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Janeane Garofalo
| Biography |
(born September 28, 1964 in Newton, New Jersey), is an American stand-up comedian, actress, political activist, and radio host on Air America RadioGarofalo's father is an Italian American former executive named Carmine Garofalo and her Irish American mother Joan, who died of cancer, was once a secretary. During high school, her family relocated to Houston, Texas, where the trauma of the move prompted her famously self-loathing acerbic persona to begin to blossom. While studying history at Providence College, Garofalo entered a comedy talent search sponsored by the Showtime cable network, winning the title of "Funniest Person in Rhode Island." Her original gimmick was to read off of her hand, which was not successful in subsequent performances. Dreaming of earning a slot on the writing staff of the Late Night With David Letterman program, she became a professional standup upon graduating college with degrees in History and American Studies but struggled for a number of years, working briefly as a bike messenger in Boston.The winner of numerous comedy awards and recognitions, she officially began her career in stand-up comedy in the late 1980s during the grunge era. Her appearance was often in line with grunge style: disheveled with thick black glasses and unkempt hair. Her comedy is often self-deprecating; she made fun of popular culture and the pressures put on women to live up to media-created body ideals.
When in San Francisco, Garofalo was a frequent guest at the San Francisco Comedy Condo.
Garofalo is a self-described pessimist: "I guess I just prefer to see the dark side of things. The glass is always half empty. And cracked. And I just cut my lip on it. And chipped a tooth." [1]
Garofalo's comedy shows involve her and her notebook, which is filled with years' worth of article clippings and random observations that she uses for reference during her act for direct quotes, as with new articles, and to enhance the unprepared, fully conversational nature of her standup. Garofalo feels she does not tell jokes but makes observations and hopefully gets laughs.
Garofalo and comedian Marc Maron helped organize the weekly alternative "Eating It" standup comedy show, with different line-ups each week, which played for years at the Luna Lounge in New York's Lower East Side before the bar was finally razed. Later Garofalo and Maron would work together again to create a liberal radio network.
In April 2004 she was selected as #99 on Comedy Central's list of the 100 greatest standups of all time. |
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