Contestant Amanda Tori Meating sits down with EW's Joey Nolfi to preview 'RuPaul's Drag Race Season 16'.
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00:00 - I love a shoulder pad.
00:00 - Shoulder pads make me so wet.
00:02 - This interview is like--
00:04 - I know, I really feel like we have to call HR.
00:07 I'm not even horny is the thing.
00:09 - HR, please come crash this mandatory meeting.
00:12 (soft music)
00:14 Hello, I'm Joey Nolte with Entertainment Weekly
00:18 in the boardroom with the cast of "RuPaul's Drag Race"
00:20 season 16 and it's an all hands team touch base
00:23 when it comes to my next guest.
00:24 So get your presentation slides ready
00:26 and make sure your full staff is hard at work
00:29 because we're diving right in with a mandatory meeting.
00:33 - Baby, are you ready for the meeting?
00:35 - I am so ready for the meeting.
00:36 I'm like, what's on the meeting docket for today?
00:38 Do you have the agenda ready, the PowerPoint?
00:40 What's going on?
00:40 - Honestly, no, I've prepared nothing for today.
00:44 I was just gonna wing it.
00:46 I was thinking maybe we could get some new toilet paper
00:48 for the bathrooms.
00:49 I felt like it was one fly, eek.
00:52 - That's the only thing on the business meeting.
00:54 - Just better toilet paper, mama.
00:55 - We're done, Amanda, it was so nice to meet you.
00:57 - Thank you so much, that's a wrap team.
00:59 (laughing)
01:00 - No, we do have, I have to say,
01:01 this look, I'm loving this look today.
01:03 I mean, come on, like fur realness.
01:05 - Fur-iness.
01:06 - I love it, I really am obsessed.
01:08 - When you rack up a couple ex-husbands,
01:10 you rack up a couple furs.
01:12 - This is like in the morning on the way to the deli
01:13 in Brooklyn, just to grab a quick coffee.
01:15 - I've just gotta get my iced coffee.
01:17 Oh, and I'll get a straw.
01:19 - Yes, bury that, bury that.
01:21 Now we do have orders of business to get to.
01:24 So where are your corporate headquarters?
01:26 'Cause I feel like I've seen you performing in New York,
01:29 performing in LA, so where are you based?
01:31 - Mama, she's bisexual and she's bicoastal, okay?
01:33 I'm everywhere.
01:34 I literally have just moved to New York.
01:37 I was living out here in LA for a couple years
01:39 and I felt like I wanted to switch it up.
01:41 - Okay. - And then Drag Race called.
01:43 - Yes.
01:44 - So I said, oh, I'm really switching it up today.
01:46 - Yes, and even more chaos.
01:47 No, wait, wait, are you really, if you're comfortable,
01:49 are you really bisexual, is that real?
01:50 - No. - Oh, okay, oh,
01:52 I thought you were like-- - I mean, I'm not like not.
01:54 You know what I mean?
01:55 - I thought you were just dropping that
01:56 as like a pickup, follow-up question in this interview.
01:59 - Just felt like punchy and jokey.
02:00 - Okay, all right, okay.
02:02 No, well, I was gonna say, it was like,
02:05 that led me down like a Matty Morpheus situation.
02:07 Do we have a whole new line of questioning here?
02:09 - No, no, no, no.
02:10 I mean, I'm not like against--
02:12 - You do not have to explain yourself for making a joke.
02:16 - I'm really feeling like I have to, Joey.
02:18 - No, no, no, no, no, no, no.
02:21 No, I will say I was deeply entertained
02:23 by all of the things I looked into while researching you,
02:26 including, you were in a touring production of "Pinky Boots"?
02:28 - I was. - Love that.
02:30 Tell me a little bit about that.
02:31 - It was crazy, girl.
02:32 We went over to Asia, we were in China, Singapore.
02:35 It was honestly insane to be able to bring
02:38 the magic of drag to a different audience,
02:41 who was like, we weren't really sure
02:43 how they were gonna receive it,
02:44 and they were, they live, they live for us, mama.
02:47 - What character did you play?
02:48 - I played Angel Number Three.
02:51 (both laughing)
02:53 - Star of the show.
02:54 - Honey. - Yes, top line of the movie.
02:56 And she was the one.
02:57 She was the doll and the diva.
02:59 - You made the most of that character, yes.
03:01 - I sure did. - Yeah.
03:02 I would expect nothing less, yes.
03:03 - Baby, I was wiping this coochie all across the stage.
03:06 - Well, 'cause I mean, your talents did clearly,
03:08 I mean, they landed you on national television
03:09 on RuPaul's Drag Race,
03:10 so I mean, you're doing something right.
