(upbeat music) - We all know who you
are here to see today. (Wendy laughs) Not me. (audience laughing) And truly this man needs no introduction, but I'll give him one anyway. He is an Emmy Award winner
for outstanding host of a reality competition program that just completed its ninth season. (audience applauding) He was recently named one of Time Magazine's 100
most influential people. (audience applauding) And last week it was
announced that he will receive his very own star on the
Hollywood Walk of Fame. (audience applauding) So please help me give a
warm welcome to RuPaul. (audience applauding) - Thank you so much. Thank you. The library is open. (audience cheering) I bring my pocket book wherever I go 'cause I don't trust nobody. (RuPaul laughs) Plus it is a fabulous little handbag here. It's really gorgeous. I'll just leave it right
here for right now. (audience laughs) Now I wanna say hello to everyone and also everyone who is watching us around the world right
now on Facebook live. Hello, Facebook live. (audience applauding) I wanna to talk about a lot of stuff while we have the time here,
but I just wanna start by I discovered this
lecture series last year, May 1st I think it was Earth Day. And I put my bike on the back
of the car and drove downtown because I knew all the streets
are gonna be closed down so I could ride my bike all over downtown. Because living in LA, I'm bi-curious so, I live in both... (audience laughing) New York and Los Angeles. I never get to do as
much stuff in Los Angeles that I really want to 'cause
it's just a fabulous city but it's the traffic that drives me crazy. So, whenever I have an opportunity
to ride my bike somewhere or to.. That's what I did downtown
last year May 1st, I was riding all over downtown. It was so fabulous. And I said, what's that
building right there? (RuPaul laughs) 'Cause it's so gorgeous. And it's, of course it's
this building right here and I walked around and looked around and of course found myself
in here because X-Sean from the Group-X. (audience applauding) And her partner were doing election. This is fabulous. This is lovely. But this is why I wanna do more. I wanna get out and do
more things in Los Angeles. I work a lot, you better work. (audience laughing) But I also like to do
things and that's really what this talk is all about. I'ma give you some my backstory but first I just want to
start by talking about how I got to this spot right here. This spot right here. I'm from San Diego which is
really just a short distance from Los Angeles for people who are watching around the world. It's only like 120, 110
miles from here but it seemed like an eternity back then. But I just wanna... Last week, I was at a
conference in Laguna Beach that my agency put on for, it's just sort of a diversity conference. And they had all the heavy
hitters from my agency. I'm at CAA and the big, the top, but they were all people of color, they were all African American. (Ru Paul laughs) What if am African American? (audience laughing) And Latin and Asian and
it was an interesting, it was a great premise. But the interesting thing
about it was that I still felt, a little bit out of place
and I'll tell you why. Growing up, I never... I always felt like the
little boy who fell to earth. Like I never really, really
fit in, not with black folks, not with white, not with gay
folks, not with really anybody. And it's partially the reason
I've been able to move forward and navigate through some
of the cultural obstacles that we all face. Now this conference which is, it was so funny because it
was a diversity conference in Laguna beach at the
fall, fall, fall Montage. (audience laughing) It was at the Montage Hotel,
which is very rashasha. (audience laughing) It was really fabulous,
but it was interesting 'cause the premise was how
do we, as people of color move forward in this
landscape of oppression and of divisiveness, this
climate we're in right now. So, there were conferences
all day and I'm telling you, I'm gonna not gonna name any names but they were all the heavy hitters. All the heavy hitters were there. But the whole time I'm
thinking to myself okay, if you really want to move forward you have to really do an
inventory of your stock. Like if you had a store, you have to do an inventory
and say, you know what? This is expired, this doesn't work, this won't sell, it's never sold. You have to clear that stuff out so that you can move forward. And we did not have that discussion. Some we touched on it here and
there, and my responsibility, I was just an attendee. I got to introduce a few
people here and there, but I didn't get a chance
to bring that stuff up. And I wish I had but
knowing I was coming here, I thought I'd bring it up here. (audience applauding) And specifically, even at my family reunions, I sort of stuck out, really
didn't sort of fit in. And I just wanna say, some of
the people at this conference are lovely people, they would look at me and I introduced myself and there was, I could... I'm a sensitive boy. I could, there was a... (audience laughing) There was push back. They didn't know, and this is humans. They didn't know how to categorize me in their consciousness. Is it gay or ? You do the drag thing.
Do you wanna be a woman? All of that they didn't...
