Stormy Daniels: ‘I’m not done making bad choices’

By her own admission, public speaking isn't Stormy Daniels' forte.

But she manages just fine, mostly because she has a lifetime of stories to draw from across her professional and personal spectrum.

That doesn't mean it's easy, though.

"I only remember about half of what I said up there," Daniels said in an interview after her standup comedy performance Thursday at Comedy Plex, 1128 Lake St., Oak Park.

So why is the adult entertainment star, whose prior involvement with President-elect Donald Trump is well told, involved in comedy?

"The real answer is spite," she said. "It makes them mad."

"Them" could have many meanings, and you can probably draw your own conclusions if you follow the news. But at the outset Thursday, in front of a crowd that decidedly skewed middle age, her goal was to set the record straight about all those rumors about her.

And boy, did she, in a roughly 40-minute session.

"I'm a man," she offered as an example, eliciting guffaws. "I'm a sex trafficker. I'm riddled with STDs and will die of AIDS. You sold this story to launch your strip career.

"Yeah ... I woke up at 40 and said, 'I have a dream.'"

It didn't stop there. With regard to the current, very recent state of politics, she said this:

"Who'd you vote for?" she said. "You had one (expletive) job. Someone dropped the ball."

Daniels wasn't afraid to tell the crowd that she is indeed a Republican. That's not a rumor.

Wait, what?

She answered why in a roughly 15-minute question-and-answer session with audience members after her routine.

"Because it makes them so mad," she said. "I'm that petty."

It wasn't all politics. A short video that preceded her taking the stage noted she is, among other things, a mother, a wife, an actress and a director. In other words, there's more than meets the eye, and a lot more than any rumor can hold.

Daniels' comedic style is frank storytelling, and yes, it incorporated almost as many F-bombs as jokes. Case in point was the meet-and-greet she conducted about an hour before showtime with a small group of fans who paid for the front-row platinum package.

Daniels simply sat in a chair and chatted up the group.

In other words, she was engaging.

"Speaking in public, I'm terrified," she said, noting that conventional "wisdom" dictates someone scared of that should imagine the audience, well, naked.

"You think that works for me?" she said.

She also dished on her purported tell-all book, Full Disclosure, including all the stuff that apparently got left out. She's planning a second book, among other writing ventures.

"The most important thing about the first book I learned is people don't read," she said.

A sad commentary on society, perhaps, but she definitely wasn't Debbie Downer, especially when it came to her views on the adult entertainment industry. She's a director, which means she's responsible for all details, including everything from booking talent to scheduling the film crew and location, and reviewing scripts.

It's a lot of work and responsibility. But here's one observation you might not expect.

"Some of the smartest, brightest, brilliant girls are in the industry," she said.

Daniels' opening act was Greg Studley, who has performed at big Los Angeles comedy venues such as The Comedy Store and The Improv. The pair played off each other well during the Q&A session.

"I just told 30 minutes of jokes," Studley said.

"Is that what it was?" Daniels deadpanned.

The questions in the Q&A ranged from politics – "'Why did you decide to testify against Donald Trump?' I was subpoenaed." – to her general advice on life.

"Use sunscreen?" she said. "Eat your vegetables?"

So what's next for Stormy Daniels? Comedy Plex was the last stop on her most recent tour, so a break is in order. She's working with Studley on a Roku TV series called Woke Up Late. She'll continue her literary pursuits, which includes the follow-up to Full Disclosure, along with a book about the paranormal, and ghost writing for her husband.

One thing's for sure, though.

She's just getting started.

"I'm not done making bad choices," she said. "I'm definitely not done doing dumb (expletive)."