Erin Judge
written by Jerome J.J. Leslie
It was one of the coldest days of the year and streets around Cambridge, MA, had iced over, slowing city traffic to a crawl. I somehow made it to the coffee shop for my interview with Erin ten minutes early. She was already waiting, patiently, excited for a chance to talk about stand-up comedy and her knew two-woman show.
Judge was born in Brooklyn, New York, but moved to Plano, Texas with her mother when she was in fifth grade. She started doing comedy after graduating from college in 2002.
“I’ve always loved stand-up,” says Judge, “and watching countless hours of Comedy Central as a child helped me cope with the fact that I was the freak show with a thick Brooklyn accent in my suburban Texas middle school. I’m very drawn to Jeneane Garofalo and Margaret Cho, because I have always sensed that their comedy comes from feeling like outsiders.”
“Erin has certainly become one of the stand-out performers in Boston,” says Jon Lincoln, Comedian and Co-Owner/Manager of Motley’s Comedy Club, “Her hard work and dedication to the craft of comedy has gained her the respect of her peers and the industry.”
For two years, Judge hosted her own club show, “Erin Judge Presents...” at the Comedy Studio in Harvard Square. She’s caught a glimpse of the national spotlight with an appearance on Comedy Central’s LIVE AT GOTHAM. Now it’s a just a matter of seeing what happens next.
“Well, my friend Ailin Conant and I have been very close,” says Judge, “for a number of years. We used to be extremely close…meaning we dated. Now, she is a fancy actor. She went to theater school in London. She is trained in physical theater techniques and is the artistic director of her own theater company, Theatre Témoin. As a stand-up comedian, I tend to conceive of myself as something of a trades person. We wanted to work together for a long time, and we got the opportunity to work together on a video. An admission video at Wellesley. During that time we decided to create a show together. She married a French woman in Europe. I married my husband, Jesse Ross last summer. We are both grappling mightily with the idea that we are somebody’s wife.” The product of that idea is The Meaning of Wife.
“Public Relations is the idea. We are trying to change people’s concept of the word and concept of wife,” says Judge. “It’s mainly done through retrospective. The sketches we perform are almost like outtakes from our lives. It starts out as a farce, then we let it sort of relax into a story about ourselves. It’s very personal, which I love as a stand-up. Ailin has helped bring elements of theatrical physicality to the piece. I’d never done stage combat before, but she’s an expert. We actually fight. I punch her in the face and stuff like that. And Yes, we also dance! We do all sorts of stuff. It gets a little crazy.”
“I think it is relatable,” Judge continues, “for anybody entering into a marriage where they don’t expect to have the man going off to work with his briefcase and fedora, and the woman stays home, cleans house, and has babies. In some ways, though, it is still the model when people think about the word wife. But, it extends to men and the word husband. I see it with my male friends. They get this pressured and nervous feeling about getting married, feeling that they need to provide. We, women, are no longer really thinking of it that way. That expectation is really not on our minds as much. I think it’s interesting to present our motivations in a sincere way. It just shows that everyone’s reason for getting married is different. Everyone’s marriage then becomes a matter of creating their own rules. It’s exciting.”
“The main thing our show,” says Judge, “touches on is the fact that Ailin and her wife cannot live in America. Ailin cannot sponsor her wife for a visa because of the Defense of Marriage Act. The law does not allow same sex partners, even if they are married in a state that allows gay marriage like Massachusetts or Connecticut, to sponsor their partners for a Green Card. They’re stuck. So, Ailin has to periodically go back to Europe for periods of times whether it is right thing for her work or not so that they can be together. It sucks. Wife is a comedy show, so we talk about it with humor. It’s not fair. But, it’s something people do not necessarily think of. They think if the state allows the marriage, they can just be there. But the Federal Government overrides the state laws in terms of things like Visas and Green Cards. Even gay people don’t know how many Federal Laws make it hard for particular situations to happen. If you have a partner who is not a US Citizen, there are some pretty high stakes. It’s one thing to fight for family health benefits, it’s another when you can’t even live in the same country.”
