SGS Interview: Lisa Lampanelli’s Looking For A Few Good Limp Wristed Men

We love the “Take No Prisoners” comedy of Lisa Lampanelli. Check her out at the Tulalip Resort Casino on Friday, October 24.

The Queen of Assault Comedy is back in the Puget Sound area…you’ve been warned. The politically incorrect LISA LAMPANELLI is bringing both her now skinny bod and still large motor mouth to the Tulalip Resort Casino’s Orca Ballroom for two shows on Friday, October 24. The 7pm show is sold out, but a FEW tickets remain for the later show. Grab them while you can.

Lisa chatted with us last week about everything under the sun including her weight loss, her divorce, her preference for men “in touch with their feminine side” and her respect for the late, great Joan Rivers.

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ED: You look fabulous! What is your secret?

LL: Well I had weight loss surgery 2 ½ years ago. I guess most of it is just keeping the weight off by trying to not indulge in emotional eating. I think that is why a lot of people put weight on or at least that is why I did. It is not just ‘Hey I love pie’ it is I feel bad I am going to eat something. That is kind of what I have been working on every day. It is a daily struggle but I really work at it. I also cut off all my hair and dye it different colors. I really love it. I feel like I am eighteen again. I feel like I can relive some of my youth again and have fun.

ED: Have you been on the hunt for a new man since your divorce?

LL: Not really. I have figured out some things I would like to find in a man. I need a man that really works on themselves in a sort of deeper love for humanity way while maybe doing some charity work. I think I need someone who is a bit spiritual and is just a better fit with my interests. I think it will work out eventually.

ED: So you’re saying you really just need a gay man…

LL: You know what?!? I think I do, or maybe an Indian yoga instructor. I’ll take that too. I go on a lot of spiritual retreats and have noticed that many of these really spiritual guys are a bit feminine. They aren’t gay but they have a very sensitive side. So I have to learn how to be a little more accepting of a guy that has a lot to offer but a little bit of a thing with limp wrists. I will have to look past the wrists and remember that everything else is perfect.

ED: How is your show going?

LL: The crowds have been great. Something happened the minute I decided to get divorced it all changed. I wrote all this new material about the marriage, what a bad wife I was and a lot of intimate stuff about the weight loss. It all got really real. Then, I started getting standing ovations again. I think I was pretty miserable and sad in the marriage. I don’t think it was coming out on stage but I think I had a sadder vibe. I also lost my father in May of this year. I think that me being real about that on stage and letting people know how much I loved him while still being funny about it has made me more vulnerable. I think it has made me more relatable as well. People just seem to think that they really like me even though I just insulted them.

ED: What is your favorite part of your new show?

LL: I love talking about the weight loss and how hard it was. It was really big for me. I love talking about being such a horrible wife. My shrink told me too make a list of things that I did wrong in the marriage and that contributed to the divorce. That way I wouldn’t think it was all him but I already knew it wasn’t entirely his fault. Instead of wasting all of just on the shrink I decided talk about a lot of it on stage. I talk about my real thoughts and feeling. It is really stuff that no one would ever guess. I think it is pretty cool to be that truthful on stage. I think the truth is really what I am liking lately.

ED: You are very cutting edge. It has been said that you and a select few other female comedians carry a bit of Joan Rivers’ DNA around with you when you are on stage. Do you just keep it in a clutch purse or what?

LL: No, I don’t because I can never whittle down what I have in my big lesbian bag into a little clutch! I do love the fact that people know that Joan was the ground breaker. She was definitely the one that did it first. She kind of broke down all of those barriers. Honestly, Amy Schumer, Whitney Cummings, and a lot of the girls that are out there being edgy and racy, myself included, couldn’t be out there doing what we do without Joan doing it first. That woman was just the best. She was just an inspirational to all of us, in my opinion.

ED: What was your favorite thing about Joan Rivers?

LL: A big thing was that she stayed current. She wasn’t some 80 year old still doing jokes about Liz Taylor. She absolutely updated everything all the time. She was always writing jokes. She was always so driven. I am not nearly as driven as she was. You just have to admire someone that is 80 and working as hard as she did when she was 30. She could have just rested on her laurels but she never did.

ED: Do you have a message for LGBTQ youth?

LL: Yes! Never settle for second best. Don’t waste your time worrying about other people’s opinions. I worried about that way too long. Realize that if people don’t get you that is fine. Some people will and some people won’t. That is fine. Not everyone is going to love you, sorry. Not everyone loves me and I am a gift to the world.