Review: Scott Thompson’s The Last Gloryhole is good to the last drop

Let’s all raise a glass (preferably an ice cold, bone dry martini) to Buddy Cole, Scott Thompson’s outrageously campy barfly alter ego. Canadian comedy’s answer to Quentin Crisp first appeared in 1988 as a character in the Kids in the Hall’s inaugural season. And just like that veteran from Follies, he’s still here, his acerbic wit and NSFW one-liners as bracing as ever.

The Last Glory Hole (Rating: ✭✭✭✭) offers us a hilarious 80-minute catch-up session. After being diagnosed with a rare case of “fungus of the knees,” he admits that he only has 50 knee bends left in him, and he used up many of those recently on a “spiritual quest” in Egypt.

This spicy vignette leads to a discussion of circumcision, including a connection to one Dr. John Harvey Kellogg, who turned out to be one of the co-founders of cornflakes (Google him to, er, go down a fascinating rabbit hole). Only Cole could come up with his own theory about the organ’s appeal to the olfactory sense.

He follows up with rants about the #MeToo movement — which includes his playful recreation of Sharon Stone’s infamous Basic Instinct interrogation scene — bullying and self-esteem. There’s a section about one queen meeting another (it’s a shame Thompson couldn’t physically recreate his Elizabeth II here). I would quote his jokes, but Thompson’s delivery and Ed Roy’s direction are so carefully calibrated that I don’t want to spoil the satiric fun.

All I will reveal is that Cole, navigating the minimal set (bar and stools, including one shaped like an olive), often blurts out the things people think but don’t say. Sensing the cultural shift in the air, his agent suggested he get a DNA test to see if there was any ethnic diversity in his background he could monetize. Brutal.

That confession leads to some of his strongest material about inclusivity, pronouns and queer history; hey, did you know Buddy was there with Marcia P. Johnson at Stonewall?