RuPaul and 'Drag Race' Judges Open Up About Ru's New Talk Show (Exclusive)
RuPaul has a new talk show, and he's bringing all his friends with him!
Over 20 years after the queen mother of drag made history with The RuPaul Show on VH1, Mama Ru is returning to the talk format and ET caught up with him and his fellow Drag Race judges at RuPaul's DragCon LA 2019 over the weekend to dish on everything from first guests to making talk shows fabulous again.
"It's so much fun," Ru dished to ET Live's Jason Carter of the new show, which is simply titled RuPaul. "It's just like when we're hanging out at Drag Race, and we're backstage just talking. It's very relaxed."
The host with the most referred to his new venture, which premieres June 10 on select Fox Television stations, as a "destination place, where friends can get together and talk," name-dropping several early guests that will be stopping by, like Paula Abdul, Ciara, and Iggy Azalea.
For Michelle Visage, the biggest deal is finally making it on network airwaves, after decades on cable. "For us, it's like, 'Oh my god, this moment's arrived!'" she told ET's Brice Sander. "We've been doing our podcast [What's the Tee?] very successfully for five years and we've worked on radio. We did The RuPaul Show on VH1. [This is] an honor and it's a gift."
"I've been in show business for a long, long time," Ru agreed, recalling that he used to practice being a talk show host as a kid, emulating entertainers like Johnny Carson, Merv Griffin, Dinah Shore and Mike Douglas. "You do a lot of projects. Most projects do not work, which is fine. Some do, some don't. You just go in and you do your best and you see what happens. If it works, great. If it doesn't, that's OK! But I'm having a great time."
More of Ru's friends will also be stopping by to join in the fun, like Drag Race judge Ross Mathews, who can't wait for the show to premiere: "Daytime's about to get a lot more fabulous!"
"I'm on just about every episode, contributing any way I can," he dished to Carter. "When Ru calls, I show up."
And he can't wait for fans to see a totally new side to Mama Ru. "We just started filming some stuff, and Ru is so good. Ru is always amazing, but I told him yesterday, I said, 'This is a new lane for you, and you are so good at this gig.' ...It gives him a chance to use all the tools in his tool belt."
For Ru, the all-love attitude he plans to bring to RuPaul is something that's "so needed today."
"There's so much divisiveness in the world right now. I wanna be part of the mending of that," he noted. "The talk show is part of that, Drag Race is a part of that. I believe in love, I believe in kindness."
And that positivity is reflected in the DragCon spirit as well, with Visage marveling at the inclusive spirit and positive atmosphere that pervades the entire weekend.
"I'm a mother, and it's the most rewarding experience to see families come together -- to see mothers come with their queer, trans, bi, questioning child and celebrate who they are without any fear of anything," she raved. "It's an all-inclusive space, and it's a safe space, and that is just heaven."
See more from DragCon in the video below!
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