Talking With :: Leslie Jordan Brings Chattanooga to Ptown This Weekend

Leslie Jordan is one of a kind, and that's a very good thing for those of us who love watching him perform in film, television or on stage.

As the man we know from roles on "Will & Grace," "Sordid Lives" and his touring with his endless supply of stories and Hollywood anecdotes, Jordan never leaves us disappointed and always keeps us laughing.

This weekend Jordan ventures to Provincetown for a one-night only performance at the Town Hall Auditorium with his latest show, "Straight Out of Chattanooga." In this show, the Emmy-winner talks about life after his mother (yes, his mother) booted him out of the house at the age of 17 to figure things out.

Besides getting a preview for his show, Jordan also talked about who he would cast alongside himself in a male version of "The Golden Girls" as well as what he thinks when he watches himself on TV or in films.

Run out of town

EDGE: When you set out to do a new show like the one you're doing this summer, what is your process if there is one?

Leslie Jordan: It's interesting because if I had my druthers they would all be called 'An Evening with Leslie Jordan' because that's what you get...When you're on the road doing these shows, it's just me and a mic, that's the way it should be. I have a marketing firm and every year they get calls from Ptown and these other venues and they say 'what's his new show?' New? I can't come up with a new show every year! I'm not Varla Jean Merman! She comes up with a new one every year!

The way 'Straight Out of Chattanooga' happened was instead of calling me and asking for an idea, my marketing people in Palm Springs sent me a poster and they had an idea. It was Tupac and 'Straight Out of Compton,' but pink and 'Straight Out of Chattanooga.' It was adorable and they said, 'Can you come up with some stories?' That afternoon, I was talking to the post lady who brings my mail and I said 'I heard Tupac lived in my building' and she said 'Honey, he lived in your apartment!' How about that?!

Now, when I was 17, I had started sneaking out to gay bars and doing a lot of drugs. I was loaded all the time but unlike Karen Walker (Megan Mullally's boozy 'Will & Grace' character), my shenanigans were not entertaining. My mother finally sat me down and she's my biggest champion, but I have twin sisters that are 18-months younger than me and she said 'they're going to be juniors in high school next year and your shenanigans are not going to ruin their chances if they want to become homecoming queens or cheerleaders and you need to get out of town.' I was run out of town by my own mother at 17!

But the show came together with these stories of my journey out of Chattanooga. What I came up with was when I was a young man I could not embrace my own gay struggle. It was too shameful so I embraced things like the Black struggle or the Jewish struggle. It's all just an evening of fun and frivolity.

An all-male Golden Girls?

EDGE: Why do you think Ptown is a different kind of place from other cities?

Leslie Jordan: My first trip to Ptown was to do the Vixen, which was a lesbian bar... I realized in Ptown when I stood on stage that night that I could earn a living outside of living in LA and waiting for a casting director to call. There's something so magical about PTown. You have Key West and you have the Castro and you have West Hollywood, but there's nothing like PTown. The beauty of Ptown is that it's our town but we allow the tourists to come in as long as they behave. [laughs] There's something wonderful about a town where you can see a drag queen in the daylight -- which is frightening enough -- with a family of five walking by. It's just like 'whatever!' For me, Ptown is Bear Week. I come for the Bears!

EDGE: You've done so much in your career, Leslie. Were you ever on 'The Golden Girls?'

Leslie Jordan: I never did 'The Golden Girls.' I never did 'Designing Women' even though people think I did... but I did tour and did 'Sordid Lives: The TV Series' with Rue McClanahan and almost through all her stories I feel that I did do 'The Golden Girls.' Betty White and I worked together many times and we did 'Boston Legal.' The day she was hired, I said 'how many episodes did they hire you for?' She said 'They hired me for five.' I said 'Me, too! Either you're going to kill me or I'm going to kill me' and that bitch killed me! [laughs] I was never on 'The Golden Girls' but I have history with every one of them here and there.

EDGE: Why haven't they done a 'Golden Girls' reboot with four men? You would have to be one of them!

Leslie Jordan: Sometimes those reboots are hard because so many people have their piece of the pie.

EDGE: Let's say all legal things aside you were going to do 'The Golden Men' or something like that. Who would be the other three guys?

Leslie Jordan: Well, people think I'm older than I am. I'm 61 so within my generation, I wouldn't let Sean Hayes in it. He would steal my thunder! [laughs] I absolutely adore Jeff Goldblum, which would be hilarious. I looked at him up and down and said, 'Are you proportional?' because he's so tall and he looked at me and goes, 'Abso-f***ing-lutely.' Alec Baldwin was on 'Will & Grace' and we got along really well. Those two and I've always wanted to work with Martin Short. I think he's so brilliant!

Watching himself

EDGE: Do you like to watch yourself in TV and films?

Leslie Jordan: I don't. Sometimes I see myself and I'm like 'Girl! Calm down!' When I was a kid, my mother bought me a tape recorder so I could memorize a poem and I was horrified when I heard myself. You call any gay man on their answering machine and it's like [makes voice deep and uber-masculine] 'Hey, it's Leslie.' [laughs] I'm like 'Girl, who do you think you're kidding with that message?' But there's something to be said about the way in which we feel the need somehow to butch it up. There's that documentary ('Do I Sound Gay?') about that boy who went to get voice lessons to not sound so nelly. I look at myself if it's a big character like Brother Boy or 'Will & Grace'; but it's just me trying to be me, I don't know. It's not worth it. I'm pretty comfortable with myself but I don't put myself in that position. We all battle that internal shame and I go to it in two seconds.

EDGE: Do you actually watch a lot of TV? What are you a fan of these days?

Leslie Jordan: I've been clean and sober 18 or 19 years and we have a saying in recovery that we reject fantasy [and] I took it way too far in that I do not watch television. The last movie I watched on a plane was 'August: Osage County'... with television, I'm addicted to reality murder programs. I don't want a reenactment. I want to see the body like in '48 Hours.' But I'm so busy and I keep up with this and that. I heard a quote by Lena Dunham and she said 'You know, I'm wrong a lot but I'm right a lot, too. But why am I always sorry?' And that's me!

Leslie Jordan performs "Straight Out of Chattanooga" at Provincetown's Town Hall on July 9, 2016. For tickets to the Town Hall show in Provincetown, visit his website.