By Drew Wilson
Openly gay comedian Thai Rivera (along with pals Shawn Pelofsky and Dina Martinez) brings the Stand Up Proud comedy tour to Denver's Comedy Works this Sunday, April 29 at 7pm for one show, one night only of comedy by, for and about the GLBT community.
I caught up with Thai on the road recently and we had a chance to talk about the tour, his personal brand of politically incorrect comedy, and homophobia in the world of stand up comedy.
Here's part one of our two part interview.
Drew: Hey Thai, tell me how the Stand Up Proud Comedy Tour came about.
Thai: I was on the
road with a comedian named Jo Koy for about a year and while I was on the road I would always meet other gay
people and a lot of them told me they were glad to see me because they don’t
usually go to comedy shows because sometimes they don’t feel comfortable
because a lot of times comedians will say things that are homophobic. So I
decided to put together a tour.
And how did you go about putting together a "gay" tour?
Well, this is gonna sound bad but I get tired of watching
the same stereotypes on stage over and over. Whenever there’s a gay person,
they’re ridiculously flamey and that’s cool and I know that’s a part of the gay
community but that’s not all we are so I wanted to show a different side of
what we are.
What different side of who we are do you feel you represent?
Actually I think I represent the majority of the community.
When it comes down to it I don’t think gay people are that much different from
straight people. I just think that a lot of times people are pushing the same
things over and over again when it comes to being gay, like we’re all trying to
get married. The gay media seems to be pushing the sames things over and over.
How would you describe your comedy?
I'm not politically correct at all. I say pretty much
anything I want. I hit every demographic in my act, including gay people. It’s
all in fun. It’s all good-natured. It’s very rare that people don’t get me. I
just poke fun at everyone.
How did you end up teaming up with Shawn Pelofski (pictured, with friends) and Dina Martinez, the other performers on the tour?
A friend of mine named Steve Trevino brought it up to me. I
don’t even know why but he thought I should start a tour in Texas. I don’t know
why he was thinking of me so much but he called me out of nowhere and suggested
that I have Shawn Pelofski and a different lineup but then I stumbled onto Dina
Martinez who I think is great and asked if she wanted to come along and that’s
how we ended up.
And how did you get hooked up with Comedy Works here in Denver? Did they jump at the chance for a night of gay comedy?
I worked there with Jo Koy so I already had a little bit
of a relationship so when I came up with the tour I figured I’d give a call. It
seems that Denver has a pretty good population of gay people and I’ve noticed
that straight people in Denver don’t really seem to have an issue with gay. I
haven’t noticed much homophobia when I’ve been there. Denver has this live and
live attitude.
Check out part two of the MileHighGayGuy/Thai Rivera interview later this week. And stay tuned for free ticket giveaways to Stand Up Proud. Tickets are now available for Stand Up Proud at Comedy Works. For tickets or more information click here.
