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TV's wild ANT heads to the Rrazz Room
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ANT is ready for Rrazz time.
For a guy who rose like a phoenix from NBC's Last Comic Standing, comedian ANT has managed to ride the super-highway of fame and fortune without hitting too many creative speedbumps. Now at the helm of VH1's addictive Celebrity Fit Club and LOGO's unabashed U.S. of ANT, the man's star seems to keep shining brighter and brighter. I recently caught up with the wild wit and LGBT rights advocate to talk about his Rrazz Room gig this weekend in The City, the future of his TV life—although we didn't quite get to it—and more.
Q: SO, WHAT ARE YOU MOST EXCITED ABOUT THESE DAYS?
A: Getting out of my house. I don’t know about you but I love to nap and sometimes I got lost in the nap. But I love San Francisco. It’s one of my favorite cities.
Q: WHAT ARE YOU GOING TO UNLEASH?
A: I guess I am considered controversial. But I don’t see like that. I guess I just say what’s on my mind. I tend to ruffle feathers with people. You’ll see a lot of feather-ruffling. And some real-life stuff, too. I am no longer doing this fluffy ha-ha-ha stuff. I want my act to say something and I think now it says something. I think people walk out of there and say, 'Oh, he really stands for something."
Q: WHAT ARE SOME OF THE CHANGES YOU'VE MADE TO YOUR ACT?
A: You know, I was never political. Then Prop 8 happened and that sort changed my fight on the inside. I never felt any harassment towards me ever. All of a sudden, now, I have neighbors saying, you’re not equal to us if you were married. It would mean nothing. That really got me. Now I know why Stonewall happened. And now with the movie, Milk, which is phenomenal— Sean Penn is brilliant—the time right now … if gay people don’t stand for something ... You know there’s an old saying, 'If you don’t stand for something, you’ll fall for anything.' That is what we need to do right now. I am tired of writing. I am tired of writing checks. That’s when I said, 'You know, my stand up should do this. It should move people. It should not be complacent. It should make people think, at least. Not just jokes about people’s buts!'"
Q: SO, IT'S A LITTLE MORE POLITICAL?
A: It's more about being self-aware. I not very “political.” It’s about being more self-aware and really understanding what your value is in relation to everything else. And if you think that is having the right to enjoy all the values and tax breaks as your neighbors, why not you? That’s my new catchphrase: Why not you? I'm just tired of waiting for the acceptance to happen. Now I am going to take it.
Q: IT’S OURS FOR THE TAKING.
A: It is. It is. Chickens have more leg room in California and gays can’t marry? More leg room! I couldn’t believe! I was like, "Were the chickens more organized than the gays?" They didn’t have meetings. Where did we go wrong?
Q: WHAT DO YOU FIND FUNNY THESE DAYS?
A: Well, it was Sarah Palin. Britney before that. Now it’s that chickens have more leg room. I just think that is hilarious. And they don’t have to pay the additional $35 for the luggage to be checked. The airplanes always make me laugh, too. I was sitting in the exit row and I didn’t see they had closed the door and I was using my cell phone. The fly attendant said, "Are you willing and able to open up this door in the event of an emergency? You need to help me." I said, "Yes I am willing, but doesn’t that make me an employee and shouldn’t I get a free flight? And then she said, "You have to shut off the cell phone." And I said, "Why do I have to shut it off?" And she said, "Well, it can interfere with the aircraft’s navigation system. Or worse, bring us down." And I thought … "You mean to tell me that al Qaeda only needed a Verizon Family Share Plan to bring down all these planes?
Q: SCARY.
A: Why don’t they crash-test airplanes? Or why don’t they put sprinklers on them? I am serious. Somebody had said it before and it’s true—why don’t they make the airplane out of the material they make that black box out of? That thing always survives.
Q: SO TRUE. WELL, WHO'S YOUR BIGGEST INFLUENCE?
