By Drew Wilson
Openly gay comedian Thai Rivera 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.
After the show, the gay old time continues with the Official After-Party/Meet N Greet at The Corner Office in LoDo.
I caught up with Thai on the road recently and we had a chance to talk
about the tour, GRINDR and why the gay community needs to support gay shows and events.
You can read part one of the interview by clicking here. And now, here's part two!
Drew: You've said that the gay community sometimes doesn't go to comedy shows because of the fear of homophobia from the comedians. When have you experienced homophobia?
Thai? What I call The New Homophobia is more of what I experience than the old school homophobia. It’s more like people ripping my straight friends
for hanging out with me and implying that they must be gay is usually what I
encounter. On the road, for the most part, my personal fan base is a lot of
straight people – soccer moms and stuff like that. I think a lot of times in
the media it's made to seem like things are homophobic and red states and blue
states and, I mean, I’ve traveled everywhere. I do a joke in my set where I
talk about performing in really white, rednecky rooms and sometimes my act
doesn’t feel like an act, it feels like a really long suicide note. But really, that's just a joke because I used to feel like they were going to kill me sometimes but it
turned out to be great. I don’t think people are nearly as homophobic as the
media makes it seem.
Do you think gay audiences find different things funny versus straight audiences?I don’t really notice a lot of differences sometimes. Gay people in certain areas used to get uncomfortable with some of what I did because I think they took it as me airing our dirty laundry in public.
Sometimes I say things that they think are a little too much, letting straight people in a little more than I should. I don’t really have a filter or think about what I’m saying a lot of times, I just say it. If it’s funny, I’ll say it. But really it hasn’t been a problem for a long time. San Francisco used to be a hard place for me to perform because there you have a lot of overly militant, far-left types. They thought I was too much in some cases. Sometimes in an entire room, there would be like five people left when I was done.
That sounds rough.
Yeah, that definitely takes the wind out of your sails. It's like, really, you guys are that upset? But that’s what they want to do.
Yeah, that definitely takes the wind out of your sails. It's like, really, you guys are that upset? But that’s what they want to do.
I go to the gym. I buy shoes. I like buying vintage t-shirts. I go to the movies sometimes. Sometimes I go to clubs. But a lot of time when you’re performing the comedy clubs are not in the main part of the city and it can be too much effort to get to the gay clubs. Before, I used to be on Grindr and that kind of stuff but now I’m dating somebody so I’m pretty lame on the road.
So have you stopped going on Grindr or have you just stop telling the guy you're dating that you're going on Grindr?
Oh, no. I’m not allowed so I’m not on Grindr. We’ve been together like 8 or 9 months and it’s a little bit hard because he’s in Vegas and I’m in LA but I know what I'm not allowed to do. But it can be annoying when the person you want to spend time with is a four hour drive away.
Oh, no. I’m not allowed so I’m not on Grindr. We’ve been together like 8 or 9 months and it’s a little bit hard because he’s in Vegas and I’m in LA but I know what I'm not allowed to do. But it can be annoying when the person you want to spend time with is a four hour drive away.
Why should gay Denver come out to the Stand Up Proud show?
They should come out to the show because it’s gonna be fun and they can see Dina Martinez who I think is a real find. A lot of times the transgender community is kind of ignored and sometimes when I’ve seen transgendered comics they tend to have more of a Q&A type situation but Dina actually does stand up and she’s really funny. I want the community to know that not only is this going to be a great time but they should support it because people are always complaining about not seeing gay people in different things but then when gay people do do things, sometimes the community doesn't come out and support it. And if gay events and things don’t make money – if gay people don’t show their support – then business owners assume the community isn’t interested and then they don’t book gay shows. It's lose/lose and people then try to blame it on homophobia but it’s not, it’s business.
They should come out to the show because it’s gonna be fun and they can see Dina Martinez who I think is a real find. A lot of times the transgender community is kind of ignored and sometimes when I’ve seen transgendered comics they tend to have more of a Q&A type situation but Dina actually does stand up and she’s really funny. I want the community to know that not only is this going to be a great time but they should support it because people are always complaining about not seeing gay people in different things but then when gay people do do things, sometimes the community doesn't come out and support it. And if gay events and things don’t make money – if gay people don’t show their support – then business owners assume the community isn’t interested and then they don’t book gay shows. It's lose/lose and people then try to blame it on homophobia but it’s not, it’s business.
Stand Up Proud at Comedy Works is one show, one night only. For tickets or more information click here. To RSVP to the After Party at The Corner Office, click here.
