| Talk Show Appearances - 1998 | ||
| Tonight Show, Jan. 8 Today (NBC), Jan. 12 Rosie O'Donnell, Jan. 12 Live with Regis & Kathie Lee, Jan. 13 The Daily Show, Jan. 14 Mornings on 2 (KTVU San Francisco), Jan. 29 The View, Feb. 19 Open Mike with Mike Bullard (Comedy - Canada), Feb. 20 Dini (CTV - Canada), Feb. 23 Jane Hawtin Live (WTN - Canada), Feb. 20 CBS This Morning, Feb. 26 Larry King Live, Mar. 20 Fantasy World Cup Live (ITV - Britain), June 18 Clicking on the thumbnail images will cause larger versions of the images to open in a separate window.
Robin Williams was Jay Leno's first guest tonight, and he remains for Tracey's appearance. As you will see, this will be significant. Jay introduces Tracey by mentioning her new book and the new season of her HBO series, and she comes on stage to the accompaniment of, what else, "They Don't Know." She's wearing a gray dress, black boots and dark hose, the end result of which is very flattering to her and to her legs in particular; Jay compliments her, in fact. She observes that the chairs have been reupholstered since her last visit, which was not the last time she saw Jay. That was a few weeks ago. While doing some filming, she and her children saw him on Hollywood Boulevard in a Tonight Show t-shirt, talking to people. Little Johnny recognized him, the first time he's recognized a celebrity. That guy's on TV, he said. But have you ever seen his show? (no) Do you want to see his show? (not really) Mabel was impressed, though. The conversation turns to birthday parties for 11-year-olds (not a good idea). She asks Robin how old his kids are; he says he's got 14 and 11, referring to their ages, but he then turns it into a riff on he's got 14 kids. Back to Mabel: Allan (a.k.a. Dad) suggested doing 'pass the parcel' with Mabel. That's a game where you take a small object, wrap it up with lots and lots of layers of wrapping paper, and then everyone will take one layer off. As a gag, he proposed wrapping up some temporary bridge work he'd worn as a prelude to some serious dental work. An obvious gag gift, especially when you consider that the kids in L.A. already have everything else. The conversation then turns to son Johnny, who's very outgoing and is very much into The Full Monty these days. He enjoys the tape and has done the dance at school. This was a bit much for his teacher, especially when the headmistress of the school popped in. Robin asks if Johnny takes after his father, and Tracey says yes he does; he's built like him in miniature [a Mini-Me? -- RR]. The conversation then turns to Allan (whom we see briefly waiting offstage); Tracey observes she's married to an older man and bits are starting to fall off. He said on one occasion that whenever Johnny stops wetting the bed, he's liable to start again! [ah, the pleasures of aging -- RR]. Jay asks if she's ever surprised one of her children in character, and she starts to describe the time she almost picked up Mabel from school while dressed as Chic. She describes the Chic costume, including the birdseed penis; this prompts Robin to start riffing on the birdseed genital concept ("I'm a woodpecker!"). Time for a break. After the break, Tracey finishes the story, prompting Jay to describe the time his mother walked into the room while he had his friends over and offered them cookies; he was rather embarrassed at the time. And now it's time to plug the book. Robin takes over for Tracey, taking the book up to the camera for a tight closeup. He turns the book to its back cover, which contains a photo of Tracey circa 1987 doing the splits while walking her dog ("if she can do that, imagine how she can write!"). After Robin finishes, Tracey says you don't have to start at the beginning with her book, you can keep it by the toilet ("is it perforated?" asks Robin). This prompts her to observe that Robin has comedy Tourette's. Meanwhile, Jay's opened the book to the photo of Tracey at age 6 ("a little troll," she says). Robin and Tracey now start what could be called "dueling Commonwealth accents." She takes time out to read the comments of Rayleen Gibson on royalty, and then the duel starts again. Jay's lost control; "I just work here," he says. Before long, Tracey is yelling "I've met my match!" and Jay observes that he's in talk show hell. This summary can't do justice to what happened this evening. This appearance is not in my collection (I stuck a 30-minute tape into the VCR rather than a 2-hour tape), but I have a transcript. Matt Lauer introduces Tracey. He then asks her if she's going to talk to "us little people" now that she's an author. Apparently so, for she says she's got a lot to sell this month ("I'm