my god, exciting. I didn't comment on the post saying that there were applications open. And I think at that point, people were starting to think like, OK, this is her time. This is her moment. So I auditioned. They accepted my audition. And I went through the whole audition process. And it was very much like, oh, this is what I've worked towards. And I told myself I'm going to finish school. I'm going to audition. And then I'm going to get on season four.

how many people are auditioning? For Canada's Drag Race, how many in that initial round are in?

I don't know, hundreds, thousands? Wow! It's definitely on a smaller scale than the states, just because in Canada, all the major cities are so spread apart, versus you guys have a bunch of major cities in each state, versus we have one province with one major city, and then you go to Montreal, and you go to Vancouver. It's like everything's so spread apart. And they're really far apart. I don't really think I know how many drag queens there are out there.

I mean, in Toronto alone, I always joke like, oh, weekly, there's 100 new queens, just because everyone wants to do drag these days, which is totally fine, but it's just like, there are so many queens and it's so oversaturated. It's so hard to start drag now. I don't know how the girls are doing it now, because when I was starting, it was very rare that there was a whole bunch of new girls coming in. So I'm part of two generations before now.

And now there's two generations of girls after me. Crazy. I mean, I was, we messaged each other because Courtney and I were in Toronto a few weeks ago for Buffer Film Festival. Yeah. They had drag brunch. With Ms. Mossoo. Yes! From season three of Canada's drag brunch. Okay, so we couldn't go in and watch it because we had work to do. But we were outside right before, and someone was performing Celine Dion. It's all coming back to me now, which was like my karaoke song. And Courtney and I were like,

You're peeking in the door like, hello. And then she came out in the lobby and then entered and we were like, can we just come in there? And right then in there, there was so many drag queens right in our hotel. And we were just like, I just want to go back to Toronto and go see more drag shows because I was like, all right, this is incredible. Oh my god, please. So you know, have you ever done? I have done. Actually, the last time I did that gig was three days before the finale of my season.

Oh, yeah. So you were performing outside of doing drag con. I'm not drag con, Canada's drag. Well, Canada's Drag Race is, it's all pre-filmed. Yeah, but then. Oh, before the finale released. Yeah, before the finale released. And then you had to kind of keep, like you couldn't talk about it.

No, at this point, it was airing. And I was performing right before the finale episode was gonna air. And for the finale, they film multiple people winning. So there's footage of me winning, and then there's footage of Venus, the winner, winning. And you were the runner up. And I was the first runner up, so I was second place. So that no one knows who wins. You find out who wins in the live airing of the show.

So I'm sitting here from filming all the way to broadcast thinking there's a possibility I could win. There's footage of me winning. There's me holding the scepter, giving my thank you speech. It's incredible. It's a crazy experience. And filming it too is like...

It's real, but it's not real, because I know that they're also filming the other person winning. So I was at this brunch. At Drake Hotel. At the Drake Hotel going, what? Find out this Thursday if I'm going to win, because I don't know. That's genius. It's such a wild concept. Well, it's such a wild concept.

Exactly. And I'm pretty sure they do that for the American seasons too. They started doing that after season three of RuPaul's Drag Race because it kind of leaked who had won. So season four and on when they started doing live finales in the States, they started recording multiple winners so that when they air the final edit of the episode, that's when you find out who wins.

That's I did not know that you are just performing brunch at the Drake Hotel being like I could have won I I don't know if I did exactly and I'm literally saying on the mic during my mike work like I Don't know if I'm gonna win but you guys should come to the finale viewing party and watch me watch the episode So I found out and watched the episode live and found out I lost in front of a live audience on stage

But to still get runner-up is so. No, 100% And like I've always said like if it wasn't me it was gonna be Venus like Mm-hmm. She was gonna be the other winner. So it was it was just such a crazy experience I feel like because Courtney obviously watches tons of of drag race and It feels like it's almost sometimes not about winning like because they all make a name for themselves out of these shows and they always like come back on to

The other shows, so it kind of spin offs all stars. It's kind of just the beginning, no matter where you place, because that's, I'm aware of Miss Vangie. Miss Vangie. And she was the first one kicked off, but she became like super famous from it. And then she came back for the next season, and then was, I think, top five of her season when she came back. So it's really what you do with your career after the show. It was just, it was so crazy when I was at DragCon, because that was my first time at DragCon.

And the queens were cracking me up. Oh, the girls are funny. So funny. We'll say anything. And literally also so loving and connected and open, but also you could feel that they were like a tribe, like tight knit tribe. It's a sisterhood.

It really feels like we jokingly see each other. We're like, oh my god, hey, sister, sister. But it kind of is. It is. You just have this bond because you've been through this process of going through Drag Race. And it's a hard process. And there's such a mental,

pressure on you of like, you watch the show, you think it's gonna be one way and you get there and you're like, oh, but it's also a TV show. It's not just a competition. So they're repositioning cameras, they're calling cut, they're refilming things, doing pickups, like things like that you never see on camera. So now when I watch new seasons, I'm like, oh, I know that took 20 minutes. Oh, I know that only took two minutes. Oh, I know they cut here and they refilmed that.

Or I know they filmed that out of order. It's just like, whoa. And I guess lowering the curtain a little bit. Yeah, of course. Like in most shows, they have a makeup department. You're getting your makeup done. But on Drag Race, you're all doing your own makeup. Yeah, you have two hours to do your entire everything. Your makeup, hair, jewelry, outfit, corset, audio, all within two hours. Is that enough time?

No, I usually give myself three hours in general. Yeah, I was going to say, I was going to say two hours to do my king and everything. And you're also doing your makeup and a little story producer is crawling under the table going, hey, can you ask them about coming out? Can you ask this person about their relationship with their mom?

Because you're getting filmed right there. Because it's a show. That aspect of reality TV is always, I always forget about that. Of like all the conversations that are happening, it's like producers are kind of... There's literally someone sitting, like imagine if like Selena was sitting on the table here going, hey, can you ask Shane about this? Most episodes, that's what... No, she usually is right here. I'm actually cutting her right now. Selena!

She's very tiny. So dainty. So cute. But yeah, you're getting ready, but there's so many moving parts happening. And sometimes you're doing your makeup and they're like, OK, girls, can you guys keep quiet on this side? We're going to film something on this side. And we're going to have this conversation. And some of you guys have never been in front of a camera before.

