Where: Comic Strip in West Edmonton Mall
When: Today, Thursday and Sunday at 8 p.m., Friday and Saturday at 8 and 10:30 p.m.
Tickets: $34.95. Call 483-5999 or go to www.thecomicstrip.ca
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EDMONTON - Hal Sparks is not queer. Nor is he just folk.
For a comic, his observations about life can be downright serious. Until, that is, he pulls some wicked line out of thin air, just to let you know why he packs comedy clubs.
Sparks, who played the first gay married man on series television, Michael on the hit Queer as Folk, started as a stand-up comic at age 15 in Chicago. From there, he went on to the Second City troupe and eventually graduated to acting, like many of his contemporaries in stand-up comedy.
"I think they are two totally different art forms with overlapping skill sets," says Sparks. "That being said, a lot of us screw it up and are terrible actors."
He's done spots on a range of TV shows, from CSI to Celebrity Paranormal Project. He was Zoltan in the movie Dude Where's My Car? and does regular voice work on the cartoon Tak and the Power of Juju.
One of his first acting gigs was in the, uh, overlooked movie Chopper Chix in Zombietown. Not that he's embarrassed by his feature film debut. After all, the movie also starred a young Billy Bob Thornton.
"We shot that movie on the edge of Death Valley," he says. "If that doesn't speak to your career path at that point, I don't know what does."
Still, he survived to be eventually cast in the trailblazing Queer as Folk. Did he worry about playing a gay man?
"I'm really not one of those guys who makes gay jokes," says Sparks. "Because I don't think those jokes are about homosexuality.
"I think they're about the feminine. Men have difficulty dealing with the feminine. Dealing with anything that is receptive or passive scares them. And the idea that a dude would be receptive or passive scares the crap out of them."
Sparks says playing the part gave him new insight into the ridiculous segregation between straight and gay men.
"It left me feeling like I was standing on a bridge looking at two warring parties and going: 'You know you're both insane, right?'
"Gay people are born the way they are. They no more make that choice than you and I make a choice to be straight. It's no big deal. It's not even important enough to argue over. It's an absurdity."
One popular theory about homophobia is that it's rooted in male insecurity caused by our culture's absence of a ritual rite of passage into manhood. Sparks doesn't buy it.
"I think those rites of passage often create a cartoon-like view of manhood," he says. "They usually involve drinking alcohol and killing a rabbit or a boar. Genuine manhood, I think, is a process you arrive at over the course of your life."
At this point in his life, he's on the road and making a stop this week at Edmonton's Comic Strip. What can we expect?
"Ultimately I feel as a comic it's my responsibility to have a good set," he says. "To some comics, it's a bad crowd, therefore its a bad show, end of story.
"To me, that's like a plumber who comes in to fix your leaky pipes and says: 'These are too leaky for me.'
"I'm a plumber, I should shut up and fix the pipes. Comedy is the same thing. I don't care how tough the audience is, it's my responsibility to make them laugh."
After all, he's had tougher audiences. Like on set, when he was shooting nude sex scenes on Queer as Folk in front of directors, producers and the crew.
"Those are like simulating sex with a cousin on the Thanksgiving dinner table in front of your whole family," said Sparks. "You're not going to be comfortable. Well, unless you're from Arkansas and that's your thing."
© The Edmonton Journal 2008
