Bob and Monét Talk ‘Sibling Rivalry’ Tour, ‘Drag Race,’ and More

Get ready for outrageous costumes, shady remarks, and lip syncs, because RuPaul’s Drag Race champions Bob the Drag Queen and Monét X Change are taking their wildly successful podcast on the road this fall with Sibling Rivalry Live, presented by Obsessed and powered by Five Senses Reeling.

The 14-city tour starts September 14 in St. Louis, Missouri, and will conclude October 10 in Houston, Texas.

Known for their honest and hilarious comedic observations, Bob and Monét have been thrilling fans with Sibling Rivalry since its inception, and the duo promises to continue the battle and settle their ultimate dispute once and for all. This multimedia extravaganza is simply a continuation of the epic battles they made famous.

So, are you team Bob or team Monet? The duo took some time to talk more about the upcoming production and more with OFM.

Let me begin by asking, how excited are you to kick off the first-ever Sibling Rivalry Live show?

Monét: We are so, so, so excited! We have been trying to kick off this tour since March 2020, but we all know what happened, so we are now finally bringing it out. We are bringing Sibling Rivalry: “The One About TV/Film” live and in color, singing and dancing, a live podcast—All facets of Bob the Drag Queen and Monét X Change are going to be displayed and left on the floor on this tour. It’s going to be legendary.

Bob: Wow, Monét! For once, you were very well spoken. I’m shocked!

Monét: AKA, he wasn’t paying attention. He has no idea what I said (laughs).

Ultimately, what do you hope audiences take away from the show?

Bob: I don’t like to guess what audiences will take away from shows. As someone who has been in a lot of shows, I know what I like to put out there, and everyone gets something different. Monét and I, we’re not creating a Pulitzer Prize play. It’s not like we’re not doing A Strange Loop. Monét and I have been very lucky enough to cultivate a sense of family through our podcasts and our bond with each other. I think a lot of people see themselves in Monét and me. A lot of people come up to us and say, “I’m the Monét” or “I’m the Bob in my friendship,” and they get to live through us and see a reflection of themselves. Especially Black queer people.

What are you personally looking forward to the most about this tour?

Monét: This sounds so corny, and I hate to say it because Bob is here, but I really like traveling with Bob. I like being on the road with him. We have so much fun; we make fun of each other; we make some good videos, and when we travel and work together, it’s such a blast. Both of us are very happy, and speaking for myself, I’m happy to be in a place in my career where I can choose and do the things that I really want to do. Sibling Rivalry is at the top of that list.

Bob: I am not happy. I’m in a really rough place right now (laughs). No, I love traveling with Monét as well. There are a few people in general that I love working with, and Monét is one of them. We have been friends for probably 10 years now at this point. I’ve been there for Monét’s entire drag career, and she’s been around for most of mine. When I was a shot girl at the Ritz performing at Thorgy’s show, Monét was there literally watching me sell shots. Then we watched each other get crowned by RuPaul herself. We’ve been there for a lot of different facets of our career, and I’m always happy to be able to be on this journey with Monét.

For those who don’t know, how did you two initially meet?

Monét: Oh, I remember like it was yesterday. Picture it! Manhattan, 2012. I was at the Ritz Bar and Lounge, and I’ve heard of Bob the Drag Queen before, who was known as Kitten Withawhip back then. I heard she was a funny entertainer who has been performing for a year or two, so I was like, “OK, I’ll check her out.”

I was at the Ritz watching Thorgy Thor do her show, and Kitten Withawhip was performing that night. She did this number called “Diamonds,” and it was a mix of this woman calling a radio station after finding out that her boyfriend cheated on her, and then Kitten proceeded to do Shirley Bassey’s “Diamonds Are Forever.”

He had just done a whole monologue, and when the number started, he turned around and diamonds fell out of his mouth. He reached into his purse and pulled out these diamond encrusted shoes, and then did this reveal. He had on a black dress, and he ripped it off to reveal a diamond-encrusted catsuit. And under his wig, he pulled out this diamond veil.

