John Barrowman shows his Toronto Pride

In a continued effort to bring you all that is important in the world of gay entertainment and ensure that you are being spoon-fed images of gorgeous, commoditized manflesh, we present the newly-minted AfterElton Briefs. Following the usual assortment of carefully-selected news items, interested readers can find a refreshing pic of a hot man in underwear after the jump. Yes, we're serious.

• Here are some snaps of John Barrowman and some guys in Von Trapp drag at yesterday's Toronto Pride parade.

• Dennis, a gay dancer on the current season of Big Brother in the UK, was ejected from the house for spitting on a housemate during an argument. Nice to see that we Yanks haven't cornered the market on despicable BB behavior. (Oh, and Extras creator Ricky Gervais is quite displeased with the spitting, thank you very much.)

• Meanwhile, our Friendly Idols to the North had a bump in gay visibility when Canadian Idol contestant Theo came out following his performance (which the judges roundly praised). Subtle, but his mention of a bad breakup with a guy is something you're not likely to see on American Idol. (His performance is around 4:45 minutes and his interview follows.)

• Despite having nearly vanished last season, Gay Oscar is one of the leads in NBC's summer The Office webisode series.

• Out actor Nathan Lane will lend his considerable vocal talents to the upcoming big-screen Astro Boy movie. Mighty Atom meets Butley? Awesome.

And today's Briefs are brought to you by...

When I saw the above teaser trailer for the upcoming comedy Swing Vote, my first thought (after I rolled my eyes) was, "Oh, jeez ... it looks like another I Now Pronounce You Chuck & Larry"...

But it appears that the trailer is a political ad that the desperate candidate uses in the movie (or at least approximates one he would use), and it's probably supposed to be appalling. Swing Vote is a Wag The Dog-ish comedy that skewers our political process, including the lengths to which candidates will go to win. From the press release:

"Kevin Costner stars as Bud Johnson, an apathetic, beer slinging, lovable loser, who is coasting through a life that has passed him by, except for the one bright spot in his mundane existence, his precocious, over achieving twelve-year old daughter, Molly. She takes care of them both, until one mischievous moment on Election Day, when she accidentally sets off a chain of events which culminates in the presidential election coming down to one vote, her dads. Suddenly, Bud Johnson, the nobody, becomes the voice for everybody when the world realizes that his vote will be the one that elects the next president. Politicians invade the small town of Texico, New Mexico and its unwitting inhabitants, waging war for Bud's vote."

Director Joshua Michael Stern with Nathan Lane and Dennis Hopper

In addition to Grammer and Costner, Swing Vote also stars the out Nathan Lane, the always delectable Stanley Tucci, and for some reason, George Lopez. It's a pretty big cast for a writer/director (Joshua Michael Stern) whose biggest previous credits include writing a David DeCoteau movie and Amityville Dollhouse.

Interestingly, the movie that Stern wrote for DeCoteau, Skeletons, is a drama about anti-gay violence in a small town. (It's also one of the horror director's few "legit" and best films.) No idea whether Stern is himself gay or not, but he's handled gay subject matter in the past and handled it quite well, which is encouraging.

You can see the full trailer after the break, and watch for Swing Vote when it hits theaters on August 1st.

Fans of Cheyenne Jackson can rejoice, he's just been nominated for "Distinguished Performance" at this year's Drama League Awards for the smash Broadway musical Xanadu!

That's the good news. The bad news is that there are 69 other nominees for the same award (it reminds me of when I was in 5th grade, and was elected class president ... along with every other student in class, because our teacher didn't want anyone to feel left out). Cheyenne isn't the only out nominee; others include Charles Busch for Die Mommie Die!, Ben Daniels for Les Liaisons Dangereuses, Nathan Lane for November, and Harvey Fierstein for the book for A Catered Affair.

Joining the out men are such gay faves as Christine Baranski, Bobby Cannavale, Angela Lansbury, Laura Linney, Faith Prince, and the most likely winner, Patti Lupone for Gypsy. Of special interest is nominee Terrence Howard, for his controversial performance in the revival of Cat on a Hot Tin Roof.

I'm not sure how they pick the winners, but if Cheyenne doesn't win, at least he'll be in fine company. After the break, you can see the clip that proves once again why he is deserving of all the accolades he's received, and still will receive (cross your fingers for a Tony nomination).

