SANDRA BERNHARD STILL SPEAKS HER MIND—WITH SOME EXCEPTIONS

In the 2022 Netflix special Stand Out: An LGBTQ+ Celebration, Lily Tomlin introduces Sandra Bernhard as “indescribable.” That’s a pretty good way of putting it: Bernhard, who identifies as bisexual, has been a transgressive, queer force in comedy since she broke out in stand-up in the 1970s. Soon after, she launched to stardom in Martin Scorsese’s 1981 dark comedy The King of Comedy; since then, her career has taken her to everything from a recurring role on Roseanne to a stint on Broadway, multiple music albums, and beyond. continue reading...

SANDRA BERNHARD: EASY LISTENING

Sandra Bernhard has been hosting her now-legendary New Year’s Eve variety show for decades, enchanting scores of delighted guests with her eclectic musical choices, her unique voice, her utterly engaging stories, and her unending starpower. Bernhard’s love for life cannot be tapped down by year-end global conundrums, whatever they may be, as evidenced by her 1999 show entitled 2001: A Sandra Odyssey, which critics of the time called, assuming the world would literally end January 1, 2000, “throwing caution to the wind on New Year’s Eve in New York City, the night when even Broadway producers aren’t tempting millennial fate.”

“It’s my superstition,” Ms. Bernhard explained to us on a Zoom call earlier this month. “If I perform the last night of the year, I’ll perform the rest of the new year. It’s what I believe. So I had to perform! Even during COVID I did a little complimentary show on Instagram Live. I mean, it was so weird to do it from my bedroom… but I think people really appreciated it.” continue reading…

BUCKLE UP, CHRISTMAS CROWDS: SANDRA BERNHARD STILL HAS PLENTY TO SAY

Sandra Bernhard was early for a midmorning Chelsea coffee date, already perched at the cafe with a hefty cup. She sat not inside at the reserved table, but outdoors in a street shed, in full view of passers-by. She waved at neighbors and greeted her dog walker in a barrage of “honeys” and blown kisses, trilling a song to one of her charges — “Regiiiina” — that stopped the puggle (and some other pooches) in their tracks. continue reading…

Wes Gordon and Sandra Bernhard Discuss the Possibilities of Fashion

Wes Gordon never let time get in the way of his dreams of becoming a fashion designer. In 2009, as soon as he graduated from Central Saint Martins in London, the Atlanta native headed to New York City, where he began his eponymous label out of his apartment, and within two years, was selling his brand of elegant womenswear at Bergdorf Goodman while dressing people like Gwyneth Paltrow and Michelle Obama. In 2017, Gordon began consulting for Carolina Herrera and bonding with its legendary founder. One year later, he was named creative director of the brand. Now, he and his husband, the glassblower Paul Arnhold, have another baby to raise: an actual newborn named Henry. Over Zoom, the performer Sandra Bernhard—who happens to be Gordon’s friend and neighbor—got the nitty gritty on how Gordon is balancing his new life as a dad while steering the legendary fashion house into the future. continue reading…

POSE STAR SANDRA BERNHARD: ‘I NEVER TRIED TO BE REVOLUTIONARY’

The trailblazing actor and comedian on asserting her bisexuality in the 80s, misogynistic male comics – and befriending Madonna

uring nearly five decades in showbiz, Sandra Bernhard has racked up title after title – comedian, actor, singer, author, radio host – and a reputation for controversy. She has worked with a long list of superstars, from Richard Pryor and Robin Williams to Robert De Niro and Cyndi Lauper. But she has never been overshadowed; her force of personality has guaranteed that. Even 30 years ago, the Los Angeles Times was paying homage to her “acid-tongued, antagonistic persona”.

But there are no cutting remarks today. On this sunny morning in LA, she appears relaxed, in a pink-striped shirt and trousers, reminiscent of the early 80s outfits she wore for her many appearances on Late Night With David Letterman.

It is almost a year since she finished filming the final series of Pose, the much-praised TV drama exploring the ball scene in 80s New York and the gay and transgender artists who built it. Bernhard plays Judy Kubrak, a nurse caring for people dying with Aids. Judy has an activist streak, bringing other characters into the fight against neglectful politicians and cruel pharmaceutical companies. continue reading…

PAUL MOONEY AND ME | SANDRA BERNHARD REFLECTS ON HER DECADES-LONG FRIENDSHIP WITH THE LATE COMIC

On May 19, Paul Mooney died from a heart attack at the age of 79. Mooney was one of the most influential figures in the history of modern comedy. A behind-the-scenes giant, he had his hands in so much that would define the art form: He collaborated with Richard Pryor during the stand-up’s creative peak, maybe most famously writing the “Word Association” Saturday Night Live sketch. He was the godfather of the so-called “Black Pack,” working closely with Eddie Murphy, Keenen Ivory Wayans, Arsenio Hall, and Robert Townsend. He worked as a head writer on In Living Color, creating Homey D. Clown. Fifty years into his career, he became a Chappelle’s Show breakout star. He was a stand-up that influenced generations — and a mentor. continue reading…

