arts&life

comedy

Lovely
Rita

The comedian heads to Detroit.

SUZANNE CHESSLER CONTRIBUTING WRITER

details

Rita Rudner will be the speaker
as Hadassah Greater Detroit has
its opening meeting 10 a.m.-3:30
p.m. Thursday, Sept. 7, at Congre-
gation Shaarey Zedek in Southfield.
Lunch is a closed event; $36
speaker. Free admission to bou-
tique shopping. (248) 683-5030;
hadassah.org.

58

August 31 • 2017

jn

C

omedian Rita Rudner
counts on her family for
support — at home and
through entertainment venues.
Not only does she find her
husband, Martin Bergman,
and daughter, Molly Bergman,
important to a happy personal
lifestyle, she also finds them
important to happy career
income as they become central
to the humor that has given her
a long-running stage and televi-
sion presence.
Rudner, who started her
career as a Broadway dancer
before noticing a lack of female
stand-up comedians, became
a favorite guest on the Tonight
Show with Johnny Carson and
other prime-time shows.
Dividing her time these days
between homes in California
and Nevada, Rudner will
show that humor Sept. 7 at
Congregation Shaarey Zedek as
she appears for this year’s open-
ing meeting of Hadassah Greater
Detroit, which is celebrating its
100th anniversary.
Rudner, who has had a
busy summer of appearances
that included engagements in
Nevada and Hawaii as well as
on an Alaskan cruise, plans to
answer questions and interact
with Hadassah participants.
Getting ready to tell all about
herself in a sixth book, an auto-
biography approached with her
writer-producer husband, she
previewed the content and her
local appearance during a con-
versation with the Jewish News:

JN: Do you alter your material
for an all-women’s audience?
RR: I always alter my material
depending on where I play, but
it’s more of a repositioning of
the material. I can look at where
I’m playing and go heavy on this
section and light on that section.
It’s not really writing the mate-
rial as much as rearranging the
material because I only like to do
material that works 100 percent
of the time.
JN: Do you have any material
especially for Jewish audiences?
RR: I do have some material I