By Valerie Milano
Palm Springs, CA (The Hollywood Times) 7/6/26 – There are some interviews that feel less like press and more like catching up with a beloved friend who just happens to be hilarious, heartfelt, and heading into a major full-circle moment. That was exactly the joy of sitting down with my dear friend, comedian Mina Hartong, as she prepares to return to Provincetown Women’s Week for four shows this October.
Mina will perform October 13–16 at 6 p.m. at The Red Room in Provincetown, bringing her fearless comedy, music, crowd work, and unmistakable lesbian aunt energy back to the place where so much of her comedy journey began.
“For those of you who don’t know me, I’m Mina Hartong,” she said with her signature warmth, “and my pronouns are she, her, and the fun lesbian aunt you always wanted, and also a comedian, funny lady, and host.”
Click below for our exclusive interview:
That pretty much says it all.
For Mina, returning to Provincetown is not just another booking. It is personal history. It is queer comedy history. It is the kind of moment that makes you stop and appreciate the long, wild, beautiful road of a performer’s life.
Mina first performed in Provincetown in 2000 and 2001, back when she was, as I reminded her, a “baby comic.” Her first P-Town show was called Mimi’s Wedding, a solo comedy show about coming out in Greenwich, Connecticut, and the wedding her mother always wanted.
“I was up and down Commercial Street in a big wedding veil, in a wedding dress, promoting my show,” Mina recalled. “And then for Herring Cove Beach, I did a cute bikini with a wedding veil up and down the beach. Because remember, no social media. It was all postcards, paper flyers.”
Before algorithms, boosted posts, and endless reels, there was Mina in a wedding veil, working Commercial Street like a comedy warrior princess.
“I was totally fearless about it,” she said. “It taught me how to bark, right? To be brave about talking to people. That was a big takeaway from being in P-Town.”
That lesson never left her. Mina says Provincetown taught her how to approach audiences, promote a show, and trust her own voice. Now, more than two decades later, she returns not as the new comic trying to get people into the room, but as a seasoned performer with more than 25 years of comedy, storytelling, and national and international credits—including Olivia Travel performances in Greece and Tahiti, the Rehoboth Beach Women’s FEST, and recognition in The New York Times—behind her.
“It is completely and totally exciting to me to come full circle,” Mina said. “At my stage of my career, having done this for 25 years plus, full-circle moments are what it’s all about.”
Women’s Week has always had a special kind of electricity. It is comedy, community, flirtation, chaos, comfortable shoes, early dinners, chosen family, and that very specific joy of queer women taking over a town and making it ours.
“There’s nothing that gives me more joy than seeing lesbians and queer women having fun,” Mina said. “Letting loose, feeling comfortable, feeling authentic, and just the joy of that. So that’s a real privilege for me to perform at Women’s Week.”
Mina will be doing four shows at The Red Room, all at 6 p.m., which she knows is a gift to her audience.
“I know my lesbians,” she joked. “They love an early show. It’s an hour show, so you can have dinner before or after and still be in bed by lesbian bedtime, which is 9 to 9:30 p.m. That is real.”
And yes, she is preparing properly.
“Always snacks,” she laughed. “I was a teacher, so snacks, cheese sticks are always in my bag if you’re hungry on Commercial Street in October.”
But behind the snacks is serious preparation. Mina is rehearsing, working on new material, marketing the shows, building stamina, and getting herself physically and mentally ready for a full run.
“I wake up thinking about it, I go to sleep thinking about it,” she said. “But I’m gonna be ready for y’all.”
Mina’s comedy voice has also evolved since those early Provincetown days. She is braver now, more relaxed, more connected to the audience, and more willing to have fun in the moment.
“I think my voice has evolved to be even more fearless as I get older,” she said. “You don’t care as much anymore what people think. You’re going to do what you really want to do with your time and your life.”
She credits experience, age, and her wife Pia’s simple but powerful advice.
“My wife Pia always says to me at every show, ‘Have fun and they’ll have fun,’” Mina shared.
That spirit is now central to her performance style. She is doing more crowd work, more music, more personal storytelling, and more of what makes Mina, Mina.
“I have a lot more fun up there,” she said. “I’m having as much fun as you’re having. There’s less of a wall between us.”
Her current material includes married life, growing up in Connecticut, teaching, song parodies, and the daily absurdities that make us laugh when the world feels heavy. Mina is also honest about that heaviness.
“Not a lot is making us laugh right now,” she admitted. “It’s a really tough time to laugh.”
That is also why comedy matters so much.
“What’s really drawing me in now is being able to have people come to a show and be with me inside the world that I’m creating so we can both get some relief and some laughter and some joy.”
Along with her Provincetown return, Mina is also celebrating another major milestone: her debut comedy special, Miss Personality. Filmed in Palm Springs, the special has been picked up by Comedy Dynamics and is currently being shopped for streaming release.
“Miss Personality is the title of my first debut comedy special, which I filmed in Palm Springs,” Mina said. “That has been picked up by Comedy Dynamics and is right now being shopped around, and it should be released sometime later this year on some streaming services.”
For Mina, this is a big year and a long-earned one.
“That’ll be my first TV credit in all these years of doing comedy,” she said. “So that’s a big deal.”
The special is also being pitched to film festivals, while Mina continues performing the show live. And as wonderful as streaming will be, Mina knows nothing replaces the shared magic of being in the room.
“Seeing it live is the best,” she said. “That’s the most fun that we can have together.”
When I asked Mina what she hopes audiences feel when they leave her show, her answer was simple and beautiful.
“I hope they feel better,” she said. “That’s the goal.”
She also hopes they feel connected.
“I find that my material is really relatable to obviously lesbians and queer women, the LGBTQ community, but I find more and more that my material is relatable to so many different people,” Mina said. “There are so many ways in with my show, so I hope that people feel a sense of connection because that’s what I’m there for.”
That connection is what makes Mina special. Yes, she is funny. Very funny. But she is also generous. She wants the audience to feel seen. She wants them to laugh, breathe, relax, and leave with a little more joy than they came in with.
“The more connected we feel, the easier it will be to get through this world that we’re in right now and to have more joy,” she said. “We need it. We need it every day, all day.”
Tickets for Mina Hartong’s Provincetown Women’s Week shows are available now at redroom.club and through minahartong.com. Audiences can also follow her on Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, and YouTube at Mina Hartong.
And yes, Mina plans to be out on Commercial Street, greeting people, promoting the shows, and representing in style.
“I won’t be wearing a wedding dress,” she promised, “but I definitely will be out on Commercial Street saying hi to people. So I’ll be wearing something Trina Turk probably, right, Valerie?”
Of course. Always represent.
As for the theme song for this big Provincetown return, Mina did not hesitate.
“It would have to be ‘I’m Coming Out,’” she said. “Because so much of my origins in Provincetown was about being newly out of the closet and a newly out comic.”
Now, all these years later, she is still here, still funny, still brave, still connecting, and still coming out in new ways.
“To be able to come back and still be here, still be doing it, and I haven’t quit yet, and I still love it,” Mina said. “It’s got to be ‘I’m Coming Out’ because we’re always coming out, right? And Provincetown is a great place to come out again and again.”
I could not agree more.
See you in Provincetown, girl. Wear your Trina Turk.“Get ready for big laughs and bold storytelling… a signature mix of brilliance, queer humor, and heartfelt charm.”
for tickets, click below:
Red Room | Mina Hartong: Miss Personality
Quotes
Olivia Travel
“Magical on stage. There is a depth to Mina’s work that always leaves me wanting more.”
