Why did Mario Cantone never find steady work?

Mario Cantone has had a decent enough career all things considered.

MC like many others basically is stand-up comic who got lucky with television and some movie parts. He never trained as an actor, doesn't have the looks nor stature for anything else but character roles so there you are then.

Quite honestly a little of Mario Cantone goes a long way. He has ended way he began; screaming bitchy pocket gay. We all know and maybe even love guys like that, but again at some point it gets tedious and tiresome, so you have to take a break....

Mario has continual work. Most actors don't have steady work. Shows open, shows close. But he's talented, engaging and fun, and he seems to be a hard worker. Mario Cantone is very entertaining.

He said on The View the other day that he has been in a five year unemployment depression and can barely get out of bed r3 but I guess your perspective is more healthy than his.

What "five years unemployment?". Looking at MC's IMDb page he has two things out in 2021, and about four more in post production.

Mario Cantone also worked in 2020, 2019, 2018....

If Mario Cantone cannot get out of bed in morning it might have more to do with that big black buck who is his husband.

He's TCM's guest programmer for October. Showing scary movies every Sunday night with Ben.

that's what he said r4. Ask him. I don't know why he's saying that.

DL favorite object of hate John Benjamin Hickey told him he was terrible when he took over for Nathan Lane in Love! Valour! Compassion!

Because everyone thinks he's Anthony Scaramucci.

oops hit enter too soon. Mario then confronted him about it on a radio show they did. Hickey said he was just testing how far he could go in joking with him but you could tell Cantone remembered it and felt stung by it.

"Big black buck..." I ought to call the NAACP and turn your name in; that's a racist comment if ever I heard one.

I had such a crush on him when watching Steampipe Alley back in the 90s.

I was going to say he had a very successful career as a kid show entertainer at the start.

If Mario truly has been unemployed for the past five years, which does not appear to be the case, he has a very nice duplex and spacious patio in the middle of NYC. (And he does appear to be working, so what's he talking about?)

My heart broke into pieces

Gay voice.

His husband is pretty cute.

His shrill stereotypical annoying voice

He's a lot to take. Years ago when he was doing more interviews I got to where I had to switch the channel, he always said the most banal sounds-deep-but-isn't kinds of things, with a really scoldy look on his face. When he wasn't being scoldy, he was being stereotypically gay, I remember once in an interview for "Laugh Whore" he said something like "I loved being on stage because it was the closest thing to being actually inside a Barbie doll townhouse."

The voice doesn't help. It's not fair but people react to how you sound and look more than how you perform.

Is he still doing coke at the bathhouse?

too short, too fem

He’s does the gay scream absolutely perfectly. There just aren’t that many roles that require it

He refused to shave his ass. Most roles required the bottom's butt cheeks be baby smooth but Mario revels in his Italian ass fur.

too faggoty and ugly

not even kind of cute like the ugly betty guy

He’s GAY dear. Welcome to real life

R24 = Matt Damon

One of the reasons why I find his character on SATC annoying is because I’ve known nasty, bitchy queens like that in real life.

MC and The Mooch sort of do look alike.

MC has (or had) a rocking body, who knew?

Because he is gay. A short Italian who is brash funny and gay. He is typecast in that role. Being gay or coming out is still the kiss of death in hollywood casting.

He's looking almost handsome these days. I've been watching him host on TCM and am wondering if he's had some work done. His nose and mouth seem different now.

Mario Cantone was good looking enough when younger.

I think he's very handsome. I'd gladly pound his ass.

R31

There's no accounting for taste I suppose, but think you should make an appointment to have your eyes checked.

Will give you MC looks good for a 61 year old man. At least he's managed to hang onto a thick full head of hair.

Going by MC's Tweets and other comments in media he seems to have issues with growing older.

Don't know why, he isn't some hot Italian stallion, but then again never was. Career wise he's done better than most would have predicted back in the day. He's got money in bank, a legally married husband who adores him, and plenty of friends. I'd say that is a pretty blessed existence.

