The Serious Comedy Site
Sandra Bernhard is an original, much like her doppelganger the late French actress Sarah Bernhardt, and her newest comedy CD –of sorts, it is that and much more– Everything Bad & Beautiful is just as original as this great lady of the stage. Bernhard is a multi-talented, erudite, take no prisoners and fools gladly singer, writer, poet, and anything else she needs to be to make a Sarah Bernhard show or recording a precise but sometimes seemingly off the cuff artistic performance that never, ever dumbs down for the audience.
I am not always partial to Bernhard. I really like Without You I’m Nothing but am less than impressed with I’m Still Here … Damn It! (aka the pregnant in a negligee show). Everything Bad & Beautiful is a comedy performance CD that makes me want to reconsider past releases I did not really enjoy and think about getting and listening to what, in her vast catalogue, I am not familiar with What I admire in Everything Bad & Beautiful is how effortlessly Sarah Bernhard can do a pas de deux from caustic, dark comments to sweet, innocent observations on the same topic. This is especially true and evident in Motherhood / The Flame / Thanksgiving where she rips apart Anne Geddes and Celine Dion and then talks about her own experience as a mother in a piece that is innocent, heartfelt, realistic, and angst ridden. I doubt there is another artist or comic that can do this kind of material and Bernhard makes all the transitions sound totally natural with a kind of self-awareness we all wish we had more often. It is a very human piece that you want to listen to a few times to get every nuance she has put into it.
I am much less partial to material like Sara and Out Of Tears which sounds more like a witty monologue to a shrink over a double mocha frappe cappuccino than comedy or show material. The track Mariah Carey & Britney Spears simply reminded me that Carey and Spears are the new Michael Jackson and airplane jokes. I also wonder about the interest of the Bob Dylan track
The political material, such as Kerry Laura Bush Lynn Cheney and Condoleeza Rice & Rosa Parks is superb although I wish the Rice & Parks had been expanded. The short bits Hugh Hefner and I Hate Golf / Mock The Poor are also fun.
Sandra Bernhard Everything Bad & Beautiful is not a CD you put on for a few laughs. Everything Bad & Beautiful is, without wanting to seem pompous or artsy-fartsy, often an aural experience that brings to mind the very best old-style Broadway chanteuse who has a Sybil like ability to transform into a punk, bitch, and little girl.
Richard Lanoie (link)
