So where to now, after such a tumultuous time in the spotlight? Well, Maddy wasn't about to let her legacy be "the straight person invading a queer space." She and her partner (Miss Liza, a fellow drag queen), dabbled in an episode review show for a while, before Maddy unveiled a new YouTube show with the perfect Pun-Based Title, Give It To Me Straight. With this, Maddy slowly developed one of the most unique post-Drag Race careers of any contestant.
The format is very simple, and almost Between Two Ferns-esque. Maddy sits in her fancy living room (with big furry walls), and interviews another Drag Race alumni — usually done up in a drag look that compliments the other queen's personal style. The questions can be very probing inquiries into their background and upbringing, or it could just be a shady Take That! of a question just for Maddy's own amusement (after all, it is drag). The show debuted with Maddy interviewing her season 14 sister and finalist, Lady Camden, almost solely so Maddy could cheerfully shit-talk Camden to her face for frequently bailing on hanging out.
Over the next several interviews with Drag Race queens, Maddy's interview skills would evolve, and delve into deeper topics of conversation, like discussions of gender identity with multiple queens, disability and health struggles with Willow Pill, the dangers of sex work with Rock M Sakura, and so much more. One of Maddy's signatures is to give a very elaborate question just to build up to showing an interviewee a less-than-flattering photo of them as a child or teenager.
With Give It To Me Straight, Maddy has developed a reputation as the Sean Evans of drag (or if you're Canadian, the Nardwuar of drag), with peerless research into queens' history and well-thought-out questions. In the end, she's wound up providing a platform of her own — a show where fans can learn about their favorite Drag Race alumni in a different, more humanistic light than the show itself could possibly offer. And at the very least, it's the final word on Maddy Morphosis as a consistent ally to the queer/trans communities.
At the end of 2023, after a year of the show gradually becoming a fandom sensation, the show began doubling as a podcast as part of the Moguls Of Media podcast network.
All the episodes of GITMS can be found here.
Tropes associated with Give It To Me Straight include:
- Actually Pretty Funny: Maddy's reads are so brutal that the queens get a real kick out of how artfully she delivers them. She got away with calling season 13's Denali a "crack whore" right to her face.
- And Now for Someone Completely Different: Maddy has veered out of Drag Race circles for interviews, such as social media personality Chrissy Chlapecka and hyperpop singer Slayyyter.
- Bait-and-Switch Comment:
- At the beginning of the interview with the winner of RuPaul's Drag Race UK Series 2, Lawrence Chaney, Maddy says that this is a very exciting interview... because she has new walls! Lawrence just quietly nods, like she should have seen that one coming.
- Maddy has a long, drawn-out speech that looks like it's going to be a Friendship Moment with Jasmine Kennedie, only for Maddy to tell Jasmine that "to me, you'll always be... a dumb bitch." Of course, Jasmine just cackles at that.
- Blatant Lies: Season 9's/All Stars 8's Jaymes Mansfield is asked by Maddy if she'd ever return for All Stars, and Jaymes proceeds to put on a big sneer and deny that she'd ever "parade herself in a cheap extension of her career." (Note that her involvement in All Stars 8 had just been filmed and leaked to the internet well beforehand.)
- Camp Gay: It's a show centered around drag; it's taken for granted that there's tons of this. However, it's especially invoked for season 13's Joey Jay, who reminded viewers that she's gay so often, mostly unprovoked, that it gave her meme status in the Drag Race fandom that persists even years later. Maddy is quick to get into the hows and whys of this status in Joey's interview, and of course Joey is proud to embrace it.
- Camp Straight: Maddy Morphosis is the resident Camp Straight of the Drag Race world, and lots of her looks on this show only cement this.
- Celebrity Impersonator: Comes up, of course, in the episode with Drag Race season 5's (and Dragula season 4's) Jade Jolie. Jade is one of the most visible Taylor Swift impersonators, even appearing next to the real Taylor at the VMAs, though that doesn't stop Maddy from giving Jade shit about it.
- Coming-Out Story: It's a show featuring Drag Queens, so many of these stories are told (of both the queer and trans variety). Season 7's Mrs. Kasha Davis had a notable one in her appearance — Kasha was actually married to a woman at the time she came to terms with being a gay man, so that particular story becomes especially depressing.
- Conspiracy Theorist: Season 14's Kerri Colby dabbles in these, and their interview goes into why Kerri thinks like this.
- Cuckoo Snarker: Season 15's Irene DuBois, to no fan's surprise, continues to be a strange-looking alien creature with a sassy mouth on her.
- Dark and Troubled Past: A lot of the queens on this show prove to have these, from abuse to bigotry to internet trolls to being kidnapped and beyond, and Maddy puts them at ease enough to talk about these, even despite still giving the odd question here and there that shades them off the face of the earth.
- Deadpan Snarker: It wouldn't be Maddy Morphosis without this. Maddy can read a bitch to filth with all the candor of someone talking about the weather.
- Delicate and Sickly: Season 14's Willow Pill has cystinosis, a kidney disease, and it's given her this image to fans. So of course, Maddy and Willow joke about this for their whole interview.
- Embarrassing Old Photo: Maddy loves casually busting out a childhood/teenage photo of the person being interviewed, and it's never flattering. Kennedy Davenport was so horrified by her embarrassing teenage haircut that she playfully flipped off Maddy for showing it.
- Emo Teen: Invoked — the aesthetic, that is — for the interview with season 9's/All Stars 4's Farrah Moan. Maddy came ready to party like it's 2006, sporting the sideways, multi-colored swoop of hair, skinny jeans, multi-colored bracelets, and an Invader Zim necklace for good measure.
