Queens Like to Watch: How Trixie Mattel and Katya Give Streaming a New Perspective
All Stars Drag Queens
Trixie Mattel entered the drag queen scene in 2008 in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. She performed in drag at the LaCage NiteClub for many years before being introduced to the public on a grand scale in 2015, when she competed in Season 7 of Logo TV’s Ru Paul’s Drag Race. While she did not win, she was eliminated (twice); Trixie Mattel placed sixth overall in the competition and first in fans’ hearts.
Quickly a fan favorite due to her unique style and quick-witted sense of humor, Trixie went on to perform stand-up comedy with her tour Ages 3 and Up over the next two years.
Yekaterina Petrovna Zamolodchikova, more commonly called Katya, started doing drag performances in 2006. She hosted monthly drag shows at the Jacques Cabaret in Boston, Massachusetts. Like Trixie Mattel, Katya made her big television debut in 2015 when she was cast as a contestant on Season 7 of Ru Paul’s Drag Race. She, unfortunately, had to sashay away due to a lip-sync competition on the eleventh episode of the season, landing her a fifth-place finish.
In 2016 Katya was invited to star in Ru Paul’s Drag Race sister show, All Stars, where the best of the best contestants were picked from the second to the seventh season of Drag Race to compete for the ultimate crown.
This time Katya made it to the finals before losing in a lip-sync battle to drag queens Alaska and Detox, finishing in 3rd place.
Trixie’s turn to be an All-Star came in 2018. She was chosen to compete in the third season of the show. In a magnificent show of growth in style, technique, and artistry, compared to her first season on TV, Trixie Mattel made it to the finals, where she took home 1st place and the $100,000 cash prize!
“UNHhhh,” A Queer Comedy Goldmine
Through the years after their initial rise to fame on Drag Race, Trixie and Katya became internet sensations among the LGBTQ+ community. Apart from their obvious talent and showmanship, their online presence can be heavily attributed to World of Wonder’s launching of the web series UNHhhh featuring the two drag queens.
Only a year after Trixie and Katya’s TV debut on Drag Race, the two starred in the comedy web series, where the crux of the show was essentially the two sitting on bar stools in a studio with a green screen while they humorously discussed a random topic. Episodes averaged a 10 to 20 minutes long, with the first season airing 65 episodes.
The first episode of the series, however, has a total runtime of 4 minutes and 21 seconds and has over 3.8 million views on YouTube today. What set UNHhhh apart from other web shows at the time was the focus on queer comedy.
As drag queens Trixie and Katya had a unique perspective on the queer experience, and people in the community were eager to listen to what they had to say. Many people found their content and opinions relatable in some way or entertaining, at the very least. They’re both loud, boisterous, and unapologetically themselves every time they’re on screen, which resonates with audiences. This and the fact that they were genuinely funny and honest in their discussions helped with the sharability factor of the YouTube videos.
Eight seasons later, the show is still going strong today, with eight seasons and 211 episodes, millions of subscribers, and over 400 million views.
Netflix Comes A-Knockin’
I Like to Watch is a series created by Netflix for Netflix. Premiering on their Still Watching channel, I Like to Watch stars Trixie and Katya, sometimes accompanied by special guests like drag queens Jujubee or Jinkx Monsoon. In this web series, the comedy duo watches and reacts to several different Netflix programs, including original shows and films. The web show resembles the viral reaction videos in the early to mid-2010s, made famous by YouTube channels like the REACT channel created by The Fine Bros.
The first season aired in late 2019 and ended in March 2020 with nine episodes total. Here Trixie and Katya watched and reviewed shows like The Crown, The Circle, and The Chilling Adventures of Sabrina. With Trixie and Katya already having a large following on YouTube and social media, their audience flocked to the Still Watching Netflix channel generating a ton of buzz around its release.
The first episode consisted of the duo watching and commenting on the third season of Netflix’s The Crown. The 12-minute video currently has 3.1 million views. Netflix banked on the fact that Trixie and Katya had an established fan base, with the video’s description stating, “Trixie and Katya fans rejoice! The Drag Race All Stars have a new show, ‘I Like to Watch,’ where they watch Netflix shows and give us their take.”
Comments under that video pleading Netflix to give them their own show on the platform, one fan saying, “This is one of the best decisions Netflix has ever made.” Another, “Have I seen a single episode of The Crown? No. Am I still watching this for Katya and Trixie? Absolutely.”
This comedic marketing strategy has done well with audiences online. Despite it being on Netflix’s YouTube channel, the hosts never pander to their sponsors and fans like that. If the duo deems something in a show or movie cringe-worthy or objectively bad, they are not afraid to say it. This simple action helps build trust with the audience watching their content. If they can count on Trixie and Katya to be honest with them when something is not good, they can count on their transparency when they like something.
They Are Winners, Baby!
The web series was well-received by audiences and critics alike. While fans were already in love with the formatting of the new series, critics complimented the duo on their ability to make film and TV commentary as entertaining as they are, Kistry Puchko from Pajiba calling them “a blend of whimsy, wackiness, and raunch so intoxicating it feels like downing a pair of Absolut Vodka cocktails.”
Amid the pandemic, Trixie and Katya continued to film for Still Watching Netflix remotely, bringing some much-needed lighthearted entertainment during a stressful and frightening time. The New York Times added it to their list of comforting reality shows that year.
In 2022 I Like to Watch was nominated for two Webby Awards; Art & Entertainment Social Video and Art & Entertainment Social Video (People’s Choice), for which they won the latter. They were again nominated for the 2023 Webby Awards earlier this May, winning the Television & Film, Social Video category beating the viral “Negroni Sbagliato” moment from HBO Max’s House of Dragons press tour.
Their Impact on the LGBTQ+ Community
Trixie Mattel and Katya have created a safe space online for queer people and the LGBTQ+ community. And what Netflix has done is elevate their voices while promoting their own media and intellectual property. Both the drag queen icons and the streaming platform get something out of this transaction, not to mention the audience members who are consistently entertained by their antics.
Through their commentary on the movies and shows they watch, Trixie and Katya invite audiences to view media through a queer lens. Often bringing attention to or mentioning how certain characters or actions on screen relate to the queer experience, making comments like, “This got gay real quick,” and “But that’s how gay all our friends are.” Highlighting in recognition moments in media that might be often overlooked by non-queer commentators online and viewers at home, things that may not be as recognizable because they are not mainstream.
I Like to Watch is at the beginning of its 5th season, with 87 episodes aired so far, the latest of which had them watching Netflix’s new show Queen Charlotte: A Bridgerton Story, garnering over half a million views within the first week of its release. There is a clear market for this type of content, and Trixie and Katya show no signs of slowing down anytime soon.
With a live tour across the U.S. happening, a new season of UNHhhh premiering, and their joint podcast The Bald and Beautiful still going strong since its inception in 2020, the future looks bright for these All-Stars!
