Funny Ladies
The weekend of April 11-12 will be one
laugh after another with two great comics coming to town! As part of
Women’s Weekend here in Rehoboth, comics Lisa Koch and Michele Balan
will be holding forth at the Convention Center. Michele Balan will kick
off the festivities on Friday night April 11, with Lisa Koch on Saturday,
April 12.
As Letters Feature editor, I caught up with
the two busy comics last week for conversations about their bios and their
upcoming shows in Rehoboth.
Michele Balan was a finalist on NBC’s
Last Comic Standing in 2006, and was the last woman comic standing. She
will be appearing on April 11 at the Convention Center to kick off
Women’s Weekend. Michele had her own Outlaugh special on Logo in 2007
and appeared on Comics Unleashed. She was voted one of the top 10 comics
by Backstage Mag-azine in 2005 and has been headlining all over the
country—in all the top comedy clubs, theaters, and on cruises. Her
career has taken her to the Montreal Just For Laughs Festival to The
Improv in Los Angeles, and Caroline’s on Broadway in NYC.
Michele is currently one of the fashion
police writers in Life & Style Magazine, so be sure to wear something
eye catching when you come to the Rehoboth Convention Center.
FJ: Okay, Michele, we all want to know
what it was like on Last Comic Standing—and as the last woman standing,
let me congratulate you!
MB: Thanks for the congratulations, but in
this business you can go from being the Last Woman Comic Standing…to a
cashier at Walmart! It was a great experience and filled with lots of
pressure. I can tell you that after that show, nothing makes me nervous! I
would love to boast about being on a reality show, but now a days anyone
can be on a reality show...you just need to swap a wife, a husband, or be
a drug addict...it’s easy!
FJ: After traveling all over the country
making people laugh, is this your first trip to Rehoboth? If so, what have
you heard? If not, what do you think of us?
MB: I once passed through Rehoboth about 15
years ago with some comedy friends. We went to a gay bar and did some
comedy. I don’t remember where or what the name was. I always wanted to
go back and I’m really thrilled that I am.
FJ: You started out as a Female—Female
Impersonator? Explain, please…it’s not a common job description.
MB: Everyone would tell me I reminded them
of Bette Midler, so I cashed in on it. I played bars, private parties,
etc. I did crazy things like lip syncing “Leader of the Pack” on a
tricycle and would ride off the stage, etc. Now I would break a hip if I
did that! Of course after that, I was a big account executive in the
corporate world which I left for comedy.
FJ: What did your friends and family say
when you decided to trade your high-paying executive position at a
computer company to pursue stand-up?
MB: My friends encouraged me to do comedy.
They always said how funny I was and that I should do it professionally.
My family and more realistic people in my life thought I should go into
therapy.
FJ: Well it all turned out very well,
obviously! I just got back from my first Olivia Cruise and was blown away
by the fun and warmth and hilarity. I hear you will be entertaining on
Olivia’s Cruise for a Cure right before you visit us.
MB: The Olivia Cruises are wonderful.
Everyone who works for Olivia is great and they treat their artists very
well. I love working with them, and I’m certainly looking forward to
this very important cruise for a cure.
FJ: It’s so great that Olivia is doing
the charity thing—what are your thoughts about this particular aspect of
the cruise?
MB: I think it is important that we don’t
forget the threat of Breast Cancer as I have had friends who have passed
away so young because of it. I do many Cancer benefit shows. I am
particularly partial to being involved with sicknesses that strike women.
I am thrilled that Olivia is doing this cruise and hopefully this won’t
be the last.
FJ: One word of advice: don’t take too
many sea sickness pills. Kate Clinton did and she had to do some of her
stand-up sitting down. It was hilarious, though! Are you excited about the
cruise?
MB: Well, I have two options, either take
pills and sit if I have to...or throw up on the audience. I think they
would rather me sit. I have had my share of sea sickness!
