The revenge of Scott Thompson
Kids in the Hall vet resurrects gay trailblazer Buddy Cole
Buddy Cole never wanted your sympathy or approval.
The gay bon vivant and lounge lizard — played to lacerating perfection by Canadian comic Scott Thompson — may have predated Twitter in his early ‘90s rants, but he unloaded the same scathingly literate, hilarious truths that often appear on that site, mixing insight with a double shot of satire.
Whether it was on “The Kids in the Hall,” which aired on HBO and in syndication on CBS from 1989 to 1995, or more recent shows such as “The Colbert Report,” Buddy Cole only ever wanted us to listen to him.
And now, thanks to an unlikely sequence of events that finds Thompson at the forefront of the North American comedy scene, we are. Well, some of us.
“My fan base is all straight men,” Thompson said over the phone from Los Angeles before his April 9 show at the Oriental Theater, part of a minitour leading up to appearances at the Moontower Comedy Festival in Austin, Texas (April 19-21) and The Onion Comedy and Arts Festival in Chicago (May 30-June 3). “Gay men will not support another gay man unless he’s a porn
star or a drag queen, and that’s the ugly truth.”
We caught up with the 58-yearold Thompson, a founding member of the influential, Lorne Michaels-backed sketch troupe The Kids in the Hall, in advance of his Colorado concert, the re-release of his book “Buddy Babylon: The Autobiography of Buddy Cole,” and more.
A: My career in the states has been pretty invisible the past 15 years. I think the only big thing I’ve done is (NBC’s) “Hannibal,” and that was in the last 3 or 4 years. The last time I was on a talk show by myself was 2002. So I didn’t have much of a profile. People say, “What the hell happened to him?” and I wonder that myself, to be honest. I was very naïve back then in thinking that being openly gay would not be such a barrier to a mainstream career, but it really was. It’s only been in the last few years that I could have these opportunities, and that’s the reason I moved back (to the U.S.).
A: This is something I was battling forever and I’ve been hyper-aware of it. Other gay male comics and I share a (solidarity) and also a deep sadness that none of us have ever gone to the next level, and it’s because our own community does not support us. I can’t speak for everyone else, but that’s how I feel.
A: It just felt right. I moved back to the states a year and a half ago into a very different country than I left eight years ago.
A: I’m actually having the time of my life. I’m sorry for you guys, but it’s good for me. In many ways I’m one of the freest comics in America right now, because I’m not constrained by my color or my gender or political correctness. I don’t have to apol- ogize. I waited my whole life for this moment. But I’m not going to let me being a white man hold me back. If you want to enter the martyrdom sweepstakes, bring it on. In this world of constant victimization, I’ve got a very big sword.
A: The first time I did it would have been 1985 or ‘86. My friend Paul Bellini, who I wrote with a lot and had a band with at the time, bought a video camera and we started improvising. I had met this guy, who was the first really effeminate man I’d ever fallen for, and his effeminacy was like Buddy’s: very powerful, super sexy and mesmerizing -like a super queen. And then he died (from AIDS complications). He was one of the first to go, and so I started imitating him on camera. I’d never actually done a voice like that because I always thought I had a gay voice. And I was always ashamed of my lisp because as a child I took years of speech therapy to eliminate it.
A: Trial and error. Some of my stand-up stuff I give to him because it’s very dicey. And some people are very ready to be offended. My stand-up isn’t familyfriendly or toothless, but with Buddy ... I just don’t get in trouble. I mean, maybe I will in this day and age, but when are the social-justice warriors going to come after me? I thought they said I was relevant again! How come no one’s attacking me?
A: I hate to say it, but (Buddy’s humor) comes from a place of love and experience, not from malice or bitterness. Of course there’s always anger in comedy. That’s the engine. But I think people can see where I’m coming from.
A: Great. Reborn! That’s the weird thing about cancer: You go so far down that when I came back up, I wasn’t going to let certain things hold me back. When I was very ill I decided that when I got better, I would take on stand-up and get good at it. So in 2010, when I was well enough to get back on stage, I just started doing stand-up back home in Toronto and worked on it until I was ready to plunge myself back into that world. Mentally, cancer burned away an awful lot of anger and bitterness in me.
A: Well, one of the new pieces I’m going to debut on this tour is about #MeToo, and I wouldn’t dare say some of these jokes (as Scott Thompson). Buddy’s an alpha-queen, and it’s a really powerful place to be right now. I just think of him like weaponized femininity — these parts of me that I was so ashamed about as a young person, I’ve now weaponized them. He’s first through the door, and you pay for that. I didn’t understand it back then, but now I do. But that’s just my nature so I can’t whine about it. I spent a long time whining about
A: I’ll tell you, when I’m doing comedy in L.A. right now I look around and everybody is so frozen. America’s paralyzed because of the Trump administration. And I’m not worried about offending some ABC executive. The last thing we need is people holding back right now. On the flip side, people can be so quick to judge. They’ve become addicted to outrage and lost their sense of empathy. This country’s in grave danger of breaking into two permanent sides. So I feel like it’s my duty to explain Americans to themselves. America is in need of an outsider’s perspective, and I’m here to walk through the middle, like the parting of the Red Sea. I just know that if I’m as funny as I can be, and as brave as I can be, it can lead to things. And I’m here to rub your nose in them.