Well, I just got a nasty email from my manager to UPDATE MY JOURNAL.  I guess I wouldn't be very good at that new fangled "twittering" that is all the rage, my last journal was in October of 2008!!  Lord, where to begin?  I think the last time I wrote was railing about the disappointment of "12 Miles of Bad Road" being jerked out of produciton by the evil queen at HBO.  I wish that had been the end of it.  I did another pilot for The Lifetime Channel that was produced and directed by Kelsey Grammer.  It was called "Alligator Point" and starred Cybil Sheppard who was alot of fun.  Kelsey Grammer was such a wonderful director.  He kept whispering to me, "You're funnier when you are not trying to be."  I knew immediately what he meant.  I have been working in situation comedies for so long that sometimes I end up relying on my little "bag of tricks" that have served me since I first started doing sit-coms back during the early "Murphy Brown" days.  I am much better when I just allow myself to trust that I am intrinically funny and I shouldn't "try so hard."  Anyway.  It was a wonderful pilot episode and I thought we would run forever.  Well, The Lifetime Channel executives did not feel it was a good "fit" for their network once they saw the finished piece!  The good news in all this is that it has made me search for ways in which to keep myself financially afloat without relying on a people at the head of these Networks trying to figure out what a fickle viewing public wants.  I now "hit the road" for almost 8 months out of the year and it has brought me more artistic satisfaction than anything I have done so far in my career.  (Except maybe winning an Emmy for "Will and Grace".  Oh by the way, I heard from Megan Mallally the other day and there she is contemplating developing a musical around her character Karen Walker and my character Beverley Leslie would be a part of that.  She told me to keep my big mouth shut but I noticed the other day that she mentioned it in a press clipping so.... we'll see???  Things like that sometimes take years to develope so I ain't holding my breath.)  But, my show "My Trip Down the Pink Carpet" is definately "in the works" for a February opening in March Off Broadway.  I will PROMISE to keep everyone posted on that.  I am all over the place this Fall.  Shreveport, Louisiana's very first Gay and Lesbian Film Festival is next week (September 11) and I will be hosting a screening of "Sordid Lives" the movie followed by a question and answer session.  Then I am off to Dallas, Texas for a "Sordid Night of Comedy" at The Majestic Theatre with my dear friends Rue McClanahan, Caroline Rhea and Del Shores on September 19th.  Then an appearance in Orlando Wednesday Ocotber 7th that will be up on the "tour list" soon.  Plus Del Shores and I are being honored in Denver on October 17th by The Matthew Sheppard Foundation at a fancy dinner!  So honored for that.  I met sweet Judy Sheppard in an elevator at The Mayflower Hotel during an HRC Dinner.  She is an apple dumpling!  She is like creme brulee!  You just want to eat her with a spoon.  So sweet and so dedicated to her cause.  She turned the most horric event into something amazingly positive!  After Denver, all of the "Sordid Lives" folks and myself are appearing at The Coachella Casino near Palm Springs for Palm Springs Pride on Friday night November 6th.  Then I am off to Key West to do The Waterfront Playhouse on Monday and Tuesday night November 9th and 10th!  Then another fun run at Comix in New York.  This is a comedy club on 14th Street near 9th Ave which is a blast!  I will be appearing with Caroline Rhea, Rue McClanahan and Del Shores November 30th till December 2!! Then I am opening my new stand up comedy show "Full of Gin and Regret" in Los Angeles at The Renberg Theatre for the first three weeks in December plus a quick trip to Atlanta for two nights at The 14th Street Playhouse December 8th and 9th!  It is all good.  I lead such a blessed life.  54 years old (plus tax and deposit, ok... a little shipping and handling!) and LIVING THE LIFE I HAVE ALWAYS DREAMED OF!!

     Well, folks, I am sorry that I have been so remiss in keeping this journal updated.  "12 Miles of Bad Road" was shelved before we even got on the air!  The new heads of HBO HATED IT!!  It was the saddest thing that has ever happened to me in my 30 years in show business.  The "powers that be" thought it was too "broad."  Well, to that I say,  "you do not put the words of Linda Bloodworth Thomason into the mouths of comedians such as Lily Tomlin and yours truely and get The John Fucking Addams Mini Series!!"  It was a big, loud politically incorrect Texas comedy that certainly needed a little nip and tuck but to just shelve it was a bit extreme!  There was one new head person at HBO that shall remain nameless who I really hold accountable.  He apparently did not like my character or my acting at all.  He told the head of another network who was interested in "12 Miles of Bad Road" (and a friend of mine) that "I did not even belong on telelvision."  To which I reply, "Well, dear, when you were in BUSINESS AFFAIRS AT HBO, I was out there winning an Emmy and I will STILL be on television when you are back in BUSINESS AFFAIRS where you belong instead of in the upper echelon making creative decisions."  Oh dear, sounds like sour grapes.  WHICH IS EXACTLY WHAT IT IS!  I have taken shit my entire career from the straight community, I never ever thought that the most hurtful blow would come from someone within my tribe!!! (This horrid person who shall remain nameless was supposedly gay!)  And that is all I am going to say on the matter.

