As the election year ramps up, comic and entertainer Sandra Bernhard declines to stand on the sidelines.
Partnering with the organization SEAT, which describes itself as a “movement of young people developing transferable skills and demonstrating youth visibility in policymaking,” Bernhard is pulling out all the stops for a full-on variety spectacle subtitled Stand with Texas for a night of comedy, music, drag and coalition building.
On the bill alongside Bernhard, who will perform and emcee the occasion, is Drag Star Blackberri, singers Cat Ridgeway and Catterina and a special appearance by Laura Ashley Simmons, who is running for the Texas House of Representatives in District 146.
“Laura Ashley Simmons is someone I got very excited about a few months ago when an Instagram post went viral where she stood up to Greg Abbott’s education quote-unquote person, who shut down the libraries and turned them into detention centers [Editor’s note: if she’s referring to Superintendent Mike Miles, HISD calls the centers Team Centers and they include both students who are doing well academically and those who are moved to the center because of behavior problems in the class] ,” the sly voice comic shares with vigor. “I was like, who is this woman? She was so on her feet, articulate, prepared, and had a total clarity about the subject. So I reached out to her, and we started circling back and forth and I say, ‘ You should run for office!’ Next thing I know, she is running for office. I am excited about supporting her.”
This Stand with Texas event will be happening for Houston on Monday, December 4 at The Heights Theater, but Bernhard has similar programs occurring across the state with each show focused on a different policy theme.
“We’ve tied all these different really important causes in Teas that have a lot of meaning to me,” Bernhard explains. “Austin is gonna be for women’s reproductive rights and abortion care, Dallas is for LGBTQ rights, and Houston is for education. Texas is such a great state and it’s on the precipice of tipping blue and so many people who have come from other parts of the country – and I know that’s probably an issue for native Texans who have their ire up, their hackles raised, but the point is… if we could just pull everybody together, get Beto O’Rouke elected, and there’s so many great people down there. I’m a huge fan of Jasmine Crockett, who is another congressperson who is so incredible and ballsy and groovy.”
“So I don’t know, we just decided to come back to Texas and do some great shows with other local performers, raise awareness of these various causes and support these organizations. Then at the same time, of course, entertain people, which you know, this time of year I think everybody is just tapped out. Just take a mental health break with people they can lean on.
“Of course, I always like to think of myself at the queen of people that can come to me for answers, even if I don’t, I’ll come up with something on the spot. So I’ll be curating the night and hosting it, I’ll be doing my set with some local musicians and my musical director Mitch Kaplan is coming in from LA. So it’s my local iteration of my SandyLand Squad band. You know it will be an very entertaining night, I’m so excited to meet the two singers and Blackberri and have it be a big, cool, groovy kick off the holidays and a gathering really.”
While the official election year is still about a month off, Bernhard is empathetic as she gears up for political battle. “In this pivotal time of the pre-election year,” she say, “where everything is on the line again and we’re back to this insane place, I think it’s more important than ever that artists like myself and say: ‘Hey! With a little bit of added effort, we can get out there and support the right people to support democracy and our personal freedoms. If we don’t do it, no one is gonna do it for us.’ That’s really the message here, along with being entertaining and being with people and other performers who are likeminded and eager to collaborate.”
“Every local election that’s had abortion on the ballot has been a winner. I think people know now that its going to be a local issue since the Supreme Court gutted Roe v Wade. I don’t think there is a woman out there, with the exception of very strange people, who don’t want that decision made for themselves. It’s a huge win for the Democrats and liberals and smart people and women everywhere. We come out in droves and vote for this, and then at the same, other things will fall in line behind it: gun reform, education, LGBTQ rights, trans rights, the list goes on and on of things that fall under the auspicious of personal freedoms. You have to find the right people in public life to support it and be a collaborative person in your life to maintain your own personal democracy.”
When asked if she’s hopeful about the political engagement of the newest generation of voters, Bernhard is quick to single out the Gen Z closest to home. “My daughter is 25,” she says with a laugh, “and she is politically astute and really understands the whole landscape of what’s happening. She is so well read and engaged. Yeah, I think we’ve got to hand over the mantle to them as the next generation that’s going to be presidents and governors and Congress people and I see them already stepping up. I feel confident that we will maintain our equilibrium.”
Though these issues are clearly close to the performer’s heart, she is quick to comfort potential ticket buyers that the show won’t be all politics.
“My show is very eclectic,” the comic explains. “We touch on some political things, but its also kind of a travelogue of my life. It’s very anecdotal and it’s all interwoven with great cover tunes. I think that’s what people have come to expect from me, this glimpse into my life and my sort of perspective on the world. It’s a hybrid of those things, but its not didactic. I never beat people over the head with these things. It’s not like a late night show, with a monologue about politics. I try to approach it in a neat way that makes it engaging and funny.
“You get a total sense of who I am and how I live my life. People who listen to my weekly show on Sirius, the Sandyland show, they have gotten very in tune with how I live my life. It’s the quotidian of it, but kind of the glamor of it at the same time. It’s a glimpse into the parties and fun and the behind the scene of it. But also going to Whole Foods to return spoiled chicken. It really covers the whole gambit of my life and the day to day.”
The comic, who has been in making her bones in entertainment industry not only on stage, but in TV and films for almost 40 years, agrees with the sentiment that her diverse resume has amassed her fans from all across the media spectrum. “Oh absolutely, from long running fans from early in my career, to the more recent Ryan Murphy world, there are a lot of younger fans that are more aware of me through Pose and American Horror Story. It’s a great arc to have cover my early TV and film life performing on Letterman, through Roseanne and now a whole new world of modern television and film. It’s really fun to have that continuity in my career.
On her most recent television work on FX and Hulu, Bernhard says: “[With Ryan Murphy,] he’s very artist centric and see how you can expand your horizons. It’s such a great ensemble to get to work with and you’re always [saying] I always loved you, then you are working together in this fun crazy world that he creates for you.”
And going all the way back to 1983 with one of her earliest roles in Martin Scorsese showbiz satire The King of Comedy, Bernhard marvels at being part of a cultural touchstone. “It was a very prescient film. It was about fame at any cost. Who knew how it would explode? It took over culture. It’s a great film, and it’s timeless. I was so happy I got to be apart of that.”
In the end, the appeal of Bernhard’s comedy styling are that special mesh of the mundane and extraordinary. “The day to day has always made me laugh,” she says. “It’s the tableaus you see on the street. Or overhearing conversations in New York City. Things comes from unexpected places. It’s my usual go to without having to try very hard, because it’s a natural attraction to humanity. I’ve always been a keen observer wherever I am. I am out in the world a lot, and my ear is always to the ground to hear the rumble of what’s around me.”
The performance will begin at 8 p.m. on Monday, December 4 at The Heights Theater, 339 West 19th. For information, call 214-272-8346 or visit theheightstheater.com. $59-$150.
This article appears in Jan 1 – Dec 31, 2023.
