If the name Poppy Champlin sounds familiar to you, it’s probably because the hilarious comedian is everywhere and has been everywhere since 1990. She has worked the comedy circuits for years and has appeared on a Showtime Special with Bruce Vilanch called Pride: The Gay and Lesbian Comedy Slam as well as two LOGO comedy specials and the R-Family HBO Documentary. She has opened for the likes of Ray Romano, Denis Leary, Bill Maher, Bill Hicks and Rosie O’Donnell.
The lesbian comedian, who was the winner of Joan Rivers’ Funniest Woman in America contest, has put together a show of some of the funniest comics for The Queer Queens of Qomedy Tour, which is making a few stops in Florida. On April 7, Champlin’s show will be at The Palladium in St. Pete where she will be joined on stage with Jennie McNulty and Vickie Shaw.
McNulty performs nightly in Provincetown in the summers and has performed at the Toronto Gay and Lesbian Festival, Dinah Shore and many Pride events.
“Jennie is very old school,” said Champlin. “I met her in Detroit at the Comedy Castle. She does Olivia Cruises, she does P-town, she does Logo shows. People really like her.”
McNulty is also a professional football player and is a member of the California Quake. Shaw also has a great reputation.
“Vickie Shaw is one of the most popular lesbians comedians,” said Champlin.
After Shaw was married for 18 years with three kids, she came out as a lesbian… and a stand-up comic at the same time.
“People love her sense of humor,” said Champlin. “She’s been through it all. She’s got some funny stuff and a Southern accent.”
Shaw will continue on tour with Champlin to South Florida where they ladies will be joined by comedian Barb Neligan, who Champlin met in Nashville. Shaw wrote the script for CMT’s show “Country’s Most Shocking: Stories Behind Southern Rock and Outlaw Country.”
Champlin said that a unique thing about Neligan is that she plays the banjo.
“When I asked her about why she played the banjo, she said, ‘I’m from Nashville, it’s the law,'” she explained.
Champlin promised that music will definitely be part of the show, as she herself specializes in song parodies.
“I’ll be the host and I always like to kick it off with a song,” she said.
If Champlin says the show will be funny, you should believe her. The comedian has been the producer for many comedy shows and booked comedians like Dennis Leary, Lenny Clarke and Kevin Meaney in her time.
“These guys were from Boston and were starting out themselves,” she said.
She spent many years as a host and MC for many shows before she became better known and headlining shows herself.
Champlin said that she put hundreds of thousands of miles on her car through the early years and had a lot of adventures. In 1996, she headed to L.A. to get a sitcom since its seemed that all of the comedians at the time were landing them. She saw an agent at William Morris who promised her her own sitcom or a writing job at Saturday Night Live. He told her to get ajusted to the area and to come back in a month and a half. When she did and asked for the agent by name, she found out that he no longer worked there.
“He went crazy and went into an insane asylum,” she said and laughed at the memory.
Champlin perservered on the comedy circuit and became especially popular in Provincetown and is a favorite on Atlantis and Olivia cruises.
You can catch her and the other Queer Queens of Comedy in early April.
For more information, visit Poppychamplin.com/dates
Queer Queens of Qomedy
April 7th at The Palladium, 253 5th Ave North, St. Pete
ProSuzy.com
April 8 at Improv Fort Lauderdale
ImprovFTL.com
April 9 at Miami Improv
MiamiImprov.com
April 10 at West Palm Beach Improv
PalmBeachImprov.com
