Comedy Legend Rita Rudner to Perform at Smothers Theatre

Consummate comedienne Rita Rudner will bring her trademark wit for an evening of laughs to Pepperdine University's Smothers Theatre in Malibu on Thursday, December 7, at 8 PM.

Beginning her entertainment career as a dancer in Broadway shows, Rudner first started performing stand-up in New York comedy clubs during the 1980s and gained wider exposure as a frequent guest on Late Night with Letterman and The Tonight Show. She has since appeared on television shows hosted by Bill Maher, Jay Leno, Bob Hope, George Burns, Tom Snyder, Conan O’Brien, Dennis Miller, Martin Short, Oprah Winfrey, Regis Philbin, and Kathie Lee Gifford.

Rudner is renowned for her critically acclaimed comedy specials. Her first solo HBO special, Rita Rudner’s One Night Stand, was nominated for two Ace Awards, as was her English television show, which later appeared on A&E. Rudner’s two one-hour specials for HBO, Born to Be Mild and Married Without Children, were ratings standouts, as was her recent PBS special, Live from Las Vegas.

Runder has also written five books, including two fiction novels, Tickled Pink and Turning the Tables; her other books include the best-selling Naked Beneath My Clothes, I Still Have It… I Just Can't Remember Where I Put It and Rita Rudner’s Guide to Men.

Together with her husband Englishman Martin Bergman, Rudner has written several scripts, including their first produced script for the 1992 movie Peter’s Friends, which starred Emma Thompson, Hugh Laurie, and Kenneth Branagh; the movie won the Peter Sellers Award for Best Comedy Film of the Year, and was nominated for the Best Original Script by the Writer's Guild of America.

This was followed several more collaborations, including the TV movies A Weekend in the Country, which also marked Bergman’s directorial debut, and Unfunny Girl, as well as the award-winning independent movie Thanks, which premiered at the Palm Springs Film Festival in 2011.

Rudner recently added “playwright” to her extensive resume with the debut of Room 776 at the Las Vegas Little Theatre; the production was cowritten and directed by her husband.

She boasts the longest running one-person comedy show in Las Vegas history; with ticket sales over $50 million, Rudner is one of Las Vegas’ most beloved performers. With a wide-eyed sweetness that belies her legendary acid observations, Rudner is renowned as a comedy legend.

This performance is sponsored by the Pepperdine University Crest Associates.

Ticket prices range between $10 and $75. For additional information about the performance, and to purchase tickets, visit the Center for the Arts website.