They couldn't do it. So I've always gotten that from people that don't know how to put me in a thing. And the truth is, why do you
have to put me in a thing? Why can't I just be, you know what I mean? So, it was interesting for
me to be at this conference and with all this hope in my heart, to that we were gonna
push this thing forward, and it actually be the same old thing that it has always been. And I realized that it's
because people have a hard time taking out the inventory that
doesn't work in their lives, because you gonna make room. Gonna make room for it. So, I know with black
folks in my own experience, is black folks are
actually very conservative. And if the ideology comes from the church and from a sort of a slave mentality, my folks from Louisiana, they
were both country, country. It's hard for them to
move forward, my folks. It was hard for them to even understand what I was talking about. So, I found that even at this conference, the sort of slave
Judeo-Christian storyline was the prevailing heaviness, the baggage. Not that it's a bad thing,
there's room for it on the shelf, but you got to update that stuff. And because I never felt
really a part of that, it was easy for me to navigate
around that in my life. So, when I was at this conference and actually after the first day, I was actually a little
depressed that we hadn't as human beings moved beyond. In fact, after the election,
I was more depressed that we as humans had not moved past the same old shenanigans. It's like, you're gonna fall for this? I've seen this happen before,
but people fall for it. Why do people fall for it? Because humans do nothing
unless there's a payoff. There has to be a payoff. Judge Judy says that every day. (audience laughing) Follow the money, that's what she says. Follow the money, what's the payoff. What keeps people locked
into the same old inventory? What do they get out of it? Well, to take stuff down and deconstruct what's in your store,
it's in your warehouse. It requires you to breakdown
your belief system. You have to take everything
out and put what works back in. In fact, I have a condo in West Hollywood that's devoted solely to my clothes. (RuPaul laughs) (audience applauding) I do. It's just all clothes. And I just... What happens is I go and I
work on a job and I come back and everything gets put back. I go work on a job and again... I work so much a lot of times
when I get back to the place, it is a mess. I don't know where anything is. And for the past week I've been working, but the past week I
know I've had to go in, and itemize everything. And the reason I haven't
done it is because, I have an emotional attachment
to every single thing. I say Oh, this is.. Oh I wore this when... Oh yeah, oh oh. And I go through that
emotional thing every day. So, it takes work. I understand why people have a hard time doing that inventory. And this conference, ultimately, I had compassion for everybody there, but I want it to move forward. Now, let me tell you a little
bit about my navigation through some of those things. When I was 15, I moved from
San Diego to Atlanta Georgia. Went to performing arts
school, was completely... I felt like it was like my bar mitzvah. Because it was a completely
different world for me. I got to recreate myself, around people who didn't
have the same expectations that the people in San Diego had. In fact in San Diego, I always
had to dumb down to fit in. I was watching Bewitched earlier today. (audience laughing) And Bewitched is brilliant
because the laugh track, messes the show up, but
because it's too much. But this Bewitched is a story of authorial ascended entity. The smart, smart, smart, smart. Smarter than anybody else in the room. And because of love,
because of this little thing she's got going on, she's gonna play dumb for a little while. And she gets into these situations because she has to play small. And I played small, and I related to that. And I think the reason
that Show is on today is because subconsciously
we all recognize her as us. Each of us is a God or a
ascended, incredible entity. And we play small. We're in drag in these
human bodies playing small. That's how I felt in San Diego. But when I moved to Atlanta, I
got an opportunity to change. And I did. And I was around all of
these incredible kids who like me loved things outside of our immediate surroundings. I was around these kids who
loved David Bowie and art, and we would experiment
with hallucinogenics. (audience laughing) Which by the way, it's a
great thing, not forever, but it's a great thing to
expand your consciousness. And you can do it without it. It was just a great way to start. (audience laughing) I actually, I do it to this
day without him when I meditate in the morning I get a bird's eye view. I go outside of myself and I see myself and I'm conscious of my consciousness. I become aware of being
aware and that's it. It's not rocket science. It's simple as that. So, around these kids in Atlanta, Georgia, they helped me challenge
some of the inventory I had in my warehouse. And I told this story
actually on the reunion. I didn't mean for it to be in the show, but they put it in any way. Where my buddy, who I met when she was 19, Lady Bunny and I used to
experiment with hallucinogenics. And she liked to push my limits. She liked to push everybody's limits. (audience laughing) But once we were tripping... And she said to me, just like this she said, Ru... (audience laughing) Devil's gonna get you. (audience laughing) Swear to God, swear to God. Devil's gonna get you. (audience laughing) And I was like stop, don't do that. Stop that you're freaking me out, stop it. And she knew me and I
laughed and all that. But in challenging that I was
able to go, wait a minute, that's kind of ridiculous concept of that. Something out here is gonna get me. And I was able to laugh about it and take that off the shelf. And so on and so forth throughout this period of my late
teens, early twenties, I was taking things off
the shelf left and right. In fact when I got into
drag the first time. Drag was always just punk rock. It was what boys were not supposed to do. So we said, let's do it. Had nothing to do with
gender identity or anything. Well, I guess a little bit it did, but it had more to do with
just pushing the boundaries. So we were doing what was
called gender F-word drag which is smeared lipstick
and combat boots. And we're like yeah! This is the Reagan early
eighties, Reagan eighties. And there was a social commentary of saying I'm not gonna
fit into your, blah blah. So then, the first time I
got into drag was in a band and the band we did it to sort
of mess with people's heads. And my combat boots and
raggedy thrift store dressing in raggy way, smeared lipstick. And the reaction I got from
straight men was like, oh! (audience laughing) It made me feel uncomfortable. I was like Oh my God. (audience laughing) I never had a man look
at me like that before. I'd never, I swear I'd never had. And I was kinda freaked out,
but I took note and I said, this is might come in handy sometime. (audience laughing) And it was an interesting thing. So, I knew that once I moved
to New York and I needed to make some money, I thought, you know what, I'ma do this. I'm gonna get up into drags
and I'm gonna shave my legs. I'ma put some socks up in a bra, which I hadn't done that before. It was always, I didn't shave anything. (audience laughing) It was Reagan. (audience laughing) (audience applauding) So, once I did get into sort of glam, well, it wasn't glamor drag then. My look then was black
