When I try to track him down for this story, for example, the booker for his upcoming OutLoud gig tells me “he drinks and does comedy every night,” but that he’ll try to find Fritz for a post-show interview. He’s a self-described boozehound who is currently unemployed (although he performs stand-up five times a week) and is often found staggering and smoking outside a local taproom. On the surface, Fritz seems like an unlikely community ally. “Who else will give me cocaine and tell me that I’m pretty? A woman hasn’t done that in over ten years.” That zinger is a Fritz classic and one of many reasons the comedian finds himself beloved by LGBT crowds and booked at queer stand-up nights, like “OutLoud Chicago Presents Queer Comedy at Zanies” on Tuesday 27 (although a big-time celebrity guest may trump Fritz in the headlining spot).
“I love gay men,” says Chicago comic James Fritz.
