Issue Number 1005 | Support Your Local Gay Performer | Advocate.com Support Your Local Gay Performer  |  | Advocate.com

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Support Your Local Gay Performer
Gay men will turn out in droves to support our favorite female stars. But with gay entertainers, we’re not interested. What’s up with that?
By Jim David
From The Advocate  April 8, 2008
Support Your Local Gay Performer

Gay men love female performers so much you would think they were on salary. A brassy woman on the stage can count on our adoration. Cher, Bette, and insert name here would never have lasted without gay fans. They even latched on to Tammy Faye Bakker, forgiving her fundamentalism because she looked like a drag queen.

In comedy, Margaret Cho and Kathy Griffin have huge gay followings to thank for their bank accounts. But will that same audience pack a theater for a gay man? I spoke to several friends who are successful out performers. According to one well-known comedian, “If you aren’t a strong female or fat black woman, good luck getting gay men to come out and support you. Unless you’re doing a benefit show or cruise and the ticket includes you, no dice.”

Gay comedians are under no illusions about this. If all the male audiences I have met on gay cruises who said “When you perform in my town, I’ll come” actually did come, gay comics would be outselling the road company of Wicked. A comedian friend who performs in Provincetown said, “If there’s something else going on where they might see a hot guy or get laid, they do that. Maybe I should just do steroids and become a prop comic -- Carrot Bottom.”

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