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 TOTAL PACKAGE
With characters like Renaldo, the buff luggage loader who unwittingly turns his job into an act of sexual aggression, Big Gay Sketch Show troupe member PAOLO ANDINO turns Latin stereotypes on their heads. Joining the show in its second season, Andino’s flair for comic timing makeS him a true standout among the ensemble cast…and his good looks don’t hurt, either!
INSTINCT: So what’s it like to be on TV’s first gay sketch comedy series?
PAOLO ANDINO: It’s pretty amazing. Personally, it has always sort of been a dream of mine to be on a sketch show, and I think to do something that is like this—we’re making history, and we can affect the lives of gay teens out there—I think makes it something much more meaningful than just having a fantastic job, which it is.
Was there any hesitation on your part to take a role on a gay series on a gay network?
Not at all. My mom has been a head grant writer for the YES Institute in Miami for 10 years, and she does a lot of television and print interviews. And she was going around saying, “I’m so proud of my gay son, Paolo!” And I’m like, “But Mom, my career!” [Laughs] But after a while, you’re just sort of like, “Being out is much more important.” And if it has hurt my career at all, I certainly haven’t known it.
Did you get your knack for comedy from working on All My Children?
[Laughs] Yeah, right! I worked with a lot of clowns as part of the movement curriculum at the University of Missouri in Kansas City. I have a predisposition for the clown type of role. I like to say I’m a character actor trapped inside a leading man’s body.
And what a body it is. Watching you play Renaldo, I found myself suddenly having the urge to fly with a particularly oversized package.
[Laughs] Well, whatever you got, I can fit it in!
Woof. Was it intimidating to join an established cast?
Yeah, because last year they had rehearsed for a couple of weeks before they started taping, and this year, there was no rehearsal and I was the first person being shot the first day. I was so nervous that I thought my legs were going to give out! But everybody was great. My boyfriend and friends would come to the tapings, and they’re like, “What’s the drama like backstage?” But there really was zero.
Yet! What’s been your most interesting acting job so far?
Definitely the video game where I play the voice of the Cuban drug lord that you get to at the very end. That was like an hour of screaming. I was sweating when I came out of there. They only hire you from your voice, so I walked in, and they were like, “Oh, we weren’t expecting somebody who looks like you.”
In Shut Up And Do It! you play the friend of a filmmaker who decides to make his own movie in order to present more well-rounded portrayals of Latin people. Do you have an opinion on how Latin men are portrayed in the gay community?
Wow. I can’t say that I can think of many gay Latin roles, so I guess that’s a problem right there. But for that movie, I actually wanted to make him quirkier, but the director was like, “No, pull it back a little bit.”
It’s perhaps a little ironic, then, that you’re on a show that actually plays upon stereotypes for comic effect.
Yeah, I know! [Laughs] In terms of comedy, you sort of prey on stereotypes. That’s how you can make a three-minute scene accessible to people. But that said, I hope there’s always something fresh about it—that we’re using the stereotype toward a better end so that it’s smart and provocative.
Where do you hope to be in, say, five years?
Just working and using my celebrity for social causes. God, I sound like Hillary Clinton! [Laughs] But honestly, if you asked me about my dreams about being an actor in my twenties, it was always, “I want to be famous so I can change the world!” I think that’s important. Especially in this country, celebrities are kind of like our royalty. So if Britney Spears were more like Tina Fey, the world would be a better place!
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Catch The Big Gay Sketch Show Tuesday nights on Logo. Be sure to check out Season 2 beginning February 10.
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Instinct Online 
written by Stan Zbormack on June 14, 2008
i only watch the big gay sketch show to get glimpses of that beautiful stud Paolo!
written by edouard b mesert on July 22, 2008
YOU ARE FUNNY AND GORGEOUS