| Lisa Lampanelli | |
|---|---|
Lampanelli in 2011 at the book launch party for Michael Musto's Fork on the Left, Knife in the Back |
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| Pseudonym | Comedy's Lovable Queen of Mean |
| Birth name | Lisa Lampugnale |
| Born | July 19, 1961 Trumbull, Connecticut, U.S. |
| Medium | Stand-up, television, film |
| Nationality | American |
| Years active | 1990–present[1] |
| Genres | Insult comedy, improvisational comedy, black comedy, observational comedy |
| Subject(s) | Race relations, human sexuality, everyday life |
| Influences | Dean Martin Roasts,[2][3] Don Rickles[4] |
| Website | InsultComic.com |
Lisa Lampanelli (born Lisa Lampugnale;[5] July 19, 1961) is an American stand-up comedian and insult comic. She is noted for her racy and raunchy style of comedy, which frequently includes taboo subjects such as race and homosexuality.
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Lampanelli, one of three siblings, was born in Trumbull, Connecticut, to a middle class family of Italian descent.[6] Her father worked for Sikorsky Aircraft and later became a painter;[7] her mother worked for the local police department where "she typed in all the arrests made."[2] Lampanelli attended Roman Catholic schools,[7] studied journalism at Boston College and Syracuse University,[6] and went through a graduate program at Harvard.[8] She worked as a copy editor at Popular Mechanics and an assistant at Rolling Stone.[9] She was also a fact checker and the first chief of research for Spy magazine; a book about Spy describes her then as "your average decked-out-heavy-metal-head-next-door."[10] Speaking later to Maxim Magazine Online, Lampanelli remarked, "I was a real journalist for Rolling Stone, Spy, Hit Parader. I interviewed those fuckin' hair bands: Cinderella, Slaughter."[11]
Lampanelli began her stand-up career in New York in the early 1990s.[12] She made her break at the 2002 New York Friars' Club roast of Chevy Chase,[5] and went on to participate in the roasts of Denis Leary, Pamela Anderson, Jeff Foxworthy, Flavor Flav, William Shatner, and Donald Trump and to serve as Roastmaster for Larry the Cable Guy.[13] Lampanelli is frequently on the dais for The Howard Stern Show roasts, including appearances at the roasts for Gary Dell'Abate, Artie Lange, Andy Dick, and A&E's "Gene Simmons Roast" in April 2008.
Lampanelli released a comedy special on DVD entitled Take it Like A Man in 2005, appeared in the 2006 motion picture Larry the Cable Guy: Health Inspector, and had a cameo appearance in the VH1 sitcom So NoTORIous. She also landed a deal with Fox for a sitcom pilot with the tentative title Big Loud Lisa, which was considered a candidate for the network's 2006-07 television season. Lampanelli taped her stand-up special Dirty Girl in the fall of 2006, which aired on Comedy Central on January 28, 2007. Her Dirty Girl CD and Dirty Girl .. No Protection DVD were released by Warner Bros./Jack Records on January 30, 2007. Lampanelli was also featured in the movie Delta Farce starring Larry the Cable Guy, Bill Engvall and D.J. Qualls, which was released early in 2007, and in Drillbit Taylor starring Owen Wilson.
Her style of humor was influenced most by the Dean Martin roasts that televised when she was growing up; she didn't start watching other stand-up comedians until she became one herself.[2][3]
Racial/ethnic humor is a large part of her comedy routine. Lampanelli explains:
| “ | I can get away with it because I'm a nice person, I have a warm personality, my intention is good behind it. The thing is, people sense when you have the least bit of anger or hate towards a group –– that's why you never make fun of people you don't like.[14] | ” |
She makes frequent references to her real-life relationships with black men.[15] In an interview with AskMen.com, she explained:
| “ | ...my problem is, I can't get a good-looking white guy anymore, I just don't have the looks to get that. I can get hot blacks, but also blacks are now starting to get uppity and go for the skinny white ones and the Asians, which is very offensive to me that they don't stick with their roots — the chubby white girl![16] | ” |
On November 21, 2008, in Santa Rosa, California, Lampanelli taped her first one-hour HBO Special at the Wells Fargo Center for the Arts. The special, "Lisa Lampanelli: Long Live the Queen," which aired January 31, 2009, was directed by Dave Higby, who also directed her "Dirty Girl" special.[17] In December 2010 she reunited with Higby once again as he directed her "Tough Love" special for Comedy Central that aired in the spring of 2011.
It was announced in October 2011 that Lisa would appear on the 2012 season of The Celebrity Apprentice alongside other celebrities such as Cheryl Tiegs, George Takei, and Debbie Gibson.
It Books (HarperCollins) is the publisher of Lampanelli's memoir, Chocolate, Please: My Adventures in Food, Fat, and Freaks (2009). Publishers Weekly reviewed:
Lampanelli married in 1991 and divorced soon after, though they remained friends.[5] She married Jimmy "Canno" Cannizzaro, a former Rock & Roll club owner from Valley Stream, Long Island, New York, on October 2, 2010 at the New York Friars' Club.[5] In January 2011, Lampanelli adopted a puppy, a small teacup Yorkie, which she named Parker (short for Sarah Jessica Parker).[19]
Lampanelli is a supporter of the lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender community.[20] When members of the Westboro Baptist Church protested a show she held on 20 May 2011 in Topeka, Kansas she promised to donate $1000 to Gay Men's Health Crisis for every protester that attended. After an initial count of 44 protesters she rounded the donation to an even $50,000, crediting the donation as being "made possible by the WBC."[20]
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