Brett Butler (comedian)
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For other persons named Brett Butler, see Brett Butler (disambiguation).
Brett Butler (born Brett Anderson on January 30, 1958, in Montgomery, Alabama) is an American actress and stand-up comedian.
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[edit] Career
Butler was the oldest of five sisters. She worked as a cocktail waitress before she experienced success as a stand-up comic.
One of the first notable appearances for Butler was on Dolly Parton's ill-fated 1987 variety series, Dolly. She appeared once with her stand-up act, and a second time in a skit with Parton. She was hired as a writer for the show after her appearances.
Butler became an in-demand stand up comic in the late '80s and early '90s.
After the success of Roseanne, several comics were approached about developing and producing their own shows. The sitcom Grace Under Fire was created around Butler's persona; it ran from 1993-1998. For her work on Grace Under Fire, she received two Golden Globe nominations.
In 2000, two years after the end of Grace Under Fire, Butler was in talks to star in a new sitcom pilot, called Homecoming Queen, produced by Tom Shadyac. However, the project was delayed and eventually halted.
Her latest role is in the 2006 romantic comedy The Last Guy on Earth.
[edit] Personal challenges
Butler experienced a number of personal challenges before and during her career.
- Butler was arrested for and convicted of drunk driving in 1981 in Marietta, Georgia.
- During the run of Grace Under Fire Butler developed a reputation for allegedly difficult, unprofessional behavior on the set, and constantly clashed with producers and writers. The situation deteriorated so substantially that co-star Julie White did not appear in the last season of the show.
- Towards the end of the sitcom's run, she went into rehab for painkiller addiction.
[edit] Book
Butler published her memoirs, entitled Knee Deep in Paradise, in 1996. The book was started before attaining her celebrity status, and candidly addresses much of this time frame, ending the autobiography before Grace Under Fire's television debut.
[edit] Trivia
- She placed 87th in Comedy Central's list of the 100 greatest standups of all time.
- Butler guest-starred on a December 2005 episode of the sitcom My Name Is Earl, playing Joy's deceitful mother.
- Butler's most distinguishing characteristic is her trademark baritone speaking-voice.
- In the mid '90s, she filmed commercials for the now defunct department store Hill's.