- Fire-Forged Friends: Maddy and season 14's Jasmine Kennedie infamously had a major spat on the show right before they lip-synched together, and thus Jasmine had the honor of sending Maddy home. By the time of their interview on this show, it's clear that nowadays they're on the friendlier end of Vitriolic Best Buds, and they waste little time in laughing about their big TV moment.
- Funny Background Event: There's always a picture frame on a nightstand in the background with a funny picture inside related to the interviewee's history, that never gets brought up. For the interview with Lawrence Chaney, a plus-size queen whose trademark color is purple, Maddy just leaves a picture of Grimace there.
- Green-Skinned Space Babe: A recurring motif for Irene DuBois, up to and including her appearance on this show, which Maddy compliments by being a pink-skinned alien.
- The Hyena: Irene DuBois and Jasmine Kennedie have some of the loudest cackles heard on the show.
- I Regret Nothing: When season 9's/All Stars 3's Aja is asked if she has any regrets about various controversies she's been involved in, Aja goes through each one and realizes she has no regrets whatsoever. She's completely confident in her answer until Maddy drops the Embarrassing Old Photo and ruins Aja's day.
- Insult Backfire: Maddy usually gets a hell of a reaction out of her reads, whether laughter or simply shock at the audacity, with some notable exceptions:
- Towards season 15's infamous Mistress Isabelle Brooks, which is fitting considering that for Mistress, throwing shade is as natural as breathing.Maddy: Do you think that most of the discrimination that you received, including, like, hate messages, and having your Instagram shut down.. do you think most of that stems because you are a plus-sized queen, or is it because you're a huge fucking cunt?
Mistress: [barely even registering it as a read] I think both. - Season 13's resident Camp Gay meme queen, Joey Jay, spent her entire hour cheerfully recounting her upbringing and other talents while entirely bypassing Maddy's occasional shade — as in, she barely even notices she's being read.
- Towards season 15's infamous Mistress Isabelle Brooks, which is fitting considering that for Mistress, throwing shade is as natural as breathing.
- Insult Comic: Maddy has a firm grip on the proud drag tradition of reading. Maddy threads little disses at her subjects throughout her interview questions, catching even seasoned queens off guard, and always delivered with a straight face (natch). Willow Pill and Lawrence Chaney are just two queens who've both taken their sweet time answering these particular questions, because they need to stop laughing their asses off first.
- Loyal Animal Companion: Season 6's Laganja Estranja brings her puppy Lil' Dabbers to her interview, and Lil' Dabbers can be seen scurrying around and jumping on both queens' laps the whole time.
- Once per Episode:
- Maddy has something of a Couch Gag of a different snarky intro for the show, followed by an even snarkier caption for the interviewee.
- Also, each person interviewed gets hit with an Embarrassing Old Photo.
- Refuge in Audacity: This question for Willow Pill, who suffers from cystinosis, is a candidate for the most demented, messed-up question Maddy has ever asked (which makes it perfect for someone as dark-humored as Willow):Maddy: What would you say is the worst part about your illness; is it the bodily deterioration, the side effects of your household medication, [Willow Jaw Drops in shock] or people always asking you questions about your illness?
Willow: [after absolutely dying laughing] You've got some fucking nerve!
Maddy: [perfectly straight face] If you had to rank them. - Shown Their Work: Maddy's research for the people she interviews gradually went from "well done" to "how the hell did you know about that?!" To name just one example, poor Rock M Sakura (from season 12) had all the graphic anime fanart from her teenage years on display during her interview, but thankfully took it in stride and admired Maddy digging deep to find all that smut.
- The Stoner:
- Drugs are a huge, huuuuuuuuuuuuge part of Willow Pill's interview.
- Obviously, it comes up a lot with Laganja Estranja — come on, it's her whole brand!
- Talk Show: Drag talk shows have existed before — Hey Qween! being one of the most notable to modern fans — but Maddy's take on it is much more minimal.
- Toilet Humor: Those familiar with Rock M Sakura and the fart humor she displayed on Drag Race season 12 won't be surprised that this trope is in effect for her interview with Maddy. She's all too happy to tell the story of when she got the call that she'd been cast — turns out she was douching at the time.Rock M: I was getting ready to see a john. I was in the shower with water inside of me. I got the call, it said Delphina Studios, I answer and they're like "I have some great news for you." And I'm like "I'm getting ready for it. I'm clenching tight." And they go "you're on Drag Race!" And I literally shit myself, in the shower. Right there. And I'll never forget that moment; it was equal parts full-of-shame and full-of-pride.
- Wham Episode: The episode with season 9's (and All Stars 4's) Farrah Moan reached a level of seriousness that the show had only hinted at before, as Farrah not only confirmed she is a trans woman, but discussed a long series of Near Death Experiences, and then the highly-publicized murder of her therapist on top of that, and how deeply it's all affected her. Maddy keeps her usual snark to a minimum and even pauses the episode for a few moments so Farrah can compose herself. It's by far the darkest episode yet... and that's saying a lot after some of the stories told on this show.
- Whole Costume Reference: A tradition on the show. Maddy does a drag look referencing the other queen's previous looks, or just their whole aesthetic in general. For instance, season 6's/All Stars 8's Darienne Lake once did a Billie Eilish-inspired runway look that people were split on, so Maddy was sure to have an even-more-elaborate Billie jumpsuit for Darienne.Maddy: Who told you about Billie Eilish? Was it, like, a niece or a nephew? [Darienne giggles]
