Lezberados

Nebraskan-born and Mexican-raised Sandra Valls is not afraid to tell you what she thinks. In fact, the moment she picked up the phone for our interview she started talking about the bag of dicks she had in tow while in Provincetown, MA. Such topic of conversation might have thrown another reporter off guard, but Sandra was about as down-to-earth as they came and that fact alone was intriguing to me. I attempted to ask her questions in between her out-loud chatter about where she might leave one of the…penises…next (she seemed to like my idea of tying it to the back of someone’s truck). The free-flowing conversation led to very personal thoughts and beliefs on the comedy circuit in general and other items of communication related to Lesbionics. And you thought Catholic school taught children about Jesus.

Showtime has recruited Sandra Valls, Poppy Champlin, Ugly Betty star Alec Mapa and Scott Kennedy for their Pride-themed comedy special Pride: Gay and Lesbian Comedy Slam (originally airing June 2, 2010 with encore presentations throughout the month of June). Sandra also had a spot on Showtime’s The Original Latin Divas of Comedy in 2007. Before her stints on Showtime, Sandra worked comedy clubs across the United States making a name for herself in the predominantly straight, male world of comedy. Her appearances at the GLAAD Media Awards and Club Skirts The Dinah have made her a fan-favorite in the lesbian pop culture community.



Hey Sandra! How is P-Town treating you?

I’m in this weird thing right now. It’s like - I’m in P-Town now! I was in Manhattan yesterday and today I’m in P-Town! What the fuck? I drove all day yesterday and before that I was in New Jersey and tomorrow I’ll be somewhere else! On top of it all, Mimi Gonzalez and I drove here and we were staying at a little apartment behind the art house, but they just told us that we have to move somewhere else. So we’re all over the place. I was moved to a B&B but it has a shared bath and I’m so sorry. I’m just so sorry. Look, I’m not a diva, but I’m not into sharing a bath with God knows who. It’s Memorial Day Weekend so what if I walk into the bathroom and there is someone in there workin’ it out? You know? Workin’ it out…I just can’t do it.

[Mimi interrupts Sandra to show her a text message]. Mimi, I’m in the middle of an interview. Mimi, I’m clearly on the phone, have both of my headpieces on and I am talking into the air. I’m not even talking to you! I’m in the middle of a phone call. Even if I wasn’t in an interview, do you really think I’d read your text in the middle of a phone call? That’s what makes this so hilarious. Sarah, we just got here and bought groceries so we’re in the middle of eating everything like little kids! We’re trying these buffalo wing-flavored pretzels.

(cont.) - She Wired

Mimi Gonzalez: Standing Up, Standing Out
Written by John Black
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Like a great jazz musician, Mimi Gonzalez likes to riff when she gets on stage. Only instead of playing music, she makes people laugh.



"I have a general outline of what I'm going to say, but so much depends on being aware of what's happening in the room while you're up there. It's almost like muscle memory. I have to know the material so well that it flows through me without having to think about it too much so I can keep that other part of my brain alert to my surroundings," she explained. "It's that spiritual part of comedy. How free can I be up there? And can I bring everyone along with me?"

Being so in tune with her audience has its good sides and its bad sides, Gonzalez admits. On the good side, it gives her an opportunity to tailor her material, at least to some extent, to meet her audience's expectations. "When you're overseas entertaining the troops, you don't want to do a set of anti-war jokes because, frankly, they don't want to hear it," she said. "You need to remember that you are there to make them laugh, not to make a point or take a stand. And if you can't do that, then don't take the gig. It's important to remember who is signing the paycheck."

The downside to audience awareness, she said, comes when the material she is performing means more to her than just getting a laugh and it gets rejected by an audience she was sure would ‘get it.' "When I came out as bisexual in San Francisco I was immediately marginalized by the gay community," she said. "It didn't matter that I consider myself a lesbian and might never act on any so called straight feelings I had. Because I wasn't political enough with my sexuality, they called me a tourist. It was a lot for this little brown girl from Michigan to deal with because it got nasty. It wasn't something people wanted to talk about, and they certainly didn't want me making jokes about it. They wanted me silenced."

Rather than let the reactions of a few strident people get her down, Gonzalez took strength from her belief in herself - and in her comic skills - to fight back. "My response to all of it is simple: Don't judge me by who I sleep with. That's a phrase I learned twenty-five years ago when I first came out, and it's still true today," she said. "You can judge me on whether you think I'm funny or not because I'm the one up on the stage trying to make you laugh."
- Color Magazine USA

Friday 5: Comic Mimi Gonzalez
Trolls & yeast infections to cougars & J.Lo's ass
BY SPLASH
February 1, 2012
It's not that Mimi Gonzalez always wanted to be a comedian, it just kinda happened that way.
BULLFROGS COMEDY INVASION
featuring Mimi Gonzalez
WHEN: Doors open at 7:30 p.m., show starts at
8:30 p.m. Friday & Saturday, Feb. 3 & 4.
WHERE: Bullfrogs Live, 4115 S.W. Huntoon St.
LINKS: Mimi Gonzalez

"I lost a technical writing job in NYC," the Ohio-born, Michigan-raised, Cuban-Italian American explained earlier this week. "I thought either I could try staying corporate or trade the size of a cubicle for the same space in my car watching the scenery go by on the way to [comedy] gigs."

So Gonzalez changed directions and didn't look back.

