S01.E03: Secret Celebrity Edition #103

[OnceSane]

Quote

Part three of the fabulous four part special event brings three new stars to the main stage for some laughs as they turn up the heat roasting none other than Mama Ru herself. Bob the Drag Queen, Kim Chi and Nina West guest star.

Airs May 8, 2020.

[Ananayel]

Well it's official. I adore this show, and want it once a year. Any more, and it runs the risk of getting stale.

I love also that the celebrities they've gotten aren't just folks whose agents need to call  in a favor to keep them on tv. They are people want very much to do it, who are willing to do what it takes, and who find meaning in it. Whether I know who they are or not, I have been impressed.

This one was exceptional, really great.

[janeyjay]

48 minutes ago, Ananayel said:

I love also that the celebrities they've gotten aren't just folks whose agents need to call  in a favor to keep them on tv. They are people want very much to do it, who are willing to do what it takes, and who find meaning in it. Whether I know who they are or not, I have been impressed.

This one was exceptional, really great.

Agree agree agree.

I'm a full-on RPDR fan, but this installment is one of my favorites of all the iterations.  I laughed, I cried -- it was better than Cats.

[Rai]

Honestly, it was one of the best roasts the show has ever had. I really was impressed. I do wonder if the celebrities ended up having their jokes scripted for them, but they still delivered them with excellent timing, so I don't really care one way or the other. Solid episode! An hour and a half is still too long for the celeb format, but otherwise, enjoyable!

[roctavia]

This show is just fun and heartwarming, and nice to see some people step out of their comfort zones, but also be so excited to do so!  It’s also not just ‘ har har, I’m so funny in a dress’ but more meaningful and that’s really cool.

This episode was a lot of fun, I knew Dustin from Schitts Creek and Alex from Zoey’s Extraordinary Playlist, so even better when I know who the contestants are.

The roast was really good, and though I assume they all got a lot of help with the jokes, I’m okay with that in this sort of setting. It was fun to watch 🙂 

Dustin’s runway makeup bugged me though being so white in the middle of his face/ under the eyes. I get highlighting and contouring, but is like he got smacked square in the face with some powder. They did a similar look on the winning guy from the first episode too... they still looked good, but it was distracting to me. 
 

I like that they all won this week, they all nailed the lip sync in different ways.

 

Edited May 9, 2020 by roctavia

[Corgi-ears]

When Alex phoned his friend during the backstage segment, I did recognize that friend Clark Moore as being from Crazy Ex-Girlfriend, but I finally put it together that I first saw Clark as a member of the Dartmouth Aires acapella group when they were on Sing-Off. This was been my personal journey; thank you for listening.

[Fallacy]

This was my favorite episode, and I knew all three were going to be declared winners about halfway through the lip sync. They were all great in the roast, and they all really gave it during the lip sync (though Betty won it for me). It was a very satisfying ending to an excellent episode. 

Ross actually made me tear up a little when he talked to Matt/Betty about how guys like Matt used to bully him so seeing Matt be open and loving was inspiring. 

[Just Carol]

 

8 hours ago, roctavia said:

Dustin’s runway makeup bugged me though being so white in the middle of his face/ under the eyes. I get highlighting and contouring, but is like he got smacked square in the face with some powder.

I agree.  I was disappointed with the makeup on Matt as well.  I think their drag mentors could have made them prettier.  Both of them looked very Halloween-y.   Besides the unnatural highlighting, Dustin's eyes were drawn too close-set.  He definitely was not "fish." And perhaps more could have been done to feminize Matt.

If given the opportunity to choose Nina West as my mentor, I would always do so because she is so sweet, but maybe a different strategy would be to choose the best makeup artist.  That said, it does not seem like makeup is a factor in choosing the winner.

Anyhoo... this was a great episode. Roast was hilarious and we got three great LSs. 

[Not4Me]

34 minutes ago, Just Carol said:

And perhaps more could have been done to feminize Matt.

 

I think shaving his hairy arms would’ve helped.

I’m surprised the judges didn’t take points off for that.

[ClareWalks]

I was so excited when they revealed the celebs because for the first time, I knew all three of them! (The first two episodes I knew 1 out of the 6.) They all did amazing in the roast. The jokes were well-written and delivered (I also suspect that they were scripted by comedy writers and don't care). The lipsynch was everything. Such a great episode.

[Gothish520]

Another great episode. I'm enjoying this so much.

It is very inspiring and uplifting to see straight men embracing this culture with open minds and discovering something about themselves as well as finding a deeper understanding and appreciation for the LGBTQ+ community. 

Ross getting choked up also got to me. There's not much I hate more than a bully. As a straight female I was verbally and even physically bullied in school, and I can't even imagine how awful it must have been (and still is) to be targeted for being different in any way. I can't honestly think of anything that a bully could tell me that would make me accept or understand why they do what they do.

Anyhoo, the three way tie was perfect, they all deserved to win!

[Blissfool]

I loved all of them and was torn on who the winner should be.  Glad with the 3-way tie.

Lookswise, Rachel McAdamsapple gave me Phi Phi O'Hara vibes.

[zenithwit]

8 hours ago, Not4Me said:

I think shaving his hairy arms would’ve helped.

I’m surprised the judges didn’t take points off for that.

