Damned if he does, damned if he doesn鈥檛.
It鈥檚 a fitting title should a career-spanning film be made about Scott Thompson.
The laughs he got from telling gay jokes 30 years ago largely came from a place of hate. Gay jokes today make him homophobic.
This, coming from one of Canada鈥檚 most high-profile, longstanding gay comedians. The same guy who is one fifth of the Kids in the Hall and had a song called in in the troupe鈥檚 1996 film Brain Candy.
He鈥檚 the same guy who starred in a skit called and the same guy who delivers while in character as Buddy Cole.
鈥淏efore, the audiences thought [Cole] was homophobic and they were glad about it,鈥� Thompson tells the Courier from his home in Los Angeles. 鈥淣ow it鈥檚 homophobic and they鈥檙e angry. But they鈥檙e still all getting it wrong. And honestly, I don鈥檛 care if people don鈥檛 get it.鈥�
Thompson brings arguably his most famous caricature to 麻豆传媒映画Sept. 19 to 21 for Apr猫s le D茅luge: The Buddy Cole Monologues. His 70-minute sets include 11 monologues chronicling Cole鈥檚 musings on the world from the period spanning 1995 until now.
The show鈥檚 literal translation from French is 鈥渁fter the flood.鈥� Its symbolic translation means far more to Thompson, who is not entirely Cole and vice versa.
鈥淭he world changes around Buddy, but he remains unmoveable,鈥� Thompson said. 鈥淭he theme is that the world is a river and Buddy Cole is a rock in the river and the river has to go around him 鈥� because he鈥檚 perfect and he鈥檚 perfectly placed. And if he causes rapids, so be it.鈥�
Cole is based on a former lover of Thompson鈥檚 in the mid-1980s. He was spectacularly effeminate and, in Thompson鈥檚 words, had the gayest voice this side of Liberace. It was a revelation for the young comic, who was still reconciling being gay in the midst of the AIDS crisis and having aspirations for Hollywood.
鈥淚 found his femininity almost powerful and weaponized in a way,鈥� Thompson said. 鈥淗e fascinated me and then he died very quickly. He was one of the first to go. Everyone was dying like flies.鈥�
It鈥檚 at this point in Thompson鈥檚 life that the shell begins to harden. He鈥檚 surrounded by death and constantly discriminated against. To this day, Thompson maintains his career would have been more lucrative if he wasn鈥檛 gay. He makes a point of mentoring the current crop of gay male comics.
鈥淚 think now if I was a young man coming out, you couldn鈥檛 stop me,鈥� Thompson said. 鈥淏ut I wouldn鈥檛 be the same person. I wouldn鈥檛 be as driven. I came out in the middle of the worst time in history for gay men. I came out in the middle of a war. I鈥檓 scarred, I鈥檓 wounded. I was so angry for so long. I don鈥檛 think I would be that today.鈥�
Thompson seems more at peace with those days and, by his own admission, has mellowed considerably.
If the audience gets it, great. If not? He doesn鈥檛 care.
To wit, the 鈥淩unning Fa**ot鈥� bit. The Kids in the Hall performed that sketch in May 2015 at the Queen Elizabeth Theatre and were summarily booed.
So they did it again. At least three or four other times over the course of the evening.
The only bit that got more derision was a jab at the Canucks for not playing hockey at the time 鈥� they had lost to Calgary in the first round of the Stanley Cup playoffs.
Thompson says there is no line that can鈥檛 be crossed in comedy. He had a Buddy Cole show loosely based around terrorism that included Cole having . The show was slated to debut at a club in New York City the week after the 911 terror attacks.
It didn't go well.
As such, Cole went off into the ether for a few years.
He re-emerges in a time when Jerry Seinfeld and Dave Chappelle have limited patience on placing limits on comedic expression.
Thompson鈥檚 鈥� moment goes something like this: 听
鈥淪o many young people are so thin-skinned now, that when they see a person doing a character like this they鈥檙e immediately furious because they just assume it鈥檚 a straight guy making fun of homosexuals,鈥� Thompson said. 鈥淭hey鈥檙e very conditioned to be on the alert for any kind of attack. Quite often it鈥檚 young people who are upset with Buddy Cole because they don鈥檛 really understand who he is or who I am.鈥�
Who Thompson is now is markedly different than the dude he was in the 1980s when Cole was incubating. The lived experience 30 years later works in Thompson鈥檚 favour.
鈥淚 think you have to be wittier now, because just the way he moved, talked and dressed got laughs because I think people felt superior to him 鈥� over the years it鈥檚 changed,鈥� Thompson said. 鈥淧eople don鈥檛 look down a character like Buddy Cole reflectively like they did back then.鈥�
The conversation turns to the fate of the Kids in the Hall 鈥� they鈥檙e not done and something is in the works. Being in the troupe is like being in the mafia, according to Thompson. 听
鈥淵ou鈥檙e in or you leave in a casket.鈥�
Which begs the questions: How is it that the Kids aren鈥檛 in a casket, at least professionally?
鈥淭he Kids in the Hall, we were special. We are special. It鈥檚 a very un-Canadian thing to say but sometimes things are special,鈥� Thompson said. 鈥淲e were just very lucky. We were five guys who I think would have had wonderful careers on our own, but the five of us together, something magical happened.鈥�
Thompson performs at the Cultch Theatre Sept. 19 to 21. Tickets range in price between $26 and $46. Info is online at .
@JohnKurucz
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