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Lorne Newman

By Kate Sheppard

Queens native (“Appropriately,” he adds) and SUNY-Albany graduate Lorne Newman, despite being tragically unfunny, is touring college campuses, bars and coffee houses with a show unlike most comedic acts today.

Newman, who lives now in Manhattan and works full-time as a comedian, brings criticism of his own gay community to the stage, something rarely before seen and even more rarely embraced.

“There's no social criticism in gay circles,” Newman said at his April 5 show, part of Ithaca College’s BIGAYLA Gaypril events. “There are a million white guys out there, all boring as sin, doing the same jokes.”

Instead of the standard fare, Newman openly chastises gay men for being “hate crime statistics waiting to happen,” trying to sound “butch,” voluntarily segregating themselves from the rest of a community, and being superficial. Newman also cracks about the need for a better-known gay leader.

“Malcolm Q – we really need a gay fascist leader to look up to,” Newman quipped.
Newman began doing stand-up after coming out, he said, and finds the most rewarding aspect of his work meeting people at shows who have never before talked to or shook the hand of someone who was “out.”

“Funny is funny,” Newman said, and getting people to laugh at your jokes and shake your hand is confronting homophobia in the best way he knows how.

While most of Newman's jokes are cliché and simply not humorous, his criticism makes him distinct in his field. While the female comedic circuit is almost dominated by “out” lesbian comics, Newman is a rarity.

His stand-up has been featured on the USA Network and in Advocate magazine. More information can be found at his website, www.praisethelorne.com.