In a continued effort to bring you all that is important in the world of gay entertainment and ensure that you are being spoon-fed images of gorgeous, commoditized manflesh, we present the newly-minted AfterElton Briefs. Following the usual assortment of carefully-selected news items, interested readers can find a refreshing pic of a hot man in underwear after the jump. Yes, we're serious.

• The Karl Lagerfeld action figure. Because every little girl's been looking for someone to tell their Barbies that they look fat.

• Brilliant, brilliant, brilliant: Kathy Griffin has been hired by Air New Zealand to serve as the hostess of the "Pink Flight" from San Francisco to Syndey Gay/Lesbian Mardi Gras. The flight, which takes revelers to what is the biggest, best, and gayest party this little Iowa boy has ever been to, will also feature classic camp films, drag queen performances, and a special menu. And you thought Jet Blue was fancy!

• Win a shopping trip with Joan Collins! Just pray that you don't run into Charlotte Rae in the elevator...

• David Mamet's November, which stars out actor Nathan Lane as the President, opened last night on Broadway. It's been called "maniacally funny" and lots of other promising-sounding things.

• Remember to vote in the Gay People's Choice Awards and check out Michael's fancy new column for the rundown on Sundance's gay films, what's up this week in gay entertainment, and more. And oh yeah - have a great weekend!

Here's something you don't hear every day: out actor Nathan Lane will be playing the President of the United States on Broadway in November, a new comedy by David Mamet.

Lane sounds like a perfect fit for the piece, which is described as a "day in the life of a beleaguered commander-in-chief": he does beleaguered quite well and his comic timing is impeccable. It doesn't sound like his President is supposed to be evocative of our current White House comedian, but one can imagine that there will be parallels drawn.

Which got me thinking: have we ever seen an out gay actor portray the leader of our country? No doubt the response from the stalls will be that we're tempting the Hellmouth again. November opens in ... December.

Last week's Mother's Day edition of SDoGS was apparently waaay too easy, because one of you nerds (Petie, to be precise -- love, darling!) connected Anthony Perkins to Divine in only two degrees, via the charming matinee idol Tab Hunter (who appeared in Polyester with Divine and The Life and Times of Judge Roy Bean. But an A for Effort goes to spazmo for his twisted and hellish ride through the gay genre film underworld, which somehow managed to involve Paul Bartel, Roddy McDowell, Cesar Romero, and the film Mortuary Academy. So what Petie might boast in brevity, spazmo surely rivals in sheer crazy.

This week's Funnyman edition asks you to connect these gay comic actors via other gay actors or gay actors who played gay in at least one connecting role. Have at it kids -- those afternoon hours aren't wasting themselves, you know!

The late, great Michael Jeter

Nathan Lane

Yesterday Broadway and film star Nathan Lane stopped by the Ellen Degeneres show, and initially it was a mystery as exactly why he was there, other than to raise Ellen's spirits (she's bedridden from a back injury). The two bantered a bit (Lane did most of the bantering, as Ellen's pretty zonked on meds) and then Ellen mentioned that Lane is receiving an honor from the Trevor Project, an organization that provides suicide prevention support to gay and questioning youths. Ellen then asked Lane about his own coming out:

Ellen: How old were you when you told your parents? Did you have a hard time coming out?

Lane: I was very young -- I was living in New Jersey with my mother but I was seeing someone in New York, and she thought it was a woman. And I finally broke it to her -- I was around 21 and I finally sat her down, she was this little Irish Catholic lady from Jersey City -- and so I said, you know, "I know you think I'm seeing a girl but i've been seeing a guy." And she said -- the blood just drained from her face -- and she said, "so you're a homosexual?" And i said, "yeah, i guess so. Yeah, i guess so." And she said, "oh, i would rather you were dead".

A lovely reader named Tom tipped us off to a hilarious promo clip for the 1982 sitcom One of the Boys, which starred Nathan Lane, Dana Carvey, Meg Ryan and Mickey Rooney (an unholy alliance if ever I've seen one).

Lane (looking downright rakish in 1980, I must say) and Carvey (sporting a white-hot blonde mop-top) play college roommates whose skirt-chasing idyll is shattered when Carvey's grandpa (Rooney) moves in. Hilarity, as one might expect, ensues.

I think I actually remember this show, but very vaguely -- although I may be mixing it up with another show where a senior citizen for some reason is moved into an apartment with two swinging 18-year-olds. It's fun seeing Lane as a young'un, and even more fun to see him panicking about not being able to get any dates with all the hot women on campus. And despite his frustration that Rooney was living with them, wouldn't he be secretly thrilled to have the guy around, just for the Judy stories?