Jackie Hoffman, or Grandma in the new Addams Family musical, is a scream to watch as usual whether she is a-musing us in Xanadu the musical or cracking jokes in her stand-up act.
Windy City Times: So you were with Second City for eight years?
Jackie Hoffman: Yes, I was. It was pretty fabulous. It was not what I expected, a schoolyard nightmare boys club comedy hell! It was a great gig and I wouldn’t trade it for anything. I worked with the funniest people in the world.
WCT: You lived in Chicago then, but where are you now?
JACKIE HOFFMAN: I am a New York girl. I never did the L.A. thing. Which is why I probably do not have a career in television and film. But I am on Broadway!
WCT: Exactly! How did you get involved in the show?
JACKIE HOFFMAN: I auditioned once and they didn’t like me. Then they called me back in and I got it.
WCT: Are you excited?
JACKIE HOFFMAN: Yeah, It’s going to be a huge show.
WCT: You also have one-woman show. Let’s talk about that.
JACKIE HOFFMAN: Let’s! I am calling it “Whining in the Windy City: the Holiday Edition.” It’s a Hanukkah gay Hebrew filth fest! Everything that I am not able to get out in a performance of the Addams Family comes spewing out of every orifice at the Royal George Theater.
WCT: Oh, at the Royal George. That’s a great space. Your performances are throughout the run of Addams Family?
JACKIE HOFFMAN: Yeah. [It runs through] all the Mondays in December.
WCT: You played Calliope in Xanadu the Musical.
JACKIE HOFFMAN: Yes. The Broadway version, I heard, was better than the version here. Ours was fabulous.
WCT: I did like the one here but there was a lookalike who played your part in the show.
JACKIE HOFFMAN: No, that was not me. You would remember me if you saw me.
WCT: You did Hairspray the Musical, too?
JACKIE HOFFMAN: I was in the original cast.
WCT: I just interviewed Mink Stole. Don’t you know her?
JACKIE HOFFMAN: I worked with her in the John Waters film A Dirty Shame. I was the chronic masturbator. She is a doll. I love her!
WCT: I heard that you hate kids.
JACKIE HOFFMAN: I kind of hate them, yeah. Here’s payback because I have like one scene in the show and it’s with a kid. It’s all coming back to me.
WCT: You should work in a restaurant like me and have to wait on them.
JACKIE HOFFMAN: That’s when they are the worst—when they are in a fucking restaurant! That’s when you want to kill them.
WCT: What projects do you have after the show?
JACKIE HOFFMAN: There are producers in New York who really want to get my one-person stuff out there. It has been very successful. We have all the great stuff from Joe’s Pub and I also have the album Jackie Hoffman Live that I will be pushing that at my show. I want the gays to go there.
WCT: That’s what I am here for!
JACKIE HOFFMAN: Bless you.
See Hoffman at The Addams Family musical at the Ford Oriental Theatre, 24 W. Randolph, through Jan. 10, 2010, or catch her stand-up act at the Royal George Theatre, 1642 N. Halsted, Dec. 21 and Jan. 4. Tickets to both shows may be purchased at www.TicketMaster.com.