Issue link: https://viewer.e-digitaledition.com/i/867410
August 31 • 2017 59 jn only do for Jewish audiences because I am Jewish. When I was first start- ing out in New York, I played lots of Jewish country clubs outside of New York, and I did lots of benefits for temples. I have lots of material I don't use very often because people of all faiths come to see my act, and I don't like them to be left out. JN: Has your approach to humor changed over the years? RR: As my life changes, my act changes. I talk about the things that are happening in my life, which are happening in my audiences' lives as well. I'm now the mother of a teenag- er. I also have no ability to understand a lot of the technology that's going on these days. My daughter does, and she helps me. All the artificial intel- ligence going on and the fact that all the appliances are so much smarter than I am [can be material]. I've been married for 29 years now so I have a lot of husband material. JN: Do you still like to dance? (Rudner began her career as a Broadway dancer.) RR: No. I love to exercise; I stretch, and I swim. I can't really function unless I do some kind of exercise every single day. I used to be a really good dancer. If I would try now, I'd be really bad so I don't want to try. I still try to keep in shape, and that's part of my routine as well. JN: Do young women who want to be comedians have a better chance than when you started? RR: I don't pay a lot of attention because my life is so busy with just life. I really don't know what I would do now because I started in comedy clubs. With the internet, you have to have followers and a YouTube presence. My daughter is a singer- songwriter, and she does all of that stuff. I was in a bookstore and saw a whole section of YouTube people who have books out, and I'm wondering who these people are. I went into my daughter's room the other day, and she and her friends were watching their favorite YouTubers. JN: Are you a member of Hadassah? RR: No. I am Jewish, but I don't have a very active Jewish life. My mother was very religious; she died when I was 13. JN: Do you have any organizations that you support? RR: I do a lot of work for a tennis charity and Molly's school. I'm doing a show for the school in their theater, and then I do benefits all year for the school music programs. I do charity work for other people. Last year, I auctioned myself off for dinner to the highest bidder [to benefit the school opera program]. We actually had 18 people who gave a lot of money so I made three huge dinners at my house. The school raised a lot of money, and I became a much better cook. JN: If you were invited to talk about a serious subject important to you, no humor allowed, what would that be and why? RR: At this point, it would be the direction America is taking and how deeply disturbing it is. It isn't the country that I grew up in, and it's not the country I want my daughter growing up in. You've seen all the rac- ist tendencies and the prejudices and the people who are unaccepting of other people. I've grown up in big cit- ies that were melting pots, and every- body was welcome. JN: Is there anything you'd like people to know about you apart from your work? RR: I love being a mother. I love working. I'm very excited that I found a way to do both. I didn't do both at the same time because we adopted a baby very late. I did my career for a long time, and then I was able to work in Las Vegas, where I could be a mother and do comedy because I took a car to work and not a plane. JN: Does your family travel with you? RR: Only if it's to places that are fun, and it's only in the summer because Molly has to go to school. Last summer, I did some shows at Cambridge University for a benefit charity because my husband went to Cambridge. My daughter opens for me whenever I go anyplace in the summer. She brings her guitar. I love to travel with her because she doesn't bring her friends or phone so it's just the three of us. JN: Have you ever gone to Israel? RR: I've been there twice. Molly hasn't come with us because she was in school. It's a very fascinating place. It was private travel on my way to a ship where I was working. • Flint Institute of Arts (.HDUVOH\6W)OLQW÷÷ñLQWDUWVRUJ Bryan LeBoeuf, American, b. 1975, Father to Son (detail), 2003, Oil on linen. 96 x 80 inches Gift of Mary Q. Connelly, 2007.117 9.16.17 – 12.30.17 SIZE MATTERS COLLECTION BIG SMALL WORKS AND FROM THE FIA Also on View The Art of Containment Vessels from the Sidney Swidler Collection ò VIQLJ[ZMYVT[OL)SVVTÄLSK/PSSZYLZPKLU[»ZJHYLM\SS` J\YH[LKJVSSLJ[PVUHTHZZLKV]LY`LHYZ 2064970