John Michael Higgs tells “The Last Lgh” podst about angerg David Letterman, gettg typest as gay, and playg a new Mr. Beldg on Peack’s “Saved by the Bell” reboot.
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- ‘BT SHOW’ STAR JOHN MICHAEL HIGGS: I WOULDN’T PLAY A GAY MAN AGA TODAYTHE LAST LAUGHMAARTEN BOER/NBC VIA GETTYJOHN MICHAEL HIGGS TELLS “THE LAST LGH” PODST ABOUT ANGERG DAVID LETTERMAN, GETTG TYPEST AS GAY, AND PLAYG A NEW MR. BELDG ON PEACK’S “SAVED BY THE BELL” REBOOT.MATT WILSTESENR EDORUPDATED DEC. 01, 2020 12:41PM EST / PUBLISHED DEC. 01, 2020 4:50AM EST JOHN MICHAEL HIGGS NEVER SET OUT TO BE A EDIAN, BUT HE WAS SO GOOD AT THAT STUCK.“THE ONLY REASON I’M STILL WORKG AS A EDIAN IS BEE I HAVE NEVER APPROACHED THE JOB OF EDY AS A IC,” HE SAYS ON THIS WEEK’S EPISO OF THE LAST LGH PODST. “I JT PLAY THE SCEN. I JT PLAY THE NEED AND THE BIGGER THE NEED EDY, THE FUNNIER IS.” THE 57-YEAR-OLD CHARACTER ACTOR MAY NOT BE A HOEHOLD NAME, BUT HE HAS AN UNMISTAKABLE FACE—PECIALLY FOR FANS OF HIS WORK CHRISTOPHER GUT’S FILMS, STARTG WH BT SHOW. IN THAT MOVIE, HIGGS PLAYED THE YOUNGER AND MORE FLAMBOYANT HALF OF A SHIH TZU-OWNG GAY UPLE WH MICHAEL MCKEAN, A PART HE DOUBTS HE WOULD BE ASKED TO PLAY TODAY.BUT 20 YEARS AFTER THAT FILM’S RELEASE, HE HAS SOMEHOW TRANSFORMED HIMSELF TO THE EDY WORLD’S GO-TO OVER-THE-HILL WHE GUY. WHICH IS HOW HE END UP PLAYG THE NEW MR. BELDG—AKA PRCIPAL RONALD TODDMAN—ON 2020’S BIG SAVED BY THE BELL REBOOT, STREAMG NOW ON PEACK. “I’M BASILLY A DUNK TANK CLOWN,” HIGGS SAYS OF HIS LATT ROLE. “I’M THE BUTT OF A LOT OF BASEMENTS. I GET MY STAT LOWERED A LOT, YOU KNOW, AS ALL GREAT EDY DO.” IT WAS THE NEW SERI’ SHOWNNER—AND FORMER 30 ROCK WRER—TRACEY WIGFIELD WHO OFFERED THE PART TO HIGGS AFTER STG HIM AS A SIARLY OUT-OF-TOUCH NEWS ANCHOR ON HER SHORT-LIVED, BUT BRILLIANTLY FUNNY S GREAT NEWS.“I TOLD HER TOWARD THE END OF GREAT NEWS, IF YOU LL THEN I’M G,” SAYS HIGGS, WHO GOT HIS BIG BREAK PLAYG DAVID LETTERMAN THE 1996 TV MOVIE THE LATE SHIFT. HE LLS WIGFIELD’S WORK “THE BT TELEVISN WRG” HE’S EVER HAD THE PLEASURE OF PERFORMG. “HER NSISTENCY AND HER ABILY TO WRE JOK, THAT IS EXCG FOR A IC PERFORMER LIKE MYSELF,” HE ADDS. “BUT WHAT’S REALLY EXCG IS HOW EP THE LGH N BE, BEE ’S ABOUT BASIC HUMAN NEEDS, DIGNI AND THGS LIKE THAT.”“I THK SHE ME AS A B OF A PUNCHG BAG,” HIGGS ADMS. “I AM AN OLD WHE MAN AND I’M FISHED. IT’S OVER. THE TI HAS RECED AND I’M STANDG THERE NAKED. AND I’M REALLY HAPPY TO LIVER THAT THE LATER PART OF MY REER.”HIGHLIGHTS OM OUR NVERSATN ARE BELOW AND YOU N LISTEN TO THE WHOLE THG RIGHT NOW BY SUBSCRIBG TO THE LAST LGH ON APPLE PODSTS OR WHEREVER YOU LISTEN TO PODSTS. ADVERTISEMENT WHAT DAVID LETTERMAN THOUGHT OF HIS PERFORMANCE ‘THE LATE SHIFT’“HE MA NO BON ABOUT WHAT HE THOUGHT OF MY PERFORMANCE. HE SAID EVERY NIGHT ON THE SHOW AND BEAT ME UP REALLY SOUNDLY, WHICH WAS SURREAL. BEE WHEN I TOOK THE JOB I WAS A STAGE ACTOR WH VERY LTLE MONEY. I WAS LIVG NEW YORK. I WAS EATG RAMEN AND SUDNLY I WAS BEG ATTACKED BY ONE OF THE MOST FAMO RICH PEOPLE ALIVE EVERY NIGHT. MY IENDS WOULD LL ME UP AND SAY, ‘DID YOU HEAR WHAT HE SAID ABOUT YOU LAST NIGHT?’ AND I HADN’T EVEN FISHED THE MOVIE YET! I ACTUALLY DON’T BLAME HIM. HE’S A PRIVATE PERSON. HE DIDN’T LIKE THE PROJECT. AND I WAS THE EASY TARGET BEE DIDN’T MATTER WHAT HAPPENED TO ME. IN HDSIGHT, I DON’T HAVE MUCH ANIMOSY OR BLAME FOR DAVID LETTERMAN. HE’S A PUBLIC PERSON SO HE SHOULD EXPECT TO HAVE SOME KD OF REPRENTATN THE MEDIA, WHICH HE DO. HE JT DIDN’T LIKE THIS ONE BEE SHOWED HIM AT HOME. HE DON’T WANT TO BE SEEN AT HOME, I DON'T BLAME HIM. I DON’T WANT TO BE SEEN AT HOME.” ON HIS HANCY TO PLAY A GAY CHARACTER ‘BT SHOW’“CHRIS [GUT] LLED ME UP AND HE SAYS, ‘LISTEN, I WANT YOU TO DO THIS MOVIE ABOUT DOGS UP VANUVER.’ AND I WAS LIKE, GREAT, THAT SOUNDS REALLY FUN. AND HE SAID, ‘THERE’S A GAY UPLE THE MOVIE AND I WANT YOU TO DO THAT.’ BEE I HAD JT DONE THIS GAY CHARACTER FOR THIS OTHER THG. I HAD DONE A LONG SERI OF GAY ROL ON STAGE NEW YORK. AND I HAVE NOTHG AGAST GAY AT ALL. IT’S JT THAT AS AN ACTOR, YOU WANT TO MOVE AROUND A LOT. I HAD JT DONE FOUR PROJECTS. AND ’S NOT LIKE GAY PEOPLE ARE ALL THE SAME. I WANT TO SPREAD MY WGS A LTLE B OR TAKE A BREAK AND THEN DO AGA. IT WAS ALSO A SLIGHTLY DIFFERENT TIME. THE ATMOSPHERE NOW IS VERY DIFFERENT. SO I DOUBT THAT I WOULD EVEN BE ST AS A GAY CHARACTER BEE WOULD SEEM NOT PC OR SOMETHG LIKE THAT. THERE ARE SO MANY GREAT ACTORS OUT THERE WHO ARE GAY. IT WOULD FEEL FUNKY THE DAYS, I THK, AND PROBABLY SHOULD.”WHAT HE LEARNED OM WORKG WH THE LATE FRED WILLARD ADVERTISEMENT “IT’S A GREAT LOSS. AND A BIG FLUENCE ON ME, ON MY OWN EDIC REER. AND TO SOME EXTENT, I N’T SAY I’VE HERED A MANTLE, BUT I’M VERY MUCH HIS WAKE AND HIS FOOTSTEPS BEE OF THE TYP OF THGS I‘VE BEEN DOG. THERE’S A GREAT LE THAT MART MULL SAID, WHICH IS FRED DIDN’T E HIS TURN SIGNALS. AND WHAT THAT MEANS IS THAT HE WAS AN CREDIBLY POSIVE PERFORMER. AND THAT WAS ALWAYS NTRAST TO THE ABSOLUTELY RIDICULO THGS HE WOULD SAY. YOU WOULD HAVE TO NSTANTLY BE SQUARG THE TWO. HE LOOKED LIKE A PATG OF A PESTRIAN. IF YOU GAVE AN 11-YEAR-OLD A PENCIL AND SAID, DRAW A MAN, THEY WOULD DRAW FRED WILLARD. SO WAS BETIFUL TO WATCH HIM WORK. HE WAS A VERY GENTLE, A VERY LOVELY, WARM PERSON. SHY, AS MANY GREAT EDIANS ARE. AND HE HAD A VERY HIGH BAR FOR HIMSELF. HE WANTED EVERYTHG TO FIRE. I N’T IMAGE WHAT KD OF A PICKLE THAT WOULD PUT HIM . HE RO VERY WELL. WHEN I GIVE MYSELF A HIGH BAR, THAT EVERYTHG HAS TO BE GREAT, ’S WEARG. IT’S VERY HARD TO STA AND FRED DID . HE PUT THAT BAR UP AND HE CLEARED EVERY SGLE TIME. IT’S A GREAT REER.”NEXT WEEK ON THE LAST LGH PODST: STAND-UP EDIAN JSI KIRSON. MATT WILSTE
