Garofalo sounds off
In an exclusive interview with Advocate.com, actress, radio personality, and dedicated activist Janeane Garofalo spouts off about the evils of the Republican Party, revolutionizing radio, and the joy of being mistaken as a lesbian.
By Andrew Harmon
An Advocate.com exclusive, posted June 21, 2004
The 39-year-old actress and comedian, who has starred in such films as Reality Bites and The Laramie Project, is known for eschewing all things popular, from high fashion to bellicose patriotism. She was an outspoken critic of the war in Iraq, appearing (and often getting flogged) on cable news shows like Crossfire and The O’Reilly Factor.
But obstreperous conservatives have only cemented Garofalo’s iconoclastic resolve. In 2004 she has taken her unabashed candor to the airwaves as cohost of The Majority Report, a nightly talk show on the fledgling Air America Radio, which features fellow comedians Al Franken and Lizz Winstead. In an exclusive interview with Advocate.com, Janeane talks about her radio show, the Log Cabin Republicans’ misdirection, and the joy of being mistaken for a lesbian.
What has it been like to make the transition from a stand-up comic who is known for using crib notes during an act to cohosting a three-hour talk radio program?
Well, I’ve been doing stand-up since 1985. I still do stand-up, and it’s not necessarily crib notes, they’re bullet points for what topics I want to get to, because I don’t do the same set every single night. And when I say that, it’s not like “I’m so creative and prolific,” but I don’t do the same thing in the same order. Now, for a three-hour show what I do to prep is to go through the news—alternative and mainstream—and pick out certain things that I want to hit. There’s also guests coming in every night, different authors, scholars, politicians, comedians, and activists.
There seems to be a lack of humor on right-wing radio shows. Why are irony and satire so central to Air America?
I think it’s because traditionally, [comedy] hasn’t been a part of talk radio. A lot of the radio right-wingers don’t have great senses of humor. They have mean-spirited senses of humor or sarcasm or they play real fast and loose with the truth. But part of the reason why they’re so far to the right is that they’re not particularly intellectual, analytical thinkers. Politics is very personality-driven, and there’s a reason why a lot of people go hard-core to the right and tend to be slightly sexist, homophobic, or slightly racist. I’m using the term “slightly” in some cases, and maybe not slightly at all in other cases. I’m not saying that all of them are stupid; that would be too reductive. But the reason why a lot of people are hard-core to the right is because of their personality type. I went to the women’s march last Sunday, and there were a handful of antichoice people on the sidelines harassing the marchers. Most of them were men, of course who cannot get pregnant, so I don’t know why they have so much say in it, but some of them were shouting very misogynist things through their megaphones.
Didn’t someone throw a soda can at you during one of these marches?
Yeah, that was at the Code Pink march. I was near some children, and some pro-war types just really had a problem with me; they were just classic thugs [laughs], like your classic frat jocks, very unintelligent faces, wearing the hair high and tight. They’re the sort of people who would enjoy throwing a can of soda at anyone, but so much the better that it’s a girl in the antiwar movement. And that’s the person who will tell you that they support the president and that they are conservative and Republican. The person who threw the Coke can will identify as a patriotic conservative, right? But really, they’re neither of those things. Patriotism means that you watchdog your government and you dissent when you believe that the government is not acting in the public’s interest. And a conservative is someone who believes in fiscal prudence and small government. Now I doubt the thug who throws the Coke can adheres to either of those systems. But since they don’t have great self-awareness, they will tell you that they’re a patriotic conservative who supports the president.
While waving a flag.
Waving a flag, exactly. So somebody needs to rescue the Republican Party from this guy. Somebody needs to rescue them from the Limbaughs and the Hannitys and the Fox News, because they’ve really given [the party] a black eye.
Well, if the Republican Party is in need of rescue, what do you think of the Log Cabin Republicans, who try to improve tolerance of gays from within?
Great idea; not working. What they need to do—and we’ve talked to a number of them on our radio show—is to take their sensibilities and work in tandem with the Democratic candidates who don’t have a problem at all with gay marriage, and work with [the Democratic] party instead of aligning with the party that is now dominated by money from religious right. That’s really why President Bush panders so much to people’s lesser nature, because he can get a lot of money out of it. If you claim you’re going to institutionalize discrimination against gays in the Constitution, you can get lots of money from the religious right. John Kerry, unfortunately, so far in the campaign seems to be playing it a little safe, but he clearly is for choice and believes you should not be changing the Constitution to discriminate against gays. So why not throw your power and weight behind John Kerry?
Unlike George W. Bush and John Kerry, Ralph Nader unequivocally supports same-sex marriage. Naturally, this is a very important issue for many gays and lesbians. What would you say to Nader supporters?
I would recommend that they support Nader’s grassroots organization and vote for Kerry, and let me explain what I mean by that. At this point, voting is not art. It can’t be, “I’ve got to vote my conscience; I’ve got to vote Nader.” Well, the time for dealing with your conscience and living authentically is every day, and you can do that with grassroots organizing and by sending money to organizations that you believe in. Now, going beyond authentic living, you have to unfortunately be pragmatic in this election when it comes to voting. And pragmatism in this election means voting for John Kerry. Because voting for Nader may only help the Republicans get Bush into office again for four more years. Howard Zinn, the great historian whom we had on the show the other night, said, “If you vote for John Kerry, you have a slim ledge to stand on to make America a better place. If you do not vote for Kerry and Bush gets in for four more years, there’s no more ledge, and we go right out the window.” So you can vote your conscience every day by how you choose to live and by who you walk with. You know, there’s a phrase, “Tell me who you walk with, and I’ll tell you who you are.” You can walk with the righteous every single day, but when it comes to voting in this particular election, we don’t have a lot of wiggle room when it comes to the statement of voting for Nader.
