Buzz Magazine March 6, 2008 PDF version: Page 1 | Page 2

Q Vegas April 2008 PDF version: Page 1 | Page 2

Openly gay comic Jason Stuart is set to headline at The Improv Comedy Show at Harrah’s in Las Vegas, April 22-27, 2008. QVegas spoke with him recently while he was performing at Parliament House, a gay resort in Orlando, Florida.

Stuart says that he was the first openly gay performer to headline mainstream comedy clubs. He said, “Even now there aren’t that many openly gay comic headliners.” Stuart’s stand-up comedy special Jason Stuart: Making it to the Middle, is airing on here! TV through April 24. (“People ask, ‘How in the hell do I get here! TV.’ Call 1-888-HERE-NOW”). The TV special is a showcase for Stuart’s rapid-fire stand-up comedy act, but it also documents Stuart as a man in the middle of his life, in the middle of his career. He said, “I always thought I’d be as famous as Barbra, either that or end up as Lil’ Kim’s wig washer. But all I made it is to the middle.” Stuart has also just completed an episode of Everybody Hates Chris, playing one half of an hysterical auctioneer couple, “Lonnie and Donnie.” The episode will air as the show’s Mother’s Day episode in May, 2008.

As an improv comic, Stuart loves talking with his audience. “That’s my gift,” he said. “Interviewers always ask about hecklers,” Stuart said. “People think I’ll be heckled and my life will be over. Heckling is usually done in good fun.”

Stuart is set to take a dramatic role as the lover of a man who commits suicide in the play, Biking with Andrew Scott, a dark comedy by Debbie Bolsky and directed by Chris Holder at Hollywood’s Write Act Repertory Theatre. Biking opens with previews on April 4 and 5, with the main run April 10 through May 17.

Stuart has appeared in several film roles and was just cast in a leading role in the noir drama Casebook filming in black and white from filmmaker Darian Lane. His best-known fi lm role is as Clayton the demented office manager in the gay indie Coffee Date. Stuart was nominated for a Glitter Award for Best Supporting Actor for the role. The film is now available on DVD. Stuart said that playing dramatic roles is easier than doing comedy. “Being funny is much harder,” he said. “Comedy is black and white. You’re either funny or you’re not.”

Stuart is actively involved in gay community causes. His here! TV special’s Hollywood premiere at the Showcase Theatre will benefit the Lifeworks Mentoring Program (www.lifeworksmentoring.org). Stuart says, “Lifeworks offers one on one, peer, and group mentoring opportunities for GLBT youth by providing positive and affirming role models.”

Stuart is also the chairman for the Screen Actors Guild LGBT Committee, whose members include George Takei, Alexis Arquette, Craig Chester and Lea Delaria. The purpose of the committee is to provide support to LGBT actors and to educate the membership, the industry, and the public on LGBT actor’s issues, with a focus on ending discrimination against LGBT actors in the workplace.

As for his personal life, “I need a husband,” Stuart says. “Any one, as long as he has a job and a car, and doesn’t live in the car. Write me at www.jasonstuart.com.” Stuart says, “I have this insane born again Orthodox Jewish family. Me? I’m a cultural Jew—I complain and diet. I have a 33-inch waist— really. I have been on Jenny Craig since 1980. Sometimes I get so hungry, they give you seven days of food and I eat it in five days.”

411 Magazine PDF version: Page 1 | Page 2

A REAL CHARACTER
Actor/comedian Jason Stuart has been in many of your favorite TV shows and will be at Parliament House on March 15

SHERI ELFMAN | 3.12.2008

YOU MIGHT NOT ALWAYS REMEMBER THE name Jason Stuart, but you can bet that you’ve seen his work. The actor/comedian has been in “Will & Grace,” “George Lopez,” “Everybody Hates Chris,” “House, M.D.,” “Charmed,” and “My Wife and Kids.” He was also recently in the film “Coffee Date” and was nominated for a Gay International Film Award for best supporting actor for his performance.

The openly gay actor and comedian makes it a point to give back to the community. He is the Chairman of the first ever Screen Actors Guild LGBT Committee and chairs the comedy shows for Lifeworks Mentoring Program. He has also performed comedy at many Pride fests all over the country.

Stuart has performed at 100s of comedy clubs and festivals and his stand-up comedy CD, “Jason Stuart: Gay Comedy Without A Dress” was a success and his first stand up special, “Jason Stuart: Making It To The Middle” will air on Here! TV from March 28 to April 24.

411 caught up with the fun and talented Stuart to see what he has in store for his first appearance at Parliament House and find out more about his upcoming comedy special.

411: Who are your influences?

