West Hollywood can be a tough place. A welcoming gay metropolis for some, the city has also been known to chew up and spit out the occasional queer guy who can’t adapt to the mean streets. It’s good to know people and have a mentor if possible. In the new series Boy Toys, comic Brian Jordan Alvarez stars as Ivan, who has just split with his boyfriend and takes in a new roomie, Frankie (Brad Wergley), who isn’t quite prepared for the havoc that awaits.
Filled with knowing humor (sales people will lie to make commission), countless truisms (“you live in L.A. now, you have to learn to lie”), and a typically amusing supporting turn by Jimmy Fowlie (beloved by Queerty readers for his own webseries Go-Go Boy Interrupted) the sitcom is also notable for imparting the three essential rules for throwing a successful twink party:
- Booze (if you can’t afford premium vodka, BYOB usually works)
- Hot guys (scope out the local dodge ball team)
- Controversy (you want drama so people will talk about the party for a long time afterwards)
Related: This Go-Go Boy Doesn’t Want To Stop Dancing For You
Watch the slightly-NSFW first episode below.
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Dustin Lipsey
Mario
Xzamilio
Ummmmm… I don’t want to be mean… so I’ll just say “heh.”
Glücklich
@Xzamilio:
Your evaluation is enough for me. I’ll skip this snippet of undoubtedly overwrought and underclothed airheads.
Scott Barrett
actually its usually crystal meth that does the chewing. they come to town seeking refuge and all they get is a bunch of people escaping pain…
Christopher Hayward
The best way, kegels exercises, cologne which is $30.00 or more, good hygiene, oral hygiene, retinol-A, enough me time and one is ready for anything.
Blake Evans
Basically sleep your way around west Hollywood to make money then become a gogo boy then do lots of drugs work out to not be a twink anymore and then post lots of half naked photos of yourself in your underwear then become an Andrew Christian trophy boy and try to hide your past of how you got there . It’s easy
J.r. Graff
Why would you want to “make it” in the sesspool that is Hollywood and LA? Go live somewhere with REAL people and a solid history and character with it’s skyline.
Jonathonz
Yup, that’s LA. Fun show, I’ll keep watching…
Erik Maya
Eduardo Gonzalez
Evji108
Is this guy serious? The superficiality of it all is just a bit sickening. The trouble with this kind of scene is that 20 years down the road, you have invested all this time and energy into cultivating and fitting into this vapid gay social scene and you have NOTHING to show for it. Nothing except perhaps for some wrinkles, a few STDs and emptiness inside.
Giancarlo85
Not everyone is like that in LA or even West Hollywood.
Most are working real jobs. It is shit articles like this one that give wrong impressions.
I am sure many talking crap about LA have never even been here.
Joe
@Giancarlo85:
I agree.
My husband and I got to West Hollywood twice a year. Always a fun time. I find the locals to be friendly. I don’t know if that’s what twinks do to survive, if this indeed happen, which it probably does, WeHo is not the only city where that occurs.
Douglas Schlitz
Just what we need, a stupid sitcom about unrealistic stereotypes to make gays seem like ignorant superficial dumbasses.
Not funny, sad and insulting to most gay men.
Glücklich
@Evji108:
@Douglas Schlitz:
It’s meant to be satire. They’ve cranked up the worst of the L.A./WeHo and young gay guy stereotypes. Any US big city gayborhood can be like this to a degree, the only differences being the weather and industry influence. For local contrast, Long Beach is more reflective of “gays grown up” whereas WeHo is kind of “gays gone wild.”
@Giancarlo85:
@Joe:
Ditto. I like L.A. but get more enjoyment out of the areas east of Hollywood and Miracle Mile, some of which are derided for other reasons, e.g. Silver Lake being overrun by hipsters (which I like) or downtown being dead (which it isn’t, depending on what you like to do). It all depends on what you’re looking for.
Jim McHardy
I will have to watch the show
alphacentauri
@Giancarlo85: Very true. After all L.A. is extremely expensive.
darwinbell
All of these LA web series portray LA gays as either vacuous or assholes. Is that all there is?
bicurious
It is interesting how people attacked Stonewall for not being an accurate depiction and now they are attacking this for being too accurate a depiction of the gay Weho lifestyle……and trust me, this is very close to the Weho reality.
alphacentauri
@bicurious: Just because it’s accurate about WeHO and twinks does not mean anyone wants to actually watch it. Will the main character use meth and sleep with lots of men and have unprotected sex and become HIV+? Or would people argue that this is being “sex negative”, “slut shaming”, or whatever other PC nonsense they now claim?
Ogre Magi
I love that guy, he is so funny
OzJosh
You can call it “comedy” or call it “satire”, but the sad fact is it doesn’t work either way. And these stereotypes of vacuous, self-obsessed a**holes are why so many guys today simply don’t want to even identify as gay. This is what explains the “down low” and “straight acting” and all those “bi” guys who’ve slept with between one and zero women. Because who in their right mind would want to identify – even via parody or satire – with these vile people?
alphacentauri
@OzJosh: Or instead of being biphobic like you are, those men actually are bisexual.
Giancarlo85
@Glücklich: Asides from Little Tokyo or Grand Central Market, there is nothing that interests me in or around downtown LA, and certainly not the minimal nightlife.
@alphacentauri: Expensive? Depends where. That has nothing to do with what I said.
Captain Obvious
I got a good laugh out of people being defensive about LA in the comments. That was the real comedy.
Really nothing needs to be said, no one is lying about LA… especially West Hollywood.
Giancarlo85
@Captain Obvious: Coming from someone who rants about how great it is to live in some hick town, that is rich. Are you still trying to change things in that little town you live in? You have never been to LA so quit lying.
Chevelter
I was prepared to hate this like 99% of the gay video crap that’s made, but it was actually excellent. It’s well acted and made me laugh. I’m glad I gave it a chance because I almost didn’t bother, it’s been so long since I’ve seen anything this good.