The NYC-based comedian breaks down everything that informed her musical comedy style and first-ever Netflix special.
If there is a pristine example of a gal - about - town , it’sCatherine Cohen . The New York City - found comedian perform outdoor stage - up in sequins and feathers , filling her exercise set with original show melodic phrase and glamourous narration about her indulgent lifestyle . you may just about imagine that as shortly as she steps off stage , she has another affair of the cocktail - and - disco - ball variety to go to to before terminate the dark with a bubble tub at her West Village pied - à - terre .
If you postulate anyone closely following the NYC comedy scenery in the past couple of years , they ’ll tell you that Cohen is simply fabulous . She has become a stand - up staple in the metropolis thanks to her weekly " Cabernet Cabaret , " which she performs at the Alan Cumming - co - have East Village joint Club Cumming , and the podcast she co - boniface , Seek Treatment . But like any gal - about - town is wo nt to do , she ’s also made a smattering of film and TV appearance , include a starring role in the 2021 indie fixed storage - comDating & New York , published abook of poesy , and , most latterly , release her first Netflix special , Catherine Cohen : The Twist ? … She ’s Gorgeous .
The Twist ? … She ’s Gorgeous , which was directed byAdam Sandlercollaborator Steven Brill ( who really strain out to Cohen via Facebook ) and photograph at Joe ’s Pub in free fall 2021 , finds the comedian telling intermittent jokes with a ticket of some of her classical songs , which she co - wrote with pianist Henry Koperski , who joins her onstage . It ’s as if Cohen handle the Seth like a Broadway review , put on a transatlantic accent while gallivanting about , completely unfiltered . She sings about her experience with sex , body image , and everything that makes her athoroughly mod womanin a manner that sounds like a millennial ’s most shameful Notes app entry . As Cohen tells Thrillist , " I ’ve always been a driven over - partaker , and I sense like the only way to get over something or work through it was to put it all out there . So that ’s what I do in my study , and it feels exciting and curative and celebratory all at once . "
Catherine Cohen in ‘The Twist?… She’s Gorgeous’|Aaron Ricketts/ Netflix
Because Cohen radiates braggy theater - kidenergy and takes on a prima donna - like image as she zips up her white go - go boots before ill-use into the spot , we had the performing artist break down all of her sources of inspiration for her Netflix special . Below , Cohen explains how pop ikon like Cher and comedy legends like Molly Shannon inspired her andThe Twist ? … She ’s Gorgeous .
Cher
The special begins with a home video of lilliputian Cohen in a tutu , shouting , " I ’m star in a show ! " before cutting to the 29 - year - old wing at Joe ’s Pub , prepping for her special . " I sense completely insane , but I count literally stunning , " she says , dropping her feather robe to reveal a glittery , raging - pinko romper suit as she tittup out onstage to decorate her crowd . It ’s not an ensemble that ’s unusual to one of her operation ; she ’s known to dress to the nines , often in custom - made expression . Because she ’s all about comprehend a flake of je ne sais quoi in her style and stage presence , it ’s no surprise that one of the most maximalist pop icon , Cher , is among her reference power point .
Cher was a major influence in my style and [ what I fatigue in the special ] . I love the ' LXX glam vibe . Kelsey Randall , who project the romper , is a whiz , and we became friends a few years ago — I just diminish in love with her work . She makes super - glam rock ‘n’ roll - star aspect . When I was at her place for a meet , I see one of her temper boards that has a picture of Cher in this amazing amber dress , so I feel like our sensibility is totally aligned .
Randall is very big on [ creating a look that ’s ] over - the - top and fab , but also comfortable and something I can move in , and also sexy at the same sentence . So working with her was a dreaming , and she has a team of amazing women who put all those rhinestones on by hand — it was like 25,000 rhinestone . I imagine looking awing is so important to me .
Molly Shannon inSuperstar
Although Cohen may diversify the confidence and energy of a club star — at one point in her special , she suppose , " You look at me and reckon she has it all"—the crux of her comedy is about being bold and unfiltered . She ’s unafraid to make jokes about jealousy , desire to be externalise , and how loathly or uncomfortable sex and bodies can be , all the while occupy up as much of the spotlight as she can and dance around like a little kid in a talent show . Cohen attributes her visual modality for exploring cringe - suitable but ultimately relatable topics in a audacious way to Molly Shannon’sperformance asSaturday Night Live’sMary Katherine Gallagher , a sexually repressed Catholic schoolgirl who ’s desperate to be famous , specifically in the 1999filmSuperstar .
Superstarthe good moving picture ever . First of all , Molly Shannon is a hotshot and I love her , but also that movie — just how she ’s not afraid to be disgusting , yet obsessed with her sexuality , and gimcrack and full of desire — those are all matter I related to when I first realise the motion-picture show and still link to . I remember renting the VHS — which , oh my God , I ’m 100 age older — and just see it again and again . When you ’re small , sometimes you do n’t even know why you ’re laughing because you do n’t really understand all the caper , but youknowit ’s funny . I cerebrate there was something about her genius lineament that made me laugh , even if I did n’t understand everything I was laughing at at that eld . Channeling that bravery that she does is definitely an inspiration for what I do onstage .
Bernadette Peters and musical theater
With her lambent voice and the support ofHenry Koperskion piano , most of Cohen ’s strain strait like show melody . Whether she ’s peach her opener " Look At Me , " in which she explain why she got into funniness in the first place ( " Boys never wanted to osculate me / so now I do comedy " ) , or a darker ditty about murdering a human being who made " a joke " about want to assault her , you get the sense that musicals inform the song she ’s written herself .
I ’m a big melodic theatre fan . My favored musical isSunday in the Park with George . Bernadette Peters in that iseverything . I love all ofStephen Sondheim ’s clobber , but Bernadette Peters play the witch inInto the Woodswas specially a big influence — transform from this grotesque monster into this glamorous queen at the end . I definitely link with that .
I always mature up doing field of operations in school . When I was in gamey school day , there was this trend of sure musical theater multitude post cabaret videos of them singing . I would watchAndrew Keenan - Bolger , Vanessa Ray , and the U Michigan work party . It was a melodic theatre crew that I would watch their YouTube videos and felt they were also amazing . I ’d be like , " That seems like the most mythic matter in the world . How do you get there ? "
Cher|Harry Langdon/Getty Images
So I started doing clowning in New York , but I realized I really missed singing , and I was like , " Oh , what if I could compose a drollery song that I did n’t detest ? " I , gratefully , had become booster with Henry Koperski , who is this amazing instrumentalist , and I said , " Henry , can we try and pen a song together ? " So I come to him with a melodic line , and I wrote a song about having polycystic ovarian syndrome , lambert - O - L. Then he fall in with the accompaniment , and we just ran from there . As shortly as we started playing together , I was like , " This is something particular , " and I was so happy we ’d meet . We just kept dog that high for the various song that made it into the special .
Romantic comedies and “lady-in-a-movie moments”
One of Cohen ’s number in her special centers on " lady - in - a - moving-picture show moments , " or scenes in which a character does something average that might not be at all extravagant , but comes off as if it is . Many of these scene , peculiarly one from classic romantