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New Zealand’s Jewish Comic Plans Debut
Here’s
something I bet you didn’t know…New Zealand has
a Jewish comic. Only one. Her name is Deb Filler and she’s
coming to Las Vegas to display her wares at the Starbright
Theatre in Summerlin on Dec. 16 at 1 p.m. Tickets are $15
for Sun City residents and $17 for non-residents, so she’s
a bargain because Filler has performed her passionate and
hilarious repertoire entitled “Don’t Get Me Started”
from Melbourne to Montreal from Berlin to Los Angeles and
from Edinburgh to San Paolo to rave reviews.
Speaking with Filler from her current home base of Toronto,
I was reminded of the late, great Totie Fields, the classic
comedian who was by far the best female comic to ever grace
the local stages.
“My show is for all religions and all ages,” Filler
proudly says. “It’s all about life experiences.
Jews are funny people and the jokes don’t have to be
dirty. I’m very proud of being Jewish and have tremendous
pride in our history, especially since what our people have
been through. My family was survivors, so I have a personal
understanding of the difficult times we’ve faced.”
Filler says that she’s been telling jokes for years
“climbing up the mountain, but still not reaching the
top.” She says she’s given up a lot, especially
“security because I never know what’s coming tomorrow.”
She also says that she has friends and a community in every
major city in the world and wouldn’t trade her life
for anything because “it’s priceless. There’s
a strange energy telling me this is what I have to do.”
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Deb Filler has worked as an actor, writer and comedian internationally.
She has been has been playwright-in-residence at several theatre
companies including the Adirondack Theatre Festival, guest
playwright at the Buddies In Bad Times Theatre and is an ongoing
member of the Usual Suspects Playwrights Lab at New York Theatre
Workshop.
She is currently developing a new show called “Funny
Money,” another on global warming and a musical, as
well as writing a book, “Filler Up! Food on a Schtick.
-- Recipes and Stories from a South Pacific Jewish Family.”
She is also working on a new show, tentatively titled, “It
Only Hurts When I Laugh.” This effort is homage to Jewish
comics (Groucho Marx, Sid Caesar, Jack Benny, Myron Cohen,
Bette Midler, Sophie Tucker, etc.).
Filler is the voice of the Peg Bundy doll and “Mummy”
in the award-winning animated series, Bob and Margaret.
Her show “Punch Me in the Stomach” opened off-Broadway
at the New York Theatre Workshop in 1992 and has toured internationally
for more than a dozen years. It opened New York’s Jewish
Museum’s refurbished theatre and the new Hong Kong Theatre
for the Arts. An ABC documentary, “Angst,” filmed
it in Australia, New York, and New Zealand. Documentary filmmaker
and director Francine Zuckerman then adapted it into a feature
film, which toured theatrically and later aired on television
internationally.
Filler studied theatre in New York with Stella Adler, Uta
Hagen and Deborah Hedwall. She made her off-Broadway debut
in a musical comedy based on the life of singer Sophie Tucker.
She has performed in Europe with various theatre companies.
Her first one-woman show was named “Pick of the Fringe
Festivals” by the CBC, Canada.
She also performed at various ‘80s New York downtown
cabarets alongside John Leguizamo, Blue Man Group, etc., and
was featured artist at the Gusto House Cabaret chosen to play
the 1990 Edinburgh Festival. A tour of the U.K. followed.
In addition, she was lead singer in several rock and roll
bands and founding member of “The Ratz” and “Debbie
and the Dum Dums,” during the late 1970s, two celebrated
New Zealand punk bands.
With such a diverse background, it’s no wonder Deb Filler
keeps coming up with personal stories to share with her audiences.
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