STRIKING ONE LAST POSE WITH SANDRA BERNHARD

I have been following Sandra Bernhard since the 1980s when this relative unknown came on the scene in a big way going toe-to-toe with seasoned heavyweights like Jerry Lewis and Robert DeNiro in Martin Scorsese’s The King of Comedy. It was a groundbreaking performance in an iconic film about the cult of celebrity and what happens when things go off the rails. There was something subversive about Bernhard’s arresting portrayal of celebrity-stalking kidnapper Masha which spoke to me. She validated and empowered neurotics everywhere. I continued following Bernhard’s career over the decades across various platforms from her live stage performances to her forays into episodic television from Rosanne to Pose and her Sirius radio program Sandyland. Through it all, Sandra has remained an original who has managed to make us laugh and think at the same time. continue reading…

26 YEARS LATER, SANDRA BERNHARD REVISITS HER ODDLY PRESCIENT INTERVIEW FEATURE

The consummate entertainer and pioneering gay rights advocate, who will soon reprise her role as Nurse Judy on season three of FX’s ballroom drama Pose, revisits—and revises—her Interview feature from 1994. continue reading…

SANDRA BERNHARD TALKS WITH US

About how she schmoozed her way onto the cast of Pose, living in New York in the ‘80s and running into fans.

WATCH VIDEO…

SANDRA BERNHARD DOESN’T THINK NEW YORK IS DEAD JUST YET

Sandra Bernhard has no filter, nor does she need one. Her big break came in 1982, when she starred in Martin Scorcese's The King of Comedy, and ever since then, her bold, over-the-top stage persona has lent itself to scathing musings on politics and pop culture. The performer is also trailblazer in her own right: Bernhard was one of the first to play an openly lesbian character on Roseanne, has always addressed LGBTQ issues in her comedic material, and became something of a New York legend when she appeared around town with Madonna at parties.

On Pose, which takes place when New York's ballroom scene blossomed from subculture to popular culture and Madonna's "Vogue" was on repeat, she plays Judy Kubrak, a nurse who works closely with quarantined patients in AIDS wards. In the season two premiere, Judy brings Pray Tell (Billy Porter) to an ACT UP meeting to discuss a demonstration that would protest the AIDS crisis and the government's mistreatment of the LGBTQ community. Judy also cares for Blanca (Mj Rodriguez), who is diagnosed with AIDS and learns she must take AZT, an antiretroviral medication, to treat the disease. This season, Bernhard's role as Judy has expanded to give her a more colorful background, more screen time, and of course, more of her signature zesty one-liners.

In her Culture Diet, Bernhard muses on her role as an activist nurse on Pose, reading the works of contemporary literature It Girls like Sally Rooney and Rachel Cusk, fighting with social media trolls, and whether or not New York really is dead these days. continue reading…

SANDRA BERNHARD ON LEAVING BITCHY BEHIND

The “Pose” actress and queer-TV trailblazer was embraced by the drag demimonde in her ferocious days but has a gentle vibe in person.

I miss seeing you on television!” an elderly woman named Renee squawked at her neighbor the actress, comedian, and singer Sandra Bernhard. They were in front of the stately brick Frederic Fleming House, on West Twenty-second Street, a residence for formerly homeless New Yorkers, where Renee has lived for sixteen years.

“But, honey, you see me all the time,” Bernhard replied. (She walks her dog, George, along the block daily.)

Renee, who has no teeth and a quantity of chin hair, eyed Bernhard up and down and told her, “You look different on television!” Bernhard is starring in the second season of “Pose,” the Ryan Murphy drama about the gritty, glamorous world of transgender women and gay men who staged New York’s legendary drag balls. She plays an activist nurse at Roosevelt Hospital during the height of the aids crisis.

“We’ll put your show on the schedule,” Martha Binikos, Fleming House’s manager, who was passing by, promised.

“Thank you, sweetheart,” Bernhard said. “This place keeps the neighborhood grounded in old New York—like there’s still a place where people can live, and not be pushed out by twenty-million-dollar apartments.”

