There's something very meta, very cheeky about the drag name Lazy Susan. It's a hilariously inane reference, elevating a spinning shelf to the level of glitz and glam befitting a queen. When it's applied to the winner of Drag Race Down Under Season 4, the name "Lazy Susan" gets an ironic twist. This queen is anything but lazy.
Of all the Season 4 queens, Lazy Susan did the most at all times. She punctuated every runway look a stunt, every confessional with a punch line, every interaction with a read. You never knew what Lazy Susan was going to wear, do, or say next — and that's what made her an early standout, a fan favorite, and a winner, baby.
Following her crowning moment in late December, Pop Heist got the chance to check in with Down Under's Next Drag Superstar as she readied herself for her reign.
Brett White: How does it feel to be the winner of Drag Race Down Under? I'll start with the most basic question possible.
Lazy Susan: It feels really good. I think because there's been a little bit of time between it happening and us now talking, I feel like I'm finally settling in. The shock of it actually happening was incredible and bizarre. And now I feel like I'm finally settling into the reality of it, which is suddenly having to care about how my makeup looks in public, which is a real drag.
Have you talked to previous winners Kita Mean, Spankie Jackzon, or Isis Avis Loren? Are they giving you tips?
Yeah, I got added to the winners' group chat, where all the secrets happen. They've been really lovely. The whole process from go to whoa, all of those girlies have supported all of the Season 4 divas. They are very, very sweet. It's quite a close knit little family down here.
The cast of Season 4 was so wild. What was it like going into Season 4 and then seeing this cast? When did you notice like, this is not going to be easy?
Day one, really, like, straight away. I think it is a bizarre thing about fourth seasons of these shows, because you're not the first out the gate. You're not the household names because obviously our Season 1 was stacked with all of the most famous Down Under drag queens. And then Season 2, once again, you're using up the backlog. You've got your Minnie Coopers and your Spankies and Kweens and everything. Season 4 is when you get to the people that have shit to prove, people that are really hungry. We were not the first pick to go to the dance. And so there's something about really wanting it and really trying to prove something that makes you up your ante. And so I think everyone in that room wanted to prove that they were worthy of being in that room.
Queens have tried to do stunts like your liquid dreams look, where you spout water and it changes the color of your dress. Bimini on UK Season 2 tried pop balloons expecting paint to splatter out, and it did not work. How did you ensure that all of your stunts actually worked?
I think it was luck. You see this happen a lot. You do need to engineer to a certain degree, but at a certain point, you just have to pray that it goes okay on the day. Five minutes before I went out on the runway in my Lazy Susan spinning dress, the spinning mechanism was jamming up and it needed to be finessed. And I was having a full panic attack because it wasn't going to spin. You do as much as you can in prep to workshop stuff, and then you have to go with God. And I think God (or the devil). But I think anytime you see something like the Bimini experience, where it doesn't quite work out, you know that we're living in the worst timeline where those things just don't get to be incredible.
And finding out that Michelle Visage was going to be the judge for the season — was there any disappointment that RuPaul wasn't going to be there?
They told us beforehand, before we actually got on our flights. And the way that they said it to us was, "If this affects anything or whatever, you know, you can go your own way." They were kind of on edge to say it to us — and to me it was like this sigh of relief, because I love RuPaul. I think RuPaul is kind of a deity. But in a way, that makes me feel like it would be impossible to actually see her in person. I still can kind of believe that she doesn't exist. So for me, because I'd met Michelle before and she has much more of an approachable air, I was like, "Oh, good. I can deal with this. I can imagine this. I can conceptualize," whereas being in the same room as RuPaul is almost just too much to deal with.
It also speaks to Michelle's own history in this community, which we don't actually explore enough. I like that when talking about your Double Dipping look, she was like, "I came up as a Club Kid. I knew Leigh Bowery." It's great for her to have a reason to say, "I come from this, too."
That's the thing. I keep saying this, but I think we are the first season to be judged by — head judge — by a cis woman, which is amazing to me. As in every industry in the world, women who are intensely overqualified and have done the job for 20 years, it takes that amount of time for them to finally get promoted. So I'm really glad — and women are such an important part, both as drag queens and as supporters in the drag community. So it's so exciting to have that recognized by the show.
Your season also had other drag queens on the panel, people that have been through this before. Having Kween Kong and Elektra Shock choreograph, they know what it's like to do these challenges. And then you also have Maxi Shield just walk into the Werk Room for a minute.
Oh, my God. Maxi brought us chocolate. She came, she gave us all chocolate, and she left. It was the best day. It's amazing. Coming up in drag competitions as I did, that is a drag competition. You have to be judged by your peers. You have to be given the opportunity to show your work to people you really respect. Having those girls back in the room, it took away the fear of a celebrity's judgment and put it in a place of excitement, of being able to show off your cool stuff to gals you actually do really care about.
My main question for you, though: Why didn't you go with the superstar horse on Snatch Game?
Poor Phar Lap. I really do suffer this kind of like, "I'm doing what I want and that's the way it's going to be." And so I had always fantasized about doing this specific Lindsay Lohan impression, just because after years of honing it, it was so accurate. And so I really want to go for accuracy over a joke or a gag or whatever. Obviously it's meant to be a sketch comedy kind of thing, but I was like, if I just do an exact Lindsay Lohan, then I might win. And unfortunately, comedy won over kind of authenticity.
Didn't someone do ... Gottmik did a horse in Snatch Game. That's what it was. Gottmik did the ...
Gottmik did a horse?
No, the dog! Gottmik did Lassie! That's what I was thinking of.
Oh, she did Lassie.
Yeah, and it kind of feels like your horse could have had the same Old Hollywood animal energy.
I mean, Phar Lap — there's always other iterations of the show. We'll bring Phar Lap back. You don't understand how famous this fucking horse is in Australia. Like, he was so famous that when he went to the States to compete, the mafia were intimidated by his presence in the race, so they assassinated this horse. Isn't that incredible?
This is a whole woman show, I think.
I mean, wait for it. It's gonna be my Oh, Mary!
What was it like when you saw Plane Jane name her drag daughter Lazi Susan on Season 16's makeover challenge?
As someone who's been trying to get on the show for a long time, every episode of the show you watch is a potential knife in the back because you're waiting for someone to take an idea that you've had — an outfit plan or whatever. When that happened, I was like, "Well, there it goes." But, you know, at the end of the day, it's good for the SEO of it all, you know. There are a few Lazy Susans in the world that have claimed the name. There's a gorgeous one in Brighton in the UK, and there's a mom in the US in Massachusetts, it's her Instagram handle. So I like to collect all the Lazy Susans, and we're forming a Ministry of Susan, you know, to kind of run the world.
What is Lazy Susan's reign gonna look like? What are you looking forward to doing?
I think my main plan is to try and combine drag with my filmmaking/TV background. I want to try and get some more drag on television, now more than ever.
Follow Lazy Susan on Instagram at @mslazysusan. All seasons of Drag Race Down Under are streaming on WOW Presents Plus.