hooker is what I was doing. (audience laughing) Sort of like a soul train dancer. So, it was... And you see pictures of me
on like all of this stuff is recorded online, you see it all. But in doing that, I had to
take some stuff off the shelf because it felt weird. 'Cause it felt like I was doing
drag for a different reason, than the social commentary thing. So that was one that took
me a little bit of a minute to get past because the
idea of wearing breasts and shaving my legs and actually
trying to look more like a idealized version of
a woman, that was weird. And that took some time on that shelf. That took time of working
through that, but I did. And one by one I had to recalibrate my belief system. And that is why most people won't do it, because it is really difficult, because you really get
to know who you are, what you're made of, where
your limitations are, and who wants to do that? Usually no one wants to do that. But I tell you that is the key to expanding your experience in this life. You wanna talk about, who's a baller, who's got the real chutzpah. The people who are able
to die a thousand deaths and become reborn a 1000 times, are the real shock callers in this life. Those are the people who
are able to navigate, around some of those,
self-imposed societal landmines that really get in the way. when I hit the big time years ago, we did TV shows and all this stuff, I would say to the kids
from the old neighborhood, hey, you're so smart, you're so talented. Come with me, there's room
for you at the writers' table or somewhere in the production. Just take my hand, there's room for you. They couldn't do it. They could not make that
leap above 14th Street from the village in New
York, they couldn't do it. Because it would mean they
have to change their identity. They'd have to change their limited perception of themselves. They saw themselves as a starving artist or East Village cool person or whatever, but they were not able to
morph into the next level. And that's where people in my experience, that's where people get hung up. You have to be willing
to die a 1000 deaths and become reborn a 1000 times, because the truth of the matter is that you are God in drag. You are the manifestation of the power that created the whole universe. Playing small like Samantha on Bewitched. And once you realize
what you are capable of, how you're able to morph
into whatever you want, really that's the scary part. It's not. I think Marianne Williamson
talks about this, it's not about being afraid of failing. It's more afraid of the possibilities of what you can do. And those kids in East Village, who I said just take my hand, I've seen it time and time again. You see it on our show
actually on drag race. I hope she doesn't see Nina Bo'nina Brown. (audience laughing) I hope she don't come after me. (audience laughing) But she on our show,
if you haven't seen it, Nina Bo'nina Brown is very
talented, gorgeous kid who from Atlanta Georgia,
who always thought, she said, Ru these bitches are after me. They're after me. I'm like they ain't study you girl. (audience laughing) They're trying to do their own thing. And you could not tell her
that they were not after her because that is how she motivated herself. And for her to not believe that anymore, she'd have to do that inventory. Take some stuff off the shelf. She had to take a lot
of stuff off the shelf. I've seen it. I've seen it myself time and time again. That is why a daily practice,
daily spiritual practice, the meditation where you can
actually look at yourself and go, oh yeah, that's me there. And I was, I started over there. And I could pretty much
see where I can map out where this is going. And I could map out those obstacles that the same ones keep getting in my way. I know them. And that is the reason
I believe in my opinion, that at this conference I went to, when I met certain people, people I looked up to all
who really, really smart. Really, really creative. And I just assumed their
experience was the same as mine where they've done this
and they've got, oh yeah. Oh, that's that thing my parents.. What's held my parents back right there. I thought they had done
that same thing by going, oh, move that up, take that off the shelf. But they hadn't when it
came to the gay thing, or the drag thing, I know it's a hard one. I went through that
with my drag experience where I was shaving my chest. I thought, you're becoming
a woman before my very eyes. (audience laughing) It's weird, it's weird initially. But once you get pass it,
you like, this is nothing. It's nothing, the truth,
the devil, that's nothing. That's all, whatever. I tell you what is dangerous. I'll tell you what, the concept
of a devil is actually... The devil being out
there looking to get you. Just like Nina Bo'nina Brown, "The calls are coming
from inside the house." (audience applauding) That's dangerous. That's actually even more
scary than something out there lurking that's gonna try to get you. We've traced the calls madam. They are coming from inside the house. (audience laughing) Which is actually even it's scarier. But, it's scarier but,
you have a better chance, at knocking those things
out when they come up. In fact, I was telling
a friend this yesterday yes, I've done the work
therapy, meditation, the whole thing, whatever I'll do it. But every morning I wake up, it's like my proverbial tail grows back and I have to shave it down. I have to shave those old thoughts down. And that is what we're talking about. It's a daily practice.
It's a daily practice. First of all, you start by
giving yourself a break. When you're able to stand back,
meditate and see yourself, And you can see yourself
as that little baby girl, a little baby boy, you
know where you came from, the crazy ass country parents. You're able to give yourself a break, and have compassion for yourself first. That's number one, compassion. Next, you look at it
objectively and you understand how you began or how you
started to think that way. 'Cause it's thoughts, it's just thoughts. You can't change the world,
but you can change your mind. You can change your thoughts. And the practice of changing your thoughts starts with looking at that inventory. And as these things come up, you're able to push them to the side, take them off the shelf. That's the navigation. That's navigation. Actually at this
conference, I wanted to talk to these creative people, and
I'm not gonna name any names. (RuPaul laughs) Just know that they are
the top of the great, in this town the tops. I wanted to run over there, oh, hey, hi, how are you doing? Oh great. Let's sit down, talk. Okay, what's going on with you? What are you doing? How did you do that? What did you do that? They weren't able to do that. I was getting, it wasn't
necessarily shade. It was more of... (audience laughing) It was... They didn't know how to do with it. So, their reaction was
just sort of hmm, great. (audience laughing) I was like what, yeah, it's weird. But it's cool, I get it, it's okay. Just not ready yet, but I'm ready. (audience applauding) I'm ready. (audience applauding) And I'm ready to do more. When people talk about, my
career and I climbed up on stage the first time for money, it was January of 1982. And I have been going ever since and it's not always been easy. Just like Mariah. It's not, no, it's not. Even if you do nothing on this planet, if you just sit there, it's not easy. It's never easy. So, that's get that out of your mind. The work you do in this evolution, it's really all about the experience. It's the experience
