Rudner’s ‘rapier-like wit’ shines at New York-New York

Joe Delaney

Friday, May 4, 2001 | 8:55 a.m.

Neat, petite, pert: Rita Rudner has a gentle demeanor that masks a rapier-like wit. When it comes to laughs, the lady hits for distance. Not one line missed at the show we attended.

The New York-New York Cabaret Theatre, her new home, half as large as her recent venue, the MGM Grand Cabaret Theatre, was jam-packed, not the norm on an early weekday evening.

The stage setting was warm, feminine, just right. The laughs were loud, long and consistent throughout her 70 minutes onstage. Her observations dealt mainly with four areas -- Las Vegas, shopping, marriage and male-female relationships. No two shows play exactly alike. She is expert at ad-lib, working with individuals in the audience, weaving them through the act.

Rudner was a dancer, trained in ballet, and featured in a half-dozen Broadway musicals before trying comedy one night in a Manhattan club. She has that dancer's innate sense of timing. She writes all of her own material and is a successful film writer, actress and producer. In fact, good friend Steve Martin had Rudner working with him backstage when he emceed the recent Academy Awards.

Her style is conversational, seemingly unhurried, yet sans empty spaces. Jerry Seinfeld said that Rudner's was the "haiku of comedy." There are also Woody Allen-like touches at times. She paints funny word pictures.

Subjects covered at the show included Las Vegas, area resident and visitors, local hotels (particularly the Venetian), our weather (especially in the summer), getting older, why her dad will not get a hearing aid, lying about one's age, going to the doctor, malls, shopping with one's husband, body piercing, tattoos, shows in town (especially Siegfried & Roy) -- and that was just in the first 10 minutes.

You won't read punch lines here. There are so many good ones, worth jotting down, but not to be spoiled for you when you see her -- which you should. In her own way, she is every woman, a philosopher of sorts, a survivor in this maelstrom that passes for the human comedy today, mainly because she always manages to see the sunny, funny side of things.

Bonkers, her dog, rescued from a local pound, was introduced and performed a bit that reminded me of Bob Williams and Louie, a classic act where the dog did nothing. Bonkers did plenty but not quite what he was asked to do -- a hilarious segment. Rudner usually closes with questions from the audience. See her, for sure, but make those ticket reservations early.