SANDRA BERNHARD

Fierce, In Your Face & Funny Forever

Comedian, actress, singer, author Sandra Bernhard is an anomaly whose career continues to burn brightly. Her unique brand of laughter has enraptured audiences for decades and, like the energizer bunny, she never stops. 

In a brief Sandra refresher course, she was cast to star in the 1982 Scorsese film “The King of Comedy”, for which she was awarded Best Supporting Actress by the National Society of Film Critics. In addition, she has been a successful stand-up comedian, remaining on Comedy Central’s list of the top 100 stand-ups of all times. After 25+ appearances on Late Night With David Letterman, she appeared on many television shows and recorded albums, one of which was nominated for a Grammy for Best Comedy Album. She played Nancy Bartlett Thomas on the sitcom Roseanne and was one of the first actresses to portray an openly bisexual, recurring character on television. She appeared on “Will & Grace”, and on Broadway in the show “I’m Still Here…Damn It!” She was cast in season four of “2 Broke Girls” and played Nurse Judy on the FX series “Pose.” In 2015, she began hosting “Sandyland” on Sirius XM’s Radio Andy.

Now she is appearing in the hottest series on the planet: “Severance.” And that’s not all. This year has been exceptionally busy for Sandra. She’s been a judge on RuPaul’s Drag Race, is touring a new show called Shapes & Forms, is one of the Gray Sisters with Margaret Cho and Kristen Schaal in season 2 of “Percy Jackson and the Olympians”, and more. In a fun conversation, we spoke about all her new endeavors…..

So it’s been awhile. You’ve been up to a lot of stuff.

Yeah it’s a busy year. Some of it was sort of under wraps until now so it was fun to watch it unfold.

I don’t know where to start. So I’m just going to start. And what you feel like talking about, you just chime in. I want to start with Shapes & Forms because that already sounds funny to me.

My mother named her art studio Shapes and Forms when we drove through New Mexico and moved to Arizona when I was 10 years old. No one had seen the Southwest so that was a whole new thing. I had said to my dad, “Look at all those shapes and forms”. So she started to use that as the name of her art studio.

And then what are you going to do with it?

Well, I’ve got my own shapes and forms, obviously, all these years through my own art. My mother was a painter and a sculptor, so it was a different outlet, but nonetheless she was a real original.

That is very cool.

I think so too.

Are you basing a show around it?

No, it was just a fun name. I do a new show each year at Joe’s Pub and that was the name of the show this year. It will be what I go out on the road and tour with over the next year. Great stories, great music. So I’m very happy and excited to be taking it to different markets.

The thing I love the most is that you were a judge on Drag Race. How was that?

Super fun. It was great. It is a hard day’s work. Very intense. Everybody’s got their emotions going on. They put a lot of work into every episode. I was very happy with the set and the way they shot it was really cool. We had a great time. It was fun to be with everybody. I’ve known RuPaul for years. When he’s on set, he is very focused. There’s not a lot of time for chit chat.

He’s a nice man. He is a very nice man.

Oh, yeah. I’ve known him for 30 years.

Every time I have ever spoken with him, he was very nice. Did you send anyone away? Did you make anyone cry?

No, no. I didn’t personally make anybody cry. I tried to be very compassionate and understanding. But still funny.

So you are going to become one of the sisters in the Disney show Percy Jackson?

Yes. That is a guest starring role, along with Margaret Cho. It was just one episode but I’ve never been in special effects hair and makeup before, so that was a whole other new experience.

What was that like?

It was like sitting and getting special effects hair and makeup for a few hours. The people who did that were also experts in what they do. It was really cool. We shot it up in Vancouver. That was fun. I’m looking forward to seeing that too.

You did the Netflix documentary Outstanding: A Comedy Revolution. I saw some of it and I just loved it.

Yeah, I did that. It’s already been two years ago. First it came out as a performance and then it was a documentary. But it made a big splash. It was very interesting and unique to hear everybody’s stories about the early days of comedy and the whole LGBTQ interaction. I was very proud to be a part of that.

Survival of the Thickest. Talk about that for a minute.

Well I am a huge fan of Michelle Buteau. I had a small part in the film Babes that she was a co-star of. So we got to talking and got very friendly. I just think she’s very very talented. She invited me to come and do a guest starring role on her show. So that was another fun thing to do. I believe that starts in March.

What is Marty Supreme? What did you do with that?

That is the Safdie Brothers’ new film. We shot that in December. It’s got a huge cast. It was a very cool thing to be a part of and I’m very excited about that as well.

Are you still doing Sandyland?

Yes I am. Every Thursday 11:00 a.m.

That has to be fun–all the people you
get to meet.

A few people come on as regulars. People aren’t always available. I always want certain people to come on, but now more than ever, people don’t want to spin their wheels. I think people just want to do a select thing. I’m not saying that people shouldn’t be on my show because of course they should, but there’s a lot less things in person since the pandemic. Which I think makes things a lot easier but not quite as much fun. I can’t schlepp over there all the time. I am still doing it and I’m still enjoying it, so that’s cool. 

What about Severance? What can you tell me about that without getting into trouble?

Well, the first episode just dropped. It is an incredible experience getting to be part of that show. It is one of the most popular shows on television right now. Everyone in it that has been cast is so nice. When he called me, I was so pleased that he thought of me to come on the show. It is a big deal. It’s amazing and I’m very happy with the results. I really want people to tune in and see for themselves.

Will we see you on Fire Island this year?

I don’t think I have anything lined up in Fire Island this year. I’ll be back in P-Town.

You’re so crazy busy. Is there anything that I left out that you would like to tell me?

No, we’ll just cover what we have on hand right now. Which is plenty. All things that are really exciting. And I’m really proud of.

It is nice after being in my world and performing all these years that I’m still doing new things that are exciting and impressive and inspiring. That is really the most important part of all of this.

I think that’s going to happen for a long time.

Yeah, I hope so. I keep going back and rolling up my sleeves as an artist who creates her own work. But I really love that I’m getting to do things and that I’m part of a lexicon of people.