E-Mail This Article to a Friend Reno 911 The woman who made it safe to laugh about terrorism BY LIZA WEISSTUCH

Less than one month after the September 11 attacks, the performer who calls herself Reno was on stage at La Mama ETC in Greenwich Village, making grief-and-fear-riddled New Yorkers roar with laughter. The comedienne had been asleep at her home eight blocks from the World Trade Center when the planes struck. She’d been working on a show that was scheduled for production in October, but after 9/11, she says, she couldn’t think about anything new, so she created Reno: Rebel Without a Pause: Unrestrained Reflections on September 11. It caught the attention of Lily Tomlin and Jane Wagner and they produced an Off Broadway run. Three years later, she’s still touring the show; she’ll perform at Jimmy Tingle’s Off Broadway just after the anniversary of the attacks.

Nowadays it’s de rigueur for comedians to sling zingers about Middle Eastern terrorists and tumbling towers, and for artists to rally around anti-Bush sentiment. But by unleashing sarcastic swipes and daggers of wit on Manhattanites so soon after the catastrophe, the boisterous, blunt, fast-talking, and slightly kooky Reno positioned herself at the vanguard of the Zeitgeist.

"I was the only one talking about this then — being critical about the administration in public — when everyone was signing loyalty oaths because they felt like they were gonna get attacked," she says over the phone from Martha’s Vineyard, where she performed in August. "There was a community vibe [in the audience]. People were in need of expressing themselves. People said it was a service. Some meant that in a holy way, and others . . . " She breaks off suddenly, and I hear her scolding someone. No, make that something. She’s back seconds later.

"She just flew through these huge poppies! She’s so adorable!" Reno gushes as she explains that the "she" in question is Edith, a four-month-old poodle–cocker spaniel mix. Edith, she adds, is a rescued dog, and Reno then sets off pontificating about how horrible it is that so many unwanted puppies are killed every year.

Part political commentator, part activist, and part neurotic kvetcher, Reno’s never at a lack for something to rant about. She explicitly defines herself as a "glass-half-empty kind of gal" (she also is Latina, lesbian, and an ADD sufferer), but speaking to her, you get the sense that a closet optimist lurks beneath her thin skin.

"I think 9/11 had a flip side of importance that was invaluable for us. One wishes that that didn’t have to happen for the country to become politicized," she said. "The rigorousness of thought and vigilance of liberty was really lacking, and it took that! But nevertheless, the silver lining to this whole disgusting mess is that citizenry has become engaged. People are starting out much more informed than they used to be. I used to have to explain what an international trade agreement was before talking about NAFTA!"

Now that she need not waste time on expository details, Reno subjects audiences to a no-holds-barred assault on the demented logic of the current administration and the toll it has taken on her psyche. When it comes to addressing her personal life, Reno has never been one for subtlety, and the candor of her introverted reflections evokes performers like Spalding Gray and Woody Allen. In her first feature film, Reno Finds Her Mom (1998), Reno, who’s adopted, related the emotional and bureaucratic hurdles of searching for her biological mother. And in her first live act, Reno in Rage and Rehab (1989), she detailed how she kicked a crystal-meth habit. Now, it seems, her greatest addiction is making people laugh.

Reno: Rebel Without a Pause is presented September 14 through 18 and September 24 through 26 at Jimmy Tingle’s Off Broadway Theater, 255 Elm Street, in Somerville. Tickets are $25; call (866) 811-4111.