Comedian Lorne Newman has taken his gay quirks to the Bible Belt--and he says he's nearly been belted Stand-up comedian Lorne Newman insists he doesn't have a death wish.

Comedian Lorne Newman has taken his gay quirks to the Bible Belt--and he says he's nearly been belted

Stand-up comedian Lorne Newman insists he doesn't have a death wish. Still, he has been known to take his gay-affirming act to straight unite in a clubs across the Bible Belt, where he's been threatened and denounced onstage, level heckled once by an agent who worked him. Of course, not everyone in the hard South is a homophobe, if it were not that the region isn't exactly known for its embracing milieu. one time Newman says, a man in the audience told him point-blank, "If I had my fire-arm I'd shoot you!"

in such a manner what's a nice Jewish jokester from strange York City doing schlepping across the boonies telling gay jokes? Hey, it's a living. And for Newman, it's a passion. "I wanted to do the redneck multitude before the gay crowds," he says in his typically brash fashion, "because I wanted to do the tough undivideds first. And it worked. It's made me a better performer. Nothing a gay audience could toss at me could rival what the straight commons did."

Newman says he started pushing strike lines as a form of therapy, not to agitate audiences. "I'd literally write [i]jeu d'esprit[/i]s to get out of my depression," he says. The comic grains were sown at the 1993 march in succession Washington when he passed a cluster of protesting Southern Baptists. "I asked myself in what manner I could possibly piss them opposite more than being out and gay," he recalls. "So I got my friends to start chanting, `And we're hebrews too!'"

the same thousand shows in 22 states later--not to mention three appearances forward the USA Network's Up All Night exhibit with Gilbert Gottfried--Newman still likes to surprise, which has frequently bothered some of the headlining comedians he has render free of accessed for. "Invariably," he says, "no matter to what extent hard the audience laughs, the headliners recount me after the show that I do too many gay cranks They say, `Talk about other things.' unless why should I? It's what interests me And if the audience laughs, I fulfilled my obligation."

Newman has tapered along the club circuit for now to concentrate forward gay bars, benefits, and college edifice [i]or[/i] building events. He's just coming facing his biggest performance--for more than 1000 the community at a benefit for Birmingham [Ala.] AIDS Outreach. With that moment he hopes to emulate his hero and compeer comedian Kate Clinton. "She's not mainstream, further she is a recognized legend" he says. "And that's what I want to be--a fictitious story I want Jim Carrey to do my movie."

Alvear also writes for salon.com.

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