ENTERTAINMENT

Kathleen Madigan: Nashville's resident comedian

Dave Paulson
USA TODAY NETWORK – Tennessee

 

Nashville's Zanies comedy club recently kicked off the first "residency" in its 32-year history with Kathleen Madigan.

Earlier this month, Nashville's Zanies comedy club kicked off the first "residency" in its 32-year history.

Comedian Kathleen Madigan — whose 25-year career includes a memorable run on "Last Comic Standing," USO tours, hundreds of annual club dates and appearances on every late-night TV show you can name — will perform at the club every month through June. She's performing again on Tuesday and Wednesday.

For the time being, Madigan isn't just a Zanies resident, she's a Nashvillian. She recently sold her house in Los Angeles and is using Music City "as a fun base for half of the year" as she tours and does TV shows. Just listen to her gripe about traffic to The Tennessean: "Everybody could use a class on blinkers," she says. "With the merging on (I-)40 and stuff, I feel like it's an afterthought." Spoken like a true local.

Madigan let her pal Jerry Seinfeld do the driving when she appeared on his Web series, "Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee." She told us about that surreal experience, what it's like to see her comedian friends hit it big, and why she hopes Zanies never updates its decor.

Katheen Madigan has future Zanies performances booked for April 5, May 3 and June 14. The shows start at 7:30 p.m., and tickets are $25.

On being Zanies' resident comedian

"This has been one of my favorite clubs over my lifetime, so to be able to have it right down the street is really awesome. And we always joke with Brian (Dorfman, owner) because he doesn't renovate (the club). 'Are you trying to be the last club from the '80s?' ... But the great thing about it is it's such a great club. If you changed it, you're gonna ruin it. The balcony and the floor and the vibe, when you're in there, I don't even care if somebody's half-assed funny, it's such an intimate room. I should knock on wood, but I've never had a (bad) show there. Not even an 'eh.' They're always great."

Kathleen Madigan is using Music City "as a fun base for half of the year" as she tours and does TV shows.

On doing 'Comedians in Cars' with friend Jerry Seinfeld

"I did not understand the level of famous that Jerry is because, to me, he's just Jerry. When they pulled up (to the house), I said, 'Oh my God, he's getting a ticket ... there's a cop on a motorcycle.' Chuck (Martin, comedian) says, 'Kathleen, that's a police escort.'

When we went to go have coffee, we were in there four hours I guess, just talking and goofing off. ... We walked out, and there were people on roofs across the street with cameras like paparazzi. I've never seen anything like that, nor do I want to be part of anything like that. It was just crazy. These photographers, I don't know where they were from, they were walking backwards while we were walking forwards on the sidewalk, and one guy tripped over his own feet and fell. I'm like, 'Oh my God, are you all right?' And Jerry said, 'Kathleen, keep moving.' (laughs)."

How fame doesn't change friendships 

"I think as long as you can all pay your way and get a plane ticket and hotel room wherever we're all going, everything's fine. It's weird to see your friends go into (different) stratospheres. ... I was with Ron (White) in his golf cart, on his golf course in Atlanta that his big house is on with a pool and hundred cars. He called (someone) and said 'I want a bacon sandwich with blah blah,' and then some person runs it out. I go, 'Is anything funny anymore?' And he goes, 'No! Everything's wonderful now!'

"We got in one of his cars, and (he) says, 'Bad news, Maddie. I don't know how to start this one.'  I go, 'Do you understand how rich you are, when you have a car that you don't know how to start? This is ridiculous.' But, you know, I knew Ron when he lived in his van. It's sort of like we won the lottery. Some of us got five numbers, some of us got the whole thing, and some people never even got a number."

Why Twitter is her social media platform of choice 

“Someone wrote, 'Well, I don't like (Twitter) because we can't form a relationship.' Exactly! We're not supposed to! It's the bulletin board in the break room. Everybody gets to put up a comment. That's it. It's a lot of self-involvement, though, but I feel like that's a whole thing.”

“This whole selfie thing, it's a lot of narcissism just really gone amok, I think. At least with Twitter, it's a brief conversation. If I'm in an airport and I tweet out something funny, 20 percent of the people who follow me will respond, and some of them are funnier than I could ever be. I get entertained by it, too, which is a nice trade-off. But, yeah, I think some of the younger people probably spend too much time on it instead of actually doing something. So many younger comedians will ask, 'What about Facebook?' and this and that, and I'm like, 'I think you'd be better off just going and doing something and writing a joke about it.' But then you sound like an old person, so I just don't say anything.”