Acclaimed Out Comic Rob Nash gave Campus Pride the opportunity to interview him. Rob's most recent work School Sucks! , a one-act show, features 30 characters. This show has received 14 rave reviews from New York periodicals including the New York Times. The show was listed in the Top Ten Broadway/off-Broadway Plays in 2005 Time Out New York Magazine. He has been seen on VH1 and Comedy Central. He has also worked with such noted comics as Margaret Cho, Aisha Tyler, Rosie O'Donnell, and Ellen DeGeneres.

He has performed in many venues including Gotham Comedy Club in NYC and The Comedy Store in LA. He has performed at a few colleges and universities including UCLA, Yale, Vassar College, and Princeton. Nash was deemed the "funniest standup comic" in 2004 according to the Austin Chronicle Readers Poll. He is also the first out gay standup comic from the south.

Currently, he lives in Austin, Texas. He divides his time between writing and teaching writing, touring, and performing at St. Edwards University, CAP 21 Studios at NYU, and Tampa Bay Performing Arts Center. He also is a special education teacher for AISD in Austin.
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Interview Begins.

CP: Thank you so much Rob for giving your time to Campus Pride for this interview. Let's start off with what gives you inspiration. Who or what inspires you with your work?

RN: I’m a Teaching Assistant at a high school here in Austin for Special Education Students in Life Skills who are the source of my inspiration now. I don’t have to write a word of fiction for the latest one-man comedy I’m writing in my brain (called Special Need) because every day is a sitcom installment, what with the diverse combinations of disabilities among the kids, their often dysfunctional families and group homes and the excessively neurotic faculty. I just observe and record. The dramas unfold, there are poignant and hysterical as they happen. And there’s nothing I could make up that would be more compelling than reality.

CP: Keeping on the same frame of mind. I thought the clips I saw of School Sucks! were quite funny! I imagine SS! is based on your personal experience at Strake Jesuit College Prep?

RN: Well that’s what the New York production press releases said although I told them it was really fiction. And so of course the feature writers read that and write about it being autobiographical and it becomes the official record. Truth be told, I used my high school years as context— Strake Jesuit, Houston, Texas, 1981-1985; private Catholic school, Priests, confession etc. Second, I added more contexts from that specific time period: the Reagan Error, New Wave, Punk, The invasion of Granada and AIDS/HIV. Third came the incorporation of universal experiences young people deal with: sex, love, alienation, friendship, trust, betrayal discovering ones voice and identity and creating families out of friends, gay bashing, date rape, abortion, infidelity, etc Fourth, I added a few personal events and people from that time, and last I took a very hard turn to the fictitious. You have to lie a bit to make a story stage worthy. So School Sucks! is more appropriately labeled fiction than autobiography. Writers take something with which we’re familiar and use it as a jumping off point. Then we start telling really good lies.

CP: So School Sucks! is fiction! However, are the characters based on anyone in particular?

RN: Ben (inspired by me), Johnny and George (inspired by my two best friends Robert and David) and Mr. Smith (inspired by me and a composite of favorite teachers). Since I play all the characters, I had to take me, David, Robert and my teacher composite and send us off in extremely distinct physical and vocal directions so the audience could distinguish these four characters (as well as the rest of the 30 characters in the play). So the me-ish character Ben is much more effeminate and sweet than I was, the punk poet Johnny is sexier and more pissed off than Robert was and the George character is more of an underachiever and clown than David was. The cool teacher Mr. Smith is me-ish too (my butch side) and has the most perfect qualities I’ve ever had or ever wanted in my teachers (and now, the qualities I expect from myself as a teacher).

CP: So from School Sucks! we get to see different sides of Rob! So because School Sucks! is a one man act, I was wondering do you find the one man act more challenging than working with a cast?

RN: Not at all. It’s easier when I don’t gotta deal with a cast and directors so I can do everything my way… Bwahahahaha! Bwaaaaahaaahaaahaaaa!!! . No really it’s much easier.

CP: Interesting. So with all your past theatre experiences and many other life experiences, why do you want to help LGBTQ college students?

RN: Please ignore the next five words: Well, back in my day…
In the 80s, it was more dangerous to be out. While there were many leaps forward in the human rights movements of the 60s and 70s, including major leaps for queers, Ronald Reagan, an enormous backlash against the 60s/70s social revolution and, of course, HIV/AIDS set us back tremendously. Many not-necessarily-religious-radicals and many not-necessarily-socially-conservative people began to stick their heads up their asses. Some even wondered if God really did hate us. Free love celebrities like David Bowie and Elton John went running back into the closet (But Billy Jean and Martina stayed out! Go you lesbians!!!) Gay rights ordinances in cities all across the nation were being struck down by homophobic referendums. The media shifted to the right, towards what they perceived to be where their consumers stood, thus feeding the trend towards judgment and bigotry. We could lose our jobs, homes and children much more easily in that climate, there was very little the cops would do about gay bashing… the list goes on.

