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Judy Gold on “Celebrity Wife Swap” and giving parenting advice

Seems Judy Gold is one of the busiest and most multi-faceted entertainers of our time. As a writer/producer/actor/thespian/teacher she has won two Emmy awards for writing and producing The Rosie O’Donnell Show and a GLAAD Award for “Outstanding New York Theatre” for her off-Broadway play, 25 Questions for a Jewish Mother. Gold appeared in The Aristocrats, guest starred on 30 Rock and The Big C and is a regular on both daytime and late night TV, appearing on The Wendy Williams Show, The Dr. Oz Show, The Tonight Show and The Late Late Show. She’s co-hosted The View and Anderson Live, hosted “NickMom Night Out,” and appeared in a number of documentaries, comedy specials and radio shows. She’s written for People Magazine and The Advocate, teaches performance and is a frequent contributor to The Moth.

It’s hard to imagine, but in her copious amounts of free time she still manages to tour theaters and comedy clubs across the country, hit Olivia events and guest star on shows like Celebrity Wife Swap. Living in New York with her wife and two children, Gold isn’t fazed by a packed schedule and back-to-back projects. Instead, she counts motherhood as what keeps her the busiest.

AfterEllen.com: Seems you have quite a few projects going on right now. Which are you most excited for? How do you manage to juggle so many projects?

Judy Gold: You forgot about my son graduating high school and going off to college and my other son’s Bar Mitzvah in October! When you have kids you always have a lot going on. I was blessed with ADD which was diagnosed a couple of years ago. I also have a bit of OCD, and the combination is a blessing in disguise. I have so much going on, but I’m so compulsive about getting it all done. The things that really excite me the most are my kids’ basketball and baseball games, and just hanging out as a family. As far as work, I’m happy for all of it. I love what I do.

 

AE: And because of that you recently added “parenting expert” to your resume after People Magazine asked you to start doling out parenting advice. How did that come about?

JG: People.com actually came to me to do something funny for Mother’s Day. It was great. I am so not a parenting expert!

AE: You were one of the few women recently featured in the film When Jews Were Funny. Did you feel that it was an important project for you to get involved in?

JG: Can you believe that? No women? It’s amazing to me. I thought it was a good project and of course, I like being on the big screen. But you cannot disregard what Joan Rivers, Gilda Radner, Totie Fields, Belle Barth, Sophie Tucker, Molly Pican, Fanny Brice and more have done for comedy. Like every other profession (except for teaching and nursing), women are marginalized. It’s a sad state of affairs when we have to define rape, fight for choice and equal pay-not to mention how humiliating it is. And for all of those men who engage in such misogyny, they should take a moment to think about where they came from. Don’t get me started!

AE: Do you feel a responsibility to educate the general public on the finer points of being a Jewish queer woman in comedy?

JG: I wish I knew what the finer points are. I feel a responsibility to be who I am 100%. When I get on stage, I am a comedian who happens to be female, gay and Jewish. I am proud of my family, and myself and I’m going to talk and write about the things that I’m most passionate about. Humor is the most palatable way to get a point across, so if I can make people laugh AND think I’ve done my job. It will be a triumph when people hear about my family and forget that we are same sex parents.

AE: Speaking of, you and your wife will be the first same-sex couple represented on Celebrity Wife Swap. What was the experience like?

JG: They had approached me a while ago, and we declined. They kept asking and asking, so Elysa, Henry, Ben and I discussed it and thought it might be fun since we are a pretty hilarious family. My ulterior motive was to present to America a real family with same sex parents that has the same issues, problems and joys as every other family. I think we accomplished that, although I have not seen it edited. It was quite an experience having someone else in this house. We have two bedrooms and one bathroom.

AE: What else are you working on, what’s next for you?

JG: That’s the curse and beauty of this business-who knows?

Judy’s episode of Celebrity Wife Swap airs Tuesday, July 1st on ABC. She’ll also be headlining the Just for Laughs Comedy Festival in Montreal, July 16 through July 27, and performing at the Olivia Ultimate Hawaiian Escape in Kona, Hawaii August 30th through September. AfterEllen readers can get one dollar off the price of a download of When Jews Were Funny using the code “afterellen” on whenjewswerefunny.vhx.tv.

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