In the last year, you might have seen out comedian, writer and actor Judy Gold on popular TV shows like “Two Broke Girls,” “Inside Amy Schumer,” “The Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt,” “Louie,” The Jim Gaffigan Show,” “Difficult People” and “Search Party.”
Despite her success, Gold, like a lot of us, is staring at the glass that was this past year and seeing it as somewhere far, far, far south of half-empty.
“[The year] 2016 was pretty dark,” she said. “Not that I’m the most positive person in the world, but I’m hoping 2017 is better than 2016 because I don’t know how it could get any worse. I can’t even believe it.”
Throughout our conversation, Gold, being the the quick-witted and socially conscious comedian she is known to be, often exploded into righteous fury and stunned exasperation about a certain bright-orange, ill-tempered, tweet-storming, reality-TV star who is going to be handed the keys to power Jan. 20. Gold, like most of us, is basking in the dim silver lining of the fact that, at presstime, the soon-to-be leader of the free world can’t find any A-list talent who wants anything to do with performing at his inauguration.
“I do love that because even Andrea Bocelli, who’s friends with him, backed out,” she said. “So yeah, too bad. You’re so anti-LGBT and who are the best performers in the world? That’s what happens when you piss off the gays. And who the hell is going to do Melania’s hair and makeup? That’s what I want to know.”
Since the election, a number of comedians have gone on record saying that they are dropping overtly political jokes from their material because of the hostile social climate in the country. Gold said she hopes that those comedians are the exception and not the rule.
“I hope not because then he wins,” Gold answered when asked if she thinks comedians are going to self-censor because of Trump. “He wants to censor the press. He says whatever the fuck comes into his stupid-ass brain. We have to listen to his shit. We should be able to say whatever we want. There should be no fear. His whole campaign is based on fear and hate. And you know what? We have voices too and we should use them.”
It’s hard to believe but there was a time, before smartphones and TMZ, when things that went down in a comedy club pretty much stayed between the performer and the audience. These days, a particularly bad, good or controversial night on stage can go uncontrollably viral by the next day.
Gold said that kind of scenario can hamper the creativity of big-name comedians.
“You just don’t know if someone is going to take a video on their phone of even just a portion of what you are saying so before the whole thought is out, it becomes a sound bite,” she said. “We used to be able to develop material in the club and people like Amy Schumer, Chris Rock and Lewis Black, people who need to go to the clubs to work out their stuff, they can’t announce they are going to be at a certain place on a certain night because people will come and videotape it. We’ve lost a sense of privacy. And there’s no etiquette anymore. It’s really sad.”
Then apparently it became time for another much-needed righteous explosion.
Hit it, Judy!
“The saddest part is this fake news shit and we’re going to have a president who believes these fake news websites and quotes them,” she said. “And then we have people who believe them. I cannot believe that we fought and fought for so many years through the AIDS crisis and marriage equality. We finally have a president who is pro-LGBT and was smart. I’m speechless. I can’t fucking believe it. I still can’t believe it. Everyone is like, ‘Get over it.’ How do you get over it?”
Some people get over it by going to a comedy club for a night of humor.
But in the back of her mind, Gold sometimes finds herself on stage wondering how anybody goes about having a good time while the world is about to go all dumpster fire.
“I walk around like, ‘Aren’t you worried? Aren’t you scared?’” she said. “I can’t believe more people aren’t angry. So many people are like, ‘Yeah, OK.’ It’s so annoying. There’s so many people I can’t even talk to. He’s so dumb. He’s just so dumb. For me personally, it’s really hard to find the funny because I’m so scared and angry. I do say he’s the only native New Yorker who has never been to therapy and he needs it more than anyone I’ve ever met. He’s dangerous. It’s hard to find the funny when you’re scared — and not scared like their fear of the Muslims and the Mexicans. I’m talking about a deeper sense of fear. This is going to affect our country and our standing in the world. I have two kids. I have a partner. I don’t have time to fucking tweet. How does he have time for these stupid rallies so that he can repeat how much he won like it’s a fucking football game and then review it on ESPN?”
Despite the impeding doom, for now, the world keeps turning and Gold is keeping herself busy with her live comedy shows, her weekly “Kill Me Now” podcast and roles on new TV shows.
“I’m going to be in the new Showtime series ‘I’m Dying Up Here,’ about standup in L.A. in the 1970s,” she said. “So that’s exciting. Hopefully I’ll be cast in more things.”
It’s always good to end on a positive note.
Judy Gold performs 8 p.m. Jan. 14 at the Rrazz Room at the Prince, 1412 Chestnut St. For more information or tickets, call 267-239-2941 or visit www.judygold.com or princetheater.org/therrazzroom.