Rita Rudner

Rita Rudner is an American stand-up comedian, actress, and writer born on September 17, 1953, in Miami, Florida. She is the daughter of Frances, an Orthodox Jewish homemaker originally from Brooklyn, and Abe Rudner, a lawyer from the Catskills. Rudner grew up in a Jewish family in Coconut Grove and began taking ballet lessons at age four. Her mother died of breast cancer when Rudner was thirteen, after which her father remarried. Feeling a desire for independence and struggling to adjust to her new family situation, Rudner graduated from high school at fifteen and relocated to New York City to pursue a career as a dancer.

Her Broadway career spanned from 1968 to 1977 and encompassed multiple productions. She entered the Broadway world with a small role in Promises, Promises, joining that production in 1970, and went on to appear in the original production of Mack and Mabel in 1974. Additional Broadway credits include The Magic Show, So Long, 174th Street, and Zorba. Around 1980, Rudner took over the role of Lily St. Regis in the long-running musical Annie, remaining with that company for over a year before departing in 1981.

Observing a shortage of female comedians in New York City, Rudner transitioned from performing in Broadway productions to stand-up comedy in the late 1970s. She made her network television debut on Late Night with David Letterman in 1982 and subsequently built a substantial television presence in both the United States and the United Kingdom, including a six-part series recorded for BBC2 in 1990. Her frequent appearances on The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson, along with her participation in Rodney Dangerfield's Young Comedians Special on HBO, helped establish her as a prominent figure in the comedy boom of the 1980s. Rudner recorded several comedy specials, among them Rita Rudner: Born to Be Mild and Rita Rudner: Married Without Children for HBO, and Rita Rudner: Live From Las Vegas for PBS in 2008.

Rudner co-wrote the screenplay for the 1992 film Peter's Friends with her husband, Martin Bergman, a British producer, and also appeared in the film as an actress. She later played the character Bunny in Bergman's 2011 film Thanks, which had its world premiere at the 2011 Palm Springs Film Festival. In January 2016, Rudner appeared in the play Act 3... alongside Charles Shaughnessy at the Laguna Playhouse, directed by Bergman. She has also created and hosted the syndicated improvisational comedy show Ask Rita, which followed the format of a talk and advice program, earning her a Gracie Allen Award from the Alliance for Women in Media Foundation.

Since 2001, Rudner has performed almost exclusively in Las Vegas, selling nearly two million tickets and becoming the city's longest-running solo comedy show. She moved to a larger theater at The Venetian in January 2011. In May 2009, she performed alongside Bette Midler and Sheryl Crow for Senator Harry Reid and President Barack Obama at Caesars Palace. Rudner is the author of the books I Still Have It; I Just Can't Remember Where I Put It and Naked Beneath My Clothes, as well as the novels Tickled Pink and Turning the Tables. She and Bergman have an adopted daughter.