JACKIE FIVE-OH! Makes West Coast Premiere

The L.A. Gay & Lesbian Center's Lily Tomlin/Jane Wagner Cultural Arts Center has announced the return of Broadway's funniest broad, Jackie Hoffman. Beginning January 13, the Center's Renberg Theatre hosts the West Coast premiere of Hoffman's all- new solo show, Jackie Five-OH! Auspiciously opening on Friday, the 13th of January, Jackie Five-OH! runs for two uproarious weekends, with net proceeds benefiting the Center's wide array of free and low-cost services.

In her new show, which was written by Hoffman and her director, Michael Schiralli, the kvetcher-in-chief muses about her own decay as she reaches the landmark of her 50th year, the bitterly funny actor-comic unflinchingly skewers sacred cows such as the Tony Awards and Holocaust movies, flings acid-dipped barbs at the Broadway hierarchy, and does painfully accurate imitations of a gallery of showbiz icons, including Bernadette Peters and Mary Tyler Moore.

The New York Times called Jackie Five-OH! "savagely funny," and wrote, "The ostensible aim of this latest act is to celebrate 'her first 50th birthday' by reflecting on a life that she will never call a journey ('gurney, yes') and a career of bit parts. … Ms. Hoffman's acid-dipped acts are always a gurney worth taking." Time Out New York pronounces Hoffman to be "hilariously grumpy," adding, "Jackie Five-Oh! finds Hoffman in excellent form."

It's been seven long years since Hoffman last appeared in Los Angeles to perform her smash hit show, The Kvetching Continues. That show was honored with the Los Angeles Times's coveted Critic's Choice, proclaiming Hoffman "mercilessly acerbic and devastatingly funny … the diminutive Hoffman's bigger-than-life presence electrifies the stage."

Jackie Hoffman has acted in such films as Kissing Jessica Stein, Garden State, Queer Duck: The Movie, Legally Blonde 2: Red, White and Blonde, and A Dirty Shame, and voiced the Water Cooler in Robots.

In addition to cameoing on Curb Your Enthusiasm, she has appeared on many TV series, including
Strangers with Candy, Hope and Faith, Ed, Starved, Cosby, 30 Rock, One Life to Live, and was the
voice of Dilmom on Dilbert. She was also a frequent guest on Late Night with Conan O'Brien.

Hoffman won an Obie Award for performing numerous roles in David and Amy Sedaris's The Book of Liz. Other theatrical credits include The Sisters Rosensweig, Straightjacket, Incident at Cobbler's Knob, and One Woman Shoe, for which she won a Jeff Award.

In 2002, Hoffman played multiple roles in the Broadway musical Hairspray, for which she won the 2003 Theatre World Award. She co-starred as Calliope in the rock musical Xanadu on Broadway, from
July 2007 to September 2008. She just finished a two-year run in the Broadway musical The Addams Family, in which she originated the role of Grandma.

Jackie Hoffman can be heard on the original Broadway cast recordings of Hairspray, Xanadu, and The Addams Family, and the PS Classics recording of her original songs and stand-up, Jackie Hoffman: Live at Joe's Pub.

Michael Schiralli is an accomplished film and theatre director who has won many accolades for his work, including a GLAAD Award (Best Theater LA) for Miss Coco Peru Is Undaunted. He has directed segments for HBO's Anything But Standup, and has directed many great actors during his career, including Jackie Hoffman and Jeanine Garafalo, among many others.

Other directing credits include: Jackie Hoffman: The Kvetching Continues (Time Out NY Award), Varla Jean Merman's Enough About Me, Holiday Ham (GLAAD nomination) and The Very Worst of Varla Jean Merman (N.Y./London/L.A, Theater West Award), The Vendler Television Playhouse starring Kim Zimmer (Guiding Light Players), Valentine's Day Massacre (Drama Dept.), Nothin's Easy and Nobody's Happy with Colette Hawley (MTW, HBO Workspace), Gas, Food, Talent (West Bank), Darlene Love's True Love (N.Y., L.A.), Songs for a New World (HHPACT), Tammy Faye Starlite's Born Again Again!, Damaged Care (U.S. House of Representatives), and MTW's Holiday Extravaganza with Kristin Chenoweth.

Tickets available at: www.lagaycenter.org/boxoffice or call 323-860-7300.

Photo Credit: Walter McBride/WM Photos