Natalie Levant calls herself a “rare bird.” As a stand-up comedian with a quick wit, sharp tongue and raunchy sense of humor, she knows that she's a lot more than what people expect an 88-year-old to be — and she likes it that way.
No Business Like Show Business
Even though Levant has only been doing stand-up comedy for the past seven years, she’s had a lifelong love for the stage.
“I think at birth when the doctor spanked me I thought it was applause, and I’ve been seeking it ever since,” she says.
Throughout her life, Levant wore many hats: housewife, mother of four, caregiver to her parents, medical secretary and administrative assistant at a psychiatric practice. But she still made time for show business.
“The showbiz bug never left me,” she says. “Whenever possible my husband and I would see whatever shows would come here from Broadway. And even when I was young, when my friends were going to see Cinderella or the Nutcracker, I was going to see Carol Channing.”
Over the years Levant has also performed in community theater, dinner theater and a one-woman show, but she says she never thought of doing stand-up until she became a widow.
“A few years after my husband had passed away, I really didn’t know what to do with myself. I volunteered at a Philadelphia AIDS resource center, where I met a gentleman who says to me ‘Have you ever thought of doing stand-up comedy?’”
This chance encounter was the catalyst for her great second act.
“He gave me the card of a friend of his that was doing a comedy camp and I went, and they were wonderful to me,” she says. “And I got hooked and the rest is history.”
Age, Shmage
Before she got up on stage, Levant had her worries, but was never concerned about her age holding her back.
“A lot of things entered my mind,” she says. “‘What am I going to talk about? Will they laugh? Am I going to look stupid? What shall I wear?’ But I never thought, ‘Oh, I’m too old.’ I don’t know why, but I didn’t.”
Levant believes that the world expects older adults to settle down and behave. She’s set out to rebel against that. Her humor is a mix of edge and honesty, and she doesn’t hold anything back.
“The age thing all of a sudden is supposed to be restrictive, but I’ve had so many older men and women come up to me and say, ‘Never stop.’ People will come over and say, ‘You gave me the nerve to take guitar lessons or dance class’ — that’s a big reward.”
Because many of her earlier shows took place at dive bars around Philadelphia, she’s built up a loyal fanbase of much younger people, too.
“Unexpectedly, young folks — I mean, some of them look like they’ve just learned how to tie their shoes — come to my shows, and they come up to me and say, ‘Can I take you home? Will you be our mom? Will you be our grandma?’”
No matter what people make of her age and what she chooses to say as a performer, there’s only one thing she wants.
“I just want to be funny,” she says. “I don’t want to be funny because of my age.”
Never Know Your Place
As her friends and fans rally around her to support her comedy, she continues to perform and acknowledges how grateful she is to have her health.
“Everybody has their journey,” she says. “We never know what life is going to challenge us with, and we have to be grateful at any time. At this point in my life that I’m physically well, I never take that for granted; never for a moment.”
Levant sees stand-up as a metaphor for doing her own thing, which is exactly how she lives all aspects of her life — on and off the stage. As for words of wisdom, there’s one thing she says at the end of every show: “Never know your place.”
“Wherever you are, that’s your place,” she explains. “Own it and realize it belongs to you.”