MC was emcee for this years Hulaween event.

More:

He's annoying as fuck!

Hard pass.

He was on Celebrity Wheel of Fortune last night. Even Loni Love, who isn't exactly a wallflower, sat back and let him chew the set down to sawdust.

As R39 wrote, annoying as fuck!

Because a little bit of that goes a long fucking way?

He should always be seen alongside Ross Mathews. That's the only way he can seem butch.

A little bit of him does go a long way and even a little bit is far too far.

Who is he? Who was he? Who does he hope to be?

He reminds me of the shrill swishy queens who think they have to put on a stereotypical minstrel show for the straights.

Because he made fun of Half-Pint.

OP, perhaps you have never heard his voice.

"One of the reasons why I find his character on SATC annoying is because I’ve known nasty, bitchy queens like that in real life."

As gay men, we have ALL known nasty, bitchy queens like him in real life. These queens are nothing new. But in small doses they are palatable

Straight women, like the SATC gals, think that having a swishy queen gal pal is a necessary accessory to their vapid, meaningless straight women lives. So the bitchier the sidekick the better. When in fact, the straight woman in question is just playing the gay male sidekick as a performing monkey.

Swishy queen is the most pathetic persona.

I don't think it's the effeminacy that's the problem, it's the shrieking hostility. If he were large enough to be a physical threat to anyone over the age of 10 he'd be terrifying. As matters stand, he's merely supremely annoying.

There just aren't words to set this up, so have at it....

As R50 stated, and clip in R51 shows clearly, fraus of all ages love themselves screaming queeny bitchy bottom gay. It's Sylvia Fowler, Patsy Stone, and a bit of Joan Rivers rolled into one....

Non-New Yorkers might not be aware, one of Mario's first acting gigs was hosting a Secaucus, New Jersey based kids weekend morning show, Steampipe Alley.

Not sure if Steampipe Alley was Mario's first acting role, but that's where I first saw him. Guess I was channel surfing, came across Mario screaming at the kids and said to myself, "WTF is this screaming queen doing hosting a kids show?!"

I think Steampipe Alley was on WPIX or WOR.

Miss Ghurl was a screaming queen on Steampipe Alley as well.

She must have been doing somebody to get a gig hosting a children's show, even if only on WWOR.

It's all up on YT, and again looking back you really have to wonder just who greenlighted MC as host.

That voice was like nails being dragged across blackboard.

Poor Mario. You know he's a DLer, right?

This was his face when he read this thread.

He looks great for 61... in fact, better than ever. I thought he was in his late 40's.

Next to black, some Italians don't crack either. Especially those from southern Italy (or descended).

His comedy isn't my style usually but he's a nice guy, I've worked and socialized with him and really a nice, charming person.

He’s incredibly annoying and not easy on the eyes.

The "oh, he's such a stereotype of a mean, shrieking gay" are pretty funny on a thread where there are dozens of mean comments from shrieky old gays.

I think he's great. I've seen him onstage in two different productions, one of them being Love! Valour! Compassion! and I thought he did a good job....can't be easy to replace Nathan Lane.

I didn't love his character on SATC but to be honest, I didn't love many of the characters on that show.

I follow him on Instagram and he seems like a nice guy....he and his husband Jerry are adorable.

OH....and, he's a very attractive man. A swarthy Italian with a head full of hair.

Yum.

I'd like to see what some of you bitter old cunts look like....

On second thought, no, I wouldn't.

I have a weak stomach.

His husband is hot, gay Steadman.

Must've hit a nerve with R62.

Does he have “an” OnlyFans?

He's been the guest on Gilbert Gottfried's podcast for the past four Christmases.

Mario's impersonations are the best, especially his post-stroke Bette Davis.

I saw his standup once maybe 15 years ago and yes an evening of him is a LOT but sstill I laughed like crazy. Not much of an actor. Husband was OK but bland in Broadway shows 25 years ago like Once on this Island and better in Tick,Tick, Boom.

