By Andrea Poteet
Hal Sparks is talking about his breakthrough role in "Queer as Folk" when he suddenly interrupts himself.
"As far as taking the role, it was not a problem because you could tell from the script, you could tell from the content that it was worth…" he says before trailing off.
"I'm sorry," he says politely. "Could you hold on a minute?"
The phone goes silent, minutes lapse and then his chipper voice returns.
"Sorry, it was my dad. I never keep my dad on hold for long."
Known as one of the talking heads on VH1 staple "I Love the 80s," E!'s former mainstay "Talk Soup" and the groundbreaking Showtime drama "Queer as Folk," which followed gay men and women in Pittsburgh, Sparks, 42, owes a lot to his father, who introduced him to comedy somewhat by accident, when he won a crate of comedy records in a bet.
Poring over those discs – by legends like Lenny Bruce, Woody Allen and Richard Pryor – Sparks said he was inspired by their ability to make audiences laugh.
"As far as physical reactions you could have somebody do, it's pretty much laughter and orgasm," Sparks says. "And laughter's way easier to make a living at long term. You may be able to make people laugh until you're nearly dead. I think the window of being paid to give them an orgasm is probably a 12-year one at best."
If he was looking for longevity, Sparks, who will bring his stand-up comedy to the Magic Bag on Aug. 17, picked the right path. After growing up in Kentucky without a television until he was 15, his family moved to Chicago in his teens, where stand-up comedians flourished.
"In Chicago, stand-up comedy in general and acting are really blue-collar professions," he says. "There's no mystery to them. It's something you work at to get better, get hired and get better jobs for better pay. So once I realized it was a job like any other that you could practice at and get better, I was like, "Well then, that's what I'll do."
That approach landed him his first television show, at age 18, hosting the short-lived game show "Treasure Mall." He then went on to host "Talk Soup," before landing the job on "Queer as Folk."
And it has brought him other suprises as well. Days before our interview he threw out the first pitch at a Pittsburgh Pirates game after the team adopted as their good luck charm a hand signal he created for cult leader Zoltan in the 2000 stoner comedy "Dude, Where's My Car?"
"It was one of those magical, bizarre, silly, fun things," he says. "I don't know how you'd expect it but this was certainly off-the-charts unexpected."
He was less shocked by how quickly he accepted the role of a gay character on "Queer as Folk." A longtime supporter of gay causes and a self-described straight ally, Sparks said he never had second thoughts about it despite assumptions viewers made about his sexuality.
"I guess in the beginning there was a basic belief that everyone on the show was gay," Sparks says. "It was just kind of a rumbling that went along. If you play a doctor or a cop on a TV show in America, at some point someone will run up to you in public and say, 'There's been an accident, come help!' That's just the kind of society we are. You can't even afford to take it as a compliment."
Though the assumptions never bothered him, Sparks, who is also active with charities like AIDS Walk and the NOH8 campaign, chose to address them so the public would realize how many LGBT allies exist.
"To me, it was really important that everyone know I'm straight, and I don't really intend on getting married, but that doesn't mean I can't believe fully in the rights of gay people to get married," he says. "It's just the right thing to do, and I think as a straight ally it bridges a gap. You can't always sound like you're preaching to your own choir. "
When he's not performing stand-up by himself or with the popular Sexy Liberal Comedy Tour, lending his voice to the Disney Channel's "Lab Rats" and spending time with his 14-month-old son, the comedian, a devout heavy metal fan, is living another dream – performing with his band, Zero 1.
"It's all there: all the undue and unearned attention from the opposite sex or even the same sex if that's your proclivity," he says about his rock career. "All the joy of expressing music emotionally and physically onstage is exactly as it's described."
Among the positive responses has been negative backlash from fans uncomfortable seeing him trade jokes for guitar riffs, but he said he doesn't let that bother him.
"My motto has always been 'care enough not to give a shit,'" he says. "You have to care enough to really deliver for everyone – for the audience, for the people listening – but you also have to care enough not to care if they want to stop it."
Hal Sparks
7 and 10 p.m. Aug. 17
Magic Bag
22920 Woodward Ave., Ferndale
http://www.themagicbag.com
