Lisa Lampanelli has been known for more than a quarter-century as Comedy’s Lovable Queen of Mean. Heralded as “more than a standup — a standout,” by comedy legend Jim Carrey, and called “a true original and a brilliant comedy mind who’ll steal the show every time” by her hero Howard Stern, Lampanelli is known for saying things that most people are afraid to think. Her raunchy, gut-busting performances are wildly popular at theaters across the U.S. and Canada.
Lampanelli’s fifth stand-up special, 2015’s Back to the Drawing Board, proved the insult comic was new, improved, and funnier than ever. The EPIX special was nominated for a Grammy Award for Best Comedy Album of the Year and showed off Lisa’s radically different look after having lost more than 100 pounds with the help of gastric sleeve surgery. That weight loss and her love of theatre, inspired her to write Stuffed: A Big-Boned, Skinny-Ass, All-You-Can-Laugh New Play. Having been every size from 2 to 26, Lampanelli has firsthand knowledge of the food and body-image struggle.
When the first version of Stuffed debuted in the fall of 2016 at the WP Theater under the tutelage of Managing Director Lisa McNulty, the New York Times said “Stuffed offers laughs, and even a bit of insight . . . Lampanelli’s strongest, funniest and most affecting work” and the Hollywood Reporter echoed their sentiments, calling the play “very funny and affecting.”
Stuffed features Lampanelli’s famously irreverent voice, signature wit, and an extra-large scoop of razor-sharp insight into the crazy-making world of our relationships with food. Its extended off-Broadway run begins on October 5 in a new production at the Westside Theatre (407 West 43rd Street Downstairs). It is directed by Jackson Gay and stars Lampanelli, along with co-stars Nikki Blonsky (New Line Cinema’s Hairspray), Marsha Stephanie Blake (NYTW’s Othello, Orange is the New Black) and Eden Malyn (House of Lies, Orange is the New Black). Opening night for the production is scheduled for October 19.
The four characters in Stuffed are a lifelong dieter, a bulimic, a confident overweight gal, and a permanent size-zero. With Lisa onstage, alongside this talented cast, Stuffed doesn’t shy away from tough questions like: Is eating an ice cream sandwich in the shower as emotionally fulfilling as it sounds? When it comes to jeans, what’s better — muffin top or camel toe? And, if Oprah, the most powerful person in the world, can’t conquer her food issues, what can the rest of us do but laugh as we try?
Lampanelli also addresses these subjects and more in her own podcast, Get Stuffed with Lisa Lampanelli. The weekly, hour-long podcast launches the week of September 11 and focuses on the comedic actress’s interest in healthy lifestyle, food, weight, and body image, as well as other issues that are near and dear to her heart. Lampanelli and her co-host, comedian Mike Morse, discuss stories in the news relating to these subjects, as well as other topics that touch on those issues. During the podcast, Lampanelli also fields questions, gives “tough love”-style advice, and features special guests, including weekly correspondent, Sirius OutQ and Daily Show alumnus Frank Decaro.
Lampanelli became a household name when she joined 17 other celebrities on the fifth season of NBC’s Celebrity Apprentice, hosted by current president Donald Trump. The fifth installment of the show, with the largest-ever lineup of famous faces competing for charities of their choice, was a ratings bonanza for NBC. As a final-four contestant, Lisa raised more than $130,000 for the Gay Men’s Health Crisis. She also starred as a regular on Bounty Hunters, CMT’s first-ever animated series, and guest starred on a hilarious episode of CBS’s 2 Broke Girls, helmed by Sex and the City creator, Michael Patrick King.
Lampanelli’s rise to the top of the comedy food chain began in 2002 when she was the only female comedian invited to skewer Chevy Chase on the NY Friars Club Comedy Central Roast. She soon became known as the “Queen of the Roasts”, going on to lambaste such names as Pamela Anderson, Jeff Foxworthy, William Shatner, Flava Flav, David Hasselhoff and, most recently, Donald Trump. Due to her success as a roaster, in 2009, Lisa was asked to serve as Roastmaster for the highly rated Comedy Central Roast of friend and fellow comic, Larry the Cable Guy.
One of the few white comedians to perform on BET’s Comic View and a recurring guest on The Wendy Williams Show, Lampanelli has clearly cemented her huge crossover appeal. In January 2007, Lisa’s second one-hour special, Dirty Girl, debuted on Comedy Central and Warner Bros. Records, and reached #4 on the charts. Soon thereafter, Dirty Girl was nominated for a Grammy Award for 2007’s Best Comedy Album of the Year.
Lampanelli reached new comedic heights with her 2009 HBO comedy special, Long Live the Queen and, that same year, released her autobiography, Chocolate, Please: My Adventures in Food, Fat and Freaks (Harper Collins). She has also been a monthly contributor for the Women column in Playboy Magazine and has been a writer for the blog for Kripalu, the world-renowned yoga and meditation retreat center.
On the feature film side, Lisa appeared in the David Chase-directed feature film, Not Fade Away. She also appeared in Larry the Cable Guy: Health Inspector and had a featured role in Delta Farce, opposite Bill Engvall, Larry the Cable Guy, and D.J. Quall. One of the stars of the hilarious feature film documentary, The Aristocrats, Lampanelli also played a more maternal version of herself in the Owen Wilson vehicle, Judd Apatow’s Drillbit Taylor.
She currently resides in New York City and Connecticut.
read less