Life inspires 'nasty' comic

By Mike Pearson, Rocky Mountain News (Contact)

Published February 29, 2008 at 12:05 a.m.

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Lisa Lampanelli

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If you saw Lisa Lampanelli on the street, you might mistake her for one of Tony Soprano's relatives. Physically, she's plump and demure with a magnetic Italian smile and one of those early '60s hairstyles that recalls Mary Tyler Moore on The Dick Van Dyke Show.

It's when she opens her mouth onstage that she earns her moniker as comedy's "Lovable queen of mean." Lampanelli, 46, is an insult comic with a growing fan base. Her favorite topics? Dating black men and tweaking the pomposity of soccer moms. She brings her funny, filthy humor to the Boulder Theater tonight.

She's become a favorite of Comedy Central (two specials and a number of roasts) and has begun to make inroads into films, working with Larry the Cable Guy and Judd Apatow. And all this as part of her second career. Her first was as a journalist for such publications as Rolling Stone, Spy and Popular Mechanics.

The Rocky's Mike Pearson caught up with her by phone as she lounged in yet another airport on her hectic touring schedule. Here's what she had to say.

How did a nice Catholic girl from Connecticut become such a dirty girl?

"It might have been all the beatings as a child."

When did you know you wanted to be a comic?

"When I was 5 I got my first laugh and started milking it at the dinner table, but I sublimated this urge until I had been a journalist for a number of years. I did my first open mike when I was about 30 years old. I ended up killing, but there were many bombings after that."

Were your parents funny people?

"My mother is like the best storyteller in the world, which is why my father has a hearing aid he turns down all the time. She knows how to tell a story. And also, she says wacky racist things I find hysterical. They love my act up until the point I talk about sex. We're Catholic and you don't talk about that kind of thing. During that part (of my show) they look down or go to get something to eat, which is why we're all fat."

Why do we like insult comics? What's our attraction to nastiness?

"It's a great equalizer, when you spread it out between every age group and orientation. There are also a lot of self-hating people out there who need to be put in their place. You're paying $35-$40 a ticket, so you know who you're going to get when you come to see me. When you're first starting, there's always the occasional person who didn't get it. Most people are smart enough to know that we don't mean it, that those stereotypes are just retarded."

Where do you get the inspiration for your material?

"Mostly it's people I deal with in my real life, mostly my family, the people I date . . . anything that annoys me is getting on that stage. It all starts with anger."

How did working as a copy editor at Popular Mechanics inform your humor?

"It probably gave me lower self-esteem than I ever had. I actually wanted to work somewhere everyone had actually heard of so I could brag about it. I'm a great speller, so if you need me to copy-edit your story for you . . . "

I want to throw out some names and get a one-sentence reaction: Howard Stern.

"Love him. My hero. He has done more for my career than anyone else."

Andy Dick.

"Gay, gay, gay. Who's he kidding?"

Larry the Cable Guy.

"Love him. Hardest-working man in the business and quite a good character developed by quite a good guy."

Are you upset you didn't win the 2008 Grammy for comedy album?

"I'm not. It's the weirdest thing. I got so much press because I didn't win because everyone was rooting for me. It just wasn't important. I'm 46 years old, and anything I'm getting or not getting is meant to be. I just thought it was so funny to be able to get all this press for not winning. I've got two houses and two Toyota Camrys, so I'm ahead of the game."

How do you measure success?

"I don't know because I do love money. It's really cool to fly your whole family out for the Grammys and put them up in a nice hotel. It's not (about the) money but being able to do what you want to do."

You seem to be stealing Kathy Griffin's thunder when it comes to gay audiences.

"No, actually, 'cause I only get about 20 percent. Her audience is 99 percent gay, which is fabulous. Some of them e-mail me and say, 'We love you more than Kathy Griffin' and I say, 'You f----ts have to make everything a competition.' I love her because she names names."

What can your Boulder audience expect to see?

"I start with a half-hour of mime, then 45 minutes of interpretive dance, then sing the entire score of Pippin. I'm going to say the c-word, make funny and then go (have sex with) the security guard."

Anything we should know about the movie you've got coming out this spring with Owen Wilson called Drillbit Taylor?

"He did not try to kill himself because I was a bad actor. Let's put that rumor to rest. (The movie) is edgy and dirty and heartwarming."

pearsonm@RockyMountainNews.com or 303-954-2592

Lisa Lampanelli

* When and where: 8 p.m. today, Boulder Theatre, 2032 14th St., Boulder

* Cost: $34.50-$36.75, plus service charges

* Information: 303-786-7030

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