BGSQDBureau of General Services—Queer Division
BGSQD
TELL is an evening of story telling from the mouths and minds of queers in NYC hosted by Drae Campbell at the Bureau of General Services—Queer Division since February 2014, making this TELL the eight-year anniversary edition!
Overcome is the theme of the 78th TELL, taking place in-person at the Bureau on Saturday, February 19, 2022, at 7 PM!
Guest-hosted by Calvin Cato and featuring storytellers Glo Butler, Anthony Oakes, Lois Thompson, and Elsa Eli Waithe.
Safety protocol:
In an effort to prevent the spread of COVID-19:
If you have any symptoms associated with COVID-19 in the days leading up to the event, we ask you to please stay home.
Please note that masks are required at all times inside The LGBT Community Center, where the Bureau is located.
Glo Butler has performed all over the country, and was most recently featured in the New York Comedy Fest and Black Women In Comedy Festival. She was listed in 2019 Time Out Mag: “LGBTQ POC Comedians You Should Know” and Gold comedy “comedians to watch in 2022. She currently hosts and produce a bi-weekly POC/queer comedy show called Glo In The City live at Daily Press in Brooklyn. She also hosts Black Grits: a POC/queer comedy, burlesque and drag show once a month in Brooklyn.
Calvin S. Cato has performed all across the United States and has even crossed the border into Canada. His television appearances include the Game Show Network, Oxygen’s My Crazy Love, National Geographic’s Brain Games, and an unaired pilot for Vice Media called Emergency Black Meeting. His work has been featured in numerous festivals including San Francisco Sketchfest, Brooklyn Pride, Gotham Storytelling Festival and the Women in Comedy Festival. In addition, you may have heard him on Sirius XM or on the popular podcasts RISK!, Guys We F*cked, Las Culturistas, and Keith and the Girl. In 2017, Calvin was named one of Time Out New York’s Queer Comics of Color to Watch Out For. In 2021, Calvin contributed to Kweendom, an anthology of essays written by queer comedians.
Hailing from North Carolina, Anthony D. Oakes is a District of Columbia resident who is taking the comedy scene by storm. He is the winner of the 2021 DC Mayor’s Arts Award for Excellence in Performance. Anthony was a participant in the 2021 DC Comedy Festival and 2021 Sixth City Comedy Festivals, and 2021 Memphis Urban Laughs Festival.
For the past eight years, Lois Thompson has produced and hosted Blacklight Comedy Show at The Brooklyn Moon. Always an all-female line-up, Blacklight has become a must-do stage for NYC and visiting comedians alike. Since 2016, she has also produced the comedy portion of the Brooklyn Pride Celebration. When she not busy finding funny people, Lois helps people find their place in the world of real estate where she is a top-producing veteran of 18 years.
Elsa Eli Waithe is a Comedian, Actor, and Motivational Speaker from Norfolk, Virginia. She’s won the Virginia Beach Funnybone’s Clash of the Comics three times, has been featured on This American Life, and is a recurring guest on TELL.