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A Chat with Claudia Cogan

Photo credit: Anya Garrett

The last time we spoke with lesbian comedian extraordinaire Claudia Cogan, she was an up-and-comer with a dream of becoming a “modern lesbian pirate.” While we’re unsure of any high seas adventures, she’s definitely been busy lately, as a co-founder/performer in a new queer stand-up series called Under the Gaydar. Infectiously silly and self deprecating, she’s among the funniest women of her generation – and that’s saying quite a bit, given the proliferation of excellent lesbian-oriented comedy we’ve seen in recent years.

The New York based Cogan was able to lend her time (and funny bone) to AfterEllen.com recently, in which we discussed unemployment, Under the Gaydar, and her “lesbo-taining” career goal.

AfterEllen.com: To begin, how did you get into comedy in the first place? I understand you did improv and sketch comedy before going into stand-up, so what was that transition like for you? I can imagine that stand-up is scary when you’re used to having other performers onstage with you.

Claudia Cogan: Comedy as a career I did not see coming. I spent my teenage years watching stand up from idols like Sandra Bernhard and Judy Gold and sketch comedy from Monty Python and Kids In The Hall. It never occurred to me to do it myself. Then I saw an improv show in New York City and I thought, “I could totally do that.” Riffing and being calculatingly silly really appealed to me and I signed up for a class.

Stand-up was part of the comedy evolution. After I got started, I wanted to try everything and reserved stand up for last since it was the scariest. Turns out, it’s the most addicting. It is scary to be alone but when you have a good back and forth with an audience, you don’t feel alone at all. You have to be willing to push the audience or they will push you away and discovering how to do that is fun. AE: How do you come up with your material? Do you take a notebook around or have any specific process from which the magic happens?

CC: The process involves the rare moment when you notice something unusual that no one else has yet. The easiest thing to do is make fun of someone goofing up but it’s more challenging to find something we all tend to do and make fun of that. There is a notebook near me at all times or I send myself texts. So if you see me blazing the keys on my “crackberry,” could be a new gag cooking.

AE: Do you ever get sick of people saying things like “lesbians have no sense of humor” or asking “hey, you’re a comedian – tell me a funny story!” Do you have any pat responses for this sort of thing?

CC: That stereotype is pretty moldy. First of all, some of the funniest comedians are gay women. Ellen, Rosie, Wanda Sykes, and that is just the beginning. So you know they’re just boneheads to ignore. Also, lesbians are busy. We don’t have time for bad jokes. For real, I’ve got to make gluten-free cookies this weekend. Unless you’re donating a bag of almond flour, out of my way.

The expectation people have that I’m going to prove myself right then and there is a little frustrating. No one meets a surgeon and goes “Oh, you’re surgeon. Take out my liver right now.” If I do tell a joke, it never works in that context. I usually say “if you want to have an awkward person-to-person encounter where you are liable to leave disappointed, we should just have sex.”

AE: So, your blog headline reads, “laughing out loud crying inside,” which is fantastic. On the side of the old adage “laugher is the best medicine,” do you feel like comedy is therapy? Survival?

CC: Like a lot of comedians, I got my start as an outcast. [I had the] wrong clothes, wrong sneakers, big schnoz, delayed puberty, snorty laugh – the whole package. My strength became teasing people who teased me. At the least, I was intimidating with wise-ass skills: bold on the outside for sure, waiting for popularity and acceptance to kick in deep down. I have to admit that that old protective facade still motivates me. Thus, my crying inside. Let me assure you, I’m having a great time now as a grown up. Yippee for graduations! Oh and not giving a crap what others think anymore.

AE: Have you thought about making more digital shorts like Funemployment? It was pretty hilarious – especially the cooking segment.

CC: Thank you! I have a wacky women on the street bit I made with comedian Jackie Monahan that I need to finish editing. Check my youtube. If you’re dying for podcast size bites, check out Gayest Week Ever, a vlog on newnownext.com where comedians comment on select gay TV moments.

AE: Tell me about Under The Gaydar. How did it all begin, what’s it been like working with your co-stars/partners in crime?

CC: It all began a couple years ago when we realized were ready to do more. The angle is undiscovered gay comics and we figured we’d do this for more exposure and make a little pizza money, too. Like an old Winnebago, it took a few starts. We have some shows later this summer and colleges in the fall and we can’t wait.

The four of us are good pals but being on the road puts us into very new situations where we can be oddly shy. For example, we took a wrong turn in New Jersey and lost half an hour driving in circles. From the back seat, Dave Rubin goes, “If you want, I have GPS on my phone.” Well yeah, no one will be offended if you have a device that gets us out of a swamp.

AE: Ok, I read that Time Out New York once awarded you with “joke of the year.” So of course, I need to hear it.

CC: Ah, it’s part of my old NSFW stripper routine but here’s the segment that got in the magazine:

I called a strip club about getting a job and, as a joke, asked, “Do I need to know Excel?” The guy was like, “Nah, she don’t work here no more.”

Photo credit: Anya Garrett

AE: The truth now – does being a comedian affect your luck with the ladies? Has it ever helped/hurt you in that department?

CC: It helps statistically. More women see you at one time. If you just had a great set, well, you may get some really spicy friend requests later.

AE: As a quick follow-up, is it ok if I ask if you are in a relationship?

CC: Not in one right now. I don’t even have any clingy exes. I’m so alone.

AE: What’s next for you – any big projects or shows on your horizon?

CC: Uh, big projects on the horizon…my writing partner (a very cool straight woman) and I are working on a pilot together. I’m working really hard on my facebook status updates, too. Those are crucial.

AE: Finally, in this wonderful era of economic apocalypse, do you think that comedy is more important? Is “entertaining the lesbians of the world” on your shortlist of noble acts?

CC: Comedy is definitely more important. The crisis is here and escapism helps. I had a show recently where someone came up to me after and told me how she lost half the people in her office and the rest were probably on their way out, too. She was there to laugh and take all the stuff she has no control over off her mind.

If you’re unemployed, after sitting all alone in stinky PJs day after day, surrounded by empty bags of Bugles, emailing your resume for what seems like naught, maybe a free show and some human contact is what the doctor ordered.

“Entertaining the lesbians of the world” is my main goal. It is my privilege to lesbo-tain you.

Check out Claudia’s musings on her blog at getthefoutofhere.blogspot.com

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