Last summer, following the Supreme Court’s landmark reversal of Roe v. Wade, Sandra Bernhard was heated.
In the middle of touring her prophetic “Bern it Down” show, the performer, actress, singer, and author knew there was no time for diplomacy with so many lives on the line.
The moment had arrived to simply put a match to the old way of doing things—politicians legislating women’s bodies and the LGBTQ+ community’s right to exist—and start from scratch.
Once the smoke cleared and her initial fury cooled, Bernhard set to work on a more attainable goal—solving these crises within the confines of our existing political system.
She is also imagining an idyllic future once this whole mess is behind us in her latest show, “A Spring Affair,” hitting Feinstein’s at The Nikko this week (Thu/22 to Sat/ 24).
For the “American Horror Story: NYC” and “POSE” actress and award-winning host of the SiriusXM radio show, “Sandyland,” it includes cooling down with a delicious aperitif, a breezy stroll down the Champs-Élysées, and a swim off Ipanema Beach.
Packed with magical stories, beautiful melodies, stylish fashion, and wacky escapades, “A Spring Affair” provides some much-needed R&R to fortify audiences for the upcoming make-or-break battle preceding the 2024 US elections.
Bernhard will still address topics like abortion and human rights but promises to do it with her inimitable wit and humor so it goes down as smoothly as the Aperol Spritz or Campari and Soda some attendees will undoubtedly order.
I spoke to Bernhard about her spirited political activism, how we can protect women and the LGBTQ+ community at the polls, and why she believes “A Spring Affair” is the perfect way to spend Pride Weekend.
48 HILLS Last year, when you opened your “Bern it Down” show in San Francisco, the Supreme Court had just overturned Roe v. Wade, and it felt like the world was ending. How are you feeling today?
SANDRA BERNHARD We’ve all adjusted as best we can. And I’ve stayed very engaged with different organizations and having guests on “Sandyland.”
My friend Lizz Winstead has this fabulous abortion front-access organization that reaches out—boots on the ground—giving people across the country ways of affecting change locally. So I’m in the trenches with people that I have great faith in and supporting these organizations until we can recalibrate and hopefully, in the next election, flip the House, strengthen the Senate, and finally codify women’s reproductive and abortion rights.
We can’t stay in that [apocalyptic] mindset. After the initial shockwave hit us, we have to get in gear and do whatever we can to help women at risk.
48 HILLS What can you tell me about “A Spring Affair”?
SANDRA BERNHARD I don’t want to give the show away. But some pieces are personal, and others are things I’ve experienced in the past year, traveling. I also talk about new TV shows, do the social critique I always do, and perform new songs.
I keep elevating my game and finding new ways into happiness, entertainment, and realities that we’re all facing without bringing people down. That’s what I’m good at.
48 HILLS Where do you get your spirit of protest from?
SANDRA BERNHARD I’ve innately had it since I was a little kid, growing up during the Kennedy Administration and “Ask not what your country can do for you—ask what you can do for your country.” That has been imprinted in my DNA since I was five. I just have that natural empathy for people on the fringes and want to have equality for people.
48 HILLS Do you think the long-anticipated Equal Rights Amendment will pass in your lifetime?
SANDRA BERNHARD I hope so. It seems like we’ve taken a lot of steps back with where the Republican Party is at and how they’ve pulled us down. So there might need to be a recalibration, but it’s on its way.
48 HILLS With all the anti-LGBTQ+ legislation this year, are you hopeful that we’ll see a reversal anytime soon?
SANDRA BERNHARD I don’t know how soon it’ll be, but if we all stay on course and make sure that we re-elect Joe Biden, flip the House, strengthen the Senate, and continue to fight and protest and get out in the streets, then, yes, we will turn things around.
48 HILLS On a different note, one of the things that you recently opined about so eloquently on Instagram was the closing of Bed Bath & Beyond.
SANDRA BERNHARD Well, I mean, it’s not that I’m supporting the corporation. It’s just the idea of a meeting place and a place to go and buy your household products. I like that. I’m a brick-and-mortar kind of person; that’s what I respond to. I’m sorry to see those places going, so it bums me out.
