Archive for the 'Comedy' Category

I don’t watch late night TV.  The best I do is Tivo John Stewart and watch him when I get a chance.  I don’t watch because I don’t stay up late, but more than that, I don’t watch because the shows don’t interest me.  One of the big reason why they don’t interest me is because late night is still a bastion of testosterone and men swinging their dicks around.

This week’s insanity just brought it out into the open more.

I really don’t feel bad for any of them.  It was a stupid, yet at the same time bold idea to try Jay out at 10.  I was pissed because I like scripted shows and have missed NBC’s 10pm shows which not too long ago were really good.  Jay’s move has damaged Law & Order SVU which suffered in the 9pm Wednesday slot against Glee and ABC’s great new comedies Modern Family and Cougar Town and CBS’ Criminal Minds.

Please tell me what is it about late night that brings out the insanity in people?  This has been going on for a long time since David Letterman was passed over for The Tonight Show and moved to CBS.

I know it’s all about money.  These shows are easy to produce and make money for the networks.  They also provide a great venue for upteen amount of stars wanting to promote their new shows, films, books etc.  Also,now in the age of You Tube you don’t even need to see the show when it’s on, you can watch you favorite actor’s appearance whenever you want.

But I can’t help but think that because the late night business is still such a male business (with all due respect to Chelsea Handler on E! and Wanda Sykes on Saturday nights) that it is made into much a bigger deal than it should be.  My god it’s been on the front page of papers everywhere! Anyone who watches gender issues in TV knows, late night TV shows have virtually NO female writers as Lynn Harris reminded us just last week in Salon.  I would imagine that David Letterman is not complaining too loudly about NBC’s late night implosion, it puts all his sexual harassment and affairs in the rear view mirror.

I’m sorry but I just can’t get my pity potty out for any of these guys.

After reading Manohla Dargis’ piece in the New York Times and her subsequent interview with Jezebel.com, I felt the need to write the following open letter to the heads of all the feature film studios in the United States.

Dear Sirs (+ the one madam co-chair):

I would like to introduce myself. My name is Ashley, I am one of your customers. One of your 51 percent, to be exact. Ironically, I’m also on the cusp of two age brackets that seem to allude you. Being 28 years old, I’m just edging past your “Twilight” audience and will soon hit your 35+ when-its-a-hit-it-must-be-a-fluke audience. Not only am I one of your customers, but I also happen to be one of you, albeit a very low-level one of you. I feel this puts me in a unique situation, I know your audience because I am your audience; AND, because I’m somewhat of an insider, I’ve struck upon a solution to your problem. A solution that will make you even more money than you’re making now. I’m talking Twilight, The Dark Night, and Mamma Mia kind of money. Believe-it-or-not, it’s not as hard as you think and it’s actually something you know how to do already: make movies. But not just any movies; movies that 51 percent of your audience can relate to and which feature the work of those members of our 51 percent who make their careers in feature film.

Don’t get me wrong, I know you get cross-over audiences. I’m just as likely to see a romantic comedy as I am the next Bourne movie, but I’m even more likely to see a Bourne movie directed by Kathryn Bigelow. I’d probably even go back for seconds if you decided to expand Julia Stiles’ character or give Joan Allen’s more of a back story. Like Bourne, I want to know what taunts them, what makes them tick and what makes them want to find Jason Bourne (because, let’s face it, it’s beyond just their professional duty at this point).

I like stories with style and substance, but I also like action, chase scenes and even my fair share of violence. My favorite movie is “The Silence of the Lambs.” “SOTL” is a great example of how to make a movie that grabs 100 percent of your adult audience: follow the hero’s journey. In this case, the hero just happens to be a 5′ tall heroine and her unlikely leading man is a serial killing cannibal. There’s blood, guts, gore and most importantly, STORY. Both men and women alike invest in these characters because we learn what makes them tick. But women have an extra investment in this particular story (this is the reason why we go back to see it again, recommend it to our friends, buy it, download it, etc.) we see ourselves up on the screen, a lone woman among men in an elevator. Every woman has experienced that moment, just as every woman’s secret desire (like Agent Starling’s) is to save the world.

