Actor Jonathan Slavin (Home Front): “It Might Have Been Joey Lawrence Related”

DENNIS ANYONE? with Dennis Hensley

Dennis is joined via Zoom by actor Jonathan Slavin, one of the stars of the play Home Front, which is about the obstacles facing a black naval officer and his white fiancee in post WW2 America and is currently playing at the Victory Theatre in Burbank, CA. Jonathan plays the couple’s gay neighbor, who is also a veteran. Jonathan talks about working with the playwright Warren Leight, who based Jonathan’s character on his uncle, and how he balanced bringing humor to the show without playing into wacky gay neighbor clichés. Jonathan also talks about his career in television, playing series regular roles on Dr. Ken, Better Off Ted, Andy Richter Controls the Universe, Union Square, and Santa Clarita Diet and guest roles on shows like Grace and Frankie, Pam & Tommy, Grey’s Anatomy and Friends. He also reveals which appearance brings in the most residual cash and which show he gets recognized from most. Jonathan also talks about being out from the beginning of his career, whether things have changed for gay actors in that time, that time he got fired from a job for being too gay, going to a gay march in Washington DC when he was just 17 and why he’s so glad the closet never called to him. Other topics include: how Dennis and Jonathan first met over 20 years ago, the one yes that changed his career, how he met his longtime husband Michael, working cleanup crew at an LA sex club, his most unfortunate haircut, his lifelong love of animals—he owns a pig!--and what it was like to go back at speak at the Methodist Prep School where he always felt so out of place.