Some have accused Bush of using gay marriage and his support of the Federal Marriage Amendment as a diversionary tactic from the war in Iraq. Why is gay marriage such an effective wedge issue in America?
Well, it’s only an issue if you’re a dope. Do you know what I mean? The Bush administration depends on the dope vote. If gay rights are offensive to you, then you are not very emotionally intelligent. You may be book smart, but if you are offended by gays, you are not emotionally intelligent or politically mature. So the Bush administration depends on people who are not emotionally intelligent. That’s the only reason you would trot that out. You would only trot out the culture war if you are trying to get a cash infusion and support from the emotionally unintelligent and the paranoid. So they need all these red herrings, these distractions, the same way Janet Jackson’s boob is a distraction from the larger problems of FCC deregulation.
What do you think of the media’s coverage on gay marriage? Is there authentic debate?
No, there’s no authentic debate on anything in this country. Usually when they talk about gay rights, the mainstream media tends to only book a handful of people who may or may not be the best representatives when it comes to being articulate and intelligent. Sometimes they’ll go out of their way to find a real radical, left-of-center spokesperson so that Bill O’Reilly can mock them. The articulate people that they do book are few and far between.
A lot of radio and TV personalities love to take shots at you, specifically Ann Coulter, who calls you a “lemon pucker puss.”
I know, that doesn’t even make any sense.
Does this bother you, is it a badge of honor for you, or—
Oh, it’s not a badge of honor. It neither bothers me, nor is it a badge of honor. It’s irritating because these people are professional liars for the Republican Party. Ann Coulter has been exposed again and again for being a professional liar. Joe McCarthy used to hire “professional witnesses” to testify against people to lie in court. That’s what the Republican Party now has in Ann Coulter and people like Laura Ingraham and Sean Hannity. Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting has cited these people time and time again. People like Ann Coulter seduce people’s lesser nature, people’s “inner Archie Bunker,” if you will, and that’s what they’re there for. But I truly believe it will be revealed that Ann Coulter is Andy Kaufman.
Do you ever run into her in New York?
Yeah, I mean very rarely. We’ve just said, “Hey.” You know, what are you going to do? She knows she’s lying—you know, she’s basically a performance artist. So when she says things about me, it’s neither here nor there. Now, when other people who know better say things about me that aren’t true, it really bothers me, because like any human being, I would prefer to be well-liked. I would prefer to have the truth told about me.
You’ve played a biker lesbian with Sandra Bernhard on The Sopranos and in 2002 starred in The Laramie Project. Have you sought out these gay roles?
No, they’ve just come to me. But I think a lot of people are under the impression that I’m gay, from some of the mail I get, and letters I get backstage when I’m doing stand-up. Which is fine—I take it as a compliment when people think I’m gay or Jewish, because I feel they’re giving me credit for being intellectual and enlightened. [Laughs] It’s like, when people call me a “real New York liberal Jew,” I find that to be so complimentary. Honestly! And then people think I’m gay, and I feel like, “Oh, they must think I’m really enlightened.” I hope that doesn’t sound weird.
You just feel all the more savvy.
Yeah, it just makes me feel like somehow I’m doing something right if people think I’m a liberal Jewish lesbian. It makes me feel like, “Oh, my God, that’s so highbrow!”
Now word has it you have a book coming out this year?
Maybe. I have writer’s block. As we speak.
[Laughs]
In theory, I have a book coming out called For Those About to Salute, We Will Rock You, which is a collection of political essays, but at the moment I’m struggling with a mammoth case of writer’s block.
And do you have any plans to return to film, or are you sticking with radio?
Well, I did just do two movies, right before I started on Air America. One was called Duane Hopwood, with David Schwimmer, and the other is called Stay, with Ewan McGregor and Naomi Watts. I was supposed to do another movie this summer, but it’s just that [Air America] is too important to me. This is a full-time job. I love being a part of the Air America Radio team, because it’s so important to get the information that Air America gets out there, and this is more what I want to be doing.
Can we expect to see a stand-up tour on your experiences as a pundit?
Well, I still do stand-up locally here in New York. Sometimes I can still do stand-up after my show is over at 11 p.m. I always talk about current events, but my show is much more spoken word than stand-uppy. But there are a lot people who just don’t feel like hearing that much about media and politics in stand-up, so to me, some of the stuff is very entertaining, and to some of the audience, it’s very boring.
And if your audience is bored, do you just revert to the bits on your dogs?
Well, not really, anymore—unfortunately, most of the televised stand-up that exists of me is pre-1996 or ’97. So all that material is so long gone, but that’s still in the rotation at Comedy Central and HBO.
Yeah, we’re all still under the impression that your dogs are puppies.
I know! So it’s just that over the years, my interests have sort of shifted and changed, and a lot of TV [networks] haven’t considered [me], like “Oh, we don’t want to do another HBO special, she’s too controversial.” For whatever reason, it’s OK when male comics are “controversial,” but I think there’s a lot of reticence to film female comics who are considered as controversial as Bill Maher. And a lot of people say, “You’re just saying that because you’re not getting a show.” But I’m not just saying this, because I’m not the only actress who hasn’t gotten a show. There is sort of a bizarre mind-set that it is just unlikable when women comics talk about the same things that Bill Maher does and George Carlin does. If it comes out of a female’s mouth, it’s just abrasive. And that’s why people like Margaret Cho have had to move mountains to create their paths. Because the mainstream doesn’t tend to be helpful to comedians who are as willing to talk about gay issues, willing to talk about government.
Well, thanks very much for your time, and good luck on your show.
Oh, no problem. Thanks.
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