I will love him forever for his delivery of

[quote]“Ed Harris? Try Ed I have no Harris!”

I never saw him on sex and the city (it’s a little before my time), but he is super charming and seems like a genuine nice guy. Why don’t you all save your animosity for people like Kevin Hart, who deserve it??

Black man, black man, where have you gone to?

Black man, black man, where did you go?

There are only so many roles which require shrieking one note harridans OP.

Had no idea who Jerry Nixon was, so hit Google....

He is VERY annoying to watch on television and should come with a Tylenol, but I have also met him before (through a work thing) and to be honest he was absolutely lovely and very easy to work with. Really a nice guy although I got the sense he was a bit vain and sensitive as well (in the way that many performers are). I can see why he still gets employed despite his limited skill set, he seems to be one of those NYC types who get called in last minute when there's been a cancellation on some day time TV show and knows how to turn it on. Perhaps he would do better if the cabaret world was bigger than it is in the 21st century.

I wonder if there's a place for future Mario Cantones going forward though. I get the sense that the days of the straight woman wanting some screeching, bitchy gay bestie in his mould are coming to an end as people become more fluid. With the popularisation of drag queens, who give you the same skill set but are a bit sharper, quicker, and have the novelty of their ostentatious appearance (and a hit show with RPDR), why would you hire Mario Cantone when you can have a Coco Peru or Bianca Del Rio?

His onstage personality is not much like his offstage one. He's kind of like Joel Kim Booster in a way. I mean playing a character, with an attitude, or a big personality, that doesn't have much to do with how he interacts in real life.

I absolutely love his over the top characters.

But I saw him do a comedy show in NYC and it was just okay. It's tough to keep that shtick going for an hour without it being part of a character.

As much as I adored him in SATC (probably one of my favorite characters), he's really not a good actor. Other than the bitchy gay roles, he's not fit to play anything else.

A lot of comics and comic actors don't find steady work. At least as you're defining it. Certain comics always come to mind for me, like Don Rickles, and the several times he tried a sitcom. Paul Lynde (not really a standup comic - more of an actor) had Hollywood Squares as his steady work - seemed like a pretty soft gig, just a few one-liners per show. But if he didn't land that, what would he have had?

Six weeks to Christmas and I am looking forward to Mario's annual visit to Gilbert Gottfried's holiday podcast.

Like Robin Williams and Kathy Griffin, he's a riot in limited doses - too much of him would make my temples throb but he is funny.

Don Rickles, Joan Rivers and Jay Leno had the same affect on me -- loved them as occasional special treats on Carson and Letterman but as regulars they burn out audiences.

Anyone who doesn't think Mario Cantone doesn't work enough and make his money wants their head examined.

Miss Ghurl does fine....

Again certain audiences eat his act up, and ask for second helpings.

R78

Kaye Ballard in interviews often spoke of how sad and somewhat hurt her great friend Paul Lynde felt by studios pigeon holing him into certain roles. PL had Broadway experience and really wanted to do something else besides "bitchy bottom bitter queen" (well that's what it amounted to anyway), but studios wouldn't budge for either large or small screen.

PL did finally get his own television show, and it bombed.

Only reason to watch PL show as to gaze at tall blonde (and native New Yorker) John Calvin.

Mario acts like a young Richard Simmons in his styling.

Never understood who on The View liked him so much. Barbara? Whoopi? Rosie?

R84, Joy is the one who first brought him on and he credits her for that. Barbara became a fan and had him on often after that.

Ah, so the Michael Urie thread was a parody of this one. Who's next? Alec Mapa? That ginger guy - Patrick?

[Quote] But if he didn't land that, what would he have had?

Twink assassin?

Let's dish Mo Rocca!

He's fucking hilarious and his voices spot on...

I love that Aretha Franklin hired him and she paid him cash. She made him count it too.

[quote] He never trained as an actor,

I believe he has a Theater Arts degree from Emerson College.

I always think of Mario as being Ricky Ricardo before everything went horribly wrong 😳