What is DL's view on Mario Cantone?

He’s disgusting.

Funny guy. Love him.

I'm sure the DL Broadway fans here have run into him at some point

I have never run into him, but I absolutely, truly, completely dislike his personality. I remember seeing them on something, Bill Maher maybe, where he was insisting that cavemen never ate meat, they mostly ate berries and nuts that they foraged, and when they did eat meat it was just the size of a deck of cards, which was the origin of our serving sizes today.

I didn't expect him to have a working knowledge of archaeology, but I also didn't expect them to be that stupid. On top of his grating mean girl personality and flaming gay shtick, I just don't like him.

He replaced Nathan Lane in the original Broadway production of Love! Valour! Compassion! and was really wonderful in that part, playing with the rest of the original cast. I can't say I've ever enjoyed him in anything since, though.

He made me realize in my late teens that I was a Friend of Dorothy when I understood all of his subversive humor on his TV show, Steampipe Alley

I saw him at an outdoor event in a small city in west Michigan, sometime around 2009ish. It was completely random. I have no clue why he was there. Didn't exchange any words with him. He looked pretty much just like he looked on screen.

His one-man show Laugh Whore was hysterical. He doesn't get enough credit for his celebrity impersonations.

"PANCAKE, PANCAKE! PANCAKE PANCAKE!!"

STEAM. PIPE. ALLEY. And no that's not some gay porn site either. Why why am I the only one who remembers him hosting the show back in the late 80s early 90s?

R10 in retrospect the opening of the show reminds me of Morton Downey Jr show this was like a Morton Downey Jr show but for children lol.

his alter ego

I remember Steampipe Alley...and wondering who the hell is this screaming queen?

R10 omg lol what the fuck was that show?

I used to watch SA all the time even though it was a kid's show.

He was a sexy, young Italian guy on whom I had a crush.

I never really paid attention to his flamboyant nature.

I like him - WTF is wrong with you people?

He lives either at London Terrace or on W. 24th Street

I always liked how Mario and the other gay guy on SATC weren't friends. I struck me as accurate.

it's amusing he used to host a kid's show since he has said repeatedly he does not like children

Ugly bottom.

r4 What an idiotic thing to say, what he says definitely makes sense and is realistic, men were mostly gatherers, not hunters, and ate mostly vegan for various reasons.

LOVE! VALOUR! COMPASSION! Just how hung was he, R6????

I’ve never thought this before, but he kinda looks like Andy Cohen in that Steampipe Alley clip.

He was side-splitting in Laugh Whore.

I went with a friend, and after the usual preshow announcement about no opening candy wrappers during the show, my friend leaned over to me and said "no setting off dynamite during the show" because it was so damn loud -- who the hell would ever hear a candy wrapper…

Mario went to Emerson College and so did I, same years. He's exactly the same as he's always been. He was even doing Liza back then. I have nothing bad to say.

I want to like him but I just find him so grating on talk shows like The View and Wendy. I'm fine with flamboyant, but his energy is just way too desperate and attention-seeking. The jumping around, the awful Joan Rivers impressions, breathlessness, the inability to focus and just answer questions, the sheer VOLUME of it all. He sounds like Daffy Duck on cocaine.

Every once in a while he'll get serious and be real... for a *second*, and he's so much more tolerable in those brief moments of respite.

My favorite SA episode was when he made the kids do a race that recreated key moments in Whatever Happened to Baby Jane.

Did the kids like him on Steampipe Alley?

He's annoying as fuck, but I love his bit about The Birds.

his 2 favorite singers were Judy Garland and Aretha Franklin

Very sweet in person, with an adorable husband.

When you have developed a successful screen persona you stick with it.

R31 = Carson Kressley

I’m a huge fan. I watched Strampioe Alley as a preteen and I knew he wasn’t some dumb kid show host. He was doing something other than that. I loved that he would sail into a bit or make references no child could understand. His hysterical energy made me laugh every time. He still has it and he’s one of my favorite celebrities. A friend of mine has a kid who did a play with him, and by her account he is a down to earth, genuine good guy. Ralph Macchio did the play too and is also a great guy.

R17.. Then they got married, in the second SATC movie... which I thought was ridiculous. They didn't like each other in many episodes, then did the "jump the shark" moment of getting married. Too bad Scaramucci got sacked very quickly... Mario would have been perfect as his impersonator. I miss him on The View.

The SATC movie was worse than simply have two gay guys who had hated each other for years suddenly get married.

Character 1: "Why did they get married? I thought that they hated each other for years!"

Character 2: "When the gays get too old to hook up with young guys, they just eventually pair up!"