Yeah, I would say like most of the girls right are usually used to just an on stage presence right compared to like on camera So like don't look straight at the camera, but be aware that you are hard not to know Totally. It's totally different. I will say having like stage presence Helps you guys so much like if you didn't have if you just came from camera and then went to stage I think that would be way harder. Mm-hmm, but

It's so crazy because it looks so, I mean, that's reality TV. They do such a good job. It looks so natural. Are they ever telling you things you're like, I don't want to ask that. No. Are you ever saying no to the producer? I would say you could, but for me, knowing how it worked, I was like, well, if I say no, that's less screen time. They probably have an overall storyline that they have for me. So if I'm saying no to that,

Who knows? They might just kick me off. They might find a reason to send me. Oh, interesting. Right? Like there's so many aspects that I'm like, when you're there, you're aware of that. And you're like, oh, I know that they're watching. I know that they're listening. Your mic is always on. So even when you're like off the set and you're just on the side waiting, they're listening in on everything. So if you say something like, oh, I'm stressed, like I didn't finish zipping this up or I didn't finish sewing this up, the judge is going to call that out. They're going to be like,

Oh, we noticed that you didn't finish the back of this dress. It's because they're always listening. Like producers are always. Because they're trying. Do you think that they created a storyline that wasn't necessarily you? Or did you think like, OK, they understood me? Or were you? Overall, I feel like they got my story also because I had so many.

storyline points that I had given them initially, like relationship with my parents, my history and theater, how I got my start and drag. So I knew that they had a good storyline for me, but you never know. You never know. Like I'm not looking at the storyboards, looking at what they have laid out for me, right? Are there definitely times in your season, but probably other seasons where there's drama happening, but as soon as like everyone's offset, they're like, oh yeah, they were just playing this up. There's no real drama.

Oh, no, when on mice on my season, I was going to say I was like, no, I think it was real on my season. When it was episode four, we adjusted the design challenge. And one of the cleans, her name is Melinda Virga. Hi, Melinda. I love you. I miss you.

I don't know. She's watching us this week. She was actually just on Traders Canada. Oh my god. So good on her. She just got kicked off. We love you. We love you. We miss you. We love you. Go fuck yourself with gratitude.

But Melinda blew up and she was like, fuck the judges, fuck you, fuck all of you. You think this is Vivian Westwood inspired. She was popping the fuck off and it was giving to Lulu because we're like, are you look, do you see your outfit girl?

Like we all thought she had like tailored four different jackets to make it like a patchwork one jacket. We find out it's one jacket that she just kind of cut the sleeves off and reattached. So we're like, oh, it's not as impressive as we thought. So she was going off, flipping tables, walking off. Like, I'm done with this. I hate this blah, blah, blah. And I'm sitting there going, Melinda's crazy. Like Melinda's crazy. Like she's about to throw hands.

And then after watching it back and I'm like, oh no, Melinda is crazy, but with good intentions. But I remember we had finished wrapping that episode and we were all just kind of getting out of drag. It's silent because they're like, we're not allowed to talk when the cameras aren't rolling. Yeah, we're not allowed to talk when the cameras aren't rolling because they want to keep everything on camera.

Oh my God, okay. It's a whole world. So we're silently taking off our makeup. There's tension in the room. And I just kind of go up to Melinda. I'm like, hey, like, just want to make sure that nothing was personal, but it's just like, we're here because we all want to be here. And for you to say that you don't want to be here anymore, really struck a chord with all of us. And she was silent. She didn't really respond. She just went, okay, thank you. It was like so uncomfortable.

But she probably respected that. I'm sure. And it was just like kind of like in the moment, she was like, let me just get through the rest of this day. Let me get out of drag. Let's get back to the hotel. We'll come back tomorrow, fresh and new. And she did. She came back. We started the new. It's like new day in the workroom, all that you come in. You kind of sit around the table. You're like, OK, girls, so let's talk about what happened last episode.

And she's like, well, I want to start off by saying I'm sorry and like she had that thing. But in the moment you're sitting there going, oh my god, this is going crazy. My only regret. I wish I inserted myself into that argument more. I was like, I'm watching it back. I was like, oh, that was an iconic like argument. I wish I was in that argument, like saying like, let us sit the fuck down. Like you don't need to be popping off like this. The judges are here to give you critiques.

It's their job. Yeah, you know, I mean it's so easy to go back and watch your season and be like damn I wish I just everything you're seeing things from a different point of view but in the moment you're sitting there like oh, oh, oh You're protecting yourself. You're like, I don't want to well also I'm aware that like it's gonna be on TV So like if I see something too controversial are the fans gonna hate me or the true gonna come for me for coming for from for whoever like it's just

Yeah. Having that balance on reality TV is we've talked about how difficult that is of like being entertaining without being too much of a villain. Or just going full on into the villain, which I feel like you can either choose to be or the editors are like, you're the villain. Yeah, if you're going to commit, you're going to have to go like full throttle. Full throttle. Like you really just have to go for us is just like, oh, she has no personality. She's just kind of, she's just playing. Right. Exactly. Isn't real. And people can clock that. People will be like, oh, she's fake as fuck.

That's insane because you're balancing reality TV show. And then also, correct me if I'm wrong, you're bringing all your outfits. You're bringing everything. Have you make all your outfits? Well, I don't make all my outfits, but someone makes them. And then I commission them to make it. And then we bring it all. It's like crazy. You have like six or seven giant boxes. I think I had four giant tubs that were like the size of this table. And then I had two giant suitcases.

I mean, yeah, it makes sense. You have to bring in everything. And they have weight limits. They have dimension limits on your boxes and suitcases so that to keep it fair for everyone. Because not everyone's going to have the same boxes, but you have to stay within these dimensions. Well, yeah, you can't bring a crazy outfit.

People do, and I'm like, how did you have that? You have to make things so that it can also collapse or it can fold up. One of my drag sisters on the show, we called it the lettuce, because she had this outfit that was this giant green emerald outfit with all these extra pieces, and I'm like, that literally is bigger than the hotel room.

I don't understand how you packed this. She collapsed it down. She folds over, collapsed it down. She brought giant flat-screen TV boxes, and that's how she packed her. Wow. She compressed it. Compressed it all down, and I'm like, you are so smart. I was like, I'm just going to fold everything up. I never thought about that aspect of it.

No, that's one thing that if I were to ever go back for another season, I'm going to ask her how she packed. Because the outfits that she brought, I was like, that's not fitting in a car. How are you going to bring that here? Literally insane. I don't know how you put that on a plane. I was lucky that I was in Toronto. Yeah, I was going to say. I didn't have to fly out to do

So people flew in. Yeah, so people who weren't in like close by had to fly in, so I was like, oh my God, that's a whole other thing to deal with. It sucks. Would you do it again?

