What the L?

by Kate Clinton

Overview

What the L? is a new collection of published and unpublished writings that showcases Kate Clinton's gifts as one of the all-time favorite lesbian comics. Like Ellen DeGeneres and Rosie O'Donnell, Clinton is a nationally acclaimed quick-witted, laugh-out-loud funny comic whose hilarious takes on everything from gay marriage ("mad vow disease") and Queer Eye for the Straight Guy, to gay Republicans and the War on Terrorism have earned her a devoted following. She has appeared on many television programs, including Good Morning America, Nightline, Entertainment Tonight, and writes monthly columns for Progressive and the Advocate.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780786715442
Publisher:	Hachette Books
Publication date:	05/20/2005
Pages:	284
Product dimensions:	5.50(w) x 8.25(h) x (d)

About the Author

KATE CLINTON has appeared on Comedy Central, Lifetime, Oxygen, MSNBC, CNN, and CSpan. She writes monthly columns for the Advocate and The Progressive, and has contributed to the New York Times and George magazine, among others. A former writer for The Rosie O’Donnell Show, Clinton also has released seven comedy albums. She lives in New York City.

Editorial Reviews

As in "Liberal" "Left" and "Lesbian." A columnist for the Progressive and the Advocate, Clinton offers deft takes on politics and culture, believing in laughter's ability to "subvert authority and promote democracy." If not laugh-out-loud funny, Clinton lands lots of one-liners. Our attorney general was "J. Edgar Ashcroft"; our author is no "America Frister." Noting that only Dick Cheney had acknowledged that his daughter, Mary, is gay, Clinton observes, "His lovely wife, Lon Cheney, demurs on the dyke thing." She's savage toward those would retool gays into straights, and passionate about the gay Catholics in the group Dignity willing to take on the church. The book mixes new material with previously published columns, and a few pieces are explicitly personal, such as one on Clinton's 11 years of coming out, and one in which she stands amazed that a movie like Boys Don't Cry got made. Clinton, who also works as a comedian, has formed the Permanent Standing Committee to Impeach Bush, but her calling is clear from the mail-order minister's license she got to perform gay weddings: "Call me the Irreverend Kate Clinton." Done. (July) Copyright 2005 Reed Business Information.

Publishers Weekly

Lesbian comic Clinton (Don't Get Me Started, 1998, etc.) riffs on everything from SpongeBob SquarePants to the Supreme Court in this ultra-wry collection of columns and short essays. Rushing in where Ellen fears to tread-on people's toes-the author sets her sights (as in crosshairs) on everyone across the political spectrum. Clinton's smart, stream-of-consciousness rants, covering 1999 to early 2005, take on among many other targets the "Commando in Chief," not forgetting to throw in a few pop-culture references along the way. For example, she ties W's "global gag rule on contraceptive education worldwide" to the movie Resident Evil. Sometimes these combinations work, and sometimes they don't. When within a paragraph or two Clinton flits from drag queens to the Vatican to Martina Navratilova to Planet of the Apes, readers may have their own "What the L?" moment. Of course, she not only sticks it to "George Duh," but to his people and policy. On the Patriot Act, she remarks, "the sound you hear is the shredders chewing up the fourth amendment," and Condoleeza's fix for global warming, quips Clinton, is manufacturing a cold war. Sometimes nicknames alone serve as political commentary: Ken "Jean Valjean" Starr, "Roy Cohn's lovechild" (Ari Fleischer) and "the Roy G. Biv of terror" (Tom Ridge). She tackles WMD, Social Security and Homeland Security, but naturally Clinton gets much mileage out of gay marriage, aka "mad vow disease," complaining that "one of the cool things about being gay was that you didn't have to get married." She ultimately decides she'll fight for others to be "gay married," however, and even gets ordained as a minister of the Universal Life Church. Some of the more popculture-focused writings would work better in her stand-up routine, where bad puns about Viagra and "Bush fatigue" might be funnier after a cocktail. Veers wildly among topics, but covers recent political history and gay rights issues with rapid-fire, sometimes blessedly cathartic humor. Author tour

Kirkus Reviews