Updated Wednesday – 'Big Pants and Hot Flashes' has been cancelled due to Friday's anticipated snowstorm.
For Julia Scotti, standing up on stage and making people laugh just feels right. For much of her life, it was the only thing that did. Scotti, a transgender comedian, has been through huge changes, but telling jokes on stage has been her constant.
"I was drawn to it from very early on," she said of comedy. "I always felt like an outsider and I used humor as a way of getting attention, getting accepted, getting myself heard. Once you get that first laugh, you might as well take a needle full of heroin and stick it in your arm, because there's no going back."
Scotti will perform at AMP by Strathmore in North Bethesda on Friday with Kevin Meaney, a comedian who came out as gay later in life. With their show, Big Pants and Hot Flashes, the two want to show that they're comedians who happen to be transgender and gay, rather than transgender or gay comedians.
"The whole point is we just want to show you we're the same people we were before," Scotti said. "We're comedians first and foremost."
Richard Scotti began his stand-up career in the 1980s and became a regular on the New York City comedy scene. He headlined many shows, appeared on Comedy Central and won Showtime's Funniest Person in America contest for the state of New Jersey (Ellen DeGeneres won the top prize). But something always seemed off to him.
"I knew something for my whole life was off, but I couldn't put my finger on it. I was very unhappy," Scotti said. A good friend suggested that Scotti might be transgender and suddenly everything seemed to make sense. "A light went off inside me and everything felt right."
After nearly 20 years in comedy, Scotti left the business and transitioned to a woman in 2000. Julia Scotti was born.
After leaving comedy, Scotti taught middle school for several years—a job she said was much harder than being a comedian.
"As a comedian, you're on stage 30, maybe 45 minutes. If you bomb, at the end of it, you're out of there," she said. "But as a teacher, you're on for 180 days of the year. It's like the longest show in history."
Scotti left comedy because she wanted to live a "normal life," but eventually the old craving to make people laugh came back. In 2011, she decided to return to the stage. But it wasn't easy. She had to come up with not only new material, but an entirely new persona.
"The character I was doing back then was basically an exaggeration of my father," Scotti said of her old act. "I decided the two things I wanted in my comedy were to be honest and fearless. So my material now is much more edgy than I was before and totally honest."
Transgender issues have gained more mainstream attention over the past few years because of the media spotlight on Caitlyn Jenner, and television shows such as Transparent and Orange is the New Black. For the most part, Scotti sees that as a positive move.
"People are finally getting that exposure so people can finally see we're not freaks," she said. "The more you see us in the public eye, the less we're vilified."
With her stand-up career back on the rise, Scotti hopes to be part of that movement.
"My goal as a transgender woman, as a transgender comedian, as a human being," she said, "is to be enlightening, make you laugh and make you see that we are just like everybody else."
8 p.m. Jan. 22, AMP by Strathmore, $20-$30, www.ampbystrathmore.com
BSO to Perform Pixar in Concert at Strathmore
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Stunning visual effects are a hallmark of Pixar, the animation studio known for its award-winning and often tear-jerking films. But it's the movies' sounds as well as sights that both thrill audiences and tug on their heartstrings. On Saturday, the BSO Superpops will perform Pixar in Concert, featuring the music from 13 Pixar films, including Up, Toy Story, A Bug's Life and Monsters, Inc. Images from the movies will be projected as the orchestra performs live on stage.
8 p.m. Jan. 21, The Music Center at Strathmore, $17.50-$99, bsomusic.org
Last Weekend for A Change Gon' Come
This is the closing weekend for A Change Gon' Come, a multimedia performance that tells the story of Harriet Tubman and the Underground Railroad. Through dance, music and storytelling, the two-act play ties the plight of slaves during Tubman's time to the civil rights struggles of today. The show is presented by ANKH Repertory Theatre Co. and The Finest! Performance Foundation Inc.
8 p.m. Jan. 22-23, 2 p.m. Jan. 24, Theatre at The Arts Barn, $20, $12 for children $14 and under, gaithersburgmd.gov
