Kate Clinton (aka Lady Haha) :: not afraid of the 'L' word

Comic veteran Kate Clinton has never been afraid of the "L" word, performing out and proud since the start of her stand-up career in 1981. Now, nearly three decades later, Clinton's brand of comedy remains relevant, topical and - most importantly - funny as she dissects the many issues currently facing our community and movement.

At 62, Clinton is busier than ever. The paperback edition of her latest book, "I Told You So," is now in bookstores, her "Lady Haha" tour is making the rounds in venues throughout the country, and her blogs are a regular feature on the Huffington Post.

This Saturday, April 17, she opens for Lily Tomlin at the refurbished St. George Theatre on Staten Island in a benefit performance for the Dr. Susan Love Foundation for breast cancer research and Community Health Action of Staten Island. Riffing on evangelicals, gay marriage, the conservative agenda and even Cirque du Soleil, the legend of comedy recently took some time to speak with EDGE.

Creepy Cirque?

EDGE: What spurred you to take a break from your latest one-woman touring show, "Lady Ha Ha," to share a bill with Lily Tomlin?

Kate Clinton: We did a show together last summer in Provincetown, and had so much fun, we decided to take it on the road. It's a dream come true for me. ... and I'm thrilled to be coming to the refurbished St. George Theatre. It has such a great back story. My publicist (Michele Karlsberg) is Staten Island through and through, and she's the best. I'm eager to meet more Staten Islanders.

EDGE: I have to ask a serious question, pertaining to a message on your Twitter a few weeks back: Why do you think Cirque du Soleil is creepy?

KC: I don't know! Weird things happen when they're in New York. There's a different vibe and there just seems to be a weird vibe in town.

EDGE: What kind of weird things have happened while Cirque has been in town?

KC: When I go to the airport, I have to go by their space. In the summer, they set up this tent and... It's right by a jail, a prison for the criminally insane. I just think it's way too close.

EDGE: Have there been any hassles on the Lady Haha Tour?

KC: I guess flying places with all the new security measures that seem to be changing overnight. I just wish I could beam myself places like on Star Trek. But luggage has always been a problem.

Watch Kate Clinton speak at last year's National Equality March:

Angry or optimistic?

EDGE: The media is obsessed with all things gay - there's so much of it reported. How do you keep up?

KC: I know. Years ago, if something gay happened, I could talk about it for five years because nothing would happen again - Lily Tomlin wore a purple dress, discuss! For five years! Today I feel like I'm scrambling to keep up all the time, but that's great. You take a long flight and things change during it. It does get pretty crazy, but I do think that part of my job is to be a synthesizer and connect the dots, pardon the expression. With the anti-gay death penalty in Uganda and the churches here exporting their homophobia, it's my job to put that in context. It's church oppression. I mean, I really admire by friends who are church-going people and who are involved in transforming their churches from the inside-out. I'm not opposed to religion, I'm opposed to the fundamentalism of these religions. And sometimes, I just like to put on a boa and tell knock-knock jokes.

EDGE: The current mood of the community could certainly be summarized as both impatient and angry, but a lot of your writing at Bilerico Project and elsewhere carries a more optimistic tone. Should we be more angry or optimistic?

KC: I think it's going to take a while to break the habits of the Bush brain. Something would happen and you'd think it couldn't get worse and it does. So I think there's an expectation of getting a raw deal when it's not always true. We have the HIV immigration ban that has been lifted and gay and lesbian people are represented on the Census - which is critical - so there are definitely good things happening but I think people have a habit of skepticism. And it could be allayed by a more forceful message from the Obama administration, but we're not getting that. So I'm OK with people getting angry. I think that's how change happens.

EDGE: But still, you must admit the news out there - both that facing our community and otherwise - is pretty grim. How do you keep laughing? Where do you see optimism?

KC: I think a lot of times when you get constant bad news, you can feel paralyzed. My savior in those moments in my life has been to do my job, do the next show, write the next blog, and that's what keeps me going. I'm happy I'm not an undertaker; I love my job. I love making people laugh and I think that's one of the things I've learned from my participation in the LGBT movement is that I'm a part of history. We all are. If you think that, and take whatever your skills are in helping out the movement, whether it be making people or crunching numbers and doing a study, I think we all add our skills to a movement. I still think it's a movement even if it doesn't look like it did 30 years ago. It's still happening and things are moving forward.

EDGE: Speaking of the movement having a different face, you were in Washington for the National Equality March last year. How was that experience?

KC: It was curing on a number of levels. So many of our straight allies were there, and kids from college - gay kids and all their straight friends. It was very youthful, which was exciting, and it was really economical organizing because of the ability to organize through the Internet. I think it was still too white, but we're trying to make progress in that area always. It was stunning.

EDGE: On that topic, what do you feel is the importance of having a diverse face to the movement in countering our community's opposition?

KC: I think you can't underestimate the power of the opposition. They're not going away. Sometimes I judge how well we're doing by how nuts they are, and they're nuts, so we must be doing something right. As demoralizing and disheartening things like Prop 8 have been, it was a huge organizing tool and it's not going away with state after state, including Maine and New Jersey. You can never underestimate the political and cultural power of the right wing. They don't want us around. I think there's a natural action and reaction that will continue to happen.

EDGE: Is that why you said "tax the church" in your Equality March speech? Did you receive flak for that?

KC: Well, I just remember the good old separation of church and state. The Catholic Bishop was very involved in Maine and the Church has been speaking from its pulpits against gay marriage, and there are political consequences to that. There must be a way to tax or penalize them in some way. I think it's outrageous.

EDGE: Since you began your stand-up career, you've never resisted the label of "lesbian comic" and even created your own version - "fumerist" or "feminist humorist." How do you feel about that label?

KC: I'm happy with it. I get the name of political lesbian or comedian, but I would have to say that you can just say "lesbian" and that would be political enough. I've been saying I'm a lesbian since 1981 when it wasn't the most sophisticated career choice, so I think people are surprised when they come to my show. It is political, but there's a lot of other things I talk about, from knock-knocks to fashion.

Lily Tomlin and Kate Clinton play a benefit performance for the Dr. Susan Love Foundation and Community Health Action of Staten Island on April 17, 2010 at the St. George Theatre, 35 Hyatt St., Staten Island, NY. Tickets are $59, $89 & $119, with a VIP $149 meet-and-greet package. More information visit