Season 2 of “Pose” is set in 1990, when there were still hookers on the piers and Madonna’s “Vogue” video introduced the culture of ballrooms to viewers of MTV. It was a time when Bernhard and Madonna were tight—they were often photographed out together, like a kind of two-headed It Girl. “It was really fun. We would go to parties and be bitchy—we were bitchy to Joan Rivers,” Bernhard said. “I had a little crush on her, and I loved that people were, like, ‘Ooh, Madonna likes Sandy!’ ” continue reading…

SANDRA BERNHARD: ‘POSE’ RECALLS HORROR OF EARLY DAYS OF AIDS

There’s a good reason why Sandra Bernhard was upped to a series regular as nurse Judy Kubrak in the second season of “Pose,” the FX drama about the underground LGBTQ ballroom scene of the 1980s and ’90s. “Nurse Judy is there to serve as a conduit between the characters who are starting to show HIV-positive status — and to do something about it,” she said. “She becomes a friend to them as well as a medical advocate.” The show, which has been renewed for a third season, is addressing the epidemic because “it’s the reality of the time,” she added, but it won’t always be easy. In the season’s second episode Judy convinced Blanca (Mj Rodriguez) to take the antiretroviral HIV medication AZT, but Pray Tell (Billy Porter) remains resistant to treatment.

Bernhard, who turned 64 on June 6, recently spoke with The Post about Judy’s passion, performing during the early days of the AIDS crisis and the show’s message for young viewers.

Could you describe Judy?

Judy is tough. She’s in the trenches and yet very vulnerable and loving towards her patients and the people she deals with in the ragged hospital corridors. She wants to find a way to get them through it and not have them die, but she sees that every day. continue reading…

HOW SANDRA BERNHARD’S LUGGAGE LANDED HER ON THE REVOLUTIONARY FX SERIES “POSE”

Sometimes you get the gig through time-honored channels: Your agent gets an audition, your manager books a stand-up show.

But then there are times, as actress-comedian Sandra Bernhard describes how she ended up on the FX series “Pose,” when it almost seems like fate steps in.

“I ran into the co-creator Steven Canals and one of the writers, Our Lady J, on a flight from L.A.,” Bernhard says of the felicitous way in which she found herself on “Pose” not long after its premiere in June 2018.

“Our mutual friend Judith Light introduced all of us, and I was just talking to both of them by the baggage claim at JFK,” she says. “And I said, ‘I love the show, if anything ever comes up I’d love to do something.’”

As fate would have it, the creative team led by Ryan Murphy, whose previous creations include series such as “Glee” and “American Horror Story,” had just written a role on “Pose” for a nurse working with HIV and AIDS patients. The series is set amid the underground gay and transgender world of ballroom culture in New York City some three decades ago.

“So they went back and spoke with Ryan Murphy, who’s an old fan of mine, and he said, ‘Absolutely,’” Bernhard says. “I think he’d been trying to think of something for me over the years. It’s a great story.”

The moral of which is … hang out at the baggage claim more often continue reading…

‘POSE’S’ SANDRA BERNHARD ON TRUMP, MADONNA, ROSEANNE—AND HOW MISOGYNY STOPS WOMEN FROM WINNING THE PRESIDENCY

Sandra Bernhard tells Tim Teeman she and Madonna don’t talk, Trump must go, de Blasio sucks, and while Elizabeth Warren has her vote, misogyny will kill her presidential campaign.

America under Donald Trump, said Sandra Bernhard, taking a bite of grilled fish, has become “a cheap soap opera.” We met just after Robert Mueller’s brief press conference, which didn’t clarify anything and seemed to upset all sides even more. “Mueller is not the person to pursue,” said Bernhard sitting in Cookshop, one of her favorite restaurants near to the Chelsea home she shares with longtime partner, Sara Switzer. (Her 20-year-old daughter, Cicely, is in her junior year of college.) “Now it’s up to Congress. We just need to get that man out of the White House.”

If you are a Bernhard fan, be assured that off-stage the voice is still that low, ambiguously toned growl of mischief, if quieter. Bernhard is “concerned, frustrated, and fed up, but I’m also activated and doing everything to put the word out, like supporting Planned Parenthood, and women’s reproductive rights.”

Her past and present-day politics and activism mean that her casting in FX’s Pose as Judy, an HIV and AIDS nurse involved in ACT UP, has an acute echo embedded in it.

In the second, just-underway season of Pose, set in 1990, Nurse Judy is both taking care of Blanca (Mj Rodriguez) and Pray Tell (Billy Porter), and is also an avatar of the passionate activists of the time who fought governmental indifference and ignorance to the decimating AIDS pandemic in a time long before HIV-as-a-treatable-condition and PrEP. continue reading…

SANDRA BERNHARD / “QUICK SAND”

The actress, comedian, singer, and radio talk-show host Sandra Bernhard tells it like it is—it’s a big part of her wonderfully gimlet-eyed style—but she’s not here to soothe our nerves during a testy time. (Although she can console.) Indeed, what I look forward to most is her turns of mind and riffs that don’t so much lead to a conclusive point but, rather, mess with all our status-quo impulses, impulses that prevent us from really letting loose on all that bothers us. Commenting on politics, family, entertainment, and a multitude of other subjects, Bernhard’s new show, “Quick Sand” (at Joe’s Pub, Dec. 26-31), asks a lot of big questions about the nature of existence—What is it? Prove it!—and about what makes humor. Bernhard gets up on that stage night after night not because she wants to prove herself but because she has something to say, and loves the rush that comes from being strong enough and brave enough to say it. — Hilton Als continue reading…

