Fire Island and Industry’s Joel Kim Booster: Check out his Attitude cover, in 6 sexy images
Exclusive: "The things that I was honest about, I didn’t know you weren’t supposed to be honest about," Joel Kim Booster shares
Quite fittingly for Pride and Attitude’s Pride Awards issue, writer and star of Fire Island, Joel Kim Booster, graces the cover in a rather hot photoshoot.
Soon to be seen in the BBC and HBO’s Industry, Booster is also known for his role in Loot as well as his hilarious comedy. If you haven’t yet caught his Netflix special, Psychosexual, we highly recommend it!
Speaking to Attitude for the accompanying interview the actor and comedian touches on the success of Fire Island, his 2022 queer take on Pride and Prejudice, as well as representation in the entertainment industry.
On where his comedy comes from he shared: “It started with the propensity to overshare, which has plagued me my entire life. It also stemmed from social awkwardness when I was transitioning from being homeschooled into [state] school. The things that I was honest about, I didn’t know you weren’t supposed to be honest about.”
He also teased new material he’s touring which he said includes, “my feud with crows, and how I want to fuck a horse — a lot of different things. There’s a lot of context to that one. I probably shouldn’t have just pulled that out of my ass!”
“We need to demand more” – Joel Kim Booster
Discussing how inclusive comedy is Booster refuted the idea it was more inclusive than when he started, but it’s more fractured. “There isn’t a monoculture anymore,” he told us. “We’ve chopped up this huge audience into little communities that are interested in their own things. I still recommend comics don’t just cultivate one audience. But do I think it’s necessary for success? No.”
Booster also reflected on the impact of Fire Island where he shared that it “absolutely” accomplished what he wanted it to. “Peeling back every layer of representation,” he continued, “is I wanted to star in a movie alongside one of my best friends, Bowen Yang. I felt like that would never happen if we waited for the industry to present us with an opportunity.”
The multi-hyphenate also highlighted the flaws in a collective understanding of what representation is, which is often “one-dimensional.” He continued: “We need to demand more, and that starts with people behind the camera. It’s never going to feel like more than a one-dimensional gesture unless the people behind the camera understand that experience.”
Issue 359 of Attitude magazine is available to order online here and alongside 15 years of back issues on the free Attitude app.