Arts & Entertainment Comedian shares experiences --Arlt§ & Emittcerttaulmimmcemr(t--

BY WYBF

DANIELLE KAINE STAFF WRITER DNK723@CABRINI EDU

How many comedians can say they made their comic debut on Broadway?

Lynne Koplitz can.

“Gladys Comedy Room inside Hamburger Harry’s on 42nd and Broadway,” said Koplitz, who brought her comic wit to Cabrini’s Jazzman Café on Feb. 23. “My mother flew up from Virginia to see me. On the way to the club, she said to me‘We don’t have to go, we can go get a lobster. Turn the car around.’

Now, you have to understand, in my family, whenever you do something good, you’re rewarded with a lobster. She was so nervous for me she just wanted to celebrate and skip the performance.”

While Hamburger Harry’s is not exactly Carnegie Hall, it’s certainly a step up from Chucky Cheese’s and Koplitz has persevered. It’s something that’s defined her career. After graduating from Troy State University in Alabama, she did community theatre in Nashville, Tenn. and Atlanta, Ga. When she decided to make the move to try comedy, she went in with both feet and decided to break in to the business in New York City.

“My parents and stepfather knew I wanted to be a comic and they were happy for me when I made the decision,” said Koplitz. “They gave me the money to make the move from Nashville to New York. I didn’t start doing comedy until I was 28, so when I told my friends I was going to be a comedian they were like, ‘Yeah? And I’m going to be an opera singer.’”

Not surprisingly two of her comic influences were female and legendary stars Carol Burnett and Lucille Ball.

“I watched them all the time, but they were more comic actors and not stand up comedians,” said Koplitz, who was born in Long Island, but raised in the South.

“What I liked about all of them was that they didn’t tell jokes; they told stories,” said Koplitz. “They all took topics that happened in their lives, some of them not happy memories, and made them funny and something relatable to the audience.”

Koplitz’s schedule takes her to comedy clubs and college campus all around the country. It’s an exhausting schedule (she was at Philadelphia University the night before she appeared at Cabrini; two days later she appeared on successive nights at SUNY Oneonta, the University of Delaware, and Kutztown University), but one that she doesn’t regret. The comedy circuit is primarily populated with male comics, so breaking in as a female comedian is not easy.

“It’s really hard for a female comic because it’s a boys’ club,” said Koplitz. “But, it’s no different than if you were a female who wanted to be an attorney or a firefighter. It’s just a matter of rolling with the punches. I’ve been lucky because Caroline Rhea has given me many breaks and Dave Chappelle has been amazing. Dave knows it’s harder for women and minorities to break in to the business. He gives them a shot.”

Koplitz has had several shots at TV stardom, but is still looking for that elusive project that will be a career breakthrough. In 1998 she hosted the syndicated TV dating show “Change of Heart” for one season.

“They(show producers) wanted me to host it like it was an elegant dinner party when it was more like a white trash picnic,” she said. “A girl (guest dater) would

“You are a tumbleweed. You don’t have a husband. You don’t have children. You roll with the wind and don’t let any man drag you down.”

-Lynne Koplitz’s mother

say ‘I want to put something in his but if he’ll let me.’ And I said, ‘OK, you’re a ho and he’s an idiot and we’ll be right back after these messages.’ The show was fun, the people who came on were fun and the people I worked with were very nice. It was a mismatch, but I learned a lot about TV and how to use a teleprompter. But, what they wanted me to do, just wasn’t me.”

Other brushes with TV have been “How to Boil Water,” a Food Network show, and

“Life and Style,” a syndicated daytime talk show that ran for one season in 2003-04. On that show, similar to “The View,” she was a co-host along with actresses Jules Asner and Cynthia Garrett and model Kimmora Lee Simmons, who now has the hottest reality show on Bravo.

Koplitz has had three television development deals including ones with NBC and Fox. All were supposed to be based on her act, but none ever made it to the network. She’s now working on a project that she describes as a hybrid reality show called “Z Rock” on which she plays the manager of a rock band. But until there’s a project that makes it to the small screen, Koplitz continues to make audiences laugh in clubs and on campuses alike.

“My mother gave me the greatest advice when I started out,” said Koplitz, who is single but in a relationship. “She said, ‘You are a tumbleweed. You don’t have a husband. You don’t have children. You roll with the wind and don’t let any man drag you down.”’

The Loquitur welcomes your questions and comments on this story. Comments can be sent to: Loquitur@googlegroups.com. The editors will review your comments and make corrections if warranted.