a huckster"). Doing the book was difficult, she says, because she had to write bits about herself and find pictures of herself as a child. Those were rare because she didn't want anyone taking her picture ("I'm a very shy girl"). Matt then asks if she uses the characters to say things that she doesn't want to say herself, and she says yes. You can go from Ruby Romaine saying bad things about her boom-shack-a-lacka town (in Ruby's voice) and do a 180 degree turnabout to the "nice liberal Sarah Lawrence College-type student" Hope who's really excited about the world and would gush about sitting with Matt Lauer, whose clothes aren't quite as good as Bryant's (Gumbel) (in Hope's voice). He takes exception to this, saying he made a point of wearing something nice because she was going to be on today. She says he should date Linda Granger, and he says Fern is one of his favorite characters, and she has some interesting thoughts on who is and isn't royalty. This lets Tracey do the Fern bit where she proclaims Steve and Eydie to be royalty. She talks a little about the origins of Fern, how people like her are out there on Long Island. That's something that's true about all of her characters; if they exist, and if they talk in a certain way, then she should be able to imitate them. Matt asks if she used to stand in front of the mirror trying wigs on and things like that in her room while her mother's downstairs. Yes, she did. She'd see documentaries and imitate the people she saw in them, and her mother would come and knock on the door and say "Are you talking to yourself again?" She could imitate all of her teachers at school, so that enabled her to be a bit of a "crack-up" (we might say cut-up). She's always done it, she says; it's like playing football or piano or things like that. That's her thing. Matt asks what are the hardest things about what she does. He recalls coming to see her filming something for HBO [the Takes On New York special; he mentions the wedding scene - RR]. She never answers the question but continues on about his first interview, how he was wearing a nylon suit, had his own camera, doing his own makeup. And look at the kid now -- except the kid is 40, and he won't have to worry about any of those menopausal things discussed in the previous segment. The interview begins to wrap-up with some plugs for the book, the series ("if you don't have HBO, you're schmucks"), and the videos. Her final comments? Matt's doing a good job, but she still misses Bryant.
After Tracey is introduced, Rosie says that it's great having her here on a Monday, for in a sense, she fell asleep to her (watching TTO) and is now waking up with her, so to speak. She mentions seeing her on the Today show earlier that morning [summarized above -- RR]. Tracey then talks about "that hunky little Matt Lauer" and, in reference to the occasional tickling and touching she gives him, says that "it's nice to sexually molest the host of a show." [a guy could never get away with saying that -- RR] Rosie then shows the new TTO book that has just been published, and Tracey explains what's underneath that square on the cover that's covering her mid-section: rolled-up panties and a sports bra. You don't want to see what's underneath, she says [well now, I wouldn't say that -- RR]. Rosie tells her that she looks exactly the same as she did as a child, opening up the book to a picture of Tracey at age 6 to prove her point. Tracey points out in the picture, in which she thinks she looks like a troll, where her mother had trimmed her bangs somewhat irregularly. She does not cut her children's hair but leaves that job to husband Allan, who had been a hairdresser at one time. His knowledge is a bit dated, though; he gave Mabel a cut a la Mary Quant of the '60s and cut Johnny's hair in the fashion of Rod Stewart. Rosie says that she cuts her son's hair; Tracey advises her to do so when the kid's asleep and they're not all squirmy. However, Rosie wonders what he would think should he wake up to see his mommy holding a pair of scissors over him; it'd be more fodder for the book he's bound to write about you anyway, comments Tracey. Asked if she worries about similar treatment from her daughter, Tracey announces that she doesn't talk about Mabel anymore. Then she proceeds to do just that, albeit indirectly. She recalls an incident with a boy from school calling himself "Mr. Dudeness" and mentions that she had to restrain herself from going to school to pick Mabel up while dressed up as Chic. She then goes into a riff as Chic while Rosie shows the cutout of Chic from the book. They then look at a mother-daughter picture in the book, where Mabel seems