Insult comic will tape special at Rialto

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Updated: August 4, 2011 4:20PM

Insult comic Lisa Lampanelli and her staff know a good thing when they see it. That is why her shows at the Rialto Square Theatre in Joliet on Dec. 4 will be taped and put together for a Comedy Central one-hour TV special to air in early 2011.

“I’ve played the Rialto before and my manager checked out several places and, as far as the interior goes, the Rialto was the clear winner,” said Lampanelli about scouting places in which to tape a television special. “For a theater that size, it is gorgeous. So, because of the setting, and because I have a fan base there that likes me, that is where we will tape the show.”

Often referred to as comedy’s Lovable Queen of Mean, Lampanelli is known for her edgy and sometimes raunchy style of comedy. Her act frequently includes such subjects such as race and homosexuality, and she is known for saying things that most people are afraid to think. She is probably best known for her performances on Comedy Central TV’s “Roasts” of Flavor Flav, Pamela Anderson, William Shatner and Jeff Foxworthy. Lampanelli also has made regular appearances on “The Tonight Show with Jay Leno” and Howard Stern’s Sirius satellite radio shows.

“I think people like to be included,” said Lampanelli about her sometimes insulting audience members. “I feel like we are all on the same level playing field. So, if you come to see me at the Rialto, dress pretty, because I pick on people in the audience. You might be on TV.

“I talk about myself and the audience in my act and the audience can relate to that,” she continued. “They say to themselves, ‘I’m like that.’”

The taped shows at the Rialto will not be Lampanelli’s first TV comedy special. In 2005, a one-hour special, “Take It Like a Man,” was a hit with Comedy Central viewers. She had another Comedy Central hit in January 2007 with her one-hour special, “Dirty Girl.” Soon thereafter, “Dirty Girl” was nominated for a Grammy Award for 2007’s Best Comedy Album of the Year. More recently, in 2009, Lampanelli did a one-hour HBO comedy special, “Long Live the Queen,” which is available on DVD.

But the comic was not always successful. She failed miserably the first time she tried doing stand-up comedy when she started in the business in the early 1990s.

“I was stupid enough to do a big paid gig my first time out,” Lampanelli said. “My brother is a sports editor for a newspaper and there was a sports writers’ benefit and he told the organizers that his sister was a comedienne. I had five minutes of material and none of it was on sports. So, I wrote some sports stuff and I was bad. I had to do 10 minutes, but it just didn’t work. I avoided eye contact with everyone on my way out.”

And even though Lampanelli was not considered a humorous person among her peers in high school, she now gets the last laugh.

“I wasn’t funny enough in high school,” she said with a twinge of bitterness in her voice. “Michelle Sweeney got the class clown award. Where is she at? At the Rialto taping a comedy special? I do not think so.”