Jimmy Tingle for President
Saturday, February 16 and Saturday, February 23
Regent Theatre
Arlington, 8:00 pm. $30 orchestra / $25 balcony

When Jimmy Tingle shut down the theater in Somerville that bore his name, it seemed as if Tingle would take some time off from the day-to-day stresses of running the theater. However, he wasn't going to stay off the stage for long. He will be returning to Arlington tomorrow for his one-man show, which arrives just in time to rescue you from the post-Super Tuesday doldrums. Bostonist talked to Tingle about the new show, the documentary he's working on, and--of course--politics.

Why should we vote for you for president?

First of all, I don't want you to vote for me. I just want you to come to my shows because, at my shows, you will laugh, you will see things in a different light, and you will leave feeling better. Not only will you leave feeling better, you'll leave feeling more uplifted and hopeful about what the possibilities are in this country and in this world.

What should we expect from your upcoming show?

You should expect to come in and see "Jimmy Tingle for President--What I Would Do If I Were Elected." I'm running on my comedic record of 25 years as a comic and social commentator. I've never held an elective office, I have no legislative accomplishments, but I do have a comedic record spanning three decades, and I'm gonna be putting together a lot of the insights I've had over the years, as well as the most relevant, up-to-date, up-to-the-minute commentary that I can possibly offer my audience.

What people will come away with is "We thought about a lot of things, we laughed, we had a good time, maybe we learned something, and I think we are ready to join the American Peace Party."

More about the American Peace Party and the new documentary after the jump!

Tell us more about the American Peace Party.

The American Peace Party is something I'm wanting--it's not official yet--but it's something I'm using to create a network of organizations by using humor to help people in organizations who are already doing great stuff. One of the things I'm using the show for is to do fundraisers for a couple of schools, different organizations.

We create a win-win situation where I show up, I do their event, and they bring their folks to the event. It's a campaign stop. We raise money for their organization. My campaign is one of the few campaigns where I actually raise money for the audience rather than the audience raising money for me.

So, now that you're not worrying about running the Jimmy Tingle Off-Broadway Theater [which closed last year], does it feel liberating?

I love it! I really love freelancing. I love not being tied down. I love the fact that I can pick up and go like I used to. That's how I used to live. I loved doing the theater, and I'm really glad we started it. I'm really glad that we ended it when we did, and I'm really glad that we did it. Also, I was telling my wife, I'm really happy to be home working out of my house and planning gigs, work, ideas, finishing films, things like that, which when I was there [at the theater] and responsible, I just didn't have much time to do, really important things, like being with my wife and my son, who's ten years old, and his birthday is Tuesday. You can't get those years back. I don't want to squander them working full-time all the time like I was.

So what other projects have you been working on?

I'm working on a film called The American Dream. It was based loosely on my one-man-show, and it was based loosely on starting the theater. I want to finish that film in the next few months. I'm working with Vinnie Strager, who's over at WGBH. It's not a WGBH film. I'm producing it. It's great. It's got interviews with all sorts of interesting characters about the American Dream and what it is. We actually started it in 2003, and that's an example of not getting to finish something because of working at the theater. It's those types of things I want to complete.

In The American Dream, we have great interviews with a lot of interesting characters--Robert Altman, Mort Sahl, Janeane Garofalo, Lewis Black, and a ton of people. Comics, as well as people that we still want to get into the film, regular people who are not comics or actors--my mother.

Is the aim for it to be very funny, or is it more serious?

It's a serious thing, but there will be humor in it because a stage show is involved in a big way. There'll definitely be humor in it, but it's not a comedy. It's serious interviews with people: What do you think of the American Dream? What does it mean to you? People just open up.

What does it mean to you?

To me it means, the freedom to fulfill your potential. That's one of the things that I was trying to do with the theater. I wanted a place to work so I could do my own projects and my own stage work and share a place for myself and other like-minded performers and productions. That's basically what it was, but it got so big and so heavy for me that I just got really overwhelmed with the responsibility. I did not want to pursue that American Dream any longer. But what it means to me is being able to make a film about the American Dream. That's part of the American Dream--being able to start a theater, work there, have wonderful times and wonderful experiences, touch a lot of people's lives, meet and work with all sorts of different folks, and then also say, "You know what? I want to do something else." That's the freedom of the American Dream. Say, I want to do a film--that's the opportunity that we have. Or, I want to do a blog, or I want to start a company, whatever it is that you want to do.

So, then do any of the current crop of presidential candidates have the potential to help others fulfill the American Dream?

Oh, sure. I think Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama are great, and I really like McCain as well. I think Governor Romney, in his own way, is a businessman, which is completely consistent with the American Dream, starting businesses and the things that he's done. All of these people are the embodiment of the American Dream. That's just one little slice of the pie, the presidential candidates. We're really lucky in that we have this foundation in this country that you can do quite a bit if you're motivated and if you're lucky, and many of these candidates were from humble beginnings. Not just these candidates. Bill Clinton grew up very, very poor with a single mother, and the guy grew up to become the president. If he were a Republican, he would be acknowledged as a national hero!

I think all the presidential candidates embody that spirit, and that's what I'm finding when I interview people, that there is a feeling that things are possible in this country. The people of America don't need me to tell them about American dreams, but I think that the film will be funny, good, and insightful, and hopefully will show the American Dream--I don't want to say "warts and all," but sometimes the dreams don't come true the way you think they're going to.

But if you have the chance to try, that's what's most important.

Yeah, and it's ongoing. It's always unfolding. When I did an interview with a filmmaker when we first started the film, we were talking about goals for the theater, and four years later we're not there anymore. That doesn't mean that we failed. It just means that the dream has evolved, and it's something else now. The whole country is constantly changing, constantly evolving. Going back again to the candidates--John McCain was a prisoner of war. When you think about that, he was in the Vietnam War, and the guy might be Republican nominee for president. It's an amazing life story. I get inspired by that. I'm inspired by the people who come here as immigrants and sneak into the country. I love them! To me, they're the modern-day Pilgrims. They're trying to better themselves. They come from abject poverty, many of them. They take life-threatening risks in some cases to better themselves and to provide for their families, and they work really hard. By most measures, they are good, hard-working, decent people, and that's an incredible thing. One of the points I make in my show is that, when you think about what these people are doing to come to America, they are sneaking into a country to work. Think about that--sneaking into a country to work! That's like somebody breaking into a house to clean it!

My show will be hopeful, it will be fun, and it will be a fun look at the serious issues. It is a fun way for me to fantasize and say, "A Tingle Administration would do this! A Tingle Administration would do that!" and never really have to do those things. I hope to plant some seeds of creativity, fun, and innovation.