Windy City Times had a chance to speak with this fearless feminist and outspoken anti-war, anti-Bush Administration activist, who is currently on tour and prepping for the upcoming release of the new Pixar animated film Ratatouille.

See Garofalo when she comes to Chicago when she comes to the Lakeshore Theater June 19.

Windy City Times: So, you'll be coming to Chicago soon with Patton Oswalt, and you just did the new Pixar film together?

Janeane Garofalo: Yes, Ratatouille.

WCT: What was that like?

JG: It was great! It was a very good experience and I saw it last month, and it's very good. I'm not just saying that because I'm in it, whatever. I don't need to lie or find some way to finesse it, but it's extraordinarily good. The animation is phenomenal.

WCT: I love Pixar.

JG: Me, too. It's even beyond The Incredibles!

WCT: You've been doing a wide variety of stuff lately. What has been your most challenging role?

JG: I don't know that there has been necessarily a particularly challenging role. It's not like I get offered a wide variety of Maryl Streep-type roles. You're going to play a Polish coal miner. [ Laughs ] . I haven't had that. There have been things that have been challenging, but not like to the degree of what some actors are put through. I would say there have been other things that have been challenging, like working at Air America or some books on tape. That can be much harder than you think. And sometimes the grind of being on the road can be challenging.

…It's just tedious, not hard. Not like working in a mine. That's hard. [ Laughs ] . There's been times when you've been asked to do things in films or on TV that are difficult because you are vulnerable or it's embarrassing to have a fake sex scene. Really, I'm not the type of actor who's like, 'It's not me, it's the person.' No, it's me, and I don't want to take my top off. I don't want to take my top off when nobody is around, let alone a crew and the camera. I don't have that seamless disappearance into a character, you know, that type of thing. I feel challenged when I'm embarrassed, and that can be difficult. In Ratatouille I play a French accent, and it was challenging because I was nervous that I wouldn't do it well.

WCT: Speaking of movies, are you still a smoker? If so, what are your thoughts of the MPAA using smoking as a factor when deciding ratings?

JG: I think it's ridiculous. I can think of a million other things I would like to eradicate from the films that my children are seeing. Not that I have children. But if we're concerned about the decency, I would certainly just eradicate the shit story lines of 90 percent of the TV and films I see, the gratuitous hyper-sexuality, the violence, the conservative thinking—if there is any. [ Laughs. ] I would like to see interventions that are warranted, like politics, that are far more detrimental to society.

The political spectacle, the horrible state of our current media, the 'news media.' There needs to be interventions in our mainstream conservative news media, in our political process, our electoral system, our healthcare system—I can think of a million better ways to rate something than a cigarette.

WCT: Besides that, I just can't picture your character in Romy and Michele's High School Reunion with smoking not involved.

JG: It would certainly be different! And there are far more objectionable things going on in film: the objectification of women, the glorification of violence with a cool soundtrack, the just lameness of the third act of most films. There are a million other things I'd like to see taken care of.

WCT: We're a gay and lesbian publication, and I'd have to say the LGBT community adores you because you are outspoken, feminist, political…

JG: I take that as a great compliment. I'm always thrilled because I find that with the gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender community, or any activist community that seeks social justice, it is a huge compliment if you are embraced by that group. I don't even want to compartmentalize there. I'm talking about anybody, whatever their gender, whatever their sexuality, which I consider more fluid. If you have an enlightened group of people who seek to lead examined lives and whose goal is social justice, I am highly complimented if I am embraced by them and wounded deeply if they were to reject me.

WCT: What are you your thoughts on gay marriage? You are the eternal pessimist, do you honestly think—

JG: I'm not pessimistic at all. I consider myself a pragmatist, and where I'm cynical, I think it's warranted. I do not consider myself the eternal pessimist because there are certain things I'm suspicious of, but it is warranted.

As far as marriage, I have no desire to be married at all. So, I don't care what your sexual pleasure is, I don't know why anybody wants to be married, to tell the truth—gay, straight or otherwise. It's just a mystery to me.

It's just not my cup of tea. But why anyone would have a problem with gay marriage, again, I don't know what makes fundamentalists tick. I don't. I wish I did. Fundamentalists in any nation, in any era, I don't understand it. Why you want to have a problem with gay marriage, to me, means you have problems in your life elsewhere that should be looked at. The only way to understand these people, and their fakers, posers and Republican Party, and in the Christian and fundamentalist evangelical world, is half of them don't even believe the shit they say. They just pander. To understand what makes them tick, you would really need to go to neuroscience and behavioral psychology.