I would, I would. I mean, right now, I want to like give myself time to tour, travel, go to different places and perform, because I want to get that experience of just like working full time as a drag race girl. And like, just get a sense of what it's like to live the fantasy, you know? Yeah, of course. But I mean, if the opportunity were to come up again, I don't think I would pass it up. I would do it. Yeah. How long is it? How much time do you have to dedicate to it? Is it like, how long is the shooting?

I don't know if I can reveal, but you're sequestered, you're quarantined. My season, we called it gay prison.

We called it gay prison. And for weeks, I'm sitting alone in my hotel room with no iPad, no phone, no nothing. All I have is whatever's on HGTV, on Showcase, on Paramount. Oh, no. It's just. Bon order. Yeah, I watched a lot of Bar Rescue.

Oh my God, how impressed you with this. John Taffer. That shows insane. I should have done John Taffer for Snatch Game. By the end of filming, I knew him from the head. I knew him in and out. I knew everything about him. I was watching the property brothers. Such hyper masculine people on TV. Rock the block. I don't know. All these random hotel TV shows. And I'm like, well, this is all I'm going to do. Yeah.

I think the only thing that I brought for my own entertainment was a word search book from the dollar store. And I'm on the phone with the queen care, the wranglers who are helping us out for queen care.

on the phone with them in the hotel room, like doing my word search, like, oh, can you search up what an orb weaver spider is? That's my next thing on the word search. I think one of the word searches were called let's make a salad and all the words you have to find were just ingredients. So I was literally going, how do you feel about tomatoes as I was looking for things? Okay, we're moving on to Parmesan cheese. How do you feel about that? Holy shit. Yeah, you really just have to like find ways to entertain yourself. Wow.

That's the most insane thing I've ever heard. That's so funny. And then you can call the office to be on, I'll be like, can you put me on the queue for outside time? Oh my god, you really are in gay jail. Do you say gay jail or gay prison? Oh, prison is very different than jail.

So you had to literally ask to be let out outside. Can I have some, let's make us out. Can I have some outside time? Can I have some sunlight privileges, please? Would they literally like supervise you when you went outside? Like someone's standing by like off in the distance just like white. Queens care. Let me tell you. So you're going, can I be put on the queue for a walk? Can I be put on the queue for an outside time? And they'll go, great, we've added you to the list. We'll give you a call when someone's on the way.

So you're just sitting there, you don't know how long the queue is, because other queens are probably asking to go outside too. So I'm like maybe like half an hour later, someone will call you, be like, hey, this is so-and-so with me office, like, oh, hey, it's so-and-so speaking. And they'll be like, oh, this person's coming to get you. Have your mask ready, have your headphones ready. It will be ready to pick you up. So they come and pick you up. You have to have your earbuds in playing music.

head down so you can't see anyone just in case like the public sees you. I don't know how obsessive the fans are. They bring you outside and they're literally just sitting on the bench with you as you're just having outside. No, no, like it's like a chaperoned.

time out. No. So just like on a bench outside of the hotel. It's so awkward. It's really uncomfortable. And you are you're listening to music? You're listening to music and all the music you're listening to is just all the lip sync songs that they give you. It's like it's literally like an old school MP3 player with like the USB at the end that you can uncapped. Stop. You're like clicking through like you can listen to the radio I guess if it can connect to the service or whatever. Are they speaking to you?

No, they're pretty much like not allowed to, they can have like- They're not allowed to speak to you. It's like the only conversations you're allowed to have are like very surface level conversations. Anything that can't be applied to Drag Race. So you can talk about- Is this the Hunger Gate? You can talk about Beyonce, but you can't talk about how Beyonce has influenced your life, because that could be content for the show.

Oh my God, they're just like organizing all the content. They're literally content farming these queens. They're like, okay, we have you for this amount of weeks. We're going to get the most out of you while you're here. I can't.

Hannah, I find that so cringy to sit next to a person. You don't really know. And you're like, just like... Or like, you can ask for like a 20-minute walk around the block. Did they come with you? Well, yes. So it's like you're taking their doggo for a walk, but it's me.

And like I remember when I was there the first few weeks it was still like chilly out So like we're like bundled up in like jackets with my hood up with my music up and we're just like walking in silence I have my music playing so I can't hear what she's you don't have to listen to the outdoors You have to have music on when you're outside. Yeah, cuz they're trying to limit

any influences of the outside world while you're filming, because that also will put a time stamp of when the season was filmed if you're making references to things that are happening in the moment.

You're like, the leaves are changing. And they're like, you're not supposed to know that. No, you can't say that. We're not in the fall. I'm like, OK, like the trees are nice. I love leaves. I'm so intense. I don't know. But wow. It definitely is like I love that I got to experience that because it is like a that is crazy, right? Like in the moment you're like, whatever, like I'm here already. But you look back at your at it and you're like, that was crazy. That was absurd. Like that's not normal. No, no, I think it's fair to say that's not normal.

I feel like they, I feel like on reality shows like the circle or something, I feel like they did some intense shit like that, but that like to not be able to like hear the outside world. Yeah, and like all the queens are on different floors so we never pass by each other. Only see each other on set. You only see each other on set. You don't know who would even be in your season.

No, I found out who was on my season pretty much when I walked into the room. Do you know any of them? Have you performed with a lot of people? I haven't performed with any of them before the season, but I think out of the 11 girls that we had, there was only two girls that I hadn't heard of. And they were from smaller cities in Canada.

But the girls from the Big Cities, Montreal, Vancouver, and the other Toronto girls that were with me, I knew the name at least, or I had chatted with them online. So we were like neutrals, especially over the pandemic. You're kind of connected with so many people. Oh yeah, right. So many people across Canada. So getting there was like, oh, it's nice to meet you. I've known you now for three years online, but we've never met before.

insane. It's wild. And then when you're prepping for the show, you're like, there's like rumors of who got casted or who might be asking so and so for commissions for looks like, oh, this person just got three wig commissions all with the same due date, or this person is also asking me for an outfit with a similar theme to what you're asking me for. So like, you kind of put the pieces together of like, who is the potential cast for your season, but you don't find out until you actually get there and you walk into the room.

when you see the other girls there. Wait, when you say wig commissions, what exactly do you mean? So you kind of get a list of the runways that we're going to be doing, the themes. So for example, we had one runway called Gemstones. So I decided to do the Jade Gemstone. My look, the concept was I'm going to be my mother's Jade Necklace.

because she had this giant jade necklace of this goddess called Guan Yin. So I'm gonna be the Guan Yin Jade Empress. So I painted my whole self green and I had this blonde wig that was like chain links. Like giant, we went to like the dollar store got foam rings and then- To be like a necklace, but it's your- But it's my hair. Yeah. Like my hair is the chain. Oh my god, incredible. I am the jade pendant.

