April Macie looks more like an old-fashioned pin-up than a feisty comedian with a hip pocket full of wiener jokes — but that’s exactly what she is. She’s got a quick wit, a sharp tongue and some of the funniest stories you’ve ever heard out of a former cheerleader. The Pennsylvania native got her big break when she was a finalist on NBC’s “Last Comic Standing” and has gone on to appear on “The Howard Stern Show,” E! and the Grand Ole Opry of stand-up comedy, “The Bob & Tom Show.”
LEO: Have you been to Louisville before?
April Macie: I did a breast cancer benefit there once, but I’ve never performed in a club there before.
LEO: As a newbie, be careful — our bars are open until 4 a.m.
AM: Are they? Oh, God. I better not bring my mom then; she can’t hang to last call. She’s more of a “get a 30-pack of Keystone Light and paint pictures of Michael Bolton in the basement” kind of girl.
LEO: Was it a pretty conservative Pennsylvania upbringing?
AM: Uh, not very conservative, no; Pennsylvania is really non-conservative.
LEO: I just watch “Amish Mafia” and assume all Pennsylvania is like that.
AM: (laughs) Oh no, that’s like two hours away in a small village.
LEO: What kind of comedy excites you?
AM: I’m a huge fan of comedy. But I think I prefer comics who are more entertainers than just straight joke tellers. I want a little razzle-dazzle for my entertainment dollar. And I love the edgier comics who are at least attempting to make some sort of social commentary, as opposed to a dude who is just talking about cookies.
LEO: You don’t like cookies?
AM: It’s just not my cup of tea when it comes to comedy. If you have a mouthpiece, you should attempt to say something.
LEO: Do you agree with the old formula of tragedy + time = comedy?
AM: Well, that’s my formula, and it seems to be working for me. I can’t speak for everybody else, but I assume if somebody had homemade pudding in their fridge growing up, they probably aren’t that funny.
LEO: Are all comedians generally unhappy people?
AM: I think it takes a certain level of damage to travel around and seek validation from strangers in a nightclub. That’s not a “normal person” thing to wanna do.
LEO: Worst place you’ve ever played?
AM: I worked this place in Texas that was a front for a meth ring … I did not know that at the time. They were paying me, like, three times what I was used to making, and I didn’t understand. It was a weird, glorified pile of shit in a dirt parking lot, and it would be me and 12 Mexican dudes straight off an oil rig … I would calculate the ticket price and it didn’t make sense how they were paying me. Now I think the dude is serving two life sentences for running a meth ring. That wasn’t so great; it was, like, “This is no place for a lady.”
LEO: No place for a lady, but the perfect place for a comic.
AM: Exactly.
This article appears in August 6, 2013.