to have a wary expression on her face. Now Johnny is fab, says Tracey; he's into a Full Monty phase, where he will imitate the dancers/strippers. And she's now glad that she can go on vacations and not worry about anyone wetting themselves. Rosie's son is nowhere near ready for that yet. Asked how easy it was to potty train her son, Tracey complains that boys will sit in their poo for 5 hours without complaining ("boys are disgusting"). Now Mabel did help out with him a bit, but nowadays, she thinks he's pathetic. Once, when they had to share a bedroom, she would tell her mother "I'm living with a man I hate!" It seems that Mabel is an old soul but that Johnny's fresh out of the gate... The conversation then turns to skiing: Tracey is complaining about the women starting to wear fur again but pointing out that snot will drip down onto their mink collar pieces and there's nothing they can do about it. After the break, we see a clip from TTO Smoking in which Ruby Romaine is trying to smoke in a toilet stall. Tracey talks about the origins of Ruby, who derives from the makeup artists she met in the early days of TTUS on Fox. Ruby is the kind of person who would keep a Christmas tree up the entire year because it's company. She'd like to do a film about Ruby, Tracey says. This leads to another round of plugging, this time for the new TTO videotapes that have just been released. The conversation then turns to informercials, which both Tracey and Rosie watch. Tracey mentions the one for the Tap Teaser hair styling product. She really wanted to get it, she says, but Allan advised her not to, saying it wouldn't work. He thought the ads should have some disclaimers at the bottom: THIS PRODUCT DOES NOT WORK. But she bought it anyway, and now she will demonstrate the hair volumizing system: two combs, one pink and one green. She tries to demonstrate on Rosie's hair, but it gets stuck. Then she tries it on herself, and it gets stuck as well, prompting her to say, "Tap, tap tap? It's crap, crap, crap!" When she tried it at home, it got so stuck that it had to be cut out. There is a video that goes along with the "system", but Tracey says she never watched it (no time). They then talk about other hair-related infomercials, such as the spray paint for bald spots and the hair plug treatments for men, which Tracey calls "total humiliation -- if it was a lawn, you'd dig it up and reseed." As the segment ends, Rosie's extracted her comb and is trying to remove Tracey's comb. 4. Live with Regis & Kathie Lee, Jan. 13
Nathan Lane is filling in for Regis today as Kathie Lee introduces Tracey, who comes out to the accompaniment of "They Don't Know." She and Nathan had never met until now; Kathie Lee says that they must work together sometime. She tries to tell a story about how a previous visit by Tracey got her into trouble, but Tracey is wondering where the Rolling Stones were [were some of them guests that day? My tape does not have the answer -- RR]. This prompts Kathie Lee to ask her if the Stones were one of her favorite groups growing up. They were OK, but she was a Beatles girl herself, she says. It turns out that both of them preferred Paul. However, Tracey observes, she'd probably go for John because of his sarcasm. Meanwhile, Nathan was at home listening to show albums. Kathie Lee is scared at the implications of this: "You and Robert Preston - alone together in a room" [so to speak -- RR]. Back to the story that Kathie Lee was trying to tell earlier: she recalls a previous appearance by Tracey in which she mentioned her son, who was 3 at the time, would run around all day holding onto his willy. It turned out that Kathie Lee's son was home that day, sick with the chicken pox, saw the show and exclaimed "it has a name!" Now Kathie Lee has been doing an imitation of Tracey's normal accent during this. Tracey calls it better than Dick Van Dyke in Mary Poppins and Kevin Costner in Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves. Kathie Lee asks how the kids are doing. They're doing OK, replies Tracey, but she's not talking about Mabel any more, now that she's turned 11. At last, she and the family can go on holidays without having to worry about anyone wetting themselves. Asked if she misses it, she replies "Eh -- No!" Kathie Lee observes that Tracey is no Donna Reed-type mother and asks what her kids think about her. Mabel says that she's not boring, Tracey explains, but she's not normal. Kathie Lee agrees as they go to a break. After the break, they talk about the paper dolls that are in the back of the TTO book. Tracey asks Kathie Lee if she played with paper dolls when she was a little girl. Yes, but hers were