right, wrong, bad, good. It's just experience. There's no failing. Years ago, Alan Watts the philosopher, he became very popular again. He has this concept of, he says, what if before you go to bed at night, you got to choose what
you would dream about. And you'd start off the first two months you'd be like, oh, I wanna
be the King of the world. I wanna be a princess or I
want to have a billion dollars. I want a 10 inch candy bar. (Audience laughing) (RuPaul laughs) And then after two months, you'd be like, this is actually kinda boring. You know what I want... Dealer's choice, make it random. And because in the morning you
knew that when you woke up, you'd be unchanged. Everything's fine, there's
no death, you're fine. Boom, you're just unchanged. Nothing can change you in this dream. And you would start doing this
random thing you would say, I don't care because I know
I'm gonna be unchanged. And then Alan Watts goes on to say, well, that's what this is. That's what doing right now. Do whatever you want. Just as long as you
don't hurt nobody else. Do whatever you want
you will be unchanged. So, go above 14th street,
do that inventory, knock that stuff out. See what you are capable of. In these... I think it's... I can't count I think it's 35 years. That's 82, I don't know. 35 years, maybe something like that. I had a lot of experiences. My mother tells the story that when she was pregnant with
me she went to see a psychic and the psychic said well, it's gonna be a boy and
he's gonna be famous. So, I grew up knowing that. (audience laughing) And I didn't know what I would be doing. I didn't know how I was gonna do it. I just knew that's what I was gonna do. The drag thing fell in
my lap, and I thought, well, okay. I thought, in my mind I
thought I was gonna be the next David Bowie. And then when the drag thing happened, I thought, okay, but when I get serious, I'm gonna have to go back
and do my David Bowie thing. Then one year I think it was
1990 or something like that, I was doing some club dates in Atlanta and I was doing my sort
of androgyny thing. Not really drag , but just sort of. And after the show friend came over to "That was fun Ru but when are you gonna do your drag thing again?" And it occurred to me in that moment. 'Cause the universe has always
has stage direction for you. If you're open, if you
clear up a place for it, the universe has staged direction for you. So, this friend said when are you gonna do the drag thing again. In that moment I got, oh, what, what if I'd
been knocking myself out? It's been right there all along. It's standing right in front of me. So, I need to do the drag thing. And I swear to you guys, as soon as I made that
realization, it felt like these ancient doors were opening. All these years of show
business of trying to do... I made a breakthrough. The breakthrough didn't happen out here. Nina Bo'nina Brown. (audience laughing) The breakthrough happened
in here, it's an inside job. The key was me unlocking
and clearing a path, for my divinity, my
frequency to come through. I had to clear path for it. Had to clear out some of those old ideas. In my mind I thought,
where did I get the idea that I couldn't do it in drag? And I put together, I said, you know what, I'm done with my black hooker
soul train dancer look, I am going to give these bitches Glamazon. (audience applauding) (RuPaul laughs) (audience applauding) Yes, yes and the rest is history. So, that is my story. We're gonna take some
questions in a minute. But I think Wendy said,
we don't want comments. (RuPaul laughs) We want questions. We wanna engage in a conversation. We want some questions. So, I'm going to give you
a minute to think about the questions you want to ask. But just do remember what
we talked about today when you go home, and
how that applies to you. Not everybody is gonna be a drag queen. But kind of in a way... (audience laughing) I always say you're born
naked and the rest is drag, but not everybody has these legs. (RuPaul laughs) (audience applauding) No that's that the truth is,
everybody's got something. Everybody's got something. It's up to you to figure out what it is. Your job is to clear a
path for it, clear a path. And that's gonna involve
doing an inventory. And that's the big message here. All right, so we're going
to take some questions from the audience. You got your microphone? - [Wendy] I got, let's see is it on? Yes, I have my microphone. - Whose got a question?
Here's a man back here. - [Wendy] Okay. Let me run. - Get it Wendy go on get it girl. - Let me run over. - Get it. Get it girl. What's your name and where you're from? - [Pattern] Thank you Wendy. My name is Pattern and I'm
from st. Louis, Missouri. - Wait a minute, your name is Pattern? - [Pattern] Yes. - Like patent leather? - [Pattern] Spelled like General Pattern. - Okay yeah. General Pattern. Yeah, and you're from St. Louis? - [Pattern] Yes I was born there. - That's in St. Louis a rough,
it's rough there, isn't it? - [Pattern] I left when I
was five so I have no idea. - Okay, yeah. (audience laughing) But you live here now? - [Pattern] I live here now. - And what brought you
out here? You became.. You're a porn star? - [Pattern] I wish. (Pattern laughs) No, I'm just kidding. - No I'm asking, what do you do out here? - [Pattern] Good question. I literally just work at a studio. I work at SoulCycle to go time. - You work at a studio, what... - [Pattern] I work at Adaptive Studios. - A doctors? - [Pattern] Adaptive Studios,
it's a film producing company. - Oh, okay maybe he might give me a job. (audience laughing) - [Pattern] Come on down. - Always looking. - [Pattern] Absolutely. Well I guess my question
is I consider you someone who's kind of perfected the balance of logic and spirituality. So, just curious as how
you found that balance? - It's a great question
because it's all about balance, everything in this world. We have black, white,
ying, yang, male, female. It's all about these polar opposites and finding that balance. And the balance has to do with
being able to center yourself through a spiritual practice meditation. I'm not religious, but
I pray every morning. And I'll tell you why,
prayer the act of saying, dear God, thank you, is a
way to deactivate the ego, so that your ego says you
best sit your ass down bitch. (audience laughing) And it's 'cause it's not... It doesn't begin with you. There is a force out there. It doesn't matter what you pray to. As long as you bow down to a
power greater than yourself, it will work. You don't have to be religious. But if you see if you that act of bowing to a power greater than
yourself, that's a great start. The second part of that
is, through meditation, you open up your vessel
and allow the information to just come through you with no judgment. I equate it to sitting
on the banks of a river and watching the water just go by. You just sitting on the bank, just sweep. And the river, the water,
those are your thoughts. No judgment. Just look at them. That place, that is where
you find your center. All the spiritual, I didn't
come up with any of this stuff but the spiritual masters
will tell you that the real you, is the
awareness of your thoughts. The real you is the
awareness of your thoughts. You are not your thoughts. You are sitting on the banks,
watching them, no judgment. And that piece, that's how you recalibrate and center yourself. So, that's how it's done, alright. (audience applauding) We're gonna take another question here. Oh, Wendy, there's one in
