Host with the most

It's been a strange road to fame for Scott Nevins, who's had his biggest successes as an emcee and celebrity interviewer on TV, radio and "live talk shows" in New York City clubs. But he won't be sharing the stage at Club Caf? with anyone next week when he brings his hit show Celebutant: Don't You Know Who I Think I Am? to Boston. A breathless mix of family confessional and true celebrity tales, the show is all Nevins. And if it's as smart and funny as Nevins was in a phone interview with Bay Windows, it's all good.

Q: Are you really "a young, sexy, gayer Kathy Griffin"?
A: I love that quote! But I've had less plastic surgery than her. My forehead doesn't start on the top of my skull.

Q: We'll see what happens in 20 years.
A: Oh listen, I will have scaffolding around my face with the Doozers from Fraggle Rock at work. I have no shame.

Q: Set your cares away! Tell me a little about your background. All I know is that you're from Queens.
A: Yep, I'm originally from New York. I now spend half my time in L.A. because I hate winter. The show has a lot about my family and my Irish Catholic alcoholic background.

Q: I'll be in the front row, nodding my head.
A: I figure this should go over big in Boston. So my dad was a professional baseball player and my mom was a nurse. She now runs a mammogram office, which I think is one of a gay man's nightmare jobs. To have to flatten breasts like pancakes.

Q: I think some gay men would like that. They're called fashion designers.
A: Actually, I would argue that. I think gay men like the breasts. Because when I slept with women, I did like breasts.

Q: Honestly, I agree. I think all men, no matter what their sexuality, are fascinated by breasts.
A: So I'm going to do a whole show about breasts the next time I come to Boston. It'll be my titty tour.

Q: It'll sell out! So when did you start performing?
A: I was always performing as a kid. My brother got all my dad's athletic talent. I have a family member who's a filmmaker, so I got his talent somehow. I was always fascinated with classic movies and musicals. My family was always supportive of that. They did try to get me to play baseball. We have a home movie of the t-ball team, and it pans out to the outfield and you catch a glimpse of me, with my glove over my face, spinning with my arms out and singing "The Hills Are Alive."

Q: Did you go to school for theatre?
A: Yes. I did not go into musical theatre because I'm practically tone deaf. So I studied acting for a while, and dramaturgy. I really got into producing and directing. Then I came to New York City and started working right away. A friend of mine, Cashetta, who's a famous drag queen, asked me to direct her cabaret show. I said yes, but I want you to do a real cabaret show. Don't reference that you're a man in a dress, just play it for real. And the show was a hit and I started working with a lot of drag queens. Then I directed an Off-Broadway show called Popera. So I had this career as a director, and I wasn't performing. Then the owner of Therapy, which is this great lounge here, asked me to produce all their shows. I had this idea, Scott Nevins Presents, which is what really put me on the map. The idea was a live talk show, with real celebrities. It took a good three months to learn how to do it, because it was an unusual concept and they didn't know what to make of me. Now that I do TV and radio I talk to all these hosts and they say, "We've heard about you. We can't believe you did your training in front of a room of 200 gay men!" I really cut my teeth, and the show turned into a huge hit. It ran for 2 years and we had people like Deborah Cox and Tammy Faye Bakker and Rupaul.

Q: And I saw a clip on YouTube of you interviewing Liza Minnelli.
A: That was the East Hampton Film Festival. I had met Liza before, and she requested that they hire me to interview her. She's a blast, and we're kind of friendly now. There's a whole section in Celebutant about hanging out with her. A lot of comics make fun of her, and I refuse to do that. Because I do know her, and she's a sweet and funny person. So I tell stories about things that happened to her. I don't make fun of her.

Q: So much comedy is mean-spirited.
A: I do have some mean-spirited stuff in there, but mostly I'm a storyteller. That's why I was never a club comic, because I can't get up there and do ten minutes.