the Lennon Sisters, she says. We see the Fern doll, prompting Tracey to comment in Fern's voice on the shoulder pads and the jewelry ("I aquacize in the pool"). Kathie Lee says that she like's Tracey's impression of Leslie Abramson [she's referring to Sydney Kross -- RR]. Actually, it's Abramson-esque, corrects Tracey, although her character does look like Abramson. Referring to Sydney, Tracey says that she's the kind of girl that can't get a date, and that she feels sorry for her -- she's such a dog, in the Paula Jones category. Now we see the Chic doll, and Tracey observes (as Chic) that he would certainly go for Paula Jones. Next comes Chris Warner, Midge Dexter's lover but officially her nutritionist ("that old chestnut", says Tracey). After a mishap with the TTO videos, Tracey complains that her skirt is riding up on her and that the radio mike transmitter is bothering her. She's holding it between her legs, effectively -- or maybe not effectively. "Can't you use a boom?" she complains. Now it's time to sell the videos. The first 25 episodes are coming out in January, she says [but only 6 episodes and one compilation were issued -- RR]. She asks the audience members if they get HBO, and many of them do. She loves to do that on network TV, she explains. Then it's time to watch a clip from TTO. Tracey does not know what it will be, but Kathie Lee does; it's a clip from the Marriage episode. After another round of complaints about the radio mike, we see the clip. It happens to be the opening monologue, which contains footage from Tracey's wedding in 1983. Back to 1998, and Tracey is marveling at how young she was. Kathie Lee tells her that she's the funniest, most talented lady working in the business today; "she gets a little naughty but she's fun." And on that note, the interview ends.
Craig Kilborn observes that Tracey, his next guest, has won more awards than Susan Lucci has lost, and that's a lot. We then see a clip from the Marriage episode of TTO in which Sydney meets her new client, a prisoner on death row. Tracey enters to a warm reception from the audience, and Craig says he shares in their enthusiasm. Does she ever get bored with winning all those awards? Not really, she says. But the speeches, well -- she thinks they've been awful. She even made her husband Allan say a few words last year -- "thank you". She observes that "when you're married to a comedienne, you become a permanent figure of fun." Craig says that Allan was funny backstage before the show. The talk then turns to some of the characters she does -- for instance, she does Trevor and proceeds to fawn all over Craig ("Germanic?"), and then she does Linda, noting that she eats at Chasen's, where you see a lot of '70s actresses hanging out. Where is she [Tracey] living now? Wherever the kids have to go to school, which at the moment is L.A., although this may not be the best idea in the long run. Craig asks if Rich Little was her hero growing up; he's jolly clever, responds Tracey, but she was most fond of Peter Sellers, Carol Burnett and Gilda Radner. Then the conversation turns to Chic, a man who has no idea how to chat up women -- he's useless [Observation: Chic would let his manhood do the talking for him -- RR]. Craig praises her American accent/accents, and she notes that's she's pretty integrated into American culture now, having lived here for parts of 15 years. Also, she was exposed to American television growing up -- Bewitched, I Love Lucy, Dallas, shows like that. Now it's time for the Five Questions. Question 1: Which teams are playing in this year's Super Bowl? (not a good question to ask an English person -- the Green Bay Packers is one team; the other -- Cleveland? Dallas? Why not a cricket question?) WRONG; the other team is the Denver Broncos (the team that's lost loads of times). Question 2: Who was the Man of 1000 Faces? (an older actor in horror films -- Peter Cushing? Vincent Price? Bela Lugosi?) WRONG; it was Lon Chaney. Question 3: Why would you want to pickle an egg? (so you could eat it at a pub with a pint of beer and do terrible farts on the way home) RIGHT! Question 4: Who closed their variety show with this gesture: tugging on the ear (Carol Burnett) RIGHT! Craig said they put an easy one in there to make sure she got at least one right. Carol's very nice, says Tracey. Question 5: Can we see the real Tracey? (she starts to look like she's holding back from wailing, and then she collapses on the floor) RIGHT! Three for five! This was a local morning show on KTVU in Oakland/San Francisco. I saw this interview via KTVU's Web site (http://www.bayinsider.com/partners/ktvu/ -- the interview itself was here).