CP: Sounds like you are very dedicated to gay rights and know about some LGBTQ history. Thank you for your support. What previous work have you done regarding the LGBTQ community?

RN: In 1984 I saw The Times of Harvey Milk, a documentary based on a Randy Schiltz’s biography of the same name. It was recently made into the award winning film, Milk. It wasn’t until half way through the movie I realized, “This isn’t a mocumentary, this really happened!” At that moment I was out. In the sense of “well I’m not necessarily gonna say it unless someone asks…” My friends kept secrets about as well as I did, so whoever didn’t know learned I was gay very soon. I was 17 and a private school of 500ish boys knew about me. A bunch of Houston prep school boys really didn’t know what to do with their homophobia when their peer came out, too stunned to decide how to act out, I guess. I had lots of friends and the faculty was very liberal (not all of them accepting but most of them tolerant) so I was pretty safe.

At the University of Texas in Austin, I was the only out gay editorialist at The Daily Texan. And my friend Cameron Johnson who is an animator and I started a gay comic strip, The Family Tree. My lover, Derek and I and two lovely lesbians graced the cover of The Texan with a same-sex “kiss in.” And guuurll, couple of little kisses in Texas in 1990 could kick up such a shit storm!

Before The Human Rights Campaign became the power house of LGBT rights activism that it is today, it was called the Human Rights Campaign Fund. It collected donations for a fund to support campaigns of pro gay legislators. This was before email so I signed people up for mailgrams which HRCF would send to their legislators over important queer rights legislation at $3.50 a pop!

I’ve done out gay comedy all over the world including Kentucky, Georgia, Oklahoma and other parts of the deep south for 22 years.

I perform at benefits for OUTYOUTH Austin who makes the world a better place for young LGBT people.
Right now I have two gay guys in my Special Ed class who are sexually active. I asked one if he wore condoms and he said, “No… cause…you know… it’s two guys.” Weeeell, after a few explicatives shouted at the lingering neglectful atrocities from George Bush and a few lectures about safety I talked him and his other friend into wearing condoms. My boss said that the nurse should be the official person to talk to about teaching them about safer sex. She said she had to teach abstinence only. So now I’m breaking the law to keep my students HIV free. They tell me they need condoms or lube and hand me their backpacks which I take into the office and transfer the contraband from my back pack to theirs. (I do this every week. Man those buggers are active!)

CP: WOW! You've done so many amazing different things. Thank you so much for your service! You're like a superhero! Speaking of superheroes, if you could have any superhero power, what would it be and why?

RN: To seduce any hottie with a wink and to eat Haagen Dazs without getting fat. No but seriously folks… To seduce any hottie with a wink and to eat Haagen Dazs without getting fat.

CP: Haha! I take it you like Haagen Dazs very much! So, I noticed you liked the Wizard of Oz and the Muppet Movie. Are there any characters that you relate to in particular?

RN: Wizard of Oz: The Scarecrow, Dorothy, Mrs. Gulch and above all the Wicked Witch.
The Muppet Movie: People always piss me off when they ask, “Which Muppet movie?” …The one called the friggin Muppet Movie ya tool! I relate to Kermit, Fozzie, Gonzo, Janis, Max, Steve Martin, Richard Pryor, Grover (if he crossed over from Sesame Street and were in the Muppet Movie) and above all Miss Piggy.
(BTW: I despise Kermit’s nephew Robin… AND ELMO!)

CP: Elmo, clearly not the most liked muppet by Rob Nash! Duely noted. Wrapping up, do you have any advice for aspiring comedians?

RN: Get a head start on finding some good anti-depressants.

CP: Thanks for the advice, I think? Any advice for our college students?

RN: I can say something to aspiring college students studying acting—College will always be there. Drop out and move to LA or NYC. Get a job, take a few classes (not necessarily college classes as colleges expect you to study and stay away from outside projects) and go on auditions! You’re never as cast-able as when you’re young. Put on your armor. Surround yourself with friends and confidants and only complain to them. Don’t take anything personally and work it, gurrl!

CP: Any other thoughts or words of wisdom?

RN: Go rent The Wire, Deadwood, Battlestar Gallactica, Family Guy, Drawn Together, K Street, Rome, American Dad, Dexter, Buffy, Angel, South Park, Robot Chicken, Wonderschozen, The Office, Monty Python, ‘Allo ‘Allo, Old School Sesame Street and Saturday Night Live’s “Best Ofs” make a pot of coffee, eat a pint of Hagen-Daz invite a cutie over and watch every episode, pausing now and then to eat, pee, shower and kiss nekid.

CP: Finally, how do you define pride?

RN: I’ll quote OUTYOUTH Austin: “Fearlessly Be Yourself!”

You can find Rob Nash on Facebook and Myspace. You may also e-mail him at therobnash@aol.com.

For more info on Rob's brilliant talents, or to bring him to your campus, click here!

Note: This interview was conducted via e-mail.