8/16/2023 0 Comments Bridget everett somebody somewhere“I have a lot of friends that are pastors, who are queer or members of the LGBTQ community and active members of faith communities.” “I went to college with people who are like Joel,” he says. Hiller recognizes that, had he never left for New York, his path might have looked remarkably similar to his character’s. In his mid-20s, he moved to New York City, where he performed and taught improv with the Upright Citizens Brigade Theatre for more than 10 years, while occasionally landing guest roles on television series like Crazy Ex-Girlfriend, Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt, and Broad City. Raised in San Antonio, Texas, Hiller majored in theology and theater at Texas Lutheran University in Seguin before realizing the stage was his calling. We’re deviating from the norm of storytelling, and yet this is the most truthful character I’ve ever played in my 20-year career,” he says. To Hiller, as relevant as storylines about queer people being ostracized by organized religion are, Joel’s own tentative relationship with God is equally realistic. Much like the show’s approach to later-in-life friendships, the way Somebody Somewhere tackles the relationship between the church and the LGBTQ+ community is outside of the usual narrative. I think it can be a healthy thing for him, but he maybe feels a little prickly while he is walking through it, as growth often is prickly.” “For Joel, it triggers this idea of a holy ceremony and his relationship with God - a spirituality that he has felt a little disconnected from and being forced to reconnect to. “First of all, isn’t that just so typical, that a wedding would trigger you? As simple as ‘Oh, no, I don’t have any good shoes’ to as complicated as ‘What is this heteronormative culture that we are a part of?’” says Hiller. Joel’s ruminations about faith rise to the surface again when choir practice emcee Fred Rococo (Murray Hill) returns to Manhattan, announcing his engagement and asking Joel to officiate the wedding. “I think he’s also got lots of questions about faith, and his own moral fiber and code, and what’s right for him. “When we go into season two, even though it’s a year later, I think he’s resolved in knowing what he wants, but not in how to get it, exactly,” says Hiller. But the pathway to his goals promptly dissolves when he and his partner, Michael (Jon Hudson Odom), break up soon after his proclamation. When we last saw Joel, he had managed to articulate what he wants in life: kids, a house, a Vitamix, a Dyson, and marriage. The sentiment certainly applies to his character. “It’s a nice reminder that ‘Wait, we do.’” “I think it’s a show about not giving up on yourself, and I feel like so many of us have thought we don’t deserve dreams,” he says. Even if Hiller is surprised that the show has found an audience (“Honestly, I didn’t know if anybody would watch it because it is such a small show, and it is such a personal show,” he says), he understands why it resonates with those who have made the discovery.
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