I recently had the pleasure of email interviewing comic Jackie Kashian. Here’s her official bio before jumping into the actual interview: “Jackie Kashian has a half-hour special on Comedy Central and has appeared on CBS, NBC, and VH1. She has been a national touring comic for over 10 years and has performed at the HBO Comedy Arts Festival, the Bumbershoot Arts Festival in Seattle, Just for Laughs Festival in Montreal and has toured Australia for the Melbourne International Comedy Festival Roadshow.” My thanks to Kashian for her time and to Mary Jo Pehl for helping facilitate the interview. (Photo by Michael Helms)
Tim O’Shea: I noticed in your bio that you did a successful tour of Australia. While clearly Australia is an English-speaking country, their culture/interests/lives are different in some ways than Americans. How much did you have to customize your material for an Australian audience?
Jackie Kashian: When you do other countries there are two things to remember: The audience is full of a people with a long, rich culture that is complex and beautiful. And that every country’s television station buys Cops. So – everyone knows more about the US than you’ll know about their country, but find something local to talk about. Even if they get every reference and joke – if you don’t have ANYTHING to say about their lovely civilization – you’re an ass and they won’t laugh at any of it.
O’Shea: When did you first realize you could make a living by making people laugh?
Kashian: That’s not really a “realization.” It’s more of a “decision” to be poor and hope that you make more money eventually. You can live off almost anything – if you’re willing to eat ramen and sleep in your car. It’s the decision I made in 2003. Up til then, I could have made a living – but I liked the security of a dayjob. And I had a really flexible dayjob that would let me go on the road 6 weeks at a crack, two-three times a year (unpaid vacation, they got a temp).
O’Shea: Who are the comedians (and/or friends and family) that helped shape your sense of humor?
Kashian: Well – my family is funny. It’s jackass, family hilarity but it’s a starting point. You learn as you get mainstreamed into society, that your family hilarity isn’t always socially acceptable. If you’re me – you fine tune it to work on stage – a variation on a theme.
My first favorite comic was Dana Gould. His family stuff is so-dark and feels so truthful, yet you get the resigned feeling that he still hangs out with them. He was the first to nail the inevitability of family in comedy – that I saw. That was in 1994. Now… I had been doing standup for 4 years solid, and off and on for about a year and a half before that – so I there were comics I saw, enjoyed and liked. But Dana was the first comic I saw that inspired me to talk about real, painful, family issues. 
Now, I see a half dozen of those kind of great, honest comics that I will watch at any time. Well – if I’m in the club. Maria Bamford, Patton Oswalt, Marc Maron, Greg Proops, Sue Murphy.
O’Shea: After getting your start (kind of) heckling Sam Kinison, did you ever get a chance to appear on the same bill with him. or was the heckling your first and last collaboration with Kinison?
Kashian: I started standup in 1985 in a club owned by Sam Kinison’s brother. I met Sam once. I only saw him perform that one night (then later on TV of course) and it certainly wasn’t either of our best moments.
O’Shea: How did your two solo shows (“Salesmen and Thieves” and “How Did I Get So Feminine?”) come about–was it an effort to get away from doing stand-up or an effort to broaden your audience, while still pursuing stand-up? Is there a chance you might write a third show at some point?
Kashian: My father wants it to be a trilogy -and some of the third piece is written. But it was just an experiment in performing my written word in a different kind of environment. It ended up being pretty standup like. I do a lot of storytelling in my standup, so this is just a more detail, not as punchy version of my standup. I’ve tightened up some of the stories from the solo shows and used them in my standup. Some of it doesn’t translate, which keeps the solo show interesting to do – whenever I put it up.
O’Shea: What was it like to be evaluated by comedy veterans like Oscar Nuñez and Angela Kinsey (during your Last Comic Standing appearance)? Looking back, which work has given you more exposure–your appearance on Last Comic Standing–or your Comedy Central special?
Kashian: My Comedy Central Special is better than Last Comic Standing because it brought me fans who really could tell what my standup was like at some length. Sure, 22 minutes is just that – but it isn’t 45 seconds.
O’Shea: I consider myself fairly well read, but I don’t think I’ve ever seen someone reference Evelyn Waugh in one post and then mention they’re reading Thom Zahler. Now that’s diverse (and anyone who likes Love and Capes is aces in my book). To whom or what do you ascribe your tendency to have such a diverse reading list?
Kashian: I often read whatever is handed to me. Especially with comic books. They are a fast read so I can give them a shot. I travel a lot and spend a fair amount of time sitting around – so I read a lot of different genres. And, occasionally, I like to force in a small piece of literature. As a palate cleanser between Lois McMaster Bujold and a Spenser for Hire novel.
O’Shea: When did wicker first creep you out?
Kashian: There was a surge of wicker when Pier One opened. I think it was when I first went into a Pier One and was surrounded. Surrounded, I tell you.
O’Shea: What’s on the horizon for you in 2009?
Kashian: Lots of standup. I’m working on a book that no one knows about and I live in hope that I will get to act more. I’m going to Iraq in February for 12 days to entertain the troops. In my case, I’ll be telling jokes.
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