You gotta give it to Uma Gahd, who just finished her run on Canada's Drag Race Season 5 after one of the more controversial Snatch Games in franchise herstory (more on that later). You never knew what you were gonna get from Uma — in the best way possible. Name another drag performer whose inspirations range from Christian culture to rave culture, or from Mad Max to Full House. Uma served up looks — more than looks, moments — that were always uniquely ... well, Uma Gahd.
That's why it's a bittersweet farewell that we bid Uma after a truly memorable Snatch Game. But look at all this campy conceptual queen got to do! I mean, it's rare that the artsy weirdos of the cast also get the reputation as the Untucked shit-stirrer — but Uma's rivalry with Xana (and accidental tiff with Makayla Couture) is one for Canadian herstory books. Get you a queen who can do it all!
Following her exit from Canada's Drag Race Season 5, I got to chat with Uma Gahd about being an '80s baby on today's Drag Race, doing Karen O proud with a winning lip sync performance, and — most importantly, canonizing Stephanie Tanner as a queer icon. Sorta.
Brett White: What has it been like going through the holidays with Canada's Drag Race?
Uma Gahd: So the holidays were interesting this time, because I knew what was coming, and so I had to spend three days with my family, skirting all of the questions I didn't want to answer. But otherwise I had a fabulous time.
You approach drag at such a different direction. It feels like a lot of the Drag Race challenges are kind of geared towards the fierce, stunty queens. When it comes to challenges like the girl group, how does Uma Gahd approach that?
I started in drag in the Montreal Fringe Festival, so I started drag in a theater piece based around Canadian politics, gender identity, and drag, so I've always had this character approach to drag. When I got to the girl group challenge — the whole reason that I am who I am as a drag artist is because I said, "I'm not going to be Britney Spears." So then when they say "'90s girl group challenge," I went, "Well, hell." So I said, "Who is my character? What are we going to make this about? What is she feeling? What's her life experience?" And apparently her life experience is secret lesbianism, because lesbians are so important.
The season started off that way, too, with you having to write and perform a verse for the first challenge. Were you like, "Oh, they're throwing this into the deep end"?
I actually kind of loved it. The only episode that you're guaranteed to be on on Drag Race is the first one. And they really gave us every opportunity to tell the audience, "This is who I am." I got to show them kooky, retro Uma. I got to show them elevated eleganza deity Uma. And then I got to show them the silly, funny, goofy Uma in the verse. I felt fantastic doing it. I know that some people, my schtick is not their thing, but like, I am Gahd and I get to make the choices.
You got to put your theater background to work in the PSA challenge, which was a bizarre challenge. I know you do weird things in drag. How did making a PSA for an alien about humanity's concept of family compare?
Oh, I've done far weirder! I mean, in the first play that I wrote, we attacked our Prime Minister's wife with cats. In my one woman play, I talk about unsolicited dick pics. I've done post-apocalyptic toilet paper dances about compost toilets and anti-Trump stuff. I've done it all. That was, by far, not the weirdest!
I told Tara Nova that I loved her little alien character, and Sanjina pointed out to me that you were the only group to actually have an alien character.
That's right! People were giving Tara a hard time about that, but I think that we made a strong choice. Honestly, she did such a great job. Yes, we all could be bigger and crazier and louder, but it was her first time doing something like this because she's known for being gorgeous and sexy and a pop girl. And she said, "You know what? Give me the grape from outer space," and she threw herself into it. I love her for it.
When you chose to lip sync to "Heads Will Roll" in the Slayoffs, who did you think was going to pick that song on the other team?
Oh, I didn't care who was gonna pick it on the other team, because I knew I was gonna turn it out.
Yeah Yeah Yeahs is one of my favorite bands, so anytime I see that representation of, like, "gay stuff can also be this!" I was excited for that.
That was it, right? I knew, yes, the Priyanka song is super fierce, and then Tate McRae is one of the girls right now. I said, "I don't know nothing about these girls, but I know something about Yeah Yeah Yeahs, so I am going to turn this out and I know that I will." And so it was strategic, it was self-serving. And I know people had a lot of things to say about the that wig, but that wig? I put that wig on, and you can't tell me nothing. And I am sure that Karen O would agree.
Uh, yeah, because Karen O is a drag performer. All the outfits and makeup, her looks are so elaborate. You channeled that a lot more than Xana did. When did the friction with Xana start? Because if you watch Episode 1, you're not gonna clock that Uma and Xana are gonna be the two with a simmering rivalry.
