Sat 6/1 @ 7pm
By John Benson
Early on in the 30 Rock series there’s a hilarious moment where character Tracy Jordan spends an endless night of partying that requires a momentary pause in order to drop his kids off at school before attending the after-after-after-after party.
Such is kind of the thought behind an event attached to the Cleveland VegFest, which takes place all day Sat 6/1 at CSU where culinary experts comprised of favorite chefs, restaurants and confectioneries will be featuring their best-selling vegan menu items. If attendees are looking for an after-dinner mint of sorts, tasty and indulgent delights – comedy, food, music – are scheduled for the VegFest After Party Saturday evening at the Cleveland Agora.
Headlining the event is left-wing political stand-up comic Jamie Kilstein, host of the member-supported Citizen Radio show.
Cool Cleveland talked to Brooklyn, NYC’s Kilstein about his politics, VegFest and what not to say to a Cleveland audience.
Cool Cleveland: So after appearing last year at the Grog Shop, you’re returning to Cleveland. What are your thoughts of Northeast Ohio?
Jamie Kilstein: With left-wing politics, sometimes New York City and Los Angeles can be jaded. Where it’s like, ‘We agree with you but all of our friends are gay, vegan, atheists and socialists.’ I just recorded my new CD in Austin, Texas, which is very liberal surrounded by bat-shit crazy people. So they were so much more appreciative. It’s like in Ohio where they have the Midwestern, very-nice person sensibilities mixed with just being really radical and smart. They appreciate it more, whereas people can be hipster douchebags in New York City where I live.
As far as left-wing politics go, what makes you more proud, being called a doofus by Glenn Beck or receiving threatening letters by the hate group God Hates Fags?
With both of those I was never happier. My wife Allison [Kilkenny] and I have blurbs from Noam Chomsky and Robin Williams [on our website] and all of these elite people, but put that Glenn Beck quote right on top. Then the God Hates Fags people really put some time into a really long email written in a polite tone. It’s just the craziest shit. They were like, ‘I hope your wife gets breast cancer.’ They specifically describe what will happen if she got breast cancer and that I’m going to burn in hell. I was going to write back this really mean email but people yell at them all of the time. So I thought instead of battling them, I literally just wrote back, ‘Are you flirting with me?’
Being an outspoken vegan, the idea of coming to Cleveland to do a set at a VegFest event seems like a perfect marriage of lifestyle and career.
For the most part playing a vegetarian festival is a pretty sweet gig for me. It’s really like a vacation. When I started at comedy clubs, there are drunk bachelor parties where no one knows who they’re seeing. They think they’re going to one of those Comedy Central roasts. The opening comic will come up and be like, ‘What’s the big deal with black people?’ The comedy can be horrible. It’s a nightmare, and you get paid no money. I wanted to headline comedy clubs my whole life but now if I’m going to make no money I would much rather do it with a cause I support. It’s great. A lot of my fans aren’t vegetarians and they’ll show up. And people who haven’t seen me perform before. I’ll talk about other issues – feminism and LGBT rights. But I’ll push back a little bit. Even if it seems like my audience, I don’t know if it’s my dad issues, but I’ll find a way to alienate somebody.
Just a head’s up, if you want to push back against a Cleveland audience, just profess a love of LeBron James, The University of Michigan or the Pittsburgh Steelers.
Oh my God, I was so scared you were going to ask me a question about basketball. After LeBron James, I didn’t understand a word you said.
Finally, the notion of a VegFest makes us think about the cable television series Portlandia, which recently lampooned eating vegan for its resulting flatulence. Your thoughts?
Well, I’d rather perform somewhere with that then if you were going to have people collapsing with clogged arteries and heart disease.
The Cleveland VegFest After Party takes place at 7 pm Sat 6/1 at the Cleveland Agora, 5001 Prospect Ave., Cleveland. Joining headliner Jamie Kilstein will be local comics Ramon Rivas and Jimmie Graham with music by Diana Chittester. Tickets are $15. clevelandvegansociety.org.
Freelance writer John Benson spends most of his time writing for various papers throughout Northeast Ohio. When he’s not writing about music or entertainment, he can be found coaching his two boys in basketball, football and baseball or watching movies with his lovely wife, Maria. John also occasionally writes for CoolCleveland.com.