When asked to interview Del Shores, creator of the genius Southern Gothic juggernaut Sordid Lives, I just about shit my pants —Del Shores! To cope, I sat myself on a shady lanai with a tall, icy cocktail, and we had a simply wonderful conversation, two divine bitches of the ha-ha sisterhood.
Of course we start by talking dogs. Shores has three: two chihuahuas and one tiny half chi/ half papillon named, respectively, Bitsy Mae, Sissy Marie and Gracie Louise.
Del Shores: SINgularly Sordid
$30-$50 ($50 tickets include meeting Del Shores). Fri., Mar. 11, 8 p.m. The Cuban Club, 2010 N. Avenuda Republica De Cuba, Ybor City. tiglff.com.
“They’re named after two characters in Sordid Lives and one from my play Yellow,” he confides. “I always say in my show, if you don’t know I’m gay by looking at me or by the way I walk — well, when you see me walking the dogs, you’re pretty sure, but if I call their names, you’re positive.”
Shores is obsessed with short stories, especially Southern ones. He recommends Shiloh and Other Stories by Bobbie Ann Mason; “it’s one of my favorites,” he says. Leslie Jordan, who portrayed Brother Boy in the film and TV versions of Sordid Lives, is also obsessed with short stories, and gave him a copy of Mason’s collection years ago.
Jordan played a memorable character in the James Spader/ William Shatner vehicle Boston Legal, in which Jordan's character was murdered by none other than Betty White. When I mention that incident, Shores relates a hilarious tidbit about filming that scene, in the most pitch-perfect imitation of Leslie Jordan’s idiosyncratic voice:
“I walk on set and she says, ‘I’m worried about hitting you with this skillet,’ and I said ‘Betty, it’s a plastic skillet, it’s gonna be fine, just wallop me with it. It doesn’t matter!’ Well, that bitch hurt me! She almost knocked me out, at age 80!”
Shores’s new show, SINgularly Sordid, benefits the Tampa International Gay and Lesbian Film Festival.
“I’m very happy to do it. I always say, ‘Make a shitload of money off of me!’ I just love it, and this is an organization that’s very near and dear to my heart,” he says. This show marks Shores’s first Tampa performance, although the film of his standup show, Naked Sordid Reality, debuted a few years ago at the Festival, opening the John Waters event. Shores dined with Waters and snapped a picture with him, which he immediately sent to Jordan, who replied, “Fuck you. I have never had dinner with John Waters.”
Turns out that John Waters is a huge fan of Sordid Lives and Del Shores.
I asked him if Waters had been an influence earlier on, specifically the horrifically trashy (and my favorite) Pink Flamingos. Shores tells me he loves all of Waters’ works, but isn’t as familiar with the older pieces.
“I came out so pathetically late. I was aware of his more mainstream things, Serial Mom and then of course Hairspray — what gay man didn’t love that? I started getting compared to him in reviews and they would say ‘It’s not as foul, but obviously Del Shores is influenced by John Waters,’ and I thought, ‘Well, I’m really not, but let’s see what was supposed to influence me.’ And I certainly saw what people were talking about. I love his work because it transcends, it crosses into every territory,” he says.
Back to business.
“We gotta plug my show!” Shores has wanted to perform in Tampa for ages. Florida’s a hotbed of his fans: Audiences in Miami, Fort Myers and Pensacola love him. He’s hitting several cities before heading back to L.A. I ask him which he prefers, Tampa or St. Petersburg, and he cracks up.
“You’re a troublemaker,” he says. “I’m not answering that question, are you fucking kidding me? I love you all. I love every city equally the same. It’s political season, isn’t it?”
We chat next about his eclectic career. He started out as an actor and then went on to write plays to get more work as an actor. Shores wrote and produced his first play, Daddy’s Dyin’: Who’s Got the Will? not too long after appearing as a bartender on the long-running soap, Days of Our Lives.
“I had these amazing lines, like ‘Here’s your drink, Calliope.’ I was Seth the bartender, at Shenanigan’s, that bar in the show. You’re much too young to remember that.” Hell, yes, I remember that shit. “I was not eventful at all, I didn’t drive the story in any way.” After they cut his big scene to save time, he went home and thought, I’m going to write a play. Daddy’s Dyin’ went on to win several awards in the LA theater scene.
Del Shores — writer, director, producer, truly hilarious person — bring his funny, uncensored self to Tampa on March 11. Legendary local mother-and-son cabaret act Scott & Patti (aka Matthew McGee and Scott Daniel) open the show.
It’s for a good cause (TIGLFF), it’s at an historic venue (the Cuban Club), and — I promise — if you miss this, you’ll regret it for the rest of your life.
This article appears in Mar 10-16, 2016.