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Brick Wall Comedy
Brick Wall Comedy

I'm Still Here... Damn It!

Sandra Bernhard

TVT Soundtrax · 1998 · 1 h 30 min

A pregnant, gossipy cabaret act aimed at late-nineties celebrity culture.

Visibly pregnant in a sheer dress, Sandra Bernhard paces the stage like an agitated, name-dropping prophet. I’m Still Here… Damn It! operates as a cabaret of grievances rather than a traditional stand-up set. She delivers a stream-of-consciousness sermon on late-nineties celebrity culture, blending musical numbers with acidic, conversational rants. Treating the audience as confidantes, she settles scores with an elite Hollywood scene she simultaneously inhabits and disdains.

Filmed for HBO at Slim’s in San Francisco in 1998, the performance captures the comedian just after finishing a long television run on Roseanne. Back in her preferred format, she uses the hour to reassert her alternative theater roots. The material is tethered entirely to its era. She targets the media circus surrounding Princess Diana and Gianni Versace, complains about Courtney Love, and mocks the acoustic guitarists of the Lilith Fair crowd.

The set list

5 bits

  1. Mourning deceased celebrities like Princess Diana and Gianni Versace

    Caustically skewers high-profile hypocritical homages, contrasting Steven Seagal's CNN eloquence with Naomi Campbell singing for Gianni and Elton John's royalties.

  2. Modern communications and caller ID

    Rants against caller ID as passive-aggressive and announces she is waiting for caller IQ instead.

  3. Courtney Love encounter at Madison Square Garden

    Recounts Courtney Love kissing her in front of paparazzi before yelling at her, admiring Love 'the way you admire a bruise.'

  4. Liza Minnelli benefit performance parody

    Imitates Minnelli pivoting wildly from a serious speech about AIDS into singing cabaret and screaming for her mother.

  5. Closing song 'God Is Good'

    Reflects a centered, spiritual, and maternal shift, chanting and singing the refrain accompanied by her band.

How it plays

Tone
Satirical, caustic, sardonic, and flamboyant with spiritual and tender undercurrents.
On stage
Caustic, glamorous, sharp-tongued, and mockingly sincere downtown doyenne mixing satirical celebrity venom with maternal tenderness.
Pace
Digressive and high-momentum, alternating unpredictably between bite-sized quips, extended memoirs, poetry, and full-throttle rock vocals.
About
Celebrity culture and hypocrisy, Female rock musicians, Motherhood and pregnancy, Modern technology, High fashion, Spirituality and religion

What the critics said

Praised as a tour-de-force, original blend of standup and rock concert showcasing her blistering humor and surprisingly strong vocals, though some reviewers noted a rambling second half and softer edges compared to her earlier anger.

In the room: Ecstatic, packed room of devoted fans, downtown hipsters, and mainstream theatregoers.

Summed up from reviews, articles and listings. Sources: imdb.com, allmovie.com, kinotrack.app, ibdb.com, variety.com, curtainup.com, independent.co.uk, playbill.com, charlierose.com, en.wikipedia.org.

Backstory

Filmed while Bernhard was eight months pregnant with her daughter Cicely, alongside her embrace of Kabbalah and newfound motherhood.

Details

Released
Taped
Slim's, San Francisco
Runtime
1 h 30 min
Where
TVT Soundtrax
Director
Marty Callner
Topics

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