Gloria Bigelow "Out on Stage"

 JR: You have a lot of jokes on slavery and find a beautiful balance of being educational and entertaining. Is there anything that you would address in comedy in the future, but are still figuring out how to address it through comedy? 

GB: I have been struggling with...I had a really horrible stalking experience...that was really terrible, it was awful. I am just kind of spiraling my way to get to the center of it, to find the humor, but it’s been like 4, 5 or 6 years ago. I tried to dance around it when it was first happening, but I think it was just like, too fresh. And you know, time helps find the humor so I think now I’m ready to get into that topic. And then, also, not to just exploit a particular situation, but I’ve struggled with R. Kelly for a very long time. Ever since my teenage years when I met him in a hotel and he was really like, not a good person. I’ve tried to make a couple little jokes here and there, but I feel like I haven’t been able to get to the crux of what I need and what I want to say about it. But I feel like that is a topic that needs some light.

JR: Do you feel that being a classically trained actress hurts or gets in your way as a comedian? 

GB: I definitely think when I first started it helped me because I was really comfortable being on stage, but I also think that really hurt me. I was so tied to being perfect or saying the joke exactly how I wrote it. I didn’t have a lot of room to play and I think that over time I started to feel more comfortable going off script and being with the audience and having more fun with it. I think all of those strategies and techniques that you get in acting training, you have them, they’re in your back pocket. Now you can just go about the business of having fun with people and you have that background that you can always lean on. 

JR: You cover a lot of deep topics and have said you faced homophobia and I'm sure other ~isms. Do you embrace any self-care routine to help cope and thrive in this environment?

GB: I used to laugh about the idea of self-care, I used to be like, ‘a, god, that’s such the buzz word now’. Everyone’s like “I need self-care now more than ever”, but literally now, “I need self-care now more than ever!” It’s real. I think that I definitely embrace different ways of self-care. I’m with my animals a lot. My dog and my cat are absolutely apart of my self-care because they provide structure and routine for me. And just when you are present with them it’s kinda like there’s not anything else happening. I take breaks from the news, I am an MSNBC junkie. Rachel Maddow is so great to look at and to listen too, so you can get caught up in it. I would come home and I would put on MSNBC and then watch for 3 hours and then the same shows would be coming on again, and I would still be watching it. So I would take a break and just watch Gilmore Girls or something that is light and not of this time. And so I think what I choose to consume is part of my self-care. It’s not like I can just turn off the news and never watch it again, but I am getting more picky and not just having I ton in the back ground of my life. Instead I’ll put on, like, Living Single and have that on in the background of my life. I have things making me want to laugh and not just bang my head on the wall.  

JR: You are a karaoke singer, you dance, you empower youth, an activist... are there any other identities that define you but people keep missing about you? 

GB: No I don’t think so. I think I’m that theater geek person, the person that really loves Karaoke and all those things. I go to a musical theater dance class, which sounds ridiculous, but we have top hats and that makes it better. And I think all of those things are like who I am and I am trying to be as balanced as I can. I never really thought of myself as an activist per se, I just have some real strong opinions about stuff that I really don’t like and I really wanna find ways to help. 

JR: You have defined success before as "happiness", is this definition still true, and how successful do you feel now? 

GB: I think it’s definitely part of my definition of success for sure. I would say joy is a big part of it and feeling free is also a big part of what I feel like success is now. Joy and Freedom and also just being able to take care of myself. I think that maybe growing up or what the idea of what it is to be a person in the world and being able to take care of myself makes me feel successful. Being able to get the things that I want when I want them, that makes me feel successful. Being able to, silly as it is, buy my pets organic dog food and cat food, that makes me feel successful. Because it’s me taking care of myself, and that’s part of how I take care of myself. Being able to go get a massage, that to me is successful because that’s me taking care of myself. So, I would say, Joy, Freedom, and me being able to take care of myself.  

JR: If you could have people leave your show learning one thing, what would it be? 

GB: These are, number 1, really thoughtful questions. You know, I would hope that people would walk away with a sense of...I haven’t thought about it that way. That means there could be a shift or maybe they may see people a little differently. Maybe their interactions would be a little different, I think that would be a great takeaway. 

JR: This question is for my wife, she loves Hallmark movies. If you could write a lesbian themed holiday movie, which holiday would it be and why? 

GB: I would do Juneteenth, June 19th. It’s one of my favorite holidays that most people don’t know about, it’s when black folks in Texas found out slavery had been abolished. And so when I have gone to Juneteenth celebrations in the past it’s been really fun and exciting and how fun would that be. Plus, a lot of them, you get to wear white, and I feel like black people look great in white. So, I would love to do a Juneteenth holiday movie where somehow the idea of liberation and emancipation was apart of it and we could wear white. 

JR: I would watch that, sounds wonderful! You are going to be on Out on Stage, what else would you like us to know about that or any other projects you have coming?  

GB: What I loved about Out on Stage, it introduced me to comics I hadn’t necessarily seen before. And also, not to be that lady, but queerness is still very political and so for me...being apart of that felt like...they really hit home on some of the political things that were happening in the country. To me that was very lovely subversive kind of show, I’m proud of that. Not just because all the jokes are political, because they're not, but just the whole idea of it being super queer, coming out at a time when… we all know whats going on and all of that mess is happening. So that’s one thing I really enjoyed and that it happened just because another comedian recommended me. Which I think is really lovely as a way to get work, because that means the people you work with really value you. And then anything else, I’m just into telling jokes and writing jokes and I’m working on a book. 

JR: Lastly, you were at Clexicon last year, any thoughts about going back? 

GB: That was so much fun. Coming down the escalators at Clexicon and looking around, I was like, this is amazing. I have never been to a Con situation in my life and so just being apart of that was just amazing. I would tell anybody who has not gone, if you can find a way to get there, get there. Hopefully I will be invited back, I’d love to go back. I met a lot of really lovely people there. Very cool folks. 

JR: Thank you for doing what you do and taking the time to talk with us. 

GB: Absolutely, my pleasure.  

You can follow Glo on Instagram @glo_bigelow & Twitter @gloriabigelow