says stand-up comic Lea DeLaria of Hollywood's compromises

by MATTHEW HAYS

Standup comic, singer, writer and actor Lea DeLaria has most commonly been compared to standup anti-hero Lenny Bruce. While the analogy may be flattering, it's not entirely fair: DeLaria is in fact an act unto her own, a true original in a form so often populated by derivatives and cheap knockoffs.

Where the comparison makes sense is in DeLaria's frank honesty, matched by an intelligence which sets her aside from most in the field. Her blatant sexuality--she often begins her act by declaring that she is a dyke--has won her enemies across the spectrum. The religious right, predictably, have taken umbrage with her act. As well, some lesbians and gay men are offended by the sheer stereotypical nature of DeLaria's persona. Her response? Titling her latest act I Am Not a Role Model.

Whatever your response to her hardcore humour, DeLaria's track record is undeniably impressive. Surfing the crest of the gay '90s, the dyke performer's CV has been growing at a breakneck pace. Along with her stand-up act, DeLaria has been singing and acting in an odd range of projects. She was the first openly gay comic to appear on U.S. TV on The Arsenio Hall Show; she appeared in the comedy The First Wives Club and has just signed a three-record deal. She also starred in the forthcoming feature film Homo Heights with Quentin Crisp, and perhaps most bizarrely of all, has landed a three-episode gig on Matlock alongside Andy Griffith.

DeLaria is currently writing a screenplay based on the cult lesbian novel Stone Butch Blues and is also working with a Canadian production company on a feature tentatively titled Liar Cheat Shrewd Thief. Her latest live album, Boxed Lunch, has just been released.

Mirror: Stand-up has traditionally been seen as misogynist, racist, homophobic--basically trashing anyone who's easy to beat up on or demean. As someone who has been such a landmark act in terms of queer standup, I'm wondering what you think your main accomplishment has been as a trailblazing dyke comic?

Lea DeLaria: My main accomplishment has probably been being true to my own personal and political integrity and still be able to make it in a field which is all of the things you've just said it is. I think that's a major accomplishment. Especially now with Ellen DeGeneres coming out. It's like a parallel universe, the choices that she's made as opposed to the choices that I've made. I've been able to do it without cowering in the closet.

M: Jerry Falwell is calling for a boycott of Ellen. He was on Larry King Live last week, facing off against Chastity Bono.

LD: Now there's a good idea. Why don't we get somebody who can only speak in monosyllabic sentences? Chastity Bono? Why can't we get somebody with a bit of acerbic wit.

M: But she's got Sonny and Cher's DNA!

LD: Exactly! You know, I don't knock Chastity Bono, but I do knock Chastity Bono. She's the perfect symbol of what is wrong with the queer community. There are people out there who are very smart and who've made an entire life out of being terribly committed to this community who know exactly what they're talking about, and we put Chastity Bono on CNN against Jerry Falwell because mommy and daddy can sing. The only time that's ever worked for us is with Candace Gingrich, because she's a marvellous speaker. We lucked out with Candy. She's smart and great speaker and should run for office--needs to change her hairdo though.

M: What do you think of the media coverage of the Ellen story?

LD: The whole concept of Ellen being on the cover of Time magazine because she's a lesbian; what is newsworthy in that? The week before it was the leader of the cult suicide people. Then Ellen. Frankly, I don't know which cover is scarier. Everyone knew she was queer. Only Ray Charles was unaware she was a lesbian.

M: Some people are slow, though. Now it's really official.

LD: They're not that slow. That's a common mistake that people make about people. Look at her. Yeah, Ellen, you pass. So what's newsworthy is that she's been lying to us for the majority of her life? You have to examine exactly what the motives are. I don't think Ellen is evil, I'm not saying that. I applaud her for finally being able to make that decision. She had to go through a lot of soul searching. I'd come out if I could get the cover of Time magazine with a positive spin; I'd come out as a pedophile if I could get the cover of Time. I'd admit to killing Nicole Brown Simpson, if it gave me that cover. Who wouldn't?

M: What was doing The First Wives Club like? I think you had every lesbian in the western hemisphere green with envy when you got to dance with Goldie Hawn.

LD: That was a really fun scene. It was nice, because it was my cameo and they wrote the part with me in mind. That was a cool thing. It was also cool because a lot of people were in that movie who actually got cut out. Heather Locklear, which is too bad, she had all her lines cut.

