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Mezvinsky brings laughs to the Valley
By John Benson
Andrea Mezvinsky may be lost.
As far as her comedy career is concerned, the New York City funny lady is right on track, playing clubs around the country and building up a fan base. However, geography is where Mezvinsky, who appears Saturday at The Funny Farm, runs into trouble.
“I haven’t been to Youngstown before, but am I going near Niagara Falls?” said Mezvinsky, during a phone call from the Big Apple. “My father looked it up last night online and said, ‘You’re going to Niagara Falls.’ I said, ‘I don’t think so.’ He’s like 79 years old, and I’m using his car.”
Odds are that story will end up on stage in Mezvinsky’s act sooner than later. She describes her style as being very animated and high-energy, but not wacky. Once billed as the love child of Richard Lewis and Gloria Steinem, the comedienne refers to herself as the “Jewish Lucille Ball.”
Her material ranges from commenting on depression and dysfunction to television advertising, technology and family stuff. She also does social commentary, but isn’t political. Apparently, the latter stopped after she attended her first cousin Marc Mezvinsky’s wedding to Chelsea Clinton.
“It was pretty cool, but it had to be very hush-hush,” Mezvinsky said. “Later, I was at the Comic Strip [comedy club] at like an open-mic working out material, and I was making some jokes about the wedding. There was a guy from National Enquirer in the audience, which is very strange at a booked open-mic. He followed me out, talked to me, and I ended up getting all of these quotes in the National Enquirer. From then on, I had been really quiet about it.”
That’s not Mezvinsky’s first flirtation with the mainstream. Roughly eight years ago she was just beginning her career in comedy. Then a working actress, who appeared in the off-Broadway hit “Grandma Sylvia’s Funeral,” she entered a contest which led to her being named “America’s Funniest Mom” on “The Oprah Winfrey Show.”
“That was one of my biggest things,” Mezvinsky said. “It was a contest sponsored by Carefree Gum for ‘America’s Funniest Mom.’ I sent in a tape and I came in second. At that point, they sent the tapes around for publicity to all of these different shows. Oprah really liked me and made me the ‘Funniest Mom.’ They put me on the show as the most unusual mother for Mother’s Day. There were all of these amazing women who did all of these amazing things — raising children against all odds — and then there was me.”
Feeling pretty confident at the time, Mezvinsky thought she was on the fast track to Hollywood and her dream — starring in her own sitcom. However, fate had other plans with her marriage falling apart, which required “America’s Funniest Mom” to just be a mom to her child.
Today, Mezvinsky is back building her career one show after another. That is, if she can find the venue.
“I’m going to end up telling jokes at Niagara Falls,” Mezvinsky said.