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About Just out. (Portland, OR) 1983-2013 | View Entire Issue (April 18, 2003)
apri 1B.2ÛÛ3 » PEOPLE ............... ▼............... uzanne Westenhoefer is a groundbreaker. She is the first comic to do openly lesbian material on Comedy Central, Evening at the Improv and Caroline's Com edy Hour and to have her own H BO special. Last month she took the out-and-loud act to David Letter- man’s stage. Her 2001 show in Portland sold out, and it’s no surprise why. She’s really funny— probably the funniest comic I’ve ever seen. But somehow, our interview turned to some pretty deep, heavy topics. Kathy Beige: Tell me all about Letterman. Suzanne Westenhoefer: It was amazing.... It was more work to do that five-minute stint than it is to do four months of shows. KB: How so? SW : 1 do a 90-m inute show. And I’ve probably done seven different ones over the course of about 10 years. I had to go through all that material and try to find sort of a mainstreamy lesbian.... I was allowed to he out. I wasn’t going to be on if I wasn’t allowed to he out. Suzanne Is back in lawn G ro u n d b re a k in g lesb ian , c o m ic te lls a ll...a n d th e n so m e by K ath y because 1 never had to focus on him. 1 didn’t have to worry, "W hat was Dave thinking?” Because he’s notorious for being standoffish. So maybe for us it worked. KB: You’ve said before that your dream job would be to have Letterman’s job. So he wasn’t there, how tempting was it to .... SW : I did it! I sat in the chair and was like, “Meryl Streep, so, your latest m ovie....” I would bring Martina on all week. KB: Has it opened any new doors? SW : It’s kind of hard to gauge that. And, of B elge course, we went to war right after— 24 hours later. It’s hard to he all excited. W hat’s interesting is the first big thing that ever happened to me— I had only been doing standup about five or six months, and I got asked to be on the Sally Jessy Raphael show in January of 1991. “Lesbians W ho Don’t Look Like Lesbians.” ...S h e introduced me as a lesbian standup com edian.... They started contacting her to find me. It was just like off the charts. And, literally, we went to war with Saddam Hussein like 24 hours later. We attacked Iraq. Isn’t that bizarre? Two of the big milestones of my career, and a Bush goes into Iraq and attacks. There’s something creepy about it. Do Suzanne Westenhoefer’« shows cause military conflict? The dyke diva is in Portland on April 25 and Eugene on April 26. KB: OK, let’s change the topic here. SW: This is so funny, isn’t it? We’re cutting into all these intense, heavy topics. So much for the comedy interview. KB: Do you still love your job? SW: I love my job! You have no idea. I have the greatest job in the world.... Look at what I get to do for a living. I go around, I make people laugh, I get paid. Yo! S uzanne W estenhoefer promises not to annoy you unless you heckle her. She appears 8 p.m . April 25 at Portland’s Aladdin Theater, 3017 S .E . Milwaukie A ve. Tickets are $25 from the box office, It’s My Pleasure or Ticketmaster. She travels to Eugene for an 8 p.m . show April 26 at the Hull Center, I Eugene Center. Tickets are $25 from the box office or 541'682-5000. KB: So, were you disap pointed that Dave wasn’t there and there was a guest host? SW : For me it was better KATHY B elge is a Portland free-lance writer. TransFamilies Triangle R ecr£,n+*nn For the Family & Friends of Transgender People Cam Saturday, April 2 6 ,1pm M eets at First Congregational United Church of Christ 1126 SW Park Ave., Across from the A rt M useum , 503-228-7219 NOW OPEN! 40 ACRES OF MOUNTAIN CAMPING FOR GAY AND LESBIAN MEMBERS ONLY. HELP US SPREAD THE WORD! TransFamilies is not affiliated with any other organization Located one hour north of Seattle on a National Scenic Byway in the beautiful Cascade Mountains Sexy G ifts - E x c it in g I d e a s and U n iq u e A p p a r a t u s Limited membership C orner o f Sandy Blvd. ft NE 64th 3 1 0 6 NE 64th Portland, O ft 9 7 2 1 3 $150 per year (unlimited cam ping) KB: Why Planned Parenthood, as a lesbian? SW : The biggest reason is that I got preg nant when I was 16, and I aborted a child. I know what it feels like to be poor, pregnant and 16 and scared. Had I known about Planned Parenthood and gotten the pill, it wouldn’t have even had to happen. I also think the abortion issue is a class issue and a race issue because rich white women will always be able to get abortions.... I really like an organization that’s so pro-woman, too. I’m a lesbian girl, and I’m not going to get pregnant. I don’t even have a uterus anymore, but it’s such a female issue— to be able to control whether or not you want to bring children into the world. KB: What do you do for fun when you’re not working? SW: N ew York Times crossword puzzle in ink, including the Sunday, thank you. It’s my obsession. I do yoga.... And I annoy my girl friend... 10 1/2 years and I still annoy her. J H KB: You were the first out lesbian act on Letterman? SW : They never had a gay guy either. Regular membership KB: When was that? SW: 1982. Then AIDS came, and I moved to New York, and I marched with A C T UP. I marched in the first Queer Nation march when they split up from A C T UP. I’ve always been a very vocal and financial supporter of Planned Parenthood and other pro-choice organizations. KB: Last time you were here in Portland was right after 9/11; now we’re at war. How does this change your act? SW : I don’t think it does because I’m not political. I myself am political, extremely, and I’m an activist, hut my standup is so, you and me, let’s talk about my girlfriend.... 1 don’t base my act on MSNBC. KB: So how’d you choose the material? SW : T he hardest part was, how are we going to start? ...Because you can ’t come out and say, “I’m a lesbian. My dog__ ” So it was really tricky. Finally, the guy who hires the comics, he and I just came upon it. If you’ve ever seen me, you know that a whole lot of what I do is about A nnie and I. So why not just go out as if I were a girl in a 10 1/2- year relationship, which I am, and talk like 1 would at any show? We had a lot of stuff like, is she going to say “dyke”? But in the end, the Letterman people let me do it, and I’m just really excited because, no matter what, we’re not going to go hack now. T h a t’s one little door broken down, and that’s all that matters. $15 per night KB: You say you’re politically active. With what? SW: I have always been an activist. I start ed out starting a gay group on my campus.... God that was hard! ...A small college in northwestern Pennsylvania called Clarion. We got picketed. The Christians went nuts. I got gay-bashed.... It was crazy. Q A rta /WWW 503 280 8080 □ O D lD la lD W K j Learn to Dance Cfca C h o Country Sw in e W alts Fostrot 903 - 236-5129
