The Bay Area lost a pioneer in Queer comedy and radio. One of the first openly gay comics, Marilyn Pittman.
She rose to fame during the AIDS crisis, and became known for bringing hilarity through her blunt tell-it-like-it-is comedy.
Marylin was in front of a microphone even off the stage with over three decades of radio work, which include two national shows and time at KQED and KGO. She was also part of the KALW family as the Co-Executive Producer and Host of our series Out in the Bay. Many also knew Marylin as a teacher, she worked as a talent and voicing coach for public radio talk show hosts, including… me! I was lucky to be a student of her vocal coaching.
The Bay Area has lost one of its great voices and alchemists. And Marilyn knew how to spin tragedy in comedy gold. In 1997, tragedy struck, when her father murdered her mother, and then committed suicide.
From this experience she created a one-woman comedy show that she performed in San Francisco in 2012. That year I got to sit down with Marilyn to talk about the work of turning heartbreak into laughter.
