Suzanne Westenhoefer

Last updated

Suzanne Westenhoefer
Born (1961-03-31) March 31, 1961 (age 62)
Years active1993—present
Website http://www.suzannew.com/

Suzanne Westenhoefer (born March 31, 1961 in Columbia, Pennsylvania) is an American out lesbian stand-up comedian. [1] She starred as a panelist on GSN's 2006 remake of I've Got a Secret , which featured a panel of gay celebrities who had to guess the various guests' 'secrets' through a series of timed questions. Her comedy special and documentary, A Bottom on Top , aired on LOGO Television in the fall of 2007. In 2004 she was featured in the film Laughing Matters along with Kate Clinton, Marga Gomez and Karen Williams.

Contents

After accepting a dare, she began her career delivering gay-themed material to straight audiences in mainstream comedy clubs in New York City in the early 1990s. She became the first openly lesbian comic ever to appear on television in 1991 on an episode of The Sally Jesse Raphael Show entitled "Breaking the Lesbian Stereotype...Lesbians Who Don't Look Like Lesbians." In 1991 and 1992, her stand-up comedy appeared on Comedy Central's Short Attention Span Theater and Stand-up Stand-up. She went on to become the first openly gay comic to host her own HBO Comedy Special in 1994 (which earned her a Cable Ace Award nomination) and to appear on the Late Show with David Letterman in 2003. Westenhoefer's current US tour is entitled "Totally Inappropriate". In 1993 she performed in the LGBT-themed comedy special Out There , and in 1998 she appeared in the LGBT-themed sketch comedy special In Thru the Out Door . [2]

Westenhoefer's recent tour, "Finally legal… in a few states", was a headlining act on the recent Sweet Caribbean cruise. Her latest venture, a starring role in the popular online web drama We Have To Stop Now is about to enter its second season, with the first soon available on DVD from Wolfe Video. Her GLAMA award-winning specials Nothing in my Closet but my Clothes, I'm Not Cindy Brady and Guaranteed Fresh are all available on DVD, as are her most recent televised specials, Live from the Village and A Bottom on Top.

Discography

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Coming out</span> Process of revealing ones sexual orientation or other attributes

Coming out of the closet, often shortened to coming out, is a metaphor used to describe LGBT people's self-disclosure of their sexual orientation, romantic orientation or gender identity.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lea DeLaria</span> American comedian, actress and singer

Lea DeLaria is an American comedian, actress, and jazz singer. DeLaria is credited with being the first openly gay comic to appear on American television with her 1993 appearance on The Arsenio Hall Show. She is best known for her portrayal of inmate Carrie "Big Boo" Black on Netflix original series Orange Is the New Black (2013-2019). She's known for her work on Broadway including the revival of The Rocky Horror Show in 2000, and POTUS: Or, Behind Every Great Dumbass Are Seven Women Trying to Keep Him Alive in 2022.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">National Coming Out Day</span> LGBT awareness and celebration day

National Coming Out Day (NCOD) is an annual LGBT awareness day observed on October 11 to support anyone "coming out of the closet". First celebrated in the United States in 1988, the initial idea was grounded in the feminist and gay liberation spirit of the personal being political, and the emphasis on the most basic form of activism being coming out to family, friends, and colleagues, and living life as an openly lesbian or gay person. The founders believed that homophobia thrives in an atmosphere of silence and ignorance and that once people know that they have loved ones who are lesbian or gay, they are far less likely to maintain homophobic or oppressive views.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Catie Curtis</span> American singer-songwriter

Catie Curtis is an American singer-songwriter working primarily in the folk rock idiom. Her most recent album recording,The Raft, was released in 2020.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Elvira Kurt</span> Canadian comedian

Elvira Kurt is a Canadian comedian, and was the host of the game show Spin Off. She hosted the entertainment satire/talk show PopCultured with Elvira Kurt, which began on The Comedy Network in Canada in 2005. That show's style was similar to The Daily Show with Jon Stewart. It was cancelled due to poor ratings in early 2006. She is of Jewish Hungarian descent. She performed a 22 minute set on toothbrush advancement and family culture on the American show Comedy Central Presents 2nd season, May 30th, 1991.

Gay-for-pay describes male or female actors, pornographic stars, or sex workers who identify as heterosexual but who are paid to act or perform as homosexual professionally. The term has also applied to other professions and even companies trying to appeal to a gay demographic. The stigma of being gay or labeled as such has steadily eroded since the Stonewall riots began the modern American gay rights movement in 1969. Through the 1990s, mainstream movie and television actors have been more willing to portray homosexuality, as the threat of any backlash against their careers has lessened and society's acceptance of gay and lesbian people has increased.

<i>The Celluloid Closet</i> (film) 1995 American documentary film

The Celluloid Closet is a 1996 American documentary film directed and co-written by Rob Epstein and Jeffrey Friedman, and executive produced by Howard Rosenman. The film is based on Vito Russo's 1981 book The Celluloid Closet: Homosexuality in the Movies, and on lecture and film clip presentations he gave from 1972 to 1982. Russo had researched the history of how motion pictures, especially Hollywood films, had portrayed gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender characters.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">LGBT themes in horror fiction</span>

LGBT themes in horror fiction refers to sexuality in horror fiction that can often focus on LGBTQ+ characters and themes within various forms of media. It may deal with characters who are coded as or who are openly LGBTQ+, or it may deal with themes or plots that are specific to gender and sexual minorities.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">LGBT themes in comics</span>

In comics, LGBT themes are a relatively new concept, as lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) themes and characters were historically omitted from the content of comic books and their comic strip predecessors due to anti-gay censorship. LGBT existence was included only via innuendo, subtext and inference. However the practice of hiding LGBT characters in the early part of the twentieth century evolved into open inclusion in the late twentieth and early twenty-first centuries, and comics explored the challenges of coming-out, societal discrimination, and personal and romantic relationships between gay characters.