JASON STUART: I was always funny, but I always used it as a defense. Comedians I admire are Lily Tomlin, Richard Lewis, Joan Rivers, Sandra Bernhard and Louie Anderson. The actors are Dustin Hoffman, Whoopi Goldberg, and Geraldine Page.

Who is your favorite comedian?

I don’t go to see comedy because I am in it so much.

What has been your favorite role so far?

Most recently in ‘Coffee Date’ playing Clayton. I was nominated for that. It was great fun working with all actors.

What would be your dream role?

I would love to be on ‘The Shield’ or ‘Grey’s Anatomy’ to play that rude nurse who tells Bailey she can’t get what she wants.

Why did you name your special ‘Jason Stuart: Making It To The Middle’?

It’s the middle of my life, in the middle of the country, shot it in middle of my career. I always thought I would be a big fat star and it didn’t turn out that way. Turns out I am a working guy. I thought I would be the next Streisand or next DeNiro, but it doesn’t work out that way for gay men.

Tell me about your special.

The special is 50, 55 minutes and shows what it’s like. It shows me getting to the event, it shows how unglamorous is it off the stage. And of course there’s standup. I talk about dating, pop culture, my family.

Are you in a relationship?

In a relationship now? No. Let them all know I am looking for a great guy. Handsome, smart, sexy and a really, really good man.

Have you performed at Parliament House a lot?

I’ve never performed there, but I’ve been there.

What are you looking forward to about your performance there?

Fun, outrageously sexy men and having a great old funny time. I hope that the people really dig my show. I haven’t performed for an all gay audience in a while. Gay men are sometimes a little more sensitive and you cant get away with as much.

What topics will you touch on?

Men, men and more men! I also like to do a question and answer part of my show.

What is the weirdest thing you’ve been asked in a Q&A?

Straight men always ask the weirdest questions. They ask if I’m a top or a bottom. I always say, ‘I’m an actor, I play both parts.’ When I perform in the Midwest, there are always married couples in the audience who have a boyfriend or girlfriend who live with them.

These are your fans, huh?

Yes, these are my people.
 

Watermark PDF version

middle man
Out comedian Jason Stuart laughs his way through a mid-life crisis in his new standup show
By: John Sullivan

Whether it’s in his standup comedy act or through the many characters he has portrayed in dozens of films and television shows, Jason Stuart has no problem being out, loud and proud. The openly gay comedian and actor delivers the laughs with a brutal honesty that leaves even the most jaded among us holding our sides.

Stuart, who has made appearances on shows like Will & Grace, Everybody Hates Chris, House M.D. and My Wife and Kids, brings his unique brand of comedy to the Parliament House’s Footlight Theater for one show only on March 15 at 8 p.m. We caught up with him by phone, and he brought us up to date on what’s new—and old—in his life these days.

WATERMARK: I hear that you have your first comedy special for television premiering soon.

JASON STUART: I just finished something for Here! TV called Jason Stuart: Making It to the Middle that will be on from March 28 to April 24. It’s me doing my standup but it’s also about me in the middle of my life and the middle of my career, and we did it in the middle of the country. It’s my first TV special, and I’m very excited.

I caught you on LOGO the other night in Coffee Date with Wilson Cruz and Deborah Gibson.

I really enjoyed working with those people. Deborah Gibson was a real sweet kind of girl from your neighborhood. She actually came to see my show at the Laugh Factory one night, and we hung out and that was really nice. I also went to see her do this AIDS benefit, and she did a version of “I’m The Greatest Star” from Funny Girl, and I was just shocked because I had never seen anyone do anything Barbra did so well.

What’s it like to be in the middle of your life? And are you going to tell me how old you are?

Oh God, why do you want to know that? It’s so depressing. Do you have to print it? Do you have to remind me? Because, you know, being 36 is so hard! [Laughs.] That’s what I am—I’m 36.

I hear that 36 is the new 26.

[Coyly] How old do I look?

From the pictures I’ve seen on your Web site, I would say you look 36. Or less…?

Oh, I think I love you. And that’s what I’m afraid of…I’m afraid that I’m not sure of a love that there’s no cure for. If I sound a little low-energy today it’s because I have a little bit of the flu. So forgive me, and don’t say I’m sick in the article because no one wants to hear that [laughs]. You never know how it will sound… “Jason Stuart was under the weather, but he still came to the phone.”

I even canceled my therapy tonight! I’m in group therapy, and basically it’s a how-to-find-a-boyfriend workshop.

Speaking of therapy, what do you make of young Hollywood and all the DUIs, rehab and bad mothering—and how it all plays out almost instantly via the Internet?

