Susan Granger’s review of Judy Gold’s “Yes, I Can Say That!” (Off-Broadway at 59E59 Theaters)
At the very beginning of her provocative one-woman show, Judy Gold says that a comedian’s only goal on-stage is to make audiences laugh. Considering that criterion, the veteran stand-up performer’s hilarious “Yes, I Can Say That!” is a resounding success.
She’s not alone in her sentiment. Victor Borge said, “Laughter is the shortest distance between two people,” Charlie Chaplin attested, “A day without laughter is a day wasted,” and Milton Berle noted, “Laughter is an instant vacation.”
“Calm the fuck down!” Gold demands, beginning her tirade against the sanctimonious book-banning, drag-queen-pursuing gestapo that comprises current Conservative eagerness to censor free speech.
Yet drawing the line isn’t easy. Gold admits that she once made a joke about a Hasidic woman in Brooklyn who had her wig ripped off while she was walking down the street with her children that totally backfired on her. But she cites her collaborator Eddie Safaty, who maintains, “Going to a comedy club and expecting not to be offended is like going on a rollercoaster and expecting not to get scared.”
Acknowledging the great – but often corrosive – female comedians who have influenced her, Gold imitates and cites Moms Mabley, Lily Tomlin, Joan Rivers, Totie Fields, and Phyllis Diller. Plus, she acknowledges comedians who have been imprisoned – even murdered – by their governments, particularly Afghan’s Khasha Zwan, killed by the Taliban.
And she’s open about her venomous reaction to “misogynist pig” Jerry Lewis’ notorious appraisal: “A woman doing comedy doesn’t offend me, but sets be back a lot. I think of her as a producing machine that brings babies into the world.”
Openly lesbian, Gold confesses to a having a childhood crush on Brooke Shields and not ‘coming out’ publicly until the mid-‘90s.
Based on Gold’s 2020 book of the same name, it’s directed by BD Wong for Primary Stages; the show incorporates Shawn Duan’s clever projections and inventive stage business, serving as one woman’s very personal narrative, augmented by Lex Liang’s set design, Anshuman Bhatia’s lighting and Kevin Heard’s sound.
Gold has invited Sandra Bernhard to join her for an after-show talk-back and has scheduled Mary Trump to join her on Friday, April 14th.
Running 1 hour 20 minutes with no intermission, “Yes, I Can Say That!” is Off-Broadway at 58E59 Theaters through April 16th.