Julie Goldman ‘Big Gay’ plans for sketch as LIZA!

By Bill Burke


Tuesday, April 13, 2010 - Added 15h ago

Julie Goldman was 15 when she first stepped onstage at the Comedy Connection and began a more than 20-year career in comedy.




The Lexington native - and out actress/musician/comedian - now stars on “The Big Gay Sketch Show,” (returning tonight for a third season at 10 on Logo).



Originally a writer on the show’s pilot, Goldman joined the cast of the sketch comedy show with a queer perspective during its first season.



“I think that the more comfortable we get and the writers get, the network gave us more leeway to do stuff,” Goldman said. “This season is broader - expanding sketches and ideas. Everything is expanding. This season is the best yet.”



Goldman promises the return of one of her best-known characters, Super Liza - an incarnation of entertainment icon Liza Minnelli, who gains superpowers when soused. Goldman’s Minnelli walks the streets of New York, answering the calls of gay people in trouble. A quick martini or two and she transforms into a sequined, slightly tipsy version of her former self, high-stepping her way to justice.
The show is exciting to me, more than something like ‘Saturday Night Live’ and other sketch shows, because we feature women more than anybody,” she said. “I think that’s a huge deal. A lot of times on those shows, women are marginalized or the brunt of jokes or barely get in. I feel like we’re doing something.




“For me, it’s personally important. We’ve been able to showcase funny women and funny lesbians, which other than Ellen (DeGeneres), you don’t get.”

Goldman is branching out. She performs an ongoing monthly club show, “Julie Goldman’s Offensive Women,” has penned a lesbian romantic comedy screenplay with her (straight) writing partner, is developing a reality show and co-stars in a Web series, “Julie and Brandy in Your Box Office.”



Now comes the return of “Big Gay Sketch Show,” directed by TV veteran Amanda Bearse, (Marcy D’Arcy on “Married . . . With Children” and one of the first prime-time actresses to come out as a lesbian).