the back, way back there. - Yes. - Get it girl. Get it girl. - Okay. (audience laughing) - [David] Hi Ru. - Hi, what's your name
and where are you from? - [David] I'm David and I'm
from New York originally but I've been out here about three years. - Where in New York,
you're from Long Island? - [David] No, I'm not. - You are from Bronx? Are you from Boogie Down? - [David] No, Westchester County, technically upstate I guess a little bit. - Am sorry where? - [David] Westchester County. - What County? - [David] Westchester
County, New Rochelle. - Oh, Westchester - [David] Yeah. - Yes... - [David] And I wanted to know
since we're in the library, I figured I'd ask what's one book that you think everyone should read? - Oh, that's a great question. I love "A Return to Love"
by Marianne Williamson. It is a fabulous book and I've always... I'm from San Diego. I'm born in 1960 and I've always... Part of my domestication
has been self-help and being a seeker. And so, that book really put things in a great perspective for me. And then the Eckhart Tolle book, "A New Earth" is also a great book. He also wrote "The Power
of Now" but I feel like with "A New Earth" he took the information from "A Power of Now"
just kind of abstract, and he simplified it in "A
New Earth" and it is fabulous. In fact, when I go to bed every, I've always been an insomniac. And every night when I go to bed, it's actually on my iPhone. I have his books on audio. And I just listen to them every night. Because if you are an insomniac, the way you shut the brain down, because you know the river and
the banks have them done... (RuPaul laughs) Is you engage it in an audio book, It allows your brain to
focus on what's being said. And then the rest of your sort
of thought sphincter is... (audience laughing) Yes. I did say thoughts sphincter. (audience laughing) Can relax, and go to sleep. (audience laughing) So, those two books yes. - [David] Thank you. - And then we had one over here. And lady with the
microphone, what's your name? - Diane. - Diane I love that name. Is it on a Russell? - [Diane] It does. - There it is. Hi, what's your name
and where are you from? - [Daniel] Daniel, I'm from Southeast LA. - Southeast LA, does
Southeast LA have a name? - [Daniel] Cudahy, It's a really small... - Cudahy oh, I've seen that
on exit signs and things. (audience laughing) Cudahy. - [Daniel] It's a gateway city
surrounded by a South Gate, Bell Gardens. - Oh yeah, yeah, yeah. Because my father used
to live in Cerritos. Is that near? - [Daniel] Down the freeway. - It's just a little bit,
how far how many miles? - [Daniel] Maybe like five or 10. - Five, 10 miles. I got to tell you when I was 11 years old, we would come up to stay with my father at his place in Cerritos. And he'd go to work at Best Foods that he made a skippy,
peanut butter and all that. He would go to work and
he was stupid enough to leave his 1969 Toyota keys in a drawer. And I knew where those keys were. (audience laughing) 11 years old, Cerritos and this is 1972, and my sister Rozy is 10 years, at the time she was one
year younger than me. Don't, you know, I got in
that car and I was riding all over that neighborhood but I would only make right turns. (RuPaul laughs) 'Cause I was too afraid
to make a left turn. 11 years old. I've always... I love cars, I've always loved cars. And I was driving at that early age. And could you imagine being
stopped at a stoplight, looking over... (RuPaul laughs) (audience applauding) Oh my God, oh anyway. Yes, Cudahy. Cudahy. So, you're Daniel, right?
What's your question. - [Daniel] So, I know the show has been really popular lately
and you were like having so much success, I know
you've said in the past that you'd never thought
drag would go mainstream. And I wanted to know if your
opinion of that has changed? - No and that's a good question. It will not go mainstream
for the same reason we talked about earlier, which is drag. To be able to do drag, you have to be willing to remove yourself from your own identity. And we live in an egocentric culture where identity is everything. What it says, you are
on your driver's license darn it, you're gonna stick with that. And it's gonna be it
forever and ever and ever. Drag says about identity, Whoa whoa (audience laughing) I say whoa whoa Drag says hi man, I don't
care. I'll do whatever. And what's brilliant about drag
is it is actually the truth of who we really are which
is we're all shapeshifters. We're all Samantha Stephens zombie, which we tickle, tickle, tickle, tickle. We change. And so for that to be
mainstream would mean that everybody would have to be
open to being a shapeshifter And really accepting who
you really, really are. Your God in drag, you are
God experiencing humanity. It looks like in that dream. It's only real quick. It's real quick. Don't take it too seriously. Don't take life too. Operative word here is
too seriously, have fun. Tickle, tickle , tickle, tickle. Wu whoa whoa That's what drag is and
for everybody to be able to get that it takes, it takes a lot. It takes a lot. It's like Lady Bunny saying,
devil's gonna get you. And me said, first, I was like, stop that. But then I realized, Oh,
it is all kind of a joke. Isn't it? Let me just
say this one thing too. For a sweet, sensitive souls,
and that's all of you really, and all the people listening
around the world right now, there are different levels or stages of recognition in your life. Initially for us sweet, sensitive souls, initially, we realized that
this whole thing is a hoax. It's a hoax. And initially we get angry. So we start this anger by just feel like we've been duped, that's stage one. And then we become cynical and
saying, this is all a joke. Then the irreverence comes in where we're able to
make fun of it and like, Well, yeah, that and five bucks
will get me to a till one. You know that cynicism, but.. I don't know where that came from. (audience laughing) It just came up. But the next stage, which
is the most important stage of this development, and
most people don't get there. Most people stay in the
cynicism and the bitterness. The next stage is that drag
station I'm talking about which is don't take it all so
seriously, have fun with it. It will be over before you know it. And in that time that
you have on this planet, have fun with it. Don't take it too seriously. Don't get stuck in the cynicism. It's an important part of these stages. But most people get stuck in the bitterness and the cynicism. They don't get to this
next level which is, whoa, whoa have fun, it's all great. Don't take it so seriously. And I've said this on my
Twitter feed all the time. I say don't forget having
a fat ass is a good thing. If you got a fat ass, you are my friend. I love. I wish I have. I have to put patty on, no
couch is safe around me. I have to pad. It's all padding up. I don't have one. I wish I could, you know, hey But it's that fun. Don't forget the fun
part of this experience. And now listen, it's your prerogative if you wanna to take everything seriously and you know, be like,
Oh my God, it's horrible. You can, it's up to you, but I'm telling you if
you want to navigate and you want to get a lot of stuff done, and you really wanna hmm hmm,
don't take it so seriously. It's nothing, it's not personal. It's not personal, you
know, it's like that. So that's why drag has a hard time. I would love for it to go mainstream. It just won't because it
would require people to take that next stage, that next level. And most people like my