M: And Elizabeth Berkley!

LD: And she wasn't even around on the days that I shot. Just to bump into her once, from behind, with a cock strapped on...

M: Did you get to do that to Goldie?

LD: No. Goldie was wonderful. I cannot say nicer things about the woman.

M: And Bette Midler?

LD: I had a little moment with her when we were filming the movie. I was brought on to be funny, and ad-libbing is what I do, so I figured that's what I'd do. We did that little moment where Bette takes Goldie away from me in the lesbian club. And Bette says 'We're going now' and I say 'No, she's staying with me,' and then Bette says to Goldie, 'Like heck she is, come on baby, my place tonight.' When I did the scene I was like, 'That's real funny, two straight people pretending that they're gay, hyuck hyuck.' So the camera was on me, they walked out of the shot, and I turned to the girl next to me and said, 'Who'd have thought the little one was the butch?' There was a cut, and everybody howled, the director howled. Goldie turned around and said, 'That was hilarious.' The bottom line is, I went into show biz because of Bette Midler, I'm probably the biggest Bette Midler fan who ever existed, and there I sat in this movie set in sort of a prime moment, when I said something funny and I'm looking to my idol for some sort of congratulatory moment. Instead what I got was a diva fit, that no one should refer to her as butch and how horrible it was to refer to her as butch and that she won't have that in the movie. It was directed at the director, and it was passively aggressively directed at me. There I stood, a butch, while she was insensitively saying those things about me, which I found very homophobic. It would be like saying with a black actor there, 'I'm not a nigger, don't call me a nigger,' and using that term in such a way as to make it seem negative to be butch. I found it incredibly homophobic. What is wrong with being butch? If it weren't for a bunch of butch dykes and nellie faggots you wouldn't have a career, Miss Divine M. So there's my experience with Bette Midler. At first I thought I wouldn't talk about this because I thought I wouldn't get any more parts, but then I thought fuck it, because this is what happened to me. In a way Hollywood has come so far, but this is an example of what goes on in Hollywood all the time.

M: People argue that role models like yourself help to create a sense of community--

LD: [makes snoring noises...]

M: Wait! This question gets better! Others argue there is no queer community, like Dennis Cooper, who says we are not family. I'm wondering what you think the state of the gay community is today.

LD: I'm sorry, I think I'm pretty much with Dennis Cooper. I don't think there is much of a gay community. I think there are a bunch of factioned-off individuals who spend a lot of time screaming at each other. Look at what Ellen just said in Time. She said she needed to come out because she didn't want people seeing just the Dykes on Bikes and men in dresses at gay pride rallies, she wanted people to see that there are other kinds of gays too. That sort of statement, like there's something wrong with men in dresses, or dykes on bikes. If it weren't for men in dresses or dykes on bikes, then there would be no climate for Ellen to come out in. But by the same token we need Ellen as well. The dykes on bikes and ACT UP folks have to understand that by criticizing the more conservative gays, we create the same kind of problem. We have to spend less time fighting each other and more time fighting the powers that be. Meanwhile, they laugh gleefully because the game plan is to keep us divided.

M: Which brings me to something else: the organizer of this event said you wanted her to find a gay man to warm up for you. A lot of lesbians may find that an odd request.

LD: I wanted a man because it's a queer show and I'm up there pretty much servicing all the dykes. Why not have a gay man up there? Why put another dyke on stage? I just think it always winds up a lot better when you mix it up.

M: Have you faced a lot of homophobic response from audiences?

LD: Yeah, but from homosexuals, mainly from lesbians. They say that I represent a stereotype that's bad for the lesbian community, that I'm sexist, that I'm obnoxious and should be stopped. And I am. I just want them to know that I agree with them. I get the two extremes: the queer conservatives and the religious conservatives. People have showed up with signs saying, 'Lea DeLaria is going to Hell.' What a party! Let's go now! Where's Hell? Take me now!

Lea DeLaria performs I am Not a Role Model on Saturday, April 26 at Club Soda at 8 p.m. The Mirror's own Josh Bezonsky will M.C. $18, $15 students. The evening is a benefit for the women's Centre for AIDS Services in Montreal (CASM). 790-1245