Del Shores: SINgularly Sordid

Gay icon to play in Tulsa’s Renegade, OKC’s Boom in April

by Robin Dorner
Editor in Chief

He’s ba-ack! The self-proclaimed “minor gay celebrity” Del Shores has announced that he has launched his new stand-up tour - Del Shores: SINgularly SORDID - and will be performing in OKC and Tulsa.

The Southern-loved writer/director/producer and most recently added stand-up comedian has a love affair with Oklahoma, and is coming back. “As much as we pretend to have an Oklahoma-Texas rivalry, we are kindred spirits. We are more alike than people want to admit – there are so many people that come from my same background with the Baptist upbringing. It’s so relatable.

“It’s never more fun to play the south because you guys get it.”

Shores uses the term “Sordid” in all of his work. We asked the talented writer/director/producer…funny man, how he came up with the ‘sordid’ term for his work.

“With Sordid, it was interesting how that came up. I was writing one day and that term came up in one of the lines and you know, it’s all about perception. Everyone always thinks it’s everyone else’s ‘sordid life.’ So it’s interesting how the term Sordid became such a part of my life. I changed the name of that work and it’s been with me ever since.

“So I always have the challenge now to include ‘Sordid’ in to my shows.”

Shores said he never thought it would become his signature term, but he has embraced it.

He is the creator of the Sordid Lives franchise and writer/director/producer of Southern Baptist Sissies, Blues for Willadean and Queer Is Folk (back with all new hysterical, sordid stories). This time, Shores discusses the unexpected comedy of returning to the world of dating after divorce. Tinder, Grindr, Scruff, OkCupid – “Oh, sh*t!” Shores quips, “Sometimes it's just too damn much!”

In SINgularly Sordid, Shores shares a litany of bad dates and the trials and tribulations of being on the prowl again when you are a “minor gay celebrity.” He also poses the question – “Did my movie Sordid Lives really influence six different women to super-glue their cheating boyfriends and husband's… um, members, to their stomachs?”

Del shared with The Gayly about how it was to be sort of “abruptly thrown” into the single life again. “It’s about single again after about 10 years…well, 10 years twice,” (he was married first…to a woman!).

“It hasn’t been so great actually. It’s been very frustrating, it’s been challenging, to say the least. You know, on some apps you don’t exist after 50!” The star said he is, however, very happy and working a lot on his “creative mo-jo.”

And of course, Shores shares more letters from the haters and his P.S.F.U. responses. Also, he has some new celebrity dish on Dolly Parton, George Lopez, Leslie Jordan and more. The censors will be absent and if you are easily offended – Shores warns, “Stay home!”

“There is a wonderful letter I just wrote to Sally Kern that I’ll read from the stage,” he adds. “It quotes a lot of scripture and I share all she’s said about us over the years.”

He’s had a busy year with the release of the film of his play Southern Baptist Sissies, which received both critical and commercial success. He has also just completed the screenplay for the final chapter of his Sordid Lives franchise – A Very Sordid Wedding.

“Yes, we’re returning to the characters one last time,” Shores said recently. “If financing comes together as planned, we should be in Dallas filming this year. We’re hoping to have it out in late 2015 to early 2016.”

Shores is looking for investors for his “Sordid Wedding” project. If you want to live the sordid life with Shores that is one way you can do it!

He closed with warm thoughts of his many fans by saying, “I get to do what I get to do because of my employers – my fans and my people.”

Del Shores: SINgularly Sordid will be presented Thursday April 16, 8pm at New Age Renegade, 1649 S. Main St., Tulsa, OK 74119. Seating is $20 and standing $10. Reservations are strongly suggested by visiting: delshores.tix.com.

Del Shores: SINgularly Sordid will be presented Sunday April 19 at The Boom, 2218 NW 39th St., Oklahoma City, OK 73112. Dinner service begins at 6:30pm and the show starts at 8pm. VIP seating is $25 and general seating is $20. Reservations are strongly suggested by visiting: delshores.tix.com.

The Gayly – April 14, 2015 @ 6:10am.