friends in the East Village, they were like... Their identity was tied to
being whether it was a victim or being a starving artist
or being are struggling or, you know, it's like, bitch, you know, what I want.. what this one would just
come and I was like, I'm like, okay, hey look,
oh, there's so much, okay. Let's ask them. But they were stuck in this other thing. And I'm like, aw, aw man. You know what I'm saying? Let the church say amen. - [Audience] Amen. That's exactly, that is
what we're talking about. That navigation. And that's why I think
drag is so important. We have time for a few questions. (RuPaul conversing) Oh, she is here, she
now ready to have her... Right there, that girl right there. There she is. All right. What's your name? Where are you from? - [Liz] Hi, I'm Liz. I'm from like Boca Raton, Florida. - Boca. Nice. - [Liz] So I want to mention
first that my mom actually she's a mental health counselor
for LGBT youth and elders. So transitioning people
older and things like that. So she really loves you. She loves your community
and it's made me and her get a lot closer watching
drag, race and stuff. And we both sit down and we watch all these talented performers
and we see them come and go, over a 100 of them. How do you like deal with mentoring so many different people? And what kind of advice do you think you need to give everyone? - That's a very good question. And God bless your mother for being a... (audience clapping) We need more sweet people who are willing to be of service to other people. It's so interesting in our culture. We've become this culture of, we're beyond the me generation. Everybody is thinking they're
living in their own world. So when you hear about someone
who is being of service to other people, that
is such a great thing. In fact, the key to
happiness in on this planet, is being of service to other people. When I described the river
and sitting on the banks, when you're able to get
outside of your own head it's like Nina Bo'nina
Brown all over again. When you're able to get
outside of your own head and actually be selfless
enough to help someone else, that is the key to happiness. If you don't already know it,
that is the key to happiness. So in mentoring other
people, the truth is, selfishly, I start with my own heart. I start with what do I want? And I'm a sweet person. I'm a sweet person. I can say it. I'm, you know, I am. And I want a... I start with my own heart
and I wanna have fun. And if there's somebody else,
let's have fun together. Have you listened to my podcast? You know that I always
wanna play dirty charades with people, but nobody wants to play. I always want. I love charades, but once
you get to dirty charades, it's a whole new game. And I'm just gonna explain real
quick exactly what that is. It's the same as you make up titles like, (indistinct) musical. Yes. Okay. (audience laughing) So what you do is, and
I know this is library I'm not going to get too dirty. But you take a book
title, say a book title, and you just change one
word to make it dirty. And the book doesn't have to exist. It just or movie. Like say the red badge of courage. (audience laughing) It's one of my favorites. I'm wondering when do
you have that book here? (audience laughing) - [Liz] I don't think so. - No. You don't think so. What about a tale of two titties? (audience laughing) - [Liz] Gosh. No, no,
no, that one neither. - All right. But I like
to have fun with people. So on our show with the
girls and the experience, I love to have fun and I'm always looking for people to play. And again, it's like
those stages of evolution. Don't take life too seriously. You know, the irreverence, a
twist of a phrase, portmanteau. My favorite word in the world. I'm almost 57 years. I've heard lots of words. My favorite word in the
world, ladies and gentlemen is portmanteau, here it is, Mexicatessen. Mexicatessen. Now for now, I'm talking
to you in my head, I'm gonna be saying it
over and over again, because I love that word so much. Mexicatessen. Is it the most brilliant
word in the World? And it's Daniel, explains
the whole twist of a phrase, having fun like whoa whoa. It's all wrapped up in Mexicatessen and I love it. I love it. I love it. We have a little bit more time. There's a man right there.
How about him right there? He raised his hand very
high, very enthusiastically. And what's your name? Where are you from? - [Jason] Hey. I'm Jason. And I'm from North Carolina, originally. - North Carolina, Fayetteville? - [Jason] Right outside of
Charlotte in Kannapolis. - Called what? - [Jason] Kannapolis with a K. - Kannapolis. Oh, okay. - [Jason] Yeah. - All right. - [Jason] I have a question. So a lot of times you talk
about the inner saboteurs which I totally relate with,
and I have learned to come to a place with myself,
but what about those people in your life who helped
sort of create that person inside that inner
saboteur like your family or those people trying
to come to peace with? Even if you're able to sort
of realize it, look at it, stare it in the face,
watch the river passing by. What about how do you react
to those people in your life who've sort of helped add
to that, to create that? - I hate to say it. You got to get away from them people. - [Jason] Yeah. It's true. - And you know that's the answer. The truth is, there are those people and they feed off of your
self doubt and off the... You have to stick with the winners. Stick with the winners and
they may be family members. And that's, you can love somebody, you don't have to go
on vacation with them. (Jason laughs) I love you, but we
ain't going on vacation. And it's a hard cold facts,
but you get to a certain age and you realize you can't change them. They are there... I've heard of energy
vampires and all that stuff. You stick with the winners. Life too short for that kind of stuff. It really is. And you're gonna try to change him. You know, when the election... I equated it to... I think you know I love judge Judy. And Judge Judy every week
there is a woman on there who who's suing her ex boyfriend because she gave him $2,000
after he got out of jail cause he was in arrears for child support. You know what Judge Judy said okay, wait a minute, let me
break it down for you, girl. All the signs are there. Just got out of prison. His own kids, he was
in, he wouldn't get... (RuPaul conversing) He ain't got a job. So, and then judge says, because you had this picture postcard of
what a family looks like, you were willing to take whatever you could get your hands on
because you were so married to this picture postcard
of what you thought your life should look like. You know what I mean? And that's what this election felt like. Because I knew that he... (audience applauding) what's happened is these people
want this picture postcard. We want it to be like it was before. But the truth is what this
thing has really been about is nature, the universe is
clearing out certain people who are not useful. You have to be useful to the universe. You have to make yourself
useful to the universe. Otherwise you will be phased out. Now this was an opportunity for them to have this picture postcard thing of we gonna have it the way it was before. Well, time does not go back girl. It doesn't. It doesn't. And you find a lot of people and anyway.. So that's yeah... I'm sorry went off on a
tangent there, but yeah. So Wendy do we have time
for a few more questions? Are you ready? You got your running shoes on girl. Diane. Are you ready? Okay. So where we wanna go? Let's go over to this side.
