GENRE-NONCONFORMING

Mimi Gonzalez brings Punchlines & Poetry 

to the Last Supper Party

By Andrew “Boots” Hardy

No, it’s not a typo. 

“Genre-nonconforming” is the way lifelong-comedian-turned-poet Mimi Gonzalez describes her new Punchlines & Poetry routine, coming March 1st to The Last Supper Party, SFIAF’s monthly spoken word and music performance series.

She has spent the last three decades as a comedic globetrotter, taking to the stand-up stage in far-off lands, entertaining civilians in hotel lounges and soldiers in combat zones. She has the profound ability to spark both intense insight and uncontrollable laughter with her quick wit and quicker tongue. No topic is too hot to handle. From behind the microphone, she takes her audience on an exhilarating ride, leveling relatable truths on every topic from Queerness to feminism to the atrocity of dubstep music.

In person, however, her presence is far more subdued: One-on-one during a recent interview, she pulled back the stage-shroud to reveal an incredible depth of character, of humanity – and of fearless, courageous vulnerability.

Born in Ohio and raised in Detroit, there isn’t much she hasn’t seen, and her lived experience is an integral part of her work. An American of Italian and Cuban heritage, she flew to the Middle East just weeks after the September 11, 2001 terror attacks to entertain US military service members in Bosnia, Iraq and Afghanistan. She has performed at Pride Festivals, including World Pride in the ‘90s, and a plethora of diverse venues around the world like StandOUT, the IndigenousWays Festival, and Gotham Comedy Club.

Doing stand-up, she began to interweave poetry with her comedy, infusing her routines with rhyme and meter. Her new Punchlines & Poetry, however, will be the other way around, a form of “hybrid expression” that blends genres and builds a stronger, more emotional connection with her audience. 

As a performer, she can’t not be funny; but as a poet, she often must resist her own comic nature.

“Sometimes I do stand-up and throw a poem in,” she explained. “Other times I’m doing a poetry reading, and it’s really hard for me to not fall into stand-up.”

Somewhere in her artistic journey, she fell in love with the Bay Area literary community, especially in Oakland, finding boundless inspiration and even synergy in her peers.

“They’re just an incredible group of people that really validate each other and the art itself, and I feel honored and lucky to be included.”

To be clear, Mimi Gonzalez is no slouch. She earned a Master of Fine Arts in Poetics from Oakland’s Mills College, a school known for its incubation of the outside-the-box arts and some well-known celebs. En route to her degree, Mimi produced a thesis one of her professors called a “hard drive dump,” a laying-out of all that she had within her. Knowing herself to be blessed beyond measure, she has paid forward her good fortune by investing in other creators through her “Write Hear” generative writing workshops since 2010, doing her part to develop a sense of pride and identity in a new generation of writers.

“A poem can be as concentrated as a punchline,” she says, explaining her drive to bridge poetry and comedy. “And that means you don’t need a lot of words – sometimes you do – but if you can wind up in a place where the poem ends really strong, like a punchline, then you can leave the audience in a state. Sometimes it’s a state of terror or shock, or delight, or new information… or an emotion.”

Reflecting back to her childhood, she went on: “That’s the first reason I started writing as a teenager, wanting to have an impact through my writing.”

Three decades later, even her early material remains relevant and fresh, the mark of a naturally gifted writer and performer. With the heart of an activist, she’s watching America’s political atmosphere with a wary eye, and looking toward this year’s World Pride celebration in Washington, DC.

Two of the pieces she promises to perform at the Last Supper Party next month include Getting Paid Over Here and Divine Queer Miracles (or, You’re Welcome, America), statements on the struggle for social and economic justice.

Audiences can certainly look forward to being touched in the core of their being, and being left “in a state,” as Mimi Gonzalez is a powerful storyteller of epic proportions, and a humble human being who remains ever-true to herself – and to her word.

For more information and to RSVP for the March 1 Last Supper Party, CLICK HERE.