Karel: An Out, Proud Life in Entertainment
“When I was 14, I wanted to be Streisand. Instead, I became Karel…”
Karel (Charles Karel Bouley) is a renaissance man: he doesn’t just do one thing in entertainment, he’s practically done it all. And while his heart may have been in the theatre, on a movie set, or in a recording studio, it was a radio studio that would ultimately catapult him to history and fame, and become a second-home to this consummate performer.
“I guess if we enter the way-back machine, the first thing I did as an entertainer was play an instrument in band, the Tuba of all things. I was the fat kid, so I was larger than most and thus, they gave me the largest instrument to play. I didn’t want to play the Tuba, it was chosen for me by my sixth grade band leader Mr. Perrone at Franklin Jr. High, Long Beach, CA. So, I went with it because I loved making music, even in bass cleft…” he laughs reminiscing.
“Next, I became an emcee, hosting my 7th Grade Talent Show, ‘Car Wash.’ But I really wanted to be Renatta Hicks, a student who sang the HELL out of ‘Inseparable’ by Natalie Cole. God she could sing at 12 or 13 years old. So I went out and bought that album, and suddenly I was hooked on R&B. I later told Natalie Cole that story and we got to sing that song together impromptu one day and I nearly died…”
“In Jr. High and High School, I also wrote for the school papers. I’ve never stopped writing, having a column out every week since 15 years old, so for the last 47 years..oh my. I also got in to Drama and became the lead in almost every production at Long Beach Poly in Long Beach, CA in 1978-1980. When I went on to Long Beach City College, I got in to Children’s theatre, stage makeup, regular theatre, and, of course, English and Journalism.”
Karel also came out in 1979 while still in High School, and became an unknowing activist by simply being himself. He would continue blazing a trail for the LGBTQ community right up to now. In fact, because of a lifetime of being out and proud in media and entertainment, Karel and his late partner Andrew Howard are featured on the wall of the Harvey Milk Memorial Plaza in Long Beach, CA. “That’s quite an honor, I almost felt like I was dead, the way they spoke of my life and career, I was like, I did all that? But I guess I did,” he laughed.
“After college I got heavily in the gay scene and began singing and doing drag at local Orange County and Long Beach, CA bars. I joined the Imperial Court and performed at and hosted many benefits and events. I choreographed numbers for myself and others. And, I began booking acts in to clubs that I wanted to see…like Sylvester in 1984. Meeting him changed everything for me. I had always sung in the bars, and in falsetto. But when I saw him, being, well, him, heard him, hung out with him all weekend, that was it. I began singing seriously and haven’t stopped.”
“I also loved photography and began taking photos of drag queens and local celebs, when I was asked to attend the Grammys with a journalist I met at the clubs. I thought he was kidding. He wasn’t. Suddenly I’m at Music’s Biggest Night, backstage, with a camera at 22 years old. And I knew then, I had to become a member, a voting member. In 1995 after releasing several Dance singles on Jellybean’s label, I joined as a voting member, and have been one for 30 years, I’m even on several panels and boards now. I crossed the velvet rope from media to artist, even if it took almost 15 years to do it.”
So emcee, host, singer, photographer, actor, comic, writer, columnist, choreographer, music video producer, talent booker…the list goes on and on. And Karel didn’t just do this on a small level. His writing led him to be an editor at Billboard, featured columnist at the HuffPost since inception asked by Arianna Huffington herself, The Advocate and most of the #1 music magazines in the world. He soon was photographing the echelon of music, with assignments that included Michael Jackson, DIana Ross, Bette Midler, Donna Summer and almost every major Pop and R&B star of the 80s and 90s. He shot every major award show, and soon began covering them for publications as author and photographer becoming a red carpet staple at every major entertainment event from Oscar to Grammy, Emmy to Image Awards. In the 2000s this would include KCBS (CBS Radio) Los Angeles as well as ABC Radio networks using him on the carpets.
