Comedian Cathy Ladman, Las Vegas Sun, June 4, 2004

Columnist Lisa Ferguson: Ladman on the lookout for new career options Lisa Ferguson Friday, June 4, 2004 | 10:36 a.m. Lisa Ferguson's Laugh Lines column appears Fridays. Her Sun Lite Column appears Mondays. Reach her at lmsferguson@yahoo.com. Cathy Ladman's hands are stirring so many professional pots these days, she might want to consider adding an entry for "chef" to her resume. "It's been really busy," the longtime comedian said of her workload during a call from her Los Angeles home. Most recently, she has been auditioning for acting and voice-over roles (listen for her unmistakable New York accent in a forthcoming "Got Milk" ad); and is in the early stages of developing her latest one-woman show. She returns to her stand-up roots for performances through Sunday at Riviera Comedy Club. Such gigs have been fewer and farther between as of late for Ladman, who entered show business more than two decades ago. These days, the 1992 American Comedy Award winner takes the stage to perform about once a month. "I do less of it now, but I love it and ... that's still what I love to do best is to work in front of a live audience and connect and make them laugh and think," she says. Her brand of neurotic, autobiographical humor (built largely on tales about her family, marriage and religion, including her own Jewish faith) have landed her guest spots on "The Tonight Show" nine times. Though her material "basically changes as I change," it remains "very personal, and I've said this many times: I like to be a necessary part of my act. I really don't want to have an act that anybody can do." Jokes about motherhood may soon figure into the mix as Ladman and her husband prepare to adopt an infant from China later this summer. "Everybody tells me, 'Your life as you know it will not exist anymore,' " she says, "and there's really no way I can anticipate or plan it -- I just have to take it as it comes." Much the same way she approaches her career. "In this type of business, it's like you're always looking for work, so you're always planning new projects," she explains of her career outlook. "And nothing lasts for a long time, unless you're somebody who gets a job on a (television) series." Ladman's had more than a few of those gigs over the years: Besides having guested on such sitcoms as "Everybody Loves Raymond," "Titus" and "Just Shoot Me" among others, she served as a writer on "Roseanne" from 1995 through '96; and on the NBC sitcom "Caroline in the City" (1996 through '97). "Just learning some of the structure of how they write (sitcoms) was interesting," she says of her behind-the-scenes experiences. "What I really enjoyed most about working on those shows was working with people. I am not a loner. Writing for me is much harder when I have to do it alone; I don't really relish it, I don't have as much fun." Luckily, the "Roseanne" crew brimmed with writers. "We were just writing jokes all day and we made each other laugh so much," she recalls. "But oftentimes we had to make each other laugh until very late at night, and that was the hard part. Still, to work with people who are clever and fun, it's very stimulating -- not ever boring." Nevertheless, she is a bit disappointed with the crop of sitcom offerings in recent years. "I think most of them are really uninteresting. I think that if they're well written then they survive," Ladman says, pointing to CBS' "Raymond" and HBO's "Curb Your Enthusiasm" as examples. Unfortunately, "There really aren't that many that are well written, I think that they've gotten stuck in a formula ... it's almost like you're feeding the audience the same thing over and over. I also think that the same writers are being used over and over again, so that you're not getting a lot of fresh stuff on the air, and it's generally not really funny." Nevertheless, the 48-year-old Ladman says she's not ready to "completely give up" on television, especially since she has not yet had a sitcom to call her own. That's not for a lack of trying: She says she's previously devised ideas for series in which she could star. "It just hasn't happened for me as yet. Maybe it won't happen until I'm an old lady," she says. "Look, it's very hard in this business when you get older -- really hard, especially if you're a woman -- and if that's in the cards for me, I may have to wait until I reach another stage of my life." But you won't catch Ladman twiddling her thumbs waiting for it to happen: She's brewing some "really cool ideas" for several series, including a game show "that I would really like to see get on the air. It's really smart, and it's just a matter of finding the right place for it." Also in the preliminary stages is a one-woman stage show that she says she hopes to begin performing in L.A. this fall. Though she's hesitant to reveal details about its plot, Ladman does say the premise will be a departure from her stand-up act, with some dramatic moments. "I think this is a show that's really important for me to do, and I feel like I'm being of service doing this show. I'm sharing a lot of myself ... It's really about a lot of difficult stuff." The toughest part may be performing the piece. With comedy, "I'm used to standing up in front of an audience and hearing their response," she explains, "and when I do stuff that's not funny, there's not gonna be a lot of sound coming back at me, and that's something I'll have to get used to." But if anyone can adapt, it's Ladman. "I've been doing stand-up a long time and I don't know if that's where I'm gonna find my next thing. I've gotta keep my eyes open. The world has a plan for me and I don't necessarily know what that is, and if I have blinders on, I might miss it." Out for laughs Rumor has it that a fair number of funny faces familiar to the Las Vegas comedy scene will be featured in the second season of the NBC reality series "Last Comic Standing." The show, hosted by Jay Mohr, follows 10 comics in a Hollywood manse who compete each week for said title. The series begins airing at 8 p.m. Tuesday on Channel 3. Meanwhile, Dat Phan, who was crowned the Last Comic Standing at the end of last summer's installment of the series, is set to headline The Improv at Harrah's June 29 through July 4. Also on the bill are Jeff Burghart and Robin Cee. archive