So I asked one of my besties, and she's currently on the next season of Canada's Drag Race Season 5, which is super exciting. Amazing. But she had to basically figure out how to make a chain-link hair that'll sit on my head. I don't understand it, but it's true. No, I think it's incredible. It's so interesting. Wow. That's wild. It's unbelievable what you have already done.

I know, and it's weird to think that this is technically the beginning of my dream. This is that big jumping off point. It's all your training. Yeah. So I've been doing drag now for almost six years coming January, but the first six years, that was all prep for the beginning of my career. And I'm like, this is now the start of my international world debut.

Wow. So cool. I feel like that's kind of any job and entertainment of any sort. It takes so long to get it go. There's so much prep, so much work behind the scenes before you even get to do it. Yeah, people are like, oh my God, you're on Smosh. So cool. And it's like, yeah, I've also been training for over 10 years. I'm a trained actor and I went to school for all that or whatever. They're like, whoa, so cool. And it's like, yeah, I've been working. I try.

So this episode is brought to you by Aura Frames. Amanda, holiday season is upon us. I know. Are you good at getting gifts for people?

I feel like I wait till the last minute, but I feel like this year I'm going to get started early because, you know, a lot of my family lives on the East Coast and I live in California. And the best thing to get them is an aura frame because I am doing so many things out here and I want them to, I want them to see it. And it's so nice to send it to an actual picture frame, like a digital picture frame rather than just your phone.

You know what I mean? Yeah, I mean, because you can upload stuff straight from your phone, you can have so many photos on it, which is so great. Memories are just like the best gift. Yeah. For so many family members, it's like, that's gonna bring a tear to their eye. Or if you're sharing big news? Yeah, I've given it as a gift to my family before, and it was a huge hit.

For a limited time, visit auraframes.com and get $45 off Aura's best-selling carver matte frames by using promo code SMASH at checkout. That's A-U-R-A frames.com promo code SMASH. This exclusive Black Friday Cyber Monday deal is their best of the year, so don't miss out. Terms and conditions apply. Back to the show. Let's go. Going back. When did you start watching SMASH?

Ooh. That's a good question. Because so you weren't able to watch Smosh while you were on, right? No, unfortunately not. No, definitely not. Now that would have gotten me through the quarantine period. Yeah, literally. I think my earliest memory of Smosh was back in the Ian Anthony days. Okay. Okay. And my memory was probably food battle. Great. So you're an OG.

But OG, but at the time I wasn't a huge, huge fan. It was more like a couple of my friends were really big fans. And I would go home after school with them and be like, oh, there's a new food battle. I love this. Every year we do this. So that was kind of my introduction to Smosh. And then I think I kind of fell off of Smosh a little before Anthony left.

Okay. And then yeah, for a long time, I kind of didn't have any connection with Smosh. And then in the past year, I have crazy hyper fixations on YouTube. So one day, just like an episode of Smosh Mouth came up. So I was like, oh, like, I know who Shane is. Let me watch an episode. And then I fell in love with the conversations and just learning that like, oh, every person on the cast also has like their little like character tropes too. Yeah.

So I'm like, Amanda has a hyphenated last name, Boston is that, like that's Amanda. Like it almost became like a character study for me of like, oh my God, I want to learn about all the different people at Smosh now because it's a full cast versus just Anthony. Yeah, there's like 15 of us. Yeah. And I think that is so interesting and so such a fun addition to the channel compared to what I knew what it was years ago. So yeah, for the last year, I've just been,

hyper fixated on Smosh like every night just finding a new episode of something that I haven't watched. And there are like podcast episodes that I always go back to and like really watch over and over and over again, which would make an ass which ones. Yeah, let me name a few. Your Shakespeare reading.

Taming of the show. So cool. That is so cool. That's something that I'm familiar with, having studied theater and Shakespeare. So I'm like, okay, yeah, I'm listening to you guys do this, but in a way more entertaining way than what I knew. Modern gorgeous in that hat. Oh, and my mustache.

The mustache was a lot. My mustache, I looked like a potion seller. Angela going, you, you, you. I was like, yeah, I feel that. I feel that. I put it on and I was like, oh my gosh. But it wasn't as bad as when Angela had the mustache on for something and those. Oh, detective, where's my coffee? Oh, detective, where's my coffee? It just kept going up. It became the bat and symbol. That's gross. It was nasty. And at one point, I think in one video, I had to switch mustaches with her and it was so gross. Was it really wet and sweaty? It was really wet and sweaty.

And I regretted it immediately. Angela's going to love this conversation. I told her to her face. Angela, we have that relationship. I also love the episodes where you do try not to laugh. Oh, yeah. Which I think you should do more. Do more. Do more. OK. OK. I have so much fun watching them because I'm also like, can I?

Can I sit there with a stone, like stone cold face? And I'm like, no, I'm like sitting there like literally smiling at like all the little jokes before you even get to the punch line. I'm already like, I know what they're gonna say. Yeah. It's tough. I also love the April Fool's episode. Oh. Oh. With Angela and Chan. Yeah. As us. As you guys. We were sitting right there when they were doing that. Which is hilarious. Like knowing that you guys are watching and them just making jokes like,

Are you lying? Are you lying? That's a good impression of chance doing me. It's an impression of chance doing you. It was perfect. And then angels just like, yeah.

That moment, the countdown into the reveal of Angela in the lime shirt might be my favorite moment on this podcast. Literally. Because it was just so incredible. It was so good. And Chance was practicing with me. And you were just like, I mean, yeah, I worked there. Yeah, I worked there.

Yeah. Yeah, I had a job there. Did you know I worked there too? Yeah, I worked there too. Yeah. I'm like, Amanda, you had a life before school. I was like, bitch, okay. It was so good. Because you guys, I feel like, are already caricatures. And then seeing a caricature of a character, I'm just like, this is insane. Yeah, I love this so much. It was so fun.

So you've watched pretty much every episode of Smosh Mouth. Maybe every episode by this point. I don't know. There may be some that I've missed here and there, but I always scroll back and there's just a watched tag on a majority of that.

But you've watched us a lot, so you know us fairly well, and we have a bunch of scenarios here. Selena compiled a bunch of questions, where you're gonna have to choose Amanda or me. It's kind of like what we did at Dragon Tommy and I, but a little bit different. But now I know who I'm picking. Exactly. And don't worry, we will not be offended. No. You won't be offended, but you just have to make a decision. Okay. I'm gonna stick by my choices.

