Joel Kim Boosters debut film is a deliciously bawdy modernization of Austenfor the gay party scene.
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For dinner, they made junk carbonara from pantry leftovers.
At some point, Booster peeled off and went to the bathroom.
He stripped, got hard, and now is staring at his reflection.
His body, his dick.
He has measured it upwards of 10,000 times and knows it is an objectively good dick, agorgeousdick.
Still, there is always a difference between knowing something and feeling it.
Fire Island Pines is a charged setting for such revelations.
There are no cars, paved roads, or traffic lights.
Priorities are laid bare.
Its a place that makes you know your place.
Jane Austen understood fags, even if she didnt know any.Fire Islandretains the familiar snappiness of Austen modernizations.
Sex and sexuality have always been rich texts for Boosters work as a writer, actor, andstand-up comedian.
Booster is a comedian who fucks, which he tells audiences with an exhilarating zest and frankness.
(Spoiler alert: They all are!)
Where does that come from?
As a Korean transracial adoptee, he has always felt slightly out of place.
Perfecting his body became the price of entry, a way to make himself visible and viable.
I succumbed in a very different way than simply accepting myself where I was, Booster tells me.
I wanted to look a certain way, and now I kind of do.
Not that they would ever be monogamous.
Dont be so homonormative about it.
So he suggested they go to separate sex parties.
He just stood in the kitchen and talked about you the entire time!
To which Booster replied, Perfect.
Finally, I had to tell him, says Booster.
Its a classic Booster story, ribald and unexpectedly touching.
Booster secured a mortgage with his streaming money.
(Happy Pride!)
His hair is chopped up into short bangs and bleached blond.
Hes 34 and will probably look eternally this age as long as he keeps using Retinol.
Hes sucking on a vape pen the color of a green screen.
He started smoking again a few days before production onFire Islandbegan.
Hell stop once his stress level goes down, which should definitely happen any day now.
situation with Sam Smith.
Booster is taking a tolerance break right now, but theres always weed if anyone wants it.
The anti-Weho contingent points out that lately there has been a pickpocket taking peoples phones.
One of them had his stolen at Stache.
Theyve heard the culprit is a woman, which suddenly makes things hilarious.
Women are invisible to gay men in Weho, so naturally it would be a woman.
She is less a villain than a camp folk hero.
Thats right use your sexual invisibility to steal cell phones!
No one wants their phones stolen tonight, so the Akbar crowd wins.
Booster starts counting people and cars and ride shares to confirm everyone has a way to get there.
He has a sip of a Red Bull.
The effect is somewhere between getting drunk and rolling on molly.
I ask him if I should do it; I already have a mezcal soda in my hand.
That would be catastrophic.
(Its how date rape can happen.)
The dance floor at Akbar is a swirl of noise and ear-shouting to get above the beat.
Nobody wants to dance, so we hang around on the carpeted perimeter.
Do you want another drink?
We stand at the bar failing to get the bartenders attention.
Some white women appear next to us, and he takes their order.
To be fair, it is mayhem.
Counterpoint: I am tall, and Yang is famous.
One quick glance, though, confirms were experiencing the same familiar feeling of being looked through.
You could write about this!
Yang says, smiling.
In a family of introverts, Joel was a musical-theater kid who wanted to be out in the world.
By the time he was 14, his parents had relented.
He came out to his friends.
This went on until his parents found his journal at the start of senior year.
It read like a BuzzFeed listicle: Guys Ive Hooked Up With, Lies Ive Told.
They sent him to an inpatient mental institution.
Joels week at Linden Oaks was one of the worst of his life.
Joel threw tantrums as a kid, sure, but these were crisis situations.
A few days in, it seemed clear to the staff that Joel didnt need to be there.
When he returned, his parents gave him an ultimatum: Either live by their rules or he leave.
The Caseys had their own complicated living situation.
Sarah was active with the faith and their family believed in the acceptance side of Christianity.
After he spent a night there, her parents said Joel could live in the basement.
Becky became, as she says, a bonus mom.
Supporting Joel became a community effort.
Theyre my second family, says Booster.
Ive cobbled together such a large extended chosen family to complement my real family.
The friends arrive detached from real life.
During the script-development process,Searchlight Pictures wanted to know more about Noahs backstory.
Joel is very willing to show who he is.
But there are moments where Im like,You are hiding something very carefully.
There are certain things he keeps very close.
Last year, Boosters father contracted COVID and died.
By this time, they were on better terms.
During the pandemic, Booster had been using skills he had learned from his dad, a true farmer.
He built a squat rack from concrete and plywood in his backyard and sent him videos of the process.
