Bryan Safi seems to be everywhere lately.
The openly gay Emmy winner has done everything from writing on The Ellen DeGeneres to being a writer/performer on the website Funny or Die to acting in the Lifetime movie A Deadly Adoption ( with Kristen Wiig and Will Ferrell ) and the ABC Family series Young and Hungry. Then, there are his hilarious appearances on the syndicated entertainment show Access Hollywood Live.
Safi is also a co-host of the pop-culture podcast Throwing Shade, where he and Erin Gibson riff on topics such as gay rights, pop culture and politically incorrect ideas. This Friday, the duo will be in Chicago.
Windy City Times: Is this the lovely and talented Bryan?
Bryan Safi: This is the lovely, talented, brilliant and beautiful Bryan. [Laughs]
WCT: How are you today?
Safi: I'm good, thank you. It's a great day here in L.A., so I'm taking advantage of it by staying inside.
WCT: Laughs] The weather here in Chicago builds character, I like to say.
Safi: Oh, I like thatbecause it's, like, brutal summers and worse winters?
WCT: There you go. By the way, I have a very general question: Is your last name pronounced SAH-fee or SAA-fee?
Safi: I can't believe you got it right; it's SAH-fee. No one ever gets that. They always assume it's the other one, but it's SAH-fee; it's a Syrian name.
WCT: Damn that [Access Hollywood co-host] Billy Bush!
Safi: [Laughs] I know! He always says [it wrong]; I've corrected him a few times now, but it's been that way my whole life. At a certain point, you just let it go. I'm adaptable.
WCT: The only reason I knew the other pronunciation is because I listened to Throwing Shade.
Safi: Oh, yeahand it's there for the world to hear. I actually have close friends who thought it was SAA-fee and I told them, "Yeah. I stopped correcting people around the third grade."
WCT: Listening to Throwing Shade, I realized there are two different Bryans. There's the G-rated Bryan we see on Access Hollywood...
Safi: Right; there's a daytime Bryan and a nighttime Bryan.
WCT: How did this podcast start?
Safi: Erin and I worked together on a really tiny show on Current TV. Then, that show ended and we both felt we had a lot to say. We're both political people who also came up together at the Upright Citizens Brigade Theater. We thought, "Why not just do something where we would be completely uncensored but we could still talk about serious things?" So we thought we could treat very serious issues with very little respect. [Interviewer laughs.]
WCT: So nothing's off limits?
Safi: I don't think there's anything that's off limitswhich is very different from everything else I do. Access Hollywood's a blast but there are some things that are off limits to a morning audience. The ABC Family show I'm on is a very funny sitcom, but it's Throwing Shade that allows me to be as gross, crazy, stupid, ridiculous and smart as I want to be.
WCT: You have to have that outlet.
Safi: You really do! I sometimes wonder what I would do if I didn't have this. Who would I take it out on? I don't know how I'd keep it all inside. I'd just be talking to myself all day.
WCT: You'd go off on Access Hollywood Live.
Safi: I'd have a true Network the movie moment. [Interviewer laughs.] I'd have a full meltdown.
WCT: You mentioned ABC Family. That network has shows like yours, The Fosters and Pretty Little Liars.
Safi: They are providing really fresh, exciting content. Almost all of their shows have some sort of gay storyline. They treat a couple like they just happen to be gay. It's really a very edgy network; I think the "Family" throws people off...
WCT: I think you're right.
Safi: I really think it does because Young and Hungry has very adult themes in that show, and it's hilarious. It's not a kids show. That network is pushing a lot of boundaries, and it's one of the most inclusive on television.
WCT: What'd think of that big reveal in Pretty Little Liars?
Safi: Oh, my God! Cecewhat was anyone thinking? I know it got a really crazy reaction online. I thought it was great! I found it totally exciting.
WCT: On the podcast, you describe yourself as "homosensual?" Does that mean you're a romantic?
Safi: You know what I've come to decide? It's ultimately meaningless. [Both laugh.] It was something I thought of.
I wouldn't say I'm a very sensual person at all. I come home after work every day, put on pajamas and watch Judge Judy.
WCT: I love me some Judge Judy.
Safi: I'm so obsessed with her. [As for the term,] I think what it maybe means isand it may be a little bit of B.S., but I'm going to say it, anywaythat, for so long, gay people have been stripped of their sexuality in TV and film. We were just accessories who never had a lover around; we were, like, teacup terriers. On the ABC Family show, I'm in a relationship. Maybe that's what being "homosensual" is. How about that?
WCT: I can go with that. As you know, we now have marriage equality across the nation. Where were you when you heard the news?
Safi: Oh, that's a great question! I think I had a smoothie. I had just gone to yoga classand the only reason I go is to get the smoothie afterand my phone started lighting up. It felt untrue at firstlike it couldn't have just happened. My first reaction was actually shock, but in a wonderful way.
WCT: Yeahthe news actually moved me.
Safi: I think it just goes to show you that being loud and forthright and using your money [can get things done]. I remember with the Prop 8 campaign, it was, like, "Just go talk to people about it." [The marriage-equality ruling] was a proud and beautiful moment.
WCT: Switching gears, do you think we're too politically correct nowadays?
Safi: Oh, that's a good one. Actually, I don't thnk we are. As far as Throwing Shade goes, I feel that we're constantly on message but can be politically incorrect about it. As long as you have the right opinion and you're coming from the right place, I feel you can say anything. I've never held back on something I was going to say because I thought I would offend someone.
I think it helps to have the perspective of someone who's marginalized, like a gay person or a woman; sometimes, they can get away with more. I never felt that there was something I couldn't say because of political correctness. I think I bully the bullies, so I don't feel like there's something off-limits about that.
WCT: Joan Rivers was like that. She didn't care.
Safi: Noand she was someone who fought, punched, clawed her way to the top, and earned all of it. By the way, she was a total pro and the best in the business. If you're speaking good truths that people can relate to, I don't think we're in a world that's too politically correct.
WCT: Let me ask a couple of questions about you [and pop culture].
Safi: Sure.
WCT: What are you dating turn-ons and turn-offs?
Safi: Indecisiveness is a turn-off; just pick a place. Turn-on? That you're not secretly trying to be an actor. Also, that you live alone, that you have a car ... the most basic things.
WCT: Although in Chicago, you don't need a car.
Safi: Oh, that's great! I'll date anyone in Chicago. [Both laugh.] My boyfriend will love that.
WCT: Do you have a favorite Kardashian?
Safi: Khloe. She's the funniest, and I love that she makes fun of everyone in that family.
WCT: Lastly, what's your take on Donald Trump?
Safi: Ah, genius! I love it. I cannot believe that, every day, he becomes more and more popularand he also says more insane things. I feel like the next logical step is that he's going to announce Bill Cosby as his running mate. [Interviewer laughs.] I do love that all of this is happening. I can't think of a crazier candidateand the fact that he's leading [the polls] is just a beautiful thing.
The "Throwing Shade Live" tour will hit Lincoln Hall, 2424 N. Lincoln Ave., on Friday, Aug. 28, at 7 and 9 p.m. Visit ThrowingShade.com .