By Drew Wilson
Todd Glass has been doing stand up for 25 years and appeared on both the second and third seasons of "Last Comic Standing."
He came out publicly only a few months ago, on the podcast WTF with Marc Maron in response to recent headlines about the bullying and subsequent suicides of gay youth across the country, and now Glass will be appearing at Comedy Works South at The Landmark tonight through Saturday (May 17-19). I had a chance to chat with the comedian about some pretty serious subjects including his passion for equality, his coming out process, and how homophobia hurts us all.
Here's part one of our interview. Check back tomorrow for part two.
Drew Wilson: So Mr. Glass, I hear you got your start in comedy at a very young age.
Todd Glass: Yeah, I
have been doing stand up comedy for about 25 years now. I started in high school
and it’s still my favorite thing in the world to do. I started at a club in
Philadelphia when I was 15. I used to watch acts like Jay Leno, Jerry Seinfeld,
Garry Seinfeld and Roseanne Bar.
Wow,
that's like the Golden Age of Stand Up. Didn’t you have school or somewhere to be?
I
did but you know, my parents were very supportive because I didn’t do very well
in school. I had dyslexia and it wasn’t really well known back then. But I’ve
always just loved stand up – even when I was 10 or 11 I would watch it on TV
and I’ve just always loved it.
And you've been touring ever since. You're coming to Comedy Works tonight. You must have been here before at some point, right?
I
have been. Comedy Works is a great club with a great reputation for a reason.
Wendy knows how to run a comedy club and it’s just a great place for the
audience as well as the comedians.
Was appearing on "Last Comic Standing" very different from what you usually do?
Anytime
you’re doing anything like comedy or music, it’s basically the hardest thing in the
world to do. And when you make it into a competition it doesn’t make it any easier.
It’s always nerve-wracking but basically I just hung out with my friends and had
a good time. Overall it was a great experience and it changed a lot for me. It
brought me into peoples’ living rooms in the prime time hour.
So after so many years on the road and in the public eye, you recently decided to come out as gay. What was your thought process behind that decision?
You
know, I thought that not doing it was just adding to the validity of
the thought that it was something worth hiding. I have a podcast on Chris
Hardwick’s Nerdist Industries and I do shows on Earwolf and there’s a very
young audience that comes out to see comedy and I just thought that, if I was
honest with who I was then other kids and adults could maybe be honest with themselves as well. I don’t want to die having never been real with myself.
But, I
also have to say that I was ready to do it. I knew nobody in my life would be horrified and I’ve been happy to
find out that people in my life have been accepting and supportive.You should never push anybody else. Everybody
comes out at the same time and that’s when they’re ready. Matter of fact, I
always say - rather then tell kids to come out, why don’t we just make sure we're laying out a welcoming mat for when they’re ready?
What kind of reaction have you gotten?
One
thing that really is overwhelming to me is that I’m surprised both by how many
hateful people there are as well as how many people are accepting. And sometimes they
aren’t the people you would expect. I have people come up to me after shows
that I may perceive to look like someone who wouldn’t be OK with it but they
don’t give a shit and they say the kindest, warmest things.
That’s why, on my
podcast The Todd Glass Show, I say that to take someone who is homophobic and make
them not be homophobic is a challenge, but it's doable. What’s less of a challenge
is for gay people and people aren’t homophobic to just be more vocal about it. Matter of
fact, I want to start a campaign for straight people to put message videos online, a very simple message, "I don’t give a shit!" and that’s the whole campaign. Just
straight people saying “My name is" and "I don't give a shit!"
Why is that an important message for straight people to express?
I think it’s important to ask people who aren’t homophobic to start being a little bit more vocal. If
you hear someone saying something homophobic, treat it as if you heard someone
using the N word. You wouldn’t just listen to it, you would go, “whoa, whoa,
whoa!”
And what is your message to gay people?
Don’t
let someone who is misinformed and unhealthy make you have a shitty life. I get so many
emails from people – some of them make me cry – because people are hurt and outraged by
what’s going on. But you don’t have to be gay to be outraged. I’m not a woman,
I’m not black or Mexican but I have the same zero tolerance and outrage for any kind of
hatred against any group of people.
You seem really passionate ...
All my life, I’ve never been really able to discuss this
stuff. My rage comes from every single human being on this planet who
oppresses someone else. That’s why I get so excited about this topic. Because I
haven’t been able to before. But at the end of the day I’m just out on the road
doing the same stuff I’ve been doing for the last 25 years, just being funny
and that’s what I’ll continue to do.
