Many will remember Jim J. Bullock as the flamboyant Monroe Ficus in the 1980s sitcom Too Close For Comfort, starring Ted Knight and Nancy Dussault. Bullock’s over-the-top and endearing personality shined through his character and left the audiences at home wondering is he or isn’t he? Spoiler alert: he is.
After six seasons of Too Close For Comfort, Bullock went on to become a fixture on Hollywood Squares, appeared in films such as Spaceballs and Kissing Jessica Stein and even had a short-lived talk show with famed televangelist Tammy Faye.
Bullock fell into a dark place in the 1990s after losing his partner to complications from AIDS, and became involved in drug use that led to an arrest outside of a West Hollywood bar. Bullock all but disappeared from public life, resurfacing in theater.
“I came out on the other side and I’m super-duper grateful to God and to the angels and Hairspray for getting me through that period of time in my life,” he says.
Bullock is now touring with the Tony Award-winning musical Kinky Boots, which will play at Ruth Eckerd Hall in Clearwater April 11-16. Bullock spoke with us ahead of his Sunshine State trip to talk about Kinky Boots, where he was and who he is today.
Watermark: How has the tour been so far with Kinky Boots?
Jim J. Bullock: Oh, it’s a fantastic adventure, I’ve been with it for 18 months; it’s been a long time now. I didn’t really know anything about Kinky Boots. When I got the audition, I rented the movie and watched it I went, ‘Oh, what a great story’ and then went in and auditioned in Los Angeles and New York, and I saw the show on Broadway and I went, ‘Holy shit, this is a great show.’ Initially I didn’t get [the part], but a year went by and I got a call from my agent and they wanted me to join the tour. I came not knowing what to expect, just grateful to have work and grateful to be in a show that I believe in. Not only is it an entertaining show with great music, but I really believe in the message of this show and it’s sort of been like a ministry ever since. We’re bringing this wonderful message of love and acceptance to people. it’s really great when you can make a living doing something you really truly believe in.
What was that transition like, getting back into theater and going right into Kinky Boots?
Hard, because I hated the boots. I broke my toe like two days before joining the show. I really truly stubbed my toe getting out of bed and I broke it. I’ve never broken anything in my life, and they were like, “you can’t fix it, you just have to let it heal.” So stuffing my foot into those boots every night, it was a quick change for me when I get into my boots at the end for the finale and it was not natural. It was ugly, so I really had a hard time enjoying the experience for the first couple months. It was a painful journey for me, but you know, of course, broken bones heal eventually.
What’s your character like in Kinky Boots?
I play George the Foreman of the factory, so I say my name is George Forman [laughs]. They really left it up to me to make it my own character. My George is the boss, he keeps things running smoothly, but you know, maybe some George’s are a little more all business, but I’m a very likeable George. Everybody in the factory likes George, and it’s early on that you sort of realize my fascination with Lola and what side my bread is buttered on.
What’s been your favorite experience so far playing George?
My favorite performance was in Worcester, Massachusetts, and it was a 10:00 a.m. performance and it was for the surrounding high schools and the tickets were given free to these kids; these were kids that didn’t come from a lot and would otherwise probably never ever get to see a Broadway show, and that theater was packed and like 250 of the kids were of the LGBT community. They had learned the finale and, I get chills still thinking about this. So here we are at 10 in the morning, which is really an unheard of time to do a show. You’ve got this theater packed with these amazing teenagers and they love everything you do. I’ve never done anything where everything was so appreciated. And when we started the finale, these 250 teenagers came down the aisle and they had worked on choreography and they come up on stage with us. I’m telling you I was just weeping, I couldn’t even sing, none of us could sing, I think only the band was playing. It was so beautiful and so emotional and that ovation went on and it was like we could not applaud enough for them because what they had given us was far more valuable than what we had given them. So it was really a reverse situation for me and it just made, I mean, we had another performance that night, but it was just like it was electric.
You were a part of Mel Brooks’ Spaceballs in the ‘80s, you played Prince Valium. The movie is packed with comedy legends from beginning to end. What was it like performing with so many legends?
