SPOTLIGHT
You seem very comfortable in front of a camera. Well it’s what I’ve been doing since I was a baby boy. I’ve been an actor since…1921 (laughter).
Are you as comfortable on the set of a photo shoot as you are in front of a live audience? Well a photo shoot is hard for me because all your
issues come up. My biggest fear is a double chin! Like when I did The Merv Griffin Show in the ‘80s. The guy said to me, “This is your color!” and he made me look like a big fat pumpkin head with spiky hair! You know what it’s all about…and here comes the sad little Jewish boy story. You grow up during a time when it’s not comfortable to be who you are, and so you start to be funny so you can protect yourself. In the eighth grade I did a school play called Harvey. And one girl (whom I recently saw at a reunion looking just awful…poor thing…she looks like an old handbag, I don’t know what happened) said, “Oh my god, there goes Jason Stuart: walks like a woman, talks like a man and he looks like such a fag!” I didn’t do another school play…let me think…ever again. Wasn’t that so stupid of me?
In your standup career, what was your first performance like? Frightening! I put a bathroom scale around my neck
and I talked about being a fat kid…and I wasn’t fat. That’s how crazy I was. My whole life flashed before my eyes, and I was really funny because I was nervous. Then it took me six months to learn how to repeat it.
Well you certainly have found your comedic timing. I love watch- ing the clips of your role inWalk A Mile In My Pradas. I play a very funny Jewish doctor, Dr. Feist. I taawlk like
“George [Clooney] played,
and I quote, ‘A musician who’s an undercover cop.’
With that long hair…it’s the biggest mistake of my life that I didn’t
become friends with him after we slept
together...NOT!
46 RAGE monthly | OCTOBER 2011 ”
this! This and other similar parts are variations on a guest star role I did in The Closer a year and a half ago. I did it in Bear City 2, I did it forWarren the Ape (you don’t know that show…it’s for straight people)—I play a Jewish accountant who gets mistaken for a Nazi sympathizer because he’s bald. So I’ve been playing a lot of annoy- ing Jews. The character really came from a series I did 20 years ago with George Clooney. I played Marty the nightclub owner in a show called Sunset Beat. George played, and I quote, “A musician who’s an undercover cop.” With that long hair…it’s the biggest mistake of my life that I didn’t become friends with him after we slept
together...NOT!
How do you feel your comedy has changed over the years? I’m more myself. I don’t care anymore. How do I say
this without sounding awful? I really am passionate about acting, but standup is what I do to have fun and make money. I’m over 40, I’ve aged out. They’re not go- ing to follow me around and give meThe Jason Show or Everybody Loves Jason. I’m not going to get that show. Is there any such thing as a gay guy playing a gay guy on TV? That didn’t happen for us. Sean Hayes is now doing a pilot where he’s going to play a gay guy for the first time sinceWill & Grace.
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