Caroline Rhea: motherhood adds new angle to comedy act

PRIME – May 2013 By Debbie Gardner debbieg@thereminder.com Caroline Rhea admitted to being "jet lagged and headachy" on the morning PRIME reached her by phone to talk about her upcoming CityStage appearance. The 48-year-old actress and comedian apologized, explaining that she and her toddler, Ava, had just returned to their New York City home after a whirlwind weekend trip to California. "I just got back from Disneyland with my daughter," Rhea said. "It's spring break so we were just visiting the princesses." Fortunately, she added, Ava was occupied during the mid-day call so she didn't have to be "half-mom, half-interviewee." It seems you can now add adoring mother to this accomplished entertainer's litany of credits, which include portraying Hilda Spellman on the long-running TV comedy, "Sabrina the Teenage Witch," Drew Carey's girlfriend on "The Drew Carey Show," hosting the first three seasons of "The Biggest Loser" and voicing the harried mother Linda Fletcher Flynn on the Disney Channel's long-running tween animated comedy series, "Phineas and Ferb." If you've missed her in any of those roles, you might have caught some of her comedy during her recurring guest host spots on "The Ellen DeGeneres Show," appearances on "Conan O' Brien," or on networks such as Comedy Central, Bravo or Showtime, where her jokes have run the gamut from bawdy single girl shenanigans in her early days to couples' challenges and snoring boyfriends in her recent acts. Rhea said she would be bringing her latest comedy act to CityStage in Springfield, Mass., at 8 p.m. on May 4 as part of the Bud Light Presents Stand Up Comedy Series. "I really just started touring [again]," Rhea said. "I got to be a mother so late in life, I wasn't really keen to leave my daughter. Now that she's 4.5, I like doing local [shows] and she comes with me on weekends." Ava Rhea Economopoulos was born to Rhea and her significant other, comedian Costaki Economopoulos, in 2008 when the actress/comedian was 44 years old. Rhea said the precocious toddler has taken the stage with her "a couple of times" recently. "She's really funny," Rhea said. "She was having a serious meltdown last summer and I said, 'Ava, you have two choices. You can stop crying and come back and have a Popsicle with Mummy, or you can have a time out.' She said,'Is there a third choice?'" Though Ava won't be a part of her CityStage appearance, Rhea said her experiences as a mom have definitely influenced her act. "She's so completely opened my eyes and changed my life," Rhea said. "I have some ridiculous stories of things that have happened to me in my life that I've been telling on stage." Despite Ava's influence, Rhea said the majority of her comedy still puts a fine edge on modern life. "I'm still pretty relationship oriented," Rhea explained. "I tell a joke that I recently lost 25 lbs. because I found out my boyfriend was cheating on me, and I want to know if there's some other crisis [someone could share] because I need to lose 5 more pounds." And every act is different. Rhea said she likes to get to know her audience, and draws on their vibe to inspire what she does onstage. "You think after 25 years I'd get the hang of how to describe what I do," Rhea said when asked what the Springfield audience might see and hear during her May 4 appearance. "I think [of a show like] I'm having a dinner party and the audience is my guests and we sort of make something together." The result, Rhea said, is "Highly entertaining and hilarious, it's not like a lecture." The CityStage appearance may be her first trip to Springfield proper, but Rhea said it isn't her first time to the area. In the 1990s she said she played the Comedy Connection hosted by the Hu Ke Lau in Chicopee, Mass., "four or five times." The experience of performing her, at the time, pretty bawdy brand of comedy while people were eating dinner at the Polynesian-themed restaurant sometimes seemed a bit bizarre, Rhea recalled. She also admitted to another Western Massachusetts connection – in the form of her first serious crush. "His father was a math teacher at Longmeadow High School," the Canadian-born Rhea recalled, adding that she met the boy, named Matt, at summer camp. "Mr. Daniels, his dad, was a tennis coach [and] Matt was a tennis player," she said. In the end, Rhea said it was a good experience, "I went to tennis camp to discover what a good actress I am." Rhea said she'll be bringing those acting talents to the small screen this spring when she guest stars on an episode of the ABC Family Channel's comedy "Baby Daddy," which premieres season two on May 29 at 8:30 p.m. EDT. She'll also appear on an episode of her good friend and fellow comedian Kym Whitley's reality show, "Raising Whitley," about Whitley's decision to adopt and raise an abandoned child with the help of her friends. That show premiered April 20 on Oprah Winfrey's OWN network. In addition to those recent projects, Rhea said she's in the process of writing a one-woman show for the Edinburgh Comedy Festival, which takes place in Edinburgh, Scotland this August. "That's what I'm doing when I'm touring," Rhea said. "I'm getting new material all the time."