Trixie and Katya is a

comedy duo A double act (also known as a comedy duo) is a form of comedy originating in the British music hall tradition, and American vaudeville, in which two comedians perform together as a single act. Pairings are typically long-term, in some cases f ...

consisting of

drag queen A drag queen is a person, usually male, who uses drag clothing and makeup to imitate and often exaggerate female gender signifiers and gender roles for entertainment purposes. Historically, drag queens have usually been gay men, and part of ...

Trixie Mattel Brian Michael Firkus (born August 23, 1989), better known by the stage name Trixie Mattel, is an American drag queen, television personality, and singer-songwriter originally from Milwaukee, Wisconsin. She is known for her exaggerated, high-camp ...

(Brian Firkus) and

Katya Zamolodchikova Brian Joseph McCook, known by his drag persona Yekaterina Petrovna Zamolodchikova (russian: Екатерина Петровна Замолодчикова), or mononymously as Katya (russian: Катя), is an American drag queen, actor, author ...

(Brian McCook). The two have been known for their individual careers as entertainers and often as a popular double act. They first met as contestants on the seventh season of ''

RuPaul's Drag Race ''RuPaul's Drag Race'' is an American reality competition television series, the first in the ''Drag Race'' franchise, produced by World of Wonder for Logo TV (season 1–8), WOW Presents Plus, VH1 (season 9–14) and, beginning with the f ...

'' and quickly became audience favourites, developing an even larger audience as they began to appear together in December 2015 on

YouTube YouTube is a global online video sharing and social media platform headquartered in San Bruno, California. It was launched on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim. It is owned by Google, and is the second mo ...

Style and performance

The comedic style of Trixie and Katya developed through the filming of their webseries '' UNHhhh'' and is often based around drag and

improvisational comedy Improvisational theatre, often called improvisation or improv, is the form of theatre, often comedy, in which most or all of what is performed is unplanned or unscripted: created spontaneously by the performers. In its purest form, the dialogue, a ...

. The pair have also acted together on live stage productions and feature as a double act in a variety of drag performances including a stage production drag remake of cult film ''

Romy and Michele's High School Reunion ''Romy and Michele's High School Reunion'' is a 1997 American comedy film directed by David Mirkin and starring Mira Sorvino, Lisa Kudrow, and Janeane Garofalo. The plot revolves around two 28-year-old girls who appear to have not achieved much s ...

'' titled ''Trixie and Katya's High School Reunion'' as well as a live show in Las Vegas in 2019. Their comedy often plays on the contrast between the two drag queens, with Trixie being a self-described

workaholic A workaholic is a person who works compulsively. A workaholic experiences an inability to limit the amount of time they spend on work despite negative consequences such as damage to their relationships or health. There is no generally accepted ...

and

entrepreneur Entrepreneurship is the creation or extraction of economic value. With this definition, entrepreneurship is viewed as change, generally entailing risk beyond what is normally encountered in starting a business, which may include other values t ...

, and Katya having a much more chaotic and carefree personality which is often the catalyst for the absurdist humor that many of their conversations develop into. The two often make fun of

LGBT stereotypes Stereotypes about lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) people are based on their sexual orientations, gender identities, or gender expressions. Stereotypical perceptions may be acquired through interactions with parents, teachers, peers ...

as well as

popular culture Popular culture (also called mass culture or pop culture) is generally recognized by members of a society as a set of practices, beliefs, artistic output (also known as, popular art or mass art) and objects that are dominant or prevalent in a ...

. In their live shows they often incorporate music from their own individual careers as well as a variety of sketches, improvisation and dance choreographed by

Laganja Estranja Jay Evan Jackson, known professionally as Laganja Estranja (born December 28, 1988) is an American choreographer and drag queen based in Los Angeles. Laganja competed on the sixth season of ''RuPaul's Drag Race'', finishing in eighth place. She ...

. Trixie and Katya often credit their editors Christopher Smith and Ron Hill for much of the success of ''UNHhhh'', citing that their style of editing is an important part of the comedy style of the show.

