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Sandra Bernhard is not into Lady Gaga and modern celebrityNot long after I came out, I was invited to a gay friend’s house to watch a movie that he said would have me laughing so hard that I’d pee my pants. How could I resist an invitation like that? The movie was Without You I’m Nothing, based on out comedian Sandra Bernhard’s much acclaimed one-woman-show of the same name.
I didn’t get it. Bernhard ranted and raved and did odd non-impressions of celebrities and fake interviews with people I didn’t recognize, being a shiny new lesbian and all.
The tape ended with Bernhard draped in an American flag wearing nothing but a patriotic g-string and pasties, dancing to Prince’s Little Red Corvette. Not only were my pants dry, but I also felt totally stupid surrounded by gay men doubled over in laughter tears.
All these years later, Bernhard still confounds me much of the time. She often seems to be one step over the line between funny and not. Other times I think she’s brilliant and hilarious — and I revel in her outrageousness.
So, I’m hoping for a video of the 20-year revival of Without You I’m Nothing, which she will perform in New York City on June 10, to see how I respond to her act now.
Bernhard spoke to WWD about the show, which contains quite a bit of new material. "There have been a lot of changes in the last 20 years. I have a 10-year-old daughter. So, I talk about being a mother. Technology. Whatever's in the moment.
What’s not in the moment for Bernhard, who turns 54 Saturday, is much interest in contemporary women performers, even though she understands where they’re coming from. [Americans] want their performers totally stripped down and vulnerable so they can go "look at that idiot." I can’t say that these are great times for young artists. There’s no longevity. Lady Gaga? I just don’t see any of the stuff lasting for very long.
What about comedians who do potty humor, like Sarah Silverman? She’s fine. She suits her generation. But I want to see something else … I’ve always been more drawn to Stevie Nicks and Joni Mitchell and Chrissie Hynde and Tina Turner and Nina Simone. You sat there and it was like you were watching theater because they were so committed.
Bernhard’s own level of commitment has changed in recent years. Shortly after she had Cicely, she met her partner Sara Switzer. The two have been together for nine years.
A happy family life certainly hasn’t blunted Bernhard’s edge. But she is quite happy to give up one source of comedic outrage: the administration. This is how I feel about it: If I have to trade 20 minutes of material for a world of peace, I’ll be glad to sacrifice it. After eight years of the Bush administration, I’d be thrilled never to have to mention any of those people’s names again. When comedians have run out of material on that level, it’s a healthy sign. Are you a Sandra Bernhard fan? What do you think of her brand of comedy? Submitted by on June 5, 2009 - 2:23pm. |
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All I have to say is...
LOL well well...
This comment cracked me up!!!! hahahaha I was thinking the same thing as I read the article!!! Hahaha she reminded me so much of my French professor at university... they even look alike... hahaha!!!
"Learn how to write.. then I'll consider..."
I'm still giggling... :)
"It is easier to disintegrate an atom than human stupidity"-A. Einstein
Funny and not
...yup, thts pretty much the description I'd give her.
I'll second that.
Sandra>>
Her daughter Cicely isn't adopted. Sandra gave birth to her and she was also conceived 'the old fashioned way.'
Why do I know this stufff?
And YAY for her Gaga stance!
Thanks!
Hmmmm.
I can't put my finger on Sandra Bernhard. I don't find her funny, but I like her for some reason.
" True enjoyment comes from activity of the mind and exercise of the body; the two are ever united" ~ Wilhelm von Humbolt
Sandra Bernhard was simply genius
That's why I am so funny..."
I love her!
I never heard of her until she started hanging out in public with Madonna. Then I saw "Without You I'm Nothing" and have been hooked ever since. With Sandra, being queer is just the sprinkles on a fierce woman sundae.
I also did not not know how far back her comedy roots went until I watched a Paul Mooney DVD and saw her talking about her days with Mooney on "The Richard Pryor Show".
www.swandiver.wordpress.com
"Those who restrain desire, do so because theirs is weak enough to be restrained" - William Blake
I don't know
I don't find her funny and most of the time she is bitchy but I find her kind of charismatic;well she definitely HAS something going on after all she dated Patricia Velasquez. A big achievement for a person with errm not-so-good looks!