03:12 (upbeat music)
03:14 Okay, so now I have to know.
03:20 So you are like, theater queen.
03:22 Well, I don't know, I don't wanna like,
03:23 put you into a box, but like--
03:25 - I would call myself, like one time,
03:27 I had a teacher in college
03:29 who called herself a reformed Catholic.
03:31 I'm a reformed theater girl.
03:32 - Reformed? - Yeah, yeah, yeah.
03:34 - So you have exercised-- - The demons.
03:36 - Yes, so you're not Jan.
03:37 You're not the BFA weaponizer of the season.
03:40 - No, I'm more like the BFA dissector
03:43 and put back together with hot glue
03:45 in a different formation,
03:46 so it more is like an AFB.
03:48 You know what I'm saying?
03:49 - Oh, okay, okay, yes.
03:51 I think I'm trying to-- - Absolutely.
03:53 - Like, (beep) butt is probably what that would stand for.
03:56 You can't say that on TV, I guess.
03:57 - I was going to ask what that was,
04:00 but I'm glad that you just, I didn't have to,
04:02 because I knew you were gonna say it.
04:04 - Oh, Jesus, how did you know?
04:06 - In all seriousness, though,
04:08 I did see that you also do,
04:10 you like to do live vocals-- - I do.
04:11 - In your shows, and you've been on the theater stage.
04:14 So how does that all translate into your live shows?
04:18 Like, what do we get at an Amanda show?
04:20 - At an Amanda show, you are gonna get sickening vocals,
04:23 you are gonna get a five, six, seven, eight,
04:26 you are gonna get some tee-hees and some ha-has.
04:29 - An AFB. - An AFB.
04:31 (laughing)
04:32 You'll probably get a boner.
04:33 I mean, maybe not you, but you, you will.
04:36 - All bisexuals. (laughing)
04:38 - Okay, bisexuals do love me.
04:39 - Yeah.
04:40 - Like, they want me in their community,
04:42 you know what I'm saying?
04:43 But you also might get robbed, not by me, just like--
04:47 - People in the audience. - Yeah.
04:48 - Oh, okay. - Because they're just so,
04:51 they ran out of money to tip me,
04:53 and so they're taking money from you to tip me,
04:56 because they see the gig, they see the numbers.
04:58 - Are we trying to get people to come to your shows,
05:00 or to avoid you? (laughing)
05:03 My fun, I'm unclear.
05:05 This is a performance in itself,
05:06 I will say that I would pay money to see.
05:08 Oh my God, I saw you performing a mix of,
05:10 and I wanna make sure I get this right,
05:11 a mix of "Oops, I Did It Again" and "Kesha's Below,"
05:15 which turns into a very moving portrait of bodily functions
05:19 set to the bridesmaid food poisoning scene.
05:22 - Yes. - And it all ends
05:24 with you doing a huge split,
05:26 and I'll say flatulating for several seconds,
05:29 while people literally just throw money at you.
05:32 They weren't robbing you of money.
05:33 - It's compulsory, I mean, it really,
05:34 like, if they run out,
05:35 they just grab it from the person next to them,
05:37 they can't help it.
05:37 - So yeah, so it is, yes, it makes sense in the end.
05:40 So where does your approach to the comedy
05:43 in this art form come from?
05:45 What inspires you to do something like that?
05:47 (laughing)
05:49 - I basically just think, what would make my mother blush?
05:52 And I go for that.
05:54 And then she texts me when she sees the videos on Instagram,
05:56 she goes, "Really, Amanda?"
05:59 She goes, "This one, again?"
06:01 (upbeat music)
06:04 - What was your audition tape like for this show?
06:10 Because I imagine it was extremely wild,
06:12 if you're doing that on stage.
06:13 - My audition tape was unhinged, Joey.
06:15 - What did you do?
06:16 I have to know what you did.
06:17 - I was roller skating, I was acting,
06:20 I took a clip from a self tape
06:23 that I sent in for a movie, like, in drag,
06:25 and I just, like, clipped, like, two seconds of it in.
06:28 I was, like, weeping, I'm like, "Don't shoot her!"
06:32 And I was like, "Listen, Meryl Streep, she's here."
06:35 - This is Meryl Streep, actually.
06:36 - Hello.
06:37 - Yeah, inside--
06:38 - "Squashed!"
06:39 (laughing)
06:40 - Death becomes her.
06:41 - Inside the actor's studio with Meryl Streep.
06:43 - Okay.
06:44 - It's going on right now.
06:45 - Listen, inside the boardroom with a mandatory meeting.
06:47 - Oh, yeah, there we go, there we go.