As the segment begins, we are looking at a shot of the green room, where performers wait to appear on stage. Tracey is speaking with Barbara Walters. Meanwhile, Meredith Viera is introducing her as a woman who can fill the room with all of the different characters that she does. She comes out to a warm reception from the audience. She and Meredith engage in a bit of mutual admiration, noting that Meredith looks good in the jeans she's wearing. She recalls working in a store where they had people lie down on the floor, and then they'd use a coat hanger to pull up the really tight jeans. Meredith mentions Tracey's new book, which is about her and about her show, then proceeds to read the first sentence of the first chapter, in which Tracey said that she was never a child but was instead a menopausal woman in a child's body. It's true, she says; her daughter's something of an old soul herself. She tells of Mabel in the hospital the day after being born, looking around and pointing out stuff. Asked if she's always been a mimic, Tracey says yes, for that was her talent. Some kids were good at kicking a football or playing the piano; she was good at imitating neighbors and friends (a follow-up question on whether that ever bothered them went unheard and unanswered). She was never interested in imitating the famous or the beautiful; instead, she'd want to be the lady next door, who lost her fiancé in World War I, had a little dewdrop at the end of her nose, walked her dogs and wore big rubber boots. They then notice a guy out in the audience who has a very loud and distinctive laugh. Asked how the kids respond to her and her talents, Tracey admits they do get a bit nervous when she wants to pick them up from school while dressed up as a Middle Eastern cab driver; they don't know why their mother would want to wear a chest wig. Now if she were to wear one to a PTA meeting, then they'd have cause for worry, but overall, the kids are tolerant. Son Johnny thinks she's great. Right now, he thinks he's Jack from Titanic (Leonardo DiCaprio's character) -- he keeps drawing pictures of naked girls. The conversation turns to a hot topic of the moment: President Clinton's sex scandals. Tracey proclaims that she's sick of Monica Lewinsky and El Niño. Fern would say that this is not good for the Jews. She (Tracey) imagines that Monica must speak to Clinton a la Jenny McCarthy. And that imitation Donna Karan beret -- enough!. Meredith now points out some of the paper dogs from the TTO book, beginning with Fern. Yes, Fern would say that this is not good for the Jews, says Tracey. She then continues to talk about Monica, saying that the famous picture of her smiling reminds her of similar pictures in the offices of orthodontists in Beverly Hills. Back to the dolls: now there's Chic, who has opinions on everything. He'd say that Clinton was just taking out his Washington Monument, or some horrible double entendre like that. But ask him about the Middle Eastern conflicts or Iraq, and he'd shut up: "Who are you, secret police?" You never know where he's from, says Tracey; all you know about him is that he's hairy. He's indeterminate Middle Eastern, just like her Asian donut shop owner Mrs. Noh Nang Ning is indeterminate Asian. Responding to those who object to the character, she points out that people like her do exist. They do have shops on your corner, and when you go to order food from them, they'll say "Oh, that too much for two people." As the segment ends, Meredith invites Tracey to join her and the others for contemplating the question of the day. Tracey compliments Meredith again, comparing her to Emma Peel. And they go to break.... In the second segment, they are seated together to discuss the question of the day: what's your favorite bumper sticker phrase? Tracey's is "I Love Epidurals". Meredith's is from the '60s: "War is not healthy for children and other living things." Joy Behar's is "Don't Honk, I'm On the Phone!", while Barbara Walters' is "Watch Out, I Don't Drive." She never did learn to drive, she says. Finally, Star Jones' phrase is "Success is not a destination, it's a journey." 8. Open Mike with Mike Bullard, Feb. 20
This was one of three talk show appearances Tracey made in Canada to promote her series, book and videos. The show was very similar to Leno's and Letterman's shows. Host Mike Bullard introduces her by saying it's an honor to have her here. The crowd is equally appreciative, giving her a warm welcome. In her "Her Royal Highness" voice, she says "One feels that one's related to one's Canadian cousins." Then she follows that with a call to kick the royals out, like the Australians. It's a good thing this show doesn't air in Britain, Mike says. He tells her he really likes the show, noting that it must be incredibly hard work to make all those costume and makeup changes. It certainly is, but it's important to the integrity of the character. She's willing to put on all of the hair appliances and the fake genitalia made with birdseed (a real "pecker", you could call it) in order to really feel like Chic the cab driver. Is this her first visit to Canada? No, she had visited 12 years earlier to promote her movie Plenty. Unfortunately, she was two months pregnant with Mabel at the time, so morning sickness was a bit of a problem. This shifts the conversation to her children --she's done, she's got the set. Mike recalls her hit "They Don't Know", which she describes as "Minnie Mouse on helium." She then admires Mike's haircut -- for some reason, he reminds her of a Beanie Baby. She then mentions TTO, which will soon be airing on the CBC (Canadian Broadcasting Corporation) and is now out on video. The conversation turns to the Olympics, with Canada's loss in hockey still on people's minds. At least the skating's still to come. We then see a clip from TTO: the scene from the "Sex" episode with Linda and the cable guy. This leads to Tracey ridiculing the practice of adding collagen to the lips -- it doesn't work, it makes them grotesque. Occasionally, we'll hear some comments from the earlier guests, two wrestlers. She tells them to "stop interrupting my bit!" Mike says that if she angers the wrestlers, they'll beat him up. They briefly talk about Julie Kavner and The Simpsons before the break. Afterwards, Mike congratulates her on her five Emmys and three CableACE awards. But she's actually won six Emmys, so she corrects him. It takes him a while to get it right -- "and don't you forget it!"
