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Sandra Bernhard

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Sandra Bernhard (born June 6 1955 in Flint, Michigan) is a American actress and comedian. She first gained attention in the late 1970s with her stand-up comedy where she often bitterly critiques celebrity culture and political figures. Bernhard is number 97 on Comedy Central's list of the 100 greatest standups of all time.

Her one woman show Without You I'm Nothing was a success on Broadway, and was turned into a recording as well as a film. She has developed a cult following with her stand-up comedy shows that are better described as performance art. She is bisexual, with public intimations of a relationship with Madonna, which both made in the late 1980s. She returned to New York in 2006 with the Off-Broadway show Everything Bad & Beautiful.

Film

She has also made appearances in various films (including The King of Comedy, Hudson Hawk, The Apocalypse, Follow That Bird, and Inside Monkey Zetterland) as well as her television spots, most notably as Nancy, a lesbian friend of the title protagonist on Roseanne. She also guest-starred as herself on two episodes of Will & Grace and appeared in several episodes of The L Word as a literary professor.

The View controversy

In June of 2006 Bernhard appeared on the television program The View and in a seven minute segment her commentary on race and politics incited two of the hosts to rage. Bernhard is not a stranger to the show having appeared numerous times before, but her comments on Mariah Carey infuriated Star Jones, who refused to make eye contact with Bernhard after the first two minutes. She was then asked by Barbara Walters to discuss her opinion of Laura Bush, which sent Republican co-host Elisabeth Hasselbeck into an angry rant ("Don't you 'honey' me, HONEY!)" Host Joy Behar, a friend of Bernhard's, then left the stage (to comedic effect), and the segment was cut short. [1]

Music

Bernhard performs classic pop music, jazz, and blues tunes. She has released several albums (combinations of music and comedy) including:

All of the CD's from "The Love Machine" through "Gems..." have been cheaply produced CD-Rs, which is commonly what comedians sell at their shows.

She is also an accomplished writer with three books:

The Smoking Popes recorded a song entitled "Sandra", a tribute to Ms. Bernhard, wherein the singer Josh Caterer professes his obsession with Sandra.

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