Northeast Wisconsin native Trixie Mattel's Oshkosh show marks her first time performing in region in a decade

OSHKOSH – When she'll step on stage in Oshkosh later this month, Trixie Mattel will have a happy homecoming.

Mattel may have gotten her start in the Milwaukee drag scene before appearing on season seven of "RuPaul's Drag Race" in 2015 and winning season three of "RuPaul's Drag Race All Stars" in 2018, but she is from Crivitz, a village about 50 miles north of Green Bay, and said she is extremely proud to represent Northeast Wisconsin.

In fact, when she and her comedy partner Katya Zamolodchikova, better known simply as Katya, were planning dates for their Trixie and Katya Live! tour, Mattel said she was the one who advocated to do a tour date in the region.

When she and Katya step on stage at 8 p.m. Feb. 23 at the Oshkosh Arena, 1212 S. Main St., Mattel will take the stage for her first major theater show in drag in Northeast Wisconsin. She feels in some ways it makes her journey come "full circle."

"I never thought I’d be (performing in drag) an hour south of where I grew up," Mattel said. "It's really crazy."

She said she would perform on smaller stages like open mic nights or karaoke competitions while in high school in the Green Bay area, but it will be the first time performing in the region in about 10 years.

Although she has moved away from the state, Mattel still has deep roots in Wisconsin. As well as performing in Milwaukee "a million times" at venues like the Pabst Theater and Turner Hall, Mattel still has a house in the Milwaukee area and said she's in Wisconsin for a couple months out of the year.

Mattel also co-owns This is It!, the longest-running LGBTQ+ bar in Wisconsin that is based in Milwaukee and one of the oldest in the country. She said that fact matters to her because the bar was one where she would go before or after her drag shows when she was starting out.

This will be the first time she and Katya — another drag performer who gained fame after appearing on "Drag Race" — will be performing together in Northeast Wisconsin. The two drag queens have frequently collaborated and have a chemistry that just clicks, Mattel said.

Although the two didn't really talk much when they were on the set of "Drag Race" in 2015, Mattel knew from the first time they performed together on camera that it was something special.

Since then, the pair have starred in their own show on Youtube, UNHhhh, since 2016, a spin-off on the television channel Viceland called The Trixie & Katya Show and a Netflix series called "I Like to Watch." The Oshkosh Arena show will be a live version of those shows, where they make irreverent jokes about anything and everything in pop culture.

Mattel said despite her and Katya having different comedy styles, they "exactly complement each other." And after almost eight years of performing together, Mattel said it's still fresh, and the two are eager to make sure the comedy duo can always work.

"We don’t take it for granted that it’s just easy," Mattel said. "We can make it funny without too much work."

Mattel said this type of show doesn't come up to the area as often as bigger cities like Milwaukee or Madison, which means it can be extra special for people who are fans of her or other drag queens from "Drag Race."

But Mattel said she knows there will be a good percentage of people who might not be familiar with her or her co-star or have been to a drag show before.

Drag performances have become frequently politicized, Mattel said. In at least 11 states, Republican lawmakers have drafted bills that would restrict drag performances.

Mattel feels lost in all the debate over "appropriateness" or what drag means. She said hers and Katya's show is just people putting on costumes, performing and "acting like idiots."

"Our show is bawdy, glitzy and crazy, but it’s just two people putting on wigs trying to make each other laugh," Mattel said.

Mattel said the show will have something for everybody in the audience — those fans who "know what I ate for breakfast that morning" and people who have no idea who the performers are. She said that fact is important to her because at the end of the day, it's just a comedy show.

"They’re going to be like ‘I didn't know I was going to like it so much,'" Mattel said. "There is nothing exclusive about this type of entertainment."

Tickets for the show start at $34.50 and can be purchased at the Oshkosh Arena website, oshkosharena.com.

Contact Bremen Keasey at 920-570-5614 or bkeasey@gannett.com. Follow him on Twitter at @Keasinho.

This article originally appeared on Oshkosh Northwestern: Wisconsin native Trixie Mattel and Katya to host Oshkosh drag show