Full Article Text
r omedian Rhona Cameron
stole bottles of champagne
in Scotland ("Until I was
caught," she adds) and sold
dodgy paintings door-to
door Down Under. (She'd
followed a particularly ap
pealing woman to Australia .) Now she
wants to make a go of her first BBC sit
com, Rlwna. Instead of police or skepti
cal art buyers, now all Cameron has to
deal with are reporters who keep calling
her show the British EUen.
"It's not a lesbian sitcom," she says
gamely, which is just as true as saying
Friends is not a straight one. It is a
show about Rhona, a video reviewer for
a tiny London-based magazine, who
wants to make movies. "My character
is on a quest for happiness that she
thinks she can get through manipula
tion, which goes completely wrong,"
explains Cameron . "She's like George
on Seirl/eld. "
Right down to its charming ly dorky
theme song, which she cowrote and
sings, Rhona is a childhood fantasy
come true for the 34-year-o ld comic,
who grew up loving the "loose and fast
and real" humor of America's Rhoda.
"I have to admit, I always wanted to
be on TV and have my name on things,"
says Cameron, chatting at a cafe in Lon
don after a whirlwind of press to pro
mote the shows late-July launch. "But I
didn't really start seriously thinking
about this show or working on it until
three years ago, when we started pitch
ing the idea I just thought it was a natur
al progression for me. I asked an ex-girl
friend of mine who's been my friend for
about 16 years to write the sitcom with
me because we've shared sort of the
same life and the same humor."
As with many comics, Cameron's
early life didn't provide a lot of laughs
while she was living it British by birth,
she was adopted by Scottish parents and
raised in Edinburgh. Even though she
had a perfectly nice boyfriend at the
time, she lost her virginity to an older
man living next door who kept pestering
her. "I don't know why I didn't do it with
[the boyfriend] , though I did do it with
him later," she says. And the sex? "It was ... nice. Like getting a foot massage.
But I dumped him at 16 for this de
ranged girl that I had fantastic sex with
all the time. "
Cameron is quick to disabuse anyone
of the idea that she had a happy, randy,
angst-free childhood . "Oh, no, no, no-
terrible angst," she exclaims. "Oh, God!
Angst! I lived in a small Scottish fishing
town, and when I hit puberty I was very
badly bullied until my father died, and
then I think people felt sorry for me. But
I had a really bad time. I was spat on
and beat up, and my back was drawn on
in chalk.
"My mom was really rubbish when I fi
nally [came out]," says Cameron. (Ameri
can translation: Mom was no help at all.)
"Then we went through three years of
hell, and all of a sudden it became OK
again. But I had strong feelings around
about the age of 13 that I must try and not
be gay. I used to write in my diary, 'I will
not be queer. I will like David. '"
She laughs at the memory. "I have to
say, I was so driven. My sexual desire
was so strong, it pretty much dominated
most of my childhood-apart from
other nice things like death and loss and
abandonment. When I wasn't dwelling
on those three things, I was dwelling on
my constant sexual frustration about
women."
That led to her pursuit of the woman
Down Under, which ultimately led her to
London, where Cameron talked her way
into a role for a "really bad women's co
op feminist film." The movie was noth
ing, but a woman she befriended on it
told Cameron to try out stand-up.
Now she's gone on to host or appear
on countless TV shows, most notably
four seasons hosting Gay time TV, a
fluffy chat show that gave her a chance
to interview everyone from k.d. lang
("She didn't even notice me") to Martina
Navratilova ("Now, we had a really good
rapport"). It's also given her a chance to
see how quickly and easily gay and les
bian celebrities--who've always seemed
more open in the United Kingdom than
in the United States-can push the
boundaries of what's acceptable. In
other words, Gay time TV soon went
from groundbreaking to old hat television
Lesbian comic Rhona Cameron
plays the lesbian lead in Rhona,
her new BBC sitcom. Is she
EnglandJs answer to Ellen
DeGeneres? By Michael Giltz
an
lelly
"My sexual desire was so strong, it pretty much dominated most of ,
When I wasn't dwelling on those three things, I w
THE ADVOCATE 1441 SEPTEMBER 12, 2000
arts&eDtertaiDmeDt
"Gay time IV got mostly parmed," ex
plains Cameron . "It was on BBC2 for
four years, and the idea was an enter
tainment program for gay people, just as
normal and regular as can be. There'd
been an earlier show that was more agit
prop, and they wanted this to be light
and fluffy, like daytime television."
