Kit Williamson Says His New Queer TV Comedy ‘Unconventional‘ Isn’t About Politics, but ‘Unfortunately Our Lives Have Been Politicized’: ‘I’m Not Going to Quiet Down’
Kit Williamson, best known for creating and starring in the Emmy-nominated series “EastSiders,” is back with “Unconventional.”
Premiering on LGBTQ streaming platform Revry on Feb. 11, the TV comedy series stars Williamson as Noah, a queer millennial questioning the future of his 10-year marriage to his husband Dan (James Bland). At the same time, Noah becomes the sperm donor to his sister Margot’s wife, Eliza. Each episode follows a month of the pregnancy.
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As Williamson first told me when I broke the news about the show’s Revry deal, “Unconventional” is “unapologetically queer.”
“I think we’re in a really interesting inflection point where I think we’re being told to quiet down, and I actually think that the opposite approach is what is needed,” Williamson says, alluding to the Trump administration’s anti-LGBTQ policies and directives. “I’m not going to quiet down. I’m going to double down, because we’re already on the enemies list. At this point, there’s no going back in the closet. Even if I wanted to do, I would burn it down because I’m such a flaming faggot. Print that, please: ‘I burned the closet down because I’m such a flaming fag.’”
He adds, “I don’t think it’s a show about politics, but unfortunately, our lives have been politicized, right?”
Williamson recalls times when he was told by a former talent manager to hide his sexuality and was advised not to be “so feminine.”
“A lot of these people were well-intentioned. They thought that they were looking out for my best interest, but in reality, they were just placing their own limitations on me,” he says. “You can have a realistic conversation with people that that says, ‘Hey, yeah, there might be doors that get closed, but look at the doors that have been opened in just the last few years.’ But we’re burning down the closet door so in the future, we don’t have to, hopefully, worry about doors and windows closing because we’ve made sure that they stay open for the next generation.”
Other leads include Aubrey Shea (CMT’s “Nashville”) and Briana Venskus (ABC’s “Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.”). Kathy Griffin appears in a guest role as Noah’s PhD advisor. “Kathy and I met because we were ragging on a certain closeted politician on Twitter, and bonded over that,” Williamson says. “Then I wrote this and sent it to her, and we had a Zoom. She said, ‘Sure, I’ll do it if you come to my house in Malibu to rehearse.’ Twist my arm. What gay guy doesn’t want to go to Kathy Griffin’s house in Malibu to rehearse?”
Also making appearances are Beau Bridges, Willam (“RuPaul’s Drag Race”), Jenna Ushkowitz (“Glee”), Tuc Watkins (“Uncoupled”), Dana Wheeler-Nicholson (“Friday Night Lights”), James Urbaniak (“Difficult People”), Constantine Rousouli (off-Broadway’s “Titanique”), Laith Ashley (“Pose”) and Miranda Bailey (“Diary of a Teenage Girl”).
Check out the exclusive first look at the “Unconventional” trailer below.
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