California's LGBTQ Media Source! * PRINT * DIGITAL * WEB * SOCIAL MEDIA * EVENTS *

John Halbach and Kit Williamson are men on the go! The couple are actors, internet entrepreneurs and husbands, best known as the producers and stars of the Emmy-nominated LGBT web series EastSiders – a dark comedy about a gay couple and their friends trying to stay together through drunken outbursts, double standards and dirty deeds. The series is set against the backdrop of LA’s gay East Side, with its hip millennial population struggling to navigate life, love and making the rent. EastSiders Season 3 is fresh off the Palm Springs LGBT Film Festival, where it wowed audiences as the Closing Night Feature Director’s Choice. In Season Three of the popular Netflix LGBT TV Series, Cal (Kit Williamson) and Thom (Van Hansis) hit the road with a Winnebago to move back to the West Coast. All our favorites, including Constance Wu, Willam Beli, and Traci Lords are back. The road trip was shot on location in New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Minnesota, Wisconsin, Iowa, South Dakota, Wyoming, Montana, Idaho, Oregon, Nevada and Palm Springs, California.

John (Ian) has been seen in the Stage17 series “Wallflowers” and in the feature film “Such Good People.” He made his New York theatre debut in the Roundabout’s Broadway revival of “Tartuffe”. Other credits include: CollaborationTown’s “The Deepest Play Ever,” “Children at Play” (for which he was nominated for the NYIT Award for Outstanding Actor) and the NY Fringe hit “John and Greg’s High School Reunion” (which he also co-wrote). With an advertising agency background, Halbach’s clients have included: Fun Home, The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time, Disney on Ice, Disney Live, Marvel Universe Live, Rituals Skincare, Chef Chris Santos, The Empire Hotel, Fusion TV and The History Channel.

Kit (Cal) who played copywriter Ed Gifford on “Mad Men,” began his career on Broadway, in the Tony-Nominated revival of “Talk Radio.” Other credits include the hit Maker Studios web series “Hipsterhood,” “Bosch” (Amazon), “Anatomy of Deception” (Lifetime), “Public Morals,” “Numb3rs,” “Death Valley,” and Best Friends Forever, from director Brea Grant, which premiered at Slamdance. In addition to writing and directing EastSiders, Kit has sold television pilots to CBS, Awesomeness TV and Super Deluxe, and has an unscripted development deal at Authentic Entertainment. Williamson is also a travel writer and LGBT rights activist.

The couple met more than a decade ago in New York City, where they both performed on Broadway before making the move together to the west coast. The couple now reside in Silver Lake with their cat Albee. In their latest project, ‘GO,’ an LGBT lifestyle blog, the duo document their adventures as a newlywed couple with daily posts focusing on travel, interior design, men’s style, fitness and wellness.

5GED Magazine was able to sit down with the handsome husbands to chat about EastSiders, travel, pride and Tae Kwon Do.

GED Magazine is all about going OUT. Tell us about your new blog “GO” and how you see it influencing the LGBT community.

KIT: Where Gentlemen Go, is a showcase for people, places, and things that we love. It is an expanded Instagram feed, with three points of focus: Go Home, Go Out, and Go For It.

JOHN: We are excited to start sharing a few of our favorite things with you, from stories about our honeymoon to travel tips to a behind the scenes look at redesigning our apartment! From traveling to Vienna to attend Life Ball, the world’s largest HIV/AIDS charity event, to driving our vintage camper trailer up Pacific Coast Highway, we are passionate about exploring the globe together, and we will showcase both luxury and budget experiences, globally and locally. We are also both committed to both fitness and wellness as a way of life, and we’re constantly searching for ways to better ourselves and improve our overall health. We want to do more than just document our Crossfit routine – we want to explore unique approaches to expanding the idea of what it means to stay healthy, from cooking vegetarian recipes to taking rock climbing classes.

GED: Home design is always fun!

JOHN: We recently collaborated with Home Polish Magazine and designer Orlando Soria to overhaul our Silver Lake home. The process will be documented on the blog, and it should be fun.

GED: Where (outside of Palm Springs of course), is one of your favorite travel destinations and why?

JOHN: This summer we took our first trip to Europe for our honeymoon and we are hooked, we cannot wait to get back. We were able to check Vienna, Prague, Berlin, Amsterdam, and Paris off our list, but we have still got so much more to see.

KIT: Vienna really stood out for me. There is so much history and culture there, it was an amazing jumping off point to explore the rest of Europe, and attending Life Ball was one of the most amazing experiences we have ever had.

GED: As husbands, we will assume that same sex marriage was, and is, a key topic for you. What are your thoughts on the LGBT community’s vigilance in fighting for equality? On the lighter side, how did you propose?

KIT: We are so grateful for everyone who fought to make marriage equality a reality. It’s not something we assumed we would see in our lifetime and it’s not something we take for granted. Our wedding was such a once in a lifetime, special experience. We’ll never have that group of friends and family together like that again, and we’ll always cherish those memories.

JOHN: I proposed to Kit the second time we moved across the country together. When we moved back to New York a couple years ago, I got out there before him. We had a few months of long distance, flying back and forth, and I knew when we were finally reunited at the end of that I wanted to make it official.

KIT: It was very romantic—I walked up to our apartment in Queens and noticed candles in the window. John greeted me at the door with a glass of champagne. There were candles everywhere and I almost didn’t notice the lit up sign saying, “Will you marry me.”

10-1GED: Tell us a little more about Season 3 of EastSiders…what can viewers expect?  Any good surprises? Any adventures in Palm Springs?

KIT: Season 3 of EastSiders is mostly a road trip following Cal and Thom as they drive across the country from New York back to Los Angeles. We shot it on location in 16 states last fall as we actually made the move from New York back to Los Angeles ourselves.

JOHN: There is also a special episode featuring Stephen Guarino and Willam’s characters that takes place entirely in Palm Springs when their car breaks down on the way to a drag gig in Cathedral City. We will also get to check in and see what happens when Constance Wu’s character Kathy, gets back to Silver Lake.

GED: With Palm Springs Pride coming up, describe your thoughts on the importance of pride events – and has it increased or decreased for you in recent years?

JOHN: I briefly wondered if Pride events were going to seem less important after marriage equality became the law of the land, but as the years have gone by, and certainly, under this presidency, they now seem more important than ever. It is imperative that we get out there, make our voices heard, and celebrate being a part of the LGBTQ family!

GED: You both are so talented – it is hard to image one, but I always say that ‘everyone has hidden talent’ – what are yours?

KIT: Well, John is an amazing singer. That is not exactly a hidden talent, but I think many people don’t know about it.

JOHN: Kit is actually a black belt in Tae Kwon Do.

KIT: Well, I got my black belt when I was sixteen and haven’t done it since then, but sure.

GED: EastSiders hit Cinema Diverse LGBT Film Fest – what is next on the horizon?

KIT: EastSiders is going to continue to play festivals like Reeling Chicago and Newfest in New York before coming out on digital and DVD on November 28th!  There are some more announcements coming soon, so stay tuned!

You can follow John, Kit and EastSiders on Instagram and Twitter @KitWilliamson, @JohnHalbach and @EastSidersTV; and at Facebook.com/eastsiderstheseries.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published.