I wish there were a classic comedy special like Richard Pryor's epic Live on the Sunset Strip show that spoke directly to gay men. It would be my heart's delight to watch a theater of thousands of gay men absolutely dying while listening to an openly gay male comedian telling really dirty jokes about blowjobs. I really hope his coming out will teach more gay men how much we are missing by not engaging with the brilliant comedians who come from of the same communities we do.
I hope Glass’ interview on WTF is a first step towards gay comics’ careers taking more of the spotlight. (And please, leave more recommendations in the comments, too.) I took to the internet to confirm my suspicions and was surprised to find that, actually, there are more than a few hilarious, talented, respected comic who also happen to be gay men. I'd encourage you to find out about Todd Glass (whose material isn’t really "out," exactly), Chip Pope, Adam Sank, Vidur Kapur, Gabe Liedman, James Adomian and Brad Loekle. So in my laziness and ignorance of non-lesbian gay stand ups, I had incorrectly concluded that comedy must be a harsh, homophobic industry that brutalizes new gay guys like me until they just can’t take it that only Ellen DeGeneres and Wanda Sykes get to be the new Oprahs. Ellen and Wanda come out of the closet and lesbians become hilarious. Gods like Richard Pryor convince young black comics they, too, can become giants in film and comedy. Geniuses like Phyllis Diller make young women think that they can and should be stand ups. It's incredibly important for a stand up to have comic heroes. Sometimes, the point of the joke is just getting to say “ faggot” for a laugh. I can name some brilliant, hilarious gay jokes written by the straightest of Austin’s comedians, but at open mics the point of the jokes isn’t always good-natured. At open mics, "fag" jokes are low-hanging fruit for comedy punchlines. I started doing stand up almost exactly one year ago and I am in love with it: with the comedians in Austin, with the people at Cap City and the Velveeta Room, with the scene in general.īut everything you’ve heard about open mics is true. My father is a huge Sam Kinison fan, and I was as afraid of him as a child as I was of the Trash Heap from Fraggle Rock.Īnd it’s like a children's playground all over again at comedy open mics. For better or worse, good stand up is where the ugly truth and the mean subconscious come out.
Stand up can be a harsh, homophobic place. That also means that as I sat hypnotized by Murphy’s purple leather ass, I heard the word “faggot” before I knew what a gay person was.įor better or worse, good stand up is where the ugly truth and the mean subconscious come out. My parents were never careful about what their kids watched, so I saw Eddie Murphy: Raw way earlier than I should have. Turns out: I’m wrong and I'm part of the problem.įor some context, I have been a fan of stand up comedy for almost my entire life. And there are superstars of stand up like Kathy Griffin and Margaret Cho who gay men spend big bucks supporting, but from what I knew, there were no gay guys telling jokes outside of gay bars.
It’s curious because I can name a dozen lesbian comedians off the top of my head. Like I was living in a drought of gay comedy, and Glass coming out was the first non- ANT drop of water since Charles Nelson Reilly. Because when the hilarious Todd Glass came out on WTF, my immediate reaction was “Yes! We got one!” When I sat down to write this, I was ready to write about the dearth of openly gay male stand up comedians in the world. There are plenty of doughy, mean white guys out there, but they talk about their girlfriends or their wives or their kids they never talk about their boyfriends or their partners or their kids. As a comedian, I have tons of stand up comedy heroes - but none I really see myself in.
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