If you go
› What: Chonda Pierce› Where: Abba’s House, 5208 Hixson Pike› When: 7 p.m. Sunday, April 9› Admission: $23-$45› For more information: 1-800-965-9324
Coming up with fresh jokes is an ongoing challenge for any comic.
"That's why when Donald Trump got in the presidential race, every comedian should have sent him flowers because it was a world of material waiting to happen," laughs Chonda Pierce during a phone interview.
But poking some good-natured fun at Washington isn't Pierce's style. She finds good, clean humor in the everyday absurdities of life.
"Because of my demographic I tread lightly (on political humor). But that's also my nature - I'm a born-again Christian so that's going to keep the material I do on track," she explains.
"However I do love poking at the times when we don't need to take ourselves so seriously. That's what I want on my tombstone: 'There was an elephant in the room, and she talked about it."'
Pierce will share these opinions and more Sunday night, April 9, when her Happily Laughter After tour stops at Abba's House in Hixson. Her good friend, Karyn Williams, will open.
"She's not a comedian. She's a great singer, fun and energetic and gets the crowd going."
Politics may be off-limits in Pierce's shows, but not much else.
That's what makes her act fresh because you never know what will come out of her mouth from one moment to the next
She might talk about her trip overseas to entertain U.S. troops: "I gave up Spanx in Afghanistan. You ever try to put on Spanx in an airplane bathroom? My body twisted in ways I didn't know it could."
Or her exasperation with designated parking places. "Why do they need one for 'Employee of the Year? Especially since I just scanned everything myself?"
Instead she proposes "Menopause parking."
"We don't need a fancy sign, just a skull and crossbones and a red carpet to the front door."
Pierce says comedy wasn't her original career plan, but she always knew it would involve theater. She was a theater arts major and, after college graduation, got a job at Opryland in the "Country Music USA" variety show.
"Since I grew up in such a religious household, I didn't know how to dance. They gave me the part of Minnie Pearl because I couldn't dance," she says.
To get into character, she studied Minnie Pearl's performances at the Grand Ole Opry and on "Hee Haw." In her role, Pierce found she really enjoyed making people laugh. After a while, she began sneaking her own jokes into Minnie Pearl's script.
"I would sneak in my own material to see if it would get a laugh. My boss would say, 'That's funny, but it didn't happen in Grinder's Switch.'"
Now she's the one who performs at the Opry; she's booked there April 15. Her 2015 biographical documentary, "Laughing in the Dark," which includes behind-the-scenes footage of her career, has gone to DVD and she has a movie, "Enough," coming out April 25.
"It's a follow-up to 'Laughing in the Dark.' When my husband passed away, it redefined my life. If you are not careful, you are left clamoring to figure out who you are - and thinking about online dating is enough to give me a lot of material and make me nauseous!
"You have moments trying to figure out if you are enough in life, if you have worth and value. We are still a society where we are trying to identify with something. That's a lot of what the movie is about: How do you navigate, who do you identify when you are a wife of 35 years - and then you're not?"
Pierce says Sunday night she and her audience will "laugh and have a great time. But the night becomes about more than laughs and we leave with some inspiration, and let women know 'You are enough.'"
Contact Susan Pierce at spierce@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6284.