Go to that link to hear the interview. At 12:20 they start the interview, and it's a great conversation about the topic.
Todd Glass is a successful stand up comedian who's appeared on Tosh.O, Late Night with Conan O'Brien, Louie and Jimmy Kimmel.
In the interview, he mentions he's told close friends and family and they've known for years, but this is his first time publicly announcing it.
Congrats Todd! I hope the enormous weight on your chest has finally been lifted.
Quote:
Originally posted by Amos Barshad via Grantland
Todd Glass, the 47-year-old stand up comedy veteran (who's appeared on Jimmy Kimmel Live!, Last Comic Standing, Louie, The Sarah Silver Program, among many other shows) came out on Marc Maron’s WTF podcast yesterday. Even if you weren't previously a fan of Glass, the whole hour-plus is well worth your time: somehow, the dude manages to be simultaneously unreservedly honest about his reasons for waiting this long, earnestly passionate about why he’s admitting the truth now, and really funny.
First up, Glass addressed how recent teen suicides influenced his decision to discuss his sexuality publicly: “I know it sounds maybe cliché, but it's so much from my ****ing soul -- I cannot listening to stories about kids killing themselves any longer and not think, ‘When are you gonna have a little blood on your shirt for not being honest about who you are?’ You hear it in the news … but any ****ing human being anywhere that didn’t make it in to the paper. I can’t do this any longer. But I thought that a year ago: I gotta do it. And if I do it in a public forum, then I can maybe do something to help kids. Whether it’s a campaign, or being honest on stage … now everybody knows.”
Glass goes on to explain that his close circle of friends and his parents have known for a long time, and that he has many other pals and acquaintances that he’s sure knew as well without him ever saying it. To his credit, he’s able to admit that the reason he hadn’t been honest earlier was because he was afraid to do so. He shares an anecdote with Maron about recently reconnecting with some childhood friends, who ask about his dating life: “’You got a girlfriend? You got a boyfriend?’” And I go, ‘Yeah, I’m still with the same girl.’ I get in the car and go, ‘What the **** am I doing?! I’m holding on to this to the bitter end!’ And by the way I’m probably going to in certain situations … whenever you’re somewhere, at the department store, and someone says, ‘Who is this for?,’ Oh, it’s for my … ?” And here Maron jokingly interjects: “It’s for my roommate?” Glass: “No, I won't say that, because that's embarrassing. I will not be that guy. You know these guys, they're like 70. [Comical old man voice] 'It's my accountant.' Accountant? Really? He lives with you? [Comical old man voice] 'We're very close.'”
Glass goes on to explain how he grew to be embarrassed: “I’m referencing ‘89, ‘90. If I told somebody, then they’d be afraid to drink out of my cup because of the AIDS thing. I was thinking, should I understand that? I wasn’t educated either.” He admits that, if he was out with a girl that had a crush on him, he’d get “sloppy drunk” until she’d change her mind. And at the heights of his self-denial, Glass “was hoping I’d marry someone with cancer. A girl. And she’d die. Oh, that’s what I’ll tell people: I never got married again because I never got over my wife who had cancer. Maybe I’ll meet a girl and find out she had cancer!"
As amusing as Glass manages to be on the podcast, he’s clearly, understandably having a hard time with the whole thing. It’s always fascinating to hear someone be this direct and honest, but this is also a heavy reminder that even in a progressive-seeming field like comedy, being out can be extremely difficult. It makes you once again appreciate something like the memorable poker scene from Louie, in which Rick Crom subtly schools a room full of straight guys: “You ask me this **** every time I'm here. I talk about gay sex more with you guys than I do any of my gay friends. You guys are obsessed." And how hard this whole thing is for him makes you really appreciate Todd Glass, too, for spilling his guts on WTF, and for railing against anti-gay-marriage politicians: “They’re ruining [kids]! You’re sucking the ****ing soul out of them! And you’re wrong!”
Aw, good for him. I've always liked him. I can relate a lot with his struggle to come out and be honest with people.
His story is universal to the gay community. There were many times during the interview I just nodded my head and said "Yep, I know exactly what you mean." I've gotten halfway through the interview but I'm going to need to save the last half for another time.
That's good for him. I just wish I knew who he was.
I've seen him a couple of times on Tosh.O and Louie, that's how I knew him. He's hilarious, I would guess his stand-up is even better than his cameos on those shows.
