WENDY LIEBMAN

At the Comedy Central

Feb. 12-14

Wendy Liebman may look sweet and innocent on stage, but hiding behind her huge smile is quite a punch. Line.

Liebman, who won the 1997 American Comedy Award for Best Female Stand-up, is lauded for her deadpan style of joke-telling. After talking for a moment about something, she delivers the one-line joke. The audience laughs. She delivers a shorter, sharper, even funnier line. The audience roars. She looks out at the crowd with surprise and shock, as if she's wondering how on earth that outrageous comment could have come from her mouth. And the audience loves her for it.

An example: Liebman, conversing with the crowd about Valentine's Day in the Comedy Connection last weekend, asked if there were any high-school sweethearts in the audience. A few people applauded. She smiled and tucked a lock of hair behind her ear. "I had a high-school sweetheart too," she confessed. "It was a typical relationship. I was a cheerleader, and he was on the faculty." She jumped up and down and did a high kick. "It was like, 'Go, Mr. Jameson!"" She smiled again and looked away. "Before the cops catch you."

Another example: Liebman happily raved about how great it is to find money. "I found $20. It was just sitting there." She looked toward the ground. "In the tip jar at Starbucks."

One more example: Liebman recently went to Alaska. "I stayed at a really nice hotel. The One Season." She smiled as everyone laughed, then added, "For two days and six nights."

That night, Liebman's long-time fans may have been slightly disappointed to discover that much of her material has not changed over the last couple of years. However, it was great to see that she could still deliver her jokes with the same energy and fresh distinctiveness that brought her fame.

The Harvard Crimson: You involved the audience a lot in your show tonight.

Wendy Liebman: I think it's important that the audience sees you can be funny spontaneously. It's really hard to do, and I'm not that comfortable with doing it yet, but I'm trying it more and more, so that's probably what you saw.

THC: You've been doing stand-up for, about how long now?

WL: I've been doing it for 14 years.

THC: Where do you get inspiration for your jokes from? Are Ex-boyfriends and your parents really pissed off?

WL: None of it is true. I did a joke tonight [where] I said I had three older sisters, and my father always wanted a boyfriend; but then I said I had a brother. I forgot that I forgot to tell [the audience]. I like things to stay in people's minds because they don't know why it doesn't work exactly that I don't have a brother. I think some are thinking, "But she only has three sisters." If I'm going to lie, I have to be consistent. But I think you can lie in art, right? Or you can not lie in art. And you don't have to distinguish [between them] in art, right? So that's my prerogative on stage, to make this shit up. But you shouldn't lie in politics.