As a child growing up on Long Island, Paul Hallasy always knew he was different.
Apparently not all young boys grow up singing show tunes in front of the living room mirror. Go figure!
It wasn’t until college,
however, that he was dragged kicking and screaming out of the closet and he’s been kicking and screaming ever since.
Because, as he says in his act, he’s “not gay enough for gay people and not straight enough for straight people.”
He’s what they call a “straight-acting gay.” He’s a “stray.”
After performing in community
and college theater on Long Island with such future stars as Edie Falco (“The Sopranos”), Phil Rosenthal (“Everybody
Loves Raymond”) and Nancy Cassaro (“Tony ’n’ Tina’s Wedding”), he moved to New York City
to attend New York University and spent his early years there writing a semi-autobiographical novel (“New York Trilogy”),
a play (“Tear Me Apart”) and performing as a singer at such clubs as CBGB, The Duplex and Don’t Tell Mama.
Eventually
he decided to try his hand at stand-up comedy and he hasn’t looked back. He performs regularly in New York City and
has performed at clubs and colleges across the United States and around the world. A favorite of both gay and straight audiences,
he was recently named one of "7 Funny LGBT Comics You Shouldn't Have Missed" by The Advocate and has given gay travel advice
to the travel web site Gridskipper. He has also appeared on such TV shows as the Canadian Broadcasting Company's “Connect
with Mark Kelley.”
