Jennifer Perry Interview

INTERVIEW WITH JENNIFER PERRY FROM TheCelebrityCafe.com ARCHIVES

DM) How did you start in music?

JP) Although I wanted to sing and entertain, I had a lot of shyness to overcome. So before I formed the combo, I prepared by doing the most terrifying thing a human can do --stand-up comedy. I took a six-week course on writing and editing humor, working the crowd and handling hecklers. For the next two years, I performed in comedy clubs and emceed awards shows, local TV, concerts, and more.

To have my husband, Denton, play guitar for me was only meant to be a temporary situation while I tried out other guitar players, but the club owners and bookers preferred the sound we created together. From there, we slowly added in other instruments, drums, acoustic bass, and occasionally sax or swing fiddle.

DM) How far has your stand-up comedy career gone? Do you still do it?

JP) Though it wasn't intended as a long-range career, I made the rounds at a lot of good clubs, such as The Punch Line, A Comic Cafe, Headliners, and The Improv, to name a few. When available, I accept all requests to emcee, because I truly enjoy that. Other than emcee work, I thought I was through with stand-up until last month when an agent came to check out my combo at a gig. He said he loved our sound and definitely wanted to book us. Then, he pleaded with me to let him book me as a comedian. Well, I'll see what he has to offer--after all, never say "Never!"

DM) Which is your favorite track on the album?

JP) Definitely, "My Heart Belongs to Daddy." I'm a professional impersonator of Marilyn Monroe, and it's given me great enjoyment of the songs she recorded. I'm my harshest critic but I feel I did that one well.

DM) Where have you impersonated Marilyn?

JP) Mostly at the Fox Theater in Atlanta, several times there, also at different locations like Planet Hollywood and Hard Rock Cafe, The Atlanta Historical Society and other venues. Also, corporate event planners love to hire impersonators. As Marilyn, I performed for conventions for PepsiCo execs launching Pepsi One, Miller, chemical companies, as well as private parties when someone wants to make their boss or husband's birthday a real surprise! I recently had an agent ask if I would be willing to work as Madonna and Marilyn for "Legends of Las Vegas" in Japan. It would be difficult to stop the combo's momentum now, but if the money's right... See ya!

DM) That's pretty good for just a side thing. Did you ever think of pursuing comedy 100% full time?

JP) Hmmm. For me, full-time stand-up would probably be like performing a circus highwire act on a daily basis. It can be terrifying while you're doing it, but when you're doing it right, it's exhilarating and a very satisfying high. A different facet of comedy I've meddled with, and intend to pursue more, is to write, especially roll-ins, which are short bits of video that can be from 30 seconds to a minute or so. I was always a big fan of SCTV's roll-ins for television shows that weren't actual shows. I saw Margaret Cho using roll-ins during her stand-up act on TV last week. Properly done, they can be an art form. Sometimes I think I was born out of my time. I fantasize about being a writer like Sally Rogers on the "Dick Van Dyke Show" and writing for something like "Your Show of Shows." In other words, back when people knew how to make you laugh till you truly hurt, without ever using a word that had to be bleeped out!

DM) So did raunchy comedy like Eddie Murphy's "Raw" offend you?

JP) Well, no, because I haven't seen it. I'm a fan, and I saw two Eddie Murphy movies while on a plane last week. It's great that he can appeal to so many people of all ages. I think I know what "Raw" was about, and he was simply reaching a specific segment of his audience that enjoys that type of humor. As long as he never forgets that his talent is broader than that, it doesn't bother me. (I'm sort of a "live and let live" type.)

You made me wonder if I'm some sort of anachronism that thinks the only clever American writers of our century were from the Algonquin Round Table. But I get great pleasure from some really funny modern writers, such as David Sedaris, Fran Liebowitz, Rita Mae Brown, Scott Thompson, Chris Buckley--and I've turned several folks on to your stories about the "inner Guido" and why you hate Connecticut. That's great stuff!

I was working with two folks last night on a television show treatment. We're trying to outline three shows and ended up saying it'll have to be on cable. It's some adult humor, sometimes silly (in a cool way, of course), but we don't think of it as nasty, just insane.

DM) So you've read a bit of my writing! Now I'm starting to blush. What did your friends say?

JP) Ah! At last! I like you when you blush! Actually, on the story of the inner Guido and "How to Kiss Like a Cuban", the reactions from guys are smiles and laughs, accompanied by a lot of nodding. The Connecticut story is a grabber that seems to crystallize feelings people had and never put into words. Keep it coming.

DM) Do you feel comedy is something that can be taught or something that is just natural?

JP) Some elements can be taught - editing, structure, how to walk out on stage, etc. There are do's and don'ts of even taking the microphone off the stand that can label you an amateur or make the audience see you as a pro, and that makes them more receptive to you. And some things, a comedian learns by trial and error and practice. When you perform the same material two nights in a row, at clubs 40 miles apart, and one boos you, and the other can't get enough, you have to go back and seriously study what happened. Was it delivery? Was some material wrong for that part of town? Was it me or them and why?

I think comedy itself, actually seeing things in a humorous light, or knowing how to raise an ordinary scene to a hilarious one, can't be taught. You can teach someone to write comedy technically, but the one who can improvise just by free mental association is, I feel, born with it.

Some people can recognize humor but not create it, and there are masses who can watch corny shows but still need a laugh track to be sure they know when to laugh. (This is definitely not humor to us.)

I think it's a gift and should be used as such. Just as I sent copies of your stories to people I wanted to make laugh, whether it brings a smile or a real gut-busting laugh, it's like the comedian/writer Miss Dupree says, "I got the gift and I GOT to use it."