Interview: Lisa Lampanelli in Stamford

For someone who is called The Queen of Mean, Lisa Lampanelli is actually quite - dare we say it? - pleasant.

A Connecticut native, Lampanelli was a journalism major at Syracuse University and did a summer graduate program at Harvard. She worked at publications such as Popular Mechanics, Rolling Stone, Spy, and Hit Parader. But growing up, she loved The Dean Martin Roasts, and realized that she was meant to perform in the competitive world of comedy. "Insult comedy has been around forever," she notes. "I can make fun of people and they won't get mad at me." She believes in getting "it all out on stage and then you don't have to be mean in life, hopefully."

She got her big break at the 2002 New York Friars' Club Comedy Central Roast of Chevy Chase. Subsequently, her many roasts included Pamela Anderson, William Shatner, Gene Simmons, and Twitter king Donald Trump.

A lot of the two-time Grammy nominee's comedy is racy and features ethnic humor which targets racial minorities and gay people. Despite that, she is one of the few white comedians to appear on BET's show, Comic View. Regardless of her topics, it is her boldness and originality that set her apart from others who aspire to be stand-up comics. She shrugs off controversy about her act. "For the past couple years, I've gotten standing ovations for most every show I've done because people just sense I love them," she says. "I don't sell myself. I've never explained my comedy to people who don't get it." Her motto is "Never complain. Never explain." But she likes her audience and what she says resonates with the vast majority of people who attend her shows." "If they don't like me, that's O.K. I don't take it personally," she says. "But I've rarely had anyone walk out."

Wow! That takes guts. Many performers are somewhat damaged by early events in their lives, and they use that to mine emotions for their characters. Lampanelli plays herself. She has been open and frank about her 100-pound-plus weight loss, maintaining it, and body image issues. In doing comedy, the "ego has to come out. If it's for me, it's not going to be good. If it's for them, it's going to be great." She adds, "What you bring to the stage is what you are in real life...people sense that." She knows that people need to feel free and less alone and that's why they respond so well to her. Her memoir, Chocolate, Please: My Adventures in Food, Fat, and Freaks, was published in 2009 and received positive reviews.

Lampanelli's first play, Stuffed (formerly called Fat Girls, Interrupted), will be presented at the Women's Project Theater in New York, with previews beginning on Friday, September 23, and a limited engagement from Friday, October 7 (opening night), through Sunday, November 6. The four-person play is about women's relationship with food in a society that is obsessed with appearance. She plans to write three more plays, but is satisfied with her career. "I feel that if I retire today, I've done enough. I've achieved everything in comedy...I feel I don't need anything else. It's already built."

Westchester and Fairfield County residents have a great opportunity to see Lampanelli at The Palace Theatre, 61 Atlantic Street on Saturday, September 24, at 8:00 p.m. The theatre is within walking distance from the train station. For more information, visit www.insultcomic.com and www.stamfordpalace.org or call the box office at 203-325-4466.

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