I also like my romantic comedies to be smart. Don’t get me wrong, I like to see pretty things and pretty people on a screen, but I’m not an idiot either. I’d trade in a beautiful set and a character’s designer wardrobe for a really good story. Make more movies like “When Harry Met Sally.” Those characters had a story and they had great conversations about things we all discuss at dinner parties or over the phone with friends. Many elements of the script came from actual conversations between Rob Reiner and Nora Ephron. And guess what? That movie appealed to men as well. Why? Two reasons: 1) They saw themselves in Billy Crystal: he is the every man and he got the girl; 2) Insight into women. Yes, we sometimes fake orgasms. Now you know.

The “Buddy Movie” (now recoined as the “Bromance” or “A Judd Apatow”) We, the 51 percent of your audience, have only one of these movies to stick a flag in and call our own: “Thelma and Louise.”  This movie was made in 1991. Oh, wait, there was another female buddy movie! In 2002, producer Cathy Konrad put out a hilarious flick (penned by Nancy Pimental) called “The Sweetest Thing.” I was in college. I saw it two times on opening weekend with seven other female friends. It still remains the closest we’ll ever get to “The Hangover” for women. Speaking of which, if  ”The Hangover” was pitched with an entirely female cast, it would never have gotten made. Though I have no doubt there would have been an audience for it — made up of both genders.

The drama (aka “The Oscar movie” or “The Meryl Streep”). In their current state, these movies have a slightly better shot at appealing to me and my fellow 51 percenters because they feature more screen time for women (usually women who can no longer wrinkle their foreheads, but that’s a different letter for another day). The funny thing about these movies is that they’re rarely directed and/or written by women. Though I love men who can write wonderful parts for women (hello, Michael Cunningham), they are not women, and, as such, they will always leave the character with an unexplored territory. It’s one thing for a woman to be mysterious, but another thing to leave 51 percent of us knowing there is so much more to the story that needs to be told. “The Hours” has a great scene which touches upon this, when Clarissa Vaughn talks to her daughter about a moment in her youth:

“I remember one morning getting up at dawn, there was such a sense of possibility. You know, that feeling? And I remember thinking to myself: So, this is the beginning of happiness. This is where it starts. And of course there will always be more. It never occurred to me it wasn’t the beginning. It was happiness. It was the moment. Right then.”

Contained within those lines are two potential movies for two generations of women, “the sense of possibility” movie, reaching audiences from their late teens – 30s, and “the moment looking back” movie, for the 40/50/60 female audience. I want to know what that woman sees as both a 20-something and then as a 50-something woman. Romantic comedies offer shades of these moments as well, though they are even fewer and farther between.

I believe women go to rom coms and dramas because they crave any glimmer of seeing their lives reflected back at them, no matter how fleeting of a moment it may be. We women store up a mosaic of these moments and play them back in our minds when we need them. A “greatest hits” if you will. They are our touchstone, our reminder that we are seen, we are remembered; we do serve a purpose. But wouldn’t it be even better if we didn’t need a highlights reel? If the marquee at our local theaters advertised movies where we saw ourselves and our husbands/boyfriends/friends/girlfriends/teens depicted by someone like us who knows the way we think, the way we see, who gives us not “women’s movies” but movies from our perspective? And, maybe even a woman who gives us male viewpoints just as dramatically or funny as the Michael Manns or Judd Apatows of the world, but from a fresh perspective.

I am one of your 51 percent. And, I am also your colleague. I want to see a reflection of myself on a screen just as much as I want to see my name in the credits. I am a part of both sides of this letter. And, I will keep moving forward both from my seat and on a set, until my voice is heard. Because when it finally is, there will be 51 percent of the world’s population behind it. I hope you start listening.

