October 15th, 1997 to October 21st, 1997

FGM: Funny Gay Male

Bob Smith in Chicago

by Gregg Shapiro

Bob Smith's name will probably be most familiar to those who know him as one-third of the comedy troupe, Funny Gay Males. There's much more to Smith than his stand-up persona, as you will discover when you read his amusing, and surprisingly revealing, new book Openly Bob (Rob Weisbach Books/Morrow, $23, 264pp). Consisting of 13 thoughtful and wickedly funny essays, Smith touches on everything from hurricanes, cater-waiters, flea-marketing and bird-watchers to couples counseling, biological family matters, and career, with his sharp, perpetually winking, eye. We spoke, in the midst of his book tour, just prior to his Chicago visit. He will be at Unabridged Books Thursday, Oct. 23, 7:30 p.m.

Gregg Shapiro: When you made the decision to write the book, Openly Bob, what made you choose the personal essay style of non-fiction over fictionalizing the stories, turning it into a novel or a collection of short stories?

Bob Smith: My next book, I think, might be a novel, because I think I could be a good liar. It was supposed to be third-person essays. The essay on cater-waitering in New York ("Mysterious Kitchens"), the first version of the essay was about being a cater-waiter, and it was sort of based on my experiences, but it wasn't through my eyes. Then people read it and they wanted to know more information. So, it became more autobiographical. The couples-counseling essay ("The Dark Side Of The Honeymoon"), I thought, was going to be the same thing, I thought it would be a distant, objective essay on the topic. It just became a better story through my eyes. I realized, in some ways, that I was like the character. I was writing about autobiographical things, but I didn't want it to be autobiographical, but it eventually became that way. It was funnier, more interesting.

GS: In the essay, "Hurricane Bob," you write about surviving a hurricane in Provincetown. Now that you're a resident of Los Angeles, have you had the pleasure of experiencing any other natural phenomenon?

BS: I was with Funny Gay Males, performing at Highways in Santa Monica, when they had the Northridge earthquake. So, I do bring doom and disaster wherever I travel (laughs). Everyone here is getting ready for El Nino. They're expecting a 300 percent increase in rain here. I'm getting ready for that.

GS: Like David Sedaris, another gay writer who specializes in the art of humorous creative non-fiction, you write a lot about your family. Do they have a good sense of humor about being such a prominent part of your work?

BS: Yes, they've been really supportive. Once in a while, I'll get a comment like, "Did you have to mention that?" For instance, my one brother asked, "Did you have to mention that we looked at the flowers at the funeral? Who sent what?" I said, "Well, yeah, it was funny to me." But they've been really supportive. Families interest me. I guess, maybe it's just a reaction to the right-wing fundamentalists constantly bring up "family values." That being gay, somehow you don't have a family? Or you're not involved with your family? The gay men and women that I know are all involved with their families.

GS: What about Tom, your partner?

BS: He wishes I had changed his name to Timmy. He's been really good about it. What amazes me is that sometimes I think, "maybe I'm going a little too far here," and he'll laugh out loud at it, and go, "Oh, my God." Like one joke in (the essay) "Natural Born Collectors," I talk about Tom being a really good liar when he's negotiating with a flea market dealer to buy something, I say (quoting from the essay), "Of course, I wonder if his parents, who paid thousands of dollars for his acting training at a prestigious university, would consider the expenditure justified, given the $2.50 he just saved on an Archie jelly-jar glass." Tom really did study acting, so that's kind of a dig at him. But, he really laughed at that.

GS: When we spoke on the phone to set up this interview, I had to be the barer of bad news when I told you that People Like Us Books, the bookstore where you were originally scheduled to read, was [closed]. Are you, on this book tour, running into that in other cities, the fact that the mega-bookstores are forcing the closing of small, independently owned bookstores?

BS: Not too often. I'm reading at A Different Light and Lambda Rising, which are pretty successful gay bookstore chains. But then in Boston, I'm reading at Waterstones. I do support the independent bookstores, because I think they're really important.

GS: So, in Boston, you're not reading at Glad Day or We Think The World Of You, either of the two gay bookstores there?

BS: I'm not. I'm not sure if Glad Day was a scheduling thing. Sometimes I can only do it on the one day and they're booked. It wasn't my job to set up the signings.

GS: Did it occur to you, in June of 1997, when you were hosting the Lambda Literary Awards ceremony in Chicago, that perhaps the following year you might actually be nominated for an award?

BS: Not really. You hope that your book is going to be well-received. I have been getting some really great reviews, so I'm really happy about that. I actually got one of the nicest reviews in The Lambda Literary Report. In the back of my mind, maybe, but it was too early (June) to think about that.

GS: The essay about the death of your father ("Heart Failure") really hit home.

BS: That essay, too, I know that Publishers Weekly singled it out as being something like, "hilarious and touching." I did a reading last night, and a man came up to me and said that his father had died this year, so people are really responding to that essay. I've had straight and lesbian couples say, "Oh, my God, we've gone through that phase," in response to ("The Dark Side Of The Honeymoon") the essay on couples counseling. I do want it so that people can identify with things. You hope that they can. One thing I'm really proud of was a review that mentions the bird-watching essay ("Ma Nature"), which no one has an interest in, I'm positive. I am coming out as a bird-watcher, in this book. People say they have no interest in the subject (of bird-watching) but they still found the essay interesting. That's sort of gratifying to me.

GS: Just the fact that you think bird-watching is interesting enough to write about says something.

BS: What I found interesting about it was the people who do it. That essay, in particular, I wanted to be a character essay. In my own way, sort of an attempt at ... I think I call one of the characters a Barbara Pym type, I really like her novels, so I tried to do a character piece on that.

GS: I think that that essay is as much about people watching as it about bird watching. BS: Yeah, definitely.

GS: Have you begun working on your next book project?

BS: My next project is to do a gay and lesbian sketch comedy show for Showtime next month. They're going to shoot the pilot and I'm going to be the head-writer, and a performer on it. It's going to have performers such as Lea DeLaria, Suzanne Westenhoefer, Jaffe Cohen, Elvira Kurt, a whole bunch of people. We're going to shoot it in Montreal. I also just wrote a piece for the Sunday Los Angeles Times Magazine, on "Artistic Intervention: Stopping The Untalented," a facetious essay on crazy artists that you meet along the way. And I am already planning the next book.

GS: Any chance of something film-related? Considering the success of In & Out, and the increasing number of gay and lesbian themed movies.

BS: I have a really good idea for a film, I think. That is actually one of the things I want to do. The second book might be a little way off. I want to try a couple of other things first. It's such a huge commitment to do a book, even though I really enjoyed it.

GS: Since October is Gay and Lesbian History Month, do you have any words of advice or encouragement to our community?

BS: Know your history, I guess. I'm reading Gay New York by George Chauncey, who teaches at the University of Chicago. It's an amazing book. So interesting and fascinating, about how long gay people have been out, and we didn't just start existing as a community in 1969. To me, that's really interesting. It actually made me think I'd like to see that in a novel, incorporating early gay history.

Bob Smith will be reading at Unabridged Books on Thursday, Oct. 23, 7:30 p.m., 3251 N. Broadway, (773) 883-9119.

Send us your feedback!

Site development donated by Benchmark Online Productions.
Web space provided by SUBA.