COMEDY : Attacking Racism, Homophobia--Playfully

She calls herself the “Latin Lezbo Comic,” but at least one critic has dubbed her a latter-day Lenny Bruce.

Monica Palacios, a Mexican American lesbian who lives in Venice, is making a distinctive mark as a writer, comic and performer who deals with taboo subjects and hurls social barbs. Her latest work, a piece of performance art called “Confessions--a Sexplosion of Tantalizing Tales,” premieres Thursday (Mexican Independence Day) at Highways Performance Space in Santa Monica.

“What makes her unique is a combination of her Latina culture, her lesbianism and the way she conveys it to a general audience in an accessible way,” said Tosh Berman, executive and artistic director of Beyond Baroque, a Venice literary and arts center where Palacios has performed several times.

In her performances, Palacios, 35, addresses racism and homophobia head-on. Of her “Latin Lezbo Comic” solo act, Los Angeles Times reviewer Ray Loynd commented: “Triply oppressed as a female Mexican American lesbian, she revels in the comic possibilities of the outsider. . . . It’s Lenny Bruce’s liberating technique all over again. Only the taboo is different.”

Yet Palacios also deals with themes that have broad appeal, such as love and family. Even her newest work, the “Confessions” performance art piece, is frequently more playful than explicit.

Palacios grew up in San Jose, one of six children, in what she calls a “double-dyke familia” (older sister Eleanor is also a lesbian) that she describes as stable and happy.

“I went to an all-girls’ Catholic school, which was great preparation for lesbianism and the theater,” she said.

It wasn’t until college that she started to question her sexuality, she said, adding that she first kissed a woman when she was 19. “I remember thinking, ‘This is what a kiss should be . . . the butterflies in the stomach.’ ”

Eventually, she received a degree in film studies from San Francisco State University and started out on the Bay Area’s comedy circuit. There, she performed in mainstream as well as alternative houses. But after appearing at gay clubs, she found some mainstream venues didn’t want her back.

“When I was first doing stand-up for straight Latino audiences, I didn’t do the queer stuff,” she said. “There’s homophobia in every community, but it’s a little more touchy in the Latino community because of Catholicism and the emphasis on family.” Gaining her parents’ acceptance of her sexual orientation, she says, “was a slow process.”

Palacios recalls the time she performed for a Latino audience at a college Cinco de Mayo celebration and was preceded by several mainstream male comedians who made jokes about gays.

“I came on and I did 10 minutes of mainstream, and then did the queer stuff,” she says. “People got kind of quiet.”

The audience warmed up a little, she said, “when I got into coming out to my family and bringing my wife home.” Still, she says, “it was a situation where I wanted to say, ‘Hey man, we both eat tacos.’ ”

Palacios has performed extensively on the Westside in venues including the Celebration Theater in West Hollywood, Powerhouse Theater in Santa Monica and Odyssey Theater in West Los Angeles.

“I remember doing about seven minutes of stand-up at an installation at the Santa Monica Museum of Art, and these young little girls--about 10, all looking like Barbies--came up to me and said, ‘You’re really funny. We like you,’ ” Palacios said. “At the same show, some older Latino men came up and said, ‘Thanks for representing us.’ It’s been mostly a welcome reception from audiences on the Westside.”

Luis Alfaro, an award-winning gay Latino writer, poet and performer, said Palacios is considered political in the Chicano community because her material deals with homosexuality.

“She’s been able to push the boundaries, not only in form but in content,” said Alfaro, who is a co-director with Palacios of VIVA, a national organization of lesbian and gay Latino artists. “(Her material) challenges our notions of customs and traditions.”

Yet, he said, she also does “quiet love pieces,” and her references to growing up with Westerns and “The Brady Bunch” make her seem more assimilated than some other Latino artists.

Palacios came to Los Angeles in 1987. Here, she said, racism is “constantly in my face.” Not only does Hollywood overlook Latinos, she said, so does the nation’s gay community.

“Confessions--a Sexplosion of Tantalizing Tales” plays Thursday through Sept. 25 at Highways Performance Space, 1651 18th St., Santa Monica. Performances are at 8 p.m. Thursdays through Saturdays and 7:30 p.m. Sundays. Tickets are $12, $20 on opening night. For information: (213) 660-8587. The show is part of Highways’ annual Festival of Lesbian and Gay Performance.