They’re just not as good as our old stars [Laughs]. They’re just not as interesting.

A while back I did an interview for AfterElton.com, and somebody asked me if I’d ever had an affair with somebody famous. Of course I said yes, Alejandro Rey [an Argentine actor famous for his turn in the sitcom The Flying Nun], and I had an affair for around a year when I was in my twenties. He was my second boyfriend.

So they wrote this thing, and Perez Hilton got a hold of it and put it on his Web site, and then The National Enquirer did a full page on it, and if you look on my Web site, you can see it for yourself. I was just sort of shocked that they gave me a full page in the Enquirer.

I just pulled it up, and here it is… “Flying Nun Star Secret Gay Life Revealed.”

It’s so funny that anyone would care what I had done.

I was at Sundance at the Entertainment Weekly party, and I was hanging out with two of the actors from Brothers and Sisters, the ones who play the gay one and the drug addict. They told me that Sally Field had heard about that because someone sent her the Enquirer, and she said, “I had no idea he [Alejandro Rey] was gay.” Isn’t that so weird?

How much of your standup is prepared material, and how much is just off the cuff?

Well, that’s my gift, I think, the improv. I don’t think I’m the greatest writer or the greatest this or that, but I think my gift is improv. But it is harder to do the improv with gay men than it is to do with straight people. I think gay men in general are just as funny as I am [laughs], so I have to be really good. It keeps me on my toes trying to be good enough for the gay boys.

What can we expect from your Orlando show? What are you going to bring for us?

Funny, sexy, provocative and available!
 

Known as the first openly-gay performer to headline mainstream comedy clubs all over the U.S., Jason Stuart is now the first male comedian to have his own stand-up comedy special on here! TV. “Jason Stuart: Making It to the Middle” will debut on Friday, March 28.

Filmed in Los Angeles at The Showcase Theatre for the Lifework Mentoring Program (a non-profit organization for gay youths), the special features a look at Stuart’s hilarious rapid-fire stand-up routine as well offer as a poignant behind-the-scenes take at a brilliant comic in the middle of his career, in the middle of his life, and in the middle of the country.

“I always thought I’d be as famous as Barbra Streisand or as Lil Kim’s wig washer. I ended up being neither,” says Stuart. “I made it to the middle.”

Seen in more than 100 films and television shows (“My Wife and Kids,” “Everybody Hates Chris”) Stuart has had a remarkable career as an actor and comedian. This year, he adds to his impressive resume with roles in several films: a naïve priest in ‘Twisted Faith”; a jaded doctor in “Ping Pong Playa”; a nurse in a rehab center in “Family of Four”; and a bitchy fashion designer in “Drop Dead Gorgeous,” (not to be mistaken for the film of the same name starring Kirsten Dunst).

When he’s not blazing a trail as a performer on stage and screen, Stuart likes to “pay it forward” with his work in the gay community, he said, and is the chairman of the first-ever SAG (Screen Actors’ Guild) LGBT Committee, which recently held its first meeting.

“All I ever wanted to do was act, but being gay is part of who I am too,” says Stuart. “This first meeting is the culmination of my desire to provide LGBT SAG members with a platform to share their issues and to get support from their colleagues.”
 

Funny Guy

By Nancy Ford

Jason Stuart is one of those actors who shows up in film and on TV more often than we are aware of. Remember his 1998 portrayal of a young Angelina Jolie's booker in Gia? Didn't think so.

Nonetheless, Stuart has been seen in more than 100 of those guest spots, including roles in My Wife & Kids , Everybody Hates Chris, and a number of indie films like 10 Attitudes and Coffee Date. It's no wonder he now spends little time on the comedy club circuit where he first gained acclaim as the country's first openly gay guy comedian.

This month Stuart honors his stand-up roots, bringing his rapid-fire act to here! TV. Making It to the Middle not only offers Stuart in all his cocktail-through-the-nose-spraying glory, but also provides a poignant look at the comic as he approaches both the middle of his career as well as the middle of his life.

Airs through April 24 on here! TV.

Details: www.heretv.com.
   

IN THE MIDDLE WITH JASON STUART

By Matt Kailey

Click here to read the pdf version.

Oh, sure, you can probably name a few out gay television actors, some screen actors, a handful of stage actors, several comedians and a number of activists. But why bother? You can cover all those categories by naming just one man – Jason Stuart. This heralded character actor and hilarious comic has a resume that would take up most of this issue, and he is currently starring in his first stand-up comedy special, Jason Stuart: Making It to the Middle, airing on here! TV through April 24. In addition, he has just completed an episode of Everybody Hates Chris, which will air on May 11 on the WC network; he is starring in L.A. in the dramatic stage play Biking with Andrew Scott; he will appear at The Improv at Harrah’s in Las Vegas from April 22-27; and he is the founder and chairman of the first-ever Screen Actors Guild LGBT Committee. Check out Stuart’s Web site for the lowdown on all his latest projects, and read on to find out what I learned when I interviewed him by phone at his home in L.A.

