Sue Murphy
Fast-talking exasperation interrupted by a room-filling laugh.
1 special · 2002
Get an email when there's a new special. You'll need a Google account.
Sue Murphy works at a fast, highly conversational pace. She performs like she just ran into you at a coffee shop and has to tell you exactly what happened in line at the DMV. She builds momentum by getting visibly worked up over ordinary frustrations like the structural integrity of hairspray, the panic of home tanning kits, or the physical uselessness of long acrylic nails. Then she releases the tension by leaning back into a giant, room-filling laugh. She does not play the tortured comic. She operates as a genuinely cheerful person who is merely baffled by the sheer effort it takes to get through the day.
Specials
-
The World Comedy Tour: Melbourne 2002 with Dom Irrera, Al Murray & 13 more
An international lineup of working comics performing tight festival sets.
65 min
On stage
A steady presence in the 1990s club boom and the early days of Comedy Central Presents, she eventually pivoted behind the camera. Her joke construction translated directly to the demands of daily television. She transitioned into a long career as a writer and producer for daytime and late-night talk shows, writing and running rooms for other hosts.
On stage, her material zeroes in on the friction of maintenance. She talks about the exhausting expectations placed on women without ever sounding like she is reading a thesis. Instead, she treats beauty routines as a series of absurd physical hurdles you simply have to clear to leave the house. Her setups stay deeply grounded in reality, mapping out exactly how uncomfortable particular shoes are or what it actually takes to keep a complicated hairstyle intact in the rain.
Originally from the Bay Area, she came up in the San Francisco comedy scene before moving to Los Angeles.
At a glance
- Topics