Okay. I know it's in the comments. You can leave your answers to these as well. You have one extra ticket to a concert. Who are you taking? Oh, it depends on what the concert is. That's so true. Okay, music, music, concert, musician. Big. It depends on which. Big musician. I feel like there's a correct answer to this one. I'm going to say Amanda. Yeah, I think that's the correct.

I know you're very into music right now. I think Amanda would be way more fun at a concert than I would. I think we would have a good time. I'm a good like third or fourth at a concert. I'm there also. But you bring people that are going to be fun. You guys are having a blast and I'm there nearby. At a concert, are you on your feet dancing? If you're getting a ticket with a seat, you're not sitting in the seat.

No, no, no, you're standing. And I'm not filming the whole time. That's another thing about me. You know how people just stand there and go. You see, I like to look up the set list beforehand. I know some people are against that, but I look up the set list because I want to know when to film certain songs. So I know like, oh, the next song is going to be my favorite song. Let me film a little clip and then I get to enjoy it versus being like, oh my God, I can't believe I missed it. I know. I don't want to panic. That's really smart.

You're on who wants to be a millionaire. Who are you calling for your lifeline? Oh, I'm gonna go with Shane. That's smart. It depends on the question. No, literally that's a correct answer. I think it depends on the question. Especially if it's a really niche topic. I'm like, I'm sure I feel like you would know like a random thing and be like, oh yeah, this and this. I read a book on this and be like, of course you did. Yeah, that's literally Shane. Thank you. I think there's a correct answer to this one as well. You have a plus one to a wedding. Who are you taking?

Yeah, I'm Amanda, come to a wedding with me. Yes, of course. You're gonna look so, I know, my wedding colors. You're gonna look so much better than me, but yes, I will be there. You would have, I feel. We're both going in drag. Okay, oh my God, me in drag, excellent. And also in like platform heels, you would be like 10 feet tall. Oh, I know, I put on a platform heels, people are like, imagine you in like the disco era, you would have been like,

People would have been like, everyone would be like, mommy, daddy. I would be like, come to me. Oh yeah, I can see it. I thought you were quoting Barbarian there. I was. You were. Mom, mom, mom. I love that movie. When it's like, mom, mom. Yeah, if you're coming to a wedding with me, we're both going in drag. Oh my God. You can get in drag and you can come with two. Okay. I would love to watch. Shane in a dress is the most amazing thing I've ever seen, because he's so buffed.

Yeah, exactly. No, literally Shane walked by this morning in the office when he first got in, and I didn't see his face, but I saw the walk. He literally is breaking pavement every day he walks. I saw the walk, and I was like, there's a space between the torso and the biceps. We're going to biceps. The most this that you've recently

Oh, I forget what I did. Oh, yeah, we I was like in a games video or something right now where I won something and I just heard that I Can't believe I've seen this live I literally had to pause the video and rewind because I was like he's so dainty I've never seen someone so muscular so delicate and the face you made just like in pure bliss. Oh my god

I'm like, I do that sometimes. I'm like, no one gets the reference. I'm like, yeah. It's so cute. Okay. You somehow landed in jail. Who's your one phone call? Gay prison. You're in gay prison. Who's your one phone call?

Ooh. This is to get, this is to help you get out. I would assume. Oh, to help you. I have sooner in jail. I'm like, who has more money to bail me out? I'm like, please, what did I get in jail for? That's on you. I'm going to call Amanda. I feel like a little mom friend would definitely. Yeah, I'd probably beat some guards up to get you out of jail. I respect that. You can take her, just take her. And I'm like, no, I'm going to fight you guys. I'm like, just, she's ready to go. All right, calling Amanda. Thank you.

This one's good. You get to Freaky Friday with one of us. Who are you choosing? Whoa! Okay. Okay, wait. I need to think about this. Freaky Friday with someone. Literally, it would be two completely different lives. Maybe not. Yeah, not only are our bodies, but our lives. Yeah, yeah. This might be a crazy answer. Okay.

Shane, I want to switch with you so that I can hang out with Courtney. That's, at first I was like, you're going to say Amanda, but then I was like, oh, but then you get to be in that body. Just stomping pavement, breaking. I get to do that in that body. Breaking the floor. You get to be in this body and be like, oh, I just want to yell into saustrone, screaming in the asterisk, screaming in the saustrone. You're trying to put on all your clothes. You're like, oh my god, it doesn't fit.

No, if I was in your body, I would get myself in drag and just be like, but then you wouldn't be able to do the splits. Gravity, remember? You would break every muscle in his thighs. But it's not my body. That's so true. I wake up the next stage.

I don't know what the fuck did you do? Oh my god, I did wake up in the hospital. So funny. Okay, you're in a pick up basketball game? Who's on your team? Amanda. Yeah. Obviously, although I'm not good at basketball. That's okay. I know. I could try again. I'm not good either. We can be bad at it together. Okay, great. Thank you. This is interesting. Your lip syncing for your life. Who are you going against?

Who would you rather go against? Yeah, who would you rather go against? Who would you rather win against? I think that's also an easy answer. I feel like I go against. Well, if I wanted to win. Yeah. Shane? Yeah. I don't know the lyrics to songs. I do love it. I am so bad at it. But I feel like if it depends on the song, really, because you could lip-sync to a monologue. Yeah, you just have to sell it. You could lip-sync to a funny comedy number.

Honestly, I think both of you guys would do really well with that. Okay. As long as you learn the words. Yeah. Yeah, you have to learn the words. I'd have to really practice. And if you forget the words, what do you do? Do you still move your mouth or do you just go like? You just vibe. There are two ways that I go. If I'm committing to the song, I'll just try to fake it till I make it. Like you just got to get to the, at least as long as you get the end of each sentence.

It kind of hides the rest of it. You kind of watermelon cancel a bit. But if it's like more of like a comedy number, I'll literally either move my hand to it. Smart. Like Beyonce, crazy in love whenever Jay-Z comes and I just go. Or if it's like a group number with like my sisters and like, I don't know the song well, I'll literally be like. Oh, I love that. And like they're popping off and I'm like,

I love that. Like you make a moment of it. You make it funny. And it's like, if I'm not gonna lip sync to it, I'm gonna commit to not lip syncing. Yes, exactly. Love it. You have to let one of us give you a tattoo who's choosing. Oh, God. After the, after the Gartic phone video, I'm gonna have you do it. Okay. Yeah. I was pleasantly surprised with how

artistically talented you are. Oh, thank you. Yeah, do not choose me. I know how to draw a tree, and that's about it. I've like mastered a tree. So if you get a tattoo of a tree. What if I need to get a tree on me? Okay, that'll be neat. This next question is insane. If you were tied to the train tracks in the trolley problem, you're alone, and the other lane has more people. Who do you want to solve the problem? What? It's psychotic.

