I’m a Comedian. I’m a Lesbian. But am I a Lesbian Comedian? Sure!

I used to do exclusively clean material. No references to sex or sexuality, maybe a couple of mild double entendres, nothing too dangerous.

Working clean has advantages and disadvantages. I can play a county fair and a senior center, something many of my peers cannot. But they kill at late shows full of drunk folks at clubs, and I don’t.

In the last year or so, I have started adding some bawdier material to my show, and getting a good response. My 85 year old mother isn’t thrilled, but she’ll keep saying novenas for me.

Recently, I started doing material about coming out and being gay, and that can go either way. It’s hard to read the audience at some of these shows. I have performed for crowds that seem conservative and straight-laced, pardon the pun. Sometimes they love the gay material. If I do poorly, does that mean the crowd was full of homophobes, or was I just not ‘on’? I usually lean towards the former.

But a few weeks back I performed at a wonderful new gay venue on the East Coast of Florida. It wasn’t my first. I have played at welcoming coffee houses and even a gay campground, but this was different. I drove through the sad, broken down, suburban neighborhood, and found a parking lot near the venue. There were no signs or marking behind the buildings, but I knew it was close. As I walked from my car towards what looked like the main thoroughfare, I heard the unmistakable beat of happy gay dance music. It got louder and louder. I turned the corner and saw a beautiful site. It was exactly like that moment when Dorothy opens the door of her formerly flying farmhouse, and the world is suddenly in glorious Technicolor and full of life. I started singing to myself, ‘you’re out of the woods, you’re out of the dark, you’re out of the night, step into the sun, step into the light…’ The street was full of music, laughter, bright colors, and gay couples, walking around, holding hands. That town is Wilton Manors in Florida. Check it out sometime. The venue was the Laugh Lounge at The Manor. It was good to be with family.

Needless to say, that was my best show to date.