Out Spotlight

Today's Out Spotlight is an American comedian, actress, and jazz musician She is "the first openly gay comic to break the late-night talk-show barrier" with her 1993 appearance on The Arsenio Hall Show. Today's Out Spotlight Lea DeLaria.

Lea DeLaria was born May 23, 1958 in Belleville, Illinois the daughter of Jerry, a homemaker, and Robert DeLaria, a jazz pianist and social worker. She attended kindergarten through 8th grade at St Mary's Elementary School in Belleville, and has referenced her Catholic upbringing in her performances.

DeLaria has performed stand-up comedy for over 25 years and is a prominent figure in the world of LGBT comedy. She began her career billing herself as "That F#*king Dyke"; she states "I called myself that because I would walk down the street and people would yell (it) at me. But after two years of performing I would walk down the street and people would yell (it) at me and I wouldn't know if they were a fan or not!"

Of her watershed 1993 appearance on The Arsenio Hall Show, as the first openly gay comic to appear on a late-night talk-show, she said "It's the 1990s ... It's hip to be queer, and I'm a bi-i-i-i-ig dyke!" In December 1993 she hosted Comedy Central's Out There, the first all-gay stand-up comedy special.

She is also known for her touring "musical comedy about perverts," Dos Lesbos (1987–1989) as well as Girl Friday, a comedy she conceived, wrote, directed and starred in, and which won the 1989 Golden Gull for Best Comedy Group in Provincetown, Massachusetts.

DeLaria has released two CD recordings of her comedy, Bulldyke in a China Shop (1994) and Box Lunch (1997). She has also written a humorous book entitled Lea's Book of Rules for the World.

She also appeared as Jane in the 1998 Off Broadway production of Paul Rudnick's The Most Fabulous Story Ever Told, a "a gay retelling of the Bible." She received critical acclaim for her "showstopping" performance as Hildy Esterhazy in the 1998 Broadway revival of On the Town. She also played Eddie and Dr. Scott in the 2000 Broadway revival of The Rocky Horror Show, and can be heard on the cast recording.

She is not limited to the stage but added the screen as well and her filmography includes Edge of Seventeen and The First Wives Club.

DeLaria integrates musical performance into her stand-up comedy, focusing on traditional and modern be-bop jazz and has even said at her shows "It is my personal goal to bring be-bop jazz back into the gay and lesbian community." In 2001 she released a CD of jazz standards called Play It Cool. This was followed by the album Double Standards in 2003, and by The Very Best of Lea DeLaria in 2008.

In 2001, DeLaria was the voice of Helga Phugly on the short-lived, animated sitcom, The Oblongs. In 1999 DeLaria played the recurring role of Madame Delphina on the ABC soap opera One Life to Live, returning in 2008 as both Delphina and Professor Delbert Fina. She continues to portray Delphina on a recurring basis as of 2011.

In 2008, Warner Records released The Live Smoke Sessions, DeLaria's first recording focused on "timeless pop standards" such as "Down With Love," "Night and Day," "Love Me or Leave Me" and "Come Rain or Come Shine." She noted, "I styled this CD on the old school live recordings ... It is my hope that this CD will take you back to 1948 and the Village Vanguard. So please let me invite you to mix a cocktail and enjoy a smoke while you sit back and soak up the swing."

In November 2008, DeLaria completed a tour of Australia, playing Sydney, Melbourne, Adelaide and Brisbane. She also frequently collaborates with comedian Maggie Cassella, most notably on an annual Christmas cabaret show in Toronto, Ontario which also sometimes tours to several other Canadian and US cities.

In July 2010, DeLaria's version of "All That Jazz" was used on So You Think You Can Dance.


In 2013, she joined the cast of the hit Netflix Original show Orange Is the New Black as prison inmate Carrie 'Big Boo' Black.

Short Shorts

After Austin was speechless about this shorty short short wearer

He's following another fella well known  his shorty shorts on screen

Funny guy Thomas Lennon (@thomaslennon)

or better known too many as Lt. Dangle from Reno 911

Really wouldn't be surprising Austy if  you Dangle this Halloween.  With your assets it would be criminal not to. You could total pull it off.

Because we've always known you've been a leg man.

Bruce, Alrighty*

WhoSay  picked up on a post about Austin's recent shark experience that Oceana had officially blogged about on their page.  And both came on an memorable date:

The 39th Anniversary of  the movie Jaws.

What the two sites did was  highlighted some of the pictures Austy had shared on  twitter and what he was doing on this adventure.

