Laughter strikes

Comedian Scott Thompson once said, "I refuse to believe Liberace was gay. I just don't want him to be." On the other hand, there are some people we'd love to claim as our own, like fab funny femme Bethany Van Delft. A local comedian and honorary lesbian, Delft is one of the founding members of ColorStruck, a comedy showcase for women of color. With the group's ninth annual show coming up this weekend, Bay Windows chatted with Delft about the comedy biz, the babes, and Batman.

Q: I'm not going to lie to you. When I set this interview up I thought you were a lesbian.
A: A whole lot of people think that. My husband does. So that's not a problem.

Q: If you want to come out, this would be a great moment.
A: Sure! Or I could go back in for you. What is gay these days? I'm not sure what I think I am.

Q: You're Dutch, Puerto Rican, black...you can throw in some lez.
A: For a long time I had a shaved head and I only partied on the gay scene. Maybe you got that vibe.

Q: I bet you have a big lesbian following.
A: Oh, I do all right with the ladies.

Q: The Midway is a good place to pick up the ladies.
A: My formative social years were on mostly gay scenes, so maybe my sense of humor was formed there. And two of the founding members of ColorStruck were lesbians, but they moved to San Francisco. So we've always been lesbian friendly. I think we have a lesbian this year if you want to talk to her.

Q: No, I want to talk to the brains of the operation.
A: I think they fell out! I'm the sole producer of this show. Usually we all take on different responsibilities. I never realized how much work it is. I'm worried about this show like you would worry about a child. I can't wait for it to cry on my chest and go to sleep. Really, it's kind of on autopilot, because this is our ninth year together and a lot of the originals are still here.

Q: It's very cool that you've been doing this so long and it keeps getting bigger. When I was on the comedy scene I don't think I could have named nine local comedians of color.
A: It's pretty amazing. I don't know if it's like this everywhere. Boston is a little whitebread.

Q: How did ColorStruck get started?
A: There were five of us who performed at The Comedy Studio regularly. And Rick Jenkins had the idea to bring us all together for a show. I think he was kind of impressed that he had so many women of color at his club, because you didn't really see that at the Comedy Connection or Nick's. And we did it for three years and sold out every year. Then we moved to Jimmy Tingle's theater and made it a bigger thing. We travel around to colleges and organizations around New England. The reception has been amazing. The last two years we were invited into the Boston Comedy Festival. They gave us our own showcase.

Q: And you have some new comedians for this show, right?
A: We have Michelle Buteau and I'm so excited. She's absolutely hilarious and she's done VH1 and Comedy Central and a bunch of different stuff. And of course Esther Ku, who's been with us for 3 or 4 yeas now, made it to Last Comic Standing.

Q: Does everyone hate her now?
A: No! Everybody likes her. Her material was a little edgy for some people, but it's taken off. She's doing really well in New York now.

Q: It sounds like you all have different styles. Do you play off on that, or influence each other?
A: I think we do influence each other. The show is amazing but the best time is back in the green room when everyone's mouth is shooting off. And jokes come from that for sure, and we build relationships. We had Karith Foster from New York for the last few years - she's Don Imus's sidekick now - and she had such a good time that she invited us to New York to do shows.

Q: Is this a different experience from hanging with other comedians?
A: Yeah, it is. Comedy in Boston is kind of straight white male oriented. So my brain is in a different place when I'm hanging with the guy comedians. As opposed to being backstage with these women, which is more mellow and you don't have to prove yourself. With a group of women it's different dynamic.

Q: And what about your solo career?
A: I've decided that 2009 is my year to get some TV credits. When I first started I wasn't very committed to it. I was getting on maybe once a month. And that was frustrating because I wasn't getting any better. So the last two or three years I've been deeply committed to getting up 4 or 5 times a week and honing my craft. Hopefully next year is my year.

Q: Looking to quit the day job?
A: Everybody wants to quit their day job. But if I had all day free, I'm not sure what the hell I would do. Tons of TV. Millions of things to Google. I was working on a joke about yoga yesterday, and Googled the hell out of it. I could have spent three hours on it.

Q: To get that ten second yoga joke.
A: Yeah. You know how it goes.

Q: Which comedians or performers inspire you?
A: Paul Lynde influenced me. I worshiped him for his sarcastic, bitchy attitude. And I know this sounds like a ridiculous influence but Endora from Bewitched! I think she was a drag queen. I think I kind of adopted that style when I was in complete terror.

Q: That's so different from your stage presence now. You look so relaxed.
A: Smoke and mirrors. Inside, I'm still scared. I still get stage fright.

Q: But that's normal. If you don't feel a little nervous, that means you don't really care.
A: Yeah. But you know, sometimes you look at another comedian and you psych yourself out. They look so unafraid and they make it look so easy.

Q: But they feel the same way.
A: I think they do. It's like any art form. When I talk to writers or painters, they all feel the same way. They all judge themselves against someone they admire and they think, this is so emotional for me so I must not be cut out for it. But that's just whiny artists doing what whiny artists do.

Q: I saw on your blog that you loved The Dark Knight...
A: I geek out on Batman. When I was little I loved Batman. I was born in '65 so I'm talking old school Batman with gay villains.

Q: This fits right in with your Bewitched fixation. I bet you loved The Match Game.
A: I wanted to be on The Match Game! When can I be that drunk on television?

Q: In 2009!
A: I want to be Brett Summers falling out of my chair on Match Game. So I loved Batman when it was campy and fun, but when Dark Knight came out I was very into that. I'm very interested in destiny, and what happens if you don't want to fulfill your destiny? Last Temptation of Christ is one of my favorite books. And Batman encompasses some of that, because he became a vigilante because of his past and he felt like he had no choice. And the relationship between Batman and the Joker gets into what is right and wrong? If you have no moral compass, who's to say? People like Jeffrey Dahmer interest me because they seem to be functioning on a totally different plane. And there used to be a place for people like that. Dahmer or The Joker could be the executioner. But now, where do they go?

Q: I was going to ask you a totally silly question and you're getting all philosophical.
A: But the question of what is normal, that's so interesting. Normal is whatever dominates. Like men dominated, so masculine is the norm. Or straight is the norm.

Q: If you were a superhero, what would your power be?
A: I think I just used it. The power to turn everything into a stoner conversation.

The women of ColorStruck - Sandy Asai, Janet Cormier, Deb Farrar-Parkman, Coleen Galvin, Sheila Jackson, Bethany Van Delft, Esther Ku and Michelle Buteau - perform Saturday August 2 at 8 and 10 p.m. at The Midway Caf?, 3496 Washington St., Jamaica Plain. Tickets $15. More info: www.colorstruckcomedy.com.