BY AMY WOOTEN
A quarter century has passed since comedian Kate Clinton has introduced her hilarious brand of humor activism. This political humorist has charmed audiences with her wit though 10 presidential inaugurals; wartime; peacetime; economic crisis and booms; and the ever-changing landscape of the queer community.
Clinton will be in town for the Gay Games to perform during the Opening Ceremony July 15, and bring her 'It's Come to This!' anniversary tour to the Park West on July 17, hosted by the Human Rights Campaign, www.hrc.org .
Windy City Times: So, you are gearing up to head to Chicago for Gay Games. How does it feel to be a part of that?
Kate Clinton: It's amazing, you know, from somebody who grew up before Title IX and played the three-dribble rule in girl's basketball. There weren't really team sports. It's just amazing. I'm sorry about the fight of having one in Montreal and one in Chicago, but I guess the good news is there is that many of us where we can have two. I think it's wonderful. I remember going to the second one in San Francisco. To see how it's grown and to see the number of participants and number of countries represented, it's really very exciting. And I've always loved to come to Chicago. It's a party. [ Laughs. ]
WCT: You are also celebrating 25 years of being on tour. What does that mean to you?
KC: It's been a very organic growth of a career. I was as surprised as anyone to turn around and say, 'Oh my God, I've been doing this for 25 years!' I can remember when my father had his 25th anniversary at the power company, thinking, 'Wow.' It's different, but it's really just about showing up. I came out of the flowing of the lesbian movement, and during the '80s, started to do much more work with gay men because gay men were dealing with the AIDS crisis. In the '90s, my 'brother' Bill Clinton seemed at least to know gay people. So many people came out, and the visibility really opened up, and now there's this incredible backlash. I'm just reading that the New York Supreme Court voted that it's not in the constitution that gays can be married; it must be taken care of by the legislature.
I think that on my optimistic days, it's what the great May West said: 'It's better to be looked over than overlooked.' We are in a really period of a national conservation about gay Americans. Tax-paying, I might add.
WCT: How is humor a powerful tool in a time like this?
KC: Well, I think that it really does open people up and allow then to have thoughts they may not normally have. I think serious can't really carry the weight of humor as much as humor can carry the weight of serious. I think you can really introduce a lot more with humor. I think also that people, especially gay people, have to remember that we can accomplish a lot through ridicule. [ Laughs. ] I keep saying I think we should all adopt a church in our neighborhood, and on Saturdays when you are out doing errands and you see there is a wedding, go. If the minister asks if there are any objections, just get up and make a little speech. I think that we can really mess with the dominant paradigm by making fun of it.
WCT: Do you remember your first time on stage?
KC: I remember in first grade I did lip-syncing to 'I'm Getting' Nuttin' for Christmas.' I remember just dropping the fourth-grade teacher off her chair. I thought, 'This is cool.' I do remember my first official performance on March 21 at a little club in Syracus near where I was living, and it was all my friends and they were very supportive. I had a heckler—a friend of mine. I said, 'Rita, what are you doing? She said, 'I'm heckling. It's comedy!' and I said, 'Stop it!' You know, sometimes in those moments I just become a high school English teacher again.
WCT: I was just going to ask how that's prepared you.
KC: I think with 11th and 12th graders, it's harder now, but it was hard then to get them interested. For the first five minutes all they are doing is looking at what you're wearing.
WCT: In 25 years, how has your audience changed?
KC: I think it's changed to mirror the change in the population in general. Unless you are under a rock, it's hard to be unaware that there is homosexuality. So, that really has changed. I think that we have a lot more allies than we know. I just had lots more straight couples coming to my shows just because they are political. They are listening to Q Radio and Sirius—the information is everywhere. The internet has made a difference in people's level of knowledge. Before, if I did a gay joke in a more mixed crowd, I'd end up explaining it. Now, I feel the straight crowds—not the overtly hostile crowds—seem a little miffed if they don't know something. They try to keep up.
WCT: How much longer do you want to keep doing stand up?
KC: As long as I can and [ test ] my girlfriend's patience. She travels a lot, and that does get a little tiring. But there's certainly plenty to talk about and plenty of work yet to do. And heck, they're making these retirement communities for gay people. I'll just do a circuit and the show will be at two o' clock.
WCT: Just before dinner at 3.
KC: And, jeez, I don't even have to go to different ones. I could just stay at one and they would be like, 'Did she perform yesterday?' [ Laughs. ] Acutally, that might be me asking, 'Did I perform here yesterday?'
Sleater-Kinney
Calls It Quits
After a decade, the riot grrls from Sleater-Kinney are hanging it up. A little more than a year after releasing their seventh album, The Woods, the girl-power punk rockers have announced that the music will stop after this summer. 'After 11 years as a band, Sleater-Kinney have decided to go on indefinite hiatus,' guitarists Carrie Brownstein and Corin Tucker and drummer Janet Weiss said in a statement on the group's Web site.
The band's last show will be at Lollapalooza in Chicago on Aug. 4.
