After 30 years, Murray Hill has finally got his big break
The New York comedian and queer icon has a leading role on HBO's Somebody Somewhere
In the New York nightclub scene, the legendary Murray Hill is known as the self-declared "hardest working middle-aged man in show business."
Over his 30-year career in the cabaret and queer scenes, he's often been described as a drag king, but he prefers to just go by comedian — more specifically, a comedian in the style of Don Rickles or Joey Bishop.
"This is not really a popular queer way to think about things, but I don't want to be different than the norm," he said in an interview with Q's Tom Power. "I want to be just like everybody else."
"[People] would insist on saying queer, gay, drag king or transgender before my name. And I'd be like, 'No, I want to be Murray … I want to be comedian Murray Hill.' I did some shows in Australia and one reporter called me 'an obese transvestite, Murray Hill' — like Jesus Christ, give a guy a break!"
Now, Hill has finally got his primetime moment on the HBO series Somebody Somewhere, about a group of friends in their 40s trying to find their little slice of happiness in rural Kansas.
In his conversation with Power, he spoke about the joy of playing somebody like him and why his mission for the past three decades has been to raise visibility.
"My whole point was to raise the visibility. That was my whole mission statement as Murray and still is," he said. "I'm 50 and I'm still one of the very few — you know, I identify as everything — but drag kings that have made it onto TV."
The full interview with Murray Hill is available on our podcast, Q with Tom Power. Listen and subscribe wherever you get your podcasts.
Interview with Murray Hill produced by Jennifer Warren.