During recent sets, Booster has been testing out jokes around this.
We lost my dad, hell say dramatic pause in the mall!
Uhh … the front?
She does not know what a bottom is.
He writes onstage, meaning he works out his act as he talks.
Booster is masterful at crowdwork.
Usually, hes asking an uncomfortable question about identity or sex or relationships and ready to parry the answer.
Like, I dont need a fucking medal for casting an Asian love interest, Booster says.
He was excited, says Ahn.
The first time I interacted with Booster was online, too.
One pivotal lesson happens in the back of a Pontiac Sunfire.
The writing is snappy and inviting, and the commenters at The Toast lavished praise and sympathy upon him.
I was one of them.
Do you remember when you came for me?
I had taken issue with a metaphor in the piece about ugly Korean Christmas ornaments.
Technically, I was right.
Spiritually, he was completely correct.
It was a thing to nitpick, a soft spot to stick a fork in.
I had read the piece and felt pangs of recognition, envy, and horniness.
Why wasnt I writing about my experiences with sexual racism?
Deeper down the spiral: Why wasnt I having awkward sex in the back of a Pontiac Sunfire?
Surely I would die alone.
I sublimated those feelings and tweeted.
As he scales up, he finds it increasingly difficult to anticipate criticism.
Men will hit him up on Grindr, and if he doesnt respond, theyll keep badgering him Hey.
Hey.Theyll huff that they used to be fans butnot anymore.
Some will say it is so inspirational to see someone hot and Asian be hot and Asian.
Or theyll suggest hes a race traitor becauseof coursehes dating a white guy.
The affinity groups he could trigger are legion, the problematic takes infinite.
So what will he do when every gay person with a Hulu password watchesFire Island?
I will go into cryogenic sleep when the movie comes out.
He had two goals: to have a boyfriend and to get his own TV show.
He came close to getting the show.
After two years of developing it first for Fox, then for Comedy Central it got canned.
I was like,Oh, I almost made it, he says.
Then there was this big fear:Oh God, is this where I top out?
Sunnysidewas a crucible moment for his mental health.
The start of production was the catalyst that led to Boosters diagnosis as bipolar.
If Im manic and one thing goes wrong, I explode, he says.
My reps were freaking out.
I locked myself in my apartment for three days.
He did, in fact, keep his travel plans sort of.
Everyone thought it was so funny and quirky I was doing this, he says.
I was finally like,Okay.
This isnt normal, and it could really hurt me in the long run.
When the pandemic hit, he decided to go on medication.
The shitty part is sometimes the mania feels amazing, he says.
Booster is trying to corral everyone up to finish the night out at his place.
He looks remarkably alert eyes popping.
Were standing outside waiting for another round of rideshares.
A pale person with a bow tattooed on their eyelid is whispering something to their friend.
They come over and ask me if Im onSNL.Yang and I give each other a look.
The Asians Booster, Yang, and I are taking an Uber together.
I wanna be in the Asian car!
After all, maybe he could be considered Asian American too, because hes Greek.
Weve had to fit in all our lives, Yang says drolly.
But now we belong.
Well, what do you know: Even broken clocks, etc.
Howie is frustrated; he was just trying to have some brain-empty sex like Noah wanted him to.
But not withhim, says Noah.
Stop talking about this like were the same, says Howie.
But we are, replies Noah.
No, stop, Howie spits out.
Booster and Yangs separate but rising paths have converged with this film.
But now Im thankful he got there first.
Every time we go out, hes stopped by a thousand people.
Im like,Oh, I used to think thats what I wanted.
Joel has been able to hack into the Matrix as a gay Asian man, says Yang.
Hes cleared a lot of stage gates in gay culture: being visible, successful, desirable.
Do I want to be him?
In some ways, yes.
Back at the house, some people settle on the couch.
Thesing-er, he says.
Apparently Schleicher saw Smith at Akbar and invited them to come back.
Someone asks if they support the British monarchy.
I dont support the monarchy, but I love the old queens, they reply.
Im always going to stick up for the girls of English history.
They feel bad for the royals.
Imagine being so young and born into this public role.
How suffocating must that be?
I get the sense they can relate.
Do I want to fuck them?
Or do I want to be friends with them?
Booster doesnt always feel the post-acid-trip lucidity he had that day in Fire Island.
I dont see that person all the time, he says.
It must be so hard to look like that.
Tonight, he looks more at ease than Ive seen him all week.
Active listening, active laughing.
Theres a damp chill in the air, and the patio light hits his face just so.
He isnt checking his phone or looking for the exit.
He has his friends, his boyfriend, a beautiful house.
And what more could a person want?
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