SIGNATURE SANDY — SANDRA BERNHARD ON HER HOLIDAY SHOW, ‘POSE’, AND ‘AHS’

The week between Christmas and New Year's means one thing for Sandra Bernhard: Joe's Pub. For more than a decade now, the iconic raconteur and singer has performed two shows a night through New Year's Eve, this year with a show she playfully calls "Quick Sand." (For more information about the show, visit her website)

Reviewing a previous holiday show, a critic for Variety wrote: "What makes Bernhard's comedy so rare — whether she's philosophizing about Taylor Swift's squad or singing Dolly Parton's "Hard Candy Christmas" imagined by Caitlyn Jenner — is that within every keenly observed pop-culture rant, there's an element of piercing truth."

In past years Bernhard would travel with the show to cities around the country in the New Year, but not in 2019. Instead from February through May she will be shooting "Pose," the highly acclaimed Ryan Murphy series that she joins as a series regular as AIDS nurse Judy Kubrak, a role she introduced last season. This season the story moves to 1991 at the height of the epidemic in New York, so expect this no-nonsense character to play a larger part in the story.

She also had a spectacular turn on an episode of Murphy's "American Horror Story: Apocalypse" in which she played a storefront minister with a twist: instead of worshipping Jesus, she leads her followers — in an over-the-top Bernhard manner — in worshipping the Devil.

In addition, Bernhard continued with "Sandyland," her daily radio show on SiriusXM's Radio Andy channel 102, which has introduced her acerbic style to a new fan base and won her a Gracie Award.

EDGE spoke to Bernhard recently. continue reading…

UNFILTERED: SANDRA BERNHARD WILL BRING NEW, ONE-WOMAN SHOW TO LA JOLLA AND SAN DIEGO REGION

It’s not a solution to the current state of world pandemonium, but “Sandemonium,” the latest one woman show from the irrepressible Sandra Bernhard, promises to at least be an entertaining reaction. It plays the Lawrence Family Jewish Community Center on Dec. 12. In the show, Bernhard, 63, weaves her biting comedy around musical numbers she sings with a backing band. A broadwayworld.com review of the New York premiere stated: “Keeping the show lively without abandoning who she is and being honest about the state of the world without wallowing it in was something of a high-wire act … (but) she never bailed on her promise to remain upbeat.”

Phoning the Light from her Manhattan apartment, Bernhard called the show “a real roller coaster ride.” “Some of it is stand-up, some of it is more storytelling, some is rapid-fire stream of-consciousness,” she said. “It kind of wraps in and out of songs and dramatic moments. I go all over the map.” Bernhard is in the midst of a resurgence in her acting career. Known primarily for starring on the hit sitcom “Roseanne” from 1991 through 1997, she drew more recent raves for portraying a Satanic high priestess on this past season’s “American Horror Story.” She has also logged well-reviewed guest appearances on the Hulu’s “Difficult People” and another cameo, on “Sweetbitter,” just got fleshed into a recurring role for the Starz series’ upcoming second season. continue reading…

L.A. WEEKLY’S FIRST COVER SUBJECT, SANDRA BERNHARD, ON HER NEW SHOW, SANDEMONIUM

Sandra Bernhard has proven to be a most enduring comedian and her sassy, unfiltered, meta takes on life and pop culture continue to provide thoughtful laughs and so much more. She is and always has been fun to watch and listen to, no matter what she’s saying or doing — in movies, on TV, on record and, more recently, on radio (via her SiriusXM show Sandyland). But being in her physical presence is something altogether other-level. It’s watching a superstar shine but also sort of like hanging out and dishing with your wittiest friend, the one who says things so brilliant and oddball yet spot-on that you often want to jot her words down for future use.

Her latest stage show, Sandemonium, surely will offer all this and then some. Bernhard has perfected her “pastiche of madness,” a term we took from one of her past shows at REDCAT (yes, we jotted it down!). Bernhard is loose and spontaneous-seeming onstage yet remains razor-sharp in her points, ideas and narrative.

Her fearless style made her a perfect first L.A. Weekly cover subject, along with other young groundbreaking female comedians making a name for themselves at local venues like the Comedy Store. The 1978 debut cover story represented everything the paper sought to celebrate: uncensored commentary that was smart and bold but didn’t take itself too seriously, and a celebration of Los Angeles’ creative underground bubbling up to influence and change the mainstream. Forty years later, both L.A. Weekly and its first cover subject are striving for the very same things continue reading…

‘POSE’: SANDRA BERNHARD PROMOTED TO SERIES REGULAR FOR SEASON 2 Of FX DRAMA

EXCLUSIVE: Nurse Judy is coming back. Following a memorable Season 1 guest appearance, Sandra Bernhard is joining the cast of FX’s 1980s drama series Pose as a series regular in the upcoming second season.