     Now to the fun stuff.  My book "My Trip Down the Pink Carpet" sold almost 3,000 copies the first two months it was in release and I am very proud of that.  Honey, I worked my ass off.  I did 30 cities on a big tricked-out Loretta Lynn tour bus.  I put the book on its feet and made it into a one man show.  We headed out during late May and early June to coincide with Gay Pride Month and went city to city from San Diego to Boston!  We ended the tour in Provincetown where I rented an old sea captains house and brought in my 73 year old mother, my 80 year old aunt, my twin sisters and my Cousin Lynn!  What was I thinking!  P-Town with five prim and proper Southern ladies!  But... we had a blast.  I don't think my mother had ever seen how loved I am within the Gay Community.  She was so touched.  I realized that I have always kept most of my "gay life" separate from my family.  The way in which the gay community embraced my family really touched my heart.  As I was loading the family on the ferry for the trip home, we all decided that every August would be a family trip to the Cape!!

     The summer tour was a big success in every area except financial.  That big ol'tour bus cost $700 a day to fill up with gas!  Guuurl!  That is alot of tickets to sell.  So to help him make up for some of  the money he lost, we are back on the road this Fall.  Check out the dates and come see me! 

     We are in the process of getting the show to New York in the spring and also we shot the show in Atlanta.  Amanda Bearse directed and the show looks amazing on film!  Remember Amanda?  She was Marcie, the neighbor on "Married With Children" and the first "out" lesbian I remember in the entertainment industry.  Honey, I think she was "out"  before Kristy McNichol!  Anyway.  She is a brilliant director (check out her work on The Logo Channel's "Big Gay Sketch Comedy Show!!!)  We are going to start shopping the video of "My Trip Down the Pink Carpet" and hopefully it will be hitting the airwaves soon!!

     And speaking of  The Logo Channel, my new series "Sordid Lives, The TV Series" is up and running and making history.  New episodes can be seen every Wednesday night at 10 pm.  I am so proud of my work on that show.  It's not easy to watch myself when my fat little ass is shoe-horned into that damn orange jump suit but I am surprized how poignant Brother Boy is.  I mean, you put a man in drag and it is naturally funny but I am also giving a really heart-breaking performance and am sooooo proud of my work.  Hats off to Del Shores!  When I first read all 12 episodes I called him up and squealed.... "Guuuurl, you have OUTDONE YOURSELF!!!

     Love.  Light.   Leslie

   

So yesterday I started my new series with Lily Tomlin and Mary Kay Place.  I am going to try to get some photos of all of us on the set!  Magic is happening!  Something really special is in the air.  I am not a betting man (when I galloped race horses in my impetuous youth I would be depressed for days if I lost a $2 bet!)  but I would wager the house on this series.  I think it is going to be the biggest thing to hit TV in years.  I did not think we could possibly top the pilot episode but the first episode is even funnier than the pilot!  The first episode is named "The Dirty White Girl."  Linda Bloodworth Thomason saw my one-man show and loved the part where I do a dance I made up when I was a kid called "the dirty white girl."  So they gave me some money to use my idea!  And I get to perform "The Dirty White Girl" for all of America!  The people from HBO are great to work with.  Unlike the networks that throw all those shows on the air and just hope something sticks, HBO is very careful with "their product."  It takes them forever ("12 Miles of Bad Road" has been in development off and on for 2 years) but once they make the committment HBO really gets behind the show.  I'll keep you all abreast of the developments in this very special time in my life.  I feel like I have waited 25 years for this one! 

    I turned my book into Simon and Schuster last week.  Tentatively titled "My Trip Down the Pink Carpet (Or How I Became Insufferably Satisfied With Myself)" it deals with being an openly gay actor in Hollywood from 1982 till I won The Emmy in 2006 for Best Guest Actor in a Comedy for "Will and Grace."  It is now with my amazing editor Ursula Cary and I am waiting to hear what she thinks!

    Well, that is about all for now.

    Love.  Light.  Leslie