Robyn Von Swank
Stand-up comedians Cameron Esposito and Rhea Butcher spend plenty of time together. They’re married, they perform together in Los Angeles as a duo act and in 2016 created and starred in a groundbreaking sitcom, Take My Wife, based on their lives, careers and relationship. Playing fictionalized versions of themselves, Esposito and Butcher explore the interplay of their domestic and professional lives through a queer lens — shutting down sexism at work, being mistaken for sisters, sharing clothes, being in love. It’s revolutionary in its portrayal of a gay couple just living their everyday lives.
They’ve traveled together on tours for years, but until recently have always performed separately. That changed this fall when the couple launched their first co-headlining tour, which kicked off Sept. 21 and will end with a stop at the Majestic Theatre on Oct. 15.
Isthmus caught up with Esposito and Butcher a few weeks ago to talk about the tour, the importance of comedy in a time of national trauma and the future of their sitcom, which lost its network earlier this year and left its creators scrambling to find a new home for the show.
First things first. What’s up with this tour, and what are you most excited about?
Cameron Esposito: We’ve never taken [our duo act] on the road, so that’s really exciting for us. The show will open with us together, then we’ll each do a set separately, and then we’ll get on our bus. So it’s a natural progression of what we’ve been doing, but it does feel like a step up.
Rhea Butcher: I’m just really excited to get back on the road and see people. It’s a wild and intense time to be a human being. I’m looking forward to getting out and talking to human beings off the internet.
CE: Beyond calling this tour “Back to Back,” we should also call it “Face to Face!”
RB: Or eyeball to eyeball.
It really is an intense time to be a human being. When things are horrible, is it hard to write and tell jokes?
CE: It is a weird time. Comics are making jokes, but also tweeting out links to the ACLU. Social media used to be about jokes, but I feel like it’s actually about using your platform to promote social change.
RB: We’re at a moment when people with privilege can choose to participate or not, and you have to get people to choose to participate. There are tough conversations ahead, so I try to write comedy about that.
Cameron, you tweeted something funny recently about how the struggles of growing up queer make for good material to launch a standup career. What stands out from your own younger years?
CE: We all use it as a way to deflate the things that scare us. If you decide to make a career of joking around, probably something exists in your past that has made you overdevelop that need to distract and diffuse. I grew up a queer kid in the suburbs of Chicago with a bowl cut and crossed eyes. I had to wear an eyepatch for eight years of my childhood. Eyepatch kid is always going to be a standup comic.
RB: It was definitely pretty similar for me. Even as a 4-year-old kid, people were reading me as gay. I think a lot of my standup is actually reprocessing all of that. There’s a little catharsis [from] going back and hearing it on stage.
When Take My Wife lost its network, there was a viral campaign to help the show find a new home. What’s the latest?
CE: I can’t say too much. But if you’re wondering if viral campaigns work, they do! So if you’re interested in content from underrepresented creators and people, you can ask for it.
RB: And it doesn’t hurt to keep doing it!