Ashley Van Buren is a Manhattan-based film production freelancer and writer. She has worked in feature film development & production (with some side trips into television writing) for ten years. Her most recent production job was on the Nancy Meyers movie, “It’s Complicated.”  This piece was originally posted on The Brow.

Last week during my blog holiday (by the way hope you all had a nice end of summer, mine went way too fast) I tweeted about SNL adding two more females to the cast — Nasim Pedrad and Jenny Slate.  Thought that was awesome.  What I later discovered is that the two women hired last season — Michaela Watkins and Casey Wilson were fired.  I guess that Lorne Michaels was nervous about having too many women in the cast.  WTF?  Have any of the men who were hired last season been fired?

Michaela has some notable characters last season and she came by way of a funny arc in The New Adventures of Old Christine.  Maybe she can get her old gig back.

EW asked Michaela why she was fired and shockingly she has no idea but has gone on the record with her shock and dismay.  More women need to do that.  Michaels said that it wasn’t a talent issue and that he believes that Watkins should have her own show.  Thanks for the suggestion Lorne.  How totally fucking absurd and unacceptable.

What was Lorne Michaels thinking?
MICHAELA WATKINS: I don’t think anyone knows what Lorne Michaels was thinking. That’s one of the exciting things about him. If he were to vanish the show would just freeze. Not a single thing would be shot because so much hinges on him.

What explanation did he give you?
WATKINS: The only explanation I got from him — and he’s not known to say things just to make people feel better — was that he felt deep down that I should have my own show. And I agreed. SNL was a dream come true for me. It was a fantastic year. I don’t have any regrets.

Lorne fired you because he thought you were good enough to get your own show? What am I missing here?
WATKINS: You tell me. I honestly don’t know. What he said is he’s trying to get what’s best for him and best for me. He said it had nothing to do with talent. And I’m just going to go on that. That was his only explanation. He’s looking at the whole mix of the show and maybe he feels that what I bring would be better served on a sitcom. They hired two new gals [Jenny Slate and Nasim Pedrad] that I think are going to be exquisite.

What was your reaction?
WATKINS: Shock. And sadness [because] it just felt premature. But on some level I feel like there are so many opportunities and things that I want to do in the future and now they’ll just happen sooner rather than later.

If you know me, you know I really don’t do animation on TV or films.  Just not my thing.  So I’ve never seen an episode of Family Guy.  I hear good things about it but I already watch too much TV so I can’t make any more commitments.  Seth McFarlane, the creator of the show, is hugely successful and just signed a new deal at FOX for $100 million.

I was intrigued to read a piece in the Hollywood Reporter saying that Family Guy is going to do an episode on abortion.  Films hardly ever deal with the issue and TV also pretty much avoids it, but last week at Comic-Con, McFarlane said that he was doing an episode about the topic but pretty much already knew that it would never air.

Here’s what he said:

“20th Century Fox, as always, allowed us to produce the episode and then said, ‘You know what? We’re scared to f–king death of this,’” MacFarlane said.

This is the second time an episode of Family Guy didn’t air.  I give McFarlane serious props for taking on this issue.  It’s not that Family Guy is known as a politically correct show so who knows what angle the show which is entitled “Partial Terms of Endearment” would take, but FOX has already made the decision not to air the show.

The show is produced by 20th Century Fox (sister to the FOX network).  While the network supports his right to produce the show, it won’t air it.   What does that mean?  Why produce a show that will never air? I’m sure it has to do with them not believing that they could sell it to advertisers. I guess the content of the episode doesn’t matter at all.  The topic is taboo.

McFarlane is as powerful as Norman Lear was back in the day of Maude.  His talking about this as an issue takes a lot of guts considering the amount of money he has at risk.

Shouldn’t the network wait to see the episode before censoring it?

‘Family Guy’ abortion episode unlikely to air on Fox (HR)

Today we welcome a new voice to Women & Hollywood.  Abby Bernstein a recent Barnard graduate has joined our growing team and will be writing and helping me take the site to the next level. Welcome Abby.

