Will the Gay Comedians Please Stand Up?

There may be legions of gay comics, but few have found major success even amongst gay audiences, yet some of the most popular comedians able to sell-out large venues—such as Kathy Griffin—cater mostly to gay men. Griffin is catty and bitchy, and her bits sound more like a recitation of a guest list at a Los Angeles hotspot than a crafted joke (although she will occasionally touch on pressing topics such as Paris Hilton’s vagina). Gay men have largely been consumers of comedy but rarely creators—at least not on the big stage.

Part of this is because of the constraints of gay comedy. “There’s a condescending attitude that gay entertainment has to involve drag shows or men being effeminate,” says Brent Sullivan, a New York-based comedian. “I did a show in Chelsea the other day where there was this screaming queen who did a lot better than I did. Even homophobes could enjoy that because you are putting yourself into this box that they’ve created for you. But I think we haven’t challenged the gay-friendly straight men of this world to actually enjoy a gay character or enjoy gay entertainment because we haven’t given them anything to enjoy.”

Sullivan, who has been performing stand-up for nearly a decade, admitted that, while he has been out since college, he wasn’t always necessarily open with his audience. “I used to try to assimilate. I’d get on stage and say, ‘So, I was with my wife...’ I was, like, 19 and talking about my wife! I stopped doing that when I moved to New York. But what should I say? Should I refer to my ‘partner’? I don’t have partners; I have guys that I blow.”

Will the Gay Comedians Please Stand Up? / by Tyler Coates / April 11, 2012