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RITA RUDNER
Rita Rudner is the only child of witty parents. Much to their dismay, Rita displayed a complete lack of wit until the age of twenty-five, whereupon she refused to say anything unless it was laced with wit.
Up until twenty-five Rita preferred to talk with her feet, and danced in six Broadway shows that she no longer likes to name because readers will be compelled to go back and try to figure out how old she is.
Rita decided to be a comic by standing in front of inebriated strangers late at night, talking into a microphone and leaving in the bits where people laughed. She has no idea why she leaped from chorus lines to punch lines……when she was in therapy she forgot to ask.
David Letterman, Johnny Carson, Bill Maher, Jay Leno, Bob Hope, George Burns, Tom Snyder, Conan O’Brien, Dennis Miller, Martin Short, Oprah Winfrey, Regis Philbin and Kathy Lee Gifford have all found Rita amusing, and she has appeared on all of their respective shows respectively.
Rita’s first solo HBO special, “Rita Rudner’s One Night Stand,” was nominated for two Ace Awards, as was her English television show which later appeared on A&E. Rita’s two one-hour specials for HBO, “Born to Be Mild” and “Married Without Children,” were ratings standouts and many viewers liked her dresses.
Rita has written three books: her first fiction novel “Tickled Pink” which was published in the fall of 2001, the best-selling “Naked Beneath My Clothes” and “Rita Rudner’s Guide to Men,” which continues to be quoted extensively on the internet in English and in languages she will never understand. Speaking of men, in 1989 Rita married Englishman Martin Bergman. The two have collaborated in more ways than one. The movie “Peter’s Friends” was their first produced script. It starred Emma Thompson and Kenneth Brangah and won the Peter Seller’s award for best comedy film of the year.
“A Weekend in the Country” was another script the couple created together and it was also Martin’s directorial debut. It premiered on the USA Network and starred Jack Lemmon, Dudley Moore, Christine Lahti and Richard Lewis. Rita accidentally wrote a part for herself and memorized the lines so she could be in it too. Recently, the couple collaborated again for an episode of “Hollywood Off Ram” on E! called “Unfunny Girl.” Again, the couple co-wrote, Martin directed and Rita starred.
On January 27, 2003, Rita launched her first syndicated daily TV show Ask Rita, in key markets across the country.
The show features a panel of celebrities lightheartedly attempting to solve personal problems submitted by members of the public. Rita Rudner describes it as “a show in which I meddle in the lives of people I have never met. We handpick a crack team of celebrities who know nothing and aren’t afraid to share it. We won’t feel your pain, but we will point at it.” Rita also signed a long-term contract in 2002 to perform exclusively at the New York-New York Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas. In a city of cabarets and production shows, Rudner is one of the few female headliners who has achieved success by keeping her clothes on. What began as a one-month booking at the MGM Grand in 2000 led to a permanent engagement at New York-New York’s $1.2 million Cabaret Theatre built exclusively for her. In honor of her one-year anniversary, the New York-New York created a bank of Rita Rudner slot machines featuring her likeness and funny female personality for play and admiration.
In between live appearances, Martin and Rita continue to write and sell movie and television scripts in Hollywood. Rita also found time to help write the 2001 & 2003 Oscar’s with Steve Martin and the 2002 Oscar’s with Whoopi Goldberg. Rita also regularly appears on Hollywood Squares and is running out of interesting blouses.
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