RR: I do a lot of work for a tennis
charity and Molly’s school. I’m doing
a show for the school in their theater,
and then I do benefits all year for the
school music programs. I do charity
work for other people. Last year, I
auctioned myself off for dinner to the
highest bidder [to benefit the school
opera program]. We actually had
18 people who gave a lot of money
so I made three huge dinners at my
house. The school raised a lot of
money, and I became a much better
cook.
JN: If you were invited to talk about
a serious subject important to you, no
humor allowed, what would that be
and why?
RR: At this point, it would be the
direction America is taking and how
deeply disturbing it is. It isn’t the
country that I grew up in, and it’s
not the country I want my daughter
growing up in. You’ve seen all the rac-
ist tendencies and the prejudices and
the people who are unaccepting of
other people. I’ve grown up in big cit-
ies that were melting pots, and every-
body was welcome.
JN: Is there anything you’d like
people to know about you apart from
your work?
RR: I love being a mother. I love
working. I’m very excited that I found
a way to do both. I didn’t do both at
the same time because we adopted
a baby very late. I did my career for
a long time, and then I was able to
work in Las Vegas, where I could be
a mother and do comedy because I
took a car to work and not a plane.
JN: Does your family travel with
you?
RR: Only if it’s to places that are
fun, and it’s only in the summer
because Molly has to go to school.
Last summer, I did some shows at
Cambridge University for a benefit
charity because my husband went to
Cambridge. My daughter opens for
me whenever I go anyplace in the
summer. She brings her guitar. I love
to travel with her because she doesn’t
bring her friends or phone so it’s just
the three of us.
JN: Have you ever gone to Israel?
RR: I’ve been there twice. Molly
hasn’t come with us because she was
in school. It’s a very fascinating place.
It was private travel on my way to a
ship where I was working. •

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only do for Jewish audiences because
I am Jewish. When I was first start-
ing out in New York, I played lots of
Jewish country clubs outside of New
York, and I did lots of benefits for
temples. I have lots of material I don’t
use very often because people of all
faiths come to see my act, and I don’t
like them to be left out.
JN: Has your approach to humor
changed over the years?
RR: As my life changes, my act
changes. I talk about the things that
are happening in my life, which are
happening in my audiences’ lives as
well. I’m now the mother of a teenag-
er. I also have no ability to understand
a lot of the technology that’s going
on these days. My daughter does, and
she helps me. All the artificial intel-
ligence going on and the fact that all
the appliances are so much smarter
than I am [can be material]. I’ve been
married for 29 years now so I have a
lot of husband material.
JN: Do you still like to dance?
(Rudner began her career as a
Broadway dancer.)
RR: No. I love to exercise; I stretch,
and I swim. I can’t really function
unless I do some kind of exercise
every single day. I used to be a really
good dancer. If I would try now, I’d be
really bad so I don’t want to try. I still
try to keep in shape, and that’s part of
my routine as well.
JN: Do young women who want to
be comedians have a better chance
than when you started?
RR: I don’t pay a lot of attention
because my life is so busy with just
life. I really don’t know what I would
do now because I started in comedy
clubs. With the internet, you have
to have followers and a YouTube
presence. My daughter is a singer-
songwriter, and she does all of that
stuff. I was in a bookstore and saw a
whole section of YouTube people who
have books out, and I’m wondering
who these people are. I went into my
daughter’s room the other day, and
she and her friends were watching
their favorite YouTubers.
JN: Are you a member of Hadassah?
RR: No. I am Jewish, but I don’t
have a very active Jewish life. My
mother was very religious; she died
when I was 13.
JN: Do you have any organizations
that you support?

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Bryan LeBoeuf, American, b. 1975, Father to Son (detail), 2003, Oil on linen. 96 x 80 inches
Gift of Mary Q. Connelly, 2007.117

Also on View

The Art of Containment
Vessels from the Sidney Swidler Collection

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August 31 • 2017

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