Lynn Ruth Miller is an amazing lady!  At a sprightly 75 she brings her show, Age is Amazing to the Brighton Fringe.  Performing at the Laughing Horse venue at The Quadrant from the 2nd to the 10th May, this 50 minute show has captivated audiences three years running at the Edinburgh Fringe.   So let’s have a quick chat with Lynn to learn more about her crazy cabaret…

1.    What inspired you to become an artist, performer, writer, comedian and entertainer?

I have always wanted to sing and tell jokes but financial obligations, lousy marriages and mountains of rejections kept me from realizing my dream.  At 71, I discovered that if I told funny jokes and sang odd-ball songs on a stage, everyone would fall in love with me.    I am now 75, singing louder, laughing harder than ever and dedicated to proving that the older you are, the better you get.

2.    What’s your show about and what should the public expect from your show at the 2009 Brighton Festival Fringe?

They call me “Queenie the Senile Stripper” and my cabaret, AGING IS AMAZING promises comedy at its bizarre best in a nightly 50 minute travesty of song and dance.  I have been a show stealer at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival three years running, doing stories and comedy about my drooping parts and soaring ambitions. This show is musical comedy at its worst poking fun at what age does to all of us and proving that even though your body parts descend, they still can move with enough zest raise an eyebrow if nothing else.

3.    What was the last Fringe or Festival you performed at and what was it like?

I told stories in Fresno, California this March and shocked them with stand up comedy.  It was lovely and the audience was wonderful, but nothing has been as exciting for me as the shows I do at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe.

4.    What are your funniest and worst experiences performing in front of an audience?

I was at Caroline Mabey’s comedy showcase last year doing my strip tease with blinking tits and one of them fell to the ground.  It was a statement about what has happened to my body and will happen to everyone else’s, but it certainly spoiled the rhythm of the song.

The worst experience I have ever had was also last year the last day of the festival when I headlined at Espionage and not one single person laughed.  They said it was because they didn’t HEAR me but I suspect everyone was being very kind.

5.    What’s the best and worst advice you have ever been given? And did you follow it?

The worst advice I ever received was that I had to pay tons of money to attract a decent crowd at a respected venue for my shows.  I followed that advice for three years and then discovered Alex Petty’s Laughing Horse Venue, where people pay what they can and fill the venue to see a show.  I have done my best, most well received shows at that venue.

The best advice I got was from a fellow comedian who said, “Don’t try to be like anyone else…just be yourself and everyone will love you”. So far, it has worked.

6.    What are you most proud of and what dreams or goals would you like to fulfill?

The thing I am most proud of is the way my performances inspire people to realize their own dreams. My shows are about reaching for a star and loving the journey. That message gets across whether I am singing, telling jokes or reminiscing about my childhood.  I would like to break the age barrier that has blocked me especially in the United States and show people that they really can look forward to aging.  It has been a wonderfully exciting journey for me.

7.    Which three famous people would you invite to dinner and why [dead celebrities included]?  And what culinary dish would you prepare?

I would invite Eleanor Roosevelt, Thomas Paine and Phyllis Diller because all of them believed completely in the potential of every human being and each in his own way helped people realize that their ambitions were possible. I think I would prepare blintzes (Jewish Crepes) because that is the most spectacular dish I cook and it is from a recipe my mother gave me.

8.    What is the best book or books you have read and why?

Too many to name, here but I have always loved Wallace Stegner’s ALL THE LITTLE LIVE THINGS and Arundhati Roy’s THE GOD OF SMALL THINGS because both of them are so very human and make me realize that all of us have good and bad inside us, yet we strive to be the best people we can no matter how we seem to others.

9.    Tell us 5 interesting and unknown facts about yourself?

1.    I live in my imagination. Reality does not exist for me.  That is why I know anything is possible.

2.    Even though I seem to be a performer, I am actually only a writer.

3.    I conquered anorexia and bulimia without any psychiatric help or drugs because I wanted to get well.

4.    My morals are very conservative and even though I strip to my bloomers in public, I am intent on preserving the aura of propriety.

5.    I do not dye my hair.

10.    If you could change one thing about the world what would it be?

I would like us to all be colour- blind, and judge people individually for what they are instead of trying to jam them into a stereotype.

Tags: Age is amazing, Age problems, Lynn Ruth Miller, Queenie the Senile Stripper

This entry was posted on Thursday, May 7th, 2009 at 8:29 am and is filed under Interviews. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.