A: Probably Ellen DeGeneres and Whoppi Goldberg. I remember being a kid and watching Whoopi’s HBO special and she made me laugh, and then she made me cry the next minute. I thought, that is an incredible gift. The gift to make people feel. I love that.
Q: YOU RECENTLY LOST YOU PARTNER OF MORE THAN FOUR YEARS, RICHARD SCOFIELD, TO LYMPHOMA. CAN YOU TELL ME WHAT'S SOME OF THE MORE INTERESTING THINGS LEARNED ABOUT YOURSELF BY BEING WITH HIM?
A: I learned to believe in God. I didn’t have a belief in anything greater than myself, actually. With him, I learned that none of this was by accident. It was all by design. And that, somebody is driving the bus and it’s not me. And I loved that. That was one of the things he taught me. And the other thing was ... you don’t need to have money to have fun. We would do stuff that was so off the wall, crazy and ridiculous—with no money because he loved to have fun for the sake of having fun. And that’s one thing that I cherish. I still hop on a subway to Pasadena for a walk, and then hop back on it and come back. I’ve gone twice now since he passed away.
Q: YES. HAVING FUN DOESN’T HAVE TO COST MONEY ALL THE TIME.
A: He also taught me that faith isn’t something you have when things are just going good. That was a hard one for me. Because I only had faith when things were going good and then when things were in the crapper, I was like, "Oh my god, it’s all over!"
Q: I HEAR YOU. THAT IS A LESSON I AM LEARNING AT THE MOMENT.
A: Really. Why?
Q: WELL THINGS ARE GOOD, BASICALLY. BUT YOU KNOW … WHEN YOU FEEL AS IF YOU SHOULD BE IN ANOTHER PLACE IN YOUR LIFE AND ALL THE DOTS AREN’T QUITE CONNECTED YET—THAT RESTLESSNESS FOR YOUR CREATIONS STILL WAITING TO BORN? SO, YEAH, IT’S PROBABLY GOOD TO TAKE 15 STEPS BACK, BREATHE AND LET THINGS UNRAVEL WHEN THEY’RE INTENDED TO UNRAVEL.
A: Absolutely. Sometimes you have to wait. But you have to have faith that they are going to go the right way. You know what I mean? Look, it could be a lot worse. I just saw this porno film from Titan Men, but they are desperate for talent and I am watching this movie, and I am not kidding you, I am watching this guy in a sling and he has this ankle bracelet on. How do you tell the judge, "I need to go get screwed." Only in California!
Q: HILARIOUS. I ALSO ASK FOR SIGNS ALL THE TIME.
A: Really? Do they talk to you.
Q: THEY DO. I KNOW THAT SOUNDS CRAZY BUT …
A: I hear them in the television.
Q: WELL, SOMETIMES THE MESSAGE IS ON A PERSONALIZED LICENSE PLATE.
A: It’s TV for me. I say, "God I need a sign!" And all of a sudden, I’ll be flipping the channel and Popeye will be telling Olive Oil that everything will be OK. And that’s my sign.
Q: DO STREET LIGHTS GO OUT WHEN YOU ARE AROUND THEM?
A: No.
Q: HMM. IT HAPPENS TO ME.
A: That means you channel energy. That’s awesome.
Q: THAT IS AWESOME. BUT I NEED A VACATION. I AM TIRED.
A: ... because of your channeling? Because it’s hard ruling the world from your balcony? [Laughs.]
Q: I DO HAVE A BALCONY WHERE I AM. HOW DID YOU KNOW?
A: Ah, you see. It’s my third eye.
Q: I KNEW YOU WERE TALENTED. I JUST DIDN’T KNOW HOW TALENTED.
A: Ah, you’re hilarious. OK, so you know, I decide I want to be close to God, right? You talk about signs, but my favorite thing to do is to read the signs churches put up on what’s happening in their congregation that week—their feel-good saying of the week. So I was in San Diego and I was in front of this Episcopal Church and there was this sign that said, “If you want to be of service to God, hit your knees." I thought: I am so going to heaven!”
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