
Today we continue our exclusive coverage of Woodstock Farm Animal Sanctuary’s second annual Komedy for Karma event.
Regrettably, I knew less about Gary Gulman then some of the other comedians at the show that night. Sure I knew that he hates Grapefruit and that he would never consider Pepsi “The Cola,” but I hadn’t ever seen him around the green/animal scene and was totally psyched to hear what he had to say. Check out the interview below and see why Gary is not only hysterical, but super eco-friendly!
Ecorazzi: Hey there! So how did you get involved with Woodstock?
Gary Gulman: A couple years ago a friend of ours brought us up to the ThanksLiving event in Woodstock on their farm. So we set up chairs in the freezing cold in November. I’ve loved animals since I was a little kid and I was feeling particularly altruistic at that time in my life. I mean it was freezing setting up chairs in that tent, but it felt really good.
When they asked me to do the show last year I was honored because the other comedians in the show were amazing. I was so flattered when they asked me to come back.
E: In your set you mentioned that you had given up bottled water for the environment. Tell me some other ways that you consider yourself green.
GG: Well I have four sets of recycling bins. My community that I live in now makes you bring your own trash to the dump. It used to be that you would just see it go away and you didn’t know where it ended up. But here you can see that the magazines go here, the bottles go there. It feels like an accomplishment. I admire their outlook up there.
E: If you could offer others advice on how to get a little greener, what would you tell them?
GG: Maybe eat meat two or three days less than they do now.
E: Do you eat animal products yourself?
GG: Occasionally I will have eggs or something like that. I have a puppy and when I met the chickens up in Wooodstock I realized there wasn’t much difference between a chicken and a puppy. And I would never eat my puppy.
E: So would you consider yourself vegetarian now?
GG: I would never eat meat, but I used to eat too much chicken. So I don’t like that anymore. I’ve really reduced my intake.
(At this point Gary’s fiancé, Daniela Walls joins the conversation and I tell her all about what we do at Ecorazzi.)
Daniella Walls: That’s awesome! We have a fruit farm and we sell the fruit to people in our community. Well we’re not really selling it, we’re basically giving it away free.
E: Tell me more about the farm.
DW: It’s a berry farm. We’re known for our blueberries — in fact we have enough blueberries that we can supply the whole town. We also have apples, pears, peaches, we have a cherry tree, raspberries, blackberries, a grape vine.
E: What made you decide to buy a farm?
GG: Well it was her idea and my credit. You know when the housing and stock market fell apart she wanted to buy something so that we actually had something for our money.
DW: I said, “Why are we putting our money in the stock market?” If you had this amount of money would you let some asshole gamble with it? I mean at least now we can see what our money has bought us. So now we have a farm. But the farm has pulled us in — now we’re like farmers.
GG: That’s why we went to the dump yesterday. I think if people had to bring their trash to the dump themselves it would change everything.
DW: Here’s the thing: everyone’s so disconnected about what they eat to where their trash goes. Once you start to get connected you have a whole different relationship with it.
GG: Can you maybe say that I said that? It was really good.
DW: I mean if you have to look at a chicken everyday and see its face, it’s like a whole sad thing to kill it. And we have deer in our yard and people shoot them. I mean hunting is bad, but you see people who kill one deer and they keep the meat all year and freeze it and it’s a whole different relationship. I mean it’s better than factory farming, right? If you have to grow or kill your own food you have a whole different relationship with it. Everyone’s so far away from that.
E: I agree! Gary, what projects are you working on right now?
GG: I’m working on stand-up right now. My website is the best way for people to find out about what I’m doing next. I have a newsletter. I think I’ll be in New York next weekend.
A big thank you to Gary Gulman and Daniela Walls for taking the time to chat with us. And of course, to Woodstock Farm Animal Sanctuary for arranging the evening!