Katrina Fox chats with the "no labels please" anti-icon

"The world is on the brink of total insanity, people are intimidated, freaked out, hiding…Get over it! Become a warrior. We can change it back to a creative, expressive, free world if we're willing to take charge." This is the message Sandra Bernhard has written to fans on her website. It's indicative of the kind of social commentary and acidic diatribe the performer is known for. In her hit Broadway show, I'm Still Here…Dammit in 1998, she trashed pop icons from Maria Carey to Naomi Campbell, fawned over Courtney Love and Bill Clinton and had a self-described "diva moment" where she shouted 'fuck you' at audience members who weren't laughing, reminded them how fabulous she is and told them if they didn't find the show funny to "fake it".

Bernhard wants human nature to be able to "evolve in a really creative and positive way and people to let everybody else be who they are" and for people to stop inflicting their limitations on others. And despite the current political climate of war and censorship, she remains optimistic that this can happen - if people are willing to go the hard yards. "As a performer or artist you have more leeway than the average person because you're constantly out there expressing yourself and your views and infusing your work with a lot of political and uplifting ideas," she says. "For others, it's about taking control, emailing the representatives, fronting up for all sorts of alternative political parties and ideas, volunteering and just being really savvy politically." So was she surprised when Bush was re-elected? "Yes and no," she reflects. "I think once again there was a certain amount of corruption and manipulation at the polls and unfortunately we couldn't nip it in the bud, but I think it's going to take four more years for people to go through this to fully understand the ramifications."

However she disputes the power of the fundamentalist right-wing movement sweeping through the US. "I don't think the right-wing force is so strong, I think it's hype, I think people bought into the fear of post 9/11 thinking, and the government played on that and that's simply what it is. There's always going to be extreme religious factions but I think people who are living their life are much too busy to be that caught up in it."

Bernhard began her career in stand-up comedy at the age of 19, touring the clubs in the US, before landing a break on the short-lived Richard Pryor Show. She later went on to score high-profile film roles, the most famous of which is where she plays an obsessed fan opposite Jerry Lee Lewis in The King of Comedy. A five-year stint as lesbian character Nancy on the sitcom Roseanne threw her even more into the public eye, but it's her one-woman shows that have perhaps garnered her the most respect from loyal fans. She takes audiences on a roller coaster ride of emotions. One minute she's screaming out comic monologues ripping supermodels and reality TV shows to shreds, the next she has them quietly captivated as she wails Islamic prayer songs. This, together with her willingness to reveal an emotional vulnerability rarely shown by performers, and particularly comedians, has helped catapult her to a status coveted by most entertainers - that of gay icon.

But it's not a position Bernhard feels comfortable with, although she understands why it happened. "I guess it's because I'm real and expressive, in the moment and a little bit outrageous," she says. "I think gay people really relate to it and dig it. I just don't like people depending on their artists to feel good about themselves. I feel everyone needs to take control and find their own centre and point of view."

While speculation about her relationship with Madonna being more than just friendship was rife several years ago and Bernhard has acknowledged having female lovers (she's currently in a long-term relationship with a woman), she's never actually come out and said she's a lesbian and probably never will. "I don't know if things like labels are really useful," she muses. "I think it's a matter of how comfortable somebody is in their own skin - I think ultimately that's the only thing that matters." How does she feel about being labelled a lesbian? "I think people look to me and kind of depend on me to be their role model, so if it makes them feel better it's fine," she says. "I don't feel any need to make any big statements about my sexuality because I just am who I am and just live my life." Even newer terms like 'pansexual' or 'omnisexual' don't appeal to her. "It doesn't work for me, but if it makes somebody else happy, whatever works for them I guess."

Now approaching 50, Bernhard admits she's a different person to the one she was 10 years ago. "I think I'm much more evolved on every level - emotionally and spiritually. I have a six-year-old daughter and that makes a big difference in how you just get up every day and think about other people." And while she once held up various women as role models, today she's over it. "At different times in my life performers like Joni Mitchell, Laura Nyro, Carol Channing and Carol Burnett have been people I've looked up to and loved their work. Right now I don't think I really have anybody in particular. I think you kind of evolve past that - you're kind of your own hero, or something corny and stupid like that."

So what can we expect from the new show? "It's somewhere in the style of previous shows but obviously in content it's totally new," Bernhard says. "I've done a few new shows since I was last in Australia. My work is very spontaneous and it's also very reflective of the times so it's always changing. It's going to be political, fun, crazy, spontaneous and musical. I'm working with a three-piece band, I do some cover songs, I do some original songs - it goes all over the map from the ridiculous to the sublime."

We can also look forward to seeing Bernhard on the small screen again soon. In addition to a guest spot as a detective in US cop show Crossing Jordan, she's also just finished filming five episodes of The L Word, in which she plays an English college professor who helps the character of Jenny (straight/confused wannabe writer chick) start writing again.

And while she may evolve as a person, some things will remain constant about Bernhard - her humour and her self-confidence. "I think humour is always the best way out of a bad situation," she says. "It's more important than ever to be someone who has something important to say in a humorous way and I don't think anybody's more outspoken or feels more comfortable expressing themselves as a woman or as a person than me."

SX News is one of Australia's leading gay and lesbian arts, entertainment, news and culture magazines For more information visit the magazine's website at www.sxnews.com.au