This appearance also was part of the Canadian promotional trip. The show was a daytime talk show, similar in format to Live with Regis and Kathie Lee. Before Tracey is introduced, we see two clips from the TTO videos: Linda with the cable guy and Chic on the supernatural. After she comes out, she comments on the warm welcome from the audience. It sounds like there's around 2000 people out there, she says; "they're so enthusiastic." Host Dini Petty says that Chic is her favorite character. The clip shows him in the daytime, Tracey points out; she thinks he looks better and/or sexier at night. Maybe the night helps complete the illusion that comes from the wigs, the beard, the birdseed appendage, the jacket that came from an old boyfriend of costume designer Jane Ruhm, etc. More on makeup, especially Mrs. Noh Nang Ning's: it has been redesigned from the full mask of the first season, which began to induce feelings of claustrophobia. The conversation turns to her early career, and how she discovered she could come across as truly funny. She was in an improvised play that was developed over the course of 14 weeks, and she was approaching her role of a born-again Christian woman from a serious perspective, but it was coming across as humorous. After a detour to her recording career and the Spice Girls (she says Canadians can understand them because of Coronation Street airing there, an advantage the US doesn't have), she talks about developing the then-new character of Sheneesha, how she wanted to get it right. Do the characters pop out spontaneously, a la Sybil? No they don't, although she has been known to complain as Fern at home after a rough day of portraying our favorite Long Island Jew. How do the kids react? Mabel says "I know you're not normal" but considers her to be a cool dresser, while Johnny thinks it's just great. Embarrassing mothers seem to run in the family; her mum did a few things that embarrassed her, and she came close to doing a whopper herself (picking up the kids from school while in costume as Chic). Any favorite characters? Ruby Romaine is one; she's a very relaxing character. You can find Ruby-types all around Hollywood. After the first break, the conversation is interrupted by the ringing of the cel phone belonging to a cameraman. This earns him a razzing from Dini and Tracey. The conversation turns to the TTO program, how being a "mom and pop operation" allows her near-total control, with a yearly cycle of writing, pre-production, filming and editing and promotion. About Rayleen Gibson: she derives from an admiration of the "no nonsense" Australians and stunt people in general. Is there any accent she can't do? No, not if she can listen to it enough. She does not work with a voice coach; in fact, she savages the coach who worked with Kevin Costner on Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves. She briefly discusses Kay, the "eternal virgin" and a "marvelous" character. After the second break, Dini and Tracey continue discussing the characters. Has the Queen ever seen Her Royal Highness? No idea. Birdie Godsen, a "little right of Genghis Khan", is a real "piece of work." Linda, the character most likely to appear on Dini, no doubt promoting "I'm Still Here," is a very nice person. A key observation: it takes a certain facial type and head size (large) to be convincing wearing wigs and makeup, and these are qualities which Tracey has. Another interesting observation: a key to completing the Fern characterization is Windsong perfume. The conversation then turns to the Monica Lewinsky story, which is only a month old at this time, how Monica is not good for the Jews. She is sick of El Niño and Monica Lewinsky. Dini responds "you could put them together, they could blow the world apart." This draws a huge laugh from Tracey and the audience. Who else makes her laugh? Beavis & Butthead, King of the Hill, old SCTV, South Park. Some of her favorite comedians: Adele Givens, Gilda Radner, Andrea Martin, Catherine O'Hara, Lily Tomlin, Eddie Izzard. She's not a stand-up comic; she could portray a stand-up comic, but she'd have a hard time doing stand-up. She observes that most female stand-up humor seems to revolve around getting a date and having your period.