- ‘BT SHOW’S’ STT AND STEFAN HAVE GONE OM GROANS TO GAY GOALS 20 YEARS
‘BT SHOW’ STAR JOHN MICHAEL HIGGS: I WOULDN’T PLAY A GAY MAN AGA TODAYTHE LAST LAUGHMAARTEN BOER/NBC VIA GETTYJOHN MICHAEL HIGGS TELLS “THE LAST LGH” PODST ABOUT ANGERG DAVID LETTERMAN, GETTG TYPEST AS GAY, AND PLAYG A NEW MR. BELDG ON PEACK’S “SAVED BY THE BELL” REBOOT.MATT WILSTESENR EDORUPDATED DEC. 01, 2020 12:41PM EST / PUBLISHED DEC. 01, 2020 4:50AM EST JOHN MICHAEL HIGGS NEVER SET OUT TO BE A EDIAN, BUT HE WAS SO GOOD AT THAT STUCK.“THE ONLY REASON I’M STILL WORKG AS A EDIAN IS BEE I HAVE NEVER APPROACHED THE JOB OF EDY AS A IC,” HE SAYS ON THIS WEEK’S EPISO OF THE LAST LGH PODST. “I JT PLAY THE SCEN. I JT PLAY THE NEED AND THE BIGGER THE NEED EDY, THE FUNNIER IS.” THE 57-YEAR-OLD CHARACTER ACTOR MAY NOT BE A HOEHOLD NAME, BUT HE HAS AN UNMISTAKABLE FACE—PECIALLY FOR FANS OF HIS WORK CHRISTOPHER GUT’S FILMS, STARTG WH BT SHOW. IN THAT MOVIE, HIGGS PLAYED THE YOUNGER AND MORE FLAMBOYANT HALF OF A SHIH TZU-OWNG GAY UPLE WH MICHAEL MCKEAN, A PART HE DOUBTS HE WOULD BE ASKED TO PLAY TODAY.BUT 20 YEARS AFTER THAT FILM’S RELEASE, HE HAS SOMEHOW TRANSFORMED HIMSELF TO THE EDY WORLD’S GO-TO OVER-THE-HILL WHE GUY. WHICH IS HOW HE END UP PLAYG THE NEW MR. BELDG—AKA PRCIPAL RONALD TODDMAN—ON 2020’S BIG SAVED BY THE BELL REBOOT, STREAMG NOW ON PEACK. “I’M BASILLY A DUNK TANK CLOWN,” HIGGS SAYS OF HIS LATT ROLE. “I’M THE BUTT OF A LOT OF BASEMENTS. I GET MY STAT LOWERED A LOT, YOU KNOW, AS ALL GREAT EDY DO.” IT WAS THE NEW SERI’ SHOWNNER—AND FORMER 30 ROCK WRER—TRACEY WIGFIELD WHO OFFERED THE PART TO HIGGS AFTER STG HIM AS A SIARLY OUT-OF-TOUCH NEWS ANCHOR ON HER SHORT-LIVED, BUT BRILLIANTLY FUNNY S GREAT NEWS.“I TOLD HER TOWARD THE END OF GREAT NEWS, IF YOU LL THEN I’M G,” SAYS HIGGS, WHO GOT HIS BIG BREAK PLAYG DAVID LETTERMAN THE 1996 TV MOVIE THE LATE SHIFT. HE LLS WIGFIELD’S WORK “THE BT TELEVISN WRG” HE’S EVER HAD THE PLEASURE OF PERFORMG. “HER NSISTENCY AND HER ABILY TO WRE JOK, THAT IS EXCG FOR A IC PERFORMER LIKE MYSELF,” HE ADDS. “BUT WHAT’S REALLY EXCG IS HOW EP THE LGH N BE, BEE ’S ABOUT BASIC HUMAN NEEDS, DIGNI AND THGS LIKE THAT.”“I THK SHE ME AS A B OF A PUNCHG BAG,” HIGGS ADMS. “I AM AN OLD WHE MAN AND I’M FISHED. IT’S OVER. THE TI HAS RECED AND I’M STANDG THERE NAKED. AND I’M REALLY HAPPY TO LIVER THAT THE LATER PART OF MY REER.”HIGHLIGHTS OM OUR NVERSATN ARE BELOW AND YOU N LISTEN TO THE WHOLE THG RIGHT NOW BY SUBSCRIBG TO THE LAST LGH ON APPLE PODSTS OR WHEREVER YOU LISTEN TO PODSTS. ADVERTISEMENT WHAT DAVID LETTERMAN THOUGHT OF HIS PERFORMANCE ‘THE LATE SHIFT’“HE MA NO BON ABOUT WHAT HE THOUGHT OF MY PERFORMANCE. HE SAID EVERY NIGHT ON THE SHOW AND BEAT ME UP REALLY SOUNDLY, WHICH WAS SURREAL. BEE WHEN I TOOK THE JOB I WAS A STAGE ACTOR WH VERY LTLE MONEY. I WAS LIVG NEW YORK. I WAS EATG RAMEN AND SUDNLY I WAS BEG ATTACKED BY ONE OF THE MOST FAMO RICH PEOPLE ALIVE EVERY NIGHT. MY IENDS WOULD LL ME UP AND SAY, ‘DID YOU HEAR WHAT HE SAID ABOUT YOU LAST NIGHT?’ AND I HADN’T EVEN FISHED THE MOVIE YET! I ACTUALLY DON’T BLAME HIM. HE’S A PRIVATE PERSON. HE DIDN’T LIKE THE PROJECT. AND I WAS THE EASY TARGET BEE DIDN’T MATTER WHAT HAPPENED TO ME. IN HDSIGHT, I DON’T HAVE MUCH ANIMOSY OR BLAME FOR DAVID LETTERMAN. HE’S A PUBLIC PERSON SO HE SHOULD EXPECT TO HAVE SOME KD OF REPRENTATN THE MEDIA, WHICH HE DO. HE JT DIDN’T LIKE THIS ONE BEE SHOWED HIM AT HOME. HE DON’T WANT TO BE SEEN AT HOME, I DON'T BLAME HIM. I DON’T WANT TO BE SEEN AT HOME.” ON HIS HANCY TO PLAY A GAY CHARACTER ‘BT SHOW’“CHRIS [GUT] LLED ME UP AND HE SAYS, ‘LISTEN, I WANT YOU TO DO THIS MOVIE ABOUT DOGS UP VANUVER.’ AND I WAS LIKE, GREAT, THAT SOUNDS REALLY FUN. AND HE SAID, ‘THERE’S A GAY UPLE THE MOVIE AND I WANT YOU TO DO THAT.’ BEE I HAD JT DONE THIS GAY CHARACTER FOR THIS OTHER THG. I HAD DONE A LONG SERI OF GAY ROL ON STAGE NEW YORK. AND I HAVE NOTHG AGAST GAY AT ALL. IT’S JT THAT AS AN ACTOR, YOU WANT TO MOVE AROUND A LOT. I HAD JT DONE FOUR PROJECTS. AND ’S NOT LIKE GAY PEOPLE ARE ALL THE SAME. I WANT TO SPREAD MY WGS A LTLE B OR TAKE A BREAK AND THEN DO AGA. IT WAS ALSO A SLIGHTLY DIFFERENT TIME. THE ATMOSPHERE NOW IS VERY DIFFERENT. SO I DOUBT THAT I WOULD EVEN BE ST AS A GAY CHARACTER BEE WOULD SEEM NOT PC OR SOMETHG LIKE THAT. THERE ARE SO MANY GREAT ACTORS OUT THERE WHO ARE GAY. IT WOULD FEEL FUNKY THE DAYS, I THK, AND PROBABLY SHOULD.”WHAT HE LEARNED OM WORKG WH THE LATE FRED WILLARD ADVERTISEMENT “IT’S A GREAT LOSS. AND A BIG FLUENCE ON ME, ON MY OWN EDIC REER. AND TO SOME EXTENT, I N’T SAY I’VE HERED A MANTLE, BUT I’M VERY MUCH HIS WAKE AND HIS FOOTSTEPS BEE OF THE TYP OF THGS I‘VE BEEN DOG. THERE’S A GREAT LE THAT MART MULL SAID, WHICH IS FRED DIDN’T E HIS TURN SIGNALS. AND WHAT THAT MEANS IS THAT HE WAS AN CREDIBLY POSIVE PERFORMER. AND THAT WAS ALWAYS NTRAST TO THE ABSOLUTELY RIDICULO THGS HE WOULD SAY. YOU WOULD HAVE TO NSTANTLY BE SQUARG THE TWO. HE LOOKED LIKE A PATG OF A PESTRIAN. IF YOU GAVE AN 11-YEAR-OLD A PENCIL AND SAID, DRAW A MAN, THEY WOULD DRAW FRED WILLARD. SO WAS BETIFUL TO WATCH HIM WORK. HE WAS A VERY GENTLE, A VERY LOVELY, WARM PERSON. SHY, AS MANY GREAT EDIANS ARE. AND HE HAD A VERY HIGH BAR FOR HIMSELF. HE WANTED EVERYTHG TO FIRE. I N’T IMAGE WHAT KD OF A PICKLE THAT WOULD PUT HIM . HE RO VERY WELL. WHEN I GIVE MYSELF A HIGH BAR, THAT EVERYTHG HAS TO BE GREAT, ’S WEARG. IT’S VERY HARD TO STA AND FRED DID . HE PUT THAT BAR UP AND HE CLEARED EVERY SGLE TIME. IT’S A GREAT REER.”NEXT WEEK ON THE LAST LGH PODST: STAND-UP EDIAN JSI KIRSON. MATT WILSTE
* gay guy best in show *
