‘Out On Stage: The Series’ Gets Serious About Comedy

By Laurie Schenden | January 19, 2019

An eclectic crop of funny people speak freely about life, love, sex and sexuality in “Out On Stage: The Series,” from producer-comic Zach Noe Towers. 

Now streaming at dekkoo.com, all six episodes are hosted by Towers, each episode featuring three comedians. The lineup is a diverse group that brings refreshingly topical comedy, sometimes edgy, sometimes raunchy, sometimes political, and always with a unique voice that isn’t represented often enough on typical comedy stages.

Towers looks as if he could be the love child of Rick Schroeder and Timothee Chalamet, but in one episode, describes himself as Ellen and Portia’s daughter. He’s brash, clever and occasionally naughty, and flaunts a winning personality that allows him to take audiences to the edge, and bring them right back to their comfort zone. 

Towers calls “Out On Stage” a “passion project.”

“Each and every person featured … has such a unique perspective and I’m thrilled that we’re being given a platform for those hilarious voices to be heard,” Towers said. “I don’t think comedy is an easy field for anyone, but it can sometimes be especially difficult for those of us with unique, diverse voices.”

Timing Is Everything

Towers himself has excellent comedic timing. In one set, he tells the audience, “My mom’s a lesbian…in my opinion.
“We have the same haircut. I call her, she’s at Home Depot.” 
After a barrage of hilarious “sharing” about his mother, Towers says she’s in the audience. 
“Mom I love you no matter what.”
The charming silliness flows with more crude material, such as when he introduces three male comics saying: “I can promise you right now most of them suck … dick—it’s a gay series! Uh!”

There are also female comics in the lineup, perhaps the best known to West Hollywood audiences is Gloria Bigelow, a veteran standup comic and comedy writer (“Last Comic Standing”). 
She recalls a male co-worker who said gay men are whores: “I said, how ignorant is he, all men are whores, don’t put that on the gays,” she jokes.   

Jared Goldstein talks about the tribulations of being the child of a Jewish dad and Asian mom, and often being mistaken for a girl. 

Raneir Pollard, an imposing figure who would fit in perfectly on a Marine base, jokes with a delicate wave that “These muscles are for show.”

Brendan Scannell, a boyish, Tobey Maguire-ish comic, with nail polish, mascara and earrings, is hardly imposing as he insists he’s older than he looks, but goes for the jugular when he says that then-Gov. Pence “caused an HIV crisis” in his home state of Indiana. 

Kyle Shire, a big mustachioed Chicagoan, walks a fine line while making fun of racists, but shines when he talks about himself: “Why is that linebacker talking about Golden Girls?”

The Lineup

The lineup also includes Jonathan Rowell, Casey Ley, Julian Michael, Irene Tu, Jordan Pease, Chris Bryant, Eric Hahn, Daniel Webb, Joe Dosch, Anthony Desamito, Janine Brito, and A.B. Cassidy.

Towers would “be willing to bet that every queer comic out there has had to sit and listen to someone turn their life into a punchline,” and that’s the reason he believes “Out on Stage” is important. 

“It not only provides a platform for new queer voices on the rise, but it brings us together.  It creates a space for diverse voices to flourish and it’s so important to have this kind of representation available.”

The show is produced by Comedy Dynamics, A Nacelle Company; in association with dekkoo Films, the premiere subscription-based streaming service that provides the largest streaming collection of gay-centric entertainment.
Click to see “OUT On Stage: The Series.”