Episode Nº 3: Sandra Bernhard

The George Hahn Podcast

Where do I begin about my guest on this episode? How do I begin? When I was a kid at home, I remember seeing her on late night cable doing standup at the IMPROV, unable get enough of her bawdy flavor of comedy and confidence. Then, in 1989, my dad bought me a cassette of her hit one-woman show "Without You I'm Nothing." Like countless other gay men, I was transfixed. I didn't really know that this kind of performance was possible. Funny, edgy, cutting, relevant, ahead of its time. And speaking of something ahead of its time... If you haven't seen her performance in Martin Scorsese's "The King of Comedy" with Robert DeNiro and Jerry Lewis, rent it now. Since all of that, she's done sitcoms, movies, tv shows, most recently Ryan Murphy's POSE and American Horror Story. I saw her most recently at her annual holiday run at Joe's Pub on New Year's Eve, back in person after a three-year pandemic absence. She is a comedian... a singer... a writer... an actress... one of our sharpest cultural observers... one of my favorite entertainers... an overall icon... and, this year, my Valentine... Miss Sandra Bernhard.