London Calling with Champagne Charlie: 3rd June 2009 Sandra Bernhard

Deep in the heart of Theatreland, it's hot and sweltering and Sandra Bernhard has finished reworking her show for her two-week run. I caught up with her as she was preparing a special re-recording of 'Undressed' - a song for all the readers of Broadway World.

Champagne Charlie: Thanks for speaking with us. How different is it performing here in the UK compared with playing in New York on Broadway? 

Sandra Bernhard: I find that London people come out a lot, they see a lot of shows, they see a lot of theatre, they are used to being in an audience and they are very attentive. I find it's a great experience being here in London. When I did the core of my show Without You I'm Nothing, originally it was back in 1987, 1988. I collaborated with John Toskowitz, and we kind of came up with material for London in a pretty random way. For instance, I thought we'd include a song that was on my mind a lot back then called 'Me and Mrs Jones'. We had been sitting around the pool in LA back in the day and John said, "You got to do this song." And so around it I've always done a funny take on being a black woman and the black experience and we kind of put it together in a crazy funny way and we came up with the piece - same as with the track called 'Undressed'. 

Champagne Charlie: You made a gag last night about the gambles people take in their lives, with their lovers, with their career choices and so on.  What about the gambles you have taken? 

Sandra Bernhard: Well, any time that you are going to decide at 18 that you are going to go to LA and start pursuing this business it is a gamble, but when you are really young you don't think about it that way. I guess it's all a gamble, life's a gamble, but it's how you look at it. 

Champagne Charlie: How has the scene changed for you and the comics that you see around you? 

Sandra Bernhard: I don't really pay much attention to the comics around me - except the ones that have inspired me over the years, like Lily Tomlin, Carol Burnett and Carol Channing.

Champagne Charlie: So how has the thing changed for you since 1988 that's reflected in this show? For instance you Twitter to the world throughout the set.

Sandra Bernhard: Well, I think that twenty years of performance makes me a much better performer - every time I get on stage it's like I shed another layer of skin and get much closer to my essence and who I am as a person. And I JUST LOVE to twitter!

Champagne Charlie: Looking around you, what has come out recently, what could you see yourself in, or would like to have a go at? 

Sandra Bernhard: Oooh, that's a hard question. I feel that I should be working with people like Helen Mirren, like I'm at my best when I'm working with people who are great actors, which is why I was so great in King Of Comedy. It gave me a platform and a parameter with people that allowed me to make a go for it. I want to do a classic now, like a Pinter, a late 50s/60s melodrama, maybe a play about changing America. If there was a theatrical example of Mad Men I'd go for that!

Champagne Charlie: What about your theatrical guilty pleasures?

Sandra Bernhard: Well, I love showtunes from the 50s and early 60s. My parents took me to see Carol Channing in Hello Dolly at the Fisher Theatre in Detroit before she went on to Broadway. You know, all the stuff from that era was stuff that I grew up on. You know, people went to the theatre; they listened to the stuff at home. You know my dad listened to Slaughter On Tenth Avenue. I was exposed to all kinds of music when I was growing up - my mother played classical music, my dad liked big band and theatre, and one of my brothers was into jazz, another was into Bob Dylan and folk music, and then they segued into rock music of the 60s and 70s. And of course I grew up in Michigan until I was 10, so we heard all of the Motown stuff. I draw from a lot of different inspirations. But I would LOVE to do more showtunes.

Champagne Charlie: You always get celebs and mainstream theatre actors coming to your show.

Sandra Bernhard: Yeah, I love those guys. Richard E. Grant, Rupert Everett - he couldn't come, but Richard was here, and of course my pop fans like Belinda Carlisle and Chrissie Hynde, they came. Boy George was going to but he can't go out to the theatre any more, even here to this theatre - where his own musical Taboo started - as he's been tagged by the police and has to stay in the house each night from 7pm and can't leave the country.

Champagne Charlie: What about future plans after this run?

Sandra Bernhard: I'm doing a big show in New York on June 10^th and then I've got a lot of dates scattered throughout the summer.

Champagne Charlie: You've done a song for Broadway World that you can hear on your Facebook page too. How did that come about?

Sandra Bernhard:  Mitch, my co-writer for the last 20 years, and I were just messing about like we always do - we've written tons of songs, I don't even know how it came about. Any time you sit down to write a song you just sit down and write a song. Sometimes you start out with lyrics, sometimes you start with a melody. It's about fashion - the passion and the emptiness of it all.

Champagne Charlie: How did the relationship between the two of you start?

Sandra Bernhard: Well, John Toscovitz - who is the person who I collaborated with on the show - met Mitch first, and he brought Mitch around to a show and he brought in Randy Crawford to see me, and then Mitch, John and I all started working together in 1985 after that. 

Champagne Charlie: And apart from a show with more showtunes and classic theatre, what do you have your eyes set on?

Sandra Bernhard: Apart from that my goal at the moment is to land on a TV series, on a recurring role, as part of an ensemble, I don't care whatever they want me to be, and to be in a series where I can get behind, where I feel it has some merit and do that for five years and then do my live performing, and my film work, and do all my auxiliary work around it. Anyway for everyone at Broadway World - here is something exclusive to you. It's the centrepiece of my show and it's a track called 'Undressed'.