RSSMargaret France's 'Yaktacular' bound to include bizarre bits
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If Margaret France had grown up in a big city, she probably never would have gotten so crazy.
But France, the delightfully skewed comedian performing this weekend at Carmen's Comedy Club, grew up in Yakima. Instead of going to trendy urban clubs or warehouse raves, she and her friends staged elaborate weddings for friends' birthdays. They also invented a Washingtonian separatist movement and held rallies urging secession from the union.
"I'm wacky and funny because I'm from Yakima. ... There's really so little to do that you get so involved with your friends making things happen," said France, a 1994 Davis High School graduate.
And make things happen she has. Her stand-up album "Crazy is the New Black" came out last year, and she's earned a devoted Bay Area audience all the while finishing her English Ph.D. at the University of California, Davis.
"It's really exciting to be able to bring somebody back who's gone out and made a name for herself," said Carmen Garrison, the club owner who booked France.
France's burlesque- and vaudeville-influenced pageants and "zombie proms" have established her as something of a cult star in Northern California's comedy scene. And her solo performances, dealing with her "experiences as an international English teacher, karaoke hostess and 'token gay,'" allow for a more subtle brand of observational humor.
"Right now my main interest in performing is trying to put on as many shows as possible that are the kind of show I would want to see," she said.
France's album, which will be available at the Selah performances, includes such well-paced gems as:
* "I don't eat bread. I'm kind of allergic to wheat. It makes me break out in fat."
* "My father's Jewish. My mother's Presbyterian. So that makes me gay."
* "I feel for you guys (straight people). I've seen your sucky parades."
The shows this weekend mark her second homecoming as a performer. A one-night gig last year at the Yakima Sports Center packed the place with 150 people.
"It was sort of an amazing thing," France said.
She's always had a knack for entertaining, according to high school friend Ame' Farrell.
"Margaret was obviously special," Farrell said. "There's no doubt in that. I didn't actually see her going in the direction of comedy. But I knew whatever Margaret wanted to do she was going to do -- and do it at the top of the game."
A local bartender known to nonchalantly juggle flaming bowling pins at her own dinner parties, Farrell fit right in with France as part of a group of high school outsiders who celebrated each other's weirdness.
"All it takes is a couple of costumes and a good idea," Farrell said.
The idea for this weekend is "Yaktacular." That's what France is calling her four performances over two days. Though she jokes about how hard it was to grow up here -- "When I was growing up, I thought getting to third base was getting a restraining order," she says on her album -- she has an obvious affection for the "part of Washington state that shares a border with Texas."
"The funniest people I've ever met are from Yakima," France said.
* Pat Muir can be reached at 509-577-7693 or pmuir@yakimaherald.com.
If you go
WHAT: Comedian Margaret France presents "Yaktacular."
WHEN: 8 p.m. and 10 p.m. today and Saturday.
WHERE: Carmen's Comedy Club, 316 S. First St., Selah.
HOW MUCH: $15 for the 8 p.m. shows, $10 for the 10 p.m. shows.
SPECIAL GUESTS: Yakima improv troupe Manic Thunder.
A GOOD CAUSE: The Margaret France performances are part of a series of charity events at Carmen's Comedy Club. A portion of the proceeds will go to help the family of Darlene Hannon, a Moses Lake resident who was injured in a motorcycle accident in May and remains in a coma.
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