Danielle Solzman: Thank you for joining the Kentucky Democrat today. How are things out in sunny California?
Tina Dupuy: Since I wear SPV 40 indoors...the sunniness sucks for me. Besides that - just fine. Thanks for asking.
DS: You're a political comedian. Has the president's re-election led to more comedy or not enough?
TD: You really don't hit your stride making fun of an administration until the second term. It's like wine or Cheetoes or something that needs to be properly aged.
I have no idea what that means.
DS: Is it hard work coming up with material?
TD: No. It's hard to come up with good material. For every 100 jokes I write, maybe one will end up in my act. And that ratio is a vast improvement to what it was when I started, which I think was more like 1000 to 1.
DS: How do you think a Kerry administration would have done in terms of comedy?
TD: ZZZzzzzz.....whut! huh? Kerry who!?!
Just saying his name has the same effect as Ambian.
DS: Is it true that material for blue states doesn't play well in red states or vice versa?
TD: People are people whereever you go. I have had liberal audiences turn on me and I've had conservative audiences turn on me.
I think funny is funny. I don't change my act for the color of the state. I can disagree with something politically - but if it’s funny I still laugh. Which is the main reason liberal audiences are hard to play to. They are really quick to be offended if you aren't a lesbian or a person of color and are obviously taking stage time away from someone that might be.
Where as conservatives that are easily offended NEVER go out to comedy clubs. They are too busy staying home, writing letters and feeling persecuted
I make fun of absurdity and stupidity which is a bi-partisan downfall. I also am there to entertain people not indoctrinate them with my political opinions. That's what my blog is for.
DS: Have any good material for the Ernie Fletcher job scandal here in Kentucky?
TD: Fletcher is a Republican, right?
"Republican" is an ancient Greek word meaning, "never to blame." I don’t know anything about the scandal but I know that the Democrats are trying to destroy a good man’s reputation by making these accusations. And Fletcher may have a sudden urge to ‘spend more time with his family.’
But I’m just guessing.
DS: You're a blogger, right? How's that going?
TD: I'm a blogger? My resume has never seemed so...nerdy.
I have run a blog for two years as of last Aug. In blog years - that's a long time. However, I'm still not that comfortable with telling people at parties that I do it.
It's a great exercise as a writer. A guy wrote on his blog that I wrote better than some columnists. You'd think I'd be flattered. Yet, I immediately thought, "Wow. I'm a loser. I should submit my work to newspapers." So I started doing that. A couple of pieces have gotten published. Which may have not happened if I wasn't obsessively writing a blog almost everyday for two years.
Now I'm working on a book based on some of my posts from the road.
It also lets my family members stay abreast of what’s going on in my life, without me actually having to talk to them. It's really cool. All I can say it that it has enriched my life in many ways. Geez, that sounded very infomercial of me huh? I’m so broke that only my life is enriched.
I have no idea what that means.
I have to say that I love all the people that read my blog. I really do. I wouldn't invite any of them over for dinner, but I love them all nonetheless. It's very encouraging to have people that spend there free time reading your work, whether it's just to disagree with you or not.
I should qualify that last statement with the fact that I'm not the typical blogger. I think there are really three categories blogs fall under.
1) Political/News
2) Personal online diaries.
3) Hobbies
I kind of fall into the first one. It’s kind of a political blog. Of course I’m not affiliated with any candidates or political parties. I have conservative and liberal fans. I'm a satirist/comedian. I think a lot of political blogs do a lemming disco about issues and just parrot the party line. Not that that’s a bad thing in any way. I read a lot of those blogs, some are very informative. There are TONS of them. That’s just not what I do. I try to think of something funny and/or insightful to say about a news item. The challenge is doing THAT on a daily basis. Some days I wish I could just put up a bunch of links to newspaper articles or whine about the new toothpaste I tried and go back to bed.
DS: Will you ever bring your stage act to a late night show or even a sitcom?
TD: I'm on the phone to my manager right now.
DS: What about Jon Stewart? Thoughts on his show?
TD: Jon Stewart is brilliant. His genius isn't in his being funny. It's in his ability to let other people be funny. There are a lot of comics that HATE to see other people get laughs and Jon Stewart isn't plagued by that. Johnny Carson was like that. Brilliant.
DS: I hate to ask but how many more years of Bush do we have?
TD: I think we are all going to have a collective soap opera moment, where we wake up and Bush Jr. being president and invading Iraq (again) and America turning into a really preachy creepy country with record debt bought out by the Chinese will all be a funny yet kind of scary dream.
Again, I have no idea what that means.
DS: What is a day in the life of a comedian like?
TD: I wake up at the crack of noon. Read the paper. Make fun of our elected officials. Try to organize my office/living room/kitchen/bedroom. Obsesses about my success or lack there of for a bit. Drink coffee. Decide where I am going to that night. Call my friend and obsess about my success or lack there of for a bit. Drink more coffee with them. Try to talk my dog out of her desire to go on a walk. Obsess about my success of lack there of for a bit. Shower. Try to decide what I am going to eat that night. Then repeat it the next day.
Unless I’m on the road, then I do all that in a hotel room.
DS: Speaking of comedy, when you heading out for some shows in Kentucky?
TD: I think I’m booked at a Kentucky Fried Chicken in Buffalo in the spring. Does that count?
When I have a confirmation, you’ll be the first to know Danielle.
DS: Thanks again for joining the Kentucky Democrat.
TD: No. Thank you. Thanks for not making me suffer for saying yes to being interviewed. That’s very kind of you.
Your questions were great, dude. I’m impressed. Keep up the good work!
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