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Former Saturday Night
Live member, Victoria Jackson, takes time out to talk about the past and present. The bubbly blonde
that everyone loved on SNL continues
to thrive off the ditzy, blonde stereotype by using it in her
act. Whether it be getting involved with
TV or movies, doing stand-up comedy or just simply being a Christian wife to
her husband, Victoria Jackson is still keeping it real.
Jackson's recent project was being a part of Thou Shalt Laugh The Deuce. The DVD features four other Christian
comedians performing live stand-up comedy.
The program is hosted by an Emmy Award winning comedian and actor, Tim
Conway. It's good, clean fun at its best,
and absolutely hilarious.
I'm dying to know what it was like working
with comedy legend, Tim Conway?
Oh, I was so excited because when I was young he was a big
star. We didn't have a TV, but when I
went to my grandmother's house we'd watch him on Carol Burnett. That little
man thing, when he shuffles with his feet...my family and I have been emulating
that for many years. I was really
excited, so I took a picture with him and that's when his daughter told me I
was her favorite. I was like WHOA! Tim
Conway's daughter knows
I'm alive! It was exciting, it was very sweet and
humble and funny.
Have
you ever worked with any of the other comedians on the DVD?
I've done a couple of jobs with them and they're really
good, yep.
Being a devout Christian, growing up in a Christian
background without a TV, it's kind of funny you wound up being on television
involved with acting and comedy.
Wondering how that exactly came about?
Wow, well that's a hard question. I guess when I was in college, I did my first
play and I got the acting bug. I sort of
stumbled into it and a friend of mine was auditioning for something and I went
with her. It was in Greenville, South Carolina
and I guess that's where I got the bug because I made the audience laugh with
my feather-duster. I was shocked, I
thought wow what a powerful feeling and I've been hooked on it ever since. My dad was a gymnastics coach who was always
putting on shows with his little gymnasts, so it is kind of in my blood.
Speaking of your
famous bit on SNL, where you did handstands and recited poetry, how did the
poetry aspect of that come about?
Well, I probably stole that idea from Laugh In when Henry Gibson used to do those poems with Nipsey
Russell. TV is very powerful, so the
little bit I did see I just stole it.
Tiny Tim played the ukulele, so my mom got me a ukulele for Christmas
when I was 10. It's really easy to play,
so I've been playing that ever since in my act.
I just thought it
was funny though that you grew up without a TV, but then here you are big in
movies, shows, and SNL of course. It's funny
how things work out I guess, right?
It's ironic, but maybe I did it to get even with my
dad. No, seriously I think he probably
would have wanted to be on TV because he's kind of a show-business guy. So, I'm doing what he probably wanted to do.
I saw that you were on the cast of Saturday
Night Live from'86-'92 and I wanted to ask how they went about picking you to
join the show in '86?
Well, I think the producers probably saw me on Johnny Carson because I was on there a
lot in the 80s. They gave me an audition
and they paid for my flight to New York to audition. So, the short version of the story is that's
how I got on it.
Boy, I bet that was a great feeling?
It was very exciting and scary at the same time.
Being on SNL for so long, I was wondering if
there were any comedians on the show you really enjoyed working with the most?
Well, the people that I got along with the best were Dana
Carvey, Jon Lovitz and Kevin Nealon.
I know they used to do a lot of celebrity
impersonations on SNL, and I have to say one of my all-time favorites was of
Roseanne Barr, what are your thoughts on that?
Yeah, they never let me do any and one day I said to the
head writer why don't I ever get to do any and he said, well you're nasal. I said, well isn't there some celebrity
that's nasal and he goes actually Roseanne Barr is. And I said, "Doesn't shee
taallk likkee thhat",
so he wrote me that part and I was so excited. And after that I did many more celebrity
impersonations and enjoyed all of them.
Going into your movie career, thought I'd
talk about one your earlier roles in Baby Boom, what was it like getting
involved with movies?
It was really fun for me because it's really hard to get in
movies, so I was really excited about it.
Well, thank you for your time, do you have
anything else to add?
No, I get tired of talking about myself all the time. With this DVD out, they want me to do all
these interviews you know and I'm like:
I'M SOOO TIRED OF TALKING ABOUT MYSELF! *laughs* And they're like, will you please do another
one, and I'm like OOOKAY. *laughs*
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