Here’s a 22-year-olds perspective on The Ugly Truth:

While watching The Ugly Truth, I couldn’t help thinking of an episode of Sex and the City where Miranda, the high-powered lawyer played by Cynthia Nixon famously quips, “I know how to please a man: just give away most of your power.” Indeed, this is the exact advice Mike (Gerard Butler) gives to the husband-wife news anchor team played by Cheryl Hines and John Michael Higgins. Even though Georgia (Hines) initially resists (“Why is it my fault, should I say no to the money so he can get an erection?”) by the end of Mike’s inane segment of The Ugly Truth, she has “let Larry be a man” and the two come close to copulating on screen before thousands of TV viewers.

In a lot of ways, this movie is just as offensive to men as it is to women. What was so refreshing about 500 Days of Summer was that it was Zooey Deschanel’s character who did not believe in relationships or love. But here sex seems to be the only thing that is ever on a man’s mind, a point that’s reiterated in the film poster’s logo (in which a man’s heart is located in his genitals) and in Mike’s idiotic rules (#4: “Never talk about your problems, men don’t listen or care, and if they seem like they’re listening it’s just code for ‘let me stick my dick in your ass’). Men, according to Mike, are “simple … and cannot be trained” and getting them comes down to just three easy steps: “lust, seduction, and manipulation.” Even though Heigl’s Abby is initially outraged that she has to produce the show of an “uber misogynist,” she quickly and unquestionably sips the Kool-Aid of his misogynist mantra in order to snag the hot doctor who has moved next door.

True to form, while Mike is portrayed as a glorified bachelor, without a man Abby is a “lonely hag” whose antics border on psychotic. Her impossible list of qualities a man must have and the dorky dances she does every time Mr. Perfect responds in kind further bolster the idea that Abby, in spite of all her success in the work world, is a neurotic and desperate person in real life (that her pathetic female assistant “lives vicariously” through Heigl’s dating life is perhaps even more disturbing.) Even though the scene in which Abby realizes that the perfect Colin does not love her but the woman she and Mike have created is supposed to offer some sort of rationalization for sixty some-odd minutes of sexism, it is ambiguous whether Abby ever does get a man to love her for who she is. When Abby criticizes Mike for being weak because he could not handle a romantic relationship with her, it’s unclear whether he comes running because he actually loves her or because she has just emasculated him on a live news broadcast.

While it would be easy to pin this on a pigheaded male writer, the most disturbing part about the film is that it was written by a female team (Nicole Eastman, Karen McCullah Lutz, Kirsten Smith.) Their attempt at producing “the ugly truth” reads like a rehashed list from Cosmo magazine rather than an actual portrayal of how the other half thinks. There’s one part at the beginning of the film where Heigl’s boss, in response to her refusal to take on a misogynist’s show, says “He’s got a point of view, we don’t have to like it.” That’s all fine and true but do you have to perpetuate it?

It will come as no shock to anyone that women can be as sexist and misogynistic as men.  That’s a fact most of us have figured out.  But it’s so much more depressing  when women get kicked in the teeth by other women on a great big movie screen.

I was looking forward to seeing The Ugly Truth because of Katherine Heigl.  She is a TV and movie star which is a hard thing to pull off nowadays.  She’s also developing her own material with her producing partner and manager, her mom.  And she stood up to Judd Apatow in saying that Knocked Up was sexist.  But she has lost a lot of credibility since her new flick The Ugly Truth is sexist and misogynistic.

Raunchy R rated comedies are one of the “things” now in Hollywood.  Think The Hangover and all of the Judd Apatow flicks and the knockoffs of his flicks.  Most of those films are about guys where women are basically missing and underwritten.  According to a Variety article Hollywood thinks that it can make money doing R rated comedies from a women’s perspective.  The article says these comedies are part of a “naughty girl” movement (could that be more sexist?) that is supposedly led by members of the Diablo Cody “fempire.”

