Fausto Fernós
Encyclopedia
Fausto Fernós is an openly gay Puerto Rican
podcast
er, performance art
ist, and drag performer
. He originated and co-hosts the Feast of Fun, an award-winning daily comedy talk show, with his partner Marc Felion. They were the first openly gay couple to win a People's Choice Podcast Award
, which they have won four times (2006, 2007, 2008, 2009). Fernós currently resides in Chicago
, Illinois
.
. Fernós was featured at age of 10 in the cooking section of El Nuevo Dia
newspaper about being one the youngest boys studying the confectionery arts in Puerto Rico. The article focused mostly on the fact he and his sister Talia Fernós were being homeschooled by their mother.
at the age of 16 in 1989. There he studied performance art with Linda Montano
. One of his class projects became a long running performance art experiment, SoftMen, a weekly improvised soap opera which involved fellow performers Chris Rincón and Andrew Johnson performing all the roles simultaneously, in the tradition of plays like The Mystery of Irma Vep
.
In 1992 he began organizing musically oriented variety shows. They were originally titled Big Wig Revue. While the name suggested traditional cabaret, the goal was to redefine the genre.
In 1993 he started the performance art collective Performance Art Church, better known by its abbreviation Pe.A.Ch., with artists Kerthy Fix, Sheelah Murthy, Diana García, Scott Alton Dulaney and Carol Gilson. Most of their shows were short performances hosted by one of the performers tied around a central topic or theme. One show was a tribute to Lawrence Welk
, while another was a discussion on the Superhero/Comic book genre.
Fernós started the Feast of Fools in Chicago in the spring of 1998 with the Chicago Radical Faeries
as a fundraiser for the struggling Randolph Street Gallery.
In 2004, Fausto Fernós turned to audio and video blogging as a way to promote his unusual live musical variety shows. On February 8, 2005 the first Feast of Fools podcast was posted on his LiveJournal blog, FaustoFun. Within several weeks of posting shows, the audience for the online show grew beyond the size of the local Chicago audience. In 2009, the name of the show was changed from Feast of Fools to Feast of Fun to better reflect changes in the program's design and functionality.
Along with his partner Marc Felion, Fernós currently hosts the Feast of Fun podcast, one of the top rated talk show for a LGBTQI audiences on iTunes.
Puerto Rico
Puerto Rico , officially the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico , is an unincorporated territory of the United States, located in the northeastern Caribbean, east of the Dominican Republic and west of both the United States Virgin Islands and the British Virgin Islands.Puerto Rico comprises an...
podcast
Podcast
A podcast is a series of digital media files that are released episodically and often downloaded through web syndication...
er, performance art
Performance art
In art, performance art is a performance presented to an audience, traditionally interdisciplinary. Performance may be either scripted or unscripted, random or carefully orchestrated; spontaneous or otherwise carefully planned with or without audience participation. The performance can be live or...
ist, and drag performer
Drag queen
A drag queen is a man who dresses, and usually acts, like a caricature woman often for the purpose of entertaining. There are many kinds of drag artists and they vary greatly, from professionals who have starred in films to people who just try it once. Drag queens also vary by class and culture and...
. He originated and co-hosts the Feast of Fun, an award-winning daily comedy talk show, with his partner Marc Felion. They were the first openly gay couple to win a People's Choice Podcast Award
Podcast Awards
The People's Choice Podcast Awards, better known as the Podcast Awards, are an annual set of awards given to the best podcasts as voted by the people...
, which they have won four times (2006, 2007, 2008, 2009). Fernós currently resides in Chicago
Chicago
Chicago is the largest city in the US state of Illinois. With nearly 2.7 million residents, it is the most populous city in the Midwestern United States and the third most populous in the US, after New York City and Los Angeles...
, Illinois
Illinois
Illinois is the fifth-most populous state of the United States of America, and is often noted for being a microcosm of the entire country. With Chicago in the northeast, small industrial cities and great agricultural productivity in central and northern Illinois, and natural resources like coal,...
.
