Arts & Entertainment
‘Looking’ no more
Poorly focused HBO gay dramedy deserved cancellation
From left are Frankie J. Alvarez, Jonathan Groff and Murray Bartlett of ‘Looking.’ (Photo by Richard Foreman, courtesy HBO)
HBO’s “Looking” will not get a third season and rightly so. If ratings, which were consistently low, were the only factor, one could argue the show was canceled too soon, but the problem with the show begins and ends with the main character, Patrick.
Patrick serves as an entry point to a diverse world for white audiences, similar to Piper’s role in “Orange is the New Black.” Patrick is a white, believably attractive, upper-middle class 29-year-old living in San Francisco. The first time we see him, he’s cruising in a park and giggling like a child who found a Playboy. In fact, the first thing any character says to Patrick is “Stop talking,” which might as well have been my mantra while watching the series. Through Patrick, non-gay viewers experience all the awkward moments of growing up and coming out.
Despite having been out and living with a close circle of openly gay friends for a long time, everything is new for him. His boyfriend wants to top? He has bottom shame because of what his mother would think. A character is taking PrEP? Patrick calls him a Truvada whore. His friends invite him to Folsom? He’s embarrassed to be wearing a leather vest.
This could have worked as a character either significantly younger or newly out, but it’s simply not believable for someone so entrenched in the gay community to be so new to it all. Unlike Shoshanna from “Girls,” Patrick didn’t have the excuse of youth, but even she grew up. The creators of the show didn’t even have the decency to make Patrick a side character.
In season one, Patrick can’t see a future with Richie because Richie is Mexican. He instead sees himself with his boss Kevin (a Brit), though Kevin has a boyfriend. Patrick blames his mother for this, which makes absolutely no sense. Later, after leaving Richie, having an affair with and ultimately moving in with Kevin, he realizes Kevin may not always be faithful, as if Kevin wouldn’t cheat again down the road. Was this shocking to anyone but Patrick?
Sure, it’s true that hot messes often make for good TV — maturity and contentment rarely make for compelling drama — but “Looking” never managed to give its audience a reason to care about its lead character.
Another groan-inducing moment was the Halloween party episode because, as he would repeat several times, Patrick wanted to be a “fun gay.” Sorry, Patrick, but somebody has to be the Ross of the group, and it’s you. What’s the least fun thing a host can do? Try to force the fun. He insists on singing karaoke, though nobody is interested. His costume, as he explained several times, was “Gordon Freeman, the most popular video game character of all time!” He gives a drunken speech that embarrasses his friends and exes almost as much as it embarrasses himself. He even tried to make himself the center of attention in the next episode when he invited himself to Doris’s father’s funeral and, in a surprise to exactly nobody, made a fool of himself.
How are people still friends with this guy?
Ironically, said funeral episode was titled “Looking for a Plot,” which is what I’ve been doing with this show since episode one.
“Looking” fans describe the show as “realistic,” but equality means canceling a bad show because it’s bad, not keeping a bad show on the air because it’s gay. Patrick is a forced protagonist. Interesting things keep happening to him, but he is remarkably unremarkable. The show shoved aside any decent conflicts or topics and instead focused on a wholly uninteresting lead character while rich side characters struggled for screen time.
“Looking” will wrap up with a TV special that will hopefully be titled “Looking for a Doris Spinoff.”
Photos
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Annual LGBTQ celebration held on Pennsylvania Ave.
The 2026 Capital Pride Festival was held on Pennsylvania Ave. on Sunday, June 21.
(Washington Blade photos by Michael Key and Landon Shackelford)
The 2026 Capital Pride Parade was held in Washington, D.C. on Saturday, June 20.
(Washington Blade photos by Michael Key, Robert Rapanut and Landon Shackelford)
Theater
‘Feeling Afraid’ explores life of a neurotic stand-up comic
Navigating sex, work, and possibly love in London
‘Feeling Afraid As If Something Terrible Is Going to Happen’
Through July 12
Studio Theatre
1501 14th St., N.W.
$55-$102
Studiotheatre.org
Wordily yet rightly titled, solo show “Feeling Afraid As If Something Terrible Is Going To Happen” dives deeply into the world of a neurotic stand-up comic as he navigates sex, work, and possibly love in London.
Busy arranging hookups and dates on “The App,” the 36-year-old gay funnyman juggles a full dance card; still he’s never been in a romantic relationship. While he’s willing to give love a shot, he’s not pressed about it. As he says, he harbors no fear of dying alone.
Currently making its American premiere at Studio Theatre, this darkly humorous Edinburgh Fringe import features terrific out English actor Steven Webb as The Comedian who’s about to explore what it means to spend all his time with one man.
At Studio’s intimate Mead Theatre, Kat Heath’s minimal set says standard comedy club (fluorescent tube lighting, the mic with a long cord, a single stool backed by a rose-colored curtain), but gay playwright Marcelo Dos Santos has conjured something much more than a live comedy set.
Yes, The Comedian bounces onstage in his red Converse high tops, jeans, and pink shirt with a huge mouth emblazoned on the back, but he delivers more than jokes. At times hilariously self-deprecating, then dark, and occasionally a lesson on what makes standup work, this is a layered, well-acted piece.
With Webb (a keen caricaturist of types and voices) playing all the parts while conducting The Comedian’s hilariously frenetic interior monologue, “Feeling Afraid” takes us through a summer of love. It seems after six chaste dates with The American, our nervous hero has found Mr. Right. The American is earnest, smart, hesitant to initiate sex. He’s also well built with a beautiful smile. And strangely, he’s been medically advised not to laugh aloud.
The Comedian delights in the joys of new love: dates, first kisses, sex, and then suddenly spending all of his time with the adored. Visits to art galleries become fun. Eating home cooked meals followed by grim documentaries is a thing. The Comedian is beguiled as his own boyish figure fills out, but something isn’t right. He can’t entirely relax.
Along the way we meet the Aussie doctor, our protagonist’s longtime hookup; a young runner with some exceptional body parts; the random third in a failed threesome; grumpy working comics, male and female; and an ineffectual counselor.
Webb gives a lightning-fast performance that boggles the mind (in terms velocity and virtuosity). He can be impish, very impish. He’s nervous energy incarnate, flashing jazz hands, grimacing but handsome when still. He’s likeable, a necessity when delivering a hilariously rude joke just feet away from two stone-faced audience members. (Perhaps they were laughing on the inside? At any rate, they stayed through the end the show.)
Produced by the team behind Fringe hits “Fleabag” and “Baby Reindeer,” small stage works that were developed into major TV screen successes, “Feeling Afraid” is funny for sure, and it’s also highly confessional, sexually explicit, and raw.
Written by Dos Santos during COVID lockdown, the piece was a smash hit in the 2022 Edinburgh Fringe before finding further success in London. Its depiction of a youngish queer guy navigating the big city rings entirely true. Like so much Fringe stuff, the one-man show is delightfully lewd and standup inspired.
One little moan: the show closes cleverly but too abruptly with its star dashing offstage without sufficiently basking in the admiration and applause of his thoroughly chuffed audience.
They say third time’s a charm, and regarding “Feeling Afraid,” I’d agree. After two performance cancellations (first for laryngitis and the second involving faulty air conditioning on an especially muggy June evening), I made my third trek to Studio where I found both the actor and AC in very fine fettle. And truly, Webb’s work was more than worth the wait.
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