What’s my (punch)line?

Rita Rudner never stops working.

The American comedy legend and queen of the one-liner — who also has the distinction of having the longest-running solo female comedy show in the history of Las Vegas — has been doing standup since the late 1970s. But you can expect her jokes to be as recent as this morning.

“I do a lot of jokes in a row, usually three jokes a minute, and I’m always writing new jokes. The things that I’m writing about now are my confusion about what’s going on in the world with technology, with AI, with passwords, with my bank account — I think you get the idea,” says Rudner, 72.

“Or talk about trying to do Netflix when I’ve got a daughter who keeps exiting me from the account, and I’ve got to get her on the phone to get the thing to watch. I just remembered off and on. What was wrong with off and on? Anyway.”

Rudner, who was a regular on The Tonight Show With Johnny Carson and has several HBO specials, is bringing her act to the Burt on Friday night. The Free Press caught up with her to chat about her process, her pre-show ritual, and being the basis (in part) for Jean Smart’s comedian character on Hacks.

This conversation has been lightly edited for length and clarity.

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Free Press: It’s a treat you’re coming to Winnipeg; I know you don’t do a ton of theatre tours.

Rita Rudner: I do once in a while. Because I worked for so long in Las Vegas, now I work when I like to work, which is a good thing. And I love Canada, and it’ll be good to get out of America. I’m always looking forward, these days, to leaving America.

FP: What does your writing process look like?

RR: It’s evolved through the years. When I was first starting, I had to do: This is my time (to write) every day, I do this for hours and just try it, then I go to the clubs at night, and if somebody laughs, I leave it in, and if they don’t laugh, I don’t say it again.

And then when I was in Las Vegas, because I did a show almost every night, it was really good, because I could just go an hour early and say, “I’m going to try this tonight, I’m going to try that tonight.” When I think of something, I always try to slip in two or three new things every night … because I like to keep evolving. I like to know that I can still do it.

FP: You began your career as a dancer. How did you find your way to standup, and what was it about it that hooked you?

RR: I started in ballet when I was four. I was in ballet companies in Florida when I was in high school, and I did my first show in New York when I was 16, and then I did six Broadway shows after that. I did it and I loved it and it was my favourite thing. But I was in Annie on Broadway, and I said, you know, there aren’t too many female standup comedians, and there are quite a few dancer/singer/actresses.

I noticed there were no quiet female comedians, so I said, maybe I should try just to be me and to see what that is, because there aren’t many people doing it. Then I just found that I loved it, and I still love it. I still love thinking of a new way to write a joke and a new way to tell a joke, and I love the audience reaction, the immediacy of it.

FP: Which is unlike some of your other creative pursuits. (Rudner is also an author, screenwriter and playwright.)

“I like to keep evolving. I like to know that I can still do it.”

RR: I wrote plays and books and everything, and when you write a play, you go, “Oh, I’m doing this — what if the audience doesn’t like it?” I’m performing it in a vacuum and then it’s on paper. But with comedy, right away, instant gratification.

FP: When you started, you were among a few women comics; now…

RR: … we’re everywhere. There’s no stopping us.

FP: What has it been like for you to be part of the generation that opened those doors and inspired those behind you?

RR: Well, I don’t think about it and I don’t know that I am (an inspiration). I always just try to do my best. When I was starting, which was, I think, in the late 1400s, most women were exclusively self-deprecating. It was “my husband hates me” or they were critical of their own appearance. I think I was one of the first comedians who started saying, “Why are all these men crazy? It’s not me, it’s them. I’m not looking for somebody perfect. I’m just looking for somebody treatable.”

FP: You have, at least in part, inspired a TV character. The writers of the HBO comedy series Hacks have said that Deborah Vance, the veteran comedian played by Jean Smart, is based on an amalgam of comics, including you. How do you feel about that?

RR: You know what? The truth is, I never watched the show. I watched the first episode of it, and I love Jean Smart. I think she’s fantastic, and I’m sure she’s great in the role, and she’s won accolades that she deserves. I just hate the title of it so much. It’s so demeaning, because I work so hard at trying to be funny in a unique, original, consistent way, and all of a sudden, I’m a hack? It’s like having a show about doctors called Butchers.

FP: Do you have a pre-show ritual?

RR: Yes. I get there early, I go over my notebooks, and I highlight things that I want to try. Because I was a dancer and a singer, I know if you don’t warm up, it’s no good. If you’re a singer, you get there half an hour early to vocalize, or if you’re a dancer, you stretch for an hour before you go on stage. So I stretch my mind. I have to stretch my mind for half an hour, 45 minutes before I go on. Otherwise, I just feel rudderless. I’m Rita Rudderless.

FP: I love that you always dress up, which is rare in this era of athleisure. Do you have a gown picked out for Friday?

RR: How fancy is where I’m going to be? I have two gowns and I’m debating because I have a splashy sequin one, but I have a more understated pretty green one. I’m thinking of bringing both and deciding when I’m there, but what do you think?

FP: You are playing one of the most beautiful rooms in town. It’s a gorgeous historic vaudeville theatre.

RR: I’m thinking gold, now. I’m gonna bring gold. I was getting the other one all shined up but I’ll get this one out. You convinced me. I love the way you described that theatre, because I love the style of theatres that have all the old details.

FP: And ghosts. It’s haunted, allegedly.

RR: Even better.

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