This side of the room over here. There's this lady right there. Diane, right there. She got there. What's your name and where are you from? - [Tosca] Hi, my name is Tosca. - What is it? - [Tosca] Tosca. - Tosca? - [Tosca] Yes. - Tosca, like there's an art dance artists a few years ago called Tosca right? - [Tosca] There's been
like a pop something and it's an opera. - The opera. Yes. That's it. And where are you from? - [Tosca] Originally the UK, but I've lived here for 12 years. - From the UK? - [Tosca] Yes, Ma'am. - Where's your English accent? - [Tosca] Here. It's right here. I'm from Bromsgrove England originally. I lived there till I was 15. (audience applauding) - All right. What's your question? - [Tosca] What is your
favorite place you've been to in the world like what you
might call your happy place? - Wow. You know I four. (audience laughing) My favorite places are
San Francisco, Vancouver, Rio, and Sydney Australia. Those are my favorites. I've been married to an
Australian for many years. Actually we've only been married. We got married this year but we've been together for many years. (audience applauding) (RuPaul laughs) He's from Perth, Australia. and the most remote place,
remote city in the world. Anybody they'd been to
Perth, Australia before? Well they have, there you have it. (audience laughing) It's very remote. Thank you Tosca. Where are you? How about one for you Wendy. Hey, there's man in
front of you right there. - What's your name? Where are you from? - [Carl] Carl from Cincinnati, Ohio. - Cincinnati. That's
another beautiful city. Cincinnati, Ohio. And what brings you out?
Are you a porn star? (Carl laughs) - [Carl] Not yet. - Not yet. Right. - [Carl] I'm finishing my
dissertation on RuPaul's drag race at UCLA. (audience cheering) - And then, so you're doing it now? - [Carl] Yes. - You're doing your dissertation. I love the word dissertation. It's Mexicatessen and then dissertation. And so what have you learned about.. Oh, I'm sorry, you have a question. (audience laughing) - [Carl] I'd love to
know what would you say to Donald Trump's inner saboteur? - Well that's good. You know what you realize
about certain people, he is a classic narcissistic
personality disorder. So there's no getting through to that. And that's what's so interesting about the woman on Judge Judy. Is that she will, those
people who they will wake up and it is going to be. Talk about breaking down and
deconstructing a belief system. Because when that fantasy, when their eyes and their vision clear, that is gonna be a real,
it's going to be a disaster. But what's it the most
positive thing about that is that when a butterfly
turns into a butterfly from a cocoon, it's actually, it's a very violent transformation. It's a very violent transformation before it turns into that butterfly. And what we're experiencing right now is that violence right now. This divisiveness and this
sort of uncomfortable period. And it will probably become
even more uncomfortable. But the butterfly will fly Mariah. Actually in Georgia I going to see Mariah. Not in Vegas on the... Not the, of the seventh summer. After the 4th of July,
we're gonna go see Mariah in Las Vegas. So, I'm gonna be a lip sync extravaganza. (audience applauding) I don't care. I don't care. I'll see it. I don't care. I don't. I don't care as long as I
could see her, I don't care. (audience laughing) So, I haven't done anything over here. Diane, get girl, come on, girl. (RuPaul laughs) He is right here. - [Victor] Hi ma'am Ru. - Hi. What your name? Where are you from? - [Victor] My name is Victor
Yates. I'm from Jack... - Victor Yates? - [Victor] Yes. - I have a radio background
so I slow everything down so that people can hear it, you see. And where are you from? - [Victor] Jacksonville Florida. - Jacksonville Florida,
oh, that's where the Metro. I used to work at the Club Metro there. Oh, it was good. It was it's a really.... Years ago, really good club. A mixture of people. I
love a mixture of people. It was straight gay, black,
white everybody who can went to the Metro. Is it still there? - [Victor] It's still there. - All right. Hey. What's your question? - [Victor] I know from
watching RuPaul's drag race I know that gay history is
extremely important to you. - I love that you put
that extra T on the end. Important. - [Victor] You referenced
Paris is burning a lot and their people, their
generations alive that.. (audience applauding) There are people alive who
haven't watched that movie. Can you recommend maybe five movies or books for individuals who
need to learn gay history? - That a great, great question. We try on our show to mentor
and curate our culture to young people around the world. Our show comes on all over the world, and if it's not on a
network it's on Netflix or kids can download it on iTunes and they're getting the whole story there. And so, you know, when I was coming up, I had mentors who taught me about Tennessee Williams and Truman Capote and Tallulah Bankhead, and Fellini films, everything, and John Waters. They told me about who
we are and what culture I need to pay attention to. So we do that on our show. And I always start with... I'll just tell you what
my favorite movies are. Cause they're all these things. Number one is the Wizard of Oz. And I tell you why,
because it's a parable. It is what we're doing. You talked about the Alan
Watts, storyline of dreaming. That movie is what we're doing here. My favorite.. I get very... when I talk about it,
because when she goes into the poppy fields, which
is sort of symbolic of drags, when a person and the one friend is saying come on, wake up, wake
up, remember, come on. Remember we were going that way. And she said, I just want to sleep. If you watch that movie, it
has so much knowledge in there. And then when she says to the scarecrow, she says, I'm gonna miss you all. And she whispers in his ear. She whispers in his ear. She says, and I'm paraphrasing, she says, I think I'm
gonna miss you the most. I just, Oh, And if you've lived on
this planet long enough you will experience that. You will experience friends that will go. You will lose them forever. And you know, it's gonna be
the last time you see him. And it's heartbreaking, but