Lumping women writers together is a common technique but Juno is nothing like The Ugly Truth.  Now I know Diablo Cody doesn’t need me to defend her, but  Juno didn’t sell out women the way the way The Ugly Truth does.  Incidentally Karen McCullah Lutz and Kirsten Smith who wrote the script of The Ugly Truth with Nicole Eastman were not included in the story about the fempire so there is no way to know whether they are a part of the group.

Heigl plays a type of woman we have been seeing a lot lately.  The good at work but bad at life woman.  She is the producer of a morning show who turns into a walking idiot when she allows Gerard Butler’s Mike to school her in the ways of dating.  He basically says no guy would want a woman with your personality so dump who you are and pretend to be someone else cause that’s how you will get the guy.   The film is riddled with cliches about competent women and how they are all control freaks, have cats, wear ponytails, wear comfortable clothes, don’t masturbate etc.  Basically the film’s premise tells women to throw out 40 years of women’s progress cause it’s such a turn off.  BTW the film also sells out and demeans men.

I can understand the excitement that McCullah Lutz, Eastman and Smith must have had when they were given the freedom to write like a guy after years of being reigned in.  Here’s what they said in the Variety article.

“When they told us to make it R, the heavens opened and the angels sang,” Lutz says. “We always pitch our dirty jokes to each other knowing we can’t use them. Suddenly, it was like, ‘Oh my God! We can write like we actually talk!’ “

But just because you have the freedom to say f-ck or c-ck as many times as you want does that mean that you should?  And does this mean that we are now going to see women’s comedies that are just as bad as the guys in the theatres where the ones that are actually subversive and stand up for women like Spring Breakdown get relegated to the DVD shelves?

Is this progress?

Can Girls Out-Gross Guys at the Box Office? (Variety)

For those who continue to believe that women aren’t funny should check out this year’s Broad Humor Film Festival scheduled for June 12-14 in LA.

This year’s program includes two features that take an affectionate and funny look at teenagers.

Going on 13 follows 4 girls in the Bay area as they negotiate the end of childhood and the mockumentary Your Name Here…  tells an engaging story of two boys starting a band with a wacky posse of adult musicians.

Other features include Coma Girl, about a determined underachiever, demonstrates it’s not only the guy comics who can play a loveable shlub and Attack of the Yeti Hand!

They are also hosting some interesting panels including:

Cinematographer Cherri Stoute will conduct a panel on simple but effective ways to give a film a more polished look, whether working on a shoestring or the budget equivalent of a pair of Manolo Blahniks.

Laura Shapiro (The First Time I Got Paid for It) talks with script consultant and blogger Julie Gray of Rouge Wave and The Script Department about writing, Hollywood, women and comedy.

A panel of top women editors including Maysie Hoy (Meet the Browns), Melissa Kent (Four Christmases), Anita Brandt Burgoyne (Legally Blonde), and Michelle Clay (Life on a Leash) discuss comic timing and the fact that  good editing can make the difference between a guffaw and a groan.  Moderated by Mary Ann Skweres.

More details and tickets here

I’m a big Rachel Dratch fan,  I thought her characters on SNL were interesting, quirky, and a little different like the characters that Gilda Radner did a couple of decades ago.  SNL has been an amazing springboard for her male colleagues propelling several if not many onto incredibly high profile careers (Adam Sandler, Eddie Murphy, Will Ferrell…) but Dratch’s post SNL career has been well, kind of disappointing to her and to us since we haven’t seen her enough.

Missy Schwartz at EW talks to Dratch about her career:

”I did Second City and SNL and everything was chugging along,” says Dratch, 43, referring to the famed Chicago improv group. ”And then the chug got a little slower. When I was on SNL, I envisioned things going differently.”