The mix made for some awkward
juxtapositions. "On the one hand, you'd
talk about Take That splitting up, and
then you'd talk about gay funerals.
You'd talk to someone about dying of
AIDS, and then you'd switch to gay bath
towels. But other programs came on,
like Queer as Folk, that took it so much
further-where being gay was just mat
ter-of-fact-that people felt Gay time
was a bit dated."
Now Cameron hopes to change the
rules again by starring in a funny sitcom
that, like Will & Grace in the United
States, just happens to be about a gay
character.
"In one episode called 'Birthday Girl,' I
start dating a really beautiful middle
class solicitor with glasses. I've gone off
her, but I'm keeping her for my birthday.
I've speeded up the intimacy too quickly,
but I've got to keep her for my birthday
because she looks good for me. There's a
line in it where I say, 'Just because I'm a
lesbian I don't have to be deep.' "
What is deep, however, is Cameron 's
amazement at her own success. She's
been in a relationship for about a year
with a woman she wants to spend the
rest of her life with. Her TV show is air
ing on the BBC. And now she's looking
to tackle her favorite love: movies.
"It seems ridiculous to me because
everything I've ever wanted is happen
ing," she says. "If I can go from nothing
to doing stand-up and then getting a sit
com with my name on it, why shouldn't I
be able to write and direct a film? It's in
credible. Sometimes I have three or four
days without feeling despair." •
Giltz is a regular contributor to several
publications , including the New York
Post and Entertainment Weekly.
~ Find more on Rhona Cameron and her sitcom at -U www.advocate.com
~ildhood- from OIlIer nice Ihings like deaIh and loss and abandon ......
welling. my constant sexual fruslrati. about women."
THE ADVOCATE I 45 I SEPTEMBER 12, 2000
-------- ------~~-- ------ ---------------- ------ -------- ---------- ----------------------------------
stole bottles of champagne
in Scotland ("Until I was
caught," she adds) and sold
dodgy paintings door-to
door Down Under. (She'd
followed a particularly ap
pealing woman to Australia .) Now she
wants to make a go of her first BBC sit
com, Rlwna. Instead of police or skepti
cal art buyers, now all Cameron has to
deal with are reporters who keep calling
her show the British EUen.
"It's not a lesbian sitcom," she says
gamely, which is just as true as saying
Friends is not a straight one. It is a
show about Rhona, a video reviewer for
a tiny London-based magazine, who
wants to make movies. "My character
is on a quest for happiness that she
thinks she can get through manipula
tion, which goes completely wrong,"
explains Cameron . "She's like George
on Seirl/eld. "
Right down to its charming ly dorky
theme song, which she cowrote and
sings, Rhona is a childhood fantasy
come true for the 34-year-o ld comic,
who grew up loving the "loose and fast
and real" humor of America's Rhoda.
"I have to admit, I always wanted to
be on TV and have my name on things,"
says Cameron, chatting at a cafe in Lon
don after a whirlwind of press to pro
mote the shows late-July launch. "But I
didn't really start seriously thinking
about this show or working on it until
three years ago, when we started pitch
ing the idea I just thought it was a natur
al progression for me. I asked an ex-girl
friend of mine who's been my friend for
about 16 years to write the sitcom with
me because we've shared sort of the
same life and the same humor."
As with many comics, Cameron's
early life didn't provide a lot of laughs
while she was living it British by birth,
she was adopted by Scottish parents and
raised in Edinburgh. Even though she
had a perfectly nice boyfriend at the
time, she lost her virginity to an older
man living next door who kept pestering
her. "I don't know why I didn't do it with
[the boyfriend] , though I did do it with
him later," she says. And the sex? "It was ... nice. Like getting a foot massage.
But I dumped him at 16 for this de
ranged girl that I had fantastic sex with
all the time. "
Cameron is quick to disabuse anyone
of the idea that she had a happy, randy,
angst-free childhood . "Oh, no, no, no-
terrible angst," she exclaims. "Oh, God!