Question. So you're basically asking, who of the two of you would be more likely to save me? The way the trolley problem works is the train is going towards a lane that has five people tied to it. Yeah. But you can switch it to one that has one person, but you have to make that decision. So you want someone to make that decision, either save you or save the others.

Right? Yeah. It's so sad and dark. How did I get on the track? I will say this. Yeah, we need to figure out a good question. You need to break down the system that set this up. This isn't the Charlie problem because we know one of the people that creates a bias. Yeah. The Charlie problem, you need to, they need to all be strange. So who do you think would be like, you know, save the people or be like, no, I'm going to save Aurora?

I think you should pick. I'm gonna pick you. I think Amanda says that. I'm gonna say that. I'm gonna look at the tracks and be like, say the people that receive Aurora. Aurora! Sorry, guys. I know her. I know her. I know her. So sorry, up it's happening. Bye. Sorry. I'm like on the track, like, Amanda, I have a wedding to get to. Oh, dang it. I gotta go. Turn, turn. The colors of the wedding are mustard yellow. Oh, done, bed done.

Okay, you can only listen to this person's playlist for the whole day. Who are you choosing? Oh, I don't really know what your music tastes like. It's all over the I'm all over the place. Yeah, I would say.

What do you like to listen to? Oh, well, I love Journey. He loves Imagine Dragons. I don't like Journey Dragons. Oh, I was like, you like songs that are like anthoms. Like American anthoms. Yeah. Songs that make white people go crazy. I heard someone recently do a fuck. No, I'm kidding. You know those playlists? That's like songs white people get turned to. They're like, yeah, like sweet Caroline, bum, bum, bum, bum, bum.

Like imagine dragons, that's every song. Okay, we have, if you're Bonnie who's Clyde, if you're Thelma who's Louise. Oh, Bonnie Clyde. I think I'm also gonna say Amanda. That's fair. Yeah, thank you. Are you my bias?

Yes. I'm sorry, Shane. Bye, Shane. You have to go now. I'm hosting this now. You actually could. You can only get a Christmas gift from one of us. Which gift would you want?

I think I know this answer. I would say shame. Yes, that's what I would say too. Because I think I'll get really absurd, something that no one would think about, but it would be an inside joke or a reference to something that would be really funny. I think it would be memorable moments. I feel like Shane's really good at gift giving. He listens to what you like and then is very thoughtful about it. Whereas I stress about gifts. I feel like if I...

If I got a gift from you, I feel like it would be, like, practical. Yeah. Like, it would be like, oh, here's a pack of toilet paper for home. I'd be like, thank you. You're saying, here's some toilet paper, you piece of shit. Or, no, maybe that wasn't her best time. No, no, no. You're actually right, because what I want for Christmas is, like, new kitchenware. I was going to say, like, pots and pans or, like, a new spatula or something. Yeah, I don't, like, give me games that are, like, I could use, like, on the everyday life, versus yours would be, like, cool trinkets. Yes. That's so true. OK.

I appreciate that. This last question, I threw this in last night. Which one of us do you think would do better in Snatch Game? Oh, that's a tough one because you both really just commit to your characters. Yeah.

I guess the question too is which characters, which Smosh characters, doesn't have to just be Amanda and I, which Smosh characters do you think would do best instead? I want a krungal. A krungal. A krungal is full on crushing. A krungal. Yeah. And just like so horny. So horny. Yeah. Like would be flirting with the other contestants with the...

The celebrity, guys. You'd have to hope someone else does like an old celebrity, like an older reference. Yeah. And people's all in on it. Oh, for sure. But then it would have to be like one that's very conservative, very whatever, so that you can be the opposite of that. That's exactly. That's a good one. Maybe we need to get, oh, what's his name? The wizard.

Oh, dumpster wizard. Maybe we need to get them, too. I'm going dumpster wizard. They've been together. We've established that there's history. And there's history there. We don't know if it's good history or bad history. They've definitely kind of dated, but I think it was extremely fucked up and messy.

It was a weird time. Neither were sober for the entirety of it. A building almost went down. I would also like to see Courtney's Sabrina Carpenter. Really? Just so aloof. Yes. And then Spencer's Fred Darts.

Fred darts would actually be really mean love. The fan base that Fred darts has on the Internet is crazy. I love this. People apparently like some people didn't know that Fred Durst was a real person. No, it's they only know Fred darts. It's insane to me. It's like, what did you think he was? Is he just saying to me? No, an original character.

Yeah. No, people dressed up as Fred Darts for Halloween. But what's funny is you see their, you see their costume and it's like, you're just dressed up as Fred Ders. You know you're Fred Ders, right? You know that's all you are. What? No, I'm Fred Darts. You're like, no, you did it all for the Nookie, you're Fred Ders. And they're like, I don't know what that is. Yeah, exactly. Well, also, I'm assuming like a lot of your fan base is also quite young. Yes. So they're learning about references that

they only know from you. That's true. That is true. Right? Yeah. Something that we discussed beforehand, and it sounds like you prepared this. I put thought into this because I was like, oh, I don't want to just give you any name. Yeah, we've been discussing like, oh, what would our drag names be? And so you've thought about this now. I have. So going into this,

My criteria for you were it was, I really wanted to play off of your last name, Toph, because- Such a good last name. I mean- Gave people love Tops. And then for you, the highlight was it needs to be a one, two, three name, because- Yes. You always say how you have a two last name. So the names are- Okay. Oh my god, I'm so excited. I need a Toph. I need a Toph.

That's brilliant. We have Anita Top with two peas, of course. And then we have Shirley Abottom. Or Shirley A. Bottom. The most powerful duo in Los Angeles. This is so good. Of course I'm a bottom. I think we both are in this situation. No, honey. I need to top Shirley Abottom. Controversial yet brave take.

