Actor, writer, comedian, and consistently hilarious gay wit Alec Mapa (as seen on Ugly Betty, Frasier, and RuPaul’s Drag Race) is returning to West 42nd Street’s legendary Laurie Beechman Theatre with the debut of his solo performance Ha! Penis! It’s a fitting setting for the show’s world premiere, with the Beechman (currently scheduled to shutter at the end of October) having served as the chosen venue for developing another Mapa solo effort–the legitimately laugh-a-minute Baby Daddy (regarding the trials and tribulations of raising an adoptive child with his husband). Mapa, who has a devastatingly funny rebuttal for each and every indignity hoist upon him, is poised to get the best of that most worthy opponent known as “cancer.”

“During his worldwide comedy tour,” explains the show’s advance press material, Mapa “was diagnosed with an aggressive form of cancer. Undaunted, he fulfilled his club dates from French Polynesia to The Caribbean all without disclosing his terrifying illness! In Ha! Penis!, Alec recounts in hilarious, graphic, and inappropriate detail his treatment and full recovery, the power of denial, and what happens when you make the decision to go on no matter what.”

Chelsea Community News recently made inquiries to Mapa via the modern miracle of email–the results of which yielded the below Q&A,

Scott Stiffler, for Chelsea Community News (CCNews): You developed Baby Daddy at the Beechman. How long did that take, and how did the show evolve in both its writing and performance?

Alec Mapa (Alec): Performing LIVE at The Beechman means the feedback is immediate. A solid two-week run taught me any anecdote about pooping my pants requires less words. Like Norma Desmond, I say it all with MY FACE.

CCNews: How old is Zion [your son, the one time baby of Baby Daddy] now, and what’s it like being the parent of a young adult/adult vs. the parent you were during childhood and tween years?

Alec: Our son is now 19 and far more private than I am.  Respecting his privacy means speaking about him less, which makes me sad because as a young man raised by two homos, he’s funny AF.

CCNews: Did the crisis management demands of parenthood in any way impact your preparedness or strategies for dealing with your own health crisis?

Alec: Not really. Parenthood forced me to focus on him. Cancer forced me to focus on myself, and I would rather chew glass.

CCNews: You’ll be world-premiering Ha! Penis! at the Beechman, for two performances. Is there a plan in place to further develop it elsewhere? If so, where and how?

Alec: Yes, girl. Developing my last show at The Beechman led to SHOWTIME buying it as a comedy special. Writing a new hour of stand-up  is the equivalent of giving yourself an acting job for a year.

CCNews: At the time of diagnosis, you made good on all booked club gigs “without disclosing” your illness. Was that akin to a self-imposed closet? When you did “come out,” was it with a sense that you owed anyone, including yourself, amends or explanations for keeping the secret?

Alec: Never thought of it that way but yes, I had “Closet Cancer.” Having prostate cancer wasn’t funny while I was going through treatment and recovery. Now that I’ve been cancer-free for nearly a year, talking about my incontinence and erectile dysfunction makes me giggle. Me trying to maintain my dignity with a flaccid penis in an adult diaper? At a sex party on a gay cruise? Hilarious. Comedy is tragedy plus time.

CCNews: In Baby Daddy, much of the territory explored (and humor mined), came from other people’s actions and reactions. To the extent that you and your diagnosis are the “Zion” of this new show (i.e. the driving force), does that compel you to be an outside, critical observer of yourself, more so than in previous solo work?

Alec: Hell to the yes. My queer baggage has always been my self-loathing. When I was sick, everyone in my life showed up for me in ways that exposed my self-hatred as  juvenile and inaccurate. I’m always my own worst enemy.

CCNews: So with Baby Daddy and Ha! Penis! under your belt—and the distinct possibility of several more decades as a healthy person and a prolific artist—what does Alec Mapa do for an encore? Are there any epochal life changes in the works we should know about?

Alec: An ENCORE? I’m almost 60. I’m flying to Lisbon after this and taking a nap.

CCNews: Let’s play a game called Sweeping Generalizations: Are there things about the Beechman and/or NYC audiences that set them apart from other venues/towns you’ve played?

