I’m always curious because I feel like as women of color, we have a lot of experiences that we go through in very different ways but are fundamentally, at the core, very similar. Lindsay: I was watching the episode of Solo Nation that you were in, talking a lot about your influence in comedy, and obviously your identity as well. Those subjects - racism, abuse, trauma - we need those things to be alleviated and to find hope in those situations, so I think that’s why it’s also like … I’m always looking for something to write about, and things that have the emotional charge - those subjects often give me the best payout. So really finding humor is a way to find hope and another reason to live, so it’s quite poetic actually. It carries you into life to live the next moment. Margaret: Well, those things have an emotional charge, and it’s really about trying to find hope in something, and then … Laughter is this involuntary intake of breath which you don’t expect. Why has it always been so important for you to find the humor in things that a lot of other people would deem too complicated things to talk about but also could be traumatic as well? You talk a lot about addiction, abuse, politics. Lindsay: Your comedy hits on so many heavy things though. Lindsay: But you’re doing yours, more importantly. It was tough, but I think it’s better to just kind of … they’re doing their thing. That was such a normal thing in the ’70s and the ’80s to happen in school. Not to say that it’s right, but it’s just something that we didn’t even have the language to talk about. It’s funny because I don’t hold any animosity toward them because that’s just the way that … Kids are naturally fearful and naturally bully. People always come out of my childhood and teenage years to my shows and stuff. But it is interesting how people really love the idea of somebody who’s made it and their connection with them. Lindsay: Of course they forget the bad things they have done.
They’re very proud of their association with me.
It’s interesting because I’ve been in contact with some of those people. Kids really have a lot of fear, and when somebody’s different, they channel that fear into attacking the one that’s different because then they will hopefully not be attacked. But also humor is really looking for hope in a situation, so when you can find hope, you can find a way to survive, and that’s really what comedy always is for me. And, you know, it is a coping mechanism, comedy. That was the worst, so I started comedy early. I didn’t love the powerlessness of childhood combined with the horrible children.
And I started very young because I just wanted to be an adult. So I just escaped into this idea that, Well, I’m going to be a comedian. They said that I was a lesbian, which I didn’t even understand what that was, so it was painful to go to school.
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I didn’t really understand how to be friends with people who didn’t want to be friends with me. I was obviously very queer, so I got bullied a lot. It was just so like a lifestyle that I could really get behind.Īnd I had a hard time connecting with people in school. And then I would listen to the morning radio shows - all the comedians would do morning show antics. That was the big thing when you were going on a night out in the ’70s: You’re going to wear a wraparound dress and go to a nightclub and watch comedians. Where I come from, San Francisco, there was a big comedy scene. What drew you to comedy so young, and how did comedy really help you confront different things? Was it a coping mechanism? Did it make you come alive? What was going on in your head at that age? I know that you started comedy at a very young age, and you’ve talked a lot about how it helped you through different issues and connecting with people. I want to start at the beginning because we talk a lot at the Cut about career longevity - how you transition, how you keep going. Lindsay Peoples: Margaret, thank you so much for taking the time to talk with us today.
This transcript has been lightly edited for clarity.