48 HILLS I love that you’re a nostalgic person who sees value in some of the things that people quickly discard. Aside from Bed Bath & Beyond, what are other things you miss that you wish younger people could have enjoyed more?
SANDRA BERNHARD The most important thing that I miss is people being able to go to concerts and be in the world without feeling the need to stop and write about it, photograph it, or be a part of it.
I think that social media has gotten in the way of the reality for many people that, no, you’re not going to be the person you’re there to see. You’re going to be the person who comes to appreciate that person. And you don’t need to feel like you need to be some sort of a commentator about it. Just be there and enjoy it. And if you don’t want to be there to enjoy it, then don’t come. So that is the most disappointing thing: People go out and aren’t present.
48 HILLS Speaking of shows, I know you’ve already sold out some of your nights at Feinstein’s, but I heard you say on social media that your late show on Saturday isn’t selling as fast as you’d like.
SANDRA BERNHARD Yeah, the late show Saturday because of Pink Saturday and people don’t want to go out late in San Francisco. Is that true?
48 HILLS Well, everything shuts down in The City so early.
SANDRA BERNHARD Well, isn’t that all the more reason to come to my show?
48 HILLS Great point. I know you have a long history of performing in San Francisco. You’ve even recorded comedy albums like “I’m Still Here… Damn It!” and “I Love Being Me, Don’t You?” here. What did The City symbolize to you back in the day?
SANDRA BERNHARD I first came to San Francisco when I was 10. My mom, brother, and I drove up there after moving to Arizona from Michigan. Of course, it symbolized everything about freedom, love, music, creativity, and the California experience. It was just life-changing.
All the times that I have come to San Francisco, I always relate to that visit. That first time, we went to see The Fantasticks at Ghirardelli Square and left early because I wanted some ice cream from Ghirardelli. But just being 10 and taking it in, you know? Having a crab or a shrimp cocktail at Fisherman’s Wharf and going to Japantown and Chinatown seemed so exotic back then. So that’s how I will always think of San Francisco.
48 HILLS I know, because of “POSE,” you’ve spoken extensively about your memories of New York during the AIDS era. But what are your recollections of San Francisco at that time?
SANDRA BERNHARD I was out there a lot performing and doing my thing. San Francisco was another outlet for expressing my support for and simultaneous sadness and jubilation about the gay experience.
48 HILLS I interviewed your friend Belinda Carlisle a few weeks back for 48 Hills, and she said that, at age 64, she doesn’t feel her age. As someone who just had a birthday, do you relate to that?
SANDRA BERNHARD In terms of my energy, excitement, and approach to creativity, I’m the same. I have more wisdom and more patience, and yet sometimes I don’t have any at all. So I’m happy when I still get bent out of shape by things that I feel are just inexcusable in politics, society, and entertainment. I still have that same sort of like, “No, I’m not going to stand by and watch this thing go on.” So I don’t feel that different.
And I, like Belinda, feel like, “Wow, this is still happening. I’m still doing it, love it, and want to make it happen.”
48 HILLS Obviously, we’re all so happy that Trump has been indicted and is facing trial. What are some of the other things that you’re happy about right now?
SANDRA BERNHARD There isn’t a lot of stuff I’m happy about other than the fact that I think the public at large wants to be engaged and doesn’t want to see people held down.
I think it gets overridden by the theater of the moment, but most people don’t want to see trans people hurt. They don’t want books banned. They want their children to express themselves and be who they are.
A change has been put in place that will rise to the surface at some point, and we will surpass the limitations imposed on us.
48 HILLS Tell me why your upcoming show in San Francisco is the perfect way to spend Pride Weekend.
SANDRA BERNHARD I’m the essential gay performer and the person who’s been the link between the straight world and the gay world since I started performing. So it’s important to support the people who worked so hard for so many years, myself included.
I am a great performer and entertainer. That’s why you should come to see me. My show is going to be fun, intimate, and wonderful—as it always is.
Sandra Bernhard: A Spring Affair Thu/22-Sat/24, Feinstein’s at The Nikko, SF. $125-$135. Tickets and more info here.