This appearance was also part of the Canadian promotional trip. The show was very similar in format to Larry King Live, with the host and guest talking about various subjects and taking phone calls from viewers. The show starts with a clip of Trevor meeting Linda on the airplane (from the Fame episode). Host Jane Hawtin introduces Tracey by saying she's really excited to have her on the show. Tracey says she loves total immersion, disguising herself in all the makeup and appliances in becoming a character, even though it is incredibly difficult work. In a few years, she might want to try an easier approach. She notes one of the pitfalls of being in costume as Chic on location: how to use the ladies' room while dressed as a man. She mentions some of the actors who were early role models: Joan Plowright, Peter Sellers, Maggie Smith, etc. She talks about the origin of Fern (a friend of a friend on Long Island) and how she must witness the inspirations for the characters in order to get them right. There's a caller who also is named Fern. The trappings of Fern (the shoulder pads, nails, jewelry, etc.) that are common among American Jews are not that common among Canadian Jews, the caller says, and she also asks for some advice for people starting out in comedy. Write your own material, get some improv experience -- basically, try and control your destiny. Tracey is speaking from experience, for she does not own any of the characters from her Fox series except for Kay. This isn't much of a problem, for she'd rather create new characters anyway, and she probably could get permission from Fox to use the characters if she wanted to. The character she most regrets leaving behind is Francesca, but it would have been difficult to do her without also bringing along Dan Castellaneta and Sam McMurray's characters of Dave and William. About The Simpsons: contrary to common perceptions, she does have a percentage of the series. The lawsuit she filed and lost in the early '90s was for an extra percentage she thought she was contractually entitled to. We then see a clip of Ruby from the Vanity episode as we go into the break. The next segment opens with a clip of Kay being fitted for her bridesmaid gown. Tracey feels sorry for Kay, who doesn't live her life for herself but for her mother. The inspiration for Kay was a woman at the bank where her sister worked. All of the characters have some endearing qualities, nobody's out-and-out horrible -- well, Birdie Godsen comes close. How is a character created? The voice comes first; it's worked out in the writing room. Next comes the costumes and the makeup, the wigs, etc. It all comes together during filming. She'd become bored doing the same character on a regular basis. We then see a clip of Midge and Chris from the Romance episode. These characters come from the golf widow's lament and the comments made by golf commentator Ben Wright (who lost his job as a result). The next caller is S. from Victoria, who recalls the video for "They Don't Know" and wonders why Tracey doesn't do more films. Because she doesn't receive many offers for good parts, she says. This isn't the '40s, with the strong roles for women a la Barbara Stanwyck, Bette Davis, etc.; in the '90s, the women's parts seems to me mostly as support for their men: "Hi honey, how was your day? Want sex?" She can do without those roles. Besides, she's not a snob about TV work; she likes the immediacy, the spontaneity, the greater control. She also looks better on the small screen, she says. Still, she is working on a screenplay. As the segment ends, we see a clip of Sydney commenting on fame in the legal profession. The next segment opens with a clip from the "They Don't Know" video. This was the one featuring Paul McCartney. It was a fortunate coincidence that he happened to be nearby while the video was being filmed, so the producers got Tracey to ask him to do a cameo, and he agreed. The next caller is M. of Vancouver, who asks about the inspiration for Francesca. Frannie was created by Heide Perlman, who'd taken Tracey's idea for doing a teenager who's optimistic and added the gay parents. He also asks her if more records might be forthcoming, and she says no. The show gives her ample opportunity to sing and dance, plus how could she compete with the likes of Sarah McLachlan? The next caller is A. in Winnipeg, who complements Tracey on the attention to detail evident in the characters. At first glance, they might be stereotypes, but keep on watching and you'll find that they're not caricatures at all. The conversation then turns to husband Allan and how good he is at raising the money and handling the business aspects, allowing her to handle the creative aspects. M. in Thunder Bay is the next caller. He recalls seeing her in Girls On Top with French & Saunders and asks if she plans working with them again in the future. She did enjoy