In that movie, Higgs played the younger and more flamboyant half of a Shih Tzu-owng gay uple wh Michael McKean, a part he doubts he would be asked to play 20 years after that film’s release, he has somehow transformed himself to the edy world’s go-to over-the-hill whe guy.
”On his hancy to play a gay character ‘Bt Show’“Chris [Gut] lled me up and he says, ‘Listen, I want you to do this movie about dogs up Vanuver. In fact, the most dated thg about Bt Show is, at least for me, my reactn to watchg for the first time on DVD some 17-18ish years ago—specifilly my reactn to the film’s gay uple, Stefan (Michael McKean) and Stt (John Michael Higgs). I loved Bt Show way back when I was a cluels “straight, ” and you better believe that Parker Posey’s By Bee meltdown beme a part of my vobulary (how a Parker Posey obssn didn’t tip me off to my own gayns, who knows?
But I hadn’t rewatched Bt Show a while before my hband put on and he, like I, both me to a realizatn: Stefan and Stt are nowhere near as ~*¡GAY!
‘BT SHOW’S’ STT AND STEFAN HAVE GONE OM GROANS TO GAY GOALS 20 YEARS
This Se Jt Ranked the Top 10 Gay Sex Scen on TV * gay guy best in show *
Dpe beg played by two straight actors a movie directed by a straight man, there’s somethg so te about the gay experience how Stefan and Stt teract. It may appear quat now, when we have TV seri like Hulu’s Love, Victor (about a Latx teen explorg sexual fluidy) or Netflix’s Bondg (about sex work and alternative sexualy), but the great gay panic set off by Ellen DeGener g out on her s 1997 was a bombshell that didn’t necsarily nvce the works that they’d open the gat to LGBTQ experienc. Luckily Will & Grace buted 1998 and the groundbreakg NBC seri nvced many that gay people might not be so toxic (and wouldn’t sre off advertisers) — so much so that Vice Print Joe Bin later creded wh changg his md about same-sex marriage.
Dpe the fact that lns of Amerins wnsed two men raise a happy and healthy dghter om the fort of their livg room sofas, took a fan mpaign to lobby Disney-owned ABC to fally allow Mchell (gay actor Jse Tyler Fergon) and Cameron (straight actor Eric Stontreet) to kiss ( fally happened 2010). For years, ranged, perverse, and spible homosexuals were on full display — pecially om Ryan Murphy, who remas our most proment culture czar when to queer characters on TV. But he’s also supplied at least one murro (ghostly) gay man on Amerin Horror Story and too many crazi on Nip/Tuck to unt.
From the Roy Cohn-flected Army-McCarthy heargs — which was the first time many people heard the word “homosexual” uttered on TV — through the “don’t ask, don’t tell” Neti, that clud The Goln Girls and Digng Women, to our current glter-and-glam era of RuPl’s Drag Race and almost-anythg-go pansexualy. When her straight male roommate’s twentysomethg girliend, Francis, qutns why Leila is so terrified to tell anyone that she has sex wh both men and women, Leila tells her ’s plited bee ’s “a gay thg.