The mouth that roared

Sandra Bernhard’s message is simple: don’t take anything for granted.

It seems like we’re in a very regressive period and all the things that seem to have leapt forward have completely been roped back -“ women’s rights, gay rights evolving, the environment. It’s a little disheartening.

Not too disheartening though. On the phone from New York Bernhard sounds as unflappable as ever, and says her next show is among other things, unashamedly political.

From there it’s culture, it’s personal, it’s musical, it’s all interwoven, Bernhard says. My work is very stream-of-consciousness -¦ but I think the overriding theme is a sense of hope and certainty and where I’m heading and where I hope everybody else heads as well.

Where Bernhard is heading, it seems, is a place of hope. It’s more Doris Day than expected, certainly more upbeat than her onstage persona, or her breakthrough role in The King Of Comedy.

I love life, I love food, I like people, I like travelling, I like new experiences, Bernhard says. I love now having a daughter and seeing the world through her eyes and watching her evolve. If you keep your life fresh and are always open to new experiences, there’s always something to be optimistic about.

The last time she was here Bernhard seemed a little too aggressive for some tastes -“ punters are still talking about that show, when the comic berated her lesbian audience with perhaps too much irony.

Now with shows like The L Word (on which Bernhard just finished filming a guest stint), the firebrand thinks the ladies have loosened up a little.

Bernhard might even make an appearance at the party.

I wouldn’t know about it so far, but I wouldn’t rule it out, she says.

I’ll show up at any party for money!

An Evening With Sandra Bernhard is being held on Thursday 17 February at the Enmore Theatre, 130 Enmore Road, Newtown. Phone 9550 3666.