Neal Medlyn is a New York City-based performance artist and musician. His works include Champagne Jerry, his reenactment of a Beyonce concert DVD, his Pop Star Series of performance pieces, and his work in the variety show, Our Hit Parade. He has appeared on Bridget Everett's Comedy Central special, in the online series People Are Detectives, and in video work by the artist Guy Richards Smit.
Early life
Medlyn attended school in Palestine, Texas and Frankston, Texas. He studied theater at Kilgore College and worked as an actor at the Texas Shakespeare Festival. He received a bachelor's degree from Stephen F. Austin State University in 1999. He has published personal essays about coming out as bisexual and about how the Gathering of the Juggalos helped him understand his Pentecostal upbringing. His video "East Texas" includes a TV clip of him winning a rap contest at the Tyler Mall as a teenager.
Career
He performed in punk and noise bands in East Texas and was part of an avant-garde music scene in Nacogdoches, Texas, before moving to Austin, Texas, in 1999. In 2000, he began performing each week at coffee shops, public parks, and hotel rooms in Austin. In 2001, he moved briefly to Berlin, Germany, and then to New York City. From 2001-2005, he performed at the downtown theaters Surf Reality and. He was named "Mr. Lower East Side" in 2003. In 2005, he had a weekly show at the Apocalypse Lounge bar, where he debuted The Lionel Richie Opera.The Lionel Richie Oper was the first of what became a seven-show series of performances, each built around a different pop star. In 2004, he co-starred with Karen Finley for a theatrical run and subsequent tour of George and Martha, in which he played George W. Bush to Finley's Martha Stewart. In 2005, Medlyn became a regular in the show Automatic Vaudeville at Ars Nova, performing alongside VIDS, Lin-Manuel Miranda, and Billy Eichner, and the show hosts, Bridget Everett and Kenny Mellman. Medlyn was cast as a dancer by Adrienne Truscott in they will use the highways in 2000 and appeared in three dances choreographed by David Neumann, including "feedforward". He designed sound for Miguel Gutierrez, winning a 2010 Bessie Award as part of the creative team for Gutierrez's "Last Meadow".
Medlyn was one of the co-founders and co-hosts of Our Hit Parade, a monthly top-ten pop music countdown show which ran for five years at Joe's Pub. In 2011, it was named one of Best Cabaret Shows by Time Out New York.
''The Pop Star Series''
'The Pop Star Series' comprises seven performance pieces:
The series was presented as part of the American Realness Festival in 2015 and as part of the Live Art Festival at Kampnagel in Hamburg Germany in 2014. In 2015, 53rd State Press published a coffee-table book featuring photos and text of the shows.
Champagne Jerry
In 2013, Medlyn began performing as the rapper Champagne Jerry at venues including the Brooklyn Academy of Music, The Kitchen, New York Live Arts, Union Pool, and Pianos. Champagne Jerry was named one of the top ten best performers in New York by Time Out. He was profiled in Rolling Stone, Brooklyn Vegan, and Interview. In 2016, he appeared as the musical guest on The Chris Gethard Show on Fusion TV. Champagne Jerry's collaborators include Max Tannone, Ad-Rock ), Sophia Cleary, Farris Craddock, and Gillian Walsh, who performs as "the Ghost of Champagne Past." Champagne Jerry has produced two albums: For Real, You Guys and "The Champagne Room". He has posted several videos on YouTube, including one for "Yo Kev" that features Adam Horovitz, Murray Hill, and Bridget Everett.
Personal life
At age 18, Medlyn married and had a son. The marriage ended in divorce. In 2004, he married author Ada Calhoun, with whom he also has a son.
