Suzanne Westenhoefer
Breaking Stereotypes and Talking Back
When Suzanne Westenhoefer did her first standup in July 1990, she was a novelty—not only as a lesbian comic at a mainstream club, but also as a lesbian who didn’t “look like a lesbian.” Instead of the expected short hair, flannel shirt, and Birkenstocks, Suzanne had long blond hair, blue eyes, and a shapely figure. It was the 1990s, stereotypes were rife, and the idea of a “lesbian Barbie” made good press.
Suzanne grew up in conservative Lancaster County, Pennsylvania. When she was two, her parents divorced. “My dad kicked us off the farm,” she explains, “and so my mom and my two older sisters and I lived in town.”
It was lesson one in surviving being different. “We were already being judged and mocked,” she says, “because we were from a [spoken in a dire tone] broken home. So, I was always standing up for myself.” And part of that was learning the power of the funny comeback. “I wasn’t the class clown; I was the class smartass.”
When Suzanne finished high school, her mother made her go to college because she didn’t want Suzanne to go to New York City alone at 18. Suzanne’s goal was to become a famous Broadway actor. “I never wanted to be anything else.”
But after college, Suzanne found herself living in Ft. Lee, New Jersey. And because she had to eat, she became a bartender. “In order to make money [at bartending], you’ve got to be a little badass,” she says. “You have to be quick with the throwbacks and be ready for everything.”
Then the AIDS epidemic arrived. “I was already marching,” she says. “I came out at 19, and I started a gay group on campus. I was already that kind of person.” It was a formative time for Suzanne. “I’ve always been an activist, a fighter. That comes deep. And so, once I understood I was gay, that became…women’s rights, lesbian rights, abortion rights; it just went hand in hand.”
Her life changed in July 1990, when she decided to enter an open mic contest in the West Village. There were 25 comics. Each one got three minutes, and the person who got the most applause won. She took a chance and delivered lesbian jokes to the mainstream audience. They loved her and made her the winner. Suzanne realized she could do it again.
The other comics told her about more venues with open mics. Suzanne thought it would be a good thing to do while she was waiting to become a famous Broadway actor…and a great way to get the message out that gay is OK. “All of a sudden, it was my career,” she says. “I never thought I was going to be a comic.”
It shouldn’t have been a surprise. In her family, having a quick comeback was a good thing. “I got it from my grandfather—Pop Pop—he was funny,” she recalls. “People in my family were funny and it was OK to be funny.”
These days, people describe Suzanne with words like “groundbreaker,” “pioneer,” and “icon.” “When I started standup in July of 1990,” she says, “I didn’t do it because I thought I was going to be a comic. I never even considered that. I was going to be an actress and I did standup because it was a way to talk about being gay. And how we were just like you, and we deserve the same rights as you, and I knew how to make it funny.”
Suzanne will be performing in Rehoboth on June 1 at the convention center at an event hosted by Delaware’s 20th RD Democratic Committee. Will her material be political? “My getting up and saying I was a lesbian was considered political [in the early days],” she recalls. “I never thought of myself as a political comic, per se, and I don’t think I am. But what I do is political, and I make my politics known…I’m a storyteller.”
But she is quick to say it’s not about her. “It’s 100 percent about the audience. Did they have a great time? That’s all I care about. Did they love it? Did they laugh? Did they do that thing where they bang against each other and go ‘oh my god, that’s so you’?”
Mainly, Suzanne just wants people to have fun. “People are going through so much and I want them to laugh. I want them to let all that go and have a great time.” So, what does she do to relax? “[Big sigh] clean. I love it. Cleaning, laundry, oh my god, I’m brilliant at laundry.” ▼
To purchase tickets, go to: http://tinyurl.com/RD20-Westenhoefer.