Alright Mary: All Things RuPaul's Drag Race

Sisters are doing it for charity this season of All Stars, and the stakes have never been lower! But honestly, it’s kind of nice to just watch a variety show for the next couple months, especially with a cast this solid. Episodes 1 and 2 both dropped in the wee hours of the morning so we’re covering both in a supersized episode this week. We got two hours of familiar faces reading, singing, dancin...

This week, we're bringing you the first 20 minutes of our discussion about a movie that must be included in the gay canon! If you want to hear the rest of the discussion, check out the link to our Patreon below! *Cruel Intentions* (1999) may mostly be about the heterosexual pursuits of Manhattan’s filthiest and richest, but it’s overwhelmingly queer coded. The cast includes Buffy Summers, Tracy Fl...

It’s time for Ru to pack up the pink limousine and peel out, but first—an uncanny valley version of a live finale! The Top 3 perform signature songs we’ve never heard before, and two of them are actually pretty great while one of them is sort of growing on us. (On an unrelated note, we do a full autopsy of “Bodysuit” this week.) We get some much welcomed mompreciation, plus Mrs. Wind and Mrs. Cris...

Instead of hashing out old fights while perched on stadium arranged bar stools on either side of the stage, the queens of Season 16 are reuniting to face off in a lip sync bracket for $50,000 and, in Megami’s case, a total rudemption arc. It’s a brand new stage (from Secret Celebrity Drag Race?), a playlist of top tier lip sync songs, Bruno just happy to be there, some girl in the audience high of...

The workroom becomes a writers retreat this week as the top four put pen to paper, photo to book cover and personality to podcast for a memoir-able final lap before the finale. Oh and there’s some casual waterboarding during the mini challenge, but at least it comes with a trip to Puerto Vallarta! Nymphia discusses the challenges of meeting Western beauty standards with Matt Rogers, Sapphira slues...

What happens in Vegas doesn’t really ever stay in Vegas anymore these days, which is all to say that this week we finally get the makeover challenge! Five backup dancers from Drag Race Vegas LIVE (!) are perfectly paired with our five remaining showgirls--but oh also, we didn't get nearly enough Showgirls references this episode, I know that much. We have a lot to say about Monopoly, GUESS WHO, th...

There’s no room to rest this week as the top six put their backs into custom bathrooms with thrones fit for a strange German couple played Carson and Michelle. Plane writes all of her worries down on a piece of paper and tears it up, and that is the vulnerability the judges are looking for. Q continues to rue the decisions Ru makes, Morphine loves shit talking, Dawn and Nymphia circle the drain as...

It’s a mandatory meeting this week as the queens give HR presentations to a live studio audience! (Really.) Joel Kim Booster is on hand to give the girls a boost but no one quite understands the assignment, including us. Sapphira stumbles and shines but we’ll probably remember Mhi’ya the most, and we’d like to know more about that midday after party. The Miami girls get a little Florida in the lip...

Pardon our delay this week and slight audio snafu starting about 17 minutes in, but if you take anything away from this episode, it’s that Mhi’ya chooses Equal, Ethan Embry was not in the movie Frailty, neither of us get SpongeBob references, clapping along requires a lot of group trust, we have very subjective reactions to Leland on the keys and The Traitors really changes your view of how realit...

If the definition of goth is black and white, then this week was a goth-inspired design challenge. And the third this season! Most of the episode is waiting to see if Q, Nymphia or Dawn are going to win, while Sapphira makes two looks, Plasma goes in three different directions and Mhi'ya is acting like she got Sapphira's immunity potion. The biggest goop of the episode is the table flipping lip sy...

Snatch Game may be more a well-worn tradition than the event of the season these days, but sure enough here it is! (And while Megami left the competition last week, when a window closes the door of a car opens on this podcast.) Chad stops by to Cher, Plane takes a non-stop flight to the top by way of Serbia, Sapphira nearly has it in the brand new bag, Q gives us an amusing Amelia and honestly, Ny...

The Rusical is quickly becoming the event of each season over Snatch Game. Much like last year’s Wigloose, The Sound of Rusic is a slickly produced and catchy mini musical the queens need to lip sync and dance along to, in roles so perfectly cast you’d think they were pre-chosen. Plasma, who so far has given zero indication that she loves musical theatre, is given the lion’s share of a role, but S...

The queens are getting all dolled up this week for what is mostly another design challenge but also sort of a branding challenge, and also they have to make doll clothes. Jane decides to fly towards a warmer destination, Sapphira takes a big gulp of self-doubt and Ru practically runs the wheels off Miss Karr by pitting her against the fun, shy and outgoing flipper with a zipper in a Janet lip sync...

