Comedian Brandie Posey calls herself “20 percent white trash,”
which, she adds, is the perfect percent to be. A ska
kid from Maryland — and current resident of a double-wide mobile home in Los
Angeles — Posey, with bright blue hair and an unflinching, no-sacred-ground
approach to comedy, won’t dodge anything onstage, including the death of her
mother from Multiple System Atrophy.
After eight years of steady touring, Posey recently released
her debut album, “Opinion Cave,” which topped the iTunes comedy chart,
and she has frequently spoken about the growing recognition, and acceptance, of
women in comedy. Posey, along with comedians Barbara Gray and Tess Barker, hosts
the podcast “Lady to Lady,” which features a conversation with a different
female comic every week — past guests include Aisha Tyler and Margaret Cho.
“I’m just really happy to see the conversation move past
the ‘Are Women Funny?’ question because it always was and always will be
complete bullshit,” Posey says. “How boring and sad would your life have to be
to think that half of the world is incapable of being funny? If you don’t think
women are funny, you’re probably a narcissistic asshat
who is incapable of love, and you don’t deserve laughter anyway.”
Posey will perform at The Pillar (46 Mount Hope Avenue), on Friday,
June 24, at 8 p.m. Local comedians Kara Maillie, Madelein Smith, Andrea Springer, and Woody Battaglia will also perform. General admission tickets are
$10 at brownpapertickets.com.
Posey was fighting with some questionable Wi-Fi while on a
family cruise, so City had to shoot her a few questions via email about her
comedy, women in the industry, and her own take on where comedy fits in the
world. An edited copy of that conversation is below.
City: Nothing seems to be off limits during your set. How
do you see your approach to comedy?
Brandie Posey: My earliest comedy influences were ska bands that I loved as a kid — a lot of bands would have
funny shtick and bits they would do between songs. Plus, that kind of loud,
fast music was really my first love, and I think it really infused in my brain
when I started writing jokes. I tend to think of them kind of like songs, where
a certain punchline or funny visual will come to me, and then that’s what I
build a 3 or 4 minute full bit around.
Others have described you as “edgy,” and as
having a “Riot Grrrl” style. Do you agree
with those labels?
I understand why I get called those things — I was just on a
cruise for a week with some family, and they kept saying that I should try to
get one of the cruise comics to let me do a set. I am not for a cruise crowd. I
look like the granddaughter that doesn’t call them on Christmas. Spoiler alert:
I get along great with my family, hence why they take me on cruises.
I will say that sometimes “edgy” can get defined
wrong. To me, I try to find my edge by talking about my life as honestly as I
can, versus saying things or words to shock people; that’s not my style
whatsoever. To me, it’s edgy to show an audience who I really am, and let them
in.
When do you know how to rotate out material?
No two sets of mine are the same; I’m always moving something
around trying to see what the flow is between bits that works best. My jokes
tend to be about 80 percent scripted and 20 percent riffed. As I’m building
this next hour, I bring in new bits that have similar themes to older pieces
that I know will do well, so it’s a pretty smooth transition out with the old
and in with the new.
Do you feel women fair better in alt-comedy or other
styles beyond the mainstream?
I think women have a place at every level in comedy; whether
they are given that place is another story. But it’s opening up more as time
goes on. Audiences at all levels are being trained to expect a woman as much as
a man onstage thanks in part to the Internet making some of the old gatekeepers
irrelevant.
It’s slow going in some venues, but
the more exposure we get, the more room we create for our contemporaries and
those that come after. You have to remember, in the history of civilized people,
there has only been a tiny fraction of time that women have been able to talk
publicly without being called a witch — let alone, making a living at it.
You’ve talked about your mother’s passing in your act, and
you’ve said that you channel your mourning into your acts. Have you ever gotten
adverse reactions for your sets about your mother?
I’ve never really gotten any bad reactions to the stories
about my mom’s passing. I’ve been told by some audience members in person and
through emails that they really appreciate me being honest about what I’ve been
through.
Grief is an awful, painful part of life that we all
experience, and I think it’s important to look for the funny in it, because
that’s how you get control back over it — for me at least. I’m sure there are
some people who might not like those jokes, but I lived them, and it’s who I am
and what I needed to be talking about when it was happening.
Is there anything you’d really like people to know about
the disease she suffered from?
My mother died from a disease called Multiple System Atrophy,
or MSA for short. It’s in the neurological disorder family, along with Lou
Gehrig’s and Parkinson’s. It manifests as a combination of the two, basically
your brain stops being able to tell which parts of the body to do what.
Thankfully it’s a rare disease, because I would not wish it
on my worst enemy. It doesn’t have a 5K walk or a colored ribbon, so I just
want to let anyone who has anyone in their family suffering from it know that I
know what you’re going through, and I am so sorry. If any readers need to vent
about MSA, please find me online, I might seem a little salty, but I really
have a big heart and know how important it is to feel heard in the face of
tragedy. I have been there. Also, get a recording of your loved one saying
“Happy Birthday.”
This article appears in Jun 22-28, 2016.
