K8T CLINTON ROCKS THE RIVIERA!
By Shann Carr
Kate Clinton is an icon, a trailblazer, a brilliant mind and a witty soul, all rolled up in a sexy little package. The baby dyke comedians coming up through the businesses today think of her as one of the fairy godmothers of lesbian comedy, because she is. I saw Kate Clinton perform in 1984. She was billed as a “Feminist Humorist.” It was a job title I’d never heard of before and my curiosity was piqued. She was (and still is) so very talented. She shone brightly enough to inspire me to step my own big toe into comedy just weeks later. A decision that has lit up 30 years of my life. Thank you Kate Clinton.
Shann: Your comedy career has been entirely out and proud from the start, something that very few incredibly talented people choose to do. Can you picture how different your career might have been if you’d gone mainstream?
Kate: No. I can’t imagine it going that way at all. I had a sophisticated career death-wish. I had been a high school English teacher living simply in my Liz Claiborne haze when finally I came out. Suddenly, I was showing up at school each day with a happy smile that was too big to hide. I was beaming a little too much in the faculty lounge and I knew I wanted more. Like a new take on the old question, “Which came first the lesbian or the comedy?” Both things evolved at the same time for me. I came out into the tail end of what was an incredibly vibrant time in women’s music and culture, around 1975-85. So much was breaking free in our community. When you do comedy, you talk about what you’re doing and at that point in my life, I had plenty to talk about!
I got started right out of the gate in a gay club. One of my friends had a women’s band and she agreed to help me with booking over a summer so I could give comedy a real try. She knew the ins and outs of those kinds of gigs and she wound up booking me for 5 years instead of just a summer. It was an instant fit. The gigs were on a fairly small circuit so I found myself looping back to the same audiences and the same clubs over and over again. That really motivated me to keep writing. I wanted to go back to these places and I wanted to bring them something fresh.
The friend who was booking me had been in music. She set me up to do two, 45-minute sets with an intermission, like bands do. For comedy that is a substantial amount of material, which kept me vigilant at writing too. I love how my career has developed. It has been organic, it grows and then shifts and I follow. I think the secret to having a long career is never peaking.
Shann: What are you doing with your morning today?
Kate: Today (late Sept.) in Provincetown it is 57 degrees. I just put on a wool jacket, and I am trying to resist putting on socks. What is the weather like in Palm Springs?
Shann: It is over 100 degrees and perfect swimming pool weather. I’ve never understood why people intentionally move to cold wet places like Provincetown?
Kate: I love my seasons, all of them. I lived in California for 18 months and for the whole time I kept asking “Is it Fall yet?”
Shann: I agree that Provincetown is a truly special place. It draws a certain kind of spirit and the tiny-town vibe creates an accessibility of audiences to the resident celebs that is part of the appeal too. Is there a memorable P-Town fan-experience that stands out in your mind?
Kate: Yes. It was a few years ago when planking was all the rage, but I hadn’t heard of it yet. I was sitting on a bench in front of Spiritus Pizza after a show. It was baby dyke weekend when all the college girls who have just graduated come down to P-Town to celebrate. Some cutie crawled up on a trashcan and planked. I asked her “What are you doing” “Planking.” She said. “Can you plank on me?” I asked, and she did. She came over and she planked right on me! Enjoyed it enormously!
Shann: Is there a stage, an event or a theater where you have confidence you will always have a killer show?
Kate: I am careful to never have expectations about a show or a venue. Years ago, I was excited when I got a gig to perform at the Palace of Fine Arts in San Francisco. It is such a beautiful place inside and out. Standing on that stage I was flanked by the lush red velvet curtains, every seat was sold out and it seemed ideal. But it was the worst night ever. When I got off stage I asked, “Did they laugh?” Everyone assured me that the audience was hysterical but every sound must have soaked into the plush of the velvet curtains. I never hear a thing from the audience. It was the loneliest night of my life.
Shann: Is there a booking that you still crave?
Kate: I wish I could find a gig at home, in New York, like the one that I have in Provincetown. I want to walk or ride my bike a few blocks to a little club a few nights a week, during the winter too. I have my eyes on a little place called Triad.
Shann: What are your least and most favorite parts of the job?
Kate: I love the freedom. When I left teaching I felt like I’d retired from working. Nobody tells me what to say. My least favorite bit is that sometimes the people who hire me would like to tell me what to say. I am pretty good at working around them. When it comes down to it, I am in control of my day. My material has lots of politics in it. I want to be funny, but I’m gonna take down some patriots while I’m at it.
Shann: Have you been to a bunch of gay weddings?
Kate: Not too many. It is wonderful though, out in Provincetown at low tide you’ll see small clutches of people gathered and you know someone is getting married out there.
A while back there were a group of gay couples waiting to get married at the Boston Commons. Backstage, I overheard a young lesbian couple talking to a couple that had been together 50 years. I could hear them absorbing the seniors’ secrets about staying together and communication. As these gay couples got married in the Commons there was also an anti-Putin march happening there too. The different chants ringing across the Commons were “Putin must go!” and “I now pronounce you married!”
Shann: Are you married?
Kate: Yes, we got married on our 25th anniversary. We snuck down to the courthouse and we didn’t tell anybody. We didn’t write vows, we just invited a few friends to be witnesses and we told all our pals afterwards. We wanted it to be simple.
Shann: Growing up did your family have a certain thing they said about your sense of humor or your funny way of looking at things?”
Kate: You know they never really said anything out loud, but my family always winked at me. They winked at me or at each other when I would say things. I never even wondered what it meant because they had always done it. Just a little wink.
For more on Kate visit www.kateclinton.com
IF YOU GO:
5th Annual Center Stage
Benefitting The LGBT Community Center of the Desert
Friday, November 7, 2014
The Riviera Resort & Spa
Cocktails & Silent Auction @ 5:30 PM
Showtime @ 7:00 PM
