Kathleen Madigan believes striving for the middle is comedy’s sweet spot

Comedian Kathleen Madigan hardly needs an introduction to anyone who’s paid attention to stand-up over the past several decades. A master of timing with a Midwestern sensibility, Madigan has built a career by keeping it simple: write, tour, record, repeat. She’s not looking to headline on Mars, she’s perfectly content in her own lane.

That lane of hers has been a busy one over the years though, hitting late-night stage after stage, selling out theaters nationwide, and snagging a die-hard fan base that is all ears any time she grabs a mic. Or a barstool. Her hit podcast “Madigan’s Pubcast” only adds to the proof.

On Friday, Madigan returns with “The Family Thread” on Prime Video, a fresh and all-too-relatable hour that’s unmistakably Madigan. Laid-back, smart, unfiltered and brutally funny as she takes on everything from chaotic family texts and Midwest quirks to aging parents, savage cats, and the fine art of having zero pride.

Never needing to chase trends or reinvent herself for an algorithm, Madigan built her career the old-fashioned way — one stage at a time. But she’s got some questions for those that chase instant success, along with a convincing case for why staying in the middle might just be the real sweet spot.

“The Family Thread” is so great because it really makes you think of yourself and our own families in so many ways, all while you’re pretty much roasting yours.

Kathleen Madigan: Thank you. I’m conscious of the fact I’m trying to include everyone, but I could do hours on my parents and just never stop. It’s endless and anyone 40 and up is going to end up dealing with some version of, just, crazy old people. Once my sister goes, “I don’t remember our great-aunts and -uncles being as crazy as Mom and Dad can be.” I was like, because they died of whatever the first thing was! Dad should’ve been dead two heart attacks ago and then we’re in stroke-land, my mom had lung cancer, and she’s fine, but they didn’t really make it past round one. It’s good, we’re buying them time, but how much time are we buying and is there quality left? It’s like this with all of my friends at this age too, dementia here and there, stroked out over there, and even for my younger siblings, who are 49 because my parents had them late. Of course, back then 37 was late to have a kid and now people are really pushing it.

Well now if you are 35 and over, they call it a geriatric pregnancy. So comforting.

That’s hilarious. I know a bunch of friends of mine who got pregnant and they have to do all that special testing because they were over 38. They didn’t care about that with my mom. Nobody cared what she was smoking and drinking either, so there’s that. My whole family’s always been the type where everything’s kind of a joke at the end of the day. My grandpa always used to say, “A hundred years from now, will anyone know the difference?” Not in a bad way, but in a light spirited way like, this life is kind of nonsense so just have fun. Live it up.

You dropped a lot of knowledge in this special about “quitting” and non-pride, but is there something you think the Midwest does take great pride in?

Well, I would say chicken salad or stuff they bring over. Like tuna casseroles and they’re very into hearty, grandma type food. Meaning fattening, which I’m all in on. Everybody’s got their little things, like Iowa would have a big fight about their corn being better than anyone else’s. Stupid stuff, but to us, it’s what’s happening. It’s what we’re talking about. Sports, everybody’s got their thing with the Packers and that kind of stuff, but it’s not anything we were given like the ocean. The beautiful mountains of Colorado? Nope, don’t have that either! That really is why when people say, “Oh, do you like where you’re from?” We’re always like, yeah, it’s fine. You know, we know it’s not great, but it’s also not horrible. It’s fine.

It’s a smidge better than fine, I think! I drove cross-country once and quite honestly, there was a lot of corn, but it was really beautiful.

The flyover states. I love when people say, “St. Louis? Is that kind of by Chicago?” Well, kind of four and a half hours down the road. Define “kind of by.” That’s what I say about my coastal friends, it’s all what they’ve been given. I mean, someone made it all the way out there, so I give those people credit, but the Midwest is like, you’re going to get bored driving around Kansas, Nebraska, at least in Missouri when you get south of St. Louis, we start to get big hills. We call it a mountain, and it’s a hill, but we have good lakes. Coastal people don’t like lakes because they’re like, hmmmm…that water is a little still. I’m like, yeah and there’s snakes in it too! You just gotta know what you’re doing.

I love that you call us “coastal.” It’s much fancier than we deserve. You shot your special at the Pabst Theater in Milwaukee, you mentioned Anheuser-Busch in your special, your podcast is Madigan’s Pubcast…running a theme here?

Well, I do love beer, and all my uncles worked at the brewery forever and ever. They were pipe fitters full-time at Anheuser-Busch downtown. The Midwest is kind of like, that’s our thing. St. Louis is a beer town, period. Anheuser-Busch brewery is still there, people still have jobs there, and they sponsor everything. Milwaukee is kind of like a beer town too. It’s all about the Miller Lite now but back in the day, they had a thousand breweries before Prohibition. It’s very beer-centric. With the Pabst Theater, I had taped a special already there and they’re just the nicest people, the crew and everybody who works there. They’re excited you’re there. And I don’t need to be flattered, I really don’t. I don’t even need you to be there, but if you’re going to be there, if you could not be cranky, that would be great. Comedians will also tell you this, there are just certain spots where you walk offstage and go, people should film specials here. This theater is one of three that I feel that way about. Why are these certain places so special? I don’t know, there’s a little magic there I guess.

Madigan argues “the middle” is comedy’s sweet spot, rejecting the pressure to constantly level up and telling comics to embrace contentment in their lane.

(Robby Klein)

I love that you found your place. Are you finding any magic over there on TikTok? How close are you to lip-sync videos?

TikTok is a lot different from dancing in your bedroom to Madonna in 1984. I’m not particularly good at TikTok as a human, or as a comedian, but I love being on TikTok as a voyeur. I post jokes and do work stuff, but I was really good at Twitter because I’m good with words. Instagram, I’m almost there, but TikTok? I’m watching 7,000 cat videos. If you have any kind of addictive personality, you love it because it’s endless. It never stops and there’s hardly ever repetition. It seems to be for people way younger than me, but I like it. I wouldn’t want to think I had made a career out of it though. I think some of the young ones are biting off a lot more than I think I could even chew with this experience. Does it last? I’m curious to see if all of these acts will work. Will your fans keep coming five years from now?

I’m positive there will be another platform that they’ll be on, that also creates new stars. It will kind of never end from here in ways, so you know, yay?

Yup. That’s why I’m glad I started when I started. When young comics ask, “But, what should I do?” I’m like, “dude, I don’t have any idea. Just make sure you get on stage a lot.” And then I just quietly slip away to the bar.

What if you could give ’90s club circuit Kathleen some advice on what to do?

I would tell young me, and I blame Oprah for this, I actually blame her for a lot of things, but this whole “take everything to the next level” and “strive to be better?” That’s Type A people talking. Some of us are just happy where we are at. Why do I have to take this to the next level? “Get a sitcom!” I don’t want a sitcom. I’m not an actor, I like working at night, and I’m not going to let you bully me into becoming a Type A lunatic. It’s fine in the middle. Don’t take it to another level, there’s nothing wrong with being Type B-minus. That would be my TED Talk. Strive for the middle. Everything’s fine here.