Lesbian comic Cameron Esposito will be headlining Queer Comedy at Zanies more than a year after she acted as the MC at a month-long comedy festival at the club. The Chicago-native now resides in L.A. and she spoke to Windy City Times about growing up as a lesbian, dealing with hecklers and Jay Leno calling her the future of comedy.
Windy City Times: Why do you love doing stand-up?
Cameron Esposito: It is amazing, a fun job and a lot of hard work. It's the hardest job I ever had and I think that's why I love it so much.
WCT: Who are some of your comedy heroes?
Cameron Esposito: Because I am a gay lady, I watched all of Ellen's [DeGeneres] stuff because you have to watch Ellen's stuff just to be gay. A lot of my favorite comics are people who I have been influenced by since doing it myself. I love what Hannibal Buress is doing; he's a former Chicagoan. And, also, Kumail Nanjiani.
WCT: One of the quotes from your stand-up show is, "I didn't know gay was a thing you could be. I thought that gay and leprechauns were imaginary things for parades." Did you have a tough time growing up as a lesbian in Chicago?
Cameron Esposito: I grew up in the suburbs. I don't know if it was tough, but it was very confusing. I just felt different but I didn't know what was different. I was also raised Catholic in a very homogeneous suburb and I didn't see any examples of gay people, so I didn't know that you could be gay. I didn't know what was going on with me and I thought that I was having this experience that no one else was having and that it was specific to me. When I figured it out then that was really hard because I thought it was a negative thing and something that could end your happiness.
WCT: When did you come to accept your sexual orientation?
Cameron Esposito: I would credit stand-up with that because it's an opportunity to get up onstage and talk about who you are. And you're really coming out over and over again in a way where you can talk about what's positive about it. Then you get feedback from people in the audience and they would also be gay and they would respond to it. Sometimes they would be straight and they would understand what I was saying or it wouldn't be a big deal to them.
WCT: How do you deal with hecklers?
Cameron Esposito: Heckling happens way less than people imagine that it does. What happens more is drunk idiots and they're just yelling because they think it's an interactive show. You just have to shove people down real quick and not be too mean so that the audience stays on your side. But you also have to nip it in the bud as fast as you can.
WCT: Jay Leno called you "the future" in 2012 when you both appeared on The Late Late Show With Craig Ferguson.
Cameron Esposito: A heavy crown has been placed upon my head. He also yelled, "Lesbians rule!" It made me feel amazing. I was sitting between Jay Leno and Craig Ferguson who are both comedy legends and I have so much respect for anyone who has been in it for that length of time and at that level of dedication.
WCT: You appear regularly at the roundtable on Chelsea Lately. Is it a battle trying to get your voice heard?
Cameron Esposito: It's exactly what it looks like on TV. [Laughs] You have to come prepared with some extra energy and some eye for timing. It's great to be able to have that kind of practice and stay on your toes like that.
WCT: Tell me about your podcast entitled Wham Bam Pow.
Cameron Esposito: It's me and [comedians] Ricky Carmona and Rhea Butcher and we go to a recording studio and put it all together. I get to watch action movies and talk about it and that's my favorite thing. A lot of the things that I do are more high pressure or there's an audience involved, and that's just the three of us talking to each other about the thing that we love.
WCT: You will be headlining Queer Comedy at Zanies in Chicago Nov. 26. Is there the added pressure when you are the headliner?
Cameron Esposito: There's added pressure to be the headliner but not necessarily in my home city. When I go home to Chicago people are very kind to me and I can be very loose and specific because I know so much about the city.
Cameron Esposito headlines Queer Comedy at Zanies Chicago, 1548 N. Wells St., on Tuesday, Nov. 26. Visit www.chicago.zanies.com or www.CameronEsposito.com .