Angst! I lived in a small Scottish fishing
town, and when I hit puberty I was very
badly bullied until my father died, and
then I think people felt sorry for me. But
I had a really bad time. I was spat on
and beat up, and my back was drawn on
in chalk.
"My mom was really rubbish when I fi
nally [came out]," says Cameron. (Ameri
can translation: Mom was no help at all.)
"Then we went through three years of
hell, and all of a sudden it became OK
again. But I had strong feelings around
about the age of 13 that I must try and not
be gay. I used to write in my diary, 'I will
not be queer. I will like David. '"
She laughs at the memory. "I have to
say, I was so driven. My sexual desire
was so strong, it pretty much dominated
most of my childhood-apart from
other nice things like death and loss and
abandonment. When I wasn't dwelling
on those three things, I was dwelling on
my constant sexual frustration about
women."
That led to her pursuit of the woman
Down Under, which ultimately led her to
London, where Cameron talked her way
into a role for a "really bad women's co
op feminist film." The movie was noth
ing, but a woman she befriended on it
told Cameron to try out stand-up.
Now she's gone on to host or appear
on countless TV shows, most notably
four seasons hosting Gay time TV, a
fluffy chat show that gave her a chance
to interview everyone from k.d. lang
("She didn't even notice me") to Martina
Navratilova ("Now, we had a really good
rapport"). It's also given her a chance to
see how quickly and easily gay and les
bian celebrities--who've always seemed
more open in the United Kingdom than
in the United States-can push the
boundaries of what's acceptable. In
other words, Gay time TV soon went
from groundbreaking to old hat television
Lesbian comic Rhona Cameron
plays the lesbian lead in Rhona,
her new BBC sitcom. Is she
EnglandJs answer to Ellen
DeGeneres? By Michael Giltz
an
lelly
"My sexual desire was so strong, it pretty much dominated most of ,
When I wasn't dwelling on those three things, I w
THE ADVOCATE 1441 SEPTEMBER 12, 2000
arts&eDtertaiDmeDt
"Gay time IV got mostly parmed," ex
plains Cameron . "It was on BBC2 for
four years, and the idea was an enter
tainment program for gay people, just as
normal and regular as can be. There'd
been an earlier show that was more agit
prop, and they wanted this to be light
and fluffy, like daytime television."
The mix made for some awkward
juxtapositions. "On the one hand, you'd
talk about Take That splitting up, and
then you'd talk about gay funerals.
You'd talk to someone about dying of
AIDS, and then you'd switch to gay bath
towels. But other programs came on,
like Queer as Folk, that took it so much
further-where being gay was just mat
ter-of-fact-that people felt Gay time
was a bit dated."
Now Cameron hopes to change the
rules again by starring in a funny sitcom
that, like Will & Grace in the United
States, just happens to be about a gay
character.
"In one episode called 'Birthday Girl,' I
start dating a really beautiful middle
class solicitor with glasses. I've gone off
her, but I'm keeping her for my birthday.
I've speeded up the intimacy too quickly,
but I've got to keep her for my birthday
because she looks good for me. There's a
line in it where I say, 'Just because I'm a
lesbian I don't have to be deep.' "
What is deep, however, is Cameron 's
amazement at her own success. She's
been in a relationship for about a year
with a woman she wants to spend the
rest of her life with. Her TV show is air
ing on the BBC. And now she's looking
to tackle her favorite love: movies.
"It seems ridiculous to me because
everything I've ever wanted is happen
ing," she says. "If I can go from nothing
to doing stand-up and then getting a sit
com with my name on it, why shouldn't I
be able to write and direct a film? It's in
credible. Sometimes I have three or four
days without feeling despair." •
Giltz is a regular contributor to several
publications , including the New York
Post and Entertainment Weekly.
~ Find more on Rhona Cameron and her sitcom at -U www.advocate.com
~ildhood- from OIlIer nice Ihings like deaIh and loss and abandon ......
welling. my constant sexual fruslrati. about women."
THE ADVOCATE I 45 I SEPTEMBER 12, 2000
-------- ------~~-- ------ ---------------- ------ -------- ---------- ----------------------------------