An Interview with Writer Gary Janetti
By Gregg Shapiro
The humorous essay is an artform, one that has been perfected by the likes of gay writers including David Sedaris and the late David Rakoff. It’s a style of prose that can be as entertaining as it is enlightening.
Gary Janetti is another gay writer who is well aware of the benefits of laughter. As a producer and writer for queer sitcoms including Will & Grace and Vicious, Janetti was good at tickling our funny bones. That ability also carries over to the page in Start Without Me (I’ll Be There in a Minute), a collection of 18 linked essays that follow Janetti from his teen years through his 20s to the present, all the while providing multiple opportunities to laugh out loud.
He was generous enough to answer a few questions about the book.
Gregg Shapiro: Gary, I’d like to begin the interview by asking you to say something about your fondness for parentheses, beginning with the one in the title of your book Start Without Me (I’ll Be There in a Minute) and continuing throughout the 18 essays.
Gary Janetti: I guess it’s a device that works for me, that allows me to kind of do asides. It’s like talking to the audience, if you will. It allows you to kind of break out of it and get even a bit more personal or a little bit more kind of conversational. But I don’t know why. I just started doing it and it works for me.
GS: A majority of the essays take readers into your past. Were you a journal keeper or did you rely on memory when it came to writing about events from that time?
GJ: No, I never kept a journal. I think somebody gave me a journal once when I was in college, and I wrote in it the day that I got it: ‘I’m gonna write in this every day for the rest of my life!’ And that was the last time I ever wrote in it. I rely on my memory.
GS: Do the essays in the book appear in the order in which they were written?
GJ: They do. I thought after I finished, I didn’t know if I would want to keep them in that order. But I guess I had an instinct that hopefully, they would stay in that order because it felt like that’s the order they wanted to be in.
GS: Speaking of order, Start Without Me opens with The Carol Burnett Show essay, in which you talk about not telling her how much of an influence she was on you when you met her. Even so, do you think you might try to get a copy of your book to her?
GJ: [Laughs] that’s a good question. And the answer is yes. Yeah, I will definitely.
GS: Public access TV host and superstar Robin Byrd also gets mentioned in the essay “J’s.” Will you be sending her a copy of your book?
GJ: I hadn’t thought of that, Gregg. But now that you mentioned it, why not? Are you aware of The Robyn Byrd Show?
GS: Of course, yes. I didn’t live in New York, but my friend Denise who did once sent me a VHS tape that she had made of it.
GJ: Yeah, it’s so specific. It was our Watch What Happens Live [laughs]!
GS: Well, with a lot more going on, including stripping and nudity.
GJ: It felt like there was something very sweet about it, even though she was interviewing porn stars. Not that one is exclusive of the other, but it had this kind of ‘Let’s put on a show’ charm to it. In hindsight now, I’m like, ‘Aww.’
GS: ‘Aww,’ is perfect. In the essay “Teaching Ten Little Fingers to Play,” you write about the song “Hard Candy Christmas” from the musical The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas. Would you care to share your thoughts on the renditions of that song performed by Dolly Parton in the movie and/or RuPaul’s rendition from his 1997 holiday album?
GJ: Oh, I didn’t know RuPaul had a rendition. I’ll have to listen to that. I obviously love Dolly’s rendition, but at the time, this was before the film. So, what I was listening to and what I was fixated on was the original cast recording. Also, just the sheet music. I just liked the song so much [laughs]. I didn’t realize how kind of inappropriate it was for a 12 or 13-year-old. But at the same time, incredibly appropriate.
GS: While most of the essays have a strong comedic element, there are also serious moments, such as in the “Grandma” essay when you hear the story about the grandmother you never knew defending the gay nephew of one of her neighbors. Please say something about how you approach serious subject matter versus humorous material.
GJ: By trying not to think too much of it. By trying to be honest as best I could. By just trying to write exactly what I felt. I think that’s it. I didn’t really approach it any differently. I allowed myself to not worry about having to be funny.
GS: Your husband Brad Goreski appears in the “Destination Weddings” essay. How do you negotiate writing about him? For example, does he have to approve of the way he’s represented?
GJ: No, no, not at all. He probably read it around the same time you read it. There’s nothing to negotiate. I could write anything that I wanted. He appeared in the first book, I think, a bit more than he appears in this book. I actually thought he might appear more in here. What I’m writing about is mostly a time way before him, but I’m looking at it from now, so he becomes a part of that. He trusts me. He doesn’t read anything until it’s literally done. I don’t like people, aside from my editor (reading it). I’d rather just get it done.