Web series and TV

The two first appeared together on the seventh season of ''

'' first aired on March 2, 2015, although not as a duo but as individual contestants on the show. They first appeared as a double act on World of Wonder's YouTube channel on December 31, 2015 as guest hosts of the web series ''Fashion Photo RuView'', usually hosted by fellow drag queens

Raja ''Raja'' (; from , IAST ') is a royal title used for South Asian monarchs. The title is equivalent to king or princely ruler in South Asia and Southeast Asia. The title has a long history in South Asia and Southeast Asia, being attested f ...

and Raven. The positive reception for that episode resulted in World of Wonder launching '' UNHhhh'', a comedy web series featuring the duo. The series became one of the most successful shows on the ''WOW Presents'' YouTube channel and earned them their first Streamy Award nomination for Show of the Year at the

7th Streamy Awards The 7th Annual Streamy Awards was the seventh installment of the Streamy Awards honoring the best in American streaming television series and their creators. The awards were broadcast live from Twitter on September 26, 2017 from The Beverly Hilton ...

. In November 2017, Trixie and Katya's web series was suspended after its second season and the two started '' The Trixie & Katya Show'' on the TV network

Viceland Viceland (stylized in all caps), and Vice TV in the United States, are brands used for television channels owned and programmed by Vice Media. Viceland launched on February 29, 2016, with two branded cable channels; the American version (rebra ...

. The show was similar to ''UNHhhh'' but its format was adapted for a television audience. ''The Trixie & Katya Show'' was cancelled after one season and the series returned to YouTube for its third season in October 2018. On 21 April 2021, ''UNHhhh'' debuted its sixth season. In November 2019, Trixie and Katya began starring in '' I Like to Watch'', a comedy web series produced and streamed by

Netflix Netflix, Inc. is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming service and production company based in Los Gatos, California. Founded in 1997 by Reed Hastings and Marc Randolph in Scotts Valley, California, it offers a fi ...

on its YouTube channel. On December 12, 2020 Trixie and Katya hosted the

10th Streamy Awards The 10th Annual Streamy Awards was the tenth installment of the Streamy Awards honoring the best in American streaming television series and their creators. The ceremony was held on December 12, 2020, hosted by drag queens Trixie Mattel and Katya ...

. To adhere to

social distancing In public health, social distancing, also called physical distancing, (NB. Regula Venske is president of the PEN Centre Germany.) is a set of non-pharmaceutical interventions or measures intended to prevent the spread of a contagious dis ...

restrictions, the duo presented the awards by driving a

party bus A party bus (also known as a party ride, limo bus, limousine bus, party van, or luxury bus) is a large motor vehicle usually derived from a conventional bus or coach, but modified and designed to carry 10 or more people for recreational purposes. ...

around Los Angeles. On May 27, 2021, the two announced the launch of their own YouTube channel which also features a video version of their

podcast A podcast is a program made available in digital format for download over the Internet. For example, an episodic series of digital audio or video files that a user can download to a personal device to listen to at a time of their choosin ...

Books, podcast and newsletter

On July 14, 2020 Trixie and Katya released their book '' Trixie and Katya's Guide to Modern Womanhood'', which is also available as an

audiobook An audiobook (or a talking book) is a recording of a book or other work being read out loud. A reading of the complete text is described as "unabridged", while readings of shorter versions are abridgements. Spoken audio has been available in sc ...

read by the authors. The book is a mixture of self-help and comedy. On April 8, 2022 Penguin announced that Trixie and Katya's second book in a similar vein to the first, ''Working Girls: Trixie & Katya's Guide to Professional Womanhood'', would be released on October 25, 2022. On October 6, 2020 the duo premiered a new

called ''The Bald and the Beautiful''. The show features various guests who often join Trixie and Katya in their conversations. As of June 2021 it became available as a video podcast as well as audio. On August 18, 2021 Trixie and Katya released ''Gooped'', a humorous lifestyle newsletter and blog on the online platform

Substack Substack is an American online platform that provides publishing, payment, analytics, and design infrastructure to support subscription newsletters. It allows writers to send digital newsletters directly to subscribers. Founded in 2017, Substack ...

Tours and live shows

On July 7, 2021 the duo announced their first US tour together called ''Trixie and Katya LIVE''. On May 27, 2022 they released tickets for a European leg of the tour scheduled for November and December 2022. The two are accompanied in their tour performances by fellow drag queen

Kelly Mantle Kelly Leroy Mantle (born July 9, 1976), is an American actor, singer-songwriter, comedian, musician, drag queen, and reality television personality. Mantle appeared as a contestant on the sixth season of the reality TV show ''RuPaul's Drag Race ...

Awards and nominations

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Trixie and Katya Comedy duos 1982 births 1989 births Living people