Marga Gomez is a comedian, writer, performer, and teaching artist from Harlem, New York. She has written and performed in thirteen solo plays which have been presented nationally and internationally. Her acting credits include Off-Broadway and national productions of The Vagina Monologues with Rita Moreno. She also acted in season two of the Netflix series Sense8. At the start of the coronavirus pandemic, Gomez pivoted to adapting and presenting her work for live streaming. She has been featured in online theater festivals from New York to San Diego, as well as a five-week virtual run for Brava, SF where she is an artist-in-residence. She is a GLAAD media award winner and recipient of the 2020 CCI Investing in Artists grant.

J. T. Tepnapa is an American writer, producer, actor, and director. Tepnapa has made several short films since 2000 with his company, Blue Seraph Productions, but he is best known for his role as the first openly gay character, Lieutenant Commander Corey Aster, on the fan series Star Trek: Hidden Frontier created by Rob Caves.

Bob Smith was an American comedian and author. Born in Buffalo, New York, Smith was the first openly gay comedian to appear on The Tonight Show and the first openly gay comedian to have his own HBO half-hour comedy special. Smith, along with fellow comedians Jaffe Cohen and Danny McWilliams, formed the comedy troupe Funny Gay Males in 1988.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">21st GLAAD Media Awards</span>

The 21st GLAAD Media Awards was the 2010 annual presentation of the media awards presented by the Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation. The awards seek to honor films, television shows, musicians and works of journalism that fairly and accurately represent the LGBT community and issues relevant to the community. The 21st annual award ceremony included 116 nominees in 24 English-language categories, and 36 Spanish-language nominees in eight categories.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Susan Stryker</span> American professor, historian, author, and filmmaker

Susan O'Neal Stryker is an American professor, historian, author, filmmaker, and theorist whose work focuses on gender and human sexuality. She is a professor of Gender and Women's Studies, former director of the Institute for LGBT Studies, and founder of the Transgender Studies Initiative at the University of Arizona, and is currently on leave while holding an appointment as Barbara Lee Distinguished Chair in Women's Leadership at Mills College. Stryker serves on the Advisory Council of METI and the Advisory Board of the Digital Transgender Archive. Stryker, who is a transgender woman, is the author of several books about LGBT history and culture. She is a leading scholar of transgender history.

Steven Spencer Moore was an American stand-up comedian, best known for his 1997 HBO comedy special Drop Dead Gorgeous : The Power of HIV-Positive Thinking, about his experiences living with HIV/AIDS.

Emma Willmann is an American stand-up comedian and actress. She made her televised stand up debut on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert. Willmann had a recurring role as "Beth" on The CW series Crazy Ex-Girlfriend.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Dana Goldberg (comedian)</span> American comedian (born 1976)

Dana Goldberg is an American comedian. She is especially known in the gay community, as Goldberg herself is gay. She is a weekly guest on The Stephanie Miller Show on SiriusXM and hosts her own podcast, Out in Left Field With Dana Goldberg on Advocate.com. She hosts an annual show in Albuquerque, New Mexico. In 2013, she was named a finalist in the Advocate's Stand Out: The National Queer Comedy Search. In 2017, she hosted the Los Angeles Resist March. Also in 2017, she performed at Trevor Live in New York City on a bill featuring John Oliver and Imagine Dragons. In 2019, she spoke at Lambda Legal's annual National Liberty Awards. In television, Goldberg has appeared on LOGO with her comedy special One Night Stand Up: Episode 4, filmed at San Francisco's Great American Music Hall.

In Thru the Out Door is a Canadian comedy special, which aired on CBC Television on June 22, 1998. Created by Andy Nulman and billed as "network television's first-ever all-queer, all-star sketch comedy show", the special was a sketch comedy program highlighting LGBT comedians who had performed in the Queer Comics program at the Just for Laughs festival.

Out There is a series of two television comedy specials, broadcast by Comedy Central in 1993 and 1994. The specials centred on performances by openly LGBT and/or gay-friendly comedians, primarily stand-up comedy but also including some sketch comedy.

Judy Dlugacz is an American entrepreneur. She was one of the founders of Olivia Records. Founded in 1973, it was the first woman-owned record company. She also founded her own travel company, Olivia Travel, in 1990 after not feeling comfortable on a cruise as an out lesbian. The Washington Blade described Olivia Travel as "the premier travel company for queer women".

References

  1. Turner, Guinevere (April 1, 1997). "Nothing in My Closet But My Clothes". The Advocate . Archived from the original on May 16, 2007. Retrieved June 27, 2007.
  2. Alan Conter, "Show tackles sex, gender full-tilt: Born at Just for Laughs, CBC's In Thru the Out Door brings gay comedy to the small screen". Montreal Gazette , June 20, 1998.