This week Ru peddles her book in the mini challenge and her new album in the maxi challenge as the TWELVE remaining queens on Week 5 write verses, learn choreography and fight in half-drag. Amanda gets one strand of hair in her face and lays a curious egg on the runway, the underdogs split $5,000 four ways and Q finally gets a break from being in the top so much. The Meating of the season is unfor...

Back by alleged popular demand, its RDR Live! But more importantly, we figure out how to pronounce “SHEIN” and imagine Mirage as the host of a Nickelodeon show. We also validate Geneva’s PLU code memorization skills and recognize the ways in which we too can be a little Plasma about the ladies we love. There’s also plenty of Buffy talk inspired by the Best Supporting Slayer as guest judge. Also, w...

The queens are mothering on the runway for this momtastic ball dedicated to some of our finest cultural matriarchs, like Octomom and Salma Hayek. We have our own picks for moms missed this week, but you should also know we kind of loved Hershii’s Aunt Altima two-stepping around in that wig. We can agree that Nymphia Wind is blowing the rest of the girls away, we have much to say about the Eeyore o...

It’s the final four floor show of the season and we’ve got a noodle wig, a self-gagging worm, sexy soap scum, raw fish, a rose reveal, and one very precarious situation with a clothing rack. Plus: the Boulets at their bat handiest, that MUSIC, and a bloody crowning we maybe saw coming in week one. Want even more Alright Mary? Become a Matreon at the Sister Mary level to get access to "Nuance," the...

The B Team of Season 16 arrives this week and let’s just say it looks like we’re in for a bumpy flight. Plane Jane soars in to a room full of indoor kids and takes hold of the narrative and the ire of social media. Meanwhile Plasma could be flirting with the curse of the BFA, Nymphia is the definition of bananas, and we have much to debate about Megami’s moment. We also discuss the statistics of p...

We’re kicking off this season of Nuance, the Alright Mary aftershow, with the grand opening of the Mary Mailbag! We answer your questions about burnout, viewing parties, bingeworthy and cringeworthy seasons and our favorite Alanis, plus movie recommendations and more! Want even more Alright Mary? Become a Matreon at the Sister Mary level to get a bonus Nuance episode every week, plus our Canada's...

The flagship series is back for a sixteenth spin! And while a split premiere and a talent show aren’t exactly reinventing the wheel, some fresh faces and old school twists keep it interesting. To say nothing of Charlize Theron practically wearing a nametag, Love Connie playing neighborhood watch, RuPaul doing intercom acting, a perfectly placed Derrick Barry and the budget for a Beyoncé lip sync. ...

There was much to queen out about in the world of Drag Race this year, and more than we could possibly cover. This week we’re looking back at the queens, quotes, moments, meltdowns and memes we loved from 2023, including highlights from Season 15, DRUK S5, All Stars 8 and Canada’s Drag Race S4 (and briefly, Dragula) as well as social media. Want even more Alright Mary? Become a Matreon at the Sist...

For a semifinal challenge with Humungous in the title, we thought this week’s floorshow might have been…bigger. But perhaps that’s been a running theme all season. Orkgotik continues to turn trash into treasure, Throb gives horny gremlin, Nio has a bellybutton, Blackberri floats like a butterfly but doesn’t quite sting like a bee and Fantasia’s bug with boobs gets exterminated. To be honest we’re...

It’s time to bring out the black lights because this week’s theme is something like 80’s funhouse neon darkroom nightmare demon—oh and also make it two in one looks. Throb is back to playing Boulet’s Best Friend Race with Nio, and Orkgotik is worried they’re kissing. Meanwhile, Blackberri glows like an Egyptian, Cynthia goes full club kid and Fantasia barely wriggles out of the bottom. Nio strong...

Set your sonic transducers to stunning because we’re headed to the intergalactic backpages for some casual connections that are out of this world. And a little muppety, if that’s your thing. This week’s sex workers in space floor show was a mixed bag when it came to interpreting the prompt, but it’s JayKay who is most feeling the gravity of the situation as Throb vows to send them to Uranus becaus...

It’s the battle of the bands this week! While Chaotik is horns above Devil’s 4 Play when it comes to banding together, Blackberri drums up some deserved praise for making the most of being, daresay, a background singer. “Gods of Death” sends us down a late 90s/early 2000s rock rabbit hole, but we also talk about organic peanut butter and class trips for a little bit, so there’s something for every...