It was so stupid.

Love him on Gilbert Gottfried’s podcast. He’s very funny.

His husband is Jerry Dixon. Horse hung.

Who could you be, R24? Another Emersonian DLer here, though a couple years behind Mario. Same impression as you -- he's always been funny and manic -- so talented and he works hard. What you see is what you get, very genuine guy. I'll run into him every few years in NYC and he's always delightful.

I second the perfection of him in LVC. He brought a new twist to,the role.

I've told this story before on DL:

A few years ago (2009?), I was at the opening night party for the horrid 9-to-5 musical. I was told Dolly Parton, one of my idols, would be there and I might get to meet her.

I'm a nervous sweater, and it was a warm summer night, and all I had to wear that fit me at the time was a light colored suit, which was a little loose (I had lost a lot of weight). I was worried I'd sweat through it, but in the past I had used disposable shirt liners you put in the armpit of a shirt to protect clothing from excessive sweating. Anyway, I had run out of them, and was panicky that I would be a sweaty disgusting mess.

Then I remembered, a friend or relative who had visited me left a box of emergency maxipads in the bathroom. So I took some surgical tape and taped one each to the underarms of my shirt. It wasn't ideal, but it did the job, barely. The biggest problem was the tape getting wet (sorry, gross I know) and coming loose. So I'd have to go periodically go to the mens room to readjust them.

Long story short, I was chatting with MARIO CANTONE at the party (typical small talk, nothing important), when all of a sudden one of the maxipads rolled out of my pants leg, onto the floor. I was frozen in horror. Mario witnessed what just happened, and screamed "OH MY GAWD! IS THAT A TAMPON??!!!!"

The next few minutes were a blur, I was so embarrassed, all I remember is that I got away as quickly as I could.

LOL, r40. At least you weren't singing on live TV, like Patricia Navidad was when the same thing happened to her. Or, at least she claims that what fell out between her legs originated from her arm pit.

R41 bahahahahaaa That is clearly coming out from her "whatever."

He can be a very funny guy, but he's like Robin Williams, Jim Carey, and some others who are/were also very funny, but in small doses. A little of Mario goes a long way with me. Maybe 3 minutes tops and then I start to hate him. These types of comedians don't understand when it's time to flip the switch off and just act like a normal human being. They think if a camera is pointed at them, or there are fans watching them, they have to be "on". That get annoying.

The comparison to Robin Williams is a good one, he gets grating very quickly.

Cantone is one of the few people who have perfected that high pitched winy sound, while being hilarious.

He said that he was high during those Steampipe Alley shows.

For a while, a decade ago, he was a bathhouse regular while obviously high on cock.

I once saw him on the street In Chelsea, NY. He stopped when I said hello and we chatted for a while. Sweet guy.

I thought that his one-man show on Broadway would launch him into stardom since he seemed to be everywhere at the time.

Can't Ryan Murphy find a part for him in Pose or his new Netflix show with Evan Hansen?

Not an Emersonian but hung with many. He was roommates and best friends with ... Denis Leary. They are still close friends. Fun guy.

Liza doing the Aristocrats joke was inspired.

Worked on a project with him. I don't really remember anything about him that stands out; so it seems like the "persona" is mostly for the camera and he was low-key to deal with. Nothing bad to say about him at all.

[quote]Not an Emersonian but hung

Pics please.

R21, Nathan was the only member of the original cast who refused to go full frontal. Mario wore the same full length apron at the cook-out that Nathan had, just flashing some butt.

His "Laugh Whore" was very funny. His impersonation of his alcoholic, chain-smoking, foul-mouthed sister had me in stitches.

BTW, that scene in the film -- it must have been freezing at that lake when the scene was shot because everyone was MUCH more "impressive" onstage.

A couple of the cast members have talked about that. It was indeed freezing when they shot that scene and everyone was shivering and shriveled.

was also at Emerson at that time R24 - just remember he got the guy we all wanted in college!

We begged Stephen Spinella not to go full frontal!

Mario is delightful, adorable, genuine. His impersonations of Liza and the post-stroke Bette D are legendary.

His elderly, post-stroke Bette Davis is indeed hilarous.

Here's Mario as Bette and Gilbert Gottfried as Tony Curtis singing "Baby It's Cold Outside."

He's pretty hot when he keeps his month shut. The Mooch is actually sexier.

I saw him on the subway platform for the E/M trains at 53rd and 3rd a few years ago. As with most TV people, he was tiny.

Details R55.

He is annoying but kind of a comfortable staple gay player. I like that he doesn’t look like a model. I am really sick of Instagram types like Matt Bomer.