OUT March/April 2022

When I was a teen, my friend Eric casually invited me to see Margaret Cho perform stand-up comedy in a New Jersey theater. I hadn’t been too familiar with her work at the time. But I thought Eric was cute, so we went — sitting in front-row seats (thanks, Eric!) — and my life was transformed. Cho, as fans know, has a sublime gift for impressions and physical comedy; her impersonations of family members killed every time. But it was her epic “Persimmon Diet” skit — in which she reenacts the bowel consequences of an unfortunate six-month fruit regimen — that nearly had me wetting my own pants. I had never laughed so hard in my life, and honestly, probably haven’t since. I was reminded of Cho’s brilliance by our cover…

IN MY WORLD, CHRISTMAS IS FOR THE NIECES AND NEPHEWS. FEBRUARY IS WHEN I GET THE GIFTS I REALLY WANT — FOR MYSELF. And though they shipped from Italy during the slow-down, the wait for my new prescription Ray-Ban Stories smart glasses was well worth it. You can’t be a Gen Xer without feeling a pang of familiarity with Ray-Ban, the masculine-cool specs that showed up in movies like Top Gun, Easy Rider, Men in Black, and Terminator. It’s not just for the boys (there’s a Pinterest dedicated to lesbians in Ray-Ban Wayfarers) and the company first supported LGBTQ+ rights in 2012 with its 75th-anniversary “Never Hide” campaign. Ironically, this campaign did not feature any actual Ray-Bans, just two well-dressed gay men holding hands in the street, circa 1950. Since I was…

Parfum, eau de toilette, and cologne, in that order, define the pungency and potency of all scents. Spring is prime season for all of us to awaken new methods to make ourselves more noticeable (desirable). Breathe deeply. Fragrance has been an age-old symbol of individualized personalization. While many used myrrh in lieu of a difficult-to-get shower in medieval times, the oldest known perfumes were discovered by archeologists in Cyprus. They date back some 4,000 years. One of the first commercialized parfums was of royal blended oils, commissioned (commanded) by Queen Elizabeth of Hungary as Hungary Water in the 14th century. In the present, fragrance houses work hard to formulate wafting aromas that reflect not only how we’re feeling on a given day but how we want to be perceived. A dab…

After John Cameron Mitchell was cast to portray Joe Exotic in the new Peacock series Joe vs. Carole, images from the set leaked online of the gay actor in a mustache and bright cowboy attire. The Tiger King himself responded with a slashing review. Mitchell “is just going to make me look like a flaming fag…and I’m a hard-working gay male,” tweeted the incarcerated zoo owner, who had been convicted in 2019 on charges of animal abuse and murder for hire. Mitchell’s response? A painted nail emoji. “I was like, ‘Joe, please. Come on. We’re all in this — I mean, we’re not all in jail together. But we’re all queer. Let’s not get upset,’” he recalls with a laugh. Joe vs. Carole, premiering March 3 on NBCUniversal’s streaming service, focuses on…

In 1985, Madonna hosted the 11th season premiere episode of Saturday Night Live. In one notable sketch, she portrayed a soap star who refuses to kiss actors she doesn’t know out of fear of contracting HIV. Opposite her was Terry Sweeney — SNL’s first out gay male cast member, who would, sadly, hold that distinction for decades. Sweeney played a clearly queer actor who, to comic effect, tries to butch up his mannerisms in order to assuage the fears of the actress. The sketch, “Pinklisting,” was a direct critique of stigma in Hollywood, referencing McCarthyism in a preamble: “Hollywood is again gripped by paranoia, this time provoked by the tragic AIDS outbreak.” Rock Hudson had died the previous month, a victim of the plague, and headlines obsessed over whether he may…

Bowen Yang was running late. He’s usually very punctual, he claims. But the Saturday Night Live star admits he was busy spending the day trekking around Atlanta — where he was visiting his sister — shopping and running errands at three different Asian supermarkets. The all-important question: Which Asian supermarket is his favorite? “Obviously, H Mart is king,” Yang says of the beloved Korean-American national grocery chain. However, he’s hesitant to pick just one. Yang cites a Chinese market called Jusgo and “a bunch of Vietnamese, Thai, Cambodian, Malaysian stores around that area [in Atlanta] that are all heavenly, and that did bring me back to childhood.” Many Asian-Americans and children of immigrants can relate: Being able to connect to culture, even in the smallest of ways, like via a supermarket, can…