A comedy benefit for San Francisco's Asian and Pacific Islander Wellness Center is set for Tuesday, March 8 at Oasis, 298 11th Street.
The headliner for the show, "Cock Tales: A Night of Comedy," is a former client of API Wellness, which provides health care and other services to some of the city's poorest LGBT residents.
Aidan Park, 30, of Los Angeles, was involved with the nonprofit's youth program and a recipient of its Pride scholarship. Park came to the U.S. from Korea when he was a child and lived with his grandmother in Section 8 housing.
"He didn't speak any English when he arrived," a news release from the nonprofit said. "The language barrier coupled with his budding identity as a gay Asian man, prevented him from building a social network. He credits acting and comedy with making it possible for him to connect to the world around him."
The agency helped him come out as gay and get on track to be a performer. Since moving to Los Angeles, he's appeared in many TV and film roles, including Trauma and Tosh.0 , and toured the comedy circuit. He also has his own show on YouTube called "The F-List."
"It's a fun event to support a great organization, and I hope people can see that they actually really make a difference for youth in my situation," Park said in an interview about the API Wellness fundraiser. "I grew up really poor, and they provided services for me when I didn't have any services available."
Comedian Heather Turman is opening Tuesday's show, which starts at 7 p.m. (Doors open at 6:30.) Tickets start at $25 are available at http://sfoasis.com/event.cfm?cart&id=162038.
Film looks at gay as the norm
A movie where being gay is considered the norm and straight people are bullied will be featured Wednesday, March 9 at San Jose's Cinequest film festival.
In Love is All You Need, a man and woman who fall in love on a college campus are tormented because of their relationship.
Blake Cooper Griffin, who plays a fraternity president and football player who objects to the pairing, said in an interview that Love shows a "world where gay is straight and straight is gay. It's a flipped reality."
Griffin pointed to bullying's ongoing prevalence and said the film "asks what are we doing here? How can we be kinder to each other? How can we treat people with respect, and how can we all join together and face this problem of bullying?"
He hopes people get the message that "if you're treating people with love and respect, that's a great place to begin every action that you take."
Griffin, who lives in Los Angeles and declined to share his age or sexual orientation, said he's "proud" of the movie.
"As an actor, you want to be in things that can hopefully make a change for the good," he said.
The film will be shown at 5:15 p.m. Wednesday at the Susan and Phil Hammer Theatre Center, 101 Paseo De San Antonio Walk, San Jose.
For more information or to purchase tickets, go to http://www.cinequest.org.
Sampler is an online column highlighting LGBT performances, exhibits, and other entertainment in the San Francisco Bay Area. It typically runs every Tuesday. Contact reporter Seth Hemmelgarn at [email protected] or (415) 875-9986 to suggest column items.