06:48 Now, in going through your profiles,
06:50 the list of things that you've said that you do
06:52 in your various Facebook posts, I love,
06:54 and again, I'm going to read,
06:55 'cause I don't wanna miss anything.
06:57 So it includes--
06:58 - You can read that?
06:58 - Scamming, squirting hot loads of death onto your enemies,
07:03 putting fuzzy green arms up holes,
07:05 and I also saw you doing a digital duet with Kelly Clarkson.
07:09 - I did.
07:10 - Oh, can you explain all of these things?
07:12 - I wish I could, but I've signed so many contracts
07:15 and NDAs.
07:16 (both laughing)
07:17 No, Kelly was doing her little Kellyoke search
07:20 for people to join her on her show.
07:22 I was not chosen as one of those.
07:24 I was chosen for this show instead,
07:26 but they clipped me in with her.
07:28 It was really cute.
07:29 - I really, no, so they actually did that?
07:31 Like, they put you--
07:32 - It was like, no, it wasn't that deep.
07:34 It was like a thing where you show up and you sing,
07:35 and then they send you the video in your email,
07:37 and I said, "Thanks, mother."
07:39 - You're supposed to lie and just be like,
07:41 "Oh no, Kelly, yes, Kelly did."
07:42 - Oh, mama, mama, mama, mama.
07:44 Kelly came out of her trailer, and she said,
07:46 "That girl, she's the one."
07:48 - Yes, there we have it, there we have it.
07:50 Not a lie at all, not a lie at all.
07:52 - I love lying.
07:53 - Me too, I love lying.
07:55 Now, I also did find an old ad for a performance
07:58 at Capilano University, and your self-written description
08:03 said you were the winner of the 2008
08:06 Franklin Montessori hot dog eating contest.
08:10 Is that real, or is that a lie?
08:11 - It's actually a lie, it really is.
08:13 - Damn it. - I'm so sorry.
08:15 I wanted to tell you it was real,
08:17 but I looked into your eyes,
08:18 and I just saw the truth behind you,
08:20 and I wanted to match you on that level.
08:22 - Okay, all right, 'cause we did have a pack of hot dogs
08:24 off to the side that we were gonna ask you to just eat.
08:26 - And I'm a vegetarian, so I would have said
08:28 that's very insensitive of you.
08:29 - Okay, oh, turning it back on me, oh my gosh.
08:32 Okay, well, I'll never expose another one of your lies again.
08:36 - Please, Joey, I would appreciate it.
08:38 (upbeat music)
08:40 (upbeat music)
08:43 - There's also a photo of you that I saw, I really love it.
08:47 So it's just a very beautiful portrait.
08:49 You look like a space lady, or like Barbarella maybe,
08:52 but you're holding a giant pink dildo gun.
08:56 That's the only way that I can think to describe it.
08:58 So can you explain the idea for that, and how it was made?
09:01 And is it like a real prop that you actually use,
09:04 or was it just for the shoot?
09:05 - It was my personal dildo.
09:07 (both laughing)
09:08 - Really?
09:09 - Well, it became my personal dildo after the photo shoot,
09:12 but I didn't wanna bring it there, having been you,
09:15 so it was fresh that day, you know what I'm saying?
09:17 And I super glued it to the gun.
09:19 - Okay.
09:20 - What was the other question?
09:20 - I just wanted to know if it was like,
09:22 if you just did it for the shoot,
09:24 or you actually use that in shows, and if it works?
09:27 Is that a fair question?
09:28 - No, because, baby, it fell off that day.
09:30 The hot glue wasn't enough.
09:31 So I could, I would love to,
09:33 and I would love for it to be fully functional, but baby.
09:36 - It was just for the art.
09:37 - It was for the art.
09:38 - I do it for the art, I'll do anything for the art, mama.
09:40 - I do get the sense that you have a very distinct style
09:43 when it comes to outfits and also your makeup.
09:45 I've seen it's really great.
09:46 Nobody is painting really like you are painting,
09:49 on the season especially.
09:50 So where did you hone your approach to style and makeup?
09:54 Like, what speaks to you
09:55 before you have to put it into a drag look?
09:57 - I'm just excited by bright colors, bold patterns.
10:01 I'm excited by, I love a little '80s reference or vibe,
10:05 like anything that sort of calls back to that style.
10:09 I love spacey things.
10:11 I also love executorial things, mama.
10:14 A blazer, that's where I'm home.
10:17 Put me in a blazer and I'll put you,
10:19 I'm not gonna finish that.
10:21 (laughing)
10:22 - What is it, a shoulder pad blazer?
10:24 I love a shoulder pad blazer.
10:24 - Shoulder pads make me so wet.