Musically he recorded with Bronski from Bronski Beat; Thea Austin, from Snap! (Rhythm Is a Dancer); Jeanie Tracy (from Sylvester days and still a Dance icon), opened for Grace Jones, performed across the globe and landed at Jellybean Recordings in the 90s where Benitez wrote and produced singles for Karel.
And all of that led to radio, when as a guest on Groove Radio 103.5 Los Angeles on the Poorman show to promote a Dance single, Karel was heard by Malcolm Berman, a radio producer, and was offered his own show, “Different After Dark” in Los Angeles. He took the shot, and soon his partner, Andrew Howard, became his co-host. The two went on to Triangle Broadcasting with Good Morning Gay America heard in Palm Springs and Seattle, Washington, every morning. Then, Karel approached KFI AM 640, the #1 talk station in the country, and to his (and everyone’s) surprise, he and Andrew were hired eventually landing in the #2 spot of Afternoon Drive making them the first out gay couple in history to have a drive time radio show in a major market.
“We were on right after Dr. Laura, which Andrew and I loved. We had no idea how big KFI was, and is, or what it really meant for us to be there. We would soon find out as every network had cameras in our studio, often, and we became the rage in Los Angeles, Orange County and beyond. It was an incredible, wild ride. And suddenly, we were the #1 hosts in our timeslot with an audience of millions. It was something. We were something.”
In 2001, Andrew died unexpectedly of an undetected blood clot in his heart. Karel knew what happened was wrong and to sue; But was denied the right to do so because gays and lesbians, even Domestic Partners, weren’t allowed that right. He thought that was wrong and even though no gay organization would help him, he found an attorney, challenged the law, and won. This essentially changed the Domestic Partner law in CA and the lawsuit was allowed to proceed and ultimately settled and many other LGBTQ partners got to sue for wrongful death because of his appellate victory.
In 2003 Karel went on to ABC’s KGO AM 810, the #1 in San Francisco, after a management change at KFI left him jobless and now without Andrew. By now he was also doing live stage shows, “Karel Stands Up” and still recording singles, as well as writing for the biggest LGBTQ and music-industry publications. At KGO he was the only out gay host working in talk radio in San Francisco and stayed such for almost 14 years.
“I went from #1 to #1 which was … surreal. Because the union was full of hosts, but there truly only was one of me,” he remembered. But, I was also doing TV with Ryan Seacrest and Marc Summers by this time, “The Ultimate Revenge” for SpikeTV/TNN. It was one of the first reality practical joke shows and Woody Fraiser from the “Home” show was the Executive Director. I was scheduled for one episode, and ended up doing 15 over three seasons.
That led to “Life In Segments” for Free Speech TV, a reality chat show created by Karel and Brandon Riley Miller, a lifelong family friend. The show was groundbreaking, bringing the host out of the studio and in to the world, and ran for five seasons from 2010 to 2015.
In 2015 KGO underwent changes and Karel was again without a radio home. So, he syndicated with GCN and began the Karel Cast in 30 cities. In 2018 he made The Karel Cast a podcast and moved to Las Vegas from Long Beach CA (after 43 years) and that podcast is still going and in the Top 200 in the world quite often.
Musically, he has released 11 singles and one album, and even wrote a song for Thea Austin to sing for the Kamala Harris Presidential Campaign in 2024 called “We’re Not Going Back.”
