A lesbian comic in San Francisco is continuing to perform just days after a fire forced her from her longtime Mission district apartment.
"I'm overwhelmed," Lisa Geduldig, 54, said. "I'm lucky in that I am alive and everyone else in my building is, and I've got friends, and I've got support."
Geduldig, the longtime host of Kung Pao Kosher Comedy, was in bed Thursday, April 21, at about 8:30 a.m. when "I heard crackling, opened the window, and saw some fire in the neighbor's backyard."
At first, she thought someone was burning leaves in the garden, but then "I saw an amazing amount of billowing smoke." She called 911, grabbed some belongings, and started screaming for people to evacuate the building, which is on 17th Street between Guerrero and Dolores streets.
A 27-year resident of the building, Geduldig said she has renters' insurance and she and others have been told they'll be able to move back in, but they don't know when.
"The place is a disaster," Geduldig said Friday. "I went over there today to gather some belongings. There's soot everywhere and water damage. Everything smells like smoke. My entire living room wall has just been gutted."
The fire started when someone who lives in a neighboring building was outside smoking, Geduldig suspects. The blaze quickly spread from the building next door to her 15-unit building, she said.
She's planning to stay with friends for now.
Geduldig, who also works as a publicist, said with the Mission seeing a series of fires lately, she's been afraid something like this would happen, and has taken to carrying work around on a flash drive just in case.
Work has helped her cope with the fire. She said she went to the Every Third Thursday comedy show she hosts at El Rio and talked about what had happened, even finding humor in it. At the end, she said, "The audience yelled, 'We love you.'"
Geduldig said there was at least one positive outcome to the fire. A "cute dyke firefighter" took her vital signs and got her phone number. Geduldig's hoping she'll call if she sees this.
The Same Difference
Spectrum Queer Media is premiering the documentary The Same Difference from 6 to 8:30 p.m. Thursday, April 28 at Oakland's Piedmont Theatre, 4186 Piedmont Avenue.
The documentary is "about lesbians who discriminate against other lesbians based on gender roles," according to the film's website ( http://thesamedifferencedocumentary.com).
Spectrum Queer Media is a nonprofit run by queer people of color.
For tickets to Thursday's event, visit www.SpectrumQueerMedia.com.
Sampler is an online column highlighting LGBT performances, exhibits, and other entertainment in the San Francisco Bay Area. It runs every Tuesday. Contact reporter Seth Hemmelgarn at [email protected] or (415) 875-9986 to suggest column items.