"I considered that being the class clown and loving laughter and comedians might be a better fit than skirted suits," the curly-haired comic said.

Nearly two decades later, Gonzalez has fully embraced life on the road. From cruise ships and colleges to comedy clubs and even battlefields, Gonzalez who Backstage magazine says "has a 'no-genders-barred' approach to sexuality and a funky kind of feminism," tours 40 weeks a year.

SPLASH! tracked down Gonzalez earlier this week, where she was relaxing in front a of a wood-stove on her five-acre black walnut "farm" in Michigan.

You spend a lot of time in your car, alone, traveling from gig to gig. Do you have a crazy road story you can share with us?
The first time I drove through a random corner of Nevada's moonscape, I stopped for gas on a holiday weekend. Since it was a remote, forgotten mining town, no one was around. There was a sign at the one gas pump saying they'd be back soon. So I walked around with my camera taking pictures of bottle and dusty doll head collections mounted in windows. A troll came out of his trailer and asked me if I'd like to come in and wait with him at his place. I value my head since it's where my jokes are and I'd like it to remain attached to my body, so I politely declined but made small talk. I asked if they got much snow in the desert. "Clear up to yer boobs!" he answered. Good to know that my breasts were the measure by which to gauge how long it would take for me to get to my car and wait. Or try to make it down the road. I have AAA now. They'll bring gas.

Tell the truth, as a female comic do you get hit on more by drunk college frat boys or by the 45-year-old comedians that are on the circuit?
Ha! Good one. It's usually the hot cougars after my show. I have that affect on women ... and their husbands.

When you find out you're booked in a comedy club in Topeka, Kansas, what goes through your head?
Kansas ... where there's so much wheat that the last time I drove through, my eyes got a yeast infection.

We were watching a hilarious clip of you talking about Jennifer Lopez's ass. What makes a great booty?
Plenty of it.

You're recording a live CD during your shows at Bullfrogs Live. What should people expect when they see you at the club?
They're going to be taken on a wild ride from the front lines in the battle of the sexes. I'm taking everybody hostage because both sides win in my view of the war. Plus being turned on enough to go home and get busy. And, my opening act is really a headliner who's doing me a favor, so they're going to love Ross "the Sauce" Duncliffe. Where else are they going to get my copyrighted t-shirt: "Trained By A Lesbian?" besides my website (www.MimiGonzalez.com). - Splash Topeka

Sandra Valls, Latin Diva
Posted by Suzanne Corson on July 25, 2007


During breakups, lesbians often receive unpleasant, um, gifts from their exes, but Sandra Valls received something quite special: a new career as a comedian.

About 10 years ago, while living in Boston, she and her then-girlfriend were doing the requisite couples counseling thing prior to breaking up when her girlfriend enrolled her in an adult education stand-up comedy class. They broke up soon afterward, and Valls wasn't planning to attend the class scheduled to start the next week, but her ex told her, "Go; it's already paid for, and it's nonrefundable."

Now Sandra Valls is an out lesbian comedian and TV producer who lives in Los Angeles. This past May, she starred with Marilyn Martinez, Sara Contreras and Monique Marvez in Showtime's The Original Latin Divas of Comedy special.

But her first comedy gig was at the Comedy Studio in Harvard Square. When she started writing material in her class, she didn't include much gay content, but her teacher told her, "You know you're much funnier when you're bitching about your ex-girlfriend."

Valls agreed but was worried because her ex was going to be at the show. "She was a great sport," Valls said. "She just sat there laughing. It was funny and therapeutic."

Originally Valls thought she would be working as a singer; she trained in musical theater and was in an R&B band while living in Boston. But, she said, "Everyone always told me how funny I am, and when I took the comedy class, I just got into it." These days, she does include some singing in her comedy act.

About five years after those classes, she took the leap and moved to Los Angeles, driving across the country in her mother's old Ford Taurus with $2,000 in her pocket. She couch-surfed for nine months, working data entry temp jobs as well as a gig as a bus girl at California Pizza Kitchen.

"I don't care, I'm Mexican, I'll bus tables; I'm good at it," Valls joked. "It's in my blood."

She also took a job as a greeter at a career college, but she had left all her corporate-type clothes behind in Boston. So she and a friend came up with a uniform for her to wear — a white shirt, khaki pants and a blue blazer — that she purchased at an Out of the Closet thrift store for $6.

Her break came when she met Maria Perez-Brown at the Latina Laugh Festival in San Antonio. "She told me, 'I have a writing job for you,' so I was a punch-up writer for Nickelodeon for a season," Valls explained.

After that job ended, a friend told her that national cable station Mun2 was looking for Latino writers and producers. Valls had never done any production work, but a friend encouraged her to go in and fake it. During the interview, the company loved her writing, and she was frank with them about not having production experience. She began producing shows for Mun2 and now also produces for SíTV.

"Isn't it strange?" she reflected. "I was a greeter in second-hand clothes, and now I'm a producer. I never even thought I'd be a producer. If you have a goal in mind and you want to make something happen, nothing's beneath you, I believe. I don't care, I'll clean toilets; I want to do what I do. I've never been so happy in my entire life." - After Ellen

"...both women have an honesty and charm that most comedians are missing these days." "Gonzalez opened and within minutes you could hear people gasping for breath." "(Valls) made the audience laugh so hard there were people actually crying." Read the full review through the link. - Miami New Times