You know how the pandemic lockdowns had most of us feeling antsy? Comedian Kathleen Madigan, who has been on the stand-up-comedy circuit for more than three decades, says she had the opposite reaction.
“I haven’t been in the same place for more than two weeks in a row since I was 23, so this was awesome,” she says. “I’m never, ever home, and it was just really a treat to be home for that long. I have no problem with it. I said to my friend, if this is like sliding into retirement, I’m good. I can’t retire yet, but I don’t see a problem with it when it happens. I was never bored.”
Lucky for us, Madigan has no plans to hang up her mic anytime soon. Even while homebound, she managed to launch a podcast, Madigan’s Pubcast, on which she riffs about everything from the Taco Bell food shortage to billionaires in space. And now she’s back on the road for her latest tour, Do You Have Any Ranch?
After just a few dates on the road, Madigan says she’s already noticed what prolonged social distancing has done to people. “I did Reno, and they were rabid. I mean, the crowd was so rabid I was almost afraid of them,” she says with a laugh. “I was like, oh my God, I’m not even sure I remember my act properly. I think people are just super-excited to be out.”
Madigan’s staying power in comedy lies in her observational humor. She touches on topical stuff, sure, but for the most part, she stays away from the fray, even during the politically turbulent but comedy fodder-rich Trump years.
“Politics is kind of back to boring, which is what politics should be as far as I’m concerned. It shouldn’t be monster trucks and beer and entertainment, it should be serious, and it should be boring, and it should be people doing things I don’t want to do,” she says. “But I have a running joke that politicians are all too old, which I truly do believe, because my parents are 78. And no, the answer’s no, you’re not going to lead the country. You can barely find your cars; your phones aren’t charged. Until you learn how to charge your phone properly, you can’t be president.”
Besides, Madigan’s large Irish-Catholic family—she’s one of seven kids—provides plenty of source material. Her 2016 Netflix special, Bothering Jesus (her fifth stand-up special), includes a hilarious bit about her parents going to the Villages in Florida, a massive retirement community. And while she mines her family for the funny, humor, it turns out, is the Madigan family’s love language.
“They’re all funny, and any of them could do what I do. I just thought of it first, I guess,” she says. “I never thought we were funny until my sister married a really unfunny guy. And I was like, ‘Oh, he doesn’t get it.’ And, like, his stories are super-boring. And so after getting to know him well enough, we would just tease him and we’re like, ‘OK this story just went on eight minutes too long. Let me help you.’ You don’t know you’re funny until you meet unfunny people.”
KATHLEEN MADIGAN August 6, 10 p.m., $30-$50. Mirage Theatre, 702-792-7777.
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