"I believe that I will be with one person for the rest of my life, but that person will be a woman." Luce-Imagine Me&You
sick of this kind of speech
Raaaah I'm sick of these people proclaiming that art isn't good anymore nowadays, that everything was way better some years ago..
It's bullsh*t. there ARE amazing young artists, even nowadays. Great actors, talented musicians etc.. Of course there is a lot of mediocrity in this business, but it was the same in the 50s, 60s etc.. We only think it was better back then because we have forgotten the sh*tty artists and we only remember the great ones.
(sorry if I made mistakes, I've done my best to be understandable - I'm french.)
you're prolly right but...
...I can't help but wonder who the Joni Mitchell of today is. Most singers sing about love just like always and other ppl try to be different by singing about stupid things like toast or socks. Singers like Lady Gaga, Pussycat Dolls, Lilly Allen all admit they just wanna be famous. It all just seems so shallow, but then at least they admit it.
I must agree though, there was a lot of rubbish music in the old days, we just forget it. In the future maybe I will magically forget about the rubbish stuff and will talk about the "good old days".
"My life's like a romantic comedy that's never romantic! Or comedic! My life is nothing like a romantic comedy!" - Caitlin (Cashmere Mafia)
I agree with you avvril.
I agree with you avvril. Why do the previous generations always have to knock the present artistes? They did the same against Charlie Chaplin, Louis Armstrong and Ella Fitzgerald and they also did it against Elvis Presley and The Beatles - all those critics look pretty stupid today.
The only compensation for those of us who value, appreciate and understand today's current performers is the fact that those who don't (such as SB) are going to look just as stupid in the future when Lady GaGa and today's present generation of talented performers are still forces to be reckoned with in the decades to come!
Oddly intrigued...
i'm going on June 10
I am sooooooo excited. I love her.
"After eight years of the Bush administration, I’d be thrilled never to have to mention any of those people’s names again. When comedians have run out of material on that level, it’s a healthy sign."
brilliant.
also so glad that AE covered this event. i love that the writer had mix feelings about her, i enjoyed hearing that perspective. i know you can't cover everything but i do think she is really important to the lesbian entertainment world. her coming out and representing lesbian/bi women means a lot to me.
Will and Grace...
....i havent seen her in much but i LOVE her in the episodes of Will and Grace that she was in.....but other then that i dont see her in much.....she's a good singer tho from what i've heard
"the longest lies are told when lonely hearts won't stay to fight it" Ten Second Epic
Jenny Lewis?
Emily Haines and Jenny Lewis
Emily Haines and Jenny Lewis
1992
I saw her one-woman-show in early 1992 in London (UK) - together with my mother. And besides me enjoying and loving the show immensly it had a profound impact on my mother, who still recounts the story every context she can find (even though conincidently about 10 days ago I had to remind her of the name of "the artist I took her to see when I studied in London") .
After the show, my mom confessed to me that she felt totally excluded as Ms. Bernhard took queerness as the norm, and she constantly had the turn switches in her head to keep up with the show. This, of course, was for me exactly the reason I enjoyed the show so much, but for my mother it was so "alien" that she said she realized that in the conventional hetero world I must often feel the way she did during the show.
So besides giving me entairtainment Sandra Bernhard also made my mom able to "feel" what it was like to be me in the straight world.
And to make people really think, in my book, is one of the most defining aspects of art. So I guess I have to agree with yep-I'm-gay that she's a genius!
1992 plus one
Somewheres back in the 80s a
Gaga wont be happy..
Gaga wont certainly be happy when she mentioned that Tina Turner, etc had alot of commitment and as it Gaga is lacking of it. Lady Gaga is one of the few artists that give 110% commitment is everything that she does; writing music, performing.
So, not a YAY for Gaga statement.
And I've always find Bernhard as unusual since I first saw her in the L Word. Unusual, in a negative way..
__________________________________________________
You once said, "We must be fools to think we'd last"
And i still say, "You can be foolish with me, darl"