FJ: Well, I want a report on how you
fared. I understand you are a New Yorker, like me. Does a lot of your
comedy spring from City life? What else inspires you?
MB: So you’re a New Yorker that moved to
Rehoboth? Should I consider living there?
FJ: YES!!!!
MB: I was born and raised in this crazy
city. I’m actually from Coney Island Brooklyn. I tell people I was born
on the wonder wheel and I’m the 8th wonder of the world! Everyday
things, my life, and the absurd inspire me.
FJ: What has made you laugh this week?
MB: I had a great laugh with my friend and
fellow comedian Poppy Champlain in San Francisco, we were driving, and got
directions from a friend. After we assured our friend that we knew where
we were going, we drove off, turned the corner and were lost! We called
her not more than 3 seconds after assuring her we knew where we were. We
laughed so hard at how ridiculous it all was.
FJ: What have been some of your favorite
venues and most interesting gigs—and what are you most excited about for
the future (besides coming to Rehoboth, of course.)
MB: I love many of the gigs I do. My career
is all over the lot. Two weeks ago, I was in Seattle to do the Equal
Rights Washington Gala, then to Chicago to do a corporate event for Home
Builders, then to the Funny Bone Comedy club in Hartford, CT to headline
the comedy show. That was all in one week! As far as upcoming, really, is
there anything better than Rehoboth?
FJ: NO! And we look forward to seeing
you here!
 Lisa Koch (“Coke”), an irreverent
Seattle singer/comedian, has been called a twisted mix of comedy, theater,
and demented songs. She has four solo recordings, is one-half of hilarious
sketch-comedy duo, Dos Fallopia (“My Breasts Are Out of Control”), and
is an alumnus of cult quartet Venus Envy (“I’ll Be A Homo for
Xmas”). Lisa has also appeared in The Vagina Monologues, Dirty Blonde,
and as the Wicked Witch of the West in The Wizard of Oz. She performs
regularly on Olivia Cruises, is touring her one-woman cabaret show, Return
to Planet Lisa, and is the composer of a new musical about Gertrude Stein
and Alice B. Toklas (27, Rue de Fluerus). Koch’s latest CD (Tall Cool
Drink) contains the viral hit, “I’m a Middle-Aged Woman.” Out
Magazine calls her “...reminiscent of the uproariously tacky mishmash
once beloved by the Divine Miss M...“
FJ: In addition to your well-known comic
talents, can you tell us a little about your self-described “demented”
songs? My favorite title is “The Carpenters: Uncomfortably Close to
You.”
LK: I seem to have a knack for writing
songs that are just a little wrong...titles like “You Make My Pants
Pound,” “My Vulva is Singing (A Womanly Song),” “Stainies in My
Undies Always Get Me Down,” “Back When We Had Sex.” I have
definitely noticed a moist theme...
FJ: The titles are hilarious. I remember
being in the car some time in the 90s and listening to a tape of Dos
Fallopia, and practically driving off the road I was laughing so hard. My
driving was out of control from your recording “My Breasts are Out of
Control.” Can you tell us about your performing partnership with Peggy
Platt and how your duo came about?
LK: Peg and I met in Seattle in 1989—I
had just moved to Seattle from Baltimore (yes, I lived in Baltimore,
worked at Joseph A. Bank Clothiers, played music on the weekends at the
Port-in-a-Storm in a pickup band called Spare Parts…
FJ: The old Port…ah,
memories…
LK: and occasionally played with my old
Pittsburgh band called Jane St.). Anyway, Peg and I got cast in a show
together, and started writing together. We formed Dos Fallopia in 1990,
and though we don’t tour much anymore, we still write and perform an
annual Christmas show here in Seattle (Ham for the Holidays). This last
December was Ham #8—Swine, Women and Song. Always a porcine theme, of
course.
FJ: There are a lot of viruses going
around these days, but your hit song “I’m a Middle Aged Woman” has
infected lots of radio stations. Tell us a little about it and how the
song spread so far and wide?
