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You may think that you know what this is all about by the
title, but as with individuals, labels can be misleading. I spoke with the
ringleader and emcee of The Queer Queens
of Qomedy Tour, Poppy Champlin, after she had just arrived back home
following an exhaustive leg of the tour which took her from through Virginia,
Rhode Island, Massachusetts, Michigan, Illinois, back to Michigan and then to
LA. We spoke at length about this unique comedy tour and what it will bring to
the Wiley’s stage.
J.T.: Since the name
of the tour is The Queer Queens of Qomedy, I’m
going let you give me an overview of what people can expect.
 Poppy: Well, this is something new that we’re doing in Dayton that we’ve never
done before, which I’m looking forward to seeing how it goes. Usually, we just
do one night wherever we go. Like in Chicago,
we did one night and we had a good show. Now, this will be different because
we’ll be at Wiley’s from Thursday
through Sunday. The two other comics that I’m bringing are really, really, really good and they’re really well
known in the queer comedy world, so it’s giving people more of an opportunity
to see them over a longer amount of time. These two comics, Michele Balan and
Vickie Shaw, they are also, of all the other lesbian comics, two of the more
bisexual comics. They’re more mainstream, so hopefully the people in the area
that are used to great comedy, because I know Wiley’sThe Tonight Show, so she’s certainly not
going to be “gay this and gay that” on The
Tonight Show. She has just gotten finished doing some straight cruises.
It’s really more great comedy than it is queer comedy…but, it is gets great comics, they can also come and enjoy this
without feeling like they’re going to be inundated with gay this and gay that.
It’s not going to be like that. Michele is getting ready to do queer. We are all gay.
J.T.: Well, with the
bisexual angle, you might get a lot of couples in there where the guy sees this
as an opportunity to “suggest” his evil little fantasy.
Poppy: (Laughs) Exactly! Exactly, that’s true. You’ve got
that angle. It’s also just great comedy all around and I know that people need comedy right now. The times are bad
and the economy sucks.
J.T.: What venues do
you usually perform in? Are they primarily gay and lesbian bars?
Poppy: Oh no, no. We’re just pulling in to regular theaters.
Like the Birchmere Music Hall (Alexandria,
VA). They have great acts in
there. They have great bands come through. In Chicago, we were in the Lakeshore
Theater, so it’s all big name places, we just bring a queer show in there and
people come.
J.T.: Are you going
to have to change up the act a little bit to accommodate playing at Wiley’s?
Poppy: Yeah, I’ll change it a little. I mean, I used to play
there all the time. I used to do Wiley’s
back in ‘92-‘93 and I think even ‘91, and I used to have a blast!
J.T.: And you will
find that it hasn’t changed since then?
Poppy:(Laughs) Yeah, it was a blast and I always used to
just have so much fun there. I remember that I was the one who had broken the
record there for being the longest on stage. I mean, since then, it’s been
broken many times, but I remember being up there for like two hours one time.
You know, I was just sitting up there just drinking and buying people shots and
they’re buying me shots and we were just having a good time. I just know that Wiley’s is a fun place and when people
go there, they always have a good time. This time around, I would probably
bring out more of my drinking material versus some feminist material or
something like that, so, more towards blue collar material and whatever works
in the area. That’s why Michele will work really well, because she’s from New York and has that New York attitude, which is great and Vickie
is Southern, so she’s going to work well too. She got all that Southern, oh, I
don’t want to say white trash, but
she’s got some of that Southern white trash in her. (Laughs) She loves to talk
about kids because she’s a mother and has kids of her own and so she’s got a
lot of funny stuff.
J.T.: Besides the
regular media, what other type of promotion are you doing to get the word out
about the show?
Poppy: I’ll try every avenue I can find to promote this. I’m
going to try and pull from Cincinnati and Columbus and surrounding cities because the girls and the
boys, they will come out to see these comedians and they will stay in the
hotels in Dayton.
They’ll come out and they’ll drive to see these comics because otherwise you
have to go on a cruise and that costs you two or three grand or you have to go
to P-Town (Provincetown, MA) and that costs you two or three grand, so to see
them live and they’re only an hour away, so I think they will come and see
them.
J.T.: Well, is there
anything that you could say so that the straights won’t be scared away?
Poppy: Well, like I said; Michele is more of a bisexual
comic and because Vickie has children and she was married, she’s been through
that, so I think it’s really good for everybody. The comics that I’ve chosen
are definitely perfect for Dayton
and I think everybody is going to enjoy it. I mean, Vickie’s got a special
coming out and Michele’s going to be on The
Tonight Show, so these are really great comics that everybody should see
and not be afraid at all. Comedy is comedy; it doesn’t really have all that
much to do with gender.
The Queer Queens Of Qomedy will kick off
their Dayton
appearances at Wiley’s Comedy Nite Club, 101 Pine St., Dayton,
on Thursday September 11th at 8:30pm with Friday’s show at 9:00pm.
Saturday will feature a double show with the first one beginning at 8:00pm and
the second at 10:30pm. Sunday concludes their Dayton leg with a show at 8:30pm. Tickets
range from $10 to $20. For more information, you can go to their web site at www.wileyscomedyclub.com
or call (937) 224-JOKE (5653). Make sure to make reservations in advance as
seating is limited. Since this is a special show, no coupons or passes will be
accepted.
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