Surely a bottom. Oh my god. It's like I want to perform It's like I want to get ready and when you have punny names It almost opens up the opportunity for you to do stupid numbers and like comedy numbers where it's like a song a song a song and then a phone rings you're like hello It's like a monologue from something like

I'm gonna kill you. They, ah, no. And then it's another song. Like, I could totally see you guys doing that. And also I wanna see duo numbers from you too. Oh my God. You're pretty cool. Dude, Shirley a bottom is the best name ever. Shirley. I wanna think in a plaque behind me. Shirley a bottom. I need a top. I need a top. I need a top. This is so brilliant. I'm glad you'll like it. It is so good. I'm racking my brain. I also have a name for a kungal.

Oh, okay. Tell me. Auntie Lynn chastity.

Auntie Lynn Chastity. Chastity. Auntie Lynn Chastity. Auntie Lynn Chastity. It's also the same initials as your name. It's so fucking good. ALC. ALC. Wow. Auntie Lynn Chastity, except Chastity is Chastity Belt she would never wear in her life. But that's the prop that she always has. Yes, and it's off. That's the running joke. It's like, I have it, but I'll never wear it. Wait, that is so good. And then the chosen would be Slaitana.

Fat ass. And then at the end of all your numbers, it just goes, sleigh ton of wins. Yeah. And then goes, she flawless, flawless victory. And that's the end of your number every time. I love this so much. Dude. I want to say the chosen in heels, like six inch heels. Thinking that he's like, he's like, he thinks that he has perfect poise and balance, but he's just falling. All you're here is just clumping.

He's like holding onto his sword as a staff. I'm going to walk in heels now. They both have knives as the stilettos. I was sworn for this moment. That's fucking amazing. Slaitana. Slaitana. Wow. How long did it take you to come up with those? Yeah. It's just like literally too long. I was like, and they have to be perfect.

I was like, I need to, they, they literally are perfect. And also I was like, it needs to be a pun. Cause I know you guys would appreciate like a funny joke. And also I wanted something that compliments each other for the podcast. So I need a top and surely a bottom. It's so perfect.

It's so perfect. The comments are going to be calling those out forever. Ever. It's so perfect. That's awesome. Thank you. Thank you so much. You're so welcome. I'm glad you like that. I literally want to perform. Maybe do it. OK. Next Mosh video, I put these two in drag. That would be brilliant. I joke about it now, but it could be a good idea. No, actually, that would be freaking brilliant. That could be cool. I feel like that would be Courtney's dream. Oh, my God. Yeah. I know. She would want to be here. Got to figure out Courtney's drag name.

Okay, I'll start thinking. Okay, start thinking on it. That's my next assignment. Yeah, that's your next assignment, among other things. Among many things. So you mentioned lip syncing earlier. That's a big part of drag. And we have some clips here. Now we couldn't do music because we'll get copyright struck.

Of course. But we have some clips from Smoshmouth and just other Smosh videos that we're going to try to lip-sync over right now. So if you're just listening to this, you just get to listen to this clip and imagine us lip-syncing it perfectly. Yeah. But you could also go on YouTube and watch this part, but it's probably going to be ridiculous. So one we have, Aurora, I think you and I are going to attempt this. This is Amanda's resume reel. Who's going to be who? Both of you are going to go at the same time.

I think we can go one at a time, we can go back and forth until one of us nails it.

And I just get to watch. We can do a couple takes of it. I get to watch a cringe. For those who maybe didn't see this episode, this was, you recorded this, this is fake. Are these are real news stories? They're real news stories. So you are recounting real news stories as a field reporter. Because very similar to you Aurora, my mom was like, instead of giving me the option, she was like, you can't go to theater school. What are you talking about? You're going to go and do a real job. And I was like, okay. So I was in, I was,

prepping to be a news reporter for a while. And this is a reel that I had to make. So it's like 4 a.m. So I'm just like, subbing in my story into these real news stories. And this reel, when I showed my friends and family, they're like, this is funny. And I was like, that's not supposed to be serious. So it's cringe city. And here we go. OK. Let's listen to it first. OK. OK, let's listen to it. Great.

The victims inside this house say the two suspects came in, tied them up, held them at gunpoint, and then used their walkie-talkies to signal the getaway car. That worker fell halfway down a 20-foot shaft while working on this tunnel over here. His foot was pinned between a pipe sand and the ladder that he fell off of.

This is the saddest shit that you guys are gonna listen to. Sorry to laugh at it, but. You gotta work while doing this. Yeah, you do. Okay. Do you want me to attempt it first? Do you wanna try to attempt it? Are we doing it back to back? As it goes to the next clip, you just go right into the next clip. I feel like you just go into the next clip. Yeah, why not? I feel like it's, I feel like this. Okay, I'll watch you do it first. Okay, okay, this is gonna be bad, but let me attempt this.

The victims inside this house say the two suspects came in, tied them up, held them at gunpoint, and then used their walkie-talkies to signal the getaway car. That worker fell halfway down a 20-foot shaft while working on this tunnel over here. His foot was pinned between a pipe and the ladder that he fell off.

Oh my god, Shane, I'm unsure. It was like... Okay, your hand did more than you meant. It felt like a bad video game where it was like...

It was like off. See, we're showing how hard this is. I remember certain words, but you're talking so fast. Okay, you did a good job. I had to because it's a new story. It's live. It's lit with the news. A man got pinned. No, but good on you. You went first. Yeah, well done. Tried. Do you want to attempt it? Shall I try? Okay. Hi, camera. I'm ready. All right, here we go.

The victims inside this house say the two suspects came in, tied them up, held them at gunpoint, and then used their walkie-talkies to signal the getaway car. That worker fell halfway down a 20-foot shaft while working on this tunnel over here. His foot was pinned between a pipe and the ladder that he fell off of. I think you're going to go like this. OK, you did it way better than me. And you killed it because you ended all the last words. It's the last words. It's the last words where you go.

You also added physicality as opposed to me over here just like.

I feel like you were flirting with the camera. I didn't know what I was doing. I was desperate. I was a broken country bear at Disneyland. Use their walkie talkies to signal the getaway car. The getaway car. Come get me. It was so good. Do you guys want to attempt the this one's a little easier. This is the chosen getting slapped. Yeah, let's hear it. OK. This is a lot easier, I think. Hear it and maybe see it.

So, you actually showed up. Gotta be honest, I wasn't positive you would. All right? Well, it's time for your first challenge. I want you to try to hit me. But here's- Oh!

I wasn't ready yet. Got it. All right. Who which one of you wants to go? I can go first. You can go for it, okay. I mean, I'm gonna do terrible after I just made fun of you forever. Here we go. So, I'm actually showed up. Gotta be honest, I wasn't positive you would. It's all right. Well, it's time for your first challenge. I want you to try to hit me. But here's... Oh!

