In this weekly feature, WCBS culture critic Jim Taylor shares 30 seconds with the theatre stars and upstarts of NYC. From Broadway to Off-off, Jim tracks down the talent and gets them to spill just enough for our collectively shortened attention spans.
Meet Katie Goodman. She’s foul-mouthed and funny. Hip, smart, and sexy. And her shows sell out. At Joe’s Pub this Friday, and The Triad on 72nd next Wednesday. What exactly does she do?
Katie Goodman: I’m doing sort of a political satirical musical. People ask me if I do stand-up. I don’t do stand-up as I am mostly sitting… at a piano.
Jim Taylor: Funny stuff though, right?
KG: Funny stuff for sure. It is all comedy. It’s political, it’s personal.
JT: Can we call it “edgy”?
KG: Oh yeah, it is edgy. You dont want to sit next to your mother-in-law.
JT: I mean, the “F word” comes up more than occasionally…
KG: Fuck. It seems like that’s all I ever say. On stage and off. I am definitely like a sailor in my regular life. Learned it from my mother.
JT: You’re probably known best for an underground video called “I Didn’t Fuck it Up.” The song and your performance seem to encapsulate the irony, the angst, and the “what the fuck?” attitude so many of us have in these postmodern, post-recessionary times.
KG: It’s about trying to not mess up the world. It’s an obsession of mine. The savior syndrome. I’m trying to inspire everyone else to help “un-fuck” it up. That’s really the theme of the solo show. To that end I drunk dial President Obama. I drunk dial him on stage.
JT: You’re also pioneering web entertainment. What’s that about?
KG: The series we’re doing is called Bench Warmers. It’s about four moms on a park bench watching our kids play far enough away, and we’re talking about sex — in a highbrow, intellectual way none of which I can tell you right now. It’s the kind of series we hope will get picked up. It’s such an obvious TV match.