Rhonda Hansome is an American stand-up comedian, writer, director, and actress.

Career

In 1975, Hansome was a puppeteer for the Muppet Vazh on Saturday Night Live.[1][2] She has performed comedy before musical acts including Aretha Franklin and Diana Ross.[3][4] She is known for discussing race in her comedy.[5]: 318 

Hansome began her stand up comedy career as a way to earn money between acting roles, and by 1989 was performing regularly at colleges and clubs.[6] She also performed comedy under the stage name Passion, including in a 1985 group comedy performance titled "Comedy Comes to Harlem" and later in "The Poet and the Preacher" at the Nuyorican Poets Café, and in 1997 in her own show "Last stop before dreadlocks".[7][8]

Hansome is featured in Debra J. Robinson's 1984 documentary I Be Done Been Was Is about the obstacles faced in the careers four of black female stand-up comedians, Alice Arthur, Jane Galvin-Lewis, and Marsha Warfield.[9]

In 1989, she appeared in the HBO comedy series First & Ten and the film 3,000.[6]

In 2005, Hansome directed the play Sweet Songs of the Soul, starring Melba Moore.[10][11][12] In 2006, she directed the play Real Black Men Don't Sit Cross-legged on the Floor: A Collage in Blues.[13]

She also appears in Pretty Woman (1990) and Little Sister (2016).

Selected filmography

Honors and awards

  • 1986 Bistro Award Hall of Fame[14]
  • 2019 Anderson & Bert Cade Fulton Foundation Honoree, Longevity in Multi-disciplinary Artistic Achievement[15]

Personal life

Rhonda Hansome was born in New York.[9] She is an African-American woman who attended a Catholic school. She met her white Jewish husband in the 1970s.[16]

References

  1. ↑ Tucker, Ernest (August 18, 1989). "Rhonda Hansome carves out career". Chicago Sun-Times – via ProQuest.
  2. ↑ Jones, Brian Jay (September 28, 2013). "Escape from "Saturday Night Live," birth of "The Muppet Show"". Salon.com. Retrieved June 8, 2022 – via EBSCOhost.
  3. ↑ Lloyd, Jack (April 29, 1988). "And exactly where were you in '62?". Philadelphia Inquirer. ProQuest 1832801312.
  4. ↑ Menna, Michael (June 30, 2012). "Free & Cheap". New York Daily News. ProQuest 1022707362.
  5. ↑ Finney, Gail (January 1, 1994). Look Who's Laughing: Gender and Comedy. Taylor & Francis. ISBN 9782881246456.
  6. 1 2 Johnson, Allan (August 18, 1989). "Dual comedy, acting career produces some nice choices". Chicago Tribune – via ProQuest.
  7. ↑ Richardson, Alice (March 22, 1997). "Passion sizzles in `last stop before dreadlocks.'". New York Amsterdam News – via Academic Search Complete.
  8. ↑ Windeler, Robert (2000). "Women's History Month spare". Back Stage. New York. 41 (9). ProQuest 221129497.
  9. 1 2 "I Be Done Been Was Is: An Interview with Director Debra Robinson". southsideprojections.org. South Side Projections. Archived from the original on March 13, 2017.
  10. ↑ Toomer, Jeanette (April 21, 2005). "Sweet Songs of the Soul". Backstage – via Business Source Complete.
  11. ↑ Daniels, Robert L. (April 5, 2005). "Melba Moore: Sweet Songs of the Soul". Daily Variety – via MasterFILE Complete.
  12. ↑ Armstrong, Linda (July 21, 2005). "Moore mesmerizes". New York Amsterdam News – via Academic Search Complete.
  13. ↑ Stevens, Andrea (February 9, 2006). "40 Years of Black Male History in 2 1/2 Hours". The New York Times. Retrieved June 8, 2022 – via Gale.
  14. ↑ "Bistro Award Hall of Fame". BackStage. November 5, 2019. Retrieved June 8, 2022.
  15. ↑ Cristi, A.A. (November 4, 2019). "Vinie Burrows & Rhonda Hansome Among 2019 ABC FultonOrg Honorees". Broadway World. Retrieved June 8, 2022.
  16. ↑ Elkin, Michael (January 7, 1994). "Laughter is a bridge over cultural divide". Jewish Exponent. ProQuest 227249398.

Further reading

  • "Laughing All the Way to the Revolution: The New Feminist Comics" (Ms., Jan. 1992, "Several feminist comedians are profiled, including Margaret Cho, Henriette Mantel, Rhonda Hansome, Brett Butler, Marga Gomez, Judith Sloan and Nancy Kennedy.")
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