Oy, What a Kvetch! - a few minutes with Jackie Hoffman

By: May. 13, 2004
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Jackie Hoffman, infamous for her one-liners in HAIRSPRAY, took a few moments to talk about her career and her one-woman show at Joe's Pub, "The Kvetching Continues"

Craig: Your one-woman show called "The Kvetching Continues" is currently playing at Joe's Pub - if this is the kvetching continuing, when and how did it start? Tell us a little about how you got interested in performing and your influences growing up
Jackie: The kvetching just started because I wanted to do an all new show at Joe's Pub, so I wrote about where I am in my life now, which is being in (and part of the original cast) of Hairspray. I knew that my savage bitter take on something as wholesome as a huge hit musical would be something that hadn't been done before. I was always interested in performing, it didn't take anything to get me interested. My dad was really funny, and my aunt, we just had a funny sick family, and watched funny TV, like Get Smart and Car 54.


Craig: You've worked in a variety of mediums - theater, tv, film, cabaret.. which do you like best and why?
Jackie: I like them all. Nothing is like a live audience. Nothing. I've done stand up too, which is by far the hardest. Even harder than improvising every night at Second City in Chicago. With cabaret, I'm more protected by the funny songs I write. The patter in my show is much more like stand up than cabaret. But to do that in a comedy club without music is the scariest thing ever. Movies shoot too early in the day. Why is that?

 Craig: That's a good question Jackie... speaking of movies, it's safe to say that your breakout role came about in the highly acclaimed "Kissing Jessica Stein." How did you get involved in that project and what was that experience like? Have you seen Wonderful Town?
Jackie: My agent sent me out for a one line part in it that went to a 65 yr. old. A very smart casting director had me read for the role of the best friend and I nailed it. Haven't seen Wonderful Town. But how nice for Miss Westfeldt that she got nominated for a TONY and none of the women in Hairspray did last year?


Craig: And the kvetching continues... You also made a brief appearance in the next film Charles H. Wurmfeld directed. Was it cinema-nepotism or did you audition for the part?
Jackie: Cute.


Craig: Your opening number in The Kvetching Continues is called "Three Minutes On Broadway". This, of course refers to your brief stage time in the TONY Award-winning HAIRSPRAY in which you play Prudy Pingleton, a prison matron and gym teacher. How did you land the roles? Please share with us how you made each of those roles "yours."
Jackie: I didn't land them, I created them. It was a 3 line role, not even 3 minutes. I banked on my improvisational training from Second City, and wrote most of it on my feet during rehearsal. The Gym teacher and Prudy are loosely based on the characters in the movie, with my sick hammy shtick thrown in. I use stuff from my own family for Prudy too. The prison matron is based on a character in the prison movie "Caged."


Craig: Although a lot of your roles have been "small" - you've made so much of them and they are definitely memorable. What advice would you give to performers who get cast in small roles - whether in high school or on Broadway?
Jackie: See how big you can make them by what you bring to it.


Craig: Your one-liners are one of the most talked about things on the internet. Do you surf the chat boards? How far in advance do you come up with the zingers? Is someone keeping a list of all of them? Are there any (and could you share any) that you've wanted to say but couldn't?
Jackie: I don't like to do the chat things, I'd rather not know what they are saying. Sometimes I come up with stuff on the spot, sometimes I plan at the beginning of the evening. The producers found out I was doing this and early in the run demanded that they be logged in the performance report. So everybody, from Jack O'Brien to John Waters reads them. If I answer the last part of your question, I'd be giving away the funniest part of my show.

Craig: You finished filming the latest John Waters film, A Dirty Shame, in which you play "Dora." Tell us a little bit about your character and the film. How was it working with John Waters again...
Jackie: Dora is one of a group of sex addicts. she is a chronic masturbator, which of course provided great material for my show also. Working with John Waters was great. How could it be anything else?


Craig: Finally, do you think you are funny? Who are your comedic influences and who never fails to crack you up?
Jackie: No ones' asked me that before. Yeah, I think I'm funny. I love a lot of comics. W.C. Fields, Groucho Marx, Woody Allen, there are so many. A lot of young comics working now are great too, like Chris Rock, but I have a soft spot for the old school. People always compare me to Carol Burnett and Imogene Coca , and I have no problem with that.

You can catch the hilarious Jackie Hoffman at Joe's Pub in "The Kvetching Continues". Tickets can be purchased by visiting the Joe's Pub website at http://www.joespub.com



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