No Shame In His Game

The Hunky And Hilarious Steve Howey On Shameless, Family Life, And Not Being Afraid To Make ’em Laugh.

- John Griffiths

Swaggering into a low-key counter-service restaurant in Hollywood, Steve Howey— multi-tattooed and practically tilting at 6´ 4—sports the grin of a Zen master, devilish cowboy, and A-1 bad boy all rolled into one. So, it’s not too much of a surprise to find out over a leisurely chat on the back patio— which happens to butt up against a hipster motorcycle garage—that this longtime Shameless star has lots of interesting stories and musings in his proverbial vault. As a kid, he traveled the world on a boat. He’s riled the Twitter-verse defending society’s downtrodden with zest. And, of course, he rides a Harley—or at least did until fatherhood sunk in.

What isn’t expected is a certain admission from this San Antonio-born star. Between his raves about his co-stars and jokey swipes against e-scooters (“People ride ’em and just leave them on the sidewalk like garbage? Imagine if Uber drivers did that with cars!”), it comes up that Howey loves Lucy. “Lucille Ball acted stupid in a lot of stuff, but she was one of the smartest women out there,” he says over a cup of coffee. “Same with Don Knotts. Jackie Gleason in The Honeymooners. John Ritter. I loved how they didn’t treat their intelligence like it was paramount to everything. They sacrificed themselves for a joke. And I love that.”