Kinky Friedman: Expect new music amid a sea of anti-politician rants at Nighttown show

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Comedian, author and singer-songwriter Kinky Friedman plays the intimate Nighttown ("My nose will probably have to be the dance floor") on Thursday, April 27.

(Brian Kanof)

CLEVELAND, Ohio - You gotta hand it to Kinky Friedman: The singer-songwriter-author-pundit-animal rights activist-politician-comedian is all about equal opportunity when it comes to abusing office-holders.

"I think my definition of politics still applies,'' he said, calling from his Texas home. " 'Poly' means more than one and 'ticks' are blood-sucking parasites.

"Term limits need to be acted upon,'' said the man who will be at Nighttown on Thursday, April 27. "I've suggested limiting all politicians to two terms - one in office and one in prison.''

And of course, the Jewish guy who wrote and sang "They Ain't Makin' Jews Like Jesus'' has a take on the presidential election:

"I'm still getting over my disappointment about Bernie [Sanders] not winning,'' said Friedman, who likes to refer to himself in the third person as "the Kinkster. "I always thought if Bernie won, that would be great in terms of historical Jewishness.

"If he won, it would have been the first time a Jewish family moved into a place a black family moved out of,'' he said.

Not that he's a big fan of the former president, and he's even willing to give Donald Trump a chance.

"Trump may surprise people if he can grow into the office,'' Friedman said. "What we come down to is, 'Can he change?' Our most recent president showed a singular ability NOT to be able to change. He demonstrated himself to be a fixed point in a changing world - and not in a good way.''

For the record, when Friedman is on a roll - which is most of the time - it's not only unwise to try to stop him and ask a question, it's impossible. So when he moved on to Trump's proposed wall, he kept slingin' out the one-liners.

"I've always been against the wall - even the idea of it -- because we may want to get out of here someday,'' Friedman said.

To clarify, he's not a big backer of The Donald, either, comparing his rise to fame to the notable intellect and thinker Justin Bieber. Friedman insisted that Trump's presidency is a result of two things - first, that reality TV has taken over the world; and second, that the Democratic Party no longer produces people with the character of JFK, Harry Truman, Ann Richards or Barbara Jordan.

While acknowledging that a pair of his political heroes - Winston Churchill ("a butterfly-collecting polo player") and Franklin Delano Roosevelt - were "aristocratic freaks and country clubbers like Trump,'' Friedman said he's most put off by the president's propensity for self-promotion.

"Of the people I admired most in history, most died broke - the Van Gogh types, Jesus, Martin Luther King Jr., Gandhi,'' he said. "Those were the real leaders.''

A pause for breath did leave an opening to discuss his musical career. After all, though Friedman is known as much for his comedy and his political bent - he had a failed run for Texas governor, ironically won by Trump's new secretary of energy, Rick Perry, in 2006 - he's first and foremost a singer-songwriter.

Two years ago, he put out his first album of new material in 40 years, "The Loneliest Man I Ever Met.'' That's evident in his new EP "Resurrected.'' The album is being sold only at shows like his gig at Nighttown because, as he said, "My goal is to bootleg it before anyone else can.''

"I have rediscovered the songwriter in myself,'' said Friedman, who also pads his bank account writing detective novels that star a character named Kinky Friedman and has businesses marketing his Man in Black signature tequila and Kinky Friedman Cigars.

"I would say songwriter is a much higher calling than being a politician,'' said Friedman, who as a youth spent two years in Borneo as a member of the Peace Corps. "The purpose of a songwriter is to sail as close to the truth as you can without sinking the ship.''

Which means, obviously, that a man of Friedman's style and humor was meant for shoal business.

Kinky Friedman

When: 8 p.m. Thursday, April 27.
Where: Nighttown, 12383 Cedar Road, Cleveland Heights.
Tickets: $30, at the box office, online at nighttowncleveland.com and by phone at 216-795-0550.

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