-♪ She is the queen of the moment ♪
♪ She is the queen of the night ♪
♪ And she brought the heavens and brought the light ♪
♪ She's the queen of the universe ♪
♪ Queen of the universe ♪
-Welcome back to "Late Night." We're here with Graham Norton.
That was a clip from "Queen of the Universe."
Now, these are -- these are drag queens
on this show with great talent,
like, not just talent as drag sort of connoisseurs,
but also, like, great, really wonderful singers.
-If you watch "Drag Race" and you think,
"Mm, I like it, but why the lip-synching?"
then this is the show for you.
Because they sing, and not just --
I mean, some of them are incredible.
I mean, some of them are opera singers,
and, you know, some of them not so much,
but it's a competition. -Yeah.
-You know, we need -- we need some cannon fodder.
So... [ Laughter ]
But by the end, they're all very good.
-Yeah, yeah, and it's a little fun
to watch the cannon fodder early on.
-It is great fun, and it's one of those shows,
it's just joy.
It is such a fun show.
It's such a fun show to be part of.
And, you know, it's got the panel.
Mel B, Vanessa Williams, Michelle Visage is on it,
Trixie Mattel, so it's a really fun panel.
-And you -- So, RuPaul is someone you met a long time ago.
Did you meet here in New York?
-We met in New York. I think I saw a picture.
There's a -- I think I met him
at a Wigstock a thousand years ago.
We have a photo, and it turns out Ru is taller than you.
-Ru is definitely taller than me.
[ Laughter ]
[ Cheers and applause ]
And now, I'm -- I'm not a doctor,
but I think one of us is aging better than the other.
[ Laughter ]
-Let's leave that to the doctors, Graham.
-Unchanged. Untouched by time.
Meanwhile -- Jesus.
-It's like you guys made a deal where you're like,
"I'll take the years for both of us."
[ Laughter ]
-Yeah, it's my gift to drag.
-But did you do some drag early on in your career?
-Oh, well, my -- This is weird.
The first thing I ever did --
There's a big, long story behind it.
But the first thing I ever did in comedy
was a one-person show
called "Mother Teresa of Calcutta's Grand Farewell Tour."
And I played -- I played Mother Teresa
draped in Irish linen tea towels.
And she spoke with an Irish accent,
which, weirdly, is true,
because she learned her English from some nuns in Dublin.
-Oh, my goodness. -I know.
Fun fact. Write that down.
You won't remember it in the morning.
And that was my first thing. So it wasn't really drag.
-Yeah, it didn't seem like you were putting the full effort into it.
-No, I really, really wasn't. Yeah.
-Do you like -- Have you met over the years,
any drag names come across?
Any drag names you like more than others?
-I mean, the drag names I like are just the rude ones.
-The really offensive. -I mean really terrible.
I mean really offensive. This may be beeped, but...
So there was one drag queen I met,
and everyone just called her Anna.
Anna -- This is the drag queen Anna.
And then when she went onstage,
they introduced her with her full name, Ann Abortion.
[ Laughter ]
Oddly --
Oddly, in Tennessee, she's now banned twice.
-Yeah, she can't do it.
I think it's like two negatives. It makes a positive.
-Yeah. She's back. -She's actually thriving, yeah.
That's a really -- That's a good one.
-I mean, another --
I mean, I like the way that drag queens
don't think things through. -Yeah.
-So they just know there's got to be a woman's name in it
and then a funny play on words in the second bit.
So da-da-da.
So there was a drag queen in New York
who thought it was a good idea to call themselves Holly Caust.
-Oh, boy.
-And then someone explained to her --
'cause she was going, "I don't get many gigs.
I'm not working as much as I thought I would."
And they go, "Do you think it's the name?
Do you think it's the name?" And she went, "Oh, okay."
And just changed it to Holly Days.
-And there you go. -There you go.
-And now bounced right back.
-Yeah. Working all the time now. Yeah.
-You're also doing Eurovision.
I feel like this is -- [ Audience cheering ]
There we go. Some. I'm glad.
Definitely getting a foothold here.
-This year, it's in the U.K. -Okay.
-It hasn't been in the U.K. for 25 years.
I mean, we didn't win or anything, but we've got it.
-Yeah. -And so the excitement
in Britain is fever pitch.
King Charles and --
Is she Queen Camilla? I don't know what she is.
Anyway, they were in Liverpool yesterday
to sort of launch the whole thing,
and when I leave here, I'm going back to Liverpool
'cause I'm hosting the thing, yeah.
-And do you watch -- do you sort of watch from onstage?
Where are you during the performance?
-So normally, I'm way up in the rafters.
You know, and I can say whatever I like
because I'm never going to meet these people.
-Sure, of course.
-This year I'm half that person, but I'm also onstage.
-Oh, I see.
-So I will be backstage bumping into these acts.
-Yeah. -And you know someone rings them
the minute I say something horrible about them.
Someone's watching going -- -Oh, I see. Right.
So you can't go up in the rafters
and think it won't find its way back down.
-It'll find its way back to them, yeah.
So this year I have to be a bit more careful.
And also, I can't laugh at the terrible production this year
because we're doing it.
-Yeah, there you go.
Oh, right, 'cause it's usually --
-Yeah, normally you got to go, "These hosts are terrible."
And then it's me. Yeah.
-Well, let me tell you, as hosts go,
I look up to you a great deal.
What a thrill to have you here in person.
-Well, I'm thrilled to be here. Lovely.
Thank you so much. Take care.
-Graham Norton.
Second season of "Queen of the Universe"
will premiere on June 2nd on Paramount+.
We'll be right back with more "Late Night."