Who Am I? September 2024

I  was born in Flint, M.I. in the 1950’s but we moved to AZ when I was 10. My dad, Jerome, was a proctologist. My mom, Jeanette, was a photographer, sculptor and painter. She opened a school and taught art to pre-schoolers. Her Yiddish skills were such that she translated a book from Yiddish to English.

After high school I worked as a volunteer on an Israeli kibbutz for 8 months. I knew my future lay in the world of entertainment but I also recognized that my path there would not be easy. I worked as a manicurist before I got some open mic gigs in Los Angeles and finally got some work at the Comedy Store in town.

I’m known for my biting wit, salty language, and irreverence. I write my own material and my shtick is a kind of an impertinent conversation between me and my audiences. I have worked alternately as a comedienne, a music producer, a singer, and an actress. Those roles not necessarily listed in any particular order. When I do sing it is pop, jazz or blues.

I’ve been a guest on many TV shows, among them: “The Richard Pryor Show, The Sopranos, Ally McBeal, The Larry Sanders Show, The Tonight Show, and Late Night with David Letterman etc. I’ve also hosted my own radio show on SiriusXM where I interviewed top celebrities, play great music and give a monologue. I’m not a great beauty but, hey, I’ve even posed in the altogether for Playboy!

I have long been an advocate for gay rights. In fact, I had an on/off role for several years on a TV sitcom where I played an openly gay character. In real life, I am “bi”; however, my decade-long partner, a writer, producer and P.R. executive, is female. I am a single mom and I have been rather silent who the “baby daddy” is. I find my serenity in my daughter and in the Kabbalah.

Somehow, I’ve found the time to write 3 books or so and have appeared in a couple of one-woman shows in NYC, Boston and San Francisco. I’m pretty sure you know me by now. Perhaps some of you came to see me perform at the Bergen Pac in Englewood, N.J. in 2013. Also, in May 2019 I performed at the Kaplen JCC on the Palisades. That’s me in the photo below. My front tooth gap may give my identity away!

(1a)Who Am I? (1b)What was the name of my high school? (2)What was my job on the kibbutz? (3a)What was my breakthrough feature film? Here’s a hint - one of my co-stars in that movie was an old pro born at Beth Israel Hospital in Newark, N.J. (3b)Rupert Pupkin also appeared in that movie. Who played Rupert?(3c) What role did I have on what long-running TV sitcom in which I was openly gay? (4)Name one book I’ve written. (5a)What name do I call everybody? (5b) I am partial to a plant that grows in the tropical regions of Asia that has pale-pink white flowers and is used in perfumes, alternative medicines and incense. What is the name of that plant?