Paul Hallasy

Full of laughter, singing and sexual innuendos in a room of different sexual orientations, it was not your normal Monday night in the MPR located in the Williams Center.
A New York City based comedian, Paul Hallasy, came to visit the students of Fredonia as a guest for Gay History month festivities on Monday, Oct. 4. Though the crowd was not a huge one, Hallasy gave his all and it turned out to be quite a successful show.
"He was very entertaining," Andrew Platt, an interdisciplinary studies grad student said. "His interpretations of classic and modern music was refreshing and entertaining."
Targeting gay audiences as well as college students, Hallasy came on the stage livening up the audience as he went along telling jokes about the homosexual lifestyle. He made fun of straight people, gays and lesbians; making sure nobody was left out, he also had jokes about his "gay gym," internet dating, shopping and sang parodies of songs. And let's not forget the sexual puns for a college kids' enjoyment!
"A lot of my work is gay oriented [but] I normally do better with straight audiences for some reason," Hallasy said. "College audiences are more open to what I'm saying in my jokes. It was the ideal performing environment."
Hallasy moved from Long Island to New York City and has been a comedian for about eleven years, performing regularly at the Broadway Comedy Club as well as various Universities. He has also published his own book called, New York Trilogy which is an autobiography that's also known as, "his coming out novel."
"People in New York City are considered to have more of an edge," Hallasy said. "They have the best of everything with a jaded point of view. I experienced a lot by living there, being gay colors my perspective on things and even if it's not a gay subject, I bring a gay perspective to it."
Hallasy explained that most of his inspiration comes from current events as well as occurrences from his own life. The t-shirt he wore that night with the word "STRAY" on it is a result of something he realized throughout his life.
"I felt very alienated from the gay community at first," Hallasy said as he began explaining the story behind his t-shirt. "Part of my act is that I say, ‘I'm not gay enough for the gays, not straight enough for the straights, so I'm a straight acting gay, I'm a stray,' so it's just a conjunction of the two."
His show ended with him singing a song about the gay lifestyle and had most of the audience crying out with laughter.
"I was not expecting singing," Nicholas Bernard, a sophomore dance major said. "He had lots of good puns and jokes. I really enjoyed it."
Besides providing comedic entertainment for his audiences, the purpose of his show is to create a case for those who are not the stereotypical gay, such as him.
"Part of my denial, I think was that image of gay men and the feminine stereotype," Hallasy said. "You have to know that there are as many different kinds of gay men as there are straight men; you don't have to conform into the stereotypical gay world."
It was easy to see that Hallasy gave everything to his performance and his energy was not wasted. The students unfortunately, lacked a little energy since it was a considerably small audience but the ones that were there certainly enjoyed themselves at the show.
"I really did enjoy it, he was really funny!" Siobhan Hunter, a sophomore theater major said. "He worked really well, it just sucked that there weren't more people there to see his work and to keep the energy up." - The Leader