Comedian Susan Burns covers her brass knuckles with velvet gloves
Amy Stiller and Pat Candaras special guests
BY MARGARET CARROLL-BERGMAN INDEPENDENT EDITOR

Comedian Susan Burns PHOTO BY ROB BENCHLEY

Susan Burns might be the only professional comedian and actress on Nantucket to perform a new comedy act at the end of every summer for a little more than 20 years, mining the humor found in the high season.

"I'll be complaining about a lot of things," said Burns. "There will be a high level of complaint."

This year, Amy Stiller and Pat Candaras will be special guests in Burns' "Comedy Extravaganza" this Monday and Tuesday at 8:30 p.m. at the Methodist Church. Perhaps one of the most difficult things for a comedian is to perform in her hometown, especially when that town is an island 30 miles out at sea and almost frozen in time, with very little changing, except for the constant stream of day trippers and tourists.

"People come to places like Nantucket from other places like New York or Boston and they want the best of both worlds," she said. "They want Starbucks on every corner or a WalMart or a McDonalds. The very thing that places like Nantucket don't have. They don't realize that you can't have it both ways."

Burns checks the pulse of the island by reading the newspapers and dropping in on the Nantucket Visitor Services Bureau and other haunts.

She also enjoys fielding questions and draws from her own experience working in retail on the island.

"When I was a teenager working at the Nantucket Bake Shop, I'd explain to the customers how the loaves of bread just came out of the oven and were too hot to slice or put into a plastic bag, but they could buy a loaf and I'd put it in a paper bag," said Burns. "After I got done with my little spiel, a woman asked me if the bread was fresh! I had just explained how the loaves were hot from the oven and she asked me if it was fresh," said Burns with a hearty laugh.

As a resident New Yorker, Burns' comedy in the city is edgier and more political.

It makes sense that her mentor was the barking and caustic Lewis Black, of "The Daily Show with Jon Stewart" fame, who started a comedy cabaret in the '80s in Greenwich Village called "Café Sylvette." Pablo Picasso's statue of Sylvette stood nearby.

"Sometimes I would be introduced as the female Lewis Black," said Burns. "If you go into the clubs, it really is a boys' club. In comedy clubs, they squeeze people in together in small spaces, because nobody wants to be the only person laughing and laughter is contagious."

Although its derivative, comedy is more difficult than acting, said Burns. "Being in a play is actually not as frightening. If you're in something you wrote yourself and then performing, it's scary because if I do something that's about me and it feels pertinent and the audience is asleep … am I boring?"

Burns began her act parodying characters she met in travels or saw on stage.

She also mimicked Ann Miller, a fast-tapping dancer and actress. "It started with silly things," said Burns of her early material. "It was more social commentary."

"I try to go at comedy sideways," said Burns. "On Nantucket, I go at it at a strange, cock-eyed angle."

Susan Burns' Comedy Extravaganza this Monday and Tuesday at 8:30 p.m. at the Methodist Church. Tickets are $20. For more information, call the Theatre Workshop of Nantucket at 228-4305. I