Sandra Bernhard on turning down "Sex & the City"...- Page 2

[sabrelady]

Posted: 9/13/09 at 1:56am

Want some burned blinzes? The worst thing is- it SMELLS delish!
OY.
I keep hearing traces of Sunset Boulevard in Ms Bernhard's diatribes. "I'm still big! it was the pictures that got smaller" or words to that effect( see I'm learning to qualify!)

[Gothampc]

Posted: 9/13/09 at 1:57am

"I mean she always spins tales of Hollywood that never happened to her."

She's like Elaine Stritch in that manner. Stritch for a long time tried to make out that she almost had Dorothy on "Golden Girls" when everyone knows that Susan Harris had Bea Arthur in mind all along.

[FindingNamo]

Posted: 9/13/09 at 2:01am

For a long while? It's in her show.

Bettyboy, the thing is, Kathy's a comic. Sandra didn't bristle when Stern called her that, but it's because she was kissing his ass to get some airtime on his show. Her shows are more cabaret, if you want a more direct descendent from what she does it would be Hedwig & The Angry Inch.

I do think Sandy gives herself wayyyyy too much credit for "revealing where we're headed" in her act, as if her audience hasn't thought of her incredible insights all on their own before they see her show. The reason she's beloved by a certain audience is because she echoes their take on things, not because it's so groundbreaking.

[Bettyboy72]

Posted: 9/13/09 at 2:05am

Well Im listening to Kathy's audiobook now and the years where Kathy is talking about how no one had seen "storytelling" as comedy and no one "got" her, I have to disagree. Sandra was already doing it, and Sandy wasn't singing back then.

[FindingNamo]

Posted: 9/13/09 at 2:17am

Sandy's been singing since the first time I saw her, which was '84 or '85. Toad's Place, New Haven. She had a piano player named Brian and opened with an hilarious Burt Bachrach a cappella medley.

[Bettyboy72]

Posted: 9/13/09 at 2:22am

I hadnt seen her live in the 80s, I just remember her now classic appearances on Letterman. Those were off the hook.

[Gothampc]

Posted: 9/13/09 at 2:24am

"For a long while? It's in her show."

Just because you heard it first in the show doesn't mean it was the first time Stritch told the story. One of the arguments she had with Susan Harris was that "Dorothy" didn't sound like an Italian name.

[StageManager2]

Posted: 9/13/09 at 2:32am

^^^
So, people assimilate. My sister is Guatemalan and her husband is Puerto Rican, but both their daughter's are named Kayla and Giselle. Not very Spanish-sounding. Also, she was often called "Dorothea" by Italian relatives/friends, which is Latin in origin.

[Gothampc]

Posted: 9/13/09 at 3:00am

Think of it from the viewpoint of Susan Harris. You're nervous about selling a comedy about four menopausal women and some old broad who wasn't known to American tv audiences comes in and starts telling you that the character's name should be more authentic Italian. That's the way Stritch is.

[Jane2]

Posted: 9/13/09 at 8:31am

"I can understand her being bitter about never making it big"

She's much too esoteric to ever make it big.


I find her performances interesting with some really good content, but what bothers me most about Sandy is that she believes that she can sing. And she sings LOUDLY, and most of the time ear-splittingly off pitch.

Updated On: 9/13/09 at 08:31 AM

[DottieD'Luscia]

Posted: 9/13/09 at 11:43am

I used to see her frequently at my gym in NYC and she always had that perpetual look of disgust on her face!

[FindingNamo]

Posted: 9/13/09 at 12:01pm

Her mother warned her it would freeze that way.

[Borstalboy]

Posted: 9/13/09 at 12:06pm

Love, love, love the Bernhard. One of my all time divas.

However, its never good form when comediennes rag on other comediennes. I still don't get what Joan Rivers has against Janeane Garafolo. It wasn't cool then. I also remember Bette Midler ragging on the female comics of "today" (i.e. about fifteen years ago), calling them "trashy and tasteless". It wasn't cool then, either.

[FindingNamo]

Posted: 9/13/09 at 12:48pm

If they kiss Joan's ass, like Kathy Griffin does (because she's no fool), Joan says she likes them. She recently trashed Chelsea Handler.

[insertclevernamehere]

Posted: 9/13/09 at 2:43pm

What did she say about Chelsea?

[ray-andallthatjazz86]

Posted: 9/13/09 at 4:54pm

Of course Joan Rivers trashed Chelsea, I mean, Chelsea Handler called her out on her BS in THE APPRENTICE repeatedly and she often refers to Melissa Rivers as "horse-faced" (which isn't as vicious as it is accurate, IMO). What's funny is that a lot of the people Chelsea makes fun of, actually go on her show and are good sports about it. Guess Joan Rivers decided to trash her instead, ugh.
Sandra Bernhard was actually on Chelsea once.

[BobbyBubby]

Posted: 9/13/09 at 5:01pm

I have a love hate relationship with Miss Sandra. I think she's extremely talented. I also think she's incredibly deluded and narcissistic.

To say that she invented comedy making fun of celebrities is a huge lie and she knows it.

I wouldn't even put her style and Kathy Griffin's style in the same category.

Griffin is funnier in my opinion. Sandra is, well was, more poignant and topical.

[jrb_actor]

Posted: 9/13/09 at 6:08pm

I love both ladies, flaws and all. I never thought of them as similar. I can see the argument, but to me, they are SO different.

And, I think there's a lil more artistry to what Kathy does onstage than just dishing. At the very least, it's the fact that she's so damn funny at dishing. And she does what the best comics do--she observes the world and holds a mirror up to it, knowing exactly where to highlight what's funny about it.

[BobbyBubby]

Posted: 9/13/09 at 6:13pm

Kathy also portrays herself as lesser than she is. Bernhard portrays herself bigger than she ever could be.

[ray-andallthatjazz86]

Posted: 9/13/09 at 6:15pm

Kathy also portrays herself as lesser than she is. Bernhard portrays herself bigger than she ever could be.

BobbyBubby, that's a great assessment of the two.

[Mister Matt]

Posted: 9/14/09 at 2:36pm

Kathy started out using gossip as her platform, but she ultimately used it to create her own unique style when she created the whole social-climbing media-whore D-lister persona. She exploits pop culture and mocks herself simultaneously while avidly applauding herself and usually avoiding self-righteousness (though the Jesus speech at the Emmys is debatable). I like Sandra and I applaud her work, but I always felt her work was more performance art in delivery and structure than stand-up or cabaret. Probably because it seemed to be more of an abstract vision of both. I'm really surprised to see her compare herself to Kathy at all as I think they have about as much in common in content and style as Andy Kaufman and Milton Berle.

[Jane2]

Posted: 9/14/09 at 2:39pm

"Andy Kaufman and Milton Berle."

Both brilliant!

yeah, I agree, Matt.

[MrMidwest]

Posted: 5/20/12 at 2:48pm

Yeah, I don't really see how Bernhard and Griffin's acts are that similar, aside from the fact that they both talk about celebrities. Sandra is a performance artist and Kathy is a comic. It may be true that what Sandra does is more layered, but that doesn't (always) make it funnier.

[ray-andallthatjazz86]

Posted: 5/20/12 at 5:12pm

I think Kathy Griffin is hilarious, I agree that Bernhard is more of a performance artist, I don't get why she's comparing herself to people like Griffin or Joan Rivers or whatever.
On another note, I cannot believe I was defending Chelsea Handler back in 2009, how embarrassing, sometimes revisiting old threads can be mortifying.