Reno

Your show has some pretty radical political content. Has there been any backlash? Has anyone hassled you about your opinions?

I'm way too underground for people to give a shit, I guess, although the whole time I've been performing I've been purposefully excluded from the main shows -- like Dave Letterman, the night before I was supposed to go on his show, someone called and said I would freak him out.

But so far, it's been the opposite: People run up to me afterwards and write to me saying, "Thank you for saying all these things I've been wanting to say. I didn't think I was allowed to say it." People write that when they went back home and talked out loud, about how they felt happier. People say it's a service. Everyone makes their contribution.

When I'm looking at people, if the light is such that I can see the audience members' faces, yeah, some people have indicated that it's not the majority opinion.

But to me, it's not opinion: It's common sense. Self-preservation. The boundaries have been broken, guys, don't act like they haven't. Don't think that this satellite missile defense system is going to protect us ... We are beyond that now, guys, and we have got to figure out what our place in the world neighborhood is, because we aren't living on some other planet any longer.

Your show was launched last October, just after the attacks, and it's still running eight months later and has moved to an even bigger venue. How has the show evolved during that time? Is it a work in progress?

The word "work in progress" in my experience is sort of a disclaimer meant for people who are not up for criticism -- i.e., this is not a finished product and it will become what it's meant to be at some point in the future. But I could just say that my show continues to change because now you have the Supreme Court saying, "We didn't really mean the separation of church and state." You can't just walk past that and not mention that.

Recently, I've also been talking about needing some sort of symbol to show my solidarity with those people who died the most horrific death [by jumping out of the World Trade Center towers]. I imagine everyone thinks about that decision those people made, deciding whether to go down with the building or jump. Recently I started to state explicitly that these people were involuntary soldiers. I always meant that but I never said it. The last couple days I've connected with my real anger, [that the country put] these people in that fucking position. I'm not talking about because the FBI isn't talking to the CIA. I'm talking about the longer level, the higher overview: How America conducts itself in business overall.

Do you think that your show has done so well because New York needs humor to help discuss the things they are bitter about?

When I cast this in a humorous light it makes it easier to accept it, because you can see the folly. I say something about looking at those buildings burning five blocks away, and I can't help it, there's a shock, over and over in my brain, saying, "Ashcroft thinks this is a perfect day." Not that he is happy about the carnage, but that he'll finally have permission to reform that Bill of Rights into the shape of the New Testament. People get that, and also it's funny.

I only go so far as people want me to. It's very important to be funny: If you're not funny, you're a politician, and no one trusts politicians. And that's another real shame. You can't throw your hat in the ring these days unless you have no morality left. Because a decent human being will not accept that invasion. Which is why you get a guy like Clinton, who started out beautiful and kept giving back and putting more layers of Saran Wrap around him until the only thing left that worked was his little penis.

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