February 2, 2009. Barack Obama had been president for 13 days. Lady Gaga scored her first #1 single with her debut, "Just Dance." Liam Neeson entered his action daddy era with the release of the very first Taken film. And a little show called RuPaul's Drag Race premiered on a little network called Logo. With what looked like a modest-size garage for a soundstage and drag supplied by Wet Seal, those nine drag queens made history herstory — and they did it all through a filter that could blur the wrinkles off a bulldog.
And y'all — herstory history is repeating itself. It's about damn time.
The year is 2025 and — okay, I don't need to run through any current events because holy shit, but ... a little show called King of Drag just debuted on a little streaming service called Revry. The obvious comparisons to RuPaul's Drag Race are clear, and there's no need to unpack all of them. What is worth unpacking, though, is how King of Drag's arrival updates Drag Race's premise, picks up a torch that was dropped long ago, and completely reframes how we see drag on TV.
The basics: King of Drag is the first-ever drag king competition series — yes, drag kings. As long as there have been drag queens, there have been drag kings (and also drag performers all across that imaginary binary). And as drag queens have become more and more accepted by mainstream audiences (although not accepted enough! And things are sliding backwards! Oh my god!), those in the know have been eagerly waiting for drag kings to get their time to shine. That time is now.
Hosted by the legendary Murray Hill, who you may recognize from HBO's Somebody Somewhere or Hulu's Drag Me to Dinner, 10 kings from across the country compete in "Beefy Challenges" showcasing their Daring, Innovation, Creativity, and Kharisma (with a K) in the hopes of being crowned the first ever King of Drag (and scoring a ton of prizes, including $10,000 cash). All that sounds, familiar, right? It should, to any Drag Race fan out there. But King of Drag isn't stealing from Drag Race — it's doing something so much deeper and funnier than just calling its Werk Room the Man Cave (but also, yes, please, let kings co-opt the term "Man Cave").
Fans of today's Drag Race probably can't imagine what it was like to watch the show in 2009. And now that the show has become such a global juggernaut, it's hard to see it as anything other than the most important competition on TV (yes, that includes the "Super Bowl" or whatever). But when Drag Race premiered, it was a parody show. America's Next Top Model and Project Runway were the competition shows du jour, and everything from Drag Race's format to RuPaul's self-seriousness was a riff on the shows that the queer community was obsessed with at the moment.
Enter: King of Drag. At this moment, Drag Race has ascended to the level of the very shows it was initially poking fun at — if not higher. Top Model never won no Emmys! Even The Boulet Brothers' Dragula, the OG riff on Drag Race with a horror twist, has leveled up and created its own drag superstars (like drag king Landon Cider, an upcoming judge on King of Drag).
King of Drag — a scrappy, 6-episode season wherein the queens have 90 minutes to do what RuGirls get a whole weekend (off-camera) to do — is giving us 2009 in the best way possible. Except, like, without the filter. Everything is in HD. Everyone looks handsome as hell.
But the real revolution — Murray-volution? We as a community gotta figure out a way to work Murray Hill's name into words — is in what King of Drag brings to the table, the thick steak that stands out among all the plates of Drag Race pastiche. I'm talking drag king excellence. For too long, I've listened to dum-dums say that drag kings aren't as entertaining, over-the-top, or exquisite as drag queens. This cast? This cast punts those concerns like a football through that tuning fork shaped thing. Field goal. God, I have to figure out manly metaphors now.
Y'all think kings don't wear enough makeup? Look at Henlo Bullfrog's airbrushed mug. Y'all think kings don't serve body transformation? Buck Wylde wasn't born with those pecs, okay? Y'all think kings can't serve glitz? Be blinded by the bling of Pressure K's sequined jersey. Y'all think kings can't be sexy? King Molasses has a swagger that will convince you otherwise. Y'all think kings can't be funny? Take one look at Big D's mug. The kings both rule and serve.
We're just one episode in and I can confidently say that we all deserve more — more than just a six-episode Season 1. Revry and the King of Drag team built something special here, using Drag Race as the blueprint. And just as Drag Race has evolved beyond a Top Model spoof, King of Drag deserves the same trajectory.
But I'm getting ahead of myself. Right now, King of Drag is a damn delight to behold. And right now, in this moment, it's the all-inclusive, trans-empowering, gender-revelatory and -celebratory viewing experience that we need. I am ready to watch these kings conquer.
King of Drag is available to stream for free on Revry
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