by kevin perry
We crave action, whether it’s a high-octane movie, a meaningful gesture, or a li’l “action” in the boudoir, wink-wink. But taking action can be difficult. Confronting your boss, hitting the gym, cleaning the fridge — in all of these nightmare scenarios, the scariest step is the first step.
“I just really, honestly wrote about gay separation at 50 years old, and deciding to start again as a gay man at 50,” said comedian, artist and social media sensation Kevin James Thornton, who brings oceans of observational skills to his new book, Big Baby: On Endings, Beginnings and an Interdimensional Cat.
And it all started with two words: awk. ward. (awkward)
“Many years ago, I had written a one-man show theater piece about my religious upbringing. So I guess that was my first experiment of turning sometimes really terrible experiences into some sort of relatable stage experience. But it was during the pandemic when I just randomly experimented with telling those stories through that auto-tune filter on TikTok.
That’s when something unusual happened, because that’s such a stupid sound. But, combined with these traumatic stories, I didn’t realize how relatable it was. So many people tell me that, ‘Oh, that’s my story too. I had that exact same experience.’
But I think something about hearing it through the really dumb sounding filter and me singing through the pain, just some sort of weird magic happened and people really clicked on it.”
Understatement alert! Thornton has nearly 3 million followers/subscribers across various platforms, an achievement he simultaneously cherishes and challenges: “I value that social media explosion. It changed my whole life. It opened all these doors that weren’t opened before. But that’s such a temporary field, social media viralness.”
“I think people will be surprised that it is funny, but it’s also heartbreaking and it’s a real, full story. So I hope people are willing to go along with the ride, even if they are only used to seeing me in those 60-second bits on TikTok.”
Thornton was at a crossroads: “The past couple of years, I’ve been putting a lot of thought into what is next for me … With the social media stuff, you’re only allowed 60 seconds before you scroll to the next video. Everything has to be unbelievably succinct.”
But the hunky humorist had heaps to say, so he turned to his memoir for release: “This is an entirely different format. It’s not 60-second flashes; it’s 300 pages. I just decided to be as honest as I can. I think people will be surprised that it is funny, but it’s also heartbreaking and it’s a real, full story. So I hope people are willing to go along with the ride, even if they are only used to seeing me in those 60-second bits on TikTok.”
Big Baby is epically ambitious, spanning decades of time and delirious swaths of Thornton’s life journey. “The book is divided into two very distinct chunks,” he said. “The whole first half takes place in the ‘90s and starts with me as a young teenager in my church, just slowly starting to figure it out.
So in the beginning, it’s definitely a big coming-of-age tale with all of that religious stuff mixed in with discovering my sexuality. Then the second half flips into present day. And so all of that stuff is a foundation for the adult version of me and the things I’m navigating through life.”
Fundamentalist freakiness gave Thornton a thick skin, and he used it to guard his heart from the rigors of a marriage cut short. “I was going through a big old gay divorce while I was writing this. And my mind was, of course, consumed with that, and I had all of these really unexplored feelings, and it took over the second half of the book.”
And here’s where things get weird.
“The feelings were so fresh, I decided to really lean into my imagination, and I turned my cat into a metaphysical guide that’s helping me navigate the things I’m really unable to navigate, if that makes sense. So on the cover of the book, it says On Endings, Beginnings and an Interdimensional Cat. Because I used my cat as a very strange, imaginative metaphor for moving on in life.”
Sounds purrrfectly reasonable! But while most cats have nine lives, this one has nine careers. “I’m a painter, I’m a photographer, I’m an artist, so I’m working on a new thing, Create with Kevin. In 2026, people need a way to calm their minds and relieve the anxiety that we’re all living through,” he said.
Catharsis is the cornerstone of Thornton’s portfolio, a portfolio that just added Narrator to his already impressive list of credits: “I’m actually really excited about the audiobook. We worked really hard on it. It’s an entirely different kind of experience because I felt it as if I was reading it. I lived through it again as I’m telling it.”
Big emotions course through Big Baby; Thornton shares his wit, wisdom and whimsy with the reading audience. “One: I hope they laugh, because I try to lean into the silliness of it all as much as I can. But also, I wrote a story about starting over.
There are multiple points in the story where I find myself having to pack my bags and move to the next place and begin again. That’s such a human thing to do, and it’s a hard thing to do,” he said.
The best way to lighten the load? Let Thornton ride shotgun. Buy his book, scroll his socials, and put your funniest foot forward. Happy trails!