Shortbus

Photo: Fortissimo/Process Prods/Kobal/Shutterstock I am standing alone in the men’s room of a West Village club, collecting my thoughts, when a good-looking guy comes in. He has followed me. “Hey!” he says. “I wanted to get a moment alone with you.” Smiling, he walks up to me, drops his pants, and takes out his penis. “What do you think?” he says. It is the early spring of 2003. I am a gay man in my 30s in New York City, so this is not an entirely unfamiliar situation. But this is a special circumstance. Both his smile and his dick are big, but they also both look somehow expectant in a way that suggests each could get a lot bigger or a lot smaller very quickly depending on the next words I choose. I choose the wrong words — or the right words, but in the wrong way. “Um,” I venture, trying to keep my gaze at eye level. “I don’t think that … it’s not really my sense that that’s what they’re looking for.” His face falls. Everything falls. His dejection in that moment makes … [Read more...] about Revisiting the Try-Outs For the Orgy

Murray Hill in Somebody Somewhere. Photo: Elizabeth Sisson/HBO Murray Hill has been an institution of the New York City art scene for decades. His old-school comic persona, natty-tie collection, and slicked-back hair are the stuff of legend. The Murray Hill persona began as a performance-art piece in 1996 with Hill running for mayor . But even after the campaign, the party would not die. Hill took his Vegas-inflected act to the burlesque scene and beyond, working with Dirty Martini and emceeing the Miss Lez pageant for much of the late aughts and early 2010s. Like fellow downtown legend Mx Justin Vivian Bond, Hill made his way into John Cameron Mitchell’s Shortbus . But Hill has always been more of an in-person event. Old-school jokes and interjections of “Showbiz!” roll over audiences in a classic Borscht Belt style. Partnering with longtime pal Bridget Everett, Hill is part of the ensemble of HBO’s Somebody Somewhere . The show stars Everett as Sam, a woman … [Read more...] about Murray Hill Is Bridget Everett’s Biggest Fan