It has been 20 years since openly gay comedienne Suzanne Westenhoefer first hit the comedy circuit and entered into our lovely lesbian hearts. To put it into perspective, before there was an openly-gay Ellen Degeneres on the entertainment radar, there was a brave and brash Westenhoefer being “Totally Inappropriate” (which is, ironically, also the name of her newest comedy tour currently traveling across the United States). How…appropriate.
The Pennsylvania-born Westenhoefer has a knack for entertaining LGBT audiences and straight audiences alike without missing a beat. Her relatable humor transcends the barriers that normally set the two communities far apart. This reality may largely be due in part to the fact that Westenhoefer developed fame by becoming the first-ever out comic in television while performing in straight comedy clubs to predominantly straight audiences. In 1991, the world watched as this strong, funny young gal joined Sally Jesse Raphael on her then-popular self-named talk show for an episode titled “Breaking the Lesbian Stereotype...Lesbians Who Don't Look Like Lesbians."
In 1994, the “lesbian who didn’t look like a lesbian but could tell extremely funny jokes and make the straight ones laugh” hosted her very own HBO Comedy Special called HBO Comedy with Suzanne Westenhoefer. From there, it was onto The Late Show with David Letterman, Politically Incorrect with Bill Maher, Game Show Network’s I’ve Got a Secret (alongside ex-MLB player Billy Bean, radio personality Frank DeCaro and Jermaine Taylor from the Great White Way) and numerous other television shows, specials and appearances.
Comedy specials include: HBO Comedy with Suzanne Westenhoefer (1994), Nothing in my Closet but my Clothes (1999), I’m Not Cindy Brady (2000), Guaranteed Fresh (2003), Laughing Matters (2004), Live from the Village (2006), and A Bottom on Top (2007). Westenhoefer won GLAMA awards for her specials Nothing in my Closet but my Clothes, I’m Not Cindy Brady and Guaranteed Fresh.
More on next page...
\\\
(continued)
Westenhoefer currently stars opposite Cathy DeBuono, Jill Bennett and Meredith Baxter in the critically-acclaimed Web series We Have to Stop Now. The show has recently been picked up by Wolfe Video for distribution and is available for viewing via Netflix. The hilarious and unique show is currently in its second season.
Today, on the official 20th anniversary of Suzanne Westenhoefer’s comedy debut, the outstanding and outspoken comedienne wrote the following to her fans on Facebook with the accompanying photo:
Today is the 20th anniversary of my first time doing stand up. It was at Kelly's Cabaret in NYC's West Village. I was terrified and I had a huge spiral perm, but I won the open mic contest. :)
Suzanne, you are a pleasure to know and a wonderful personality to work with in the media. Here’s to the next 20! xo
Thanks toAfterEllen for reminding us it was Suzanne's anniversary.
Get more from Sarah here!
Follow SheWired on Twitter!
Follow SheWired on Facebook!
Be SheWired's Friend on MySpace!