“There’s no way in this bio we can go over every milestone, everything I’ve done. I’ve simply done too much, that will be for my third book (his first two were a collection of his columns for the HuffingtonPost and Advocate Magazine). I just sat down with the Gay Archives and we ended up doing over two hours because…well, there’s been a lot of life, a lot of career, a lot of milestones, breakthroughs, a lot of firsts…”
In 2025 Karel is gearing up to release several singles, starting with a cover of Sylvester’s “Do You Wanna Funk” again with backgrounds by Jeanie Tracy. Jeanie actually inspired Sylvester and Patrick Cowley to write that song while recording her hit “I’m Your Jeanie” so it’s a full-circle moment for them both. He is on the DEI Panel at Grammy as well as the Music Advocacy panel. He is a voting member of SAG/AFTRA as well as the Gay And Lesbian Critics Association (GALECA). He even wrote, produced, and hosted three all-star award shows for GALECA, the Dorian Awards, with the biggest stars of TV and film during the pandemic from Las Vegas. And, a devout vegan, he runs veganinvegas.com and writes the Vegan In Vegas column for Real Vegas Magazine because he just can’t stop writing (he’s even doing a book about his lifestyle change called ‘Die Healthy’).
All of that while putting together a live stage show, Karel’s Club Decades Experience, in which he’ll perform and emcee as the brightest stars from the 80s, 90 and 2000s take the stage in Las Vegas later in 2025.
Podcast, writing, music releases, producing and hosting a stage show, a tour to promote the singles, Karel Stands Up hitting the boards again…Karel hasn’t stopped being out, proud and entertaining since the 1970s. At 62 he shows no signs of slowing down.
“It’s funny, given the horrifying political climate in the USA as I speak, with that orange criminal in power, it feels more and more like the 80s all over again and that being out, proud and yourself is once again dangerous, a statement, a battle. Well, I fought them before, and won, and me and my community will do it again if we need to do it. Now, I must help my trans friends as they are getting the hatred I received not that long ago for being me. And we need entertainment now more than ever, escapism, but also, we need to laugh at what’s going on or it will kill us.”
So he didn’t become Streisand (although he’s now seen and met her) he became Karel. And that’s just what the world needed him to be: an unapologetic out, proud entertainer tackling any genre, every genre, trying it all, and succeeding.
You can listen to the Karel Cast on all streaming services, watch on youtube at youtube.com/reallykarel you can stream all his music at Spotify or Apple, and the web is full of his writing by simply using google and Charles Karel Bouley HuffingontPost or Advocate just to find a few. He maintains a column at medium.com still as well.
Music:
Singles:
Everybody Get On Up!
Turn It Up!
L.O.V.E.R.
Keep On Doing It!
Don’t Stop (with Steve Bronski)
Don’s Stop (The Factory Team/Italy)
I Am (With Jellybean and Thea Austin)
Take Your Heartache Away
Stronger Together (With Thea Austin, Morgan Mallory and Daniel Charleston)
Married Men
We’re Not Going Back (Writer)
Album:
Dance…Or Else
Television:
Multiple cable news appearances on CNN, MSNBC and Fox News and international networks BBC, RTE and more
Ultimate Revenge with Ryan Seacrest and Marc Summers (2001-2004) 15 episodes
Life In Segments (2010-2015) 60 episodes
The Dorian Awards Film (2020)
The Dorian Awards TV (2021)
The Dorian Awards Film (2022)
A Story In Every Bottle (Documentary)
Radio:
Different After Dark
Good Morning Gay America
KFI AM 640 Karel & Andrew Live
KFI AM 640 The Karel Show
KGO Newstalk 810 The Karel Cast
GCN/Syndicated The Karel Cast
Podcast The Karel Cast
Hundreds of guest appearances as a guest on radio
Writing:
Thousands of columns for independent publications since late 1970s
Columnist, Edge Magazine
Columnist, Frontiers Magazine
Editor, PowerPlay Magazine
Columnist/Photographer, R&B Report
Editor/Columnist Billboard Magazine
Featured Columnist HuffingtonPost
Featured Columnist Advocate Magazine
Contributor, Grammy Magazine
Columnist, Real Vegas Magazine
Columnist, medium.com
Live shows:
Thousands of live stage shows of “Karel Stands Up”
Host/Emcee
The Golden Satellite Awards (IPA Awards)
Hundreds of major events and benefits in the biggest of venues throughout the world.