Yeah I bet.  She did seven years on SNL — the longest of any woman– and she hit the women’s comedy wall in Hollywood.  Lost her gig on 30 Rock.  Movie she wrote and co-starred in went straight to DVD (Spring Breakdown out last week.)  Missing from Vanity Fair’s women’s comedy issue.

She talks about how playing the bizarro and at times kind of “ugly” looking characters and her lack of vanity in her roles on SNL may have affected how people thought about her with people commenting “Oh, you’re so much prettier in real life.”  Ouch.

But Rachel is back in Nia Vardalos’ My Life in Ruins and has appeared in a musical Minsky’s in LA which will hopefully be on Broadway this fall.

Here’s to hoping we see more of Dratch.  She’s worth it.

The Return of Rachel Dratch (EW)

When I was in LA for the Away We Go junket I was able to interview Maya Rudolph about the film, SNL and a couple of other things.

Women & Hollywood: What was it about this script that spoke to you?

Maya Rudolph: I fell in love with these two people instantly.  I really loved them.  I loved the simplicity of the description of their relationship.  That it really wasn’t trying to say anything other than the way they loved each other.  It was written in a way that was very familiar because it was written by people familiar to each other.

W&H: You mean the writers Dave Eggers and Vendela Vida?

MR: Yes, they are smart, exceptional writers and funny too.  I loved the humor in their relationship.  And for me, the other side was that I had just had a baby so I remember the onslaught of extraneous and unsolicited advice where everyone is telling you what to do, how to do it, what you need to buy and how to apply it.  Telling you oh my god you’re huge and touching you.  It was so overwhelming.

W&H: Verona is a unique character, a partner to Burt and so well written.  We don’t see women characters like her too frequently.  Any opinions as to why women are ignored and underwritten in mainstream Hollywood films?

MR: I don’t know why that’s either untapped or overlooked or not done well because there is really no excuse for it.  This is a perfect example of it.  It’s not as if women don’t exist.  I will say that in general there is a lot of crap in the world.  It wasn’t until I was thrown in the water on day 1 of Saturday Night Live where they said you write for yourself.  That’s what everyone does.  I learned the enormous power of writing for yourself, especially now that people seem to be receptive to the fact that women can write.

W&H: I read an account that said that only 36 out of the 116 cast members on SNL have been women and only 20 have survived into their second season.  The guys seem to break out: Adam Sandler, Eddie Murphy, John Belushi among many others.  The women don’t seem to break out in the same way.  Where are Cheri Oteri, Jan Hooks, Ellen Cleghorne?  Has your experience been different?

MR: It has.  When I arrived at SNL that seemed to be the story but it started getting old because things changed.  Without a doubt in sketch comedy there are fewer women than men.  There are fewer women at the Groundlings today even though there are a lot more women than when I started.

I don’t know if comedy is a male sport.  I always wondered that.  There were always less of us than them no question.  As far as the group of women I started with at SNL, I came into an amazing powerhouse of women on that show and I feel like everything was macheteed out of the way for me and the girls I was there with.

Continue reading ‘Interview with Maya Rudolph- Away We Go’

Thought this quote was interesting from Ben Stiller in an interview for his new film Night at the Museum Two that appeared in Time Out Dubai (yes, I guess there is a Time Out Dubai)

Question: Most of the comedy in this film and most others comes from men. Why do think that is? Is there some kind of prejudice that women comedians face, perhaps?

Ben Stiller: I do think there is and I think it comes from men. I’m surrounded by funny women in my life: my mother (Anne Meara), my sister and my wife. My wife Christine is hilarious. I don’t think it’s true that men are funnier than women. There have been funny women for years like Gilda Radner and Catherine O’Hara. There is no one as funny as Tina Fey just now, male or female.

I think that in general, though, there’s a certain ‘men’s club’ sort of attitude about comedy in terms of how men see women. But it goes deeper than that. I think men want to see women in a certain light, it’s subconscious and they’re not even aware of it. It has to do with men’s outlook on women. Hopefully that will change.

