TriVersity Talk! is a weekly web series with featured guests discussing their lives, activism and pressing issues in the LGBTQ Community. With TriVersity Talk! the goal is to laugh and learn.
TriVersity Talk! Is part of TriVersity’s ICARE Initiative. ICARE stands for Increasing Community Awareness through Relevant Education. ICARE Programs are generously funded by The Greater Pike Community Foundation.
Ike Avelli
Ike Avelli began his career in 2009 as a ‘last minute’ fill in at a Christmas Party doing Stand Up comedy. The sound of laughter sealed the deal, and he would continue to write/perform his own material. Some of his idols are Joan Rivers, Sandra Bernhard, Rodney Dangerfield, Whoopi Goldberg, Tracey Ullman and Chelsea Handler.
Since 2009, he has performed at many venues around the U.S.: Las Vegas, NV; NYC; Atlantic City, NJ; Windsor, CT; Philadelphia, PA; Hollywood, FL to name a few.
He is a supporter of the LGBT Community and has performed for LIFEbeat (lifebeat.org), The Imperial Court of NY (ICNY.org), and Gay Men’s Health Crisis (gmhc.org).
He has appeared on many talk/radio shows. Ike also co-hosted on the #1 Show on Wildfire Radio “The Idiots” from 2017 to 2018 and has appeared in the LGBT publications of GET OUT (Cover Story) and NEXT Magazine. In 2021 Ike and Tym Moss host a podcast called “Loose Lips” and has caught a buzz in the U.S. and internationally.
Since 2013, Ike Wrote, Produced and Starred in 11 original shows “I’ve Slept My Way To The Top….Twice”(2013) , “Ike Avelli Is Coming To Town” (2014) , “50 Shades of Gay” (2015), “Love On A DEAD END Street” (2016) , “I Thought I Would Be Dead By Now” (2016), “You’re A Mean One, Ike Avelli” (2016) , “The Book Of Ike” (2017), “Ike Avelli’s Day Off” (2018) , “Dear Santa, Define Good. Love, Ike” (2018) and “Lube: A Gay-sical” (2019) in different cities and all shows were PACKED HOUSES! He co-hosted “Un-Talented Tuesday’s” with Viki Villainess for a 4-week limited engagement in the spring of 2018. Created “LIVE! In Bed With Ike Avelli on Zoom during the 2020 Pandemic for 14 weeks.
“50 Shades of Gay was a hit in NYC during PRIDE and SOLD-OUT Bally’s in Atlantic City in 2019. It was also part of the 2017-2019 Rochester Fringe Festival and SOLD OUT all four nights. The Huffington Post called it “the performance of the summer”, while hailing Ike Avelli as the “mastermind of creativity”.
Ike wrote his first book entitled, ‘A Year In The Life Of Ike Avelli…And It Ain’t Pretty”, a diary of the year 2017 and was listed in the Top 20 new releases on Amazon.com.
He was nominated for the 2013/2015 Glam Award for Best Comedy Performer.
Winner of the Get Out Magazine LGBT 2014 Comedian of the Year.
Winner of the 2018 Providence Fringe Award for 50 Shades of Gay.
Meet Sugar B. Real Empress XXX & XXXV of the Imperial Court of New York.
“I became involved in the LGBT community back in the late ’80s while we were still in the height of the AIDS pandemic, I would visit patients at St. Vincent hospital, people that I know, and many that I did not but quickly became very important to me. Sadly, many of my old and new friends did not survive this horrible disease. A few years later, another friend suggested that I join him on Tuesday nights at God’s Love We Deliver. So off I went every Tuesday to help prep the food that was to be prepared for delivery the next day. I did this for 5 years and loved it. GLWD still holds my heart. I also did the Aids Ride from New York to Boston, and yes, I rode on a bike every mile of those 300+ miles, Exhilarating!”
“I was then introduced to ICNY, I went from wearing a hairnet to a crown and it was all to raise money for the community, I found my happy place. After working within the organization for 9 years, I am proud to say that I was elected Empress XXX. Proud because I was the X-first Sys Woman, X- First Woman of Color, and X-First Ally to be elected as empress. You can say I broke the ceiling.”
“After having a successful reign, stepping down, and staying strong within the organization and the community – we here hit with a second pandemic. I felt that the ICNY needed to stand strong and continue raising money for our most vulnerable within the community. So, I decided to run again, and for a second time, our members elected me to be Empress XXXV. I will be stepping down once again in a few weeks, but I am proud of what I have accomplished in these unprecedented times. The Imperial Court was created in a pandemic and this pandemic was not going to stop us.”
“I am proud to say that The Imperial Court has been my family for the past 16 years, and as long as our mission remains the same, supporting the LGBT community, a community that has embraced this Ally, I will remain.”
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