It’s hard to believe that a comic with credentials as impressive as an HBO special; a Comedy Central special; 13 “Tonight Show” appearances and a soon-to-be-released third CD has not always wanted to be a comedian. “When I was a little kid I wanted to be a jockey because my dad used to take me to the horse track,” remembers comic Kathleen Madigan. “I thought, ‘That would be fun, you just get to ride horses for money.’” She was 4’ 6” at the time.

Fortunately, her dad also let her stay up to watch Johnny Carson on “The Tonight Show” although she admits that at the time, it was someone else who made her laugh. “I remember thinking that Paul Lynde on “Bewitched” was the funniest human being I’d ever seen in my life,” Madigan says.

"In Other Words" is a collection of funny, irreverent, slightly twisted observations of life in Madigan’s world. Her ingratiating sarcasm comes courtesy of her dad whom she says could not be a bigger supporter of sarcasm. “To him, it is the greatest form of flattery.”

One of seven children growing up in St. Louis, Madigan acknowledges that she was the most ‘smart-assy’ of the bunch even though she didn’t always have an outlet for such behavior. “I went to Catholic school and I wouldn’t say a word…I’d just think it or say it to the person sitting next to me. I was never the class clown.”

Madigan studied journalism at Southern Illinois University, a degree she pursued for practical reasons. “I couldn’t do math or science, so really, what does that leave?” she jokes. “I really would’ve liked to have been a history professor but then I found out that to actually be a professor, you have to keep writing books and I was like, ‘That is way too much work.’”

Her keen observations of things going on around her made her a natural storyteller. “I knew I could go and interview someone, write a story and make it interesting. ‘I’ll do feature stories,’ I thought.” That was until a professor wanted someone to investigate toxic waste dumping in southern Illinois. “I’m thinking, ‘Not me!.’ I shied away from the concept of hard news.”
Like many college students, Madigan waited tables and tended bar. After work, she and her coworkers headed to the closest bar to have a few drinks and relax. In this case, the closest bar was a comedy club where they’d often watch open mic nights. “I was sitting there at the comedy club,” Madigan remembers. “When you watch open mic night, so many of the people are unfunny. They’re horrible. And I knew it was going to be a problem getting a job when I graduated…I’d gotten a lot of job rejection letters and at the same time watched my brothers – who are engineers – get job offers while they were still juniors in college. Like they were spoken for, already hired.

So I asked somebody how much money you could make if you could do 15 minutes of stand-up. I figured I could do that at night and try and find a job in the day. To me it was completely practical. I was young yet never for a moment thought, ‘Oh, I’ll quit my day job.’”

It didn’t even cross her mind that she’d never before set foot on stage. Her first attempt went well enough that she was asked back and Madigan was soon a regular. The club owners eventually invited her to perform in comedy clubs they owned in other cities. “I thought, ‘Well, why not?,’ I mean, I’m only 23, I’ll give it a couple of years. Worst case scenario is that I’ll come back home and get a job.”

Were her parents concerned about their young daughter hitting the road? “That’s the perk of being one of seven kids in the family,” Madigan points out. “No one was really paying attention to what anyone was doing.” So many comics bitch about their parents not paying attention and I’m like, ‘Do you not realize what a gift that is?’”

While it sounds like a young, carefree college graduate kind of stumbled into her chosen profession, that’s not entirely the case. “I kind of stumbled into it as ‘Well, here is an option,’ but I’m fortunate that it does come a lot easier to me than it does to a lot of people out there working their butts off.”

Madigan’s observations are concise and to the point. “Ninety percent of my jokes are 20 seconds, that’s just my cadence. I hate wordiness in a joke…just get to the point as quickly as possible.”

In addition to her enormously successful stand-up career, those 13 “Tonight Show” appearances and numerous visits to the “Late Show With David Letterman,” Madigan is often called upon to provide guest commentary on VH-1, E! Entertainment Television, Country Music Television, Fox Sports Net and for US Weekly. She was also asked by Gary Shandling to be a contributing writer for the Emmy Awards. “I saw him on TV as a kid and I’m like ‘I can’t believe I’m sitting here telling him what to do and he’s listening to me and then doing it!”

As for other comedy idols, the 5’2” one-time mid-Missouri Hoop Shoot Champion is a bit unconventional. “When people ask ‘Who’s your comedy idol?’ I’m like, ‘Not anybody funny.’ I had a bunch of comedy idols in those early years that were horrible. They’re my idols because they made me think.”