Oh my God! It was the time of my life, but I was so sick during filming. I only worked on that film for a week. I walked in that first day and there’s John Candy and, of course, Mel Brooks and all these amazing people, but I have a really bad stomach flu and I was just, if I wasn’t filming, I was in my dressing room. Had that happened today I would say “Look, I’m sick. Can we arrange for me to come in later? But I was young and I thought, “they’ll re-cast me.” The experience I did have was wonderful. John Candy was super nice and came up to me and said, “My family and I just love your show and we watch it every week,” and that was really lovely. I didn’t get to sit around shooting the shit, so to speak, with these people, because I was too busy exploding in my dressing room.
I read that they are making a sequel to Spaceballs. Would you be open to becoming Prince Valium again if that opportunity arose?
Of course I would. The weird thing about Spaceballs is it didn’t do well. It was not critically received and it was sort of a box office blunder and it was not timely. Too much time had gone by since Star Wars and the spoof on it, you know. But as time has gone on, you know, it developed this cult status and I heard last year that a sequel has been green lit and that it is being written. I even met up with someone on tour who is involved in it and he mentioned that too and he said Mel wants to use the original cast. I would happily come back and yawn for Mel.
Later on in the ‘90s, you had a short-lived talk show, the Jim J and Tammy Faye Show. On the outside looking in, that seems like an odd pairing. How did you meet Tammy?
It was an odd pairing, and at the same time it was genius. Tammy had done The Lisa Gibbons Show. I mean people were fascinated with her and she was a fabulous person, truly a lovely women, who had some shit happen in her life. So she did Lisa Gibbons and one of the producers called over to Fox said, “Listen, Tammy Faye was just on this show. You need to develop a show for her because she needs to be back on TV.” So they met with Tammy and they all agreed she does need to be back on television, but she needs to be coupled with somebody; it can’t just be the Tammy Faye show. They started thinking co-host situation and everybody was thinking, “Who, who, who,” and someone said whoever it is, they have to be gay, and my name came up, and they were like, “Oh my god, an openly gay and Tammy Faye. “There you go, that’s the title.” So they interviewed me, and when we met we got along immediately, I mean, it was like Frick and Frack. So that’s how it all started.
That show was definitely ahead of its time. It would probably be a huge hit today, but it wasn’t well received back then.
It was ahead of its time. We all kind of knew it was on the cutting edge, and we couldn’t get celebrity bookings for the show because they were afraid to come on. They didn’t know what they were going to get. Rosie O’Donnell was a huge fan of Tammy and she went on the show and she saw that they were not allowing the show to be what it was and she said, “Look, I’ve got three months before my show starts up and I want to stay here and donate my time to make sure you get this show back on the track it should be. It should be Jim J. and Tammy Faye. It shouldn’t be Jim J. trying to be Regis and Tammy trying to be someone else. You should let Tammy cry and talk about Jesus and let Jim be as gay as he is.” They turned her down and sure enough the show didn’t work. When they tried to force it to be what it wasn’t.
What would you say you remember most about Tammy Faye that sort of surprised you?
That she was genuine. She truly was genuine and I know it’s hard for people to believe that. Her faith was genuine; it wasn’t an act. That was who she was and you know, she just lived who she was.
You’ve gone through a lot in your lifetime. what’s the biggest thing you learned from your struggle with drug addiction in the past?
That time came out of such a point in my life where I had lost my partner to AIDS and I was grieving and I was also turning 40, and I just decided I wanted to grab life by the balls and celebrate life after being witness to someone losing their life. And you know, it all started so innocently, but I didn’t just dip my toe in. I went into the pool house, put on a Speedo, turned back and did a swan dive into it all. I’m just grateful I got out of it. I don’t have any profound message to impart. It was the experience I went through, and I guess I needed to go through it, and I came out on the other side. It’s very easy to lose your soul and I had started to lose my soul. I had lost my purpose; I had to find out who I was again and I had never not known that. I had always, since I’d very first came out way back in 1977, known what I wanted and who I was and I lost that, and so I had to regain all that. So I’m just grateful I made it out on the other side.
