Janeane Garofalo: If You Will

I’m very sure that most people think that making a living in the entertainment industry is great. All you have to do is out yourself out there in front of a lot of people and large sums on money come flowing in. while there may be a few with that kind of life for many performers success creates a trap where they constantly have to balance the factors that made then a hit in the first place, keeping their performances fresh so as to keep their existing fans and attract new ones and perhaps the most difficult factor of all, personal growth as an artist. This is largely fueled by the fans, wanting something new while resenting any change from their expectations. A perfect case of these phenomena can be found in the latest DVD featuring the stand up act of Janeane Garofalo. She built her career establishing her persona of the angry young woman; short in stature but in possession of a loud, unfretted mouth. In her latest act, "If You Will’ the tone of her performance has drastically changed along with appearance and overall demeanor. This new performance had some funny moments but there was very little that stuck with you giving reason for additional thought when the act was over. Garofalo used to be the sort of comedienne who selected thought provoking, frequently controversial topics presenting as a young, female curmudgeon. Now her act feels more like visiting an old friend from college who used to be the head of the student union and present at every protest but now has settled down to a more inwardly focused life. She has gone from speaking for The Weathermen’ to worrying about the weather. While enjoyable I missed the ‘did she really say that!’ moments that used to drive her on stage antics. I realize that we all get older, that fact has recently been driven home around here, so I do have to admit that long time fans like me may see these changes as a reflection of our own aging.

Garofalo was born in 1964 in New Jersey but exhibited such a New York attitude that many of my friends in Brooklyn accepted her as one of our own. She had a steady career in both televisions working as a writer and performer on shows ranging from the offbeat ‘Ben Stiller’ to the mainstream action series ‘24’. This diversity of her abilities was also reflected in her choice of movie roles were she appeared in light romantic comedies like ‘The Truth About Cats and Dog’ as well was the Generation X defining film; ‘Reality Bites. First thing I noticed with this new act was Garofalo is gaunt, her face has lost the roundness that used to be part of her persona. Her all black wardrobe is now splashed with color and her first topic of discussion is her dependency on ‘Spanks’ an elastic foundation under garment. That is something that most of her long time fans can readily identify with; the effects of gravity on your body. This was the first indication that Garofalo was going to discuss themes of a more personal nature. When she used a pejorative term in referring to the ultra conservative ‘Tea Party’ I briefly had a glimmer of hope that an old fashion political rant would follow but alas she veered off into her feelings about the current trend of women waxing to attain a prepubescent look that should creep out a sexually well adjusted man. The petite figure moves around the stage never straying far from the music stand and art pad she uses to map out her performance. This does take any extemporaneous feel away give more structure than anticipated. I do have to agree with some of her particular peccadilloes that fuel her ire. One is the stupidity of some of the new wave of reality shows. The one she targets is the lamentable’ I Didn't Know I Was Pregnant’. As she notes if it weren’t for the fact that the baby is neatly tethered to the oblivious mother the show would become ‘Look What the Plumber found’.

Her style has never been the usual course of jokes or even humorous stories consisting of setup and punch lines. Garofalo typically moves from one anecdotal line of monologue to the next. This much of her act has remained largely along this format but taken to a more personal level. In light of this she devotes an inordinate amount of time here to her sexuality or more specifically here lack of libido. Garofalo notes that one critic referred to her as an ‘elder lesbian’. While she admits to potentially being called elder she does make it a point to inform the audience that she is not gay. Briefly moving back to the age issue she commonly pads her 46 years by a decade so people will be impressed with how she looks. She then then enjoys the look on their faces when she reveals her regimen of cigarettes and alcohol. Actually we learn she is sober for awhile now. As far as sex goes she has been living with her boy friend for ten year but they don’t have sex. As she muses at one time she would have traded oral sex for walking the dogs but now she rather walk the dogs herself and get a good night sleep. Some of her old self deprecation is hanging on for life. There is an ironic segment where Garofalo mentions she is a neo-luddite living free of computers but for one season she played a techno-geek computer expert on ‘24’. For the most part her techno-babble dialogue was on post-it notes just off camera. If you are a diehard fan you might be disappointed but like all of us Garofalo has grown up.

Posted 09/24/2010