SASSY GAY FRIEND LIVE with Brian Gallivan, as part of the Toronto Sketch Comedy Festival, November 4-?5, 11 pm, at the Second City (51 Mercer). Rest of the festival begins Tuesday (November 2) and runs to November 7. Various times and locations. $15-?$20, passes available. totix.ca. See listing.
“What are you doing? What. Are. You. Doing?”
Those bitchy opening words are familiar to anyone who’s seen the Sassy Gay Friend viral videos.
SGF is Brian Gallivan’s all-knowing, orange-scarf-wearing character who swoops into Shakespeare scenes to rescue the Bard’s women before they commit suicide (Juliet), get murdered (Desdemona) or take a dip in the river (Ophelia).
Gallivan developed the character during his time at Chicago’s Second City.
“Originally they were more like monologue rants where I’d yell at Ophelia or Juliet and then they’d simply say, ‘Okay.’ The videos are more back and forth.”
His two-show run at this year’s Toronto Sketch Comedy Festival is called Sassy Gay Friend Live, but it’ll be more than a recreation of the videos. After all, those vids, unlike the dozen less funny imitations that have clogged up the internet, clock in at an efficient minute or two.
“I’m going to perform one of them with Lauren Ash,” he says of the former Second City Toronto mainstage performer who joined Chicago’s SC mainstage right after Gallivan left.
“She’ll be helping me out in a couple of scenes with new material and a brand-new piece as well. I’m also doing a few audience interaction things where someone comes up and Sassy Gay Friend helps them out with some of the issues they’re dealing with.”
The rest of the show consists of autobiographical comedy – stories where Gallivan’s been “a stupid bitch,” the affectionate term he directs at the literary ladies at the end of each SGF video.
Speaking of autobiography, Gallivan recently recorded an It Gets Better video to raise awareness about gay bullying. It’s one of the most sincere and personal out there, touching on his reluctance to get involved in acting in high school because of fears he’d be thought of as gay. (He didn’t take his first improv class until he was 30.)
The video has generated lots of positive response.
“High school kids have written. I got a message from a woman with a nephew who’s coming out and having a hard time and how they’re both so grateful [for the video],” he says. “Even my jaded comedian friends who take nothing seriously have sent me nice messages.”
Now based in L.A., he’s working on a number of projects and is happy that people might be more likely to read a script or take a meeting with him because they know about SGF.
But would he ever play a campy character like that in a film?
“I’m fully willing to be stereotyped or typecast,” he laughs. “Hire me.”
glenns@nowtoronto.com
Read more about the Toronto Sketch Comedy Festival.