I wasn't ready yet. Oh my god. Nailed the facials. Oh my god. I was like... And you did what I love about lip syncing is when you get close to an audience member, when you're lip syncing, you hear the mouth noises. So when you're like grabbing a tip from someone and you're like really lip syncing, you just hear the...

I meant that, so awkward guys. So even during just like the, oh, oh, are you just here? They're giving you the tip and they're just like, oh. And you're like, I thought, I thought, I thought, I thought, I thought, I thought, I thought, I thought, I thought, I thought, I thought, I thought, I thought, I thought, I thought, I thought, I thought, I thought, I thought, I thought, I thought, I thought, I thought, I thought, I thought, I thought, I thought, I thought, I thought, I thought, I thought, I thought, I thought, I thought, I thought, I thought, I thought, I thought, I thought, I thought, I thought, I thought, I thought, I thought, I thought, I thought, I thought, I thought, I thought, I thought, I thought, I thought, I thought, I thought, I thought, I thought, I thought, I thought, I thought, I thought, I

Well, it's time for your first challenge. I want you to try to hit me. But here's the boss! Okay, I wasn't ready yet.

Oh my god! Nailed it! No, you were so good! I feel like I showed more emotion than the chosen usually would. Yeah, but it was your greatest. But it was chosen internally. That was chosen in drag. Yeah. That was chosen in drag. Oh my god, you're so good at the emotion and the timing where you're like...

Right back to the camera. I was like, okay. I'm ready for that. Man. Okay, so our last clip we're going to attempt is the famous Harambe clip. It's a long one. Okay. So we're really going to have to pull it together for this. And this one's full dialogue. This is full dialogue and I'm you. And we're going to swap it all. So you're going to be me. I'm going to be you. You'll be Trevor. Trevor was, I think we're about the same age.

Yeah, yeah, we both we both were like quite young when this happened and just like this was the talk of the town. Everybody was talking about it, honestly. Everybody in this building was like Amanda, you're crazy. Amanda.

Everyone was talking about it. People from home were like, what is wrong with you? I remember that. But hey, we've now learned that Angela also didn't know about Harambe. Exactly. And she got off. True is one line. Angela completely got away with that. Yep. She exposed herself. She exposed. I think the 9-11-2011 thing is still looking for her. I think people let Harambe slide for her. Where were you doing 9-11? OK. This one starts off quick. So we're going. We're just going to go. Let's just go.

I'm gonna do really bad at this. I'm gonna do really bad. You can't watch it. I'm just sitting here just watching it. Yeah, that would be so unfair. I'm just gonna hold it up. I'm not gonna look at it. Okay, here we go. Right off the bat. Have you ever heard of Harambe? No.

You've never heard of Harambe. He was at the Cincinnati Zoo. It's okay. It's okay. I'm not lying to you. I'm telling you a true story. I'm telling you a true story. I believe it's a Cincinnati Zoo. And a boy somehow snuck in and fell into the gorilla pit. Okay.

Harambe comes up. He's curious. He's looking at the kid. He's just kind of looking at him, whatever. They then shot Harambe. It's sad. They shot Harambe and they killed him. Why are we laughing? I'm laughing because this is an insane story that I've processed years ago. I would, they shoot him. He didn't want to do anything. He was probably talking to him. You're now dealing with the trauma that everyone else dealt with. Harambe deserved to live. I have protests that I can throw to. How old is that kid now?

I will find him. Wow, that was hard. Wait, that was so strange because I kept looking at Shane when you were talking, but then it was... I know you do. I was waiting to do my lines. I couldn't decide which person to look at. I feel like that was Trevor. He was just laughing. My heart died in that moment. I just relived that. I actually felt what you were experiencing.

Yeah. Wow. But you really did make such a valid point of like, we've already processed all of this. Oh, yeah. And it was like, why are you laughing? And Amanda in that moment was like, what? Yeah. Happening. That's really hard to process something so way later when it's like, we already did this. Yeah, it's not shocking to us. Yeah, we closed the door on this. We got closure somehow. And I didn't. Yeah. So I had to relive that for months after that.

but now you're you you're fully aware of what they have made close to them all your research on it i found him

It's taken care of. You did the ending of Zodiac where you just knocked on his door, he opens up, and you're just like, that's all I needed to see. And you wide killer. He's the creekside killer. Yes. The little boy. He found him. The creekside killer. You tap into this other register in your voice. It's kind of my mom when she's angry. Does your mom really sound like that? Yeah, she's like, girls, get out of here. Oh my god. Mama Kanto is scary. Mama Kanto is, yeah, yeah.

If you step on her foot, she's like, my body, that hurts. Everything is talked through a groan. Exactly. It's that and also like every detective ever, but a lot of it's my mom when she's very angry. Wow. So I can jump right into that. Pretty cool.

Um, this has been incredible. I know. It's like, I feel like I only learned like 20% of you and I just want to know everything. So this, I don't know. We covered a good range. Yes. Wrinkled a little bit of every aspect of my life. Yeah. Absolutely.

I just think that you're incredible and like you manifested everything that you had. And you just, everyone was like, okay, well, if you do this, you can't do this. And you're like, this is what I want to do. I think it's such a gift to know what you want to do. And you're fucking doing it. And you look unbelievable doing it. Thank you. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I'm like, still, it's going to take me a long time to process like, oh, I actually did this.

That's our biggest fan. I'm here at Smosh. It's crazy. You guys are real people, not just characters on a YouTube video. Yeah, well, we're going to disappear when you leave here. We all cut and you just, we fade to mist and fades black.

Um, well, thank you so much for being here. This was really so cool. Where can people like find you? Do you have social platforms? Yeah. You can Instagram at Aurora Matrix, Aurora, like The Princess Matrix, like the movie. I also have my own podcast with my two sisters. It's called The Powder Room, featuring the powder puff girls. And what I love about the podcast is it's kind of just like a fly on the wall listening in on three besties.

talking our shit, talking about the drag scenes, talking about honestly everything and anything. So check that out, we're on our season two now. So we're gonna be recapping the new season of Canada's Drag Race season five weekly. Awesome. So get our pot takes on a brand new episode of Drag Race every week. And your friends on season five. And my and my friend is on season five. So we get to hear her cool. Your friend who's on the podcast is also on season five. And she did all of my wigs on my season.

Okay, there's so much to get into so yeah check out the powder room check out my Instagram at Aurora matrix And you can always just find where I'm gonna be performing on my Instagram very cool. This is amazing. Thank you so much Thank you for having me of course. All right. Thank you for watching Thank you for listening and we'll see you next week. Bye