Back to the Drawing Board

Lisa Lampanelli steps onto the stage looking completely different, but the instinct to viciously roast everyone in the front row remains intact. Down over a hundred pounds and fresh off a divorce, the self-proclaimed Queen of Mean uses her physical and personal transformation as the engine for the hour. She attempts to blend a newfound vulnerability with her usual abrasive crowd work, talking about the realities of stomach surgery and the sudden shift of dating as a single woman in her fifties.

Filmed at the Tarrytown Music Hall in New York, the 2015 EPIX release earned a Grammy nomination for Best Comedy Album. Lampanelli complains about the pressures placed on older women who choose not to have children, occasionally pulling back the curtain on her own life. Still, she never stays earnest for long. Critics at the time noted that whenever the personal material threatens to get too heavy, she immediately pivots back to what she knows best, scanning the theater for easy targets and rapid-fire insults.