Bravo Theatre! has done it again. Jayme Littlejohn, the accomplished actress/director/showrunner, managed to nab the brilliant Elayne Boosler for two evenings of live good fun and big laughs from the legendary stand-up.
Rolling Stone dubbed her the “First Lady of Stand-up Comedy” and named her one of their “50 Best Stand-up Comics of All Time.” Meanwhile, Comedy Central named her one of “The 100 Best Comedians of All Time.”
Ed Tasca recently talked with Elayne about her career and rise to fame. Here’s how that went.
ET: Early ‘70s was a time of great change in many of the performance arts. Elayne, you were one of those, male or female, who changed what stand-up comedy was doing at the time, breaking new ground, particularly in your style and content. What were you doing that was different?
EB: When I started out in the ‘70s — the 1870s — most standup comedy was really an entertainment for older people performed by mostly middle-aged married men and women reflecting the lives of their audience. “Take my wife, please” was brilliant for the times and summed it up.
You and your cohorts then were so young, just out of school.
You’re right. Suddenly there were young people doing stand-up comedy and it fit into the culture like folk music or jazz and was a breath of fresh air — if you like folk music.
Aficionados called what you were doing observational humor. How did it start?
A bunch of young comedians started working out at a comedy/music bar dive in Hell’s Kitchen in NYC. I went there as a waitress and heard good looking young guys doing material about high school, dating, pot, parents, jobs. Believe it or not, that was revolutionary. At 21 years old, I totally related.
Did you find resistance because of content, for instance on the talk shows like the Carson show, which was still cautious and conservative at the time?
I thought I could be just like the guys; embracing being attractive, sexy, smart, dressed-up-for-a-date. From day one the comedians and the audience were thrilled. Both men and women! But the business is always years behind the public, so yeah, I was held back not for my material but for simply existing. I used to say, “Calm down. I’m just a human being trapped in a woman’s body.”
You have been on tour for a hundred years.
Please get it right. It’s two hundred years.
How did your humor play in different places?
I never pulled back even if I was in automatic-weapon gun loving states and my favorite joke at the time was, “If you need a hundred rounds to kill a deer, maybe hunting isn’t your sport.” I always went right at it. I love a good bar fight.
So in ’85, you had to finance your first special “Party of One” yourself?
Can you believe it? I had no money, no savings, no credit cards. But everyone knew me and believed in my work — not the stupid heads running the business — so everyone worked for deferred payment.
Believing the special would of course sell. And it did?
The New York Times raved, and suddenly female comics started getting shows.
Who do you admire doing stand-up today? It’s a different world again, just like in the early 1970s.
True. There is much less writing or crafted material, and a lot more cursing. We were forced to work clean because there was only Vegas and TV, not the network of anything-goes comedy venues of today. I definitely know more about American female comics’ private parts than I ever needed to know.
So who do you watch?
I mostly stream foreign stand-up specials. British, Australian and Mexican comics knock me out. I love Sofia Niño de Rivera.
Yes, she’s the leading advocate for female comics here in Mexico, like you were in America years ago.
I am such a fan of hers. And there’s Catherine Tate in Britain and of course in America Lily Tomlin and Maria Bamford, and an endless list of great Australian women.
Elayne, you’ve been a patient and accommodating subject. Today, your purpose and mission is somewhat different. Tell us about “Tails of Joy”?
Thanks for asking. My nationwide and beyond “Tails of Joy” animal rescue organization has been saving the lives of animals for 25 years. We save all animals; from dogs, cats and bunnies to elephants, bears and wildlife. Any and every animal. That’s where all my money goes and why I am still working. I love stand-up and if I can use it to save animals’ lives, then I might tour for three hundred years.
There are some dedicated rescue groups right here around Lakeside.
I know and I intend to go and visit. If you have a little bit of a high profile and you don’t use your powers for good, what’s the point? How many cars do you need when people are hungry or homeless, or animals are dying.
What would you like to be remembered for?
I make a great salad.
Elayne, clearly, you have a multi-tiered legacy of comic influence that will live on. So a big thanks for visiting Lakeside and taking the stage (April 10 and 11). Enjoy your stay, the sunshine and our friendly audiences.
For more information on “Tails of Joy,” go to tailsofjoy.net.