Elvira Kurt goes all "Canadian Pride" on America

As you may know, One in Ten's Laugh Out Loud comedy show is coming up on June 28th, and Elvira Kurt is headlining the show.

Following is a very funny interview by Gina Vivinetto, the semi-famous music critic who nonetheless "loves comedians more than rock stars".

Canadian comic Elvira Kurt thinks Americans are a peculiar bunch. She’s on the phone from her home in Toronto, but it wasn’t too long ago, for a brief time in her bachelor days, Kurt was living in Hollywood, among the super tanned and surgically enhanced. She doesn’t miss it. “It’s a terrible place to live,” says Kurt. “A very hard place to be authentic.”

Kurt was not prepared for LA’s fake factor, even among lesbians. “In LA, I’m butch,” she says, laughing. After securing dual citizenship, Kurt promptly returned to Canada.

If the tiny, pixie-cute Kurt looks instantly familiar, you may have caught one of her stand-up routines on television in which Kurt famously imitates her disapproving Hungarian immigrant mother. Or maybe you’ve tuned into First Comes Love, the Logo reality series Kurt hosted that showcased the joy and anxieties of GLBT weddings.

First Comes Love is in reruns now. “We only did one season,” Kurt says. “Logo has had enough of the gay weddings.” Kurt herself took advantage of Canada’s legal gay and lesbian unions by marrying her partner, Chloe, four years ago.

Rumor has it, it was a shotgun wedding.
(Laughs) Well, yes, it was. We have some pretty hilarious wedding pictures. I’m shorter than Chloe anyway, and then she wore heels at our wedding. So she had these two gigantic pregnancy boobs. They look like two volleyballs right where my head is in all the pictures. (Daughter Madeline is now three-years-old).

It seems like everyone in Canada is either a lesbian or a comedian.
Well, that’s true. When you decide to live in Canada, there is a test. There is a gay screen and then there is a comedian screen and you must choose.

How are Canadians different than Americans? You’re a pretty intense culture. You’re really into your own stuff. Especially in a place like DC, where everyone is so focused and intense --DC attracts these kinds of people – so, you are all there together – you’re all already anal. When I go to DC, it’s, ‘But how do you feel about this? How do you feel about it? What do you think? Tell me. Tell me.’ And I’m like, “I…I…I don’t know, it’s just coffee.’ (laughs). You’re so proud. It’s all about you. But, then I understand that now when you go overseas, you all pretend to be Canadian. Of course, nobody believes you because you use all those “I’ statements.

Some of us pretend to be Canadian because we have shame.
Who? Where is the shame (laughs) I haven’t met these shame-filled Americans that you speak of. (laughs) I’ve only met the proud Americans, the in-your-face Americans. I’m meeting, in my travels, the ‘Do you believe in Jesus?’ Americans. But, maybe I’m only dealing with riff raff.

What do Canadians think of the craziness that has been our Democratic primaries? (Teases) See? What a typical American self-centered question! Believe it or not, we’re not all sitting around talking about you guys! (Laughs) Well, okay, from what I have understood, so far, is that Clinton is for hope, am I right? And Obama is for change. (Pause) Is there no way to accommodate the two? Honestly, we love Americans. We would even like to save the good ones. We understand that Bush was voted into power even if he wasn’t really even voted in. So we have empathy for you.

I know you’re a Second City (famed comedy troupe) alumnus. Who are your favorite comedians? Gilda Radner? Oh, Gilda. Yes. I’m a big fan. She is one of the reasons I started doing this. I think Tina Fey is great. I can’t believe what she’s doing with 30 Rock, although I think she got really lucky with Alec Baldwin. He’s just such a genius. I’m not too much into Judd Apatow’s movies (The 30-Year-Old Virgin, Knocked Up, Super Bad). People say it’s a new definition of comedy, but it has nothing to do with my life. I’m more interested in what other woman are doing, really. In comedy, you have to put up with what men think is funny a lot of the time. So I admire women who are doing their own thing. I am interested in whatever Sarah Silverman is doing. I like her a lot. Margaret Cho is always doing new things. Wanda Sykes is huge, very funny. And I really like Curb Your Enthusiasm because he (Larry David) is not afraid to let women come on his show and just rock and steal a scene.

It’s a great time for lesbian comedians, thanks to Ellen. Well, yes, but honestly, I think my three-year-old baby is gayer than Ellen (laughs). She’s been to more political rallies and gay events. She’s been to the Michigan Womyn’s Fest two years in a row, one in the womb. This is a very queer-friendly baby. It’s funny, when we saw the ultrasound, I told my mom, “It’s a girl,” and my mother said, (thick accent) “For now.”

Is your mother really that unhappy with your lifestyle? It’s not that she’s unhappy with my lifestyle, she’s unhappy in general (laughs)

Is her accent really still that thick? Oh yeah. She sounds like she got here yesterday.

Comedians always seem like the smartest, most perceptive people. I think you have to be very brave to do stand-up. Well, thank you. I think you’re right. Whether you are a woman or a man, it’s all about winning over the crowd and that’s not as easy as it looks. There is a lot of second guessing yourself. There is a lot of ‘Am I doing this right?’ I think it’s a woman’s nature to want to please and when you do comedy, you have to be true to yourself. Every night, right before I go onstage, I have a crisis of confidence. That’s what makes it exciting. And when I come offstage, it’s, (panicky) ‘Did I nail it? Was that okay?’ I ask myself all these questions…So, at least, I’m never alone afterwards (Laughs) I’m having spectacular conversations.