| An Early Curtain for Pudgy By David J. Spatz Posted Mar. 20, 2008 Pudgy called in a panic. The loveable insult comedian was thisclose to signing on with Joe Scandore, who knew a thing or two about managing insult comedians, because his biggest client was a guy named Don Rickles. Scandore had heard of Pudgy's no-holds-barred nightclub act and had seen her 1983 Showtime special, which she taped in front of an audience loaded with TV sitcom stars of the '70s. But Scandore had never seen Pudgy work live, although that was about to change. It was the summer of 1985, and Pudgy was working a series of midnight shows at the Atlantis Casino Hotel. These "gypsy" shows had quickly become popular within local entertainment circles because they attracted cast members from many of the casino production shows, especially the boys-who-would-be-girls from An Evening at La Cage at Bally's. As luck would have it, Rickles was working Resorts, which meant Scandore would be in town. He wanted to see Pudgy work live. "I need your help tonight," Pudgy told me. "Can you come in?" Pudgy -- her real name was Beverly Wines, but her birth name was a Polish mouthful, like Wisniewski -- knew that I would sit ringside and offer a safe and easy target. In spite of her growing reputation, people who saw her for the first time sometimes didn't get the nature of her act. Not everyone would be willing to play along with her good-natured teasing, and that could be a problem with a career-maker like Scandore ... |