I also felt that shaving Matt's arm hair would have been a good choice.  It would have been one thing if he talked about challenging gender norms and intentionally wanting the arm hair (like Drag Race UK's Crystal with her chest hair or even Nico choosing not to tuck in the first celeb episode).  But Matt talked about wanting to have a more old Hollywood glamour look and the old Hollywood scarlets definitely did not have thick arm hair.  But at the same time, this was only a couple day commitment for him so they may have let it slide.

2 hours ago, Blissfool said:

Lookswise, Rachel McAdamsapple gave me Phi Phi O'Hara vibes.

I thought Rachel McAdamsapple looked like Alaska in the initial mirror reveal lol.

[akr]

I didn't notice Matt's arm hair (( watched on my laptop; maybe it's more glaring on a big screen, or maybe I'm just oblivious), but I think since it's a one-off, & might be weird in other roles he's playing, that it's fine to let things like that go. The big thing was that they inhabited the roles so well. Nice job, everyone! 

[JakeyJokes]

11 hours ago, Just Carol said:

 

I agree.  I was disappointed with the makeup on Matt as well.  I think their drag mentors could have made them prettier.  Both of them looked very Halloween-y.   Besides the unnatural highlighting, Dustin's eyes were drawn too close-set.  He definitely was not "fish." And perhaps more could have been done to feminize Matt.

If given the opportunity to choose Nina West as my mentor, I would always do so because she is so sweet, but maybe a different strategy would be to choose the best makeup artist.  That said, it does not seem like makeup is a factor in choosing the winner.

Anyhoo... this was a great episode. Roast was hilarious and we got three great LSs. 

Mayhem Miller and Shannel have been doing makeup on some of these episodes behind the scenes (not sure about this one).

[Lyinfait]

This was my favorite of the three that have aired so far. It was fun from beginning to end. I loved how the men embraced the experience. The roast was truly one of the best I've seen on Drag Race. I could not choose a winner when watching the lip sync so I was thrilled that Ru didn't choose a single winner either. Each contestant had something different and special to offer. 

[Ananayel]

Matt said on Insta that Shannel did his makeup. Since these are 90 minutes long, they could should us bits of that process, but I think they don't so there is a big surprise reveal on the runway. I get it, it's tv, and they don't show any costume prep bits either (and I'm sure those are professionally done, probably started well ahead once measurements are sent in after the contract is signed) but it probably doesn't feel so great to be excited about being a part of the show and then cut out entirely. Show the makeup artists initial discussion and impression, at least.

The past two episodes, combined with the mother ship episodes, have provided two nights of completely solid, entertaining, happiness making tv - thanks Ru!

[zenithwit]

14 hours ago, JakeyJokes said:

Mayhem Miller and Shannel have been doing makeup on some of these episodes behind the scenes (not sure about this one).

And Laila McQueen too 🙂 For this episode, I know Shannel did Matt's makeup and Laila did Dustin's makeup.  I'm pretty sure Mayhem did Alex's makeup.

On a different topic: one cool tie in with the main show is that they used Alex Newell's song "Kill the Lights" for the LSFYL two weeks ago (where Jackie & Heidi got the double shantay).  I know there are a lot of factors with determining the air order of these episodes but it would have been cool if this episode was able to air right after the Jackie/Heidi lip sync to Alex's song.

[ElectricBoogaloo]

Yay, another episode where I know who all three of the contestants are!

I love that the straight men who they've had as contestants are so open and sincere about the experience of being on the show and that they are able to communicate how different and powerful being in drag makes them feel. These are the men we need.

And this week's contestants were freaking HILARIOUS. I don't care if they didn't write all of their lines because all three delivered them so well. They were confident and bold which you definitely need to be when you're insulting people to their faces.

All three of them were great in the lip sync too. They had different approaches but they were all so into it. I totally approved of the three way tie.

Dustin being such a superfan was so cute. He clearly really wanted to be on the show and embrace everything about it. I loved that he chose Nina West as his mentor because he was a fan of hers from watching her on the show, but I really loved that he chose her because she was so nice and despite knowing that she wasn't the biggest comedy queen. He wanted to spend time with her even if it meant not necessarily being the most strategic about the roast challenge. That really warmed my cold little heart.

I also thought it was sweet that Dustin paired up the other contestants in the way that he thought would help them the most. And OMG, he had so many drag names to choose from! Avril Vagine, Shania Taint, Alex Trebackrolls, Gagatha Christie, Gayme Gaggie Smith, Tuck Norris, Uncle Tuck, Howard the Tuck, Lucinda Butt, Fierce Brosnan - all great!

I am not a fan of the super highlighted white powder puff look, but aside from that, Dustin looked pretty good. If I were coaching him, I would have told him that his arms gave him away when he was walking. It wasn't quite Raquel Welch on Seinfeld, but it was really noticeable.

I'm sure that a lot of people assumed Alex would have an easy time because he has worn dresses, wigs, makeup, and heels before but that's not all being a drag queen is. Drag is all of that to the Nth degree so I knew this was going to be very different from anything Alex has done before and a challenge for him. I was DYING for Alex when Ru said that Alex was his favorite singer today.

Matt looked gorgeous - great job to whoever did his makeup.  I was cracking up at Kim Chi teaching him how to be shady. Betty Bordeaux was a fun drag name.

If the producers can keep finding contestants who are this awesome, I will watch this show forever.

[ElectricBoogaloo]

The Roast of RuPaul