Photo by Kevin J. Miyazaki

March 7, 2005

You've got to hand it to John McGivern. With his flair for self-promotion, the gap-toothed comedy actor has become one of Milwaukee's biggest celebrities. Maybe Milwaukee's only celebrity. Bo Black was dethroned when she lost her gig at Summerfest. John Norquist left for Chicago on the Heartache Express. Our pro sports stars fell from the sky of champions and our politicians took up residence in prison. Into the VIP void stepped the openly gay McGivern. And now he's everywhere.

You can see him Friday mornings on TMJ4's "Live at 11." You can see him this spring in a reprise of his hit Shear Madness. You can hear him all the time on WKLH's Dave and Carole's drive-time radio show. He has booked a storytelling class at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, a two day run of his tour-de-force Fully Committed in Cedarburg and school benefits in Wauwatosa and Menomonee Falls.

"I'm a marketing goon," he admits. Last year, he starred in two plays, The Odd Couple and The Santaland Diaries. He hosted a New Year's party at the Pabst Theater, released a DVD and put up a Web site, logging more than 18,000 visitors. He has performed at a Catholic school in Whitefish Bay, for priests of the Archdiocese of Milwaukee and for employees of Northwestern Mutual and Metavante. In a city steeped in traditional values, that's a lot of public attention for a gay man.

The 50 year old Milwaukee native is hardly shy about his sexual orientation. He does standup pieces about growing up a mama's boy and about getting thrown out of the seminary at age 23 for his "homosexual activity." Years ago, while living in L.A., he performed in an all gay comedy special on Comedy Central and in an HBO special, "We're Funny That Way." On stage, he plays many of his parts with the same effeminate, "swishy" affectation. In his one-man performance of a Christmas elf in David Sedaris' The Santaland Diaries, McGivern dances and prances through Macy's department store--a complete contrast to Sedaris' deadpan delivery. In The Odd Couple, he puts a major gender bender into the character of Felix Unger, a far different interpretation than Tony Randall's Felix.

In real life, McGivern is not flaming at all. He's serious minded, introspective and masculine. But he deliberately "gays it up" when he performs, so much so that he has taken heat from the gay community for promoting stereotypes of homosexuals. His audiences, though, love him, especially the straight women in the seats, says McGivern. Which makes sense if you think about it. Straight women have an affinity with gay men. Both are attracted to men, both are absorbed in understanding (and enduring) the male psyche. McGivern is quick to brush off any suggestion that he's an activist. He's an entertainer, he says. He's in show biz, not politics.

Yet while he may turn down the role of spokesman for the gay community, intentionally or not, he breaks new ground in this city--although gently. He doesn't talk directly about homosexuality onstage. But it's there, below the surface in his puns and innuendos, in his persona. By playing into stereotypes, McGivern personifies a gay man for many heterosexuals who have little interaction with homosexuals. He's non-threatening, a little naughty but not offensive. He's Milwaukee's Ellen DeGeneres--gay, charming and damn funny.

At a December performance of The Santaland Diaries, McGivern took the stage before the show to thank the audience for coming. "I'll be right back, " he said playfully as he flounced off. "I'm going to go don my gay apparel." It was a silly, predictable, roll-your-eyes line. But the audience got it and ate it up. McGivern's popularity says something positive about Milwaukee. It's tolerance of difference is developing, slowly. McGivern is one step--a small one, yes, but noteworthy--in understanding and accepting homosexuality. Milwaukee doesn't do well with in-your-face polemics. To the contrary, it's the face-to-face contact with people that changes minds.

With straights and gays, women and men, McGivern has a loyal following. His fans care about him. They recognize him in the aisles of Sam's Club. They ask him about his boyfriend, Steve, and his mother. To his fans, he's a guy with a gap-toothed grin, an inadvertently hilarious mother and a talent to make people laugh. "I'm just John McGivern," he says, "a big old gay guy." And one of the top celebs in Milwaukee.

"The other day, my mother said to me, 'Somebody called you a treasure.' And then she took a long pause and said. 'I hope they don't bury you."

They won't. As long as he doesn't play it straight.