This megastar of drag and TV was the youngest contestant in the eighth seaosn of “RuPaul’s Drag Race,” and a notorious fan favorite of that franchise’s fourth “All Stars” season two years later. Known for her high glam fashions, longest-ever-legs and deadpan wit, Naomi Smalls is about to hit NYC in a big way this Spooky Season!
Thotyssey: Naomi, hello! Thanks so much for chatting with us today! Where in the world are you, and what were you doing five minutes before chatting with us?
Naomi Smalls: Good Morning! I am currently in Los Angeles, where I reside. I’ve been meaning to get to this interview between gigs, and I finally have a moment to sit down and chat.
As of this writing, Lady Gaga just dropped her single and video for “The Dead Dance” (to coincide with her premiere on Netflix’s new batch of Wednesday eps). If you had a chance to see / hear it, any thoughts?
Lady Gaga has been one of my main divas since the very first time I heard “Just Dance” in tenth grade; I fell in love the moment I heard “red one konvict gaga.” I was a hardcore Little Monster all throughout high school, and the majority of beauty school. If I didn’t start doing drag, I’d probably still be a feral Little Monster. But I shifted my attention to other wig wearers, myself and Drag Race idols. “The Dead Dance” is definitely a banger. I’m so proud of everything Gaga has done, and is doing, on her amazing Mayhem tour.
These days when you’re not performing abroad, are you a Cali nightlife partygirl, more of a homebody, or somewhere in between?
I definitely go through waves of interest when it comes to nightlife. Naomi Smalls lives the majority of her life in a hotel room or backstage, often in a city far away from home. Normally, I’m too exhausted after the show and meet-and-greet to continue to Marry the Night. When I’m home, I have a few places I like to check out. But the best way to get me out on the town is the promise of a show.
Your appearances on Drag Race related podcasts and streaming review shows are immediate appointment viewing / listening for fans of the franchise. Your observations about the various queens and their looks and numbers and occasional ridiculous behavior are so dead on, deadpan and hilarious! I know that the setup for each of these appearances is different, but do you often plan out exactly what you’re going to say and share about these bitches, or does it all just come out in the moment?
I am an avid podcast listener, and for some reason people seem to enjoy my monotone voice in their ears. As someone who used to hate talking into a microphone, I am shocked that multiple podcast platforms have invited me on to run my mouth off. The Pit Stop is where it started. After that, I tested out the YouTube / podcast form with From Head 2 Toe. When I was reviewing my friends and the cast of Drag Race AS9, I think people realized that I take the visual aspect of drag pretty seriously and just love the details. Doing Sibling Watchery with Bob the Drag Queen was so much fun, and Bob has an amazing way of having very unguarded, uncalculated conversations with real opinions. There’s never planning on what to say; it’s more so just an honest reaction and critique of my favorite art form, drag.
You’d make a fantastic Pit Stop host!
Thank you! I would love to host Pit Stop, and / or have a regularly scheduled podcast / video review gig. However, there’s something much more cunty about Pit Stop than the rest of the review shows. Maybe because it’s the only official review show — and the lighting, the perfected audio, the crew, and the guarantee that you and the other guest will be in high whore drag.
You seem like someone who can properly navigate the ocean of social media drama from the fandom, from trolls and from feuding RuGirls. Is there a secret in not being bogged down under all that constant online chaos?
I love to be a spectator of drama, but hate to be involved in the actual drama. I’m from the school of Wendy Williams: talk my shit, then stay in my own lane. I never want to hurt anyone’s feelings with anything, but I also like to hear people’s real opinions about my drag. I think hearing the truth helps us grow.
You were a baby at 21 years old when you were cast on Drag Race’s eighth season back in 2016, and you made it all the way to Top 3. Has it been a strange experience to grow as a person and evolve as an artist after millions of people saw you do your thing at a young age?
Now that it’s more than ten years after I appeared on RuPaul’s Drag Race, this is kind of all I know. It was almost a fever dream going straight from cosmetology school into the workroom. Definitely a huge part of me is surprised that people are still interested in the Legs they watched so many seasons ago, and I’m so grateful. I just love drag and performing so much.
