Cheyenne Jackson knows you recognize him — even if you can't remember why

This story originally appeared on Out.

You've almost certainly seen Cheyenne Jackson before.

Maybe he was haunting your nightmares in American Horror Story. Maybe he made you laugh on 30 Rock. Maybe your kids introduced you to him through Disney's Descendants. Or maybe you caught him on Broadway, where he's spent decades building one of the most versatile careers in show business.

Jackson knows the feeling well.

It's the reason his new one-man show is called That Guy From That Thing.

"I have my new show called That Guy From That Thing," Jackson told Out's Stephen Walker during Provincetown's Family Week. "It's going to be on Sunday at Town Hall at 8:30, brand-new show, and I'm just kind of peppering in new pieces. I always like to try out new bits and bobs while I'm out of town."

The title, he explained, comes from the countless moments when fans recognize his face but can't quite place where they've seen him.

"People walk up to me in the airport, and they’re like, ‘hmm’..." Jackson said before rattling off the usual guesses: Descendants. American Horror Story. 30 Rock. Or maybe, he joked, they simply think they went to school with someone's dad.

Provincetown is more than just another tour stop. Jackson and his husband, Jason Landau, regularly bring their twins to Family Week, a tradition that has become deeply meaningful for their family.

"That's why we come here, because for the first time my kids, they don't feel so weird," Jackson said. "They're just like, 'Oh, these are my moms. These are my dads.'"

For Jackson, that feeling is the very definition of queer joy — not a glamorous Hollywood moment, but the comfort of an ordinary family life.

"I live for the mundanity of life," he said, describing afternoons spent paddleboarding with his daughter while his son snacks on Takis and watches cartoons. "That's queer joy to me — that we are just a normal, messy, everyday family with the same shit that everybody else does."

It's a future Jackson always imagined for himself, even growing up as what he calls "a super tall, super queer Christian kid" in rural Idaho.

"I always saw it for myself," he said. "I'm gonna have a cute little husband. I'm gonna have kids. I'm gonna have a house. I’m going to have dogs. Maybe a cat."

Today, that dream is his everyday reality — and now it's becoming part of his newest show.

Don't miss Cheyenne Jackson's one-night-only Ptown performance of That Guy From That Thing on Sunday, Aug. 2, at Provincetown Town Hall. The evening will help raise funds for Sandy Hook Promise. Tickets are available here.