Kelli Dunham describes herself perfectly as your typical skateboard-riding, houseboat-dwelling, gender-bending, utilikilt-wearing, ex-nun dyke stand-up comic. She missed out “charming as hell” and “very cute” but that’s only the half of it”

Dunham’s brand of lesbian-friendly observational comedy has had dykes all over the US slapping their legs and clutching their sides with mirth. Hopefully the rest of the world will get to see a bit more of her now that she’s trading in her houseboat and cat in Philadelphia for the sunnier climes of San Francisco, where they venerate their lesbian stand-ups more highly.

Meanwhile, we’re glad to say that Dunham’s still got time to gab with us and tell us more.

A nun?
Well, not now. But in my not too distant past, I was a Missionary of Charity. That’s Mother Theresa’s gang. I was asked to leave because of “insufficient docility” and because I had “too much self esteem.” Which are not accusations you hear every day. Unless, of course, you’re a nun.
 
People (mostly close friends) have asked me if I’m eventually going to drop the “ex-nun bit” or if I’m going to be 85 years old, billing myself as an ex-nun because I spent time in the convent in my 20s.
 
Truth be told, although I no longer perform much actual material about being a nun, the fact that I am the kind of person who wanted to be - and for a time was - a nun singularly defines me in a way no other demographic category (assuming ex-nun can be considered a demographic category) does.
 
And stand-up comedy is like prayer to me, or the way I would have liked prayer to be, it’s a concentrated, focused conversation with no time for thoughts of anything but that conversation. A moment of sharing. This was quite different from prayer time in the chapel when I was a nun; I was mostly thinking about chocolate, hamburgers and sex. Not necessarily in that order.

"Stand-up comedy is like prayer to me, or the way I would have liked prayer to be, it’s a concentrated, focused conversation with no time for thoughts of anything but that conversation."

 
The thing I've noticed about you is that you really notice things. Is this the secret to your comedy?
Yes, noticing things definitely and cultivating personal openness. I don’t know if it’s because of that that I come off as being slightly tipped or very friendly, but complete strangers always want to have extensive chats with me about their deepest secrets, their greatest hurts, their biggest wardrobe dilemmas (I do much better with the former than the later).

I try to be wherever I am, in the moment, so I guess that does make it easier to notice the details of what is going on around me.
 
Why did you decide on a career in stand-up?
So this is a cliché, I suppose, but I have always always, always wanted to be a stand-up. I grew up in rural Wisconsin, and on my way home from school I would stop and tell jokes to my neighbour’s fields of Black Angus cows. I would write out whole set lists and even little stage directions like, ‘this is where you would stop for laughter if cows could laugh’. That was a rough crowd. Even the drunkest bar crowd gives it up more than a field of grazing bovines.
 
But I’m pretty naturally introverted and much more scared of people than cows, so I started out my career as a funny writer. I penned a humour column for the now defunct Philadelphia queer paper Au Courant. The column won some awards and was syndicated nationally. I don’t know what switched that I finally was able to get on the stage and try to make strangers laugh. Maybe turning 30 and not giving so many shits about what people think of me.

"I try not to write too much about the exterior bits of lesbian culture; the stereotypes that lesbians have mullet haircuts, or wear Birkenstocks."

 
What's so funny about lesbians?
Oh, we’re a very funny lot, especially when we’re taking ourselves very seriously!
 
I try not to write too much about the exterior bits of lesbian culture; the stereotypes that lesbians have mullet haircuts, or wear Birkenstocks. What I think is most interesting about our subculture is how we’ve built this thriving - albeit quirky - community right at the margins of the straight world, and the straight world doesn’t even see it.

Have you ever tried to explain the politics of drag kinging or the fine art of lesbian processing, or gender identity and use of pronouns to co-workers at a mainstream job? It’s a real cross-cultural experience and it’s where our funniness becomes immediately evident.
 
Having said that, I hope that it comes through how much I love lesbian culture, and queer culture, such as it is. I mean I will totally joke about lesbians and their love of pets just because it’s so damn true ( “If you know someone who has a dog on dialysis, they’re a dyke”) but if some non-queer-identified person is making too much of that kind of fun, I may well start a rumble.
 
So, er, go on, tell us a joke then
So a lesbian stand-up comic walked into a bar, and walked out with the hottest woman there.
 
That is a joke, the comic never gets the girl. I mean, I say in my act that lesbian stand-up comics are paid in pussy and lube but that’s only true if musicians aren’t present. We are way down on the performers’ food chain.

"I will totally joke about lesbians and their love of pets just because it’s so damn true ( “If you know someone who has a dog on dialysis, they’re a dyke”) but if some non-queer-identified person is making too much of that kind of fun, I may well start a rumble."

When are British audiences going to get to see you?
Well, I performed once in London, in a small club. But almost no one saw me. I was travelling with my sister and her two small children so we were on the “Whining Crying Let’s Go to Burger King Tour of London” and I ducked inside a stand up club and got a little 15 minute respite while I performed.
 
I’d like to record my next CD somewhere other than the US. An English speaking country seems a good bet; maybe some enterprising British event producer would like to help me set this up? That would totally make my decade!
 
What's next for you?
I am in the process of moving from Philadelphia to San Francisco, where I hope to be able to spend less time travelling to perform and more time actually performing. I am also releasing the debut issue of podcast, Freak of Nurture, sometime in the next six weeks. Stay tuned to www.kellidunham.com for all the details.
 
What else would you like to say?
Thanks for asking me for the interview and coming up with such lovely questions. You really made me think!

Kelli Dunham’s latest stand-up CD I am NOT a 12 Year Old Boy is available via her website, www.Kellidunham.com.