{"id":231,"date":"2010-02-14T07:03:14","date_gmt":"2010-02-14T07:03:14","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/theduanewells.com\/?p=231"},"modified":"2018-07-29T01:17:29","modified_gmt":"2018-07-29T01:17:29","slug":"jenifer-lewis-interview","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/theduanewells.com\/staging3\/jenifer-lewis-interview\/","title":{"rendered":"Jenifer Lewis: Interview"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>If there\u2019s one thing Jenifer Lewis doesn\u2019t have time for these days, it\u2019s a walk down memory lane through all the folks she may or may not have encountered in her three-decade-long career. I discovered this when I asked her about a mutual friend during a recent chat that began and ended with pure hilarity.<\/p>\n

\u201cBaby, I am menopausal!\u201d Lewis chided in jest to my friendly query. \u201cI ain\u2019t got time to be remembering shit! I won\u2019t remember you when I hang up this fuckin\u2019 phone!\u201d<\/p>\n

Jenifer Lewis is funny. Seriously funny. And she\u2019s been entertaining audiences practically since the day she was born. It may sound like a Hollywood clich\u00e9, but with her husky voice, undeniably diva-esque bravado, and unabashedly raw brand of humor, Jenifer Lewis is a woman who was born to perform. And if you won\u2019t take my word for it, take hers.<\/p>\n

\u201cI am a quadruple threat,\u201d Lewis shrieks, fully embracing her over-the-top on stage persona. \u201cYou name the bitch who sings, dances, is funny, and can act!\u201d<\/p>\n

From the time she first stepped on the stage at the age of five to sing the gospel classic \u201cOh Lord You Brought Me a Mighty Long Way\u201d with her hometown Baptist church choir right up through her stage debut on Broadway in\u00a0Eubie,<\/em>\u00a0her stint as a Harlette backing Bette Midler, her hilarious one-woman show\u00a0The Diva Is Dismissed,\u00a0<\/em>her string of memorable performances on television and in hit films like\u00a0The Preacher\u2019s Wife,<\/em>\u00a0What\u2019s Love Got to Do With It?<\/em>\u00a0and\u00a0Madea\u2019s Family Reunion<\/em>and her recent return to Broadway in the role of Motormouth Maybelle in\u00a0Hairspray,<\/em>\u00a0Jenifer Lewis has brought the funny, while simultaneously imbuing her characters with a gritty realness that has become her hallmark.<\/p>\n

Along the way, Lewis has been a tireless advocate for both AIDS services and LGBT civil rights, performing at countless benefits around the country. Jenifer Lewis speaks with Advocate.com as she premieres\u00a0Hot Flash,<\/em>\u00a0her new one-woman show, a benefit for the Los Angeles Gay and Lesbian Center that will be performed at the center’s Renberg Theatre each Saturday through March 6. As the tag line for the show says, \u201cBe on time, or Jenifer will cuss you out!\u201d<\/p>\n

Advocate.com:<\/em>\u00a0So, Jenifer, I think the title probably says it all, but tell me about\u00a0Hot Flash<\/em>\u00a0in your own words.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Jenifer Lewis<\/em>: Child, please! I\u2019m going through menopause and my ass is on fire constantly. [Laughs<\/em>] Seriously,\u00a0Hot Flash<\/em>\u00a0is basically about everything. I just happen to be at a time in my life when I am literally hot-flashing. When it first started happening, I thought it was fabulous. I was thinking,\u00a0My God, I get to burn up every other hour!<\/em>\u00a0But now I\u2019m gettin\u2019 sick of it because it disturbs your sleep! Basically\u00a0Hot Flash<\/em>\u00a0is just a metaphor for my life … the extremes of standing on extinct volcanoes … all the way to seeing Mount Vesuvius of Naples and Mount St. Helens. It\u2019s all about my eruptions and the lava flow. It\u2019s basically me talking about the extreme fabulousness of my life.<\/p>\n

So what was your process for writing this new show about the wonderful world of Jenifer Lewis?<\/strong>
\nWell, basically if it\u2019s a one-person show, usually it\u2019s about yourself. I mean, that\u2019s why you do it. Some people will portray historical figures and that sort of thing, but shit … I am historical! I can\u2019t think of anybody\u2019s life that goes on and on as fabulous as mine. So fuck \u2019em! I\u2019m talkin\u2019 about myself because that\u2019s what I know. [Laughs<\/em>] Besides, how are you gonna\u2019 tell somebody else\u2019s story?<\/p>\n

The way I form my one-woman shows is I pretty much that I always pick up where I left off. In my last show I was 50 and now I\u2019m 53 and I\u2019ve done so much and I\u2019m going to tell you all about it. From the Democratic National Convention to the inauguration to\u00a0Hairspray<\/em>\u00a0and\u00a0Hello, Dolly!<\/em>\u00a0plus I\u2019m in love now … so much has happened. So ya\u2019ll get all those fabulous stories with footage and photos so for those people who are out there going, That ain\u2019t true!, I can throw a picture in their face.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Without giving too much away, can you offer a preview of one of the highlights from\u00a0Hot Flash<\/em>?<\/strong>
\nI\u2019ve written this song called \u201cShakespeare Ain\u2019t Got Nuthin\u2019 on Me\u201d … Don\u2019t ask me to be or not to be, I be bitch! There\u2019s the song. Is that fabulous? Now print that because anybody who\u2019s gay who sees that will be at the door. I\u2019m going to show out!<\/p>\n