Q: Does this make your act a hard sell? It's not stand-up, but it's not your typical one man show.
A: No one knows what to do with me. I've gone in for so many TV auditions and they're like, can you be more like Carson Kressley? No. I'm the guy next door who happens to be funny and gay. We're still at a weird place in our community, where 90 percent of the gay representation you see on TV is the flamboyant queen. I don't like to put that on. I stand by that, even though I've got some flak for that.

Q: Flak? Really?
A: Seriously. I know Harvey Fierstein, and he's a firm believer in...what does he say...

Q: Any representation is better than no representation.
A: Something like that. Representation at any cost. I don't agree with that. I've gotten flak for talking about how I disliked the Will and Grace series. Very funny, but there's something poisonous about the character Jack. Working in the clubs, I see these young kids coming into the clubs and all they see is people tweaking out and dancing and hooking up. And they say, that's the life, that's what I need to be. So I try to reach out to kids and be an example that shows there's more out there. This is my big soapbox topic. I do outreach work through different organizations like The Point Foundation. I really worry about the next generation. I fear they don't have good role models. If you look at that brilliant documentary, The Celluloid Closet, you see all those stereotypes in early movies that are still in many TV shows today.

Q: What do you think it will take to get better gay characters into the mainstream?
A: I think it's the same kind of struggle that African Americans went through. I think we need to stop falling into those categories when we go into those auditions. Don't play a queen if you're not. Carson Kressley is just being himself. But that's not every gay man. The entertainment industry has to go through this cycle and get it out of its system, and start writing better gay characters. That's why I applaud shows like Brothers and Sisters that show real life stories. That's where we should be headed. I get distressed when I see shows like MTV's Next, which is targeted at young people, and when they have a gay guy on looking to meet other gay guys, it's always like: get in the tub of whipped cream, and we'll play the Madonna CD...I think it's dangerous to put out that kind of example.

Q: You need to spend more time in LA and get some TV projects going.
A: I'm trying. I'm pitching some stuff, but I can't talk about it. And on the flip side, what just happened in California is brilliant. And New York is going to recognize gay marriages. We're on the right track, we just have to get it done right. And with this election we're finally going to get the right wing out of the White House and get more open-minded people making our laws.

Q: Are politics a big part of your show?
A: No. I'm a CNN junkie and I campaigned for Hillary, but Celebutant is not political. I felt like our country was so wounded for a while that people wouldn't respond well to political humor. So in time I may do a show with more political stuff, but I steer clear in this one.

Q: I hear you do a Judy Garland improv thing in your show.
A: I've been a fan of Judy Garland since I was in the womb. And I don't think that's super gay. Liking Judy means you have good taste. I think she was the best singer of the 20th century. I don't get into the campy thing, to me it's all about the talent. So in Celebutant I talk about my love of Judy, and then I ask the audience to shout out weird song titles, and I sing them as Judy Garland, in her style. So I take, like Amy Winehouse's "Rehab" and try to do it as if it were from the 50s or 60s. It's really funny and it's amazing how the young people get into it.

Q: Can I hear some Judy?
A: [sings a little bit of "Rehab" in a manner reminiscent of "The Man That Got Away."]

Q: That was eerie.
A: Thank you, you're sweet. I'm actually working on an all Judy show. That will debut in the fall. It's based on her television series. I'll have Broadway guest stars and we'll do duets. Hopefully I can bring that to Boston too.

Q: It's about time we got you here.
A: I'm excited because I've only been to Boston once. I have family who live in Marblehead. They're all coming to the show, so I'm sure the liquor will be flowing. But I was there on Mother's Day two years ago, and you guys had the worst flooding you've had in twenty years. And I came with my partner of two and half years, and during that trip we separated. So I'm ready to come back and have a good Boston experience.

Q: I'll put the city on notice to be nice to you
A: Thank you.

Celebutant plays June 12 and 13 at Club Caf?, 209 Columbus Ave, Boston. Tickets $25. Info: 617.536.0966 or www.clubcafe.com