Fucking Stephen Harper is either an ingenious title for a one-man show or the worst idea for a porn movie ever.
I’m all for celebrity sex tapes, but if the headliner is a middle-aged politician with a fetish for sweater vests, the only way I’ll be able to suppress my gag reflex will be by screaming, “Kill it with fire!”
But then again, I’m not Rob Salerno.
During the 2008 federal election, Salerno was tasked with interviewing the leaders of every political party on queer issues for a piece he was writing for Xtra.
Harper was the one candidate who wouldn’t talk to him.
“I’ve been writing about politics for Xtra for four years now,” Salerno tells me, “and never once have I gotten a call back from an elected Conservative politician, and that’s what I wanted to do a show about: my quest to get an interview with Stephen Harper.”
He didn’t get the interview, but he was charged with sexually assaulting the 22nd prime minister of Canada.
Cue gag reflex.
“The details of what transpired on that day in September 2008 are a matter of some dispute between myself and the Prime Minister’s Office,” Salerno says. “But if you come and see the show, you will hear my side of what happened.”
On top of being a fucked-up version of letters to Penthouse, Salerno orates on the current political climate and holds everyone accountable.
“No one is spared,” he says. “Liberals, NDP, Green Party, Republicans, Democrats, Conservatives and the apathetic non-voters.
“That includes the gay community, gay leaders and people who should have a leadership role and aren’t stepping up to the plate,” he adds.
But it’s not just a soapbox diatribe.
“You’re coming to an hour of storytelling,” Salerno says. “You will laugh a lot, so you can kind of compare it to standup, although it’s not really standup.”
Why you can trust Xtra