She will continue as the brassy but caring Nurse Judy Katz, who works with HIV/AIDS patients.

The history-making Pose, which features the largest transgender series regular cast, as well as the largest LGBTQ cast ever for a scripted series, is set in the 1980s and looks at the juxtaposition of several segments of life and society in New York: the rise of the luxury Trump-era universe, the downtown social and literary scene and the ball culture world.Co-created by Ryan Murphy, Brad Falchuk and Steven Canals, the series is executive produced by Murphy — who directed the first two episodes — Falchuk, Nina Jacobson, Brad Simpson, Alexis Martin Woodall and Sherry Marsh. Canals and Silas Howard serve as co-executive producers, and Janet Mock, Our Lady J and Erica Kay also serve as producers. The eight-episode first season was produced by Fox 21 Television Studios and FX Productions continue reading…

A BALANCED BERNHARD

Funny lady Sandra Bernhard, who brings her raucous new live show, Sandemonium, to Guild Hall on June 30, shares observations from a life of wit and wonder.

PURIST: How would your family describe you?

SANDRA BERNHARD: Vivacious

PURIST: Growing up, what did you want to be?

BERNHARD: An entertainer in the mode of Carol Channing meets Diana Ross meets Mick Jagger.

PURIST: Your live performances are a mix of righteous anger and biting social commentary, and yet also often point toward a kind of spiritual transcendence.

BERNHARD: It’s all about shedding your skin as a performer, getting closer to who you are, stripping away the artifice. I think people now more than ever depend on the seasoned performers to turn to for solace, and also to get out of the mundane and be taken on a journey that lifts them higher. continue reading…

SANDRA BERNHARD BRINGS 'SANDEMONIUM' TO GUILD HALL

Sandra Bernhard is set to return to the Hamptons on Saturday, June 30 when she will present Sandemonium at Guild Hall in East Hampton.

We caught up with the performer, actress, singer and author the week before her Hamptons performance to learn more about the new show. Long known for her outspoken (and hilarious) takes on a range of disparate topics, in recent years Ms. Bernhard has also found her voice in a somewhat new and totally retro realm—radio, where her show “Sandyland” can be heard at noon five days a week on SiriusXM’s channel 102.

While she’s settled into a nice routine with the radio show, when it first premiered three years ago, Ms. Bernhard wasn’t certain what direction “Sandyland” would take. “I had no idea what it was going to be. Though I had done radio, I didn’t know what my point of view would be,” said Ms. Bernhard in a recent phone interview. “But what people want to hear is the day-to- day quotidian tidbits of what you do in your life.

“Everything these days is so political—this is just a chance to be able to get personal and funny,” she added. Fans of Ms. Bernhard’s work will no doubt find her both personal and funny as well as musical when she brings her live show, “Sandemonium,” to Guild Hall’s John Drew Theater on Saturday, June 30. While many comedians these days are using their platform to dissect the current political madness, Ms. Bernhard sees her show as something of a respite from it. continue reading…

ROSEANNE RETURNS!

I home all the time. i that word, housewife. i perfect her if to be called get ready to hear that voice.

No. Get ready. rosean make that 1985. that three minute set catapulted her to fame.

Yeah, that moment right there change for her. now nearly 20 years later, the reboot will air at 8:00 on abc the whole cast is back together she played her lesbian friend nancy.

to celebrate the big night, and for roseanne, some things haven' changed. Everyone's cell phone off. Are you excite. continue reading…

SANDRA BERNHARD´S “SANDEMONIUM” @RONNIE SCOTT´S

Ronnie Scott’s: it’s not the first venue you associate with performances by American comedy legends, but Sandra Bernhard’s not your average American comedy legend and this was far from the average twenty-first century stand-up gig. The style and structure of the performance harked back to the jazz and cabaret clubs where music and comedy took equal billing across the night and often across individual performances; the band stayed on stage throughout the comedian’s set and often helped out with improvisations. This was how Lenny Bruce delivered his routines.

The stage line-up for “Sandemonium” is Sandra plus piano, drums and guitar; her act has developed over the decades from purely stand-up to a combination of songs, observations of everyday New York behaviour, politics (almost inevitably), showbiz stories, family stories and some stream of consciousness, Lenny Bruce-style riffing and spritzing. And that’s before you get to the impressions, which are seamlessly stitched in to the tapestry of the performance, not as stand-alone routines but as a way of smoothly moving the narrative along. Here’s an example continue reading…

CONCERT REVIEW: SANDRA BERNHARD AT RONNIE SCOTT’S, W1

Who would have thought she would end up here? Sandra Bernhard is a rock chick rather than a standards singer, but this show, full of impromptu asides, hot riffs and, yes, the occasional awkward pause, was as exhilarating as the very best jazz gigs.

