THE VOICE OF CHICAGO'S GAY, LESBIAN, BI, TRANS AND QUEER COMMUNITY SINCE 1985

I spoke on the phone with Kate Clinton prior to her upcoming visit to Chicago, where she will perform in a benefit for HRC. We talked about the current presidential campaign, TV, the movies, and her forthcoming CD.

YZ: Since we're in an election year, I wanted to look at that a little bit. I think it's important not to look at candidates in terms of a single issue, such as their record on gay rights, say, but on a multiplicity of issues. Of all the Democratic candidates, who do you think has the most comedic potential? And is any of them a greater resource for that than W.?

KC: Oh, well, no—there's none better [than George W. Bush]. Sadly, Joe Lieberman 'has left the building.' But I can still be cajoled into doing my excellent Joe Lieberman imitation.

YZ: Sharpton must provide some comedic potential—although, actually, he's been pretty sedate in this campaign.

KC: Yes, but he's certainly had some of the best zingers. There's the one when Tom Brokaw, I think, began asking him about the Nation of Islam. And Sharpton said, 'I think you're talking about Islamic nations.' And Tom Brokaw was like it was the first time he'd heard the difference. And he said that Bush doesn't need a permission slip from the U.N. to do what he needs to do, and Sharpton said, 'He doesn't even need votes to become president.' The only problem is—I've been reading about this in the Village Voice—some people think the FBI has been funding Sharpton to keep him in the race. But people around here still haven't quite forgiven him about the Tawanna Brawley case. He was good on Saturday Night Live, though.

YZ: Since we're on the topic of politics, what are your feelings about the whole brouhaha about gay marriage?

KC: I don't think it's going to be necessary to have a Marriage Limitation Amendment; it seems every day, every state legislature is coming out with a law banning gay marriage in their state. But I do think, again, we're being used, profoundly, as a giant wedge issue. We're like the wedgie of politics. I've had a difficult time coming around to gay marriage—I'm basically not in favor of marriage much at all, for straight people either. We're just going to have to fight it. And in the long run, we'll certainly triumph. I really do believe that there is a sense of fairness and fair play in the American people. But we're just going to have to go through this dreadful slam and waste of money. The only great thing is that it does mobilize people who have never gotten mobilized before. It's like an Anita Bryant moment.

YZ: I take it, then, that you are not planning—I know you have a home in Massachusetts—you're not planning on getting married, in May?

KC: No. [My partner] Urvashi [Vaid] and I are not. But I am trying to get my reverend's license—I don't care: I'll help join 'em.

YZ: Excellent. We'll sign up!

KC: It's actually a really interesting wedding package. You get an hour of free counseling. And the fact that I've never been married doesn't matter: priests have been advising people for years. So an hour of wedding counseling, and then the wedding itself. And I think it's important to know that I'm very good with parents. Very good. And then I will do the reception after.

YZ: The catering? Or just hanging out?

KC: Just the hanging out. We'll call it the wedding zinger. That's my job.

YZ: What have been the highlights and lowlights on political comedy this year?

KC: A friend of mine said the other day, 'This is like giving an addict crack.' I was watching Bush on 'Meet the Oppressor'—it's the longest I've watched him for a long time. And it was hard because Urvashi was stomping through the room screaming, and I'd have to say, 'Please—I need to watch this.' Sometimes I think, 'Ugh, I can't believe I have to watch this and keep up.'

YZ: You're taking a hit for the team.

KC: Well, I was favoring Howard Dean, so that was a kick in the stomach.

YZ: I was going to ask you about that.

KC: I did not see the scream [when it first aired].

YZ: Though they played enough that—

KC: Yeah, almost as much as Janet Jackson. Really, Howard Dean screamed and then turned and pulled her bodice off. It was just crazy. They're going together now. I was watching the Iowa Caucuses on C-Span, which was just fabulous. One was in this woman's house, and you had ruddy-faced farmers in knit caps. My favorite moment was when they finished and she said, 'Well, I guess it's time for cookies and wine.' It was so wonderful. And it was really great to see what in god's name a caucus actually is and all the people discussing things. It was democracy in action. So I missed the scream, but the way it was described to me, I fully expected to hear some kind of like Tarzan-jungle kind of thing. I was really quite surprised: it was more like the vice principle firing up the kids on the J.V. wrestling team. But he forgot he was on TV and that's not a good thing.

YZ: I thought it sounded like a cowboy moving out the herd: 'Yeeha!'

KC: Yes, it wasn't anything like as terrifying as it was made out to be. But he had the mark on him, and he was pronounced unelectable. Apparently CNN apologized yesterday for maybe playing the scream a bit too much.

