Mixing athletics and comedy without losing an eye may sound like a difficult prospect, but out comedian/pro-football player Jennie McNulty has a fondness for multitasking.
McNulty has performed her personal blend of stand-up for troops overseas, on Olivia cruises, on One Night Stand Up (which aired on Logo, AfterEllen.com’s parent company), and everywhere in between, and she currently plays defensive back for the California Quake women’s football team. She’s also about to launch a new vlog on AfterEllen.com called Jennie McNulty Presents Walking Funny – the world’s first walking talk show.
We had the chance to catch up with her recently to talk about Walking Funny, football, and whether Iraqi soldiers or vacationing lesbians make a better crowd at a live show.
AfterEllen.com: So, you play football and you perform comedy. Which is more strenuous? Jennie McNulty: [laughs] Physically strenuous, it’s football of course. With the comedy part, the comedy itself is easy, it’s just all the other stuff [that’s hard]. You know, you try to get the work and do all those things on that end. It’s kind of like the same thing [with football] – the games are really fun too, but all the conditioning you have to do to get in shape for the games is rough.
AE: Has living in the MySpace era made that background work any easier as a performer? JM:I think it’s saved me a lot in postage! You know, it does make it easier, and it’s kind of the same channel, you’ll contact somebody and they’ll want to see your work, and you’ll hook them up with your MySpace page or … your website or what have you. But in a way, it’s made it a little less personal too.
Before, you’d make phone calls to people and actually talk to them and have them say yea or nay to your face – well, to your ear. It’s easier, and it’s not. You get blown off a lot easier by email, I think.
AE: How did you get into comedy in the first place? JM: I always kind of wanted to do something in the entertainment field, and my parents had retired and moved down to Florida and I’d just graduated from college, so I needed to get a job. I got a job in a research lab, and I really liked it – I loved everybody I worked with, but it wasn’t what I always wanted to do. I was kind of making people in the lab laugh, so I thought, “Well, maybe I am funny.”
So I watched a few open mic nights, and it looked like some of those people must’ve lost a bet or something [laughs] because some were just really bad. I thought, “I can do at least that well!” I just kind of tried it, and it went really well, fortunately, and I just kept doing it and doing it.
AE: Between the soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan and the lesbians on Olivia cruises, who’s the tougher crowd? JM: You know, it’s funny because I did them kind of back to back. I was in P-town [Provincetown, Mass.] all summer, then I did Afghanistan, then I came back for women’s week in P-town. I was joking that it was sort of like going from “don’t ask” to “tell everybody”!
You know what, though, I love doing the military shows. I have to do what I call “don’t ask don’t tell” shows, so I just don’t bring up anything relationship-wise, but I’m decked out in rainbow gear from head to toe – Richard Simmons would look straighter than I do performing there. [laughs]
I’ve had soldiers come up and say, “Hey, nice bracelet,” so I know they get it. Those shows are just incredibly rewarding to do, because I have such respect for those people over there. None of them should be there in this stupid war, and they’re putting their lives on the line. And it kind of feels like you’re at least helping them out because they all just go, “God, thanks for taking our mind off of where we are.'”
AE: That must be very rewarding. JM: They’re incredibly rewarding. And then the Olivia trips, they’re kind of like the weird emotional opposite. You know, in New York or L.A., you can be whoever you want to be. I live in West Hollywood; I can walk down the street with my girlfriend and hold hands.
On the Olivia trips, you’re dealing with people who live in the middle of the country. I had one woman tell me she and her girlfriend had to practice holding hands, because they can never hold hands when they’re home. Those crowds are so amazing because everyone’s just on cloud nine – they’re totally free to be who they are. They’re already walking in the door pretty darn happy, so they’re fun crowds to do.
So they’re both rewarding shows, you know what I mean – it’s a great job I’ve got. It’s really a lot of fun, you get to say things that other people would like to say but can’t, and you can make statements and help to try and change things, because I talk about it in my show – we need to be out. People that can be out need to be out, so that they know we’re out there, they know we’re just normal people [laughs].
One of the jokes I have is “it’s not just their cousin” – we’re here, we’re queer, we’re everywhere and we’re all right.
AE: Let’s talk a bit about your upcoming web series on AfterEllen.com, Walking Funny. What’s it all about? JM: This is a walking talk show. So instead of having a talk show where you sit at a desk with somebody and talk about his or her upcoming project, we go take a walk somewhere. What I’m trying to get people to do is either walk along with us at their desk or download it and take it with you to the gym or wherever and walk along.
AE: So it’s the world’s first comedy-oriented walking talk show? JM: Jennie McNulty Presents Walking Funny With – and then each week it will be a different guest. I’ve shot one with Bridget [McManus], I’ve done one with Suzanne Westenhoefer, I’ve done one with one of my football teammates, one with a surfer, and a really fun one with a woman who’s a bronze medalist in the X Games – [a] skateboarder.
So it’s people from the world of comedy and sports, and I just go take a walk with them. Just like any other talk show where they would be talking about what it is that they’re doing, like upcoming events and upcoming shows, and promote their shows and find out what they do to stay healthy, if they like to exercise, and just kind of take them for a walk. I’m shooting one tomorrow with Doria Biddle and Frank DeCaro from Sirius Q radio, so he’s going to be my first boy, but …
AE: So it’s not like Bridget with her “no boys allowed” policy? JM: Oh, an occasional boy is allowed. But he has to be related to comedy – and [Frank]’s got Doria.
AE: People have said that both comedy and exercise are therapeutic. Does combining them give you a kind of double dose? JM: [laughs] Yeah, maybe, I don’t know, I never thought about it like that! You’re probably right; it releases twice the good energy.
AE: You obviously tour a lot, so how do you find time to work out on a tour schedule? JM: Well, what kind of gave me the idea for the show was … when I get to a town, I go find a place to walk. And then you get to see the city a bit, you get to see the people, and then you can work jokes about the city into your show.
AE: That’s a nice way to multitask. JM: Yeah, and that’s actually how I prepare for my shows. I’ll take my set list and go out for a walk with it and just go over my set. And thanks to the beauty of Bluetooth phones, I no longer look like a crazy person talking to myself! [laughs] They just think I’m on the phone now.
AE: So, looking at your team’s website, it looks like you’re doing very well this year. JM: Yes – it’s the first year that I’ve played that we’ve had a winning record. We’re undefeated – we just won again last Saturday, so we’re pretty stoked.
AE: I did have one last question: What was it like to kick Bridget’s butt in that pillow fight? JM: That was complete self-defense! It was obvious that I was losing the pillow fight and I thought all right, we’ve got to just dump her ass off the bed because I’m going to lose! That was fun – we had so much fun doing that.
Check out Walking Funny starting today on AfterEllen.com, or for more on Jennie McNulty, visit her official website.
