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About Just out. (Portland, OR) 1983-2013 | View Entire Issue (Nov. 15, 2002)
novembflf 15, 2002 PEOPLE m mm m mm mm ............. ▼............... Funny g irl Kate Clinton thinks you could use a laugh by F loyd S klavkr t’s not easy interviewing Kate Clinton. While the pioneering “fumorist” (feminist humorist) is wann, down to earth and engaging, even offering me a cup of coffee over the phone, she has me laughing so hard during our conversation 1 can hardly type. So if 1 misquote you, Kate, it’s your own damn fault. On Nov. 16 Portland audiences will get a chance to experience for themselves the “old est living, continuously performing, out lesbian author/humorist in North America.” (“Over 10 million served!" she adds.) Clinton describes her new show, You Look Like You Could Use a Laugh, as being “a news paper, really. Local news, international news, sports, media, entertainment, critiques.” And, of course, a favorite comic, the original dyke to watch out for. She calls it her own News from Les-Wobegon. As the first openly gay standup comedian, Clinton is unabashedly political. Early influences include 1970s feminist theorists Mary Daly and Adrienne Rich, who gave her “a philosophical base and gtxxl grounding in why I do what I do. Not a lot of one-liners, but they gave me an understanding of feminism I needed.” Since her first club date in 1981 ( “the same year Ronald Reagan began his comedy”) C lin ton has always talked about being a lesbian. “I had no idea it was bad to talk about,” she remi nisces, “until I went to the Improv and was told I couldn’t talk about it.” Her experiences then were similar to those of Ellen DeGeneres today. “1 would love Ellen DeGeneres’ take on going into a lesbian bar,” she com ments, hut “you are seeing someone who is very much a corporate commodity, and the networks don’t want to lose their audience. In every audience [for Ellen’s perfor mances] there are people from the local affiliate, and they don’t want to be scared off. That, unfortunately, is the reality of putting a show on network TV.” Yet, after 20 years of standup comedy, straight appreciation of C linton’s act is flour ishing. Despite the lesbian content, more and more heterosexuals have been coming to her show. In fact, she performed in Florida before the 2000 election was decided and felt “that the blue hairs-were completely relieved during the gay material and very nervous during the political stuff.” Lately, she’s been getting a similar reaction when she talks about being.for peace. “I feel the same nervousness in the audience,” she divulges, “as when I first started talking about gay issues.” As a fumorist (and voracious magazine reader), Clinton is Catch up on your current events attuned to political trends, riffing with Kate Clinton on Nov. 16 on the Democratic Party’s need to inspire its base. “They’re not ener at Aladdin Theater gized,” she exclaims, “because they’re trying this very centrist legacy of C lin Clinton also believes “the truest thing is ton crap. Democrats don’t often the funniest” and is a keen observer of know how to take their everything that’s going on around her. “I’m the person at dinner writing things down.” own side in a fight; they don’t have an attack hone She makes a point of writing every day and in their body, and the sometimes even uses the new material the Republicans love a fight.” same night. W hen I mention that a Furthermore, she allows her audiences’ Democratic strategist like reactions to guide the material. “I’ve been saying James Carville was missing that with all the corporate scandals in the news from this election, she the only happy group is the Catholic Church doesn’t miss a beat. “James because they’re not on the front page. One night Carville goes home to his I said that they were below the fold, meaning the Republican wife. W hat is bottom half of the paper. The audience loved it, with them? What do they and I hadn’t even realized it was funny.” drink at night?” Clinton continues: “The audiences are co- conspirators. They help make an idea grow f S: or Clinton the purpose of because 1 hear them hear things in ways I never meant.” * comedy is to make people think. ‘Comedy can carry For instance, people bring ideas up to her the weight of heavy topics, after the show. “They will say they thought 1 but serious material can’t was going to say something different. You’d handle the weight of light never go up to a singer after a performance topics,” she explains. Not sur and say, ‘I thought you were going to sing a prisingly, among her favorite different song.’ ” peers is Jon Stewart, host of She also turns to her partner, activist Urvashi Vaid, for inspiration. “Urvashi is the topical Daily Show. always saying, ‘Don’t say that,’ and then I know I’m on to something.” Clinton calls their 15-year relationship “a marriage of comedy and tragedy. Sometimes I’m not sure which I am.” Like most long-term couples, they influence each others’ careers. Urvashi has “learned to laugh,” Clinton says, “and I’ve gotten a lot more content. I think she runs tapes at night that make her smart. She has a wide range of interest and historical perspective.” After living briefly in Provincetown, Mass., Clinton and Vaid returned to New York City, where both are highly sought-after speakers. The comedian notes the relocation was neces sary because Vaid “needs to be in a city, and New York has enough people to boss around.” Despite the jokes, it’s clear Clinton has a tremendous affection and respect for her part ner. Although hesitant to talk about the rela tionship because “we don’t want to jinx it,” she does admit to having some “fabulous fights,” which she calls refreshing after growing up in a house where “if you had an emotion you had to go to your room.” At this point, the couple have no plans for kids of their own, either. “I love children,” Clinton says, “but I know enough not to have them. I would be reading a book and forget about them in the bathtub. I just became a great-aunt, however, which I told them is redundant." For Clinton, being gay is all about free dom— “the freedom to figure out exactly what you want to do. I think that’s what straight people are jealous about. And I think gay peo ple have an enormous responsibility to have a gtxxl time.” I ask her who would play her in the movie. You know, The Kate Clinton Story. “I hope it’s not Tyne Daly,” she laughs, then suggests Kaye Ballard instead. “I made a joke once about the Statue of Liberty being modeled after Kaye Ballard. Two gay men got the joke and burst out laughing; the lesbians missed it. In fact, I did a joke once that involved the word ‘brisket,’ and I laughed so hard at it myself I could hardly see. Finally my manager told me that I was the only one who laughed.” If my conversation with her is any indica tion, there’s no danger of that happening to her Portland audience. jn K ate C linton is on stage 8 p.m . Nov. 16 at Aladdin Theater, 3017 S.E . Milwaukee Ave. Tickets are $25 from the box office or Ticketmaster. F loyd S klaver is a free-lan cer writer w ho has a strange, yet com pelling, attraction to lesbian com edians. egon Camera D ignified P et S ervices Everything Photographic Cremation & Memorials F or Your Companion W e have a knowledgeable, friendly staff helping vou find the right cam era, binoculars, or p ho tograph ic accessories. • Unique. CumQfio^ Utus • pWoitia?, Jeu/eliiy • Pexsonadized Casteels • Gxanite. MoKUne-ids • Koofes 6 LiteAatufce. 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