community spotlight by lance perkins
Of course you remember Alison Arngrim in her role on Little House on
The Prairie as the spoiled brat, Nellie Olson. We spoke with Alison about
how instead of trying to live down her most memorable role, she em-
braced it, became an AIDS activist and used it for good.
When asked how it feels to a gay icon, Alison replied. “Well it’s worked
out really well and I think I’ve been one for some time now. Melissa Gilbert
thinks it’s dreadfully funny. We were in Minnesota and she would yell at
me across the parking lot, ’Hey gay icon! Get in the car!’ To be mobbed
by people! I grew up in West Hollywood, so I grew up with gay people.
It really wasn’t a jump and then of course in the 1980s when Steve Tracy,
who played my husband on Little House, died from AIDS, I wound up
volunteering at APLA (Aids Project Los Angeles). But I’ve always been the
one to stick up for anybody getting the raw deal.”
After a seven-year run on Little House, Arngrim started doing comedy
shows. “I got started doing stand-up comedy when I was 15-years- old. In
fact, there’s a book out called I’m Dying Up Here and it’s like the story of the
Comedy Store and the whole stand-up comedy scene in the 1970s. I’m in
it, which is cool, it’s kind of like having been a guitar player in the 1960s
and the whole rock ‘n’ roll like, ‘Yeah...me and Janis.’ It’s all about the com-
edy scene in the 1970s and there I am. So I started doing this as a teenager
and I joked about being on TV and it was very strange, but I wound up
touring. Then in the last few years, I guess it was 2002, I started a whole
new show, Confessions of a Prairie Bitch, that’s my one-woman show, and
it’s all true stories. That’s when I said, ‘Screw this, I’m not even going to do
the regular act, I’m just going to get up and tell the most hysterical true
stories,’ every word of it is true. I just tell the stories. Absolutely hilarious
and I’ve stuck with that ever since. I even shown photos and video during
it and it’s just a riot.”
Alison currently uses her original brand of comedy at many charity
events worldwide. She elaborates, “Indeed, I’ve been able to raise money
for AIDS projects all over the country and even in France! At a lot of the
smaller agencies and in other parts of the U.S., I used to say, ‘Madonna’s
not
coming...so have me!’ They don’t have the big bucks stuff, so for them,
if you’re in Kansas and you’re trying to open a hospice, you know having
Alison Arngrim
Nellie Olsen come in and do a show, is going to be a major coup. I did a lot
of that throughout the 1990s and I still do. Being able to go out and speak
on these difficult issues but use humor and stuff, you know, you attract
Uniting nellies WorldWide For a
more people and more people are willing to talk to you.”
CaUse throUgh laUghter
Alison Arngrim is taking “bitch” to a whole new level in her comedy
show, Confessions of a Prairie Bitch which will be held at the Magic Castle
January 18 and 19. Also catch her in the break-through hit movie, Make
The Yuletide Gay. Alison explains, “It’s huge, it’s huge! It’s absolutely ador-
able. It’s really funny, it’s sweet, uplifting and weirdly wholesome, it’s like
G-rated. It’s a coming-out Christmas story, and I’ve told people, people
are going to buy this, take it home for the holidays, show it to their parents
and when their mom and dad are in a really good mood, go ‘guess what?’
(laughs) It’s like an aid to coming-out. In the film, I’m the mother of the
ex-girlfriend and I’m like, if Mrs. Olsen from Little House was alive in 2009
and kind of cougary, all leopard print and push up bras” (laughs).
To top it all off, Alison has a autobiography coming out in 2010 called
Confessions of a Prairie Bitch: How I Survived Nellie Olsen and Learned to
Love Being Hated. Her gift of laughter has continued to shine in the face of
AIDS and still helps those in the fight against the disease.
For tickets and more info go to
hgd.com/alison, magiccastle.com and
tlavideo.com.
8 RAGE monthly | December 2009
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