Good news, Sandy fans. Odds are you’ll be able to see Sandra Bernhard on stage not once but twice this year. Her new one-woman show, Plan B from Outer Space, is, of course, a centre-ring attraction at Pride, but she’s also dug up that little number that made her a name back in the ’80s, and says she’s looking at including a Toronto stop on her 20th-anniversary tour of Without You I’m Nothing. But first things first. What does the Ms B behind Plan B have on her mind these days? And will she ever hop on the gay marriage bandwagon? (The interview below is an expanded version of the one that appears in today's EYE WEEKLY.)

What can you tell us about the new show?
It’s an evolution of my last show, Everything Bad and Beautiful. I was tired of doing a show that was set in stone and formulaic. Not that anything I do is formulaic but [the new show is] much more improvisational.... I add things that are topical or that I just want to talk about. It’s very stream of consciousness.

And what’s on your mind these days?
Everything from politics to pop culture to the personal. It’s a very wide palette.

You hosted Queer Up North in Manchester last month. How do Pride crowds in the UK compare to Canada or the US?
I didn’t love Manchester as a city. It’s a little funky and depressing. I feel when I’m up [in Canada] there’s not as much focus on issues like gay marriage — though everywhere you go there’s a certain conservative religious element that informs a lot of what’s going on. But overall it’s just a little more cosmopolitan.

Though we have religious conservatives too.
Oh, I know. They’re everywhere.

You mentioned gay marriage. All the celebs in California are tying the knot — is that something you’d ever do?  
I’d like to have the legal elements because I think everyone deserves that kind of protection, but marriage is not something that’s ever interested me in any aspect.

You said in Vanity Fair recently that there’s no such thing as male or female humour. Is there gay humour?  
I think there’s a gay sensibility — everything from Joan Rivers to Lady Bunny to all the drag queens to Stevie Nicks. There’s something inherently kitschy, funny and weird about the humour that appeals to gay audiences. I’ve just never been caught up in the “We’re in this struggle together and I’m here for you as a representative and a leader” thing. To get past the ghetto mentality, you have to be a little more hardy and sophisticated. You’ve got to buck up and draw on your own resources. I’m interested in the expanse of relationships and experiences. I’m not ghettoized by being Jewish any more than by sexuality.

And yet your work, including Without You I’m Nothing, has drawn from your culture clashes with WASPs.
But that’s more of a funny thing, that’s not real life. Sure, I draw from all gene pools, but that piece in Without You, I think anybody can relate to.

You’re re-releasing Without You I’m Nothing for its 20th anniversary. Watching it again, how does it hold up for you?
It’s a fun barometer, to see where things were then and how far things have fallen and, in some cases, evolved as well. [Laughs.] 

If you could wave a magic wand and make anyone go away, who would it be?
Sarah Jessica Parker.

Because of the last month or so?
Because she’s managed to whore herself into every possible corner of our culture, from cheap perfume to crappy clothes. I just find her completely disingenuous and annoying... I hold her personally responsible for destroying New York City as we knew it — before it turned into a cosmo-swilling Jimmy Choo festival.

And the same wand, waved the other way to see more of someone?
Jane Lynch [of The L Word and Two and a Half Men]. I think she is one of funniest, most brilliant actresses around. She’s just a genius.

It’s often said that there’s more dissent and diversity in our entertainment these days than back then, do you think that’s true?
I think musically and artistically speaking things are much more conventional. Now, of course, we have the internet and it seems like more people have a voice, and yet it feels like the voices have become watered down and muddled. There are too many voices.

It’s kind of a downer. I think people really need to get out and engage — whether at a bar or dancing or being politically active — to get out and know each other from face time.

Have you crossed paths with the women of The View since your on-air clash with Star Jones and Elisabeth Hasselbeck?
No... That place is a witches’ cauldron, an awful place, because all those women feel like they have to step over each other and over their guests.

A muddle of voices?
Yeah. God forbid they should sit and be quiet and let someone talk and have a pleasant interaction... I saw Debra Winger on there the other day and, for Christ’s sake, no wonder she left the business.

People seem fond of saying that motherhood has mellowed you...
It’s definitely informed a different side of my emotional state, which has been amazing... As an artist and a performer, it’s kept me on my toes and sharper than ever. I don’t think it’s mellowed me at all, just the opposite, but I am definitely more emotionally seasoned.

Do you ever bring your daughter on tour?
When I come to Canada it’s such a torture [at the border], so 99 per cent of the time I don’t bring her.

Because the border guards want the see a letter from “your husband”? 
Yeah. And I think one day I’m going to hit someone and end up in prison and she’ll be a ward of Canada. They really are a pain in the ass.