You have embraced and been embraced by the gay community from the minute you first set foot on a stage. Where did the love affair begin and why?<\/strong>
\nThey embrace me because I embrace them. That is why. I think a lot of female entertainers who are true advocates for the community \u2014 the ones who really care \u2014 I think it comes across in their performance. I think when you sit and you really take in the Judy Garlands, the Bette Midlers, the Barbra Streisands of the world, I think there is a connection that can\u2019t quite be defined.<\/p>\n

Everybody wants to know why the gay boys throng to Judy Garland. It\u2019s because they saw honesty. And that\u2019s what people see in me. They see raw, uninhibited honesty. I don\u2019t know anything else. I never have, and that\u2019s why I have sustained and remained in this business.<\/p>\n

In your previous shows, you\u2019ve talked about frequently being cast in the role of mother to everyone from Angela Bassett to Whitney Houston. Do you feel pigeonholed? And what are your thoughts on what some say is Hollywood\u2019s obsession with portraying black actresses as sassy?<\/strong>
\nChild, listen, I have represented the African-American mother, aunt, and sister, and personally I think I\u2019ve done a damn good job. I am sassy! Black women are sassy! Michelle Obama is sassy. Harriet Tubman was sassy! Please!<\/p>\n

Let me tell you something, if what people say about you is not true, then why the fuck are you worried about it? What can anyone say about me but that I\u2019m fucking brilliant? Why is that? That is because I tell the truth and I honor the gift that was given to me. I worked my ass off for what I\u2019ve got. I used an outhouse until I was in ninth grade and now I\u2019ve got five bathrooms. Jenifer earned it. Everybody can say that about me, and that\u2019s why I can get up and do a woman show and say anything I want because I\u2019ve been there, done that. Can\u2019t nobody say nothing about me.<\/p>\n

You are unquestionably a survivor, and, as you say, you\u2019ve been brutally honest about your life, even going on\u00a0Oprah<\/em>\u00a0to tell the world that you were bipolar …<\/strong>
\nI went on\u00a0Oprah<\/em>\u00a0and told 60 million people that I was bipolar. I don\u2019t care … I was lyin\u2019. I\u2019m tripolar! [Laughs<\/em>] The bottom line is that I love being alive. Look, this is what happened. I honored a gift. It wasn\u2019t easy! I\u2019m bipolar and I was bipolar, for years. When I was younger nobody knew anything about being bipolar, so it was just the bitch is crazy. But my heart was always good and that\u2019s how I got through it. I loved people and all I wanted to do was entertain. That\u2019s all I ever wanted to do.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>And you do it so well. Now, I couldn\u2019t end this chat without asking you about the gay cult classic film\u00a0Jackie\u2019s Back.<\/em>\u00a0Any possibility of a sequel?<\/strong>
\nI was going to write a song about\u00a0Jackie\u2019s Back<\/em>\u00a0because [Jackie\u2019s daughter] Entendre done gone and got herself pregnant and she named the baby Bling Bling. I tried to stop her, but she insisted, so now the baby\u2019s going to be all fucked up!<\/p>\n

But what about the sequel?<\/strong>
\nI\u2019m going to talk about it in the show. I\u2019m going to talk about\u00a0Jackie\u2019s Back 2<\/em>\u00a0in the show … and I may sing a little bit of the song in the show.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

For more information or to purchase tickets for\u00a0Hot Flash,<\/em>\u00a0visit\u00a0LAGayCenter.org<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Originally published at Advocate.com<\/a>. To read this post and more by Duane Wells at the Advocate, click here<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

If there\u2019s one thing Jenifer Lewis doesn\u2019t have time for these days, it\u2019s a walk down memory lane through all the folks she may or may not have encountered in her three-decade-long career. I discovered this when I asked her about a mutual friend during a recent chat that began and ended with pure hilarity. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":88889,"featured_media":540,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1590,1588],"tags":[1133,1143,1164,1183],"class_list":["post-231","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-archives","category-culture","tag-entertainment","tag-interview","tag-hollywood","tag-celebrity"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/theduanewells.com\/staging3\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/231","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/theduanewells.com\/staging3\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/theduanewells.com\/staging3\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theduanewells.com\/staging3\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/88889"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theduanewells.com\/staging3\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=231"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/theduanewells.com\/staging3\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/231\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5557,"href":"https:\/\/theduanewells.com\/staging3\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/231\/revisions\/5557"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theduanewells.com\/staging3\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/540"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/theduanewells.com\/staging3\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=231"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theduanewells.com\/staging3\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=231"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theduanewells.com\/staging3\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=231"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}