John Arthur Hill Says None of this is Serious

Listeners of Sirius know John Arthur Hill for his weekly, witty repartee and queer comedic look at life and pop culture as co-host on Andy Cohen Live and on his own show, The John Hill Show. Social media lovers know John for his sexy thirst traps, viral song parodies, and funny one-on-ones. Musical theatre aficionados have seen John in Broadway’s Hairspray and The Boy from Oz and from Off-Broadway’s Bare. Reality TV fans have seen his work on Top Chef, Kathy Griffin: My Life On The D-List, Project Runway, Watch What Happens Live, and more. Combine all of that with John’s live touring shows and stand-up, you wonder how this man has time to sleep…and workout. He is an entertainment industry renaissance man and his journey to today has been a winding one.

John is a proud San Antonio boy. He stayed local until his stint singing country music at Fiesta Six Flags in his late teens. Growing up in Texas was a grab bag for Hill. Yes, he found his love of entertainment, but he also had that all too familiar grapple with his sexuality. But through that, he started forming his sense of humor.

Growing up in Texas was actually pretty great. It was the late ‘80s, early ‘90s. Anne Richards was in office, Clinton was President, people were way more liberal there than they are currently. So, I was out. I had friends who knew I was gay, but I was raised in a Christian conservative environment, so I definitely was closeted for a long time as well. A select people knew.

I was a theater kid. I think if I have a biting sense of humor, it’s probably a trauma response. It’s probably like a rage response that comes from growing up in a shame-drenched Christian church all my life. I worked at Disneyland once and this guy turned to me, I was 19, and he had had it with my attitude and he was like, “You are the youngest, old, bitter queen I have ever met!” And in that moment, I was like, wow, he really sized me up. But it was true. At 19, I was like with a cigarette, eye roll, checking the manicure. If there had been Drag Race at that time, I would’ve just like become a drag queen and gone on Drag Race. I was just always reading, always like above it. I just had such an attitude problem. But I was a theater kid. I always was a comedian of sorts and a performer and a musician, but I was not the jock, and I was kind of like a quiet class clown. I would sit in the back with one person and judge and read and make fun.

He would leave San Antonio to attend Pepperdine University in Southern California to study acting, using his Christian upbringing to his advantage.

I was on a Christian scholarship at Pepperdine and I kind of scammed the system because I was raised in a church that was affiliated with Pepperdine and was looking around at my options, I didn’t have every college offering me a big full ride, but Pepperdine offered me a ton of money because of my religious connection. So, I took their Christian money and I went out there and got myself a boyfriend my freshman year. It was a little bit of a culture shock, but it was such a conservative school that we were in a little bubble up in Malibu and all the conservative people were just like the people I’d grown up with in high school, so it was kind of easy. The culture shock happened when I moved to New York.

Right after Pepperdine, he booked his first big, professional theatre gig in the Broadway national tour of Miss Saigon. Being that young and sowing his oats, did he behave while on his first tour?

I was so well-behaved because it was such a big break for me. All I wanted was to be in a big Broadway show and I finally booked my dream. I loved Miss Saigon. It was, at that point, the biggest show, it was just the biggest deal. The role was so demanding, vocally, that I didn’t drink, I didn’t smoke. I had to keep my voice in tip-top shape. I was a late bloomer when it came to partying. I saw the country, I learned how to tour, I learned how to travel quickly with not many bags. It was the dream job to get paid to just tour. And you feel like a little celebrity in every little city you’re in. It was a dream.

Being part of the tour would bring him back to New York City and into the lap of the Broadway production of Hairspray. As destiny would have it, the production was shuffling actors and parts and Hill was brought in to replace Matt Morrison, who was moved up to play the role of Link. Hill would get his first Broadway credit.

I dramatically came in at the last minute. Then we did the out-of-town tryout together pre-Broadway in Seattle. Then when we got to New York, and it was one of the highlights of my life. I had struggled with my parents because they were very conservative, and it took us a long, long time to get cool with everything. But they were there, they came, and they supported, which was a big deal to me. It was just a very emotional night. My parents were meeting my best friends and these small-town people from my little family coming to see a big Broadway show, I was so happy to get to show them that. I felt accomplished and proud.

