Mentoring queens to win the crown

‘Call Me Mother’ is part of aggressive expansion by Canada’s OutTV

Family comes first on the new drag competition series “Call Me Mother.”

The OutTV original pits three drag teams against each other in a cavalcade of challenges to crown the “First Child of Drag” with $50,000 worth of prizes.

The format draws inspiration from the tradition of drag families, in which an experienced drag artist — the house mother — mentors “children” as they learn to paint their faces, pad their bodies and pin wigs to withstand gale-force levels of hair whipping.

“It takes a village and I think drag families are the village behind each queen,” says Farra N. Hyte, a judge and choreographer on the series, premiering Monday. “If you’re in a family, you have a village helping you present the best version of yourself.”

The Toronto drag veteran is the mother of the House of Hytes, which includes a dozen drag queens, including “Canada’s Drag Race” judge and “RuPaul’s Drag Race” runner-up Brooke Lynn Hytes. “On set, I think I called Brooke every day,” Farra said.

“Call Me Mother” follows a format that has been compared to “The Voice.” Three drag mothers — “RuPaul’s Drag Race” Season 9 runner-up Miss Peppermint, Canadian queen Crystal of “RuPaul’s Drag Race UK” Season 1 and Montreal drag legend Barbada de Barbades — choose from among 10 artists to adopt into their houses.

They then coach their teams through a gauntlet of challenges until the winner is named. In a bittersweet twist, if a house is up for elimination, the mother herself chooses which of her children will be sent home.

The series shines a spotlight on the diversity of drag artistry. The contestants include “twospirit goddess” Ella Lamoureux, the drag king HercuSleaze, non-binary performer Toddy, and trans drag queen and activist Felicia Bonée.

It’s a far cry from when Farra first started performing more than 20 years ago, when drag in Toronto was synonymous with female impersonation.

As she came into her identity as a trans woman, Farra looked up to the late Chris Edwards as a trans drag role model.

“I thought, I would love to be like her, and I didn’t think that was possible,” she said.

It was only as she became more secure in her heels that she realized she could perform as Farra N. Hyte, sequin-studded showgirl by night, and still live her life as a woman by day as Chantelle Carr.

“It’s only made Farra N. Hyte stronger,” she said. “It gives me more confidence in my drag persona.”

Dallas Dixon, “ET Canada” Pride correspondent and host of “Call Me Mother,” said the series includes “all forms of drag that you see when you go out. It’s time for us as fans of drag to respect the fact that there are more kinds of drag out there than drag queens.”

“Call Me Mother” is part of a wave of reality shows starring “RuPaul’s Drag Race” alumni being produced by OutTV. Original shows on the Canadian LGBTQ specialty channel and streaming service also include the cooking series “Wigs in a Blanket,” starring Ginger Minj and Jiggly Caliente, and the “Judge Judy”-esque courtroom series “Iconic Justice,” starring Willam. “From Katya With Love,” a reality dating series starring the comedy duo Katya and Trixie Mattel, has also been announced.

“We used to license a lot of content, but that got harder over the years as the streaming services pick up more rights,” said Philip Webb, COO of OutTV. Having now launched its own streaming service, OutTV currently airs 80 originals, with about 20 yet to premiere. Five years ago, Webb says, they were making two or three a year.

“The more successful our streaming service becomes, the more granular and clear our data becomes,” Webb said. “Nielsen’s not as reliable as a program buying tool.

“As we glean more information we know what our audience likes. They like drag, but that’s not all they like. They like a lot of documentary.” He cites “Boy Boy Montreal,” about the gay porn industry in Montreal, as an example.

Webb thinks “Call Me Mother” will deliver something audiences haven’t seen before. “There are similarities between all competition shows,” he said. “But we set out to do something slightly different, something we could show worldwide, and I think we’ve succeeded.”

“A lot of people are saying there is too much drag right now,” said Dixon.

“There is a lot of drag out there, but you haven’t seen anything like ‘Call Me Mother’ and the drag artists we have on this series. It will make people see drag in a very different light.”

“There is a lot of drag out there, but you haven’t seen anything like ‘Call Me Mother’ and the drag artists we have on this series.”

DALLAS DIXON

HOST OF ‘CALL ME MOTHER’

“Call Me Mother” premieres Monday at 9 p.m. on OutTV.