THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Thursday, March 28, 1996 TAG: 9603280036
SECTION: DAILY BREAK PAGE: E1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY ROY A. BAHLS, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: Medium: 84 lines
FOR WENDY LIEBMAN, becoming a comedian after earning a psychology degree might have seemed an odd career move.
To Liebman, it somehow made sense. At Wellesley College in Boston, she studied psychology because she thought she was good with people. ``Maybe I am, but I'm not good at one-on-one. I'm good at one-on-250.
``I majored in psychology, and now I'm in therapy,'' quipped Liebman, who appears Saturday at Old Dominion University's Field House.
The wild career switch was serendipitous.
``I took the mail in from the wrong apartment,'' said Liebman during a phone interview from Los Angeles, ``and got this course catalog for an adult education center.''
She signed up for an acting course, but the teacher quit after two classes.
``No fault of mine,'' she claimed. ``So they said, `You can take Norwegian cooking or stand-up comedy.' ''
Her fateful choice 12 years ago has led to many high-profile gigs, including appearances on ``The Tonight Show,'' with Jay Leno and earlier with Johnny Carson, and the ``Late Show with David Letterman.''
The perky 35-year-old comedian is known for her rapid-fire jokes, full of double meanings.
``She's a master of the throwaway line, of making a perfectly rational observation, then adding, almost subliminally, the punch line which skews everything she has said before,'' wrote The Los Angeles Times.
A preview:
``I had a typical high school romance,'' Liebman said. ``I was the cheerleader and he was on the faculty.''
And another:
``When I was a secretary,'' she said, ``I used to call in sick a lot. I said that I had female problems, and my boss, she didn't know that I meant her.''
She spent six years honing her humor at colleges and comedy clubs in her native New England. Then, in the early 1990s, she moved to Los Angeles, where she has found plenty of work. Along with her network appearances, she starred in a recent HBO comedy special, ``Women of the Night,'' and opened concerts for the likes of Sheena Easton, Tanya Tucker, Ray Charles, Jon Secada and The Smothers Brothers.
That stand-up comedy course had a lasting effect, and continues to add to her act.
``You can't really teach somebody to be funny,'' Liebman said, ``but it was the place where I got a lot of confidence - and stole a lot of material. I'm joking, I'm joking. I'll never steal a joke - consciously.''
Asked if it takes a lot of courage to get up on stage, she said, ``Yeah, but I just drank a lot.
``No, I'm kidding. The courage is what I got from the class. I can't say that I wasn't nervous for the first four or five years. So I guess courage turns into confidence and then it just becomes really addictive,'' she said.
``Although, I think I was just addicted to the secondhand smoke in the comedy clubs.''
Liebman, who writes jokes for herself and other entertainers, has a matter-of-fact view of breaking into, and making it in, the comedy business.
``It's probably like any other business,'' she said. ``I guess my philosophy about anything is, `If you want to do something, do it.' ''
She recently signed a contract with Home Box Office to develop her own sitcom. This summer she'll also be taping a half-hour stand-up special for HBO.
``They also bought an animated show from me,'' Liebman said. ``It'll be my voice. I play a hairdresser and it's called `Cutting It.' ''
There seems to be no stopping Liebman, who dreams big.
``I'd love to get into feature films,'' she said.
What would she be doing now if she hadn't mistakenly picked up someone else's mail years ago?
``I'd be a secretary somewhere,'' Liebman said. ``I used to be one.''
Is doing comedy more interesting than being a secretary?
``Yeah,'' she said, ``but maybe not as funny.'' Pause. ``I used to type about 20 words a day.'' ILLUSTRATION: FILE COLOR PHOTO
A substitute course at an adult education center started comedian
Wendy Liebman on the road to stand-up success.
KEYWORDS: PROFILE BIOGRAPHY COMEDY by CNB