GILDA RADNER - A Lifetime of Laughter & Heartbreak

SHE PROVED THAT WOMEN COULD BE FUNNY AND EVERYTHING IS BETTER WITH FRIENDS

- LOUISE A. BARILE

Former Saturday Night Live writer Alan Zweibel recalls being so nervous at his first cast meeting that he hid behind a plant in producer Lorne Michaels’ office. Gilda Radner found him, asked if he could help her write dialogue for a parakeet sketch, and offered to sit with him. “She said, ‘It’s my first TV show, and I’m a little nervous, too,’” he recalls to Closer.

On SNL, Gilda helped blaze a trail and prove, without question, that women could be as funny as men. Her fearless pursuit of a laugh allowed her to go toe-to-toe with the best comedians of her generation, but it’s her giant heart that has kept her memory alive for the past 34 years. “What was special about Gilda is that you could see her true sweetness. She was able to showcase that in characters like Judy Miller and Emily Litella,” SNL alum Laraine Newman tells Closer, adding that Gilda also ran with the boys playing “gross, subversive and hard-edged characters like Roseanne Roseannadanna and Candy Slice.”

It seemed exceedingly cruel that such a talented, universally loved person should die young — but before she passed at 42, Gilda initiated a bigger conversation about the needs of cancer patients. “To me, her connection to the world of cancer was unique,” Lisa D’Apolito, director of the 2018 documentary Love, Gilda, tells Closer. “Her book, It’s Always Something, and organization, Gilda’s Club, have made such an impact on people’s lives.”

FUNNY BUSINESS