What do you get, or rather, whom do you get, when Lewis Black calls you “the funniest comic in America, bar none,” and Ron White says you are “easily one of the best comics alive”?

If you answered Kathleen Madigan, then you’ve been paying attention.

In an hourlong telephone conversation, Kathleen talks about everything from leprechauns and obesity to fillet mignon addiction and social media. Needless to say, like her act, the conversation was eclectic.

Madigan, originally from St. Louis, now living in Los Angeles, is coming to the Royal Oak Music Theatre to film her latest one-hour television special on May 4. Mark Ridley, of Mark Ridley’s Comedy Castle, is promoting the show.

“My last special, Gone Madigan, was shot in New York,” she says. “I didn’t have a lot of say on location. This time around, though, I said that I don’t care what the cost is, we’re filming in Detroit.”

She has a healthy and twisted love for the area.

“Detroit is my best road city. I love the people. I told Mark (Ridley), let’s blow it out of the city.”

That is the healthy part. Each time Madigan has come to Detroit, her show has sold out. Her loyal fan base brings new people to shows every time, Ridley says. Then there is the twisted part.

“There’s also something about the danger aspect of Detroit,” she says. “Anything can happen. I feel a kinship, being from St. Louis, not exactly low on the murder rate. Plus, I think we’ve all resigned to the fact that we’re just functioning alcoholics now.”
Of course, this is all tongue in cheek, but when she tells people who have never been to Detroit that she is filming her special here, their eyes widen and they often ask her if it’s safe.

“They don’t know. All they know is what they see on TV. I know, because I’ve been to Detroit and it’s filled with great people that are smart, hard working, and know how to have a good time. They get it.”

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There were multiple high-powered and important meetings involved in setting up Kathleen Madigan’s new comedy special, which will be filmed next week in Royal Oak. If she tries hard, she might be able to remember some of them.

Her role basically consisted of answering the question, “Detroit? Why the hell are we going to Detroit?” Beyond that, she says, she mostly drifted off.

The business end of a television special is complicated, she explains, which is to say confusing. As someone who only recently learned that her DVD player could receive movies digitally from Netflix — the big sticker on it that said “Netflix” wasn’t enough of a clue — her time is better spent pondering other things, like how to greet people.

“I always say, ‘Nice to see you,’” says Madigan, 47. Not “Good to meet you,” because that has a very high embarrassment potential: “Meet me? I was your sister’s bridesmaid.” No, it’s better to go with nice-to-see-you, “like there’s some sort of natural disaster and we all survived.”

Madigan was speaking from her oft-empty home in West Hollywood. (“Me and 9,000 gay men, and it’s lovely. Everybody’s yard looks nice.”)

Soon, she would be off to Milwaukee. Next up: Sheboygan, Wis., and then Orlando, her last stop before Michigan on May 4.

“I love the road,” she says, which is good, because she’s on it a lot, even if she’s not driving from bowling alleys to Moose Lodges in a Mercury Tracer anymore.

At her level, she’s mostly flying in and playing showrooms like the Royal Oak Music Theatre. It wasn’t long ago, though, that she came home and found her prize $7 freshwater gray shark had leaped from his tank and expired on the sofa.

“Even the fish were saying, ‘This life is ridiculous.’”

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Venue:
Royal Oak Music Theatre
318 W. Fourth Street
Royal Oak, MI 48067
248.399.2980

First Show 6:00pm – BUY TIX
Second Show 8:45pm – BUY TIX

And thanks to the Detroit News and Oakland Press for the great articles over the weekend…

Oakland Press – Comedian Kathleen Madigan recording TV special in Royal Oak

Detroit News – Comedian Kathleen Madigan will film her latest comedy special in Royal Oak

The View Part I

The View Part II

Comedian Kathleen Madigan has been in the stand-up business long enough that’s she’s seen the changes in media over the years from the interviewees perspective. Or rather, she’s heard it. There are two things that stand out. First, whereas interviewers who called her used to at least know a little something about comedy, now the person asking the questions might have read her Wikipedia page before picking up the phone, and that’s about it.

“It used to be very specified, like there was the theater review person who just wrote about plays and stuff, and there was the movie guy and then you had the concert lady,” she said. “Now it’s just all so blurred. I think people are getting stuff thrown on their desk and you can tell they don’t know what they’re talking about. It’s like if someone said ‘Hey, Kathleen, you have to call and interview this opera lady.’”

And two, the sheer numbers of interview requests have gone up exponentially.

“Now we’re counting blogs and websites as media,” she said. “It could be a guy in his basement in his underwear who has a blog, but I guess it doesn’t hurt for me to talk to him. I think in the end, in five or 10 years or so, it’ll wash out as to what’s real and what’s not, but right now, everything kind of is. It’s just fragmented right now.”

In other words, Madigan might get stuck for hours on the phone doing interviews.

“You could literally talk about yourself to different people for 24 hours a day, for a year. It’d be wonderful if you were a narcissist; you couldn’t wait to wake up every day,” she said. “But it’s the four interviews in between the other 12 that just drag. They suck your soul out.”

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If you are in the SoCal area, Kathleen will be playing The Ice House and Hollywood Improv this Friday and Saturday. She’ll be working on her new special, which she’s taping in Detroit in May, so come out and get a preview. Here are all the details…

The Ice House
Pasadena, CA
Friday, March 29th
8:30PM & 10:30PM
GET TIX HERE

Hollywood Improv
Los Angeles, CA
Saturday, March 30th
8:00PM & 10:00PM
GET TIX HERE

If you can’t make it to Cali this weekend, you can catch Kathleen on The View’s Day of Comedy, Friday March 29th on ABC. Check The View website for air times and channels in your area.

“Stuff just flies into my head and then I say it out loud onstage,” the 47-year-old comedian says during a phone interview from her home in Los Angeles. “I do have words written down so I remember the topic — like, I’ll write ‘post office,’ or whatever, so I remember what I’m talking about, but I don’t write jokes.”

It’s a habit that might have been influenced by the environment in which she grew up. She describes her parents and siblings as funny in a sarcastic way — without them putting any effort into it.

“Mom’s funny in a dry, dark way. My dad’s more of a storyteller guy … I would be a version of my dad, edited maybe.”

Of course, what works, works. And it’s worked for Madigan for 24 years. She tours regularly, has had specials on HBO, Showtime and Comedy Central, and has released four CDs and two DVDs, most recently 2010′s Gone Madigan.

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The doc premiers on Showtime, Thursday, March 21st at 8pm. Check out the Showtime website for more info on airdates and times.

Stephanie Miller Show
Tuesday, March 5th
6am – 9am PT

To find a station in your area or to listen online:
Stephanie Miller Website

Thanks for tuning in!

The cigar-smoking, scotch-drinking White headlines the 90-minute special, giving his thoughts on being banned from the popular dating site “Christian Mingle,” having as many Tour de France wins as Lance Armstrong, and offering advice on child rearing. The special also includes interviews with Sgt. Jonny Joseph “Joey” Jones, and Paige and Jeff McDonald, parents of the late soldier Chris McDonald. Jones is a U.S. Marine who lost both of his legs while serving in Afghanistan and the McDonald’s lost their son to PTSD in March of 2012. Both Jones and the McDonald’s work closely with the Armed Forces Foundation.

Check out the special on the CMT website

For more information about the Armed Forces Foundation, visit www.ArmedForcesFoundation.org.