Friday, April 10, 2009

Out in Film: Lea DeLaria

Idol worship: Lea DeLaria, comedian/actress/singer.

- "Famously controversial", she made television history as the first openly gay comic to break the "late-night talk-show barrier" with her 1993 appearance on The Arsenio Hall Show. Later that same year, she hosted Comedy Central's Out There, the first all-gay stand-up comedy TV special.

- She is also known for her touring shows Dos Lesbos (a "musical comedy about perverts") and Girl Friday, as well as her comedy albums (Bulldyke in a China Shop and Box Lunch) and book (Lea's Book of Rules for the World).

- As Hildy in the 1998 Broadway revival of On the Town, she stopped the show and received rave reviews. She switched genders and played the dual role of Eddie and Dr. Scott in the 2000 revival of The Rocky Horror Show, and also co-starred in the Off-Broadway production of Paul Rudnick's The Most Fabulous Story Ever Told.

- On film, she can be seen in The First Wives Club, Homo Heights and Edge of Seventeen and the mini-series Armistead Maupin's Further Tales of the City, as well as guest spots on such TV faves as Friends, Will & Grace and One Life to Live.

- As well as integrating musical performance into her stand-up comedy, she has released several popular music albums, covering the genres of be-bop jazz and pop standards.

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