'MO - May 2008 - (Page 14)

cover story text by Vincent Kovar / Photos by Jay Koh, courtesy Flying house Productions ven at four-feet, eleven inches, Leslie Jordan is a hard man to miss. He is famous for being sharp, uninhibited, and often a bit bitchy. But for those who look deeper, there is an entirely different side to him. Yes, he tells a dirty story with an aplomb that few other gays can match; but beneath this frothy exterior, there is an iron infrastructure made up of equal parts compassion and hard-won wisdom. He works extensively with serious charities. He cares profoundly about gay youth, and for everything you know about him, there are a dozen things that you don’t. Recently, ’mo Magazine had the privilege of sitting down with Mr. Jordan and talking about his new book, My Trip Down the Pink Carpet, and his upcoming performance with the Seattle Men’s Chorus. There was a lot of turning the recorder on and off as he told us stories that we weren’t sure we could print. What was ﬁnally recorded—in that fast, high drawl— was just like Mr. Jordan himself: a little broad but surprisingly deep. ’mo: What inspired you to write your book? LJ: Two things, I knew that when I won [the Emmy] I didn’t know anyone who’s had the career I’ve had and been openly gay. I got off the bus in 1982 with $1200 sewn into my underpants and by 2006 I was presenting at the Emmys. Back when I won, we got to write our own patter—me and Cloris Leachman—and I originally wanted Cloris to say, “I’ve won eight of these, but one never forgets the ﬁrst.” And I wanted to say, “Oh Ms. Leachman, I take mine everywhere. I even sleep with it.” Then I wanted her to say, “Well it’s the only woman you’ve ever slept with,” but they said it made her appear homophobic. So I said it myself. I stood before a jury of my peers and said it without any shame or hesitation. But the main reason that I wrote this book I think was because I am very involved with the Trevor Project which is a suicide hotline. When the Trevor Project ﬁrst plugged in they had 15,000 calls in the ﬁrst 2 months from kids who wanted to kill themselves. You know where those calls came from? They came from the Bible Belt where I grew up. So I said I want that kid to know that journey I took. I was a kid who was baptized 14 times! Every time the preacher would say, “Come forward lost sinner,” I would go. My mother, would say, “Son, E you’re already saved! You’re saved!” That’s an important journey so that’s why I wrote the book—for that kid out there. little man ’mo: Sean Hayes? LJ: I can’t go there. I really can’t. I am in so much trouble already. No, you know who the second gayest man would be? Bruce Villanch. All these gay events always trot us out, me and Bruce Villanch. Who is, by the way, hilarious naturally. I was driving down the middle of Beverly Hills, and I saw him. With that hair you can’t miss him. And I hollered out the car window, “get off the street!” And without even looking to see who it was, he wheeled around and yells, “WHERE WOULD I GO, I ask you, where would I go?” That is the funniest man alive. ’mo: Will & Grace really formed a dividing line in gay history. There are those who grew up without it on television and those that did. Has TV kept up since or are we backsliding? LJ: I am so proud, because when I started on W&G straight guys would come up to me and say, “my wife watches that show” or “my girlfriend watches that show.” But, by the end of my little run which was three maybe four years, guys were saying “that show was fucking hilarious.” I saw the progression just in little ways like that. The show was created by Max Mutchnick and David Cohen. David is straight. Max is gay. They’ve written together for years. They’re like this old married couple. Max always thought it was getting way too Republican. David always thought it was getting way too faggy. But it made this amazing sort of balance. They knew exactly what they were doing. It was just like Brokeback Mountain, I think in the hands of a gay director that would have sunk. We knew that there was butt-fucking, but there are ways in which you make progress, not by shoving it down people’s throats. America welcomed those characters into their homes and we laughed and there was progress made. The ﬁrst time I really blew my top about playing someone else’s idea of gay, I went into read for Sex in the City. I walked in and I gave a great reading but I ﬁnally stopped and said, “I know I won’t get this part. I know what you’re looking for but could we just at some point have a loveable cocksucker on a show? Is that ever going to happen or do we have to always be witty and sharp?” I’m going through the same thing right celebrating seattle’s gay community ’mo: Is there anyone in the book who is going to be surprised they’re there? LJ: The only one I worry about is Billy-Bob Thornton. We were rehearsing at a urinal set and I come skipping (this was on Hearts Aﬁre) to a urinal between John Ritter and Billy-Bob Thornton and I go, “I just feel like Cinderella at the ball,” and Billy Bob’s character was supposed to move down two urinals saying, “I don’t pee next to men who say they feel like Cinderella. It’s just a rule I have. Don’t want to offend.” So we’re rehearsing and they made us stand at that urinal forever while they lit the scene and Billy-Bob started doing this funny thing. He’d pretend to unzip his pants, act like he was pulling something out and then he’d thump the bottom of the urinal: BOOM! It was hilarious. HILARIOUS! We were laughing and laughing. Then John Ritter leans into me and says, “You know, if Billy-Bob really pulled it out you’d fall in love.” There’s not a gay bone in John Ritter’s body, trust me, but I could not let got of that. So I am asking him over and over. Finally he said that Billy was real big. And I kept asking, “How big? How big?” He said, “It hangs like a rope. It’s just huge.” I became obsessed. So he’s the only one I worry about. The legal department did make me call Beverly D’Angelo. It was funny they had no problem with Billy-Bob’s penis, but when I said Beverly D’Angelo has a fat ass they said I had to put it past her. Right out of her mouth came, “honey I am proud of my fat ass. I am a voluptuous woman I don’t want to be some teeny tiny skinny Paris Hiltony thing.” And they made me call my old acting coach Carolyne Barry. She and I got into a ﬁght on the set of a movie we made and I would pitch all these awful ﬁts. ’mo: Lost in the Pershing Point Hotel? LJ: Yes. My editor was really good about things like that. She’d say, “This is a little mean spirited.” I had a whole Faye Dunaway story that we cut because it was mean spirited. ’mo: You open up your book with claiming you’re the gayest man you know. So who would number two be? LJ: Oh God, the second gayest man I know? Madonna. Or … 14

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of 'MO - May 2008

'MO - May 2008 Contents Letter From the Editor Voices Instant Activist Pet Project 'mo-BIZ: SeattleMeds Pharmacy 'mo-Money: The Federal Reserve 'mo Magazine Interview with Will & Grace Star Leslie Jordan Form & Function: Better Legs By Summer Healthy Alternatives Vancouver: Heading North in Rail Time Book Review: Where Are You Now? By Mary Higgins Clark Seattle International Film Festival Preview Capitol Hill Guide SceneOut: People@Places 'mo-Single Q&A

'MO - May 2008

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