YZ: So have you switched allegiances?

KC: I am rooting for [Dean], and I think we should write him a thank-you note for really bringing up issues that weren't being brought up and firing up the people to make it a more interesting race. He was certainly speaking [about important issues] very early on when no one else was. I think it was great. [But] it was very much like a dot-com bubble. It was very much hype and not realistic at all.

YZ: Often when you perform, there is an opening act—are you hopeful about the future of comedy based on these acts?

KC: I have seen some great people in New York—although Chicago of course is the home of comedy. I've seen some people lately in New York who I'm very excited about. There's an incredibly funny woman named Julie Goldman who is absolutely wild. She does a Melissa Etheridge imitation that's killer; she sings but she also does great stand-up on her own. And she's forever involved in getting people to make funny videos with her. I think she's wonderful. And I had the pleasure of working with Elvira Kurt again ... she's wicked funny.

YZ: Among better known performers, are there any who've impressed you lately?

KC: I think Karen Williams is just on fire. She is cooking. She's sort of doing a contemporary Moms Mabley.

YZ: A friend of mine mentioned that she was disappointed that everyone on The L-Word is so femmy. And she said, 'Couldn't they have at least one butch for me to look at?' Personally, I'm just disappointed that their budget seems to be so tight that they could only afford a comb for Jennifer Beals. What do you like and not like?

KC: First of all the character of Shane—of course you know, she's based on my life. Oh, yes, my early sexual exploits—it's all there. Irresistible. The large snort you hear is my girlfriend laughing. It's very L.A. It's L.A. lesbians, and Shane is just the butchest thing around.

YZ: So that's butch for L.A.?

KC: Yes. If they renew the show for another season, I have every confidence that they will be able to develop more kinds of lesbians. I think that the show you're seeing is the one that could succeed. So it's very cagey. Hopefully, it will open up and allow more kinds of lesbians on. However, when people talk about how the stereotypes aren't on [the show], those stereotypes are, like, from 30 years ago! We're not actually doing them anymore. If they start getting into totally sexually ambiguous girly boys or tranny gals, then you're getting the contemporary view. ... I think it's developing.

YZ: Is there any chance there will be an episode on which they all go off to see the famous lesbian comedian. . . ?

KC: [Laughs.] I don't know. That would be great. It would be just fabulous ... . And you're talking about Robin Tyler, aren't you?

YZ: Let's segue from television to talk about your new film career, Laughing Matters was a documentary, and it only makes sense that in any history of lesbian comedy, you should be included. But The Secret Lives of Dentists? How did that come about?

KC: Well, my friend Craig Lucas did the screenplay. We were talking, and I said, 'Craig, if you ever have a part in a movie, I would love to do a movie.' He said, 'Really?' I said, 'Yes.' Months later, my manger calls me and says, 'Did you audition for a part in a movie?' I said, 'No, I'd know if I did—wouldn't I?' And I said, 'Why?' And he said, 'Well, we just got this call—these people want you in their movie,' so he sent me the script, and it was Craig's. It was really fun to do. I did it for about a week and a half. More waiting around than you can believe.

It was fun. I meant Hope Davis, who is such a great actress, and her husband was in the movie as well, and Dennis Leary, and Campbell Scott, who's George C. Scott's son. He was lovely. And Alan Rudolf, the director, was just a hoot. He really loves actors and loves to let them try things and to talk with them about things. And the woman who plays the hygienist, who's been in lots of other things, said, 'This is not like every [movie] set.' It was a pleasure. And it was just great to see what we did. Like, the coming-up-the-stairs scene, where there was a jazz band at the top of the stairs, it took days [to film] and it took like 30 seconds [on screen].

YZ: I wanted to ask you, too, about Ellen DeGeneres's new show—is there any chance you'll be on at some point? (Or have you been on already and I missed it?)

KC: I was out in L.A. in December, but I was there recording a new CD. It will be out in spring.

YZ: Where was your CD recorded, and what's it going to be called?

KC: We recorded at the beginning of December. It's a lot about marriage, it's very political, and we recorded it over three nights in the Village Theater, at the Gay and Lesbian Center in L.A., which is a great space. And it was a total pleasure. I'm in the process of editing now, and we hope to have it out by spring or certainly the beginning of summer. And I'm going to go to Michigan [for the Michigan Womyn's Music Festival]. I want to call the CD Turns Out.

YZ: Turns Out?

KC: Yeah, because doesn't that seem the way everything is? 'Turns out he was lying.' 'Turns out we didn't know.' And it's got 'out' in it ... .

YZ: Is there anything else you wanted to talk about?

KC: I just wanted to say, I was with you there in Chicago this past summer with baseball. Oh my god.