Jim David

David came out onstage in the 1990s. In 2000, he became the first openly gay male comedian to have his own Comedy Central special, with his appearance on Comedy Central Presents, which aired December 10, 2000.[3][14][6]

From 2002 to 2004, he was a regular guest on Tough Crowd with Colin Quinn. He was a comedy consultant in 2004 on Queer Eye for the Straight Guy.[9] He has also appeared on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno, The View, HLN’s The Joy Behar Show, Star Search, A&E's Evening at the Improv, AXS TV's Gotham Comedy Live, BBC America's The World Stands Up, Bravo’s Great Things About Being..., and on MTV, Showtime, and VH1.[3][7][6][15][16]

He appeared in the 1994 George Lucas-produced film Radioland Murders.[17]

David made his Broadway debut in the 1994 musical The Best Little Whorehouse Goes Public as the Las Vegas emcee, listed in the credits as "Comedian."[18][19] He appears on the Varèse Sarabande Original Cast Recording.[20] David wrote most of his own part, drawing on his stand-up experience.[1]

In 2010, David wrote, produced and starred in the one-man show South Pathetic, about a doomed production of A Streetcar Named Desire at a small Southern community theater, in which David plays himself and 10 other characters.[6][3] He has performed the show across the country, including the New York International Fringe Festival,[21] and the Provincetown Tennessee Williams Festival.[14][18][22] The New York Times called the show "rich with Southern flavor" and David "a tirelessly gregarious trouper."[21]

David won a Bistro Award in 1998, honoring his work as a cabaret and comedy performer.[23] He is a three-time winner and nine-time nominee of the Manhattan Association of Cabarets' award for best stand-up comedian.[24]

In 2012, he released a novel, You'll Be Swell (Trumbull Press), about a struggling actress who falls off a cruise ship, which begins a chain reaction that makes her famous.[4][25]

He was a frequent contributor to the Huffington Post and The Advocate.[26][18]

From 2011 to 2014, David hosted the podcast Jim David's Icons, a series of conversations with people from the worlds of theater, comedy and politics.[27]

Gay Jokes was recorded in March 2020 on a tourist cruise ship to Spain.[1] The Interrobang called it "intimate, international, irrepressible comedy [that] stands up for comedians’ rights to say what they want."[14] The Serious Comedy Site's Lanoie called it "an absolute blast".[28] Bobby Patrick of BroadwayWorld called it "a crazy quilt of hilarity" that showcased David's rapport with his audience.[29]

David has released four other albums on Stand Up!, including expanded versions of his self-released discs, Live From Jimville and Eat Here and Get Gas. Lanoie called Live From Jimville "very enjoyable" and reminiscent of Rodney Dangerfield.[11] Jake Austen of Roctober magazine, reviewing his first three albums, was slightly less positive, calling David "a confident, veteran comic" but stating he found his material "charmingly lame".[30]