Early life
Fausto Fernós was born in Santurce, Puerto Rico, in 1972. He is the son of Puerto Rican architect Gonzalo Fernós-Lopez and of the educator Patricia Fernós and is related to the first Puerto Rican cardiologist and its longest serving resident commissioner Antonio Fernós-IsernAntonio Fernós-Isern
Dr. Antonio Fernós-Isern was the first Puerto Rican cardiologist and its longest serving resident commissioner.-Early years:...
. Fernós was featured at age of 10 in the cooking section of El Nuevo Dia
El Nuevo Día
El Nuevo Día is a Puerto Rican newspaper based in Guaynabo, Puerto Rico and distributed daily throughout Puerto Rico and some parts of the United States.- History :...
newspaper about being one the youngest boys studying the confectionery arts in Puerto Rico. The article focused mostly on the fact he and his sister Talia Fernós were being homeschooled by their mother.
Career
Fernós left San Juan and enrolled at the University of Texas at AustinUniversity of Texas at Austin
The University of Texas at Austin is a state research university located in Austin, Texas, USA, and is the flagship institution of the The University of Texas System. Founded in 1883, its campus is located approximately from the Texas State Capitol in Austin...
at the age of 16 in 1989. There he studied performance art with Linda Montano
Linda Montano
Linda Mary Montano is a central figure in contemporary performance art. She was raised in a devoutly Roman Catholic household, partly Irish and partly Italian, that was surrounded by artistic activity...
. One of his class projects became a long running performance art experiment, SoftMen, a weekly improvised soap opera which involved fellow performers Chris Rincón and Andrew Johnson performing all the roles simultaneously, in the tradition of plays like The Mystery of Irma Vep
The Mystery of Irma Vep
The Mystery of Irma Vep is a play in two acts by Charles Ludlam. A penny dreadful, Irma Vep is a satire of several theatrical and film genres, including Victorian melodrama, farce and the Alfred Hitchcock film Rebecca .-Background:...
.
In 1992 he began organizing musically oriented variety shows. They were originally titled Big Wig Revue. While the name suggested traditional cabaret, the goal was to redefine the genre.
In 1993 he started the performance art collective Performance Art Church, better known by its abbreviation Pe.A.Ch., with artists Kerthy Fix, Sheelah Murthy, Diana García, Scott Alton Dulaney and Carol Gilson. Most of their shows were short performances hosted by one of the performers tied around a central topic or theme. One show was a tribute to Lawrence Welk
Lawrence Welk
Lawrence Welk was an American musician, accordionist, bandleader, and television impresario, who hosted The Lawrence Welk Show from 1955 to 1982...
, while another was a discussion on the Superhero/Comic book genre.
Fernós started the Feast of Fools in Chicago in the spring of 1998 with the Chicago Radical Faeries
Radical Faeries
The Radical Faeries are a loosely-affiliated, worldwide network and counter-cultural movement seeking to reject hetero-imitation and redefine queer identity through spirituality. The Radical Faerie movement started in the United States among gay men during the 1970s sexual and counterculture...
as a fundraiser for the struggling Randolph Street Gallery.
In 2004, Fausto Fernós turned to audio and video blogging as a way to promote his unusual live musical variety shows. On February 8, 2005 the first Feast of Fools podcast was posted on his LiveJournal blog, FaustoFun. Within several weeks of posting shows, the audience for the online show grew beyond the size of the local Chicago audience. In 2009, the name of the show was changed from Feast of Fools to Feast of Fun to better reflect changes in the program's design and functionality.
Along with his partner Marc Felion, Fernós currently hosts the Feast of Fun podcast, one of the top rated talk show for a LGBTQI audiences on iTunes.
Further reading
- Bergquist, Kathie. "Chicago 101: GLBTQ Media. The Gay Press." Chicago Reader 22 September 2006. Volume 35; Issue 52; Page 7, retrieved 29 August 2011.
- Walsh, Jim. "Poddy Mouth. Why the Feds Can't Touch Them." Chicago TribuneChicago TribuneThe Chicago Tribune is a major daily newspaper based in Chicago, Illinois, and the flagship publication of the Tribune Company. Formerly self-styled as the "World's Greatest Newspaper" , it remains the most read daily newspaper of the Chicago metropolitan area and the Great Lakes region and is...
6 July 2005. Page 7. - Feast of Fools in the Chicago Reader.