RSSMargaret France -- 'The smart, saucy lesbian-next-door'
Yakima Herald-Republic
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Margaret France has always loved to tell elaborate lies at parties. She likes to convince people she has a tattoo on her back of the women from the '80s TV show "The Golden Girls" and the phrase -- written in Old English lettering -- "Thank You For Being a Friend."
So, as an emerging comedian in the spring of 2006, France's act was basically telling those lies -- and it worked.
"The first time I went up I did really well, I got like three or four gigs out of it," says the 31-year-old, a Davis High School graduate who now lives in Oakland, Calif., where she's finishing up her doctoral dissertation on sequels to 18th century novels.
Seriously. As in, it's a serious academic project she's undertaking with a lot of historical research.
As for comedy, France's act is a little different. Her material is more personal, lightly political and very much Yakima, she says.
It's a combination of conversation with cheesy showbiz stuff, says France, who started producing and performing her own variety shows while living in Bordeaux, France, and bills herself as "the smart, saucy lesbian-next-door."
"I want it to be like the lies I tell people at parties: The true parts are as true as possible and the lies are really outrageous," she explains about her show.
This means that when France -- who auditioned for the upcoming season of the NBC reality show "Last Comic Standing," as her rabbit-identified lesbian alter ego, the Keyster Bunny -- returns to her hometown Monday for a comedy show at the Yakima Sports Center, anything is possible.
Plus, "I have all these Yakima jokes in my act I don't really get to do," she says.
Not that France is cutting on her hometown. She's proud of where she's from and says some of the smartest and most creative people she's ever met grew up here -- and stayed.
Most likely, a lot of those folks (who still keep France in their top friends on their MySpace pages) will be in the crowd Monday.
France has fond memories of growing up weird and wild here. Her friends are the kind of people who value being different, love to throw theme parties and admire a high tolerance for alcohol.
And as far as being gay in Yakima: It was the '90s and she hung out with the drama kids. France doesn't make it sound like it was a big deal.
"I was as 'out' as you can be in high school," she says with a laugh. "I was mostly out about being weird."
After graduating from Davis in 1994, France moved to rural Iowa.
"I felt like I had big-city ways," she quips.
After earning her bachelor's degree in English from Grinnell College in Iowa, she taught English in Japan, where she gained an appreciation for karaoke -- "Everything they say about Japan is true," says France. She has a master's degree in English from Washington State University and is one year away from earning her Ph.D., which will give her license to be totally pretentious, she jokes.
And although she comes home every now and then to visit family and friends, this will be France's first Yakima comedy gig -- save for the 10 minutes she performed at the now boarded up Twin Bridges restaurant.
Joining her Monday will Sacramento comics Jason Morrison and Del Van Dyke, a stand-up veteran (commonly mistaken for Sinbad) who France considers a mentor.
