Iliza Shlesinger’s star ascended fast, partly due to her ability to artfully articulate a contemporary female perspective but mainly because she effortlessly owns the stand-up stage. The cool confidence she demonstrated as the youngest winner of NBC’s Last Comic Standing in 2008 evolved into a commanding, physical presence, documented on Shlesinger’s 2013 special War Paint. Las Vegas Magazine’s Matt Kelemen spoke with an early rising Shlesinger ahead of her run at The Venetian, July 18-19.
This is kind of early for you, going by some material in your act. You mention (in a sequence about the drawbacks comedians face in dating 9-to-5ers) getting in the shower at 8 p.m. to get to a show by 9.
I did sleep until about noon today, and it’s always funny when you wake up and the rest of the world’s been awake for quite some time doing things, and you’re like, “I just need to sleep until 1.” But that’s OK. They have nighttime lives and I don’t. That’s the trade off.
You recently posted about how it’s become necessary to make a separation between friends and fans on Facebook. Was that a long time in coming or a sudden decision?
It’s so funny, I’m talking like “giant celebrity,” like, “I need my spaaace!” I’ve been wanting to do it for a while now. When I started my Facebook page, they didn’t always have fan pages. So for a while it was just your page, and your fans could be your friends, so you wind up with 5,000 or 4,000 virtual strangers. And I’ve got a fan page, I’ve got Twitter, Instagram. I wanted a place where I could post a funny hamster video that had nothing to do with my comedy, or I could post a friend’s wedding pictures.
Do you think its common for comedians to use Facebook and Twitter for an overflow of constant ideas for jokes?
That’s an embarrassment of riches and a positive problem. In my opinion, Twitter is a stream of consciousness, and these are the jokes that I don’t consider jokes. When I want to write jokes, I do it onstage. I never mine my Twitter for jokes because those come easy for me, and they’re funny thoughts, and that’s why I’m a comedian.
What’s funny to you online?
I love an intelligent point. … When somebody says something that rings true to me, something that I probably wouldn’t have thought of or just comes from a position where I would have expressed it like that, I’m always in awe and impressed.
It seems like social media has empowered fans to pressure entertainers on appropriate behavior and what’s proper to say.
If I didn’t say what I thought was the truth, then I wouldn’t be doing my job. And also, I’m not on the warpath to seek truth and justice. From the way the nature of my brain works, the way I approach comedy is I say something truthful, I wrap it in a joke, and you digest it easily.
Iliza Shlesinger appears with Heather McDonald as part of The Venetian's Lipshtick comedy series, 10 p.m. July 18 and 7:30 p.m. July 19. Tickets are available starting at $52.25 plus tax and fee. Call 702.414.9000 for tickets.