Jason Stuart: So I’d like to ask you, what interested you in doing this story?

Matt Kailey: I don’t think we’ve featured you. And I think you’ve got a huge career that a lot of people might not be aware of.

JS: That’s just so sweet of you, because that’s just the reason. Because what I really believe, between us gay men, is that if we do not start supporting one another in a big way, we will always spend our whole lives through the skirts of women and having them speak for us. And to me, the idea that a man is interviewing a man to support each other – I’m supporting your paper and you’re supporting my career – to me is fabulous. … It sounds really simple, but it really is important to me – important on such a big political level.

MK: Do you think you’re treated differently because you’re gay?

JS: Yeah. First of all, people like you interview me. And that’s a good thing. ... But when you’re gay, people automatically think that’s all you can do. And reporters always ask you, ‘Is that part gay?’ Because what they’re really thinking is that all you can do is play gay parts. Now to me, there’s a million different kinds of gay people.

MK: What do you think about straight men playing gay men?

JS: I think when they let us play their parts more, then I’ll let them play my parts more. Until then, there aren’t enough gay parts to give them all away.

MK: You’ve got your new comedy show on here! TV now.

JS: Yeah, that’s the whole reason for all of this – Jason Stuart: Making it to the Middle. It’s in the middle of the country, in the middle of my life, in the middle of my career. And it’s about how it is to be an openly gay comedian headlining mainstream comedy clubs. I was one of the first people to do that.

MK: And how difficult is that?

JS: That was hard. It was really hard. It was scary. I’ve never really felt like the club owners in the country really ever supported gay people in the same way the audiences did. … They’ve never really let a gay person move to the next level.

MK: Do you have a partner now?

JS: Oh, I knew you’d get to that! I’m so fucking single it’s pathetic. I don’t know how it happened.

MK: What kind of partner are you looking for? Our readers would be interested.

JS: Smart. Really passionate. Has a car. Has a job. Doesn’t live in the car. Somebody who can’t walk by me without touching me – and me him.

MK: Why do you think gay men don’t support each other?

JS: Well, because I think there’s a competitive thing and there’s a fear thing and I think that we’re all looking to have sex. We just totally forget. We think with our penises, and I’m one of them, and I’ve got a good penis, so ... Do you want a joke to go off on? Come on, straight people, it’s the year 2008. If you let us marry each other, we’ll stop marrying you. ■

Although he gets a little overwhelmed, Stuart says he answers his e-mail personally. For more information on Jason Stuart, or to contact him, go to www.jasonstuart.com.
 

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Finding ‘Middle’ ground
Gay comic Jason Stuart discovers how to be out and successful in Hollywood

DAVID ALEXANDER NAHMOD
Friday, April 04, 2008

In the middle of his career, Jason Stuart, an openly gay Hollywood actor and stand-up comic, finds himself on fairly stable ground — especially for being in show business.

“I will always work,” he says. “I will always be a sought after character actor.”  

Currently, he’s scored a TV special on Here! TV’s video-on-demand service. His show, “Jason Stuart: Making it to the Middle,” runs through April 24 and features an hour of edgy, gay stand-up comedy, and it was filmed before a live, largely straight audience in Columbus, Ohio.

“I love straight people,” Stuart says. “Two of them clean my house. One of them stole something, but I’m not saying anything.”

During his set, Stuart flirts mercilessly with “Buck,” a handsome young man sitting in the front row with his girlfriend.

When asked if he was afraid of any backlash from the straight couple, Stuart jokes, “Buck and I have been dating for a month.”

Despite the laughter, this openness is a far cry from where the comedy industry used to be, and Stuart acknowledges the strides made by Ellen DeGeneres and Rosie O’Donnell as being essential to his own coming-out process in the entertainment world.

“I remember sitting in a hotel room in St. Louis, watching Ellen on Rosie’s show. Ellen joked about being Lebanese. ‘Some people think I’m Lebanese, too,’ said Rosie. I realized it was OK for me to be me,” says Stuart, adding that Lea Delaria, Funny Gay Males, Kate Clinton, Bruce Vilanch and Suzanne Westenhoefer were also role models. “They gave me a crack of light. Before them it never occurred to me that I could be out.”

