After a season on RuPaul’s Drag Race, many contestants who make it into the later rounds of the competition seize their moment and turn drag into a full-time career.
Some release music as their drag personas, others branch into beauty, fashion and modeling. Others still start comedy podcasts or hit the road for special appearances.
If you’re Season 13 finalist Gottmik and Season 7 winner Violet Chachki, you do all of the above — at once — and wrap it into an hour-and-a-half-long touring show.
This fall, the two Drag Race icons will bring their first-ever joint headline theater production, The Knockout Tour, to Iowa on Oct. 11. The high-energy variety show pits Chachki’s burlesque glamour against Gottmik’s goth-rock edge, all inside a campy, glitter-soaked boxing ring.
As for what to expect — expect it all.
“We’re gonna be talking on the mic, doing some comedy. We are doing aerial, we are doing live vocals with original music, live instruments, dancing, dancers, insane costumes,” Chachki said. “We really want to take drag to the next level and really just do that upper echelon of queer art, and really take high drag to that space and really give you something super spectacular.”
The duo even released a promotional single and music video, “TKO," to hype the tour.
Why boxing? The theme of the tour was inspired by a billboard ad for an upcoming match that caught Gottmik's eye. Before she knew it, she was deep in a rabbit hole of exploring vintage boxing flyers.
"It's so theatrical. It's like the campiest thing I've ever seen in my life, and, like, the entrances," she said. "I was like, 'Oh, this is drag.'"
For Violet Chachki and Gottmik, collaborating felt natural. Off-camera, they’re best friends — a bond that began when Chachki was shown a video of Gottmik performing one of her singles at an LA club. From there, they crossed paths at industry events and on group tours.
“We got along really well,” Chachki recalled. “We realized that we had the same, like, ‘business brain’ about drag, which is really rare. We both have the same vibe of being like, we really want to push the needle forward."
That shared drive has since grown into a friendship, a podcast, new music — and now a full-scale touring spectacle.
But building careers in drag today is different than it was a decade ago. Gottmik explained that while Drag Race may spark instant recognition, sustaining momentum requires more effort.
“It’s not really like you just are an instant celebrity anymore,” Gottmik explained. “Drag has transformed so much that it’s like, ‘Okay, now what are you going to do with your platform? What’s the art that you’re going to show us that makes us want to keep you forever?’"
Chachki sees that challenge as an opportunity.
“We as drag artists really do everything ourselves, and so you can really branch out and do many different things, like music or fashion, or makeup — so many different creative things,” she said.
For Iowa audiences, that means a chance to experience drag on a grander scale than a club show or TV episode. Chachki said she’s especially excited to bring The Knockout Tour to Midwestern states.
"I love these places where I feel like there’s such a community that they’re really hungry for artistry to come — queer artistry — and just to have a space to be free and celebrate yourself and forget all the chaos that’s going on in the real world,” she said. “Just to have an hour and a half to just look at something fantastical and escape reality just for a moment. I’m excited to come share our art.”