10:26 (sighing)
10:27 - This interview is like,
10:28 - I know, I really feel like we have to call HR.
10:31 I'm not even horny is the thing.
10:33 - HR, please come crash this mandatory meeting.
10:36 (laughing)
10:36 Now, why do you think those sort of things,
10:40 like the '80s and all of this stuff that you just said,
10:42 why do you think that that is something that spoke,
10:45 or is there something that maybe happened
10:46 when you were younger,
10:47 or things that you were into when you were younger
10:48 that sort of have fallen to why
10:50 that's appealing to you now?
10:51 - I guess it sort of is like,
10:52 a lot of the music that my mom would play
10:55 on Saturday mornings when we cleaned the house.
10:57 It just sort of became ingrained in me
11:00 and I was like, oh, well, now I need to be the '80s,
11:03 you know, neon rock diva.
11:05 - Yeah.
11:06 (upbeat music)
11:09 So there are a few questions that I'm asking to everybody
11:14 on this cast, getting some very interesting answers.
11:17 So without spoiling too much,
11:19 we know that the twists are coming on "Drag Race"
11:21 as they do every year.
11:23 So what can you tease about maybe the level of gaggery
11:26 and twistery that's coming up?
11:27 And also how do you think season 16 steps it up
11:29 from what we've seen in past seasons of "Drag Race"?
11:32 - I think season 16 is giving fairy tale land,
11:37 it's giving "Nightmare Alley"
11:40 and like when you see it, it actually is gonna make sense.
11:43 That's the crazy thing.
11:45 - "Nightmare Alley" on "Drag Race."
11:46 - It's goopery, it's gaggery,
11:47 it's like there was a lot of conflama
11:49 and a lot of moments where like me and the girls were like,
11:52 wait, what?
11:53 (beep)
11:54 - Okay, always a good reaction.
11:55 - Yeah, and we sort of just were like, wait a second.
11:58 So now we have to put this in.
12:01 Okay, yes, RuPaul, great.
12:04 - It's just like smiling, but like dying on the inside.
12:06 Like, okay.
12:07 - No, I mean, it was like so much fun,
12:09 but we were like, we were very confused a lot of times
12:12 when we were, 'cause there's just so much that we did
12:14 that has never been done before.
12:16 - Oh, okay.
12:17 - It's really like, they're shaking it up, mama.
12:19 - Good, I'd be very excited to see that.
12:21 So who do you think this year needs
12:23 the Mistress Isabel Brooks "Drag Delusion" vaccine?
12:26 If you had to give it to a few of your cast mates,
12:28 who would it be?
12:29 - I would give it to all of them,
12:33 but definitely Plasma, Delulu, Honey.
12:38 - Theater queens usually are.
12:41 - They are.
12:42 And see, and I see it and I recognize it.
12:45 - That's why you're a reformed theater queen.
12:47 - Okay, listen, Honey, it could never be me,
12:51 even though it used to be.
12:54 She's Delulu, Dawn is crazy too.
12:58 - I've heard that Dawn is evil.
12:59 That's what I'm being told, that Dawn is evil.
13:00 - Oh, Dawn is actually the worst person I've ever met.
13:03 She's so nasty.
13:04 I actually, she kind of bullied me on the season.
13:08 That didn't actually happen.
13:09 - There's so many lies in this interview.
13:10 - I know, I know.
13:11 - Well, I did condone it.
13:12 I did condone the lie earlier,
13:14 so we now do not know what is true.
13:16 - Well, I mean, if that did happen,
13:18 it would be in violation of the spoiler rule.
13:20 - Very true.
13:21 - She might've bullied somebody though.
13:22 - Okay, all right.
13:23 - That I'll just.
13:24 - I'll take that, I'll take that.
13:26 - If there was like a mood word
13:27 that you could use to describe something
13:30 that you are either excited about
13:32 or nervous about for fans to see
13:34 with regards to your appearance on the show.
13:36 - I'm excited for them to see everything I did,
13:39 to be honest.
13:40 I've had a lot of fun out there.
13:43 I really gave it my all.
13:45 - All right, well, that brings to a close
13:47 our mandatory meeting with a mandatory meeting.
13:50 Thank you so much for being here.
13:52 This was really a lot of fun to talk with you.
13:54 I am so excited to see what you do.
13:55 You were just, you crack me up so much.
13:58 I really enjoyed doing all the research on you.
14:00 So I can't wait to see what you do on the season
14:02 and stay tuned for more
14:03 with the cast of RuPaul's Drag Race Season 16.
14:05 - P.E.N.
14:06 (logo chimes)
14:09 [BLANK_AUDIO]