Alec: The proximity of the audience in the Beechman demands honesty, which is perfect for comedy. NYC audiences have a built-in bullshit meter, which means anyone who plays there can’t phone it in. Ever. I’m gutted that it’s closing.

CCNews: Have you experienced any “anomalies” during Beechman performances, i.e. laughter or audible reactions to a part of the show that never got that reaction before? Conversely, did something flop that usually killed? Do you recall any improvised quips, saves, or audience interactions that became “keepers”?

Alec: Whitney Houston died during the last five minutes of my show and everyone’s phones lit up. I could have self-immolated and Cheyenne Jackson wouldn’t have paid attention.

CCNews: Any lasting memories, life lessons, miscellaneous thoughts, and/or anecdotes, regarding off-stage aspects of the room such as tech rehearsals, pre-show rituals, post-show goings-on, meet-and-greets, Beechman drinks, menu items, staff, etc.?

Alec: The dressing room at the Beechman is a bathroom with no chairs, so everyone waiting to go is sitting on the terlet. That’s hysterical. The staff is hot, so I always end up crushing on someone. The risotto balls are DELICIOUS. I want those balls in my mouth right now.

CCNews: Not to get morbid, but are there other venues you’ve played that are no longer with us? If so, what did their presence contribute, and what about their absence is felt?

Alec: When I was at NYU I told fart jokes at the duplex which then became Rose’s Turn before closing permanently. We all used to call it “The Anne Frank Room” because the stage could only be reached by climbing a spiral staircase. Joan Rivers, Gilbert Gottfried, and countless comedy legends who performed there gave the place a sense of show biz history. Miss that.

“Ha! Penis!” is performed at 7pm on Friday, September 20 and Sunday, September 22 at The Laurie Beechman Theatre (located inside West Bank Cafe at 407 West 42nd Street at 9th Avenue). Tickets are $25 general admission and $36 for VIP tickets that include reserved seating and a meet-and-greet. There is a $25 food/beverage minimum, with a full bar and dinner menu available. For tickets, click here to visit the show’s event page at SpincycleNYC.com. To visit Alec Mapa’s website, click here.

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ALEC MAPA is an actor and comedian with 40 years of credits from Broadway (M.Butterfly) Television (Desperate Housewives, Ugly Betty, Doom Patrol, Frasier, RuPaul’s Drag Race) and Film (Connie and Carla, You Don’t Mess with the Zohan, Queen Bees). He has filmed multiple stand up specials including Alec Mapa: Baby Daddy for SHOWTIME. He appears in the Netflix documentary chronicling the rise of LGBTQ comics, OUTSTANDING: A Comedy Revolution. A tireless activist for LGBTQ causes and kids in foster care, Alec has headlined fundraisers for the Human Rights Campaign, The Matthew Shepard Foundation, LAMBDA Legal, Family Equality, and Raise a Child. He lives in LA with his husband television producer Jamison Hebert and their son Zion.

BEECHMAN BIO: West Bank Cafe opened on West 42nd Street in 1978 at a time when Hell’s Kitchen lived up to its name. Owner Steve Olsen opened The Laurie Beechman Theatre downstairs from the Cafe, which staged plays and hosted events nightly. A young Lewis Black was named playwright-in-residence; Howard Stern aired his third-annual live birthday broadcast from the theater; and the restaurant’s regulars included Tennessee Williams, Arthur Miller and Bruce Willis, among others. It has been a launching pad for countless Oscar, Grammy, Emmy, Tony, and MAC Award-winning musicians, actors, comedians, and writers. The Beechman stage is where Joan Rivers performed her final set, where the original cast of Sunday in the Park With Georgerehearsed, where the Tony Award-winning play Side Man debuted, where Aaron Sorkin’s first two works were produced, where The Who gave four live performances while their musical Tommywas debuting on Broadway, and where countless stars of RuPaul’s Drag Race (including Jinkx Monsoon, Jackie Beat, Sherry Vine, Shangela, Alaska, Courtney Act, BenDeLaCreme, Trixie Mattel, Latrice Royale, and Alyssa Edwards) premiered shows. And where countless Oscar, Grammy, Emmy, Tony, and MAC Award-winning artists have developed and performed new works.

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