There’s never been any question about the American entertainer’s all-round talent: remember how she managed to steal scenes from Robert De Niro in that criminally under-rated Scorsese satire The King of Comedy? On stage though, Bernhard can be her own worst enemy: without the right material that caustic outsider wit can sound like the whining of a B-list celebrity who thinks she deserves a stretch limo and a larger swimming pool. continue reading…

TALKING WITH SANDRA BERNHARD: ARE GREAT IN SANDYLAND

Sandra Bernhard returns to Boston this week after a long absence with "Sandemonium," her latest show that offers a mix of her provocative comedy and songs, this Friday night at City Winery. EDGE spoke to Bernhard about the show, her daily radio gig and celebrity culture. It might be hard to believe that Sandra Bernhard hasn't performed in Boston in years. The comedy superstar has been an annual visitor to Provincetown, as well as holding court at Manhattan's Joe Pub during the holiday season, but Boston hasn't been on her agenda. That drought ends this week when Bernhard comes to the City Winery, the relatively new downtown performance space, this Friday night with the appropriately titled "Sandemonium." (For tickets visit the City Winery website.)

For the past three years Bernhard has added radio personality to her resume with a daily show on Andy Cohen's SiriusXM channel called "Sandyland" that has endeared her to many new fans. On the show, she interviews other celebrities as well as offering her pointed commentary on a variety of pop culture subjects. The Huffington Post wrote of the show: "It's hard to describe, much in the same way it's hard to put words to a brilliant jazz artist's improvisations. She simply took the conversation places that were at once enlightening, provocative and intimate." continue reading…

BWW REVIEW: SANDRA BERNHARD USHERS IN A NEW DAWN WITH SANDEMONIUM AT JOE´S PUB

"We're gonna keep it up upbeat. Right, kids?"

Finding light in the darkness was a dominant, if not the dominant, theme in 2017, so in closing out the year with SANDEMONIUM, it tracks that Sandra Bernhard would work it into her New Year's show---in her own distinctly Sandyland way, as her patented snark is a feature, not a flaw---and the crowd during her December 29 performance at Joe's Pub seemed just fine with that.

Bernhard stalked onstage singing the Neil Diamond tune "Brother Love's Travelling Salvation Show," shaking a tambourine as she did. All business, she betrayed no emotions as her hands rained down in tune with the music.

Seemingly in a single breath, the star rattled off a rapid-fire series of rhetorical questions, asking the crowd everything from, "Have you ever come face-to-face with a white supremacist?" to "Have you ever been strung out on OxyContin?" And when it was over, she reassured them that they had left the world of pandemonium and entered Sandemonium. continue reading…

BERNHARD’S SANDYLAND RADIO SHOW ON SIRUSXM IS AS UNIQUE AND BEGUILING AS THE ACTRESS HERSELF

Recently in New York, I accompanied musician John Oates on part of the media tour he was doing in support of the new book that we wrote together, his memoir, entitled Change of Seasons. For the most part, the dozens of interviews that John did on radio and television were pretty solid. As usual with this kind of back to back day of appearances, some were better than others.

But there was one that stood out for the both of us. After appearing on the Howard Stern Wrap-Up show at SiriusXM, John was taken down the hallway, away from the beehive celebrity bustle near centered the Stern show. There in the back, tucked away in her own quiet corner studio, is where actress-comedienne-monologist Sandra Bernhard broadcasts her hugely popular and highly acclaimed SiriusXM Radio daily live show, Sandyland on Andy Cohen’s Radio andy channel 102. show.

I think both John and I knew that the moment this interview started, that it was special. For one, it was not an interview per se. I would call it a conversation, but it was even more than that. Within just a few moments, Bernhard had begun leading John down a thoughtful and mysterious conversational path that revealed things about John that I didn’t even know, and I’ve been writing with him for more than two years contiue reading…

BWW REVIEW: SANDRA BERNHARD TAKES A STROLL DOWN SANDRA MONICA BLVD AT JOE'S PUB

A woman of many talents, one of Sandra Bernhard's greatest gifts has been her finely-honed ability to satirize Hollywood from the inside. Luckily, her latest residency at Joe's Pub, the year-ending SANDRA MONICA BLVD: COAST TO COAST, gave her plenty of opportunities to keep sharpening that blade.

In fact, Bernhard began with deconstructing her own celebrity, opening the December 27 show with a story about famed talent agent Sue Mengers, who represented her negotiations for HUDSON HAWK and, in her bid to make Bernhard "a superstar like Ann-Margret," Mengers attempted to more than double the $200,000 offer for her client to co-star.

And, while history shows she did, in fact, appear in the film, as Bernhard ominously recalled, "I was never offered that salary again..." Regaling the audience with that showbiz fable, not unlike the tale of Icarus flying too close to the sun, she proved keenly aware that to many, "stars" are essentially the last remaining mythological creatures continue reading…

SANDRA BERNHARD IS STILL HERE, DAMN IT: REVIEW OF ‘SANDRA MONICA BOULEVARD: COAST TO COAST’

As 2016 draws to a close, Sandra Bernhard has returned to Joe’s Pub—the intimate performance venue attached to New York’s Public Theater—for her annual year-ending series of shows, and she is defiantly upbeat.

