Photo by Luzena Adams
The very funny Kathleen Madigan, a native of St. Louis, recently completed a comedy tour through Canada with comedian and friend Lewis Black.
“We didn’t see one animal,” Madigan jokingly laments. “Not even roadkill.”
Lack of moose sightings aside, Madigan enjoyed her time in the country above. She’s traveled all over the world for her work as a stand-up comic, has made multiple appearances on The Tonight Show, and has three comedy specials currently streaming on Netflix (the newest: Bothering Jesus).
Before her success as a comic, Madigan grew up with six siblings in Florissant, attending McCluer North High School. After college, she found her footing in stand-up through open-mic nights at the Funny Bone in Westport Plaza.
Madigan will return to her hometown November 11 at the Peabody Opera House for her Bothering Jesus Tour—and her parents, still Missouri residents, might attend. “I’m in a lot of trouble for booking this show during deer season,” she says with a laugh. “Well, I didn’t know. I wasn’t paying attention.”
We caught up with Madigan in late October, and below, she discusses the Missouri jokes in her latest Netflix special, working with Jerry Seinfeld, and the excitement of traveling to under-the-radar destinations.
Are you on break from touring right now? No, I’m actually in California right now doing a charity thing for cystic fibrosis. Newport Beach. It’s a little golf thing with Lewis Black, and we do it every year. They raise all kinds of money. We’ve been doing it for, I don’t even know, 100 years [laughs]. It’s the same week every year.
Are you looking forward to coming back to St. Louis in November? Yes, I’m very much looking forward to it. I was just talking about which bars maybe to go to afterward with my family.
Which ones are on the list? We have to consider the older relatives, and if they'll drive anywhere. Last time, we ended up at McGurk’s. I would go anywhere, but we have to consider that it’s late by the time the show’s over.
So you still have family in Missouri? They’re everywhere: Kirkwood, St. Charles, Jeff City, Columbia, Lake of the Ozarks, Kansas City. I think we have the entire state covered. I can find a bed every 50 miles if I just keep driving down I-70.
How did you decide which Missouri jokes to include in your newest Netflix special, Bothering Jesus? There’s some stuff you can only do when you’re home. The stuff I picked for the special was more broader reaching that you wouldn’t have to be from Missouri to understand. You could just get that it’s funny. Versus some stuff I would only probably do at home.
I also loved the material about your parents. What do they think of all of this, your success as a comedian? They’re having a great time. They like coming to the shows. They come out to Vegas if I do that. Or if I do casino gigs, they show up there. Sometimes I have Florida gigs in the winter, and [they’ll come] if they’re down there. Everybody’s had a really good time. Even if I make fun of them, they don’t care. They’re fine with it.
What can people expect from your new tour? What topics will you tackle? It’s usually whatever’s going on in the news, and a lot of jokes about the same stuff: traveling, my family, and everyday life.
You obviously travel a lot for work. What's the most common response you get when you tell people you're from St. Louis? It depends on where you are. The West Coast, LA people I don’t think they technically know where it is. They think it’s, like, Kansas. That’s the most I can gather. They just think it’s flat, and then there’s an Arch. I usually say, “I’m from the middle,” and it shuts the conversation down [laughs]. The East Coast people will at least have an idea because of sports. They'll say, ‘Oh, yeah, I went to a Cardinals game.’ Or they’ve driven through.
You recently appeared in an episode of Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee. Did you know Jerry Seinfeld before that? Yeah, I knew Jerry. He’s exactly what you would think he is. He’s very funny. He’s fun to talk to about work, because he’s been down every single possible road.
It’s funny to watch people’s reactions [to him], like in the coffee shop when we walk in. I did a bunch of shows with Robin Williams, and it’s the same thing: People are star struck. We’ve known these people forever, and [to me], it’s just Jerry. But to somebody else, it’s like, ‘Woah.’ They’ll literally stop what they’re doing. One guy fell over backwards! He was walking down the sidewalk, and then he was walking backwards trying to film Jerry, and then he tripped over the curb.
What is it about stand-up that's so appealing to you? I really like the traveling, the road part. I went to Wyoming last weekend to Casper and Laramie. I litearlly just get excited to get up and go see what’s going on. It sounds basic, but that’s really the truth. I’m interested in seeing what’s going on. Telling jokes is awesome too. I’ve had friends who take the Vegas gig, where you do every night at the casino. I would get bored being in the same place every night. I want to be out and about.