“There is a gap of representation,” says Judge. “I think that’s why the audience sees the show and understands the inside jokes. They can relate. Stand-up might be my first love, but this show is working on an interesting new level for me. It’s a fun show. It has a very Off Broadway feel. We are doing a lot in terms of production, with very little budget. Off Broadway is a really interesting idea for a comedian. (Mike) Birbiglia has been doing it. To be in a theater, you can take a little more time with an idea when you need to be sincere. In comedy clubs, the audience really wants to get hit with jokes constantly. If you want to develop something where parts are serious, the theater provides a change in context to allow it. Even if you do stand-up style show in a theater with a host and beer and stuff, people expect stand-up. I would love for the show to become something, because I think the dynamic we have, Ailin and I, and the voice of the show is new. The rapport that we have and the way we talk to each other is very nuanced and stylized. I like the sharpness of the relationship and the freshness of it. The plan is to take it to some American fringe festivals over the summer. We are applying for the New York Fringe Festival, The Berkshire Fringe Festival, and a couple of others. From there, we’re just looking to see how it is received. It is, in a way, a very political show. Gay marriage and the rights of people who should, by all means, have their relationships recognized. The difficulties are encountered when those relationships are not recognized is a huge underlying theme of the show. It’s tied into general ideas of feminist marriage, and the developing nature of changing relationships that people have. So, I am hoping different groups and organizations will be able to see this show. Frankly, it is a great pro-gay marriage propaganda tool. The audience reaction to the show has been very unique.”
Feminist is a term Judge says can pigeonhole a woman in comedy. Still she isn’t afraid of the term. “I get pretty riled up about the bullshit women have to go through, or put themselves through. That seems to be a pretty good source for my comedy. I tend to generate material pretty easily when I see something idiotic in a women’s magazine, or on TV.”
Like many comedians with a distinctive point of view in their act, the challenge to find clubs that fit their style can be arduous. But, when they find that perfect space, it can make for a memorable experience. For Judge, that space is Moonwork in downtown New York. “Moonwork’s show,” says Judge, “is in a theater space, and they really set a vibe. They call it an evening of original work. The audience is open minded because of the way it is set up. I had heard that it was pretty much the coolest comedy show going on in New York, and it was. I enjoyed the format. They really have built up quite a base for that show. Everybody is cool, smart, nice, and interesting. It was a pleasure to work with comedians like Tom Shillue and Jim Gaffigan, and seeing the musical performer they got was a former Emerson College student named Lea Siegel. She was phenomenal. Leo Allen was on the show. Andres Du Bouchet. Christian Finnegan was on the show. It was just beautiful. My friends that I brought were just so impressed. Everyone had a great time.”
“I love stand-up,” says Judge, “It’s my first love. But the Walsh Brothers really showed me the value of taking comedy as comedy. You are a comedian. You are not just doing stand-up. You are trying to create funny pieces. Whether it’s traditional stand-up jokes or sketches or monologues. All of that should and can be under the umbrella of being a comedian. Sketches bring a new dimension to what I am trying to present. I think stand-up is that it is kind of like acapella in that, as soon as you add too many elements it is not what it says it is anymore. You could be a stand-up comedian and do wacky things. But, as soon as you are singing, you are a musical stand-up comedian. If you have something in your hands, you’re a prop comic. So stand-up is limited by definition, and comedy is broad. I want to be doing all kinds of comedy, because I love it.”
“Yes, I am letting stand-up be my full time gig,” says Judge. “It’s a struggle. I love doing colleges. I have some regional NACA applications out for showcases. That is my road angle. I prefer to pursue that rather then auditioning for clubs in the Midwest. I like college audiences. Even if I have to travel and stand at a microphone in the cafeteria, at least I can get to those audiences. I can chat and work with them better. That’s one thing I hope will grow.”
“Live at Gotham” was such a great experience,” recalls Judge, “Performing with TV cameras all around was different from what I’m used to. But ultimately it was still all about connecting with the crowd that was there in the club. My appearance on Comedy Central brought my comedy to a national audience, and it’s been awesome getting emails from people around the country who liked what they saw. Having the TV credit helps me get college gigs and hip NYC shows and all that good stuff. I have a really hard time with the hobnobbing aspects of the job, and I’ve also been known to freeze up during audition shows. The great thing is that I am learning more and more about how to stay focused on the task at hand, which is always entertaining the people in the audience and giving them a slice of my own world view, regardless of which industry people might be watching.
“What’s impressive to me about Erin,” says Tim McIntire, Comedian, Co-Owner/Manager of Motley’s, “is that she has never once wavered from her artistic standards, as near as I can tell. She’s known what she’s about from the get-go, and she’s just steadily and relentlessly refined that into a rock solid (and very, very funny) stage presence. I used to be afraid she’d just be kind of a niche egghead comedian, but she has totally proved me wrong. She’s figured out how to be herself and still kill everywhere she plays. I admire that tremendously.”
For more on Erin, visit erinjudge.com or her blog at http://somakeitup.blogspot.com.
JJ Leslie is a writer and comedian from Boston.
Visit jjlesliecomedian.com.