The other night we were at the premiere and they were all like, ‘So brave. So brave. So brave. To be an out actor and getting fucked against a tree and doing anal bleaching and all of that stuff.’ And I was like, OK. It doesn’t feel brave to me! I think it’s a couple of things. Raul was calling it an occupational hazard, that all of us are really comfortable talking about graphic elements on the show because we experience them on the show and they become comfortable things.
So when interviews start talking about ass-eating and stuff, it doesn’t feel weird to us because it’s just part of the storytelling. But also I think it’s just that the younger generation is just more comfortable talking about sex and being gay. That’s one of the wonderful things about being youngish in 2015 and being gay. There’s not so much of a taboo on all of that stuff. I love it. It’s such a part of my life. It’s what I talk about with my friends all of the time, so it feels natural to be discussing all of it.”
— Jonathan Groff discussing his Looking character Patrick in an interview with The Daily Beast
NG22
That sex scene with Russell Tovey was hot, if a bit short. Just as last season, they have a really explosive chemistry. It’s the most intense, sensuous kissing you’ll find on the entire show. It’s the reason I always wonder about Jonathan and Russell off-camera, considering they’re both gay, and were single when they filmed the first season (don’t know about the second).
Gigi Gee
Us old(ish)timers are pretty okay talking about sex too. It just depends on how comfortable you are with yourself, and sex in general, I guess. Looking forward to see how the love triangle (and other things) will unfold on LOOKING this season. Love the show!
vive
“That’s one of the wonderful things about being youngish in 2015 and being gay. There’s not so much of a taboo on all of that stuff.”
Seriously? All this is extremely tame compared to what things were like in the 70s. Maybe “youngish” guys should at least read a bit more than they do.
onthemark
@vive: Yes & no – hardly anyone in the ’70s had cable TV yet, and there weren’t graphic depictions of gay (or any) sex on TV. He probably isn’t talking just about society in general but about what actors do.
Brendan
Porn stars get fucked against trees all the time, but they never get called brave. What a load of horseshit. Glad that he at least acknowledges that, but it makes me wonder who the hell was at the premiere saying that to him because they must be some sheltered vanilla fuck-with-the-socks and slippers on kind of people.
redcarpet30
@vive: I think he’s coming from a very priveleged perspective. Anyone that has to work in the regular hetero-dominated world knows that sex is still something that is not talked about openly without looks of disgust. He’s lucky because he gets to work in the entertainment industry and not in an office run by some pearl clutching harpie.
I wonder about Tovey and Groff too. Tovey is in a relationship but I find it hard to believe that they getting to see each other naked is just business. They are both extremely attractive gay men, it would be weirder if they didn’t want to fuck IRL. Unless they are into bears or something and just not into eachother.
vive
@Brendan, haha, I would guess a bunch of society queens hobnobbing with and brown-nosing the rich and somewhat famous. You know the type.
stanhope
Brave? LMAO. The waterfront in New York in the 70s the Central Park Rambles, anywhere in the Pines. That shit on “Looking” was tame. Get it right…I bear witness. My best friend and I had a house on the main drag to the beach pre AIDS…oh the stories I could tell…those of us who were present and still here could have our own Legends Ball…..wonder if Oprah would lend us a house.
trelin
@Brendan: Well, pornstars star in porn, while actors tend to star in television, movies, and on broadway. It’s brave to be one of the actors that is outwardly starring in a scene, which a few years ago would be viewed as obscene. He’s discussing how we’re moving forward (slowly) as a society, and that he’s not shy about talking about sexual antics.
OzJosh
@onthemark: What Groff said was: “the younger generation is just more comfortable talking about sex and being gay.”
What total and utter crap. An alarming number of younger gays can’t even bring themselves to identify as gay. They’re “curious” or “bi-curious” or “bi” or *shrugs shoulders/mumble evasively*. There are guys on Craigslist and similar sites who have been “curious” for going on a decade now! And some who have been seeking “first time” encounters for almost as long. These are all guys having regular sex with men, yet still hiding behind a (totally unconvincing) veil of “curious” or “bi”. (Apologies to genuinely bi guys, but you all know about those exclusively-gay “bi guys”. Then there are the bi/curious/WTF guys chasing sex only with “straight guys”. They’ve seriously convinced themselves that the world is full of straight guys whose “girlfriend is away”, so they’ll just have sex with other men. They believe this because “no gay guys” in their posts reassures them that they’re not gay either; gay having too many awkward echoes of “faggot”, “sissy”, etc. So these “masculine” men – albeit too weak and wimpy to own their sexuality – remain “curious”. Going on 30, 40 or 50… but still “curious”.
So don’t tell me the younger generation is more comfortable being gay. I remember the 70s, when our T-shirts and our lapel buttons clearly said “Out and Proud”. When was the last time you saw that? If Looking wanted to be a bit more relevant and cutting edge it should take a look at how UNcomfortable much of the younger generation is with being gay. Then it might be worth watching.
SteveDenver
I like that Tovey’s character pulls out a condom and puts it on, and it totally seems like part of what he does when he has sex. I like the show in that so many parts of it feel honest. The HIV+ bear’s tattoo and then his explanation of what he does for work, that has honesty.
I really miss Groff singing. I guess it can’t be in every role, but please bring us a song now and then.
LadyL
@OzJosh: Thanks for your commment; you make some strong points. For the most part I read your post nodding my head.
My thought is that it’s a somewhat paradoxical thing. In an odd way it was safer back in the day to wear on your lapel a pin that said “Out and Proud,” because in the seventies many straight people were totally clueless about LGBT life and wouldn’t have understood what the declaration meant. If you wear an “Out and Proud” pin now, more people get the message and you have to be prepared to own it.
And too, I think how secure one is now with self-identifying as gay still hinges on upbringing, cultural and religious influences, and self-esteem issues. That’s certainly true in poor and working class Black communities here in Chicago. Sadly there are a lot young people who come from very repressive, disapproving families and have a hard time owning up. So they reach for euphemistic language and smoke screen identities as they inch their way forward.
I think I’m more optimistic than you are. Some may have a longer, bumpier road to walk to freedom, but that doesn’t mean they won’ get there.
MarionPaige
Take note on how the two most recognized actors in Looking were used in the second season premier:
Tovey pops up for a couple of seconds to show his butt while having sex against a tree.
Scott Bakula appears only in photographs and a painting that everyone laughs at.
And what is Looking showcasing? Jonathan Groff
jason smeds
Looking is ridiculous. All it is is a collection of cliches from some soft-porn romance novel about the gay scene. I can’t see the show lasting beyond this season.
JPDonahue
I love all the angry comments above.
Most of them missed the point and just went off on what they wanted to say.
Love the internet!
QJ201
it’s only “brave” because of “bottom shaming”
no one is talking about how “brave” it was for Tovey to f*ck him against the tree
jason smeds
The ratings for the first episode this season have just been released. They are not good.
1EqualityUSA
LadyL, Your response to OzJosh was so right on. At least the youths know they have more options on where to navigate.