John went on to play Mark Herron and understudy Hugh Jackman in Broadway’s The Boy from Oz. He found it a growing experience, coming off of the Tony Award-winning Hairspray from going back into the wings, waiting for his time in the starring role. Hugh Jackman never called out sick, so John never took the spotlight. He openly admits that it was a challenge for him and that his attitude could have been better. But, looking back on the growing pains, he honors the experience and the opportunity to share a scene with Jackman every night in a show that has every gay diva’s dream, Judy Garland and Liza Minnelli.

After The Boy from Oz, he took part in the original, Off-Broadway Bare: A Pop Opera in a leading role. The show was cut short, and John’s entire career pivoted. From that point on, his resume and experiences spread wider than a CVS receipt. Broadway would be in the rearview mirror as the world of TV would envelop him. Even with his success on TV, he would continue to challenge himself and get back to his roots in the form of radio and his own, individual time in the spotlight.

We had a six-month break (from Bare) when we weren’t allowed to work because the show was going to transfer. It never did. But we were kind of paid to sit around so I wrote a screenplay based on a show choir. I was dating Andy Cohen at the time, and he read it and he was like, you should pitch this to World of Wonder and see what they think. I flew to LA and I pitched it. They were like, we don’t make movies, but we can work with you on this to make it a docuseries reality show. So when that ball started rolling, I was probably 28 at that point, I started thinking, do I want to continue pounding the pavement? I’ve had these great breaks on Broadway, I couldn’t imagine bigger breaks. But I wanted to see what else I could do so I really went with it and I started working at World of Wonder. I started hustling really hard and moved to LA and I thought maybe I would just try. It just seemed like a respectable, cool job, I’ll just be a TV producer. Lo and behold, I ended up missing Broadway so much that I found myself back on the radio, which is my version of performing and improvising live on the radio and kind of doing standup. And now I do my show where I tour around and write original songs and I perform. So, I miss performing a ton. That is my true calling. That’s what I do best. I’m great if I can speak and sing and perform and make people laugh. And that’s as simple as I try to keep it.

When I got sober, I turned 40 and started thinking, what is my life adding up to? I can’t just always be chasing approval from my parents or feeling bad that I’m this or trying to be that. I think if you look back at who you were at like age 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, early as a kid, what made you happy then is probably the same thing that’s true now. And that’s true for me. I was always doing silly things around the house, making up stories, making up songs, making little movies, and so I was like, you know what? I’m just going to keep doing that.

As a gay man, he had the opportunity to infuse his queer style and sensibility into shows like Project Runway and Kathy Griffin: My Life on the D-List.

For me, it’s such a part of my voice. My identity is wrapped up in my humor. I luckily never felt any pushback. I always felt very encouraged on all those shows to bring that sense, my unique POV, and that’s why I was hired on those shows with a unique perspective and unique sense of humor.

Each week, John finds himself “on,” expending energy on the two radio shows, his social media, and on stage. How does he handle his mental health and that pressure to be the persona we’ve come to know?

My dog, number one, helps with that. But if I’m not performing or on the radio or something, I don’t overexert. I’m an introvert. I like to be at home. I like to be quiet. I like to recharge. I need some time alone. I really just spend a lot of time writing music and writing stuff. I don’t get out in the mix. I’m not like a social butterfly by any means.

I’m grateful to have this job. I feel so lucky that I figured out that doing this makes me happy and that trying to fit into another profession is bad for my mental health. So, if my job is to show up and make people laugh, it’s really easy and I’m really grateful for it. Gratitude keeps me, I know that’s cheesy to say, but it’s true. I would be so unhappy if I had stayed in the closet as a kid and if I was a music minister at a Christian church in Texas, I would be suicidal. I’m so lucky to get to do what I do.

Another aspect of John’s social media fame is his body. More than many social media commentators are enamored by his handsome face, muscled body, and glimpses at what’s under his clothes. How does he deal with the body image pressures inflicted by the gay and entertainment community? 