LK: I am amazed at how far “I’m a
Middle-Aged Woman” has traveled. It was truly a grass roots internet
thang— when I first released my CD, “Tall Cool Drink,” someone
passed an mp3 of the song along in an email. Then a few months later,
people starting making their own cartoon videos with my song, posted on
YouTube. Mind you, I’ve had nothing to do with any of it, it’s just
rolled along. Lately, one of the YouTube postings has been getting passed
along in emails, and the site has gotten a million and a half hits or some
such. All kinds of stuff on YouTube with the song—I’ve seen a drag
queen lip-syncing to it, a bunch of middle-aged broads line dancing to it,
and a woman rider and her horse performing dressage to it. Crazy. I’m
glad the song is striking such a chord, and making people laugh. And
horses too, apparently...
FJ: I have to go to the computer right
now and look! I’ll be back. Just kidding. After traveling all over the
country making people laugh, is this your first trip to Rehoboth? If so,
what have you heard? If not, what do you think of us?
LK: The last time I was in Rehoboth was
probably 1985.
FJ: It’s changed a little…more gay
people!
LK: I enjoyed myself very much, lovely
place. I’m looking forward to finally returning to the mighty state of
Delaware.
FJ: What are some of your favorite
venues?
LK: That’s a tough question—I generally
enjoy myself every time I go out to do a show. Some of the best shows are
in the crappiest little clubs. It’s all about connecting with the
audience, and the audience connecting back. It’s a very symbiotic
relationship, and when it’s happening, it’s magic.
FJ: Gertrude and Alice are all the rave,
with an award-winning book out about them this year, and lots of other
mentions about the old girls. I hear you wrote a musical about them,
headed for Off-Broadway…tell us the tale!
LK: My Off-Broadway show opened March 6 at
Urban Stages Theatre, and runs through April 13. It’s called 27 rue de
Fleurus (Gertrude Stein and Alice B. Toklas’ address in Paris). I
composed the music and lyrics for the show, which we’re calling a
chamber musical. My collaborator is Ted Sod (book and co-lyricist), who I
met in Seattle back in the early 90s (he lives in NYC). We workshopped the
show in NY last year, and Urban Stages picked us up. The show is told from
Alice’s point of view, and is a love story about two complex women who
lived essentially as husband and wife for almost 40 years. Fascinating
women.
FJ: I wish I had seen it…maybe it can
be performed here some time. Meanwhile, I just got back from my first
Olivia Cruise and was blown away by the fun and warmth and hilarity.
What’s it like entertaining on the Olivia cruises?
LK: I LOVE performing on Olivia
cruises—I’ve been working for Olivia since 1993, and have probably
done 50 or 60 trips (I lost count long ago). It’s quite an experience,
really wonderful. I call it “four star Camp.”
It’s like a women’s music festival, but with mints on your
pillow. All ages, all colors, all walks of life, and...all women. Pretty
fun.
FJ: What has made you laugh this week?
Got any great stories or songs you are going to try out in Rehoboth?
Anything you can’t wait to make into a laugh-fest?
LK: My partner Lynn and I baby-sat my 4
year old niece this weekend for her first sleep-over—she ran us ragged,
and I just about killed myself on the playground slide (remember “Wide
World of Sports...the agony of defeat? You get the picture...). After two
sleep-deprived days, we came to the conclusion that we’re wussies. I’m
sure I’ll have new stories by the time I get to Rehoboth—life is funny
every single day.
FJ: I agree totally.
LK: The only other things I can think
of—I grew up in Ashland, Oregon. I turned 51 in early February. We
celebrated my birthday by taking my niece (four) and the neighbor boy
(two) to Chuck E. Cheese. Sensory overload...good times.
Tickets ($30 per performance) are available
by calling CAMP Rehoboth at 302-227-5620. The doors open at 7 p.m. (with a
cash bar available) and the performances begin at 8 p.m.
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