After being canceled last summer due to inclement weather, the Broadway comedy sensation was in for a laugh Celebrity Autobiography is back with two performances in one evening at the Southampton Arts Center this Saturday 20th August at 7pm and 9pm
For this installment of the hysterically funny show – which has celebrities reading excerpts from other stars’ memoirs – Celebrity Autobiography Veterans Christie Brinkley, Mario Cantone (Sex and the City), Richard Kind (spin city, Red Oaks), Susan Lucci (all my children), Sherri Shepherd (the actress and comedian about to take over the talk show from Wendy Williams), television writer/producer Alan Zweibel (one of the original Saturday night live writers 1975–1980) and the show’s creator, Eugene Pack.
Created by Pack, an Emmy nominee (America: A Tribute to Heroes, 2001) and developed with Dayle Reyfel, the show finds funny, absurd, and often clueless passages in celebrity memoirs, such as Vanna speaks by Vanna White, The dirt by Motley Crüe, Star Jones’ You have to stand for something or you will fall for everythingand Prairie Tale: A Memoir by Melissa Gilbert, among many others.
Celebrity AutobiographyThe genius of is, of course, that the readings don’t change anything about what is written. Instead, they highlight the comedy and unintentional parody inherent in what the smug celebrity writers actually wrote.
The actors who read these books bring their own style to each performance, acting for the crowd, sometimes going completely dead, pausing for effect, making faces or banging it out, depending on their individual approach.
During the nightly show, viewers might find answers to questions they never thought they’d ask, such as why did Tommy Lee put on his “dirtiest friggin’ leather pants” and “an old t-shirt that reeked of BO” before he Pamela met Anderson for their first date? How does Vanna describe the challenging work involved in filming her letters? What does Stallone store in his freezer? How did Justin Bieber get stuck in the trunk of a car? What does Hasselhoff reveal about the beauties of Baywatch?
Paul Bruinooge/PMC, patrickmcmullan.com
The passages a Celebrity Autobiography reveal a lot and even combine memoirs, like the famous Hollywood love triangle between Elizabeth Taylor, Debbie Reynolds and Eddie Fisher – told from each of their books in one performance.
“We’re laughing and couldn’t be more excited to bring this incredible show to the Southampton Arts Center,” said Joe Diamond, SAC General Manager. “Celebrity Autobiography is a fantastic way to bring the community together for some good old fashioned comedy with these hilarious cast members, some of whom have a special connection to the East End. It is a truly unique show and we are honored to host the only performance in the Hamptons this year.”
Among Saturday’s talented readers are actors and celebs who are either local residents or regular visitors, and a few were set to be in last summer’s canceled show, including Lucci, Zweibel and Brinkley, the Bridgehampton-based supermodel and the actress.
An internationally known name who proved her acting skills as Roxie Hart in Chicago on Broadway, Brinkley recently spoke to us about the joy of performing Celebrity Autobiography and how excited she is to be back on the SAC stage after the 11-hour cancellation last August.
Table of Contents
Christie Brinkley talks about celebrity autobiographies
Tell me what happened to the performance of Celebrity Autobiography last summer.
We were supposed to, but remember, we had this hurricane or something on the coast… We were supposed to be hit harder than we were hit, but they made such a fuss about it that they probably figured they needed the Show to cancel by this year so we’re picking it up again. But I did it going back the other years. I’ve done it several times and it’s a lot of fun.
Saturday’s show features different actors than last year, but some, like you, are returning. Can you tell me something about the cast?
Susan Lucci and Alan Zweibel and of course Eugene Pack, whose idea it was (coming back from last year). I’ve never done it with Sherri Shepherd this year, so that’s new, and with Richard Kind. I didn’t do it at the same time as Richard. But I’ve done it with everyone from Debbie Harry and Alec Baldwin to Colin Jost, who I love.
What about this show makes you come back year after year?
I’m just having a great time. First of all it’s really fun to be there with all the people, everyone makes it fun. But the way it’s set up, the audience really does have a great time. Most of the time I go out and just play completely different characters. I’ll be Miley Cyrus in one of them and I’ll be a Kardashian or Suzanne Somers or Pamela Anderson in another. So you never know who you’re going to be, and it’s really fun – you just can’t believe some of these books people are writing. It’s really funny how many people think about themselves.
How long has it been since you last stood on stage?
Just before COVID struck, I did another run on Broadway Chicago the musical, and I did it in Las Vegas too. Then COVID came into play. Last year was my first time back on the boards since COVID apart from my performance The Masked Singer in March, and then we got canceled the same day it was supposed to happen.
And I think part of that also had to do with the fact that COVID was still very cranking and it was planned outside and then all of a sudden they said there was going to be torrential downpours and strong winds and lightning and all of that so we had it could only have achieved by going inside, and people were reluctant to ask that of the audience. I don’t know what exactly happened behind the scenes, but we got cancelled.
So it will be fun to be back in that environment. Part of what I love about it is just being able to hang out backstage and with everyone and you can hear what’s going on out there from the backstage. It’s a great atmosphere, it’s really fun and we do two shows in one night and they’re very often very different. So it’s fun to see the different ways people take the material, taking the material in different directions with each reading.
It’s very interesting and a lot of fun on so many levels. And let’s face it, we could all use a laugh these days because it truly is the best medicine.
Do you have a celebrity autobiography?
I’m actually thinking about writing one. I haven’t written one yet, no.
Do you already know what you are going to read?
You don’t know until you get closer to the show and then they pass out – I usually get them the night before so you just never know!
I think people will be surprised. It’s really fun stuff, you see some funny people reading it and they read about some pretty funny people too. And they also do these things called mashups, where you take two autobiographies and you mix them up, like what Elizabeth Taylor says and what Eddie Fisher says, and they make a scene out of it, like a conversation. So they’re doing interesting things with it, and you really can’t believe some of the things people are saying. It’s really funny.
Our hope is to make the audience laugh, and so far it’s happened every time I’ve done it. Everyone is having a great time, and that’s what it’s all about.
For Celebrity Autobiography tickets and more information go to southamptonartscenter.org/live.