This year’s Jersey Pride will start off in grand fashion when the legendary Kate Clinton performs her new show “All Fracked Up” June 1 at The Stone Pony.
Clinton, a former high-school English teacher, is in her 31st year of sharing her wry, insightful and hilarious views on politics, the environment and her experiences as an out and outspoken comedian.
In addition to her constant touring, Clinton has recorded eight live CDs and two concert DVDs over the course of her career. She has also contributed columns and blogs to publications such as The Progressive, The Advocate and The Huffington Post.
Given her credentials and intellectual pedigree, we worried we had to go back to school to hold our own in a conversation with Clinton. We didn’t, but at the end of the day, we do feel smarter for having spoken with her.
PGN: Is your show at the Stone Pony a part of Jersey Pride or is it just how your schedule worked out this year? KC: It’s a happy coincidence of Pride and finally getting to Asbury Park. We thought it would be great to add with all the celebrations and everybody around. We’ll see how it goes but I’m excited. I’ve never been to Asbury Park.
PGN: What is the secret to staying inspired and sharp after more than 30 years in comedy? KC: You’re very kind. I love what I do. I love to make people laugh. It’s better than some other jobs like accountants. We need them but you don’t get really excited when you see them. I love what I do. I think it’s an exciting time to be a comedian, certainly to be a political comedian and an LGBT comedian. It’s been such a speedy ride for a liberation movement. In 45 years we’ve accomplished a lot. Really, one feeds the other. I’ve been happy to be a part of it and it certainly has inspired me.
PGN: Did your background in education influence your style as a comedian? KC: Absolutely. I was in San Francisco doing a show and I ran into a student from 30 years ago. She said, “We knew you were funny.” I said, “Did you know I was gay?” They were like, “Yeah.” I said, “How did you know?” They said, “It was the Frye boots.” But I think I’m very planned for a show. I have a lesson plan and I can go from that. I really take a 45-minute or 90-minute show very seriously and I’m very planned, and I think that’s from teaching. I don’t think I have to explain things as much as I used to in terms of gay. I would be like, I’d have to do a joke to a more mixed audience. You’d have to give a lot of background, which could kill the setup. There’s a way that people aren’t so homo-ignorant. You get to hear reactions from a crowd. I still have teacher ears and I love what I do. From teaching high-school English eight years — that was the hardest job I’ve ever had, bar none. When people say, “Wow! Sometimes you do two shows a day.” I’m like, I used to do five so this is fine. It taught me how to work hard, how to work a room, how to be prepared, how to be spontaneous, how to hear things and how to go off in a different direction, but come back. I think I respected my students. I think we’re sort of in it together. Let’s see what we think.
PGN: When you first set out to do comedy, did you want your material to be political or was that just how it evolved? KC: It’s really evolved that way. But to say back in 1981 that you were a lesbian comedian was political. It was quite political. I have been with my partner for 24 years and she is a really wonderful LGBT activist. For 24 years, at the end of every show, she’s always said, “Well, that was too long and you have to do more politics.” So I think my acceleration to do more political humor has had a home push. But you have to balance it too. I think people are inundated with political information whether they pay much attention to it or not. So in a show you really have to vary it with personal stories. I think of a show as more of a newspaper. There’s news of the day, there’s international news, there’s opinion and you can talk about arts. But you do have to vary it. Years ago, a friend who worked at a museum said you have to plan for museum fatigue. There’s a bench in a room for a particular reason. You have to give people breathers. Do knock-knock jokes for a few minutes and bring them back.
PGN: Does it surprise you that the far right is still trying to chip away at the rights of women? KC: You do wonder how far back Cher turned time. They’re zombie-like. You try to hit them with facts, they go down and then they come up. At certain points people would say, “Well that’ll do it for the right wing.” No, no, no, they keep coming at you. I think it’s a cautionary tale for the LGBT movement that when we get the vaunted federal marriage, and I think we will, that we can’t back off. I think that there were achievements in the women’s movement and we thought they were pretty much set in stone and they’re not. I worry that we get federal marriage and major donations will drop. People will think, We got it. Now we’re good to go. I’m going on a cruise. To younger people, marriage is not really their issue. Their issues are homelessness, HIV, violence and bullying. On the other end, we have elder gay people who are isolated and separated in nursing homes and a partner dies and the family comes in and takes everything. So when we get gay marriage, we still have a lot of work to do. And I do watch the continued assaults on women’s rights in this country and to me it all means they have nothing else. They have no plan. It’s like, “Let’s go after the girls again. That seemed to work.”
PGN: In your new show you touch on the environment. Do you think we as Americans have a short attention span when it comes to environmental issues? KC: I really do, and I think that the argument about whether or not there is global warming is passé. It’s here. We just had snow in October and that was it. It’s staggering. It’s here already. I come from upstate New York where the fracking thing is really up in everybody’s face.
PGN: We also seemed to have forgotten about the Gulf of Mexico, like everything that happened down there is all good now. KC: And BP actually says that 86 percent of the oil evaporated. Really? Jump back! I always say, “Yeah, but it’s raining heating oil in Detroit.” We do need a shift in energy policy but I’m more interested in wind and solar power. But I don’t think there is a question of “is there” or “what if.” It’s here. PGN: Now that the Republicans have decided on a candidate, do you think there will be a reduction in the level of crazy we’re seeing in the 2012 presidential campaign? KC: I think we’re going to see a lot more crazy. [U.S. Sen. Richard] Luger — a man I had a modicum of respect for — in Indiana got kicked out by the Tea Party. I’d like to see the Occupy people get more involved in electoral politics. I think the crazies are there, maybe not as condensed and easy to find as they were during the debates, but they are definitely out there. I think [Mitt] Romney is madly going to be scuttling toward the middle.
PGN: Why do you think news and talking-head shows about politics are so interested in what comedians have to say? KC: I’ve always felt that the medium of comedy allows you to say things other people can’t say in a serious way: Whether you are making fun of it or mocking it, you’re still getting the information out there. I think there’s a way that we have the freedom to say things that more serious news people can’t do. I think that there’s a way that comedy has a tendency to condense and get to the point. We have a lot of commentators 24/7 but there’s a way that comedy can really condense the point and it’s important to do that. There’s an element of surprise. A good one-liner is like a good line of poetry. It can go many ways. Sometime when I say things in a show people laugh at the same time but for different reasons. In some ways, I think comedy is much more democratic than people telling you what to think. It’s conclusive in one way but I never know what people are concluding. There’s a kind of condensed democracy about comedy. If I can give a line that people will repeat to people who might not agree with them, I feel like I’ve done my job. It’s not what I aim for, but mocking is good.
WomenTwoWomen Productions present Kate Clinton 8:30 p.m. June 1 at The Stone Pony, 913 Ocean Ave., Asbury Park, N.J. A portion of the show’s proceeds will be donated to help support New Jersey’s homeless LGBTQ youth. For more information or tickets, call 973-907-6059 or visit www.womentwowomen.org or www.kateclinton.com.