The author shocks and inspires with sordid tales in I Hope My Mother Doesn’t Read This.
By Brandon Voss
If you’ve seen his YouTube videos or messy drag alter ego, Levonia Jenkins, you already know that Greg Scarnici has no shame. Now he has no secrets. An associate producer at Saturday Night Live, Scarnici continues to tickle and titillate with I Hope My Mother Doesn’t Read This (out September 22), his debut collection of comedic essays about growing up gay, going out hard, and making it big in New York City. He tells us about the fine art of oversharing.
Next: When did you realize you had enough debauched anecdotes to fill a whole book?
Greg Scarnici: When I turned 13. Honestly, this started out as an exercise — just writing down stories. After I finished about seven, I realized I had the makings of a book on my hands.
What does your mom really think about your book?
Get back to me on the 23rd. Actually, I have warned her about this, but am delaying the inevitable by not giving her an advance copy. Wish me luck.
Like many of your recent projects, this book is gayer than Christmas. But you write about pitching sketches for SNL performers before realizing that your best work came when you expressed your “unique super-gay voice.” When did you finally learn to embrace the gay?
If you ask some of the boys in my neighborhood, I embraced the gay around six years old. Creatively speaking, I was always producing super-gay projects downtown. But when I tried to write for SNL, I would lose the voice that makes me who I am, and it just didn’t work.
Aside from providing pure entertainment, do you hope this book helps people?
I’m hoping this book helps Caitlyn Jenner, mainly — and, of course, any youth that might be struggling with his or her sexuality and identity. I get loads of emails from kids who tell me my YouTube videos helped them laugh and embrace their gayness, which makes me so happy. Based on my Twitter followers, I always think my target audience is ex-meth heads, so it’s nice to see I reach a different crowd and can make a difference through my left-of-center comedy.
You admit to a lot of things in the book that the average person would probably want to keep a secret. Did you ever worry about oversharing?
One thing I learned taking classes at the UCB Theater is that comedy is best when it’s personal. I always strive for truth and honesty in my work, which I guess can best be seen in my web series, Bitch, Please, where I humorously go off on all the douchey things in the world. Oh, and my pin number is 6754.
What’s a scandalous story that didn’t make the cut?
I wrote about how I started having sex at a young age with a lot of the boys in my neighborhood, but all my friends found that story “disturbing,” “shocking,” and, my favorite, “vomit-inducing.”
If one learns nothing else from the book, it’s that you really love Madonna. Any thoughts on her new album and tour?
Actually, Grace Jones is my favorite diva, but I couldn’t parody her in this PC age without some queen calling me racist. But since you asked about Madonna, I’ll sum up how I feel about her these past few years: #desperate. She’s trying too hard. And Rebel Heart was all over the map. Focus, gurl! Stop caring about being a huge pop star and get back to what made you a star: introducing trends to the world, not following them. EDM?!
On top of your day job, you have a drag persona, YouTube videos, a band called Undercover, and now a memoir. Where does that creative drive come from?
Crystal, Brandon — which you know is a lie if you read the book. Creativity is just a part of who I am, and the more you use creativity, the more it just becomes a natural part of how you operate. I keep a list of ideas on my iPhone and I am currently about a year in advance of what I’ll be able to work on. Back in the day, it used to be about the joy of having, let’s say, Perez Hilton post a video, but now I completely enjoy the creative process and care a lot less about results.
If your alter ego, Levonia Jenkins, wrote a memoir, what would it be called?
She’s actually writing one right now, and the working title is Truss and Beweave: True Tales of a T-Girl. It will be available exclusively at the Dollar Store in Jamaica, Queens.
Next, September 2015.