In SANDRA MONICA BOULEVARD: Coast to Coast, her opening number—a jangly, energetic cover of Billy Joel’s “Say Goodbye to Hollywood”—aims to project the stoic closure of its lyrics to the past year, a theme she picked up in her ensuing monologue.

The road trip that inspired its title can also double as a metaphor for taking stock on where you’ve come from and what comes next. In a year—and week!—seemingly dominated by celebrity deaths, in which it seems the outpouring of appreciation for the deceased may not have been adequately reflected while we still had the person in question with us, the show makes one wonder what to make of Bernhard’s distinctive place in the entertainment firmament. She is a show business stalwart of over three decades, a longevity that Bernhard lampoons when slyly referring to having met her longtime accompanying pianist, Mitch Kaplan, in 1885, as opposed to the actual 1985 continue reading…

SANDRA BERNHARD DRIVES DOWN ‘SANDRA MONICA BOULEVARD’ IN L.A. STOP

“It’s a crazy time and I’m not going to talk about it,” said Sandra Bernhard by way of introducing “Sandra Monica Boulevard: Coast to Coast,” her traveling one-woman show that kicked off its three-day L.A. swing-by Thursday night at the Sorting Room at the Wallis Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts. “We’re living in a lawless society.”

She was referring, of course, to this year’s presidential election. And of course she did talk about it — and everything and everyone else. Because that’s what Bernhard does. From her scorching sailor’s tongue to the fiery curly hair to the giant Mick Jagger lips from which Bernard belted Billy Joel’s “Say Goodbye to Hollywood” to the 150 fans gathered for her performance (Jesse Tyler Furguson was at a table up front), Bernhard remains as brash and brazen as she was in the 1970s, when she first came to fame critiquing celebrity culture and satirizing establishment politicians at places like the Comedy Story and on “The Richard Pryor Show.”

All the old Hollywood greats were on Bernhard’s menu for discussion during her 90-minute show, from talent agent Sue Mengers to Ann-Margret to legendary singer Tom Jones. Accompanied by her back-up band throughout the show, Bernhard waxed nostalgic about Beverly Hills, the city where she first decided to make a go at stand-up while attending beauty school on the side: “My entire higher education cost $365 dollars.” continue reading…

SANDRA BERNHARD'S NEW TARGETS: HER COMEDY NOW FOCUSES LESS ON SKEWERING CELEBRITIES THAN ON EXPLORING THE STUFF OF FAMILY LIFE

Sandra Bernhard says that at heart, she is really just a low-key housewife. “Only I’m a performer who is incredibly witty and famous,” she adds with a laugh. Though best known for her cutting one-liners and bawdy sense of humor, it is the stuff of daily life, from folding laundry to buying paper towels, that now features most prominently on her radio show and in her comedy.

She has long skewered celebrities as part of her act, and Ms. Bernhard, 61, is still doing that—but it isn’t her focus these days. She finds that it isn’t as fun now that so-called “celebrities” are everywhere. “When I first started out, a celebrity was Warren Beatty or Meryl Streep,” she says. “Now it’s ‘The Real Housewives of New York’ and Donald Trump.” Today, she thinks that many people get into entertainment because they want to be famous rather than for reasons of artistic expression. “I think that’s a bad place to enter the creative world,” she says.

Her hourlong radio show, “Sandyland,” which airs five days a week on SiriusXM, features interviews with people in sports, music and arts. In one new monthly segment, she conducts her interviews on the subway. In the first installment, she talked to singer Debbie Harry and her fellow Blondie co-founder Chris Stein about their band, politics and family. The other passengers in the car mostly either read or looked on without comment. “Seeing celebrities on the subway doesn’t really surprise New Yorkers,” she says continue reading…

SANDRA BERNHARD DFENDS HER PAL MARC JACOBS

What ’s comedian Sandra Bernhard’s favorite currency? Boatloads of free frocks. After she posed for Marc Jacobs’ spring campaign, the designer sent her to his Mercer Street store and told her to go wild.

“There’s nothing more fun than getting to pick things out and wear them,” says Bernhard, who hosts the SiriusXM radio show “Sandyland.”

