S3E29: A Sit Down With Standup Rita Rudner

The How NOT To Make A Movie Podcast

As we’ve said here before, one of the very best parts of doing Tales From The Crypt (and there were lots of best parts) was getting to work with incredibly talented people. This episode features another TALES FROM THE CRYPT reunion – this time with comedian RITA RUDNER who starred (alongside her friend RICHARD LEWIS in the episode WHIRLPOOL (directed by MICK GARRIS).

Rita didn’t start out as a standup. She started out as a dancer (which she started doing at three). One of the things we spend some time talking about – in our sit down with Rita – is the journey that took her – via dancing and Broadway – to comedy.

How did a nice, gentle person like Rita survive the very male, very rough-and-tumble world of standup comedy?

How has Rita survived as long as she has doing comedy?

One way is by being multi-talented. She writes as funny as she speaks – which made Rita (and her husband Martin Bergman) one of the most sought after re-write teams in the business for a while. Together they wrote PETER’S FRIENDS for Martin’s college friend group (you know, people like KENNETH BRANAGH, EMMA THOMPSON and STEPHEN FRYE).

And, we talk about what it takes to still be funny in a world as deadly serious as ours. There are ways to do it!

So, join us for the reunion!