Judy Tenuta, one of the most outrageous and rambunctious comediennes of the 80s and 90s, passed away recently at age 72 of ovarian cancer. If you aren’t familiar with her stand-up, you might recognize her from a variety of cartoon voice acting roles and a series of collaborations with Weird Al Yankovic.
In 1996 or ’97, Judy Tenuta made a stop at Media Play in Greece, NY. Media Play was a wonderful place where you could drop down $100 on CDs, video games and VHS movies in nary the blink of an eye. It was a glorious time. Did I ever tell you that I met Maureen “Marcia Marcia Marcia” McCormick at this same Media Play?! Yeah, I probably did. She signed my “Brady Bunch” videocassette. She was a glory to behold. It was magic.
My interaction with Judy Tenuta? Not so magic! But that was my fault.
I’ve written before about a fellow named Steve Klafehn, who was my accomplice on many of these interview encounters. (Actually, since he was the one with a drivers license and a car, I was the accomplice.) Steve and I went to Media Play with our banged-up Marantz cassette recorder, and I was expecting to do a very straight, basic interview. (Steve was generally willing to let me handle the interviewing duties.)
You see, in the past when I had talked to funny people, like Conan O’Brien, Adam Sandler, Richard Jeni…those interviews were recorded in a quiet room after the performance, or–in the case of Conan-over the phone, just the two of us. But when we got to Media Play, there was a healthy sized crowd of Judy Tenuta fans, and she was holding court in a very performative way. Lots of jokes, interaction with the crowd, etc. Into this fun and frivolity comes the college radio boys, expecting to do an interview.
By this time, I had done a lot of interviews, and I might have been a little overconfident in how to conduct a conversation with a “name” guest. I started out with a good old reliable: Tell me how you got into stand-up…who were some of your early influences?
To which she replied, so everybody in the shopping center could hear: “OH, JASON WENTWORTH, THAT IS A VERY BOOOOORING QUESTION! YOU NEED TO ASK BETTER QUESTIONS THAN THAT TO THE LOVE GODDESS!”
As long as I can remember, when I am intensely embarrassed my ears turn bright red. I think you could have fried eggs on them at that point. Full crowd on hand, remember, so not only was it the shame of asking the goddess a lame, boring question, it was the shame of being laughed at by strangers. (I don’t mind being laughed at by strangers if I purposely did something to make them laugh. But if they’re laughing any other time, it’s the pits.)
Judy put me through the paces of showing respect to the Love Goddess, bowing down to her….I think she even made me get down on my knees at one point. Eventually, I got hip and asked questions about her wardrobe, which she loved…and managed to get a decent interview. We aired the interview, including her roasting of me, on the college radio station magazine program “The Informer.” I have it on cassette in this apartment. I know where it is. I have a cassette player. I just have yet to find the strength to listen to it again.
But Judy Tenuta was doing exactly what she was there to do: Entertain a crowd (and I’m sure, sell some CDs or a book or some such). I was just caught in the crossfire. And honestly, no “interview technique” could have helped me in that situation. She was one of the most unique comic voices of that time. And, like a college radio Forrest Gump, I somehow managed to meet her and other interesting people. Those were fun days. And so are these!