A little recap :  It was a two day trip with the R.J. Dunlap Marine Conservation Program at the University of Miami off the coast of Florida to tag and study sharks.

Austin told Oceana:

 “I tell people all the time how I like to dive, and a lot of people are scared of the ocean. I want everyone to know that you don’t need to be, I see sharks all the time and swim with them. They’re really smart and really intelligent fish, and I feel like we could all open our hearts to them a little bit more. We’ve been inundated by the movies to think they’re these bloodthirsty human eaters, but they’re not.”

Austin and the crew got to tag 7 sharks, a feisty nurse shark and blacktip shark, which is rare in recent years,four black nose sharks and a nearly seven-foot-long lemon shark.

Austin talked about what happened when they caught the nurse shark:

“The nurse shark is supposed to be the calmest shark in the water, but when you catch one and try to pull it on the boat, it’s the most rambunctious shark out there. The scientists had to jump on it and hold it still, and it was a fascinating thing to watch this calm shark be really strong.”

 Austy is continuing to support Oceana. He's helping Nautica design and produce a t-shirt that will be sold later this summer and will benefit Oceana.

A little wet tshirt redux let's say.

 *Jaws Movie Trivia :  Steven Spielberg named the shark "Bruce" after his lawyer.

Punch-ee!

One more (little) punch to the cast of Southpaw.

Oona Laurence has been cast to play Jake and Rachel McAdams daughter Leila Hope according to the Hollywood Reporter.

She has been one of the four young actresses rotating in the starring role as the precocious Matilda in the production of Matilda The Musical based on the Roald Dahl's book Matilda.

"The native New Yorker, Oona started acting at the age of five as the lead in her Dad's experimental film Days Dance. Since then she has played leads in numerous Columbia University graduate films, and last summer was voted "Best Performer" by the audiences of The Turtle Shell's Summer Play Festival for her Philosophical Banana in The Cosmic Fruit Bowl. An awesome jazz, hip-hop, ballet and modern dancer, she has studied drama at The Children's Acting Academy for two years and performed in one of the company's musical stage productions." - BroadwayWorld

 

Brazil Nut

It's back again....

The Austin love for Brazil.

Brazil vs Mexico. Yeah!! Go Brazil!! Neymar!! #10!!!! -AUS10

While it has toned down a bit from some of his earlier tweets:

 Ok brazilenos. I'm rooting for you right now. You make futbol so damn sexy. I'm getting turned on. Can't wait to come visit your country!!

 All I have to say this weekend is... I LOVE BRAZILIANS.

Remember what his former co-star from JFC said about his Brazilian love:

 @AUS10NICHOLS Wanting to "make love to Brazilians" is not the same as "loving brazilians" you silly little man - Willie


 And it's not just at World Cup time.

  First South American Pope!! Pope Francis. I wish I was partying in Buenos Aires tonight. Or Brazil. I love Brazilians. #NEWPOPE - AUS10

This is an emotional day. Netherlands vs brazil. I love brazilian futbol, but I'm part dutch. Also, mens semis at wimbledon. I'm so torn!

But not to worry he remember those Dutch roots.

Netherlands GOAL!!!!!!! My homeland. - AUS10

But where is Austy's love for the US this year?  Gone with the voovoozela?

 My bed head is amazing. I'm screaming for USA and my brow has the voovoozela ap!!

It's still early,  there's plenty of time to cheer the US team on Sunday and get even hotter for those Brazilian.

Maybe this will help: 

 Brazilian players can have all the World Cup sex they want, as long as it's not "acrobatic." - NY Magazine

Knockout Punch

The Weinstein Group is adding more punch to Southpaw this time signing on former boxing champion turned actor Victor Ortiz to the cast according to Deadline.com

"Ortiz signed on to portray Ramone, a flyweight kid from the streets with real sparring potential. The character parallels Ortiz’s own rags-to-riches story of rising from childhood as a foster kid, to brawling his way to the championship belt in 2011. It’s the second significant role for Ortiz, who makes his feature film debut later this summer as one of the Young Expendables in Expendables 3"

It looks like Jake got his onscreen training day look with a very close cut. He has been seen around Pittsburgh driving, going to Whole Foods, and out to eat with castmates including his newest Ortiz.

So ...

OMG has seen all kind of tweets about Jake over the years, but this one on Sunday stood out a little.

And more interesting was her follow up tweet.


But what was most interesting was what happened to that tweet.




So what was up with that?

Did it imply something? ; )