Morgan Lavoie

So tell me about that.

Keeping costs low. Yes. No, perfect. And so when so you said you're getting paid like a hundred bucks, maybe. So is that normally the structure? It's like you'll get a fee and then tips.

So how much, like, say the Blue Moon, where, you know, bar in Pittsburgh, where you're a big part of the legacy there. How much would somebody make in tips a night there?

$20?

Yeah. Yeah. And so what are the what are the costs? How does it get so expensive?

Yeah. And do you think because I was thinking about it and not every job has such startup costs like that.

And so you really have to be willing to invest in yourself.

And so did that make you feel differently, do you think, than if you had a job where like you could have just jumped into it? Like, do you feel like you were more confident because you're investing or did you feel like I got to make this work because I'm like putting my money into it?

Just wasn't.

Yeah.

So but pre-drag race, it sounds like you were not making enough money from drag that you could live on. You were like working in coffee shops, doing other things.

Is that right? And then when you were in L.A., you got a shitty apartment so that you could save for a second audition tape for drag race, right?

So you did your audition tape for season two. You auditioned every year until season five.

And so I also read it in your memoir that you said that early on you were like, I'm going to be famous. And when I'm famous, all my problems are going to go away. Yeah.

The folly of youth. And so when you did get cast, did you think this is it? I'm going to be famous and all of my problems are going to go away?

And so how have you had to think about redefining success for yourself so that you can feel like it's not tied to fame, but it's tied to maybe something that is self-worth, happiness.

Yeah.

Yeah.

It's exactly like the movie The Substance.

Before you got that call saying that you were on Drag Race, were you stressed about money?