Born in 1964, Vellekoop was the youngest of four children of Dutch immigrants who were members of a strict Calvinist sect, the Christian Reformed Church. While the family was loving and encouraged the children’s interest in the arts, Vellekoop’s parents were also strict observers of a religion that had no tolerance for homosexuality. Vellekoop struggled with his sexuality but found a welcoming gay community when he was in college. Nonetheless, he had to contend with the AIDS crisis, unhealthy relationships, a violent attack, and depression, finally turning to psychotherapy to untangle the many contradictory threads of his life. As he tells his own story, Vellekoop draws on the culture he grew up in and the things he loved as a child; the title of the book is taken from The Carol Burnett Show, one of Vellekoop’s childhood favorites.
Drawn & Quarterly published Vellekoop’s earlier books “Vellevision”: A Cocktail of Comics and Pictures and A Nut at the Opera, and Koyama Press published The World of Gloria Badcock.
