Elayne Boosler thinks retro
with ‘Balderdash’ game show

updated 2:58 p.m. ET July 29, 2004

LOS ANGELES - Elayne Boosler likes to think of her new game show, PAX’s “Balderdash,” as a throwback to the programs she watched as a youngster.

Picture Kitty Carlisle and Bennett Cerf elegantly dressed and tossing off witticisms on “I’ve Got a Secret” or “What’s My Line?” and you’ve got an idea of how Boosler frames her work.

So is there a Boosler dress code for guest celebrities and players? Debuting 8:30 p.m. EDT Monday, “Balderdash” is based on the board game and tests contestants’ ability to discern fibs and facts.

“It’s more of a mindset in my head that I think of those shows,” the veteran comedian replies. “I think, hey, there’s probably little kids watching, going, ‘Wait, is this show business?”’

Although, Boosler quickly adds, “Adults know game shows aren’t show business.”

But isn’t show biz her career?

“No, I’m in vaudeville. I’ve said that for 30 years. ... I’ve always wanted to do standup, period,” she said.

Sitcoms are considered the rainbow’s end for comedians — case in point is “Everybody Loves Raymond” star Ray Romano’s reported $1.8 million an episode — but for Boosler, they mean waiting around all day to deliver “lines that aren’t funny.”

The “Balderdash” gig, on the other hand, allows her to work in a genre that honors improvisation — and reminds viewers they might like to catch her on stage.

“TV is a commercial for my live act,” she said. “People think there’s something wrong with you when you don’t want a sitcom. But when I started ... the goal wasn’t to get a sitcom. The goal was to be Richard Pryor.”

The game show also gives her the chance to give back to fellow comedians, especially younger ones who could use the exposure.

“Balderdash” calls on comics and actors to present information that may or may not be true and asks contestants to figure it out to win. Among her guests: George Wendt, French Stewart, Shelley Morrison, Tim Meadows, Regan Burns, Loni Love, Bruce Vilanch, Maria Bamford and Todd Glass.

(“Don’t worry. We’re going to be very faithful to the novel,” she assures ardent fans of the board game.)

Decades of comedy
When Boosler, a Brooklyn native, pursued a standup career in the 1970s only a handful of launching pads existed. The comedy club boon wouldn’t arrive until the 1980s and TV outlets were limited, especially for women, she said.

Although Johnny Carson and “The Tonight Show” are often credited for helping fledgling comedians, Boosler contends “it really was Merv (Griffin) who gave everyone their start.”

“Carson had a very narrow view of comedy ... You never saw women, new women other than Joan Rivers, and you didn’t see many black people.”

Griffin’s talk show, on the other hand, “was the United Nations of comedy. He put everybody on,” Boosler said.

Besides plying her craft with Griffin, she also spent a decade opening for singers including Lou Rawls, Natalie Cole, Helen Reddy and Melissa Manchester.

Then came cable and its fondness for comedy, a boost for all standups including minorities and, eventually, women. Boosler likes to credit her 1986 Showtime special, “Party of One,” as a personal and gender breakthrough.

After it aired to critical acclaim (“How refreshing, a woman who doesn’t have to tear her own skin off for our amusement,” John O’Connor wrote in The New York Times), Boosler got a deal for more Showtime specials and HBO announced its own “Women of the Night” comedy series.

The continued wealth of cable opportunities is particularly important given the state of affairs on Jay Leno’s “Tonight” and David Letterman’s “Late Show,” according to Boosler.

“They put on almost nobody,” she said, adding that Leno “doesn’t want there to be a Jay waiting in the wings like he was waiting for Carson.”

Even she’s shut out, Boosler said, but she shrugs off the reasons why as well as any frustration over lost TV appearances. “Everybody has their own agenda,” she said.

Instead, she focuses on her passion for comic strips, for PBS’ “The NewsHour” (and its host; she has permission from her husband to “run off and marry Jim Lehrer” if the opportunity arises) and animal protection.

She runs Tails of Joy, a nonprofit rescue organization for dogs, cats and other pets that also promotes animal welfare laws.

And, of course, there’s the standup tours marked by humor with a liberal but sly, nonabrasive bent. One joke: “It’s important for gay people to marry each other just so they stop marrying Liza Minnelli.”

The satisfactions are greater than sitcom gold, Boosler contends.

“I don’t care if standup isn’t burning up the world and you’re supposed to do this or that. This is what I do, and I do it well. If it’s 500 people in a club or 3,000 in a nice theater I know what I left them with. This is what I do.”

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