working on that series (that's where she met Allan, in fact), but she doesn't know if she'll do any more work with F&S. After a brief discussion about the short seasons typical of British comedies, the next caller is C. in Surrey, B.C., who asks about her relationship with her mother -- does she call her like Kay calls her mother? No, she doesn't. She then talks about her mother for a minute, showing the picture of her that's in the TTO book. The next caller, C. in Toronto, asks at what point in her schooling did she decide show business was for her. Actually, stage school nearly turned her off performing, she says. It was a really ugly scene, though there were some good teachers. This leads into the story (also told in the book) about the clairvoyant woman who claimed to see fame and fortune for Tracey in America. The segment ends with a clip from the Movies episode: the Bugges hosting a film crew. The final segment kicks off with another clip from the Movies episode, this one featuring Mrs. Noh. Jane said there was some trepidation backstage about whether they should air that clip, as it might be taken as racist. Tracey defends the character by saying that people like this do exist, they do talk in that way. In fact, she's received e-mails from Asian teens saying they like the character. The next caller, B. in Winnipeg, asks if her voices and characters ever appear spontaneously. No, she's not like Sybil, she's never taken over against her will. Though there are times when son Johnny has asked her to bring out a character, such as at the dry cleaners when he asked her to be black. She has another story about her son: when she put on the Trevor makeup for the first time, Johnny was 10 months old, yet he was able to recognize her instantly. Must have been the smell. M. from Toronto is a Scotswoman who's been a fan from back in Scotland. S. in Toronto asks if she'll do any characters modeled on Patsy or Edina of Ab Fab fame (probably not). J. in Oshawa asks if she's done any work with John Cleese? No she hasn't, but she did work with Michael Palin on the A Class Act special. She'd like to work with Robin Williams sometime. Jane says people are still talking about their joint appearance on the Tonight Show a month or so back. And on that note, the interview concludes. This is not in my collection, but I have a transcript. Jane Robelot interviews Tracey at a Barnes and Noble bookstore (presumably in New York, though the transcript does not say). Tracey talks about Chic, how she's been in that man's cab, doing 85 miles an hour through crowded city streets, refusing to slow down. The Chic makeup is very itchy, she says -- the chest wig, the regular wig, the beards, unibrow, the panty hose with hairs stuck onto it so she can do him in shorts, etc. We then see her talking to a shopper, commenting on such children's classics as "Green Eggs and Ham" and "Pat the Bunny." She says she's been advised to sign copies of her book that she finds in a store. She also confesses to doing impromptu window display rearranging at airport bookstores, putting her books in there instead of others. She then describes the rationale for the book. People want to know more about the characters and their backgrounds, where they started out, etc., and the book answers many of those questions, as well as allowing readers to learn a little bit about the woman behind the characters. While flipping through the book, she stops at the one where she's meeting Princess Diana while wearing a silvery outfit, one that Diana thought made her look like a baked potato. Jane comments that Tracey might have a second career in publishing, as she knows what the customer wants. Just put the Titanic and Diana on the cover, and then you'll sell like hotcakes. Tracey was one of four comic actresses on a panel discussing various events in the news. She was in L.A. along with Fran Drescher, while Janeane Garofalo and Joy Behar were in New York with Larry (more details to follow). 13. Fantasy World Cup Live, June 18
This British program was a limited-run comedy series which, as the title implies, was devoted to a humorous look at the World Cup soccer tournament in France. The hosts were David Baddiel and Frank Skinner. The program aired every other day in the early rounds of the tournament. Interspersed amidst the comedic commentary on recent matches were such bits as the "Albert Steptoe Watch," where they would find photographs of players or coaches who looked like the famous character from Steptoe and Son, and "Phoenix From The Flames," where they would re-enact famous or infamous moments from World Cup history with the original participants. They also would have two guests on every night, and the guests frequently had no soccer/football involvement at all. Tracey was one of the guests on this installment, the other being Hugo Speer of The Full Monty fame. Prepared by Roger Reini |
