Transcending Comedy: Julia Scotti
Julia Scotti found renewed interest in comedy after coming out as transgender
Remember when Ellen DeGeneres came out as a lesbian in 1997? “She took so much crap,” Julia Scotti says. “It almost killed her career.” In fact it took DeGeneres years to shirk her pariah status and regain her footing in Hollywood.
The lesson isn’t just that perseverance pays off but, for Scotti, it’s also a sign that “the universe works in funny ways.” DeGeneres got her start on the national stage by winning Showtime’s Funniest Person in America in 1982 — beating out, among others, a comedian from New Jersey named Rick Scotti.
“I’d like to thank her for winning that contest, because if she hadn’t, I wouldn’t be here today,” Scotti says. “If I had won that contest and achieved her fame, it would have been impossible for me to figure out what the hell was wrong with me. By losing, I had to go back to my regular old life and explore these things.”
Two years after DeGeneres came out, Scotti realized she was transgender. By then, she had given up comedy and become a teacher. “Can you imagine what it would have been like, coming out as trans in the 1990s? It’s hard enough now.” Back then, there was no social media, and the Internet was still so new, it was difficult to search, let alone find like-minded people and helpful resources.
But as Scotti became comfortable with her identity, she found a renewed interest in comedy. “One of the reasons I quit back then was because I just felt like the stuff I was doing was kind of trite,” she says. “I don’t know, I just wasn’t feeling it.” But by 2008, she felt liberated enough to tell jokes from a place of “total truth and fearlessness. I had no more secrets, and so I could come out and be who I was for the first time really on stage, and it’s been wonderful.”
Scotti is currently on tour with comedian Kevin Meaney, who came out as gay several years ago. Both play mostly straight venues and draw mostly straight audiences to their shows, so they decided to team up for a show they’re calling Big Pants and Hot Flashes. “We thought it would be a great opportunity to enlighten people, and just make them laugh,” Scotti says. “Teach them that we’re not oddballs — other than the fact that we’re comedians.”
Update (Jan. 22): This show has been cancelled due to the snow storm. Amp by Strathmore are looking to reschedule the performance and will issue refunds to those who purchased tickets.
Julia Scotti performs with Kevin Meaney on Friday, Jan. 22, at 8 p.m., at Amp by Strathmore, 11810 Grand Park Ave., Bethesda. Tickets are $20 to $30. Call 301-581-5100 or visit ampbystrathmore.com.
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