The Latina lesbian with radical political leanings wasn't always a comedic politico. She's done solo comedy shows in San Francisco and New York, as well as on cable TV, for almost two decades, and has built a cult following for her abrasively edgy sense of humor (Rolling Stone called her "the funny Madonna" in 1989).

Her last film, Reno Finds Her Mom, which aired on HBO in 1998, was a satirical documentary about the search for her birth mother, who gave her up for adoption in 1956; a previous show, Reno: In Rage and Rehab, addressed her former crystal-meth habit.