Classic Conversations - Rita Rudner on Life, Comedy, Dogs, and Staying True To Yourself

Rita Rudner on Life, Comedy, Dogs, and Staying True To Yourself

11/07/22 • 53 min

11 Listeners

After leaving home at 15yo for New York City and finding success on Broadway, Rita Rudner turned her sites to comedy and became one of the most successful and hilarious comedians of all time.

My guest, Rita Rudner and I discuss:

Rita's memoir, "My Life in Dog Years"
Touring with Dennis Miller (including a stop in my hometown at Pine Knob Music Theater)
Performing with Tony Bennett at a state fair
Leaving home at 15yo for New York City
Touring with and upsetting Chita Rivera
Performing in Industrial shows
Making the decision to leave Broadway and become a stand-up comedian
Auditioning for the David Letterman Show
Standing firm on not changing her comedy style
Jack Benny's influence on Rita and the origins of Rita's unique style of comedy
Rita's difficulting getting booked on The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson
Rodney Dangerfield and the 9th Annual Young Comedians Special
Her many collaborations with her husband, Martin
Vegas: becoming the Queen of Las Vegas and changing her life so she could have a family and still perform comedy
Danny Gans
HBO's Comic Relief
Debby Reynolds and Liza Minnelli
The Ask Rita Show
Writing for the Oscars with Carrie Fisher and Steve Martin
Being the first woman on the dais at the Friar's club
and a million more stories!

You're going to love my conversation with Rita Rudner

Our Guest, Rita Rudner

Follow Jeff Dwoskin:

Jeff Dwoskin on Twitter
The Jeff Dwoskin Show podcast on Twitter
Podcast website
Podcast on Instagram
Yes, the show used to be called Live from Detroit: The Jeff Dwoskin Show

After leaving home at 15yo for New York City and finding success on Broadway, Rita Rudner turned her sites to comedy and became one of the most successful and hilarious comedians of all time.

My guest, Rita Rudner and I discuss:

Rita's memoir, "My Life in Dog Years"
Touring with Dennis Miller (including a stop in my hometown at Pine Knob Music Theater)
Performing with Tony Bennett at a state fair
Leaving home at 15yo for New York City
Touring with and upsetting Chita Rivera
Performing in Industrial shows
Making the decision to leave Broadway and become a stand-up comedian
Auditioning for the David Letterman Show
Standing firm on not changing her comedy style
Jack Benny's influence on Rita and the origins of Rita's unique style of comedy
Rita's difficulting getting booked on The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson
Rodney Dangerfield and the 9th Annual Young Comedians Special
Her many collaborations with her husband, Martin
Vegas: becoming the Queen of Las Vegas and changing her life so she could have a family and still perform comedy
Danny Gans
HBO's Comic Relief
Debby Reynolds and Liza Minnelli
The Ask Rita Show
Writing for the Oscars with Carrie Fisher and Steve Martin
Being the first woman on the dais at the Friar's club
and a million more stories!

You're going to love my conversation with Rita Rudner

Our Guest, Rita Rudner

Follow Jeff Dwoskin:

Jeff Dwoskin on Twitter
The Jeff Dwoskin Show podcast on Twitter
Podcast website
Podcast on Instagram
Yes, the show used to be called Live from Detroit: The Jeff Dwoskin Show

Previous Episode

Crossing The Streams Confesses (Bonus Ep36) - Great TV binge watching suggestions!

10 Recommendations

Need TV binge suggestions? You've come to the right place. We've got you covered.

In this bonus episode we discuss a few great binge suggestions:

Ozark (from live ep 27)
Confess Fletch (from live ep 89)
Lennox Lewis: Untold Story (from live ep 71)

Crossing the Streams originated on this podcast in episodes 8 and 15. My idea was to record friends freely discussing TV shows (and movies) they binge on one of the many, many streaming services we all subscribe to.

Jeff Dwoskin is joined by Howard Rosner, Ron Lippitt, Bob Philips, and Sal Demilio are your co-hosts and we're joined weekly by special guests.

The assignment? We each come to the show with a TV binge suggestion. It might be a series, movie, or documentary but we'll give you the scoop so you can decide for yourself whether or not to dive in.

Each segment is pulled from a show and shared as is in all its LIVE goodness.

Join us LIVE every Wednesday at 9:30 PM ET / 8:30 PM CT

Subscribe to our YouTube Channel: https://bit.ly/CTSYouTubeSubscribe

Next Episode

Crossing The Streams is White HOT (Bonus Ep37) - Great TV binge watching suggestions!

8 Recommendations