I think that that's you've actually just summed it up, is that on day one, I feel like Xana walked in, and she said, "This goofy clown made of couch cushions over here is going to be a pushover." And I said, "Oh, I don't think so."
For the fast fashion challenge, your slow mo look was incredible. Did you have any conerns packing for Drag Race when, like, one of your looks is an ostrich?
[Laughs] No, because my husband, who is also my drag sister — yes, I know it's confusing, but we are a family — my husband we call the Mistress of Business because she can do anything anytime. As soon as all of this stuff got brought into our living room, I stepped away, and she packed it all beautifully. She Tetris'd the shit out of it. And then when I got there, I had to try to remember where everything is. And then when I had to pack everything back up, it was not nearly as nice as when she did it.
You got to do a whole episode "set" in the '90s. Drag Race queens get younger and younger every year. I'm 40, so I remember the '90s. What was it like being — I guess — one of the few queens that actually remembered what the '90s were like?
I think that there's only three of us that were actually old enough to remember the 90s, three or four of us. It was great for me because I was like, okay, these are references I understand. Some people were saying that the choreography that I made for our group was corny and I was like, "Yeah, did you ever see Stephanie Tanner dance? It was corny!"
The "Love Shack" dance, yes.
Exactly! In that moment, that's what I said. I said, "We're going to be Stephanie Tanner." My outfit for the runway was inspired by — when I used to get babysat, this is what the older girls, the girls who ran away from home sometimes, this is what they were wearing. Some of the kids did not get the reference. And I was like, 'That's fine, because you're an infant, but the adults are talking." [Laughs]
No, I totally got that. And I also appreciated that — whenever a queen comes to Drag Race with a signature makeup style, your cheek lines and nose, you run the risk of being told to change it up and then either succeeding like Crystal Methyd or failing like Dusty Ray Bottoms. So how do you vary things up while still retaining your Uma-ness?
Oh, yeah. When I went in, I knew that everyone was going to expect me to be this goofy old lady, but I knew that in the back of my bag, I have a whole lot of experience. My drag sister Selma runs a drag show called Coven, and it's a little bit more like Dragula. That's where my skin eating number comes from. So all of these things that I've shown on the runway are authentically the drag that I do. I am a little bit too weird for the mainstream girls, and I'm a little bit too mainstream for the weird girls, but I find this really beautiful bridge in between and I love to run back and forth. I just knew that when I went on the show, I wasn't going to try to tone myself down, to be more palatable, to be more accepted, to be more winning. I was going to be me, because what was important for me was that my people got to see me on screen. Now, those people know where to find me.
Now that you've watched the Snatch Game, where do you stand on the great debate about the Snatch Game of Season 5?
Oh, actually getting to see what they put on the show just confirmed for me that it wasn't that bad. I was in the room. I got to hear the laughs. We're all trying to stay in character, but there's moments when we laughed. There was really great moments. They can't show all of them, because it's a one hour episode, but there was great jokes, and I still stand by it. I felt like Brooke was in a mood because of the reading challenge, and she brought it over into the Snatch Game. She's lovely but I think she was wrong, and I maintain that.
I don't think anyone would have guessed that Uma Gahd was going to be the one with the most pop off moments in Untucked. What is it like being in that moment? Do you think about the TV of it all or are you just so in the moment?
Yes and no. In the moment with Makayla Couture, that was just me trying to say, like, "No, don't let me be misunderstood, because your misunderstanding is hurting your feelings. You think I'm saying something that I'm not, so let's clarify that. Get it over with and move on." And we did, like, as soon as it happened. But for instance, when I was talking to Sanjina about how I thought that Perla had done better in the [Slayoffs] lip sync, I didn't need to do all that in that moment. It just feels like a bunch of girls sitting together in a room and we're kiki'ing with each other, and then you remember later on, you're like, "Oh, wait, this is going to be on TV and some snotty little troll on Twitter is going to use this as fuel to bad mouth my friend Sanjina." So I regretted doing that. I should have just lifted Perla up and told her how great I thought she did, and then left it at that. But in the end, once I saw it from the front, Sanjina absolutely held her own in that lip sync and I lived for it.
It was great getting to chat, and I am glad we got to see your unique take on drag on Drag Race.
You know what? It's the camp factor. It's why I'm kind of hoping that I can get on to UK vs. the World, because they love a camp old cow. I am camp, old, and a cow, so let's do it.
Follow Uma Gahd on Instagram at @umagahd. New episodes of Canada's Drag Race Season 5 premiere on Thursdays on WOW Presents Plus.
