Sweet Janeane

Janeane Garofalo just wants you to love her.

by A.D. Amorosi


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Published: Apr 20, 2010

[ funny girl ]

Considering Janeane Garofalo — the acerbic standup comedian/actress recently seen on 24 and onstage in Delia and Nora Ephron's Love, Loss, and What I Wore — has an ear (and mouth) for serious political discourse, it's this comment that strikes me as the most controversial: "I actually would prefer to be well-liked." We chat about why she's not a political comedian while she runs to her doctor's office.

City Paper: You said you're going to the doctor. Am I allowed to start a bizarre rumor as to why?

Janeane Garofalo: You certainly can. The real reason I'm going is for insurance purposes before I tape a comedy special but you can say anything you want: sickle cell, for instance.

CP: Sickle cell it is. What's the lesser of evil issues for you this week: The controversy over filling out taxes or the census?

JG: I'm interested in the tax thing because of the anti-tax movement/Tea Party movement who pretend they're patriots and concerned about government intervention into their lives when really the lion's share of them are just uncomfortable with a black president.

CP: Are you surprised that a U.S. Army colonel would rather go through a court martial than give up his birther status?

JG: No. The first Tea Party was scheduled for Obama's Inaugural Day. They weren't concerned about following where the president was going. They didn't even give him a chance. Where was [this colonel] during the Reagan /Bush eras when taxes on the wealthy were let down and burdened those who weren't wealthy. It's closet racism.

CP: Do you think there would've been a Tea Party if a woman — Hillary Clinton — had become president?

JG: There's misogyny present in every culture, so that would've come out to a certain degree. But she's white so that would've left the birthers, the deathers, the Tea Partiers and Fox with fewer emotional buttons to push. [Fox]'s one of the organizations that loves to appeal to the least amongst us, to stir up the limbic brain region and get 'em all stirred up, confused and angry,

CP: I've certainly witnessed you flaunt your position on Fox, toe-to-toe with Bill O'Reilly. Did you ever think to yourself, Why bother?

JG: Yes, yes, yes. I feel as if I failed and embarrassed myself; that it was a fool's errand. That point was really clear when I did Fox and Friends. You deal with those douchebags and you realize that there's no having a reasonable conversation with Fox.

CP: Do you feel as if you get dragged into any or all political fights or that you're looking for a good debate?

JG: I do enjoy discussing politics, but no I'm not looking for debate. I honestly don't enjoy fighting with people, being mocked or marginalized. I actually would prefer to be well-liked (laughs) and I am not ashamed to say that. I would really enjoy being liked by the most amount of people.

CP: And you're not?

JG: It's affected how people think of me. There are lot of folk who think I'm a political comic. I am not. I'm a standup comedian who sometimes discusses politics. Especially when I travel internationally, it happens. They're not trying to be mean, but people come see me there and they think, "What the fuck? That's not a political comic." I'm not Lewis Black. That's a drag. But I won't shy away from it. There's nothing more important than discussing the issues. I just do not enjoy the anger than comes from it. I don't look for it. It finds me.

Janeane Garofalo | Tue., April 27, 8 p.m., $14.75-$29.50, with Marc Maron, TLA, 334 South St., 215-922-1011, livenation.com