Man, it has been such a journey. First of all, this is new. I was such a drunk, like an alcoholic and drug addict for so long that I never would ever take my shirt off. I hated myself. I hated my body. And then when I got sober, I saw my dad’s health was failing. I was like, okay, you’re 43. Are you gonna be diabetic? Are you gonna get heart disease? Are you gonna do all this stuff? I think every person goes through that moment where they’re like, oh, I should probably clean up my act. But I really did. I took it seriously because my dad ended up dying and I felt like I needed to change my lifestyle. I got sober. I started working out little by little. I couldn’t even do a pushup toward the end of the pandemic. Not even one. But just day by day, I got a little healthier. I was eating ice cream for breakfast, it was COVID.

 The other thing I’ll add though, there is a ticking clock on this. That’s why I’m doing it now. That’s why I’m getting it. I’m ringing everything I can out of this dish rag because I’m 46. I’m not going to be a 50-year-old in his underwear. Or if I do, it’ll be that version of that. But I’m holding, I’m trying to keep my insides as tight and right as the outsides.

John is very unapologetic with his comedy, his sarcasm and edge, even his embracing of sexuality, have become his brand. He doesn’t feel the need to hold back, even in our current political and social climate, and has even found it a tool in building bridges with the other side.

I think as long as I’m authentic and honest, I’m not too worried about what I say because people come to my shows. If you write down the actual words I’m saying, it does sound graphic, but when you’re there in the spirit of what I’m saying, I’m just trying to entertain and be funny. I’m not saying things for shock value. I never do. I’m not a shock person. I find that if I say something, even if it’s off-color, if it’s from an authentic place and if I’m making a point, it goes over well. I do not feel pressured to do more, and I don’t feel pressured to do less. If anything, I try to just challenge myself to listen to other people if we have differing views.

That’s been the great thing about working at Sirius is we have a lot of conservative listeners. Instead of saying like, here’s why that’s stupid, I try to say, okay, great, where are you coming from? It makes for a better discussion. It makes for a better radio anyway. My job is to entertain. Say the zombie apocalypse happens, or the Civil War breaks out and I have to entertain people who are not in my political party, I’m going to have to figure that out somehow. So I try to just keep an open mind and try to have compassion too.

John’s latest stand-up show, John Hill is Gooning, is popping up everywhere this summer. If you don’t know what “gooning” is, Google it. Just don’t Google it at work. The show, part improv, is a culmination of all of John’s talents.

The live show is where it’s at. It is so funny. I love getting up. It took me a while to find my groove with stand-up in particular. There are musical songs, there are original songs that I write that are funny. I guess I would say I’m a comedic musician. I play piano. They’re all timely. Sometimes I’ll tell a story and then sing a song. It’s not like a cabaret. Sometimes I improvise. I’ve been doing it more and more where I improvise most of it in between the songs and that’s been going over really well. I love, love doing it. It’s definitely an extension of the radio, I love performing live.

I started kind of from scratch again. I had always been performing, but in terms of a solo, I’ve always been Andy’s co-host or someone’s co-host or part of a team or part of a show. And if I knew then what I know now, I might’ve been too scared to do it. I just started with one show a little over a year ago and thought, I’m going to get up every once a month and see if people respond to what I’m doing. And then before I knew it, I had a residency in New York. I was doing three shows a month and then it took off and I just kind of am constantly on tour. I was always too scared to play anything in front of people. I was too scared to play piano in front of people until about a year and a half ago. I kind of played in secret for all my life. When people would be out of the house, I would practice piano, I would write songs. And then I thought, these are stupid. No one wants to hear these. And I was like, well, they’re funny. I’ll just start performing them live.

Who knows where John’s career will go next? With so many open roads, it really is the dealer’s choice. Beyond the persona we see on camera, he is down to earth, optimistic in his realism, and a joy to chat with. And his message to the community this Pride season?

This is not serious. None of this is serious. I say my jokes with a straight face, and I like being a dramatic comedian and I’m dry and sarcastic. But this is all for entertainment. It does look like we’re headed into some dark territories in the months ahead, and my job in life is to bring a little bit of joy to people and lift the mood. And so that’s my message, try to keep it light and just be authentic. Feel free to laugh.

For everything John, head to www.johnhill.online

John Hill is Gooning continues to tour the US…. here are some upcoming dates:

Philadelphia – September 8

Palm Springs – September 20

New York City – October 6

St. Louis – October 13

Chicago – October 18 and October 19

Boston – October 27

Provincetown – November 1

LA – November 22