the way I ended up on this path was from
a very tragic event I was uh
I may be 19 and my girlfriend at the
time was killed in a car accident and I
passed the accident and I didn’t know it
was her and I kept going and I found out
shortly after that I was hurt and I was
living in a basement apartment I had no
money I had no heat nowhere I had a
mattress on the floor and the apartment
was infested with fleas and I was soul
searching I was like why is she suddenly
gone and there are fleas here I don’t
understand there must be a purpose and
wouldn’t it be so convenient if we could
just pick up the phone and call God and
ask these questions and I started
writing and what poured out of me was an
imaginary conversation with God which
was one-sided and I finished writing it
and I looked at it and I said to myself
and I hadn’t even been doing stand-up
ever there was no Club in town I said
I’m gonna do this on The Tonight Show
with Johnny Carson at the time he was
the king and I’m gonna be the first
woman in the history of the show to be
called over to sit down and several
years later I was the first woman in the
history of the show and only woman has
really showed to sit down because of
that phone conversation with God that I
wrote
I started this path of stand-up and it
was successful and it was great but it
was hard because I was trying to please
everybody and I had this secret that I
was keeping that I was gay and I thought
if people found out they wouldn’t like
me they wouldn’t laugh at me
then my career turned into I got my own
sitcom and that was very successful
another level of success and I thought
what if they find out I’m gay then
they’ll never watch and I finally
decided that I was living with so much
shame and so much fear that I just
couldn’t live that way anymore and I
decided to come out and make it creative
and my character would come out at the
same time and it wasn’t to make a
political statement it wasn’t to do
anything other than to free myself up
from this heaviness that I was carrying
around I just wanted to be honest and I
thought what’s the worst that can happen
I can lose my career I did I lost my
career I got the show was cancelled
after six years without even telling me
I read in the paper
the phone didn’t ring for three years I
had no offers nobody wanted to touch me
at all and yet I was getting letters
from kids that almost committed suicide
but didn’t because of what I did and I
realized that I had a purpose and it
wasn’t just about me and it wasn’t about
celebrity but I felt like I was being
punished and it was a bad time I was
angry I was sad and then I was offered a
talk show and the people that offered me
the talk show tried to sell it and most
stations didn’t want to pick it up most
people didn’t want to buy it because
they thought nobody would watch me and
really when I look back on it I wouldn’t
change a thing I mean it was so
importantly for me to lose everything
because I found out what what the most
important thing is is to be true to
yourself and ultimately that’s that’s
what’s gotten me to this place I don’t
live in fear I’m free I have no secrets
and I know I’ll always be okay because
no matter what I Know Who I am so in
conclusion when I was younger I thought
success was something different I
thought when I grow up I want to be
famous but my idea success is different
today and as you grow you’ll realize
definition of success changes for me the
most important thing in your life is to
live your life with integrity and not to
give in to peer pressure to try to be
something that you’re not to live your
life as an honest and compassionate
person to contribute in some way
follow your passion stay true to
yourself never follow someone else’s
path unless you’re in the woods and your
loss and you see a path and by all means
you should follow that
you
[Music]
a very tragic event I was uh
I may be 19 and my girlfriend at the
time was killed in a car accident and I
passed the accident and I didn’t know it
was her and I kept going and I found out
shortly after that I was hurt and I was
living in a basement apartment I had no
money I had no heat nowhere I had a
mattress on the floor and the apartment
was infested with fleas and I was soul
searching I was like why is she suddenly
gone and there are fleas here I don’t
understand there must be a purpose and
wouldn’t it be so convenient if we could
just pick up the phone and call God and
ask these questions and I started
writing and what poured out of me was an
imaginary conversation with God which
was one-sided and I finished writing it
and I looked at it and I said to myself
and I hadn’t even been doing stand-up
ever there was no Club in town I said
I’m gonna do this on The Tonight Show
with Johnny Carson at the time he was
the king and I’m gonna be the first
woman in the history of the show to be
called over to sit down and several
years later I was the first woman in the
history of the show and only woman has
really showed to sit down because of
that phone conversation with God that I
wrote
I started this path of stand-up and it
was successful and it was great but it
was hard because I was trying to please
everybody and I had this secret that I
was keeping that I was gay and I thought
if people found out they wouldn’t like
me they wouldn’t laugh at me
then my career turned into I got my own
sitcom and that was very successful
another level of success and I thought
what if they find out I’m gay then
they’ll never watch and I finally
decided that I was living with so much
shame and so much fear that I just
couldn’t live that way anymore and I
decided to come out and make it creative
and my character would come out at the
same time and it wasn’t to make a
political statement it wasn’t to do
anything other than to free myself up
from this heaviness that I was carrying
around I just wanted to be honest and I
thought what’s the worst that can happen
I can lose my career I did I lost my
career I got the show was cancelled
after six years without even telling me
I read in the paper
the phone didn’t ring for three years I
had no offers nobody wanted to touch me
at all and yet I was getting letters
from kids that almost committed suicide
but didn’t because of what I did and I
realized that I had a purpose and it
wasn’t just about me and it wasn’t about
celebrity but I felt like I was being
punished and it was a bad time I was
angry I was sad and then I was offered a
talk show and the people that offered me
the talk show tried to sell it and most
stations didn’t want to pick it up most
people didn’t want to buy it because
they thought nobody would watch me and
really when I look back on it I wouldn’t
change a thing I mean it was so
importantly for me to lose everything
because I found out what what the most
important thing is is to be true to
yourself and ultimately that’s that’s
what’s gotten me to this place I don’t
live in fear I’m free I have no secrets
and I know I’ll always be okay because
no matter what I Know Who I am so in
conclusion when I was younger I thought
success was something different I
thought when I grow up I want to be
famous but my idea success is different
today and as you grow you’ll realize
definition of success changes for me the
most important thing in your life is to
live your life with integrity and not to
give in to peer pressure to try to be
something that you’re not to live your
life as an honest and compassionate
person to contribute in some way
follow your passion stay true to
yourself never follow someone else’s
path unless you’re in the woods and your
loss and you see a path and by all means
you should follow that
you
[Music]
Please follow and like us: