Funny girl.

With her new CD, I'm Not Cindy Brady, comedian Suzanne Westenhoefer is determined to make her own mark on pop culture

It's been 27 minutes, which has to be some kind of record. The "Ellen thing" doesn't come air until this point in the conversation with Suzanne Westenhoefer. Indeed, there was a time when Ellen DeGeneres's name would pop up within about four minutes during chats with the comic, who often quickly found herself deconstructing DeGeneres, her sitcom, and her decision to come out.

"I was very resentful," admits Westenhoefer, 38, between drags of a cigarette outside a West Hollywood, Calif., bistro that's minutes from her new rented home. "I was resentful of the attention she was getting. Every single interview I did for two yearn, I'd have to talk about Ellen as if I was the Ellen expert."

But she's not here to talk about DeGeneres. Not exactly. Over a bowl of butternut squash soup, Westenhoefer is more concerned about her recently released second comedy CD, I'm Not Cindy Brady (Uproar), a follow-up to her Gay/Lesbian American Music Award-winning album Nothing in My Closet but My Clothes. It's another collection of jokes, pathos, and observations (including the fact that some people confuse her with yet another laugh-getter, the youngest Brady girl), a mix that has earned her headlining spots in straight comedy clubs and pioneering cable specials. Westenhoefer was the first openly lesbian comic to land shows on both HBO and Comedy Central.

In 1994 that momentum led to a meeting with famed producer Norman Lear (All in the Family) and ABC. It looked like Westenhoefer was going to be the first out lesbian who had her own series. "And then Ellen came out," she says, "and every single thing I had going came to a screeching halt. It had nothing to do with her. It's not like she was sitting around going, `What can I do to fuck up Suzanne's career,' but it did." She takes a breath and another drag on another cigarette, then adds, "And now I'm back to square one. Well, maybe square two."

Busy pursuing a TV and movie career, Westenhoefer won't be touring much in support of her new album. "If I really want to make it," says the driven one, "I've got to get some effort made here."

So after a couple of years of self-doubt, Westenhoefer is giving acting another try. She credits her newfound chutzpah to support from her gay younger sister, Joan, and mom back in Lancaster, Pa., and a spiritual uplift from Buddhism. However, no one has yet cast her as a woman-lovin' woman because, she says, "I don't look enough like a lesbian to play a lesbian!"

Maybe that's because agents haven't seen her with Annie, her girlfriend of almost eight years. The two split their time between their homes in Ohio and Los Angeles, and Annie recently made the trek to the West Coast, along with their two dogs and two cats. "She came out here to take care of me," says Westenhoefer. "Oh, my God, she would smack me so hard if she heard me say that." She pauses. Fame is fame, she says, "but I will never put anything above the relationship."

Jones is a senior editor at E! Online.

For more on Suzanne Westenhoefer and her tour, go to www.advocate.com