Not knowing what an openly gay life could look like partially comes from his family. A self-described weekend Jew, the performer shared that his Orthodox sister won’t talk to him, and he hasn’t met any of her four children.

MILES AWAY FROM that world now, Stuart wears several hats. He’s been seen on episodic television (including “Will & Grace,” “Everybody Hates Chris” and “Charmed”), appeared in feature films (including “Kindergarten Cop”), and he’s worked as a stand-up headliner.

“I’m the first openly gay comic to headline all week, not just on gay night,” he says.

Now that he’s achieved some success in Hollywood, Stuart says something not normally heard from gay people in entertainment.

“It’s more important to me to be gay than to be in show business.”

Fortunately, he doesn’t have to choose. In addition to his career, Stuart is chair of the Screen Actors Guild’s first-ever LGBT Committee, and he also chairs comedy shows for Lifeworks Mentoring, which helps to mentor gay and transgender youth.

“If I had this when I was a kid, my life would be different,” says Stuart. “I’d have self esteem. With all the hate crimes being done to gay youth these days, they need our support more than ever.”

Stuart has a Lifeworks benefit show on Monday, April 14, in Los Angeles, and he’ll perform alongside Alec Mapa, Wendy Liebman, Westenhoefer and Vilanch. Chad Allen hosts the evening. vAside from his gay advocacy work and comedy routines, Stuart hopes to branch out into richer acting roles.

“I want a career that mirrors Steve Buscemi, John Ritter, Philip Seymour Hoffman. I want to do more acting. Now, it’s OK for me to not be me. I don’t have to play the funny gay guy or the guy dying of AIDS, I can play a doctor or a priest. I want to open doors for others.

“We’re coming of age. By interviewing me, you’re supporting me and my work. By granting you the interview, I’m supporting you and your work. We’re supporting each other, as gay men should.”

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 Openly gay comic, Jason Stuart is making it to the middle and beyond!

A few months back I was in my local video rental store and happened to see 10 Attitudes on the shelf and I wondered to myself what Jason Stuart the writer and star of it was up to. What was he up to? Had he gotten anywhere? As it turns out he’s done a lot before and since that quirky movie.

First stop was his site and next up was to see if he had a MySpace page (MySpace is a great place for finding gay actors and comedians btw.); or maybe it was the other way around…

In any event, I was pleased for several reasons to see that Jason had indeed been keeping busy, very busy indeed. He may not have skyrocketed to stardom but this openly gay comic has been working on a lot of projects.

In fact, in the last six months Jason has completed seven films and five TV shows and that’s in between his stand up gigs which include the “The Looking for Mr. Right Comedy Tour”.

In a recent bulletin, Jason announced that he’s set to appear in his first stand up comedy special “Jason Stuart: Making To The Middle”, which will be airing on here! TV.

The Special was filmed in the middle in the country, the middle of his career and the middle of his life.

On the film side of things Jason Stuart is finally getting some big recognition. Stuart was recently nominated for a Gay International Film Award (Glitter Award), for best supporting actor in “Coffee Date” as Todd’s nosy officemate. I’ve noted recently that Coffee Date is due to come out in September and I’m looking forward to watching it.

Jason was recently cast in “Doesn’t Texas Ever End?” playing a straight guy of all things, and the coming of age drama “American Primitive” playing “Randolph” the other half of a gay couple circa 1973. Stuart has also completed the lead dog voice “Mozart” in the film “A Dog Life”.

He’s playing a “Doctor” in the comedy “Pong Pong Playa”, from Oscar winning filmmaker Jessica Yu; a “Priest” who’s murdered in the drama “Twisted Faith” opposite Elaine Hendrix (”Bam Bam & Celeste”).

Jason is also playing a “Rich Man”, whose lover steals $98,000 in “San Saba” opposite Angus McFadden (”Braveheart”) w/ Vivica Fox: a “Dad” in the mini film “Angels with Dirty Spaces”. And lastly, he plays a “Rude Manager” in the murder mystery “Seducing Spirits” and he just might be the killer…

On the television front, Jason is set to be a flamboyant auctioneer on “Everybody Hates Chris” and was recently seen on “George Lopez”, “Mind of Mencia”, and was a celebrity panelist “Comics Unleashed” with host Byron Allen.

He has appeared on both American gay networks, doing stand up on LOGO in “Wiscrack”, and in the “D.L. Chronicles” on Here! TV.

In short, Jason Stuart has been in over 70 films and TV shows so far and it doesn’t look like he’s going to be short of work any time soon as this is just a short list of what Jason is up to.

As Jason notes, “the doors are opening for gay men to live their life and be a successful character actor at the same time. The new second banana is a gay man!”

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