“You always try to be respectful and not rape and pillage.” She still managed to loot plenty of treasure, including a handful of dresses, “a couple of gorgeous coats,” a metallic sweater, a skirt, two pairs of shoes and some tops. Jacobs, a longtime friend of Bernhard’s, extends the same shop-till-you-drop courtesy before his dinner parties. (We assume she pays him back in free punch lines.) But she’s quick to dismiss rumors that her fashion friend is losing control. contine reading…

SANDRA BERNHARD: 'THERE'S SO MUCH MORE TO DO IN FLINT'

I grew up in Flint. My father was a doctor, and he and his partner treated mainly workers from General Motors and the plants. Every body had great insurance, it was boom times, and there was a lot of investment in the town. One of the first McDonald’s was there and I remember when it opened. Flint was a small great American city that literally drove this country. Some time after my family moved out to Arizona in 1965, Flint slowly started to fall apart, and when GM pulled out in the 1970s, everything sort of went haywire.

Now we all know what a tragedy Flint is, how terribly sad. Forty percent of the residents live below the poverty line. And that’s not a big concern for the auto industry or for Wall Street. People don’t care about these towns when they’re not producing anything. But when industry goes away, people stay behind—they aren’t moving to California or Florida. They’re left behind. What do you do when there’s nothing there to sustain you? continue reading…

THE DIVA, THE SEX SYMBOL, THE ROCKER: SANDRA BERNHARD WANTS TO ‘BE EVERYTHING’

Sandra Bernhard is an intimidating interview subject. Anyone familiar with the comedian and actress knows that she’s unapologetically brash and outspoken, having made more than a few enemies as a result of her satirical take on the narcissistic qualities of American celebrity culture. A quick search on YouTube yields scores of old clips, a good number of them from Bernhard’s many appearances on Late Night With David Letterman in the Eighties, where she’d often derail the host’s attempts at an interview or do things like drag then-BFF Madonna to the taping (their friendship was tabloid-friendly and, apparently, short-lived); Bernhard recently admitted that she eventually stopped getting invited back. Or how about this: After critic Laurie Stone wrote that she was “petty and bilious” in a Village Voice review of Bernhard’s Off-Broadway hit, Without You I’m Nothing, the performer started to trash Stone in her act, even incorporating a message Stone left on her answering machine into the show, until Stone took legal action.

Then there’s the fact that Bernhard is a celebrity herself. She’s the best kind of celebrity: not mega-famous, not unreachable, but still the type who is easily recognized when she’s walking on the street in Chelsea, mixing with midtown businessmen while taking an elevator down from the SiriusXM offices (her show, Sandyland, airs daily on Andy Cohen’s Radio Andy channel), or riding the subway. Her acting career has featured some major highlights: a plum part in Martin Scorsese’s dark satire The King of Comedy, a regular role on Roseanne, and recent appearances on Switched at Birth, Brooklyn Nine-Nine, and 2 Broke Girls continue reading…

SANDRA BERNHARD WANTS TO HELP YOU FEEL THE BERNHARD AT JOE'S PUB

Sandra Bernhard is not afraid to tell you what she thinks. "I've always been able to shoot from the hip and say what I feel," says the famous comedy chanteuse, reflecting on her four decades in show business. And don't think that your 140-character missives and misquotes on Twitter are going to cow her into submission either. "I'm pretty succinct, so things always seem to pan out," she notes.

Bernhard's brash and outspoken style has earned her a dedicated coterie of fans, many of whom will surely be in attendance at her annual year-end residence at Joe's Pub. Titled Feel the Bernhard, the show promises to be a roundup of 2015 conveyed through a mixture of songs, stories, and stand-up — all with a distinctive kick that only Sandra Bernhard can provide.

She spoke to TheaterMania about the show, her new hourlong radio program on Sirius XM Satellite Radio, and her love of Schweppes. (Won't somebody there please give her an endorsement deal already?) continue reading…

ASKS SIX LUMINARIES TO WEIGH IN ON A SINGLE TOPIC. THIS MONTH: WIT

“When I think of wit, I think of people like Dick Cavett or Carol Channing. It’s like mixing the perfect martini—too much vermouth, and you’ve ruined it. Wit is dry.

It’s a touch of self- deprecation and the ability to know when to pull back. You have to be a good listener to be witty. It was second nature in the ’60s and ’70s—people liked being funny. When I was little, President Kennedy was incredibly witty.

I mean, Jack Kennedy could spin a tale. You didn’t even know what the hell he was talking about, but you were so taken by his delivery. continue reading…

FUNNY LADIES: SANDRA BERNHARD FOLLOWS A LONG LINE OF OBSERVATIONAL COMICS

While it feels tired to keep talking about the American women who have contributed to their nation’s style of funny storytelling, it’s still a necessity, if only because it alerts new generations to those talents who made comedy in their own image.

Sandra Bernhard, who is doing her annual holiday gig at Joe’s Pub (Dec. 26-31), teaches the children—all those burgeoning spoken-word artists and monologists—how to perform observational comedy with style, and right on the political edge.

Like most artists, Bernhard has her antecedents. When Bernhard takes on a particular character—they range from a slightly flipped Mariah Carey to a jazzy little spider—she brings to mind the fabulous Ruth Draper (1884-1956). continue reading…