Cindy Foster: “I hope to open up minds with my comedy”

Cindy Foster, comedian from the USA, got famous overnight with her hilarious videos about Lesbian Life. I was lucky enough to interview this funny lady with a huge heart, all across the ocean!

Tekst: Christianne Offermans     

At what age did you find out you were funny?

“I found out I was funny back in high school! I was voted class clown and spent a lot of time in detention, ha! My mother was pretty strict so whenever I was in detention, she would not pick me up and I would have to walk all the way home afterwards. I always loved making kids laugh: I’d walk through the halls and do “the goat”.”

Can you do the goat for me please?

“Sure, but then you have to do it too so we can bond!”

Okay! I will!

– Cindy does an incredible imitation of a goat – I laugh hysterically and forget my next question instantly.

When did you come out of the closet as a comedian?

“Ha, you had me there for a second! I came out of the closet as a comedian five years ago. It’s really not long ago, is it? Before that I used to work as a social worker and a preschool teacher. My neighbour told me about a stand-up class on Monday nights for a couple of weeks, and I decided to take it. We did a stand-up show at the end of the class. That’s when I really got the bug. I knew right then: this is what I want to do.”

“I came out of the closet as a comedian five years ago.”

“I started booking some shows. The videos that I made actually started out accidentally! The first one I did was when they decided in Indiana, you didn’t legally have to serve gays if you were religious. So I thought about it, while I was in my car in Massachusetts and I had in my mind, if I went to go get pizza, how would they know I was a lesbian? Would there be some sort of a test? So I sat in the car and did my little video for my friends, and I posted it on Facebook. A day later, my son said: “Your video has 5000 views!”, so it started to get picked up. People started sharing the video. It went viral. Within a few days it went up to 400.000 views. Then I started doing more video’s. That’s how I came up with Lesbian camping season. The videos are mostly improvisation. I don’t have a script in mind before, I just talk about what comes up in my mind.”

Your videos are hilarious! How do you manage to keep a ‘straight’ face while recording them?

“I get in a weird place where I am really really into it, you know? The lesbian meditation video for example was recorded in my daughter’s room, cause her room is so much more zen than mine, and then I did it and I was laughing really hard on the inside. By the way, my daughter saw it on Facebook later and she was like “What were you doing in my room?!” She was a little annoyed with me, but it was for a good cause.”

You have a huge fanbase. You are working fulltime as a comedian now?

“I just stopped doing all of it. Now I only do comedy. This was really my dream. I am waiting to make my millions yet, though, haha! But yes, I’m doing more and more shows. I don’t have a manager yet, so it’s a lot of work. I will probably get to the point where I will need a manager.

Things have really picked up over the last year in a way that I didn’t see coming. I’m also getting recognized more now, that’s so bizarre, but I love meeting new people. I love doing pictures and talking to people. Before and after my show. I love that! What you see is what you get with me. And I love connecting with people and getting to know new people.

Provence town for example was really fun. This woman came to me late at night at a bar, asking me where my friend got her pizza. She was hungry for pizza I guess! But then she found out it was me and she lost it! She took me to meet her wife. Turns out I was on their “celebrity list”! I was her “pass”! So I was apologizing laughing, and her wife was like “it’s fine, I’m actually gonna get laid well tonight,” haha!”

Are you planning to visit the Netherlands any time soon?

“You know, I really am like a gipsy. I let my passport expire. I had been without a car since February. I borrowed cars, rented cars… I did actually get a car, finally, today. I am kind of chaotic and really easily distracted, usually I am just all over the place. I can yell squirrel! in the middle of something and bam! I am on a another project. It’s actually a funny story, we were once in school because there were some suspicions that my daughter would have ADHD. She didn’t though, but in that meeting I was diagnosed with ADHD on the spot, haha! I definitely believe I have ADHD. My mind is always bouncing all over the place.”

“I definitely believe I have ADHD. My mind is always bouncing all over the place.”

I think many of the most creative people have ADHD.

“Oh definitely! I do meditate now though. Not in an ‘ooohhmmmmm’ kind of way. I just sit in the garden or in nature. That calms me down. Oh, look, I forgot to answer your question! Hahaha!”

I forgot it, too. I’m an ADHD interviewer.

“Hahaha! What was it again? Oh yeah: when will I come to the Netherlands! Well, when you find a venue and agree to be my Dutch tour guide, I will for sure come to the Netherlands.”

On it!

What was the most negative experience you ever had being a lesbian?

“Let me think… well, it actually wasn’t even really horrible, but just really weird. I was eating ice-cream in Northampton, Massachusetts, which is usually a really gay-friendly place. I was sitting on the sidewalk, just eating my ice-cream with my former girlfriend. These guys drove by in their car and they were shouting ‘Fucking dykes!’ out of the car window. So weird! I just kept eating my ice-cream, kind of flabbergasted by what just happened. I really haven’t had much bad reactions to be honest. But I know that’s not the case everywhere!”

“Part of why I do what I do is to make people aware, there’s lessons to be learned in much of my content. I do what I do to open up eyes. When you do it with comedy, people have their guard down. I hope to open up minds.”

“I really do hope that I open up minds, and I love connecting with people, like this! I am here talking to you all the way over there in The Netherlands, that’s just beautiful, we get to connect. Facebook can be isolating, but in a way it can also be really connecting.”

Have you ever experienced stage fright?

“You know what’s silly? Before every show I get really really nervous, I start to feel like I have to pee all the time, I’m like a cat with a urine infection. Seriously, before a show you can picture me as a a cat with a urine infection on the litter box, peeing just a little every three minutes. But the second I get on stage it’s gone. I get really calm. Totally grounded. It’s my form of zen. I still curse myself before, I think what if, I start rewriting stuff. But when I get up there I know what to do.”

What was the most special moment in your career so far?

“It was a benefit show at my old high school. I knew all these people, I grew up there, with them. Friends came, their parents came. All the people of my past were there. It was really cool, I did a lot of jokes about what the town was like back then. It was a benefit for the high school band by the way, which is funny because I was never in the band in high school. The band played on the bleachers and I was the girl who smoked weed under the bleachers, haha!”

We know you can’t throw or catch a ball and that you automatically duck when a ball is coming your way. Is there any other type of sports you really do like?

“I played field hockey in high school for like a year, I wasn’t good at it. In my heart I really want to be athletic, but honestly: I’m just not. I do like walking, hiking, but not on a mountain, haha! I like being on a boat, but I don’t like to do anything on it.”

Basically, you just want to go on a cruise?

“Haha, yeah! Totally! Wait, my daughter just reminded me of something! I do like to swim in the ocean, and she says proudly that I can do that all by myself. Haha! I am quite clumsy! For example, we were on vacation in Seaworld once, I just tripped, fell and broke my arm. It was actually hilarious, people were stepping over me all annoyed, like “Get out of the way, lady!” and the cleaning lady was sweeping around me!”

What do you want to say to the people in the Netherlands?

“I really just want to thank everyone for their support and I hope you will watch my videos… and that I’ll be able to visit The Netherlands soon!”

Cindy’s video’s en informatie over haar optredens vind je hier.