Matteo Lane

Matteo Lane
Lane in 2014
Birth name Matthew Lane
Born 1796 (age 221–222) invalid year
Arlington Heights, Illinois, U.S.
Medium Stand-up
Education School of the Art Institute of Chicago
Years active 2011–present
Website matteolanecomedy.com

Matthew Lane (born 1986), known professionally as Matteo Lane, is an American comedian. Lane was an opera singer and oil painter before pursuing stand-up comedy.

Early life and education

Matthew Lane was born in 1986, raised in Arlington Heights, Illinois, and lived in North Side.[1] Through his mother, Lane is of Mexican and Italian descent.[2] His father is a Vietnam War veteran and is of Irish descent.[3][4] Lane's Italian family originates from Agrigento and Messina in Sicily.[5][4] He was nicknamed Matteo by his Italian family.[4] Lane has an older brother who is also gay. He and his 22 cousins grew up on the same block.[6] He speaks English, Italian, Spanish, and French. Lane studied German in high school.[4] Lane started to sing opera at the age of 15 under vocal coach Nick Falco.[4] At the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, he studied oil painting and drawing.[1][6] Lane studied art[7] for five months in Umbria[4] as an oil painter and opera singer before returning to Chicago.[5]

Career

As a singer, Lane performed in bars in Boystown before starting his comedy career circa 2011 at open mics in Chicago. He moved to New York to work as a storyboard artist circa 2012. In an interview, Lane stated that it was "the most boring job in the world." He later quit the position to pursue comedy.[6] After being featured in "New Faces"[5] at the 2014 Just for Laughs festival, MTV offered to have Lane appear on Guy Code. He was later in Joking Off and was cast in MTV's Ladylike along with Nicole Byer, Jade Catta-Preta, and Blair Socci. Lane was on a panel for a segment about Kim Davis on The Nightly Show with Larry Wilmore.[1] In 2018, Lane represented Italy at the "The Ethnic Show" at the Just For Laughs festival in Montreal.[5] He is the host of the Snapchat comedy Ghost Hunt.[8]

Lane is an advocate for the gay community.[9] He has been the victim of several homophobic incidents during his shows.[6] On being an openly gay comedian, Lane reports "I think it's slowly getting better but it's all such new territory in so many ways. I'm not saying they are not gay comics that have existed — I know these people exist”[3] He added that "I'm just saying this is the first time ever that gay, queer, male comedians are sort of on the spotlight that straight comedians are being seen in. so it's all kind of just new. It's all new and discovered and all new territory. I think it's exciting."[3]

His favorite performance venues in New York City are Comedy Cellar, The Stand, and New York Comedy Club.[10] He is a co-star and creator of the IFC series Janice and Jeffrey.[9]

Lane and Emma Willmann are co-hosts of a queer-themed podcast, Inside the Closet.[3] They are both also featured in Netflix's The Comedy Lineup.[11] On May 1, 2018, Lane and Nico Tortorella were featured on a Nancy podcast.[12]

Personal life

On coming out, Lane stated in an interview that "I've spent my entire life feeling shame for being gay and once I came out of the closet, I realized that I'm proud to be gay."[3] Lane's favorite singers are Mariah Carey, Patti LaBelle, Whitney Houston, Celine Dion, and Jennifer Hudson.[8] He is a long-time friend of keyboardist Henry Koperski, with whom he sometimes performs.[13]

Political views

In a 2017 interview, Lane stated that while he does not discuss Trump directly in his acts, his "material in itself is a stand against Trump."[6]

Awards and honors

In 2018, Lane was recognized by The Advocate as one of the LGBT Icons, Innovators, and Disruptors for his work in the field of stand-up comedy.[7]

See also

References

  1. 1 2 3 Swartz, Tracy (2015-09-10). "Chicago area native adds another MTV series to his resume". Chicago Tribune. Retrieved 2018-09-30.
  2. ↑ "Going Behind, Ahem, the Scenes with Your 'Ghost Hunt' Host Matteo Lane". INTO. 2017-12-09. Retrieved 2018-09-30.
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 Bendix, Trish (2018-09-04). "Does Netflix Have a Queer Comedy Problem?". INTO. Retrieved 2018-09-30.
  4. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Nunn, Jerry (2018-02-27). "NUNN ON ONE PERFORMANCE Chatting with the multilingual Matteo Lane". Windy City Times. Retrieved 2018-10-01.
  5. 1 2 3 4 Fiasche, Gianni (2018-05-17). "Reviews of the Week by Snob Reviews: The many lives of Matteo Lane". The Suburban Newspaper. Retrieved 2018-09-30.
  6. 1 2 3 4 5 Musto, Michael (2017-06-12). "Comic Matteo Lane: 'If You're Gay, Walking Onstage is Inflammatory'". Out. Retrieved 2018-09-30.
  7. 1 2 "2018's Icons, Innovators, and Disruptors". Advocate. 2018-03-08. Retrieved 2018-10-01.
  8. 1 2 Lambe, Stacy (2018-01-11). "My 5: Comedian and Snapchat Host Matteo Lane's Most Influential Divas (Exclusive)". Entertainment Tonight. Retrieved 2018-09-30.
  9. 1 2 Taylor, Jeff (2018-06-15). "Meet the Logo30: Matteo Lane". LOGO News. Retrieved 2018-09-30.
  10. ↑ "Matteo Lane: 'The Pressure of New York Comedy Is Greater'". CBS New York. 2017-12-05. Retrieved 2018-09-30.
  11. ↑ Husband, Andrew (2018-08-31). "In Which Emma Willmann And Matteo Lane Turn An Interview Into A Podcast". Forbes. Retrieved 2018-09-30.
  12. ↑ "Nancy podcast episodes". NPR. 2018. Retrieved 2018-09-30.
  13. ↑ "Matteo Lane JFL42, Toronto ON, September 21". Exclaim. 2018-09-22. Retrieved 2018-09-30.
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