With both Season 8 and your return to set for All Stars 4 in 2018, there have been so many wonderful on screen and meme-able Naomi moments. Of course your infamous All-Stars lipstick selection of Manila Luzon — one of the fiercest competitors on your season — to go home after you won that lip sync sticks out in my mind (not only because it was diabolical and strategic, but also because it was the common sense thing that anyone would have done. It kinda changed the way queens approached their All-Stars strategies forever). Do you have your own favorite moment from filming either or both of the seasons?
Between both of my seasons on RuPaul’s Drag Race, I really loved performing and making lifelong friends. My drag career started in a very performance heavy medium, participating in “Raven’s Raucous Roundup,” a weekly drag competition hosted by my favorite queen of all time, Raven. I think a lot of my fellow participants on both seasons were surprised by how locked in I was, and how I would get when it came to lip-syncing for your life / lip-syncing to send someone home. But I do believe any queen should be able to slay any song in their own special way.
Monet X Change, Bob the Drag Queen, Derrick Barry, and Kim Chi are my prized trophies from filming RuPaul’s Drag Race.
Is “The Realness” still the best music video to come out of Drag Race, by the way?
Oh, I don’t know… it was a lot of fun to film! Personally, my favorite Drag Race music video is definitely from the All Stars 1 cast, “Responsitrannity.” Ru’s hair, makeup, and costume in that video live rent-free in my mind.
We’re now seeing Drag Race veterans venture out into other TV franchises: Dragula, The Traitors, House of Villains, Survivor, even Project Runway! Would you ever compete or appear in a show like that?
I would absolutely love to compete in a show like Traitors! I think my personality would work really well in that setting — maybe because I grew up with eleven siblings, and went to such a blended school growing up, but I tend to get along with everybody. I feel like that social chameleon aspect would really be an asset in a setting like The Traitors.
On a serious note, what are your thoughts about MAGA’s ever-intensifying targeting of the queer community in recent years, including drag queens?
It’s very sad and somewhat comical to me that the MAGA world decides to prey on the one percent. It’s a very easy target because it’s so opposite from their world, and thank God it is so opposite. I feel like the drag world is accepting of other walks of life and experiences, and I really think that is what makes the world go round and keeps things beautiful and interesting. I’ve never looked like the stereotypical Republican diva, so maybe that’s helped me separate from that world mentally, emotionally, and politically… and thank god for that.
Are you a lover of Spooky Season drag, or is it all too much, lol? Do you prefer sexy / vampy type looks, or something more monstrous?
I’m not a huge spooky diva, but ’tis the season. I think Naomi Smalls has always leaned a little more sexy than anything else. I think my favorite drag Halloween trope / character is Aaliyah from Queen of the Damned; I think that’s the perfect mix of sexy and spooky and monstrous.
On Friday October 17th (10pm), you’ll be at Brooklyn’s 3 Dollar Bill alongside Season 8 sister Thorgy Thor to host the Halloween Month frightfest “Final Girl!” What can the children expect from this terrifying takeover?
Great question! I think Thorgy is one of the queens I can bank on having a similar creative process as me. We are procrastinators! We thrive in the last minute of it all. But I have been debating going more comical or more sexy. However, the opportunity to do two different numbers is going to be nice. You can have some variation.
It’s rare I get to do shows with my original season’s divas, and I’m so honored and happy that it worked out this year to do Thorgy’s annual Halloween show. Thorgy is actually the first ever drag queen I saw in person, on a cosmetology education trip back in 2012 when I was studying at Redken in Manhattan. One night after class I took the subway to Brooklyn, and used my fake ID to get into Metro. I walked in and watched Thorgy working the room on the mic. It wasn’t until walking into the workroom on Season 8 that I made the connection with who I saw that night a few years before.
Might you be doing anything else in NYC around then?
To be completely honest, NYC has always been a city that overwhelms me. I always have the best time when I’m there, and I have many close friends that live there. That said, the hustle mentality, the humidity / and or freezing in comparison to California weather, the vermin (I hate rats more than anything on this planet)… I tend to always just go with the flow when I’m in the city, and then happily leave after a few days.
And finally: who is the sexiest horror movie monster / killer of all time?
I do think Buffalo Bill is the most iconic of all the horror movie killers. A queer icon for sure… and he has the same mentality as a lot of drag queens. Make it happen!
Thanks, Naomi!
Check Thotyssey’s calendar for Naomi Smalls’ upcoming area appearances, and follow her on Facebook, Instagram, TikTok and YouTube.
Thotyssey 