Michael Urie: Funny Guy
Michael Urie has long focused on finding the funny in even the most serious of subjects, including Barbra Streisand
Photography by Todd Franson
URIE: I haven’t. I directed a few things in high school, and I’ve since directed a few staged reading-type things. But I don’t think I’m as good at it. I think in part it has to do with me wanting to be in it. When it’s on stage, it’s hard for me to not want to be in it.
MW: You like performing for a live audience.
URIE: I do. I really like that. Creating something for a live audience. I’d much rather be part of what the audience sees. I’m sure it’s just my own — what would it be, narcissism? [Laughs.] I don’t know. I’m a ham! I guess it’s that I’m a ham.
MW: And that’s where I was going to go next.
URIE: “You’re a ham! Talk about being a ham! Everyone says you’re a ham!”
MW: You obviously have a knack for comedy, and comedic acting. Would you like to do more serious work, or do you just prefer comedy?
URIE: I would like to do more. I like to do serious things. But I always try to find the levity in even the most serious things. I mean, Angels in America — it’s hilarious. It’s a truly funny play. And I played Prior Walter, who has crazy-good laughs. But it’s not a comedy. And The Temperamentals too — there are a lot of very funny things in that. But it’s also not a comedy. And I don’t think I would ever want to do something that is completely devoid of humor. That would be hard for me, to do something that was absolutely not funny at all. I think I would feel stifled in that sense.
MW: Well, not knowing you, I would imagine that’s reflective of how you are in your normal life. I imagine you’re the funny one among your family and friends.
URIE: I’m a very serious person. [Laughs.] Yeah, I guess so. I choose to be silly. My mom always thought I was really, really funny. And I was funny among my friends. Yeah, I was the funnier one among my friends.
This play has good surprises in it. That feeling of truly surprising an audience, that kind of laugh that you get. Not the, “Ha ha, that was a joke” laugh. But like the, “That happened?” laugh. That is really fulfilling.
MW: Like the whole premise of the show.
URIE: Kind of, yeah. But then there are certain things that happen along the way that the audience does not expect. And it’s thrilling, it’s thrilling. And that never gets old. So yeah, I guess I sort of gravitate towards comedy, but I also like there to be truth. I mean, what I really truly love about this play is its truth. Even though it’s fake, it is human. There’s a real humanity to it that people relate to and respond to. More than anything people say, “I knew I’d laugh, but I didn’t know I would be moved.”
MW: Who could you do next, among divas? Realizing that this is not your intention.
URIE: I don’t really know. I mean I never would have guessed that I could do this. You know, I never thought I would play a public figure before. It never crossed my mind that I could or would. I never thought about doing a solo show, either. And I would think very carefully about doing another, because it’s very isolating. And lonely. I really miss actors. A lot. A lot. But it’s also thrilling to be alone. I don’t know, Neil Diamond’s attic?
MW: What has he installed up there?
URIE: I don’t know! Who knows?
MW: On that note, what do you have in your attic? By which I really mean, how is private life?
URIE: It’s going well. I’ve got this guy, Ryan Spahn, and we’ve been together for five and a half years. We have pets — a cat and a dog. Other things in the future perhaps.
MW: Such as children?
URIE: Not opposed to it. Got to figure out the right way and time to make it happen. That we haven’t figured out yet.
Maybe not while doing a one-man show. It’s tricky. Ryan and I are both in show business. A lot of times our work overlaps. We’re doing a reading together in Chicago of Jon’s other play, The Last Sunday in June. Looks like we’re going to do a web series together, too. He’s an actor and a writer. And I’m an actor and a director. So it works.
MW: I know you’ve done a fair amount of Shakespeare in the past. Would you like to do more Shakespeare?
URIE: Yes, I would love to do more. It hasn’t worked out for me yet. Jesse Tyler Ferguson keeps getting my parts in Central Park. And I have to keep doing the one he passed up.
MW: How about television, do you have any more of that coming up?
URIE: Well, Jon Tolins created this TV show that he and I sold to USA. It’s in development — he’s writing the pilot right now. And if it goes, I’ll be the star. Which will be great. I would love to go back to TV, and I can think of no better person to go with than with this guy. He writes good stuff, and I get his stuff, and we would be a good team I think.
MW: And Jesse Tyler Ferguson didn’t turn it down first.
URIE: No, it was mine! I might turn it down for him!
Buyer & Cellar runs June 20 through June 29 at Sidney Harman Hall, 610 F St. NW. Tickets are available now. Call 202-547-1122 or visit shakespearetheatre.org.
The film Such Good People screens Friday, June 6, at 9 p.m., at the Human Rights Campaign, 1640 Rhode Island Ave. NW. Tickets are $10. Call 202-682-2245 or visit reelaffirmations.org.
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