I was like, “This is one of the best numbers I’ve ever seen.” I’ve seen much better since then (laughs), but I was sitting there, mouth agape, screaming. It was such a good number, and then I found out it was Kitten Withawhip. We started hanging out, he made me a costume for a pageant, and then the rest is, as they say, history.

How did the Sibling Rivalry podcast come to fruition?

Bob: Normally, Monét and I would see each for little stints here and there, but after I moved to Berkeley to do Angels in America at the Berkeley Repertory Theater, we never saw each other. So, I was just calling her all the time, and we were having these really funny conversations on the phone that I thought were hilarious. Just like best friends bickering about ridiculous stuff. Then I was like, “We should do a podcast. I have an idea for a name, and I think we should do this together.” That was back in 2018, and Monét thought it was a fun idea. Here we are four years and over 120 episodes later.

On the podcast, you two have been rewatching RuPaul’s Drag Race Season Eight. Bob, how has it been looking back at your season?

Bob: Not only did I win, but that was the first season where RuPaul’s Drag Race ever won an Emmy. I like to remind Monét of that all the time.

Monét: Oh my God.

Bob: (Laughs) It has been very nostalgic. However, when we watched episode eight, my feelings were hurt during that episode, so rewatching it, my feelings were hurt all over again. Like, why am I reliving this trauma? I was so mad at Kim Chi. That bitch was so mean to me! Monét was like, “Are your feelings hurt?” I said, “Yes! They are hurt again!” But overall, it was fun and exciting to relive that experience.

Is there anything you would have changed or done differently?

Bob: No, I think Season Eight worked out pretty well!

Monét, we recently got to see you on the All Winners season of All Stars. How did it feel to go back and compete, but go up against all these other champions?

Monét: Oh my God, it was great! Raja’s season of Drag Race was the first season that I watched from beginning to end, and like everyone else, I was obsessed with Raja. How she walked down the runway and always looked like a goddess. Absolutely obsessed. So, to be on the same season of Drag Race with her and getting to hang out with Raja outside of the show, it was amazing. Just to see how much of a stoner, witch, and free spirit she is, and seeing her interact with the world and her thought process about challenges, it was so great to see. Everyone was very talented and fun to work with.

Unfortunately, you were not crowned “Queen of All Queens,” but I would still like to ask, what would winning this season have meant to you?

Monét: Oh, it would have meant bragging rights over Bob the Drag Queen! Bob loves to say how a regular season is harder than All Stars. Well, how does an All Winners season with all winners sound? The best of the best! He’s always like, Monét, All Stars is not best of the best. It’s best of the losers. Now he has no excuse because this was the best of the best.

Bob: Let me say one thing. If I’m not there, it’s not the best of the best. It’s the best of the rest!

What are some future goals you hope to accomplish with your careers?

Bob: I’m in the middle of my book Harriet Tubman: Live in Concert, and I really hoping to adapt it into a play. Theater is my first love in terms of performance, and I certainly cannot wait to return to the realm of live theater. Angels in America was such a massive take for me. Eight shows a week, and it’s seven hours long, so I dove into the deep end, honey! A Pulitzer Prize winning, one of the best plays of all time. It was a lot of hard work, but it felt nice to get back in there. So, I hope to do more live theater productions soon.

Monét: For me, my talk show, The X Change Rate, is one of my pride and joys of my career. It was one of the greatest things I’ve ever done, and I would love to be able to get back to it. It was doing so well before the pandemic, so I’ve been on a journey to get it back and make it bigger and better than ever. Maybe a late-night slot or daytime. I don’t care. I just want it to come back. I really, really, really loved doing it.

Bob: And let the record show that Monét’s show lasted longer than RuPaul’s!

For more information and to purchase tickets for Sibling Rivalry Live, visit bobandmonet.com.

Stay up-to-date with Bob by following him on Twitter @thatonequeen, Instagram, TikTok, and YouTube @bobthedragqueen, or visit bobthedragqueen.com. Monét can be found on Twitter, Instagram, TikTok and YouTube @monetxchange, or visit monetxchange.com.  

Photos courtesy of Albert Sanchez, Jacob Ritts, and Steven Simione