Teachers are performers, just like I am.

I always tell girls who say they want to start a band but don't have any talent, 'Well, neither do I.' I mean, I can carry a tune, but anyone who picks up a bass can figure it out. You don't have to have magic unicorn powers.

I feel so lucky that I met the love of my life. You know somebody's in it to win it when they're changing your IV bag or you're having a seizure and they're holding you. And helping you to the bathroom. You know that they love you.

Sometimes, being a feminist artist, there are times where I'm in a position where I just want to feel like I'm saying all the right things politically, or I feel like I have to mention my own project over other people's projects. But I don't do that anymore. I just want to be off the cuff and honest.

So many women have experienced horrific forms of male violence throughout their lives, and why isn't there a song about how you get depressed because of it?

I think that it’s so powerful for me to go see someone like Bridget Everett at Joe’s Pub and watch her weave her songs in and out of these funny, tragic stories – you can talk and sing and it’s not this horrible offense, you’re going to get thrown in artistic jail.

So many women have experienced horrific forms of male violence throughout their lives, and why isn’t there a song about how you get depressed because of it?

I’ve always been like, “Look, you’re going to die and it’s not going to matter after you die that you got out onstage and bombed.”

I’m so language-based and I’m so about communicating, and my art has always been very audience-based, and very about being functional and communicating something, and about feeling like I have to be heard.

There’s comedians who I consider extremely punk rock who I’ve seen do very political stand up in places where nobody wants to hear that. It’s uncomfortable and scary and you realize it’s the punkest performance you’ve ever witnessed.