Major points for Ben.   Now he needs to use his clout to get some more women leads in comedies.

Ben Stiller Interview (Time Out Dubai)

Jane Lynch is one of those actresses who has been EVERYWHERE for years.  She is an amazing supporting player (Best in Show) and usually plays funny but also can do drama as she does on Criminal Minds as the mentally ill mother of brainiac Spender Reid.  She’s also one of the most visible and vocal lesbian actors.

She’s one of the people that if she is in something I will go out of my way to see it because I know she’s that good.

Tonight after the season finale of American Idol she co-stars in the preview of the highly anticipated series Glee.  She’s also in Julie & Julia out August 7th playing Julia Child’s sister.

Check out the trailer for Glee.  Here’s a NY Times interview with Lynch.

Looks like Saturday Night Live just got some serious competition.  Wanda Sykes is about to sign a deal with Fox (according to the Hollywood Reporter) to do a weekly late night gig talk show gig.

Here’s the description:

It will be topical, featuring a panel of recurring guests sparring over issues concerning politics as well as pop culture. Sykes will appear in field segments as well.

I am so watching.

Wanda Sykes Gets Late-Nite Gig (HR via Reuters)

Do you know who Chelsea Handler is?

She’s the female version of a late night talk show host.  Her show is on E! and recently moved to 11pm where she has been kicking ass in the ratings.  Her main audience is  young women 18-34.

She just signed a new 3-year, 8 figure deal with Comcast (parent of E!).  Her new deal also includes a production deal for her company Borderline Amazing Prods.

Her books “Are You There Vodka? It’s Me, Chelsea,” and “My Horizontal Life” spent weeks on the NY Times bestseller list and also appeared in the web version of In the Motherhood which will debut on ABC tomorrow night with Megan Mullaley and Cheryl Hines.

I’ve only seen a couple of her shows, and she is really funny and raunchy.

Chelsea Handler Gets 3-Year Deal (Variety)

I’m a big fan of Jackie Hoffman. I’ve seen her holiday show that runs at Joe’s Pub in NYC a couple of times and I literally peed in my pants. I know that’s gross, but she is that funny. While she may not be the biggest star (and she should be) you may recognize her from Kissing Jessica Stein or have seen her on Broadway in Hairspray and Xanadu.

She’s taken some of the material from her recent shows and put them on a hysterically funny CD which is out now. Purchase her CD here. She can be seen at Joe’s Pub in NYC on December 22 and January 5. Info here.

She answered some questions for Women & Hollywood:

Women & Hollywood: You’re back at Joe’s Pub in NYC for another edition of your anti-holiday show. What is it about the holidays that brings out the worst in you?

Jackie Hoffman: The hypocritical obsession with all things warm and fluffy and children. The music that is shoved down my throat everywhere. If you’ve seen my show, I think you’d say that it brings out the best in me.

W&H: Your comedy is hysterical and bitter. Where does that come from?

JH: Right? My theory is all the taunting at the playground, and growing up the overweight girl with the big nose and crossed eyes.

W&H: You’ve been on Broadway in Hairspray and Xanadu. Any more shows on the horizon?

JH: Just mine as far as I know. That horizon is dying more by the minute

W&H: On your CD you make fun of your health issues. Tell us why you make fun of your fibroid and scare with cancer.

Because the irony is just too perfect. Someone who has the courage to speak out about not worshipping children, and then getting a gigantic tumor that resembled a pregnancy, and being rendered infertile. I couldn’t not talk about it.

W&H: You love to make fun of the Jews without making Jews feel defensive (which is hard). Why are the Jews such fodder for your comedy?

JH: Thank you. I just do what writers do, go with what I know. I was raised by and with very funny Jews. And some of the attitudes and characters that I’ve come across in my life are too good to pass up.

W&H: What’s next for you?

JH: I am taking my act on the road to different cities to promote this album. There is nothing like it out there, and I’m very proud of that.