don't be afraid of the emotions. Don't be afraid of
feelings you get in there. And you say to them, I think
I'm going to miss you the most. You don't be afraid to say it. Don't be afraid to live this life. So the way, and then even
the most important thing is she says to the good
witch, why didn't you tell me? All I had to do is click
my heels three times. Why didn't you tell me? She says, because girl... Because you would not have believed me. You had to go all all in here. Cause yo ass is hot here. You go all over here and
then finally get back here to know that you had it
with you the whole time. You had to discover it. So Wizard of Oz, Grease is
my second favorite movie of all time. I could watch it right now. I swear. I love it so much. (RuPaul laughs) Auntie Mame is a great movie for kids. (audience applauding) The Rosalind Russell one, it's a great movie for kids to understand, young people to understand
that this is up to you. Life is a banquet and
most poor sons of bitches are starving to death. Get out there and eat,
roll up your sleeves. And you get in there
and you feast on life. Of course, Elvira, Mistress of The Dark (audience applauding) Because of the irreverence. And we were talking about, that next level where you
don't take life too seriously. That movie is filled with
that kind of irreverence and that kind of joy and wordplay. And it's so smart. I can watch that all the time. And of course, Paris is Burning
which is brilliant because here are these kids coming
from these crazy backgrounds where the future is very bleak for them but they've created a
world where they can, like a lotus in the mud, where
they can come up and shine and be the God self that is in all of us. And it's a beauty, it's a tragic story, but it's also a beautiful story. So those are my top five. Was that five? I can name others. My Name is Doris is a brilliant. How much time do we have? - [Wendy] I think we have time
for about one more question. - One more question. Okay. So who has a good question? Who's going to challenge
me with some knowledge. So Diane, Wendy, which
one of you is gonna be? - This gentleman right here. - Okay. Alright. - What's your name? Where are you from? - [JP] Hi, I'm JP Karliak I'm from Scranton, Pennsylvania. - JP what? - [JP] Karliak. - Karliak. That's beautiful. - It's Jack. (RuPaul conversing) - JP Karliak. That's a showbiz name. I love that. - [JP] I thought that I am in the showbiz. - You are? And you're from Scranton? - [JP] Scranton. Yeah. - How far is that from Trenton? - [JP] That's New Jersey. That's about an hour and a half. - Cause I was gonna ask
you about Dance Party USA. Did you watch that show? - [JP] No. - You know Dance Party USA? - [JP] I'm familiar. Yes. - Wait, you're doing like this. What? Have you seen it? - [JP] I have not seen
it but I am familiar with the concept of it. - Because it was like an
American bandstand type show for that area. And it was so trashy. And so good So so, good. I have actually, I swear to you. I swear to you right now. I have a DVD of it in my bag right now. I swear I have it right here. (audience applauding) Dance Party USA. I have jazz. There's soul train. There's there's murder
she wrote right there. I live for her, Davis, Sergio Mendez. Dancing on air reruns, Dance
Party USA, right there. Dance Party USA. I love it. I love it. Anyway, JP... (RuPaul laughs) What is your question? (RuPaul laughs) - [JP] So I love on the show
when in the last episode you show the final queens, the photo of themselves as a child and you ask them what they
would say to that child. I feel like I've heard you
answer that question before but what I would love to
know is what would you say to the RuPaul just releasing supermodel? I'm going to answer your
question in Czechoslovakia. (audience laughing) - [JP] Hit me. - Just releasing Cipro. I got to tell you because
of what the psychic had told my mother, I knew what was ahead of me. In fact, before my mother went
to Paris, we had that moment because there was a report
with Kurt Loder on MTV, where I'd done something blow by night. And it was actually in San Diego. She was on literally on
her death bed at the time. And we were waiting for this
thing to come up and she... It finally, it appeared
this new story on MTV. And she looked over at me
and you can bleep this out, She looked over at me she says, nigga, you are crazy. (RuPaul laughs) (audience applauding) True story. And I knew the thing was about
to begin, about to happen. And I was so happy that she
got to see the beginning of it. She got to see the very beginning of it. And then she moved on. But I would say to that Ru, because just a few
short years before that, man, I was at my Santa returns at 28. I was sleeping on my baby
sister's couch in Los Angeles, no car with not a dime. Am I say not a dime to my name? How much money am I talking about? A zero. (audience laughing) It was so... life in seven, seven,
14, 21, 28 is a big one. And it was horrible. So, just a few short years before the supermodel thing happened, I was on the ball of my black ass. And anyway so, when supermodel happened, I knew this was the beginning. So, what would I say to that Ru? I would say, number one, save your money, (audience laughing) which I've always been.. I'm not crazy with money whatever. I'm not crazy with money. And then what else would I say, remember who you are,
remember that this is a gift. This life is a gift. Don't take it too seriously. Have fun with it and smile. Smile and have fun. That's what I would say JP. Thank you so much. You guys have been lovely. Thank you so much. (audience applauding) Thank you. Thank you so much. Thank you Wendy. - You're so welcome. - Lovely. - I don't know if this
microphone on, is it? - It is. Yes. You guys, that's very sweet. - Thank you for being a great audience. - That's beautiful, look at this. - Be sure to look around the library. It's a beautiful place
on the second floor. There's the red tendon. Don't miss that. So, thank you so much for
coming in Ru, thank you. (audience laughing) - Don't break my fan now. (audience laughing) - Lovely that's very sweet. (audience applauding) I'll see you all next time. Be sweet to people. Okay,
give love to somebody today. - Thank you Ru. (audience cheering) (upbeat music)
