Celebrated Humorist Fran Lebowitz Shares Her Wisecracking Ways In Overture Hall Next Month

Author, journalist and social commentator Fran Lebowitz will make you laugh as she shares her sardonic commentary on American life during An Evening with Fran Lebowitz in Overture Hall on Tuesday, Nov. 8 at 7:30 p.m. Special local guest Jonathan Suttin, radio host of 105.5 Triple M, will introduce and interview Lebowitz on stage. Tickets ($25-95) are available at overture.org.

In a cultural landscape filled with endless pundits and talking heads, Fran Lebowitz stands out as one of our most insightful social commentators.

Her essays and interviews offer her acerbic views on current events and the media - as well as pet peeves including tourists, baggage-claim areas, after-shave lotion, adults who roller skate, children who speak French or anyone who is unduly tan. The New York Times Book Review calls Lebowitz an "important humorist in the classic tradition." Purveyor of urban cool, Lebowitz is a cultural satirist whom many call the heir to Dorothy Parker.

Lebowitz on special interest groups: "Special-interest publications should realize that if they are attracting enough advertising and readers to make a profit, the interest is not so special."

Lebowitz on frankness: "Spilling your guts is exactly as charming as it sounds."

Lebowitz on herself: "Success didn't spoil me, I've always been insufferable."

This is Lebowitz off the cuff. Her writing - pointed, taut and economical - is equally forthright, irascible and unapologetically opinionated.

Lebowitz worked odd jobs, such as taxi driving, belt peddling and apartment cleaning ("with a small specialty in Venetian blinds"), before being hired by Andy Warhol as a columnist for Interview. That was followed by a stint at Mademoiselle. Her first book, a collection of essays titled Metropolitan Life, was a bestseller, as was a second collection, Social Studies. By turns ironic, facetious, deadpan, sarcastic, wry, wisecracking and waggish, Lebowitz's prose is wickedly entertaining. Her two books are collected in the Fran Lebowitz Reader, with a new preface by the author. The Fran Lebowitz Reader has been published in nine languages including French, Korean, Russian, Spanish and Turkish. Lebowitz is also the author of the children's book, Mr. Chas and Lisa Sue Meet the Pandas.

Between 2001 to 2007, Lebowitz had a recurring role as Judge Janice Goldberg on the television drama Law & Order. She also had a part in the Martin Scorsese-directed film, The Wolf of Wall Street (2013). A raconteur if ever there was one, Lebowitz has long been a regular on various talk shows including those hosted by Jimmy Fallon, Conan O'Brien and Bill Maher. In an interview with the Paris Review, Lebowitz said "I'm not a nervous person. I'm not afraid to be on TV. I'm only afraid when I write. When I'm at my desk I feel like most people would feel if they went on TV."

She can also be seen in various documentary films including the American Experience series on New York City, as well as Mapplethorpe: Look at the Pictures (2016), Regarding Susan Sontag (2014) and Superstar: The Life and Times of Andy Warhol (1990), among others. In 2010, Martin Scorsese directed a documentary about Lebowitz for HBO titled Public Speaking. A limited documentary series, Pretend It's a City, also directed by Martin Scorsese, premiered on Netflix in 2021, and was nominated for the 2021 Emmys in the Outstanding Documentary Or Nonfiction Series category. In 2021, she was given the Forte dei Marmi Festival della Satira Lifetime Achievement Award and was a 2021 Foreign Press Honorary Awardee - an award given by the Foreign Press Correspondents Association & Club USA.

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