Shooting the breeze with lesbian comedian Suzanne Westenhoefer

by Lesley Goldberg

Suzanne Westenhoefer has led a dual-purpose career since coming out to the straight comedy world in 1990. With her unique brand of stand-up comedy, she will make you laugh and make you think. The Hollywood-based comedian-activist has paved the way for other comics to come out, and she continues to stand up against the establishment and fight for what she believes in. Westenhoefer recently took time out from last-minute wedding preparations—she got married on Sept. 5!—to give us a taste of her comedy before hitting the stage of the John Anson Ford Amphitheatre on Sept. 28.

What was it like to be the first lesbian comic to publicly come out?

I was the first lesbian comic to come out in the straight clubs, not the first lesbian comic to come out in the gay community. There were about four or five women who did that in the early ’80s. In ’90, I came out, I was the first one. No one had ever gone up in a regular club. No one had come out in front of the straight community as gay. In our little world of gay bars, there were a handful of gay comics already. So my little piece of history is being the one to get up at the Comic Strip, Catch a Rising Star and those clubs, first.

How did that feel?

It was 1990 ... We always think we haven’t come that far, but as a matter of fact, we actually have. It was such a big deal! Because it was such a big deal, it’s like I got up and said, “I murder puppies.” People would just be like, “Wow.” And it was New York, 1990, the AIDS crisis, we were well into it, ACT UP had broken off into Queer Nation, and we were still two years from Clinton. And it would stay that way for such a long time, until the mid-’90s, when we had our renaissance.

What was the response like from your fellow comedians when you came out?

The male comics then just ignored you because you were now not someone they could try to have sex with. There were so few male comics that I befriended and spoke to—Ray Romano, but he was really shy; Richard Jeni, not too many, because male comics have so much testosterone and they’re just like “Oh, gay girl? Good deal. I’m out.” The women comics ... went into two camps: they were either gay themselves and hiding so they didn’t have much to do with me because of fear, or they were the supportives—“You go girl; get that s***!”—and I got really great words from people like Joy Behar, Susie Essman and Brett Butler back in the day.

Do you feel like you paved the way for other lesbian stand-ups to publicly come out?

Oh yeah. It’s not something you think about, because it sounds really conceited. But I’ve been told that so often.

What inspires your stand-up; where do you draw your material from?

It’s all personal, and it’s all true. I don’t write jokes. I get up on stage and I talk, and whatever is funny I try to remember and say it again the next time, the next night. And that sort of forms itself. I don’t write. I write all kinds of other stuff, mostly for myself, but I don’t write jokes for me. I don’t really even know how to do that.

Do you have any other plans for DVDs or TV specials?

Not right this second, but we’re always trying. I would love to do another special for Logo because I really love that there’s a gay channel. I would like to do a special for Here, but I haven’t had any bites from them. You have to get them to want to do it. And they do, they love doing the comedy specials, but there’s a lot of comics out there. There’s a lot of competition.

Catch Suzanne Westenhoefer on Sept. 28 at the John Anson Ford Ampitheatre. For more information, visit womenonaroll.com or call (310) 578-8888.

I Love L.A.

Suzanne tells us why she just can’t wait to hit the Ford Amphitheatre.

10. No travel. I can almost fall out of my house to the Ford Theatre.

9. I enjoy doing shows under the “marine layer”

8. My girfriend will come

7. No humidity, ever!

6. Possible celeb sightings in the audience (“Is that Jodie Foster?”)

5. Don’t have to get a dog sitter

4. While I am signing autographs afterward, no one will say, “How can you live in L.A.?”

3. Two words: Valet parking

2. For the afterparty, two other words: Crazy girls!

1. All my friends will be there and the ones that aren't are so out for next time!