Alec Mapa
Answers OUT Spoken’s questions

America's Gaysian Sweetheart dodges New York tornadoes, pees for Obama and returns to San Francisco for Comedy at the Castro.

What's it like moving from LA, filming in New York City?
[Laughs] It's really neat! But it also has its hazards. I mean, last week I was supposed to shoot some exteriors downtown, but Manhattan was on "tornado watch" because there was a huge thunder storm going through the City, so I had to stick around for another week. So I am still here. I have a fabulous hotel room in midtown at the W. It's fun; it's very glam!

Are you taking advantage of being New York, visiting the nightclubs, going to the bars, being out, being gay in New York City?
Yes [guffaws]!

All my friends are in Broadways shows. So that's been very exciting. I went to see my friend Marty Thomas and Cheyenne Jackson in Xanadu, which is like the gayest, queerest thing I've ever seen and that's been so much fun. And Whoopi is in it and it was. That's been great.

Manhattan is just a really fun playground, and if you have, just like Sex And The City, like three little play mates and a per dium you can kind of get into a lot of trouble. [Laughs] So I've been kind of hanging out at the hotel and having my friends come visit me here.

I am so disconnected right now, I haven't been on the Internet, I haven't been reading Perez Hilton, I've just been running around the City and working.

Frying George Takai...?
I did the roast of George Takai last night with Gilbert Godfrey at the Friars Club. Being mean really isn't my thing and George is an awfully good sport about it.

I said that, 'They wanted him for the Mummy III, Tomb of the Dragon Emperor because he'd be the only cast member that wouldn't require make-up.'

I said that, 'George Takai is so old when he was a kid science fiction meant a horseless carriage.'

Incessant cruising?
You know I've been traveling non-stop for the last six months, I mean if I'm not on a cruise, I'm doing some HRC event, so I've been out of town a lot. I was in San Francisco, my sister and her partner got married.

You have a lesbian sister?
I have a lesbian sister! And they got married at City Hall. It's really kind of a joyful, historic time in San Francisco. There was a gay wedding every ten feet. My Dad was there, he flew in from Las Vegas, and it was a really great family, community event. I mean it was uniquely San Francisco.

When are you and your partner going to be parents?
We're at the stage now where we're talking about talking about it, which is really great. Last year we were on the Rosie [Family] Cruise and we attended all the foster adopt seminars. We talked to Rosie and she was like, ‘the minute you decide to adopt, call me.'

The lesbians were practically throwing kids into our arms.

We came back and my husband clearly said, ‘you know, I'm not ready, stop talking about it, I'm freaking out.'
He had a total panic attack about it, so, my therapist told me to back off, and I did. And now that I've backed off completely, my husband now wants to start talking about it again. Which just tells me, that you know, he just wants it to be his idea.

Everybody in Hollywood is getting pregnant, having kids. It's the "in" thing to do. Do you feel like you're not part of the pack?
No. I mean I'm not doing it, you know, it's not an accessory; it's a kid. I kind of take that kind of responsibility very seriously. All of our closest friends in Los Angeles all have kids and they're all exhausted. I have no kind of illusions about being a parent. I don't glamorize it at all.

What is it with all these gays having surrogate moms and you know, giving birth to kids, without mothers?
Well, you know, not having a uterus kind of makes that necessary [laughs].

Are you saying you're barren?
I'm saying that butt-babies don't keep, lets me honest [laughs]!

I'm really interested in the kind of foster-adopt process. Seriously, the foster system in California is in such crisis there are so many kids that need homes and not enough qualified parents and I think that when my partner and I finally get serous about it that's the avenue we're going to explore first.

John Edwards was against same-sex marriage, he said based on moral grounds.
John Edwards is an idiot. I really don't believe that has anything to do with whether or not somebody can lead. I mean, John McCain cheated on his wife, and nobody's talking about that. I mean, he's even flat out said he did. His first marriage fell apart because he cheated on her.

But, I just thought that John Edwards as a person was just kind of patronizing and kind of icky. And I didn't like him.

Meeting Democratic Nominee for President of the United States Barack Obama?
I met Obama at a town hall meeting and he came in, we were all applauding, and he caught my eye in the crowd. He grabbed my hand and looked right at me and goes, "I love you, I love that show!"

And I was so excited I think I shot out a couple drops of pee. He's hot in person!

Is he?
Yeah. No, he's hot. I mean, it's kind of like, yeah, he's hot!

You're known as America's Gaysian Sweetheart and you're coming back to San Francisco. You're doing Comedy at the Castro.
I'm on the advisory board of the Matthew Shepard Foundation and I've become really good friends with Judy. I've gotten to know her, and when you hear Matthew Shepard Foundation you thinks its this huge machine but it's really just Judy Shepard traveling around the country speaking to church groups and straight people about what happened to her and her son. She's the sole kind of breadwinner of the organization. It's ten years after the fact and what was disheartening to find out is that a lot of people just moved on and kind of left her in the lurch. I think that is wrong and I'll welcome any opportunity to help her in any way that I can.

And this is kind of a big opportunity. I mean it's a really big venue, and I think we can raise a lot of money and help continue to foster awareness about the foundation. I'm going to talk about what it's like to work on "Ugly Betty" and living in Los Angeles. All of L.A. has become one big reality show; I mean there are cameras everywhere.

Margaret Cho has her own reality show, how come you don't have yours?
I'm guest starring on Margaret's show, I don't know which episode I'm on yet, I'm in talks with Logo to have my own, kind of, talk show; we're in development, but um...

It would be great just follow you through your roles, 'How do you make it?' And of course you'll have to have an assistant.
I know, yeah, maybe I'll get some hot assistant from Cirque du Soleil or something.

You're so cute.
Some kind of contortionist ... who can hand me memos with his foot!

Comedy at the Castro with Alec Mapa and Shann Carr. September 13, 2008, 8pm Castro Theatre, 429 Castro Street, San Francisco Tickets $30-70 available at comedyatthecastro.com