Host Zach Noe Towers is a queer as fuck funny man who clearly loves his job. An amusing aspect of his role is following the seemingly obligatory gesture in the gay world of greeting people with a hug. The sincerity of this ritual with each guest reflects both the regard of Towers for him and the quality of the humor from that person.
Towers supplements his hosting privilege with a good set in the second episode. He shows good instincts regarding not beating a funny bit about "do overs" to death. His time on stage also includes a hilarious "trans-ginger" joke.
The diversity and the quality of "OUT" starts strong with with the first set in the first episode. Asian-Jewish man Jared Goldstein is a gay man's Julia Roberts (whose appeal still remains puzzling decades into her career) in that he is so adorable that he can get away with saying anything. Unlike Roberts, Goldstein is actually likable and cute.
The delight of Goldstein begins with this man who clearly has Asian features sharing that he is Jewish; he goes on to mine wonderful humor from his diverse background to the extent of commenting that his father is a typical Jewish man by marrying an Asian woman.
An unexpected omission is Goldstein not making a Kevin Spacey joke when discussing being a child in an adult world while performing on Broadway at the age of 12. For the record, your not-so-humble reviewer has a long-term online friendship with Anthony Rapp and has high regard for him as a person and an actor. At the same time, one can imagine Spacey arguing in his upcoming trial for groping a bus boy on a Massachusetts island that he just wanted to see if that 18 year-old was THE man from Nantucket.
Learning just now that that the Twitter handle of second performer Ranier Pollard is @RanierstheBest assuages any bad feelings about disliking his set. The question of whom does he have to fellate to get a spot may be literal in his case.
Pollard comes out in a muscle shirt and makes an obvious "gun show" joke. He then flexes and kisses his biceps. Much (if not all) of his performance centers around white people being afraid of black people. This includes asserting to be notorious and then stating that he is partially joking. There is no memory of any gay-oriented humor.
Good ole Southern boy Kyle Shire (who does not mention the Dykes of Hazard) is the first-episode clean-up act. His message that gay men come in all shapes and sizes arguably is the most positive message in the two watched episodes.
Shire also provides amusing commentary regarding straight people simply being labelled as such and gay people not having it that easy. The breeders in the audience get educated about the wide category of animals to which gay men are assigned. This takes thing well beyond the hankie in the back pocket system of the '70s.
The second episode of "OUT" ends with hard-to-pin down Brendan Scannell, who plays Heather Duke in the "Heathers" TV series. Even in this age of gender fluidity, this guy who has an overall twink appearance wears nail polish seems to directly straddle the fence. (Not that there is anything wrong with that.) He does a decent job, but Towers upstages him with a post-performance reference to a "pubes on the face" joke. A drum roll is apt in noting that Scannell should have seen that one coming (pun intended).
An entertaining bit from an unrecalled "OUT" comic about the limited fish in the gay dating sea and the clarity of that ocean perfectly describes the challenge of finding performers for "OUT." There is a limited population of gay comics. This is further narrowed by the folks who are willing to restrict their careers by being so out and proud.
The numbers shrink further when limiting the pool to folks with an amusing way of sharing an interesting perspective. The program does a good job separating this wheat from the chaff.
As mentioned above, "OUT" provides a good chance to watch edgy but inoffensive humor from the comfort of your own home. Friends of Dorothy will relate to most of the performances; folks who pride themselves on not being narrow both will have cause to feel good about themselves and enjoy enlightenment.
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