African-American and gay, actor-comedian Bruce Daniels may have grown up with two strikes against him in white, heterosexual-dominated America. But he didn't see it that way. “Growing up, I was fearless about things,” he told AfterElton.com. “I loved Wonder Woman and I wanted to be Wonder Boy.”

His parents, Alan and Shirley Daniels, divorced when Bruce was twelve. His mother made sure Bruce's self-esteem didn't suffer as a result. “My mother raised me to believe that I was special, and so I believed that I was better than anybody else.”

Growing up in 1970's Chicago, Daniels says, “It was more difficult being African-American, than it was being gay. Everyone could see that I was African-American, but not everyone could tell that I was gay."

I spoke to Bruce in early February, two days after he'd returned from performing, sans Cho, on Atlantis Events' largest gay cruise.

“This is the third cruise that I've done,” he told us. “The cruise has a Circuit Party atmosphere about it, and that's really not my scene. I'm not much of a party boy.”

“How did it go?” I wanted to know.

Calmly, he admits, “I bombed telling a joke about how it's really much more fun to bareback. I don't think the audience liked having that particular mirror held up to their faces. But I won them back in my following set.”

Neither Party Boy nor currently partnered–-an important relationship ended recently--Bruce acknowledges, “I like to blame myself and my career–I'm always on the road–-for why the relationship didn't work. In truth, there were other reasons, too.”

Right now, Bruce hasn't the time to ponder them. Barely off the cruise ship, he's on the road again. This time, he's opening again for Cho's ongoing The State of Emergency show.

“I always wanted to perform, but if I told someone I wanted to be a performer, they'd ask, ‘Why don't you become a lawyer?'”

Finally, in 1992, Bruce Daniels ditched the Windy City, relocating to that Gay Mecca on the Pacific, West Hollywood.

But paid acting gigs weren't as plentiful as the palm trees, sunshine, and air kisses. In-between performing, Bruce bartended, and worked other dead end jobs favored by Hollywood's young, undiscovered talent.

He met Margaret Cho in the late 90's on the set of their never released movie Can't Stop Dancing (1999). In the still-shelved comedy, also starring ER 's Noah Wyle and the omnipresent Fred Willard, Daniels and Cho played spandex-clad, Jheri-curl wig-wearing lovers. The movie was a bust, but the on-screen lovers clicked off screen, and Cho convinced Daniels to give stand-up comedy a try. Ever since, the two have been closer than pages in a book. He's been Margaret's opening act for her Assassin, Revolution, and The State of Emergency tours.

“We're really like brother and sister,” is how Bruce describes the relationship.

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