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'We're Here' Exclusive Clip: The Queens Find A Church To Host Their Tulsa Drag Show
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'RuPaul's Drag Race All Stars' Season 9 Premiere Time: How to Watch for Free
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'We're Here' Let Me Do Drag at the Tennessee Bar Where I Came Out 18 Years Earlier
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Stream It or Skip It: 'We're Here' Season 4 on HBO Finds the Drag Show at Its Realest and Rawest
2022 was a… well, it certainly was a year for drag. If you just look at the content that was produced, it was pretty damn stellar. Not only did the Drag Race franchise bounce back from a rough year with a string of absolutely phenomenal seasons (that stretch from All Stars 7 to Canada 3 to Philippines to UK 4? Fierce), drag managed to manifest in brand new areas of pop culture.
Discovery+’s Trixie Motel gave us a wild and giddy retro renovation show as Trixie Mattel and her partner David Silver turned a rundown Palm Springs motel into an iconic destination (oh how I dream of sleeping in that far out outer space room). Later in the year, Shangela competed on Dancing with the Stars, putting drag excellence on display for the audience of one of the most enduring, family-friendly series in all of television. That show-stopping season finale number that she knocked out of the park was, no hyperbole, one of the most important moments in all of queer culture this year. And now we’re closing the year with Season 3 of HBO’s We’re Here, following Bob the Drag Queen, Eureka, and Shangela as they confront the conservative mob head-on in small towns across the country.
These massive strides were at times, frustratingly and tragically, stymied by the increasingly vitriolic and violent rhetoric from Republican politicians and Christian conservatives who fundamentally do not view the queer community as human beings worthy of just living their damn lives. The conservatives in power are trying to legislate us to death, and their followers are just straight up trying to kill us. I thought 2020’s persistent rumbling of existential fear was something, and then 2022 introduced me to a completely different strain of dread.
That’s why, after five years of covering RuPaul’s Drag Race and drag in general, this here reporter stepped away from the keyboard, beat his mug, tucked his junk, padded his ass, cinched his waist, and became a full-on drag queen. Please welcome to the stage, Decider Senior Reporter/Producer Barb Hardly.
I made this life-changing, eye-opening discovery about myself — that I have always been a drag queen in waiting — at the end of June and I haven’t looked back (except to check out my new booty, which is correct). I decided to do drag because I am a cisgender, white, gay man in New York City. I felt too safe. But I am from Tennessee, and I wanted every single family member and high school acquaintance back home to now know a drag queen — especially as claims from the religious figures they may admire and politicians they may vote for continue to attack drag queens. Because they know me, and know that I’m a queen, they should know that they can’t believe everything they hear — and if they don’t know that then they can stop knowing me.
But what I didn’t expect or really understand, even after interviewing upwards of 150 drag queens in my career, is how powerful drag really is. I thought RuPaul’s quote about how drag doesn’t conceal who you are, but rather reveals who you are was just a platitude. I’ve learned after the couple dozen times I’ve transformed into Barb that I have a sassy, joyous, feminine side that I didn’t even know I’d buried long ago. Putting on a wig and heels and fake eyelashes gives my subconsciousness the permission to turn it out. And trust a queen when she says that drag is therapeutic. I have started turning to this artistic outlet when I feel deafened by the white noise of white hot rage. Plus, y’know, it feels great to feel pretty.
So — that’s a long intro to a list that’s supposed to be about my top 10 favorite Drag Race queens of 2022! But I hope you stuck it out, because all of the above has changed how I watch Drag Race and the nightmare reality of 2022 has turned these queens into warriors. Every queen from every franchise has inspired me and deserves all the flowers, and I want to give some to the 10 who got me through the year.
Without further ado, presented in alphabetical order, my favorite Drag Race queens of 2022…
La Big Bertha
- Drag Race France Season 1
Drag Race France premiered literally the day after I decided to become a drag queen, and seeing La Big Bertha in the race as I was figuring out my own queenly persona was so validating and inspiring. Seeing a big, bearded comedy queen who frequently turned high concept lewks and who was also unabashedly kind? I live, and I love. La Big Bertha was very much the mother of Drag Race France, providing empathy and sympathy where needed — and she turned out one of the greatest, most cathartic lip syncs of all time against Lolita Banana. Every time I put on a bra, Bertha always holds a special place in my heart.
Bombae
- Canada’s Drag Race Season 3
Bombae was my bae right out the gate because of her incredible energy and self-aware ridiculousness. Her ability to read queens right to their face, unexpectedly, and have them laugh with her? Admirable. I just loved Bombae’s journey, especially as she started to turn out some of the most unexpected looks of the year. Come on, that helium look? Are you kidding me?! This queen was just a light every time she was on screen.
Bosco
- RuPaul’s Drag Race Season 14
Every queen on Drag Race feels, on some level, untouchable. To get on the show, you have to have the kind of confidence that makes you seem… I don’t know… otherworldly. Bosco definitely has that going for her; we can clock all the bra and panty looks all day long, but every one of them is exceptionally executed! But of all the queens in the Drag Race queendom, Bosco might just be the first one who feels like she could hang. She is every artsy, indie, college radio DJ and garage band friend I had in college, except her outfits are slightly edgier. Bosco telling me that she’s done a drag number to Of Montreal’s “Oslo in the Summertime” — ? Bitch, now you’re speaking my language. And on top of all that, funniest talking head of the year and one of the greatest of all time. No one does dry, sarcastic, surreal wit like Bosco.
Danny Beard
- RuPaul’s Drag Race UK Season 4
What a year for hirsute queens! We’ve gone from the judges being flummoxed at the sight of Milk in a beard in Season 6 to a queen with a beard on her face and in her name winning a crown. The inspiration! Danny truly had big, confident yet gracious winner energy all season long. It’s rare to have the crier of the season also be the shadiest and winningest queen. But Danny Beard gave it her all every week, even if she does claim to look like a potato when she’s dancing. And let me tell you — her mod makeover look? That’s my ideal drag look right there. She even gave me personal advice on how to sport facial hair as a queen (hint: just do what you feel) that helped me feel better about being Barb. I bow before this member of British royalty.
Jinkx Monsoon
- RuPaul’s Drag Race All Stars Season 7
I mean, obviously. To zoom out a second, All Stars 7 was — to me — the best season of the year and one of the best seasons in the entire franchise. It honestly had major “series finale” vibes throughout because the talent on display was so next level, and the no-eliminations format made the entire season feel like a victory lap for queens who I’ve loved for a long time. But Jinkx Monsoon? Jinkx was the first queen in the franchise who made me feel seen back when she played Little Edie in Season 5, so she’s always been a fave (and as a new queen who’s new to wigs, I understand that “I tried to tease it but I just pissed it off” moment intimately). Her return on AS7 was just transcendent, especially her Judy Garland performance during Snatch Game. In a fairly dark year, I know I never laughed harder than when Jinkx’s Judy pulled out a never-ending microphone cord and asked for her camera.
Mo Heart
- RuPaul’s Drag Race: UK vs. the World
Oh, the gaggery and buffoonery plagued this season from top to bottom, but it never got to Mo Heart. Mo’s performance during this season embodies what’s so rewarding about the franchise. We’ve had the opportunity — the blessing — of seeing this drag artist transform from a scrappy but charismatic queen four years ago into a regal example of queer excellence. I’d say the glow-up was real, but I think Mo’s always been a winner, baby. Her coin just finally caught up with her charisma, and it was so great to watch her werk this year.
Pangina Heals
- RuPaul’s Drag Race: UK vs. the World
Speaking of gaggery and buffoonery, Pangina Heals served the former and suffered from the latter. But whatever — even if her elimination was without a doubt the worst moment of Drag Race in 2022, Pangina crammed an entire season’s worth of iconic moments into just four episodes. Her waacking in the talent show, eliminating Lemon and Jimbo, that Sphynx cat eleganza, that damn Vengaboys lip sync — ! Pangina served in UK vs. the World and left all of us hungry for more.
Shea Couleé
- RuPaul’s Drag Race All Stars Season 7
I can’t sum up what Shea Couleé means to me in just one li’l blurb, so I’ll just say this: I’m the happiest Drag Race fan whenever Shea is competing. Shea Couleé is my Drag Race happy place, period. And yeah, her AS7 journey was rough at times, but when it hit? Like, her meeting Naomi Campbell? Her banger of a verse in “Legends”? Her runways? Bitch. And when she absolutely slayed the penultimate episode’s talent show, giving us full Shea Couleé by way of Janet Jackson realness, I wept. Seriously. Shea always slays.
Victoria Scone
- Canada’s Drag Race: Canada vs. the World
Victoria Scone’s tenure on Drag Race is currently underway, but she’s already shown enough to earn a spot on this list. Talk about a promise fulfilled — ! After going home early due to an injury last year, it’s been divine seeing the first AFAB queen in the franchise finally get the chance to show what she can do — and she can really do it all. She’s camp but she’s also artsy, she’s glam but she’s also unconventional — she turned out a Fabio drag performance on the main stage of Drag Race and made everyone hot under the collar. I truly cannot wait to see what Victoria Scone does next.
Vivian Vanderpuss
- Canada’s Drag Race Season 3
Last on the list solely due to the letter V’s placement in the alphabet is Vivian Vanderpuss, a queen after my own vinyl slipcovered heart. The point-of-view on this queen is such goals for my drag persona, I couldn’t not fall in love with Vivian right away. And then she just kept upping the weird and landing the jokes all season long. Do you know how hard it is to make a memorable Drag Race moment during a Mini Challenge that’s not the Reading Challenge? Vivian’s “date” with Brooke Lynn Hytes in Episode 3 goes down as one of the funniest scenes of the season, perhaps second only to Jinkx’s Judy. I mean, this is a queen who incorporates her own baby teeth into a dystopian runway look — ! And to get real: growing up Southern Baptist and having gone through some irrevocable issues regarding religion and my own queerness, it was great seeing Vivian Vanderpuss be an example of the kind of Christianity that I wish I knew in my personal life. Vivian is a treasure… and did I mention the baby teeth?