WCT: What peaked your interest in politics?

JG: I would say my household was a conservative, religious household, and I sort of just went along until it seemed that things just didn't add up. Then, I went to a conservative, religious college, and that's what really put the kibosh on it. I've never met meaner people in my life. …That's what did it.

WCT: I know where you are coming from. I went to a very conservative, Republican Methodist college, and it was ridiculous.

JG: There's plenty of dickheads in this world. It's just the white, conservative religious element that brags the loudest. There're huge assholes everywhere, but they don't tend to get the mic as often. They don't have conventions at Madison Square Garden.

WCT: When it comes to politics, do you think most people are apathetic, just plain dumb or fed too much misinformation?

JG: Fed way too much misinformation. There is an element of apathy that exists in some people, but I think it's a reaction to the shitty quality of news we have. The rise of right wing radio has been such a machine of disinformation that speaks to the worst in us and of us. That has had a very detrimental effect on society. The majority is still centered to liberal, and that's why it takes voter fraud and corrupt Scalia. That's the only comfort I know. The only way conservative Republicans can win is through fraud. So, I do take some comfort in that, cold as it may be.

There will be a day, very soon, when no one will understand the gay bashing. In the same way we can't believe that at one time blacks and whites couldn't marry. You know what I mean? It seems preposterous that Sammy Davis, Jr. couldn't even walk in the front door of the clubs he was performing in. That seems preposterous. One day soon it will be preposterous that the gay issue was an issue.

These right-wingers never win. That's why they are so mad and they scream so loud. They never ultimately get their way. If they did, we'd still own slaves and you and I couldn't vote.

WCT: If you could handpick the next President, whom would you pick?

JG: I don't know! I would pick Hilary Clinton circa Vassar. If we had the Hilary that gave the Vassar [ College ] commencement speech, that's who I'd pick for president.

WCT: But will we ever see that woman again?

JG: Well she's still there, but it's part of the human condition to seek favor with those who reject you. [ Laughs ] . Politicians are no different. Good Democrats make bad decisions based on their need to be embraced by people that will never accept them.

…The Democrats keep making that mistake because they are human.

WCT: Would you ever run for political office?

JG: God no! No, no, no. I would rather be shot with an assault bullet in the knee then get involved with the mainstream political process.

WCT: You're right. That would take your sense of humor away.

JG: It would be like going back to the worst high school that John Hughes could ever conjure.

WCT: This nation definitely needs political humor, especially now, but does it get difficult to joke about sometimes?

JG: Well, first of all, John Stewart, Stephen Colbert and Bill Marr do it better than anybody else could, so they sort of are the gold standard. Beyond that, it's sometimes difficult to parody the Bush administration and the religious right because it's already seemingly a joke, so they make it tough. They put us in an awkward position.

…These people, again, you would need neuroscience and a team of behavioral psychologists just to understand where the hell they are coming from.

WCT: Do you still get a lot of backlash?

JG: Yeah, but who gives a fuck? I don't care. …As flattered as I am to be embraced by the LGBT community, it's just as much of a compliment to be rejected by the nutmeat of society. [ Laughs ] . I must be doing something correctly.

WCT: Who would you pick to replace Rosie O' Donnell on The View?

JG: Wow, I haven't even thought about it. I don't know! Hopefully somebody who is as passionate about politics as Rosie, and who is on the correct side of things as Rosie was. That Hasselback needs to go. Hopefully she will be pre-registering that child of hers in the armed services, since she's so fucking gung-ho.

…Like most of those people, they wouldn't be truly involved. They just play lip service because they need to for their identity.

WCT: Janeane, what is your biggest pet peeve?

JG: That! That! [ Laughs ] . Exactly that. Not her, per say, because I don't know her. That, and the nonsense that comes pouring out of right wing radio and Fox. Get your fucking ass over there [ to Iraq ] , dude. If you are so concerned and dedicated, go. Go do your show from there. Volunteer. Carry water out on the field. Bring bandages. Do something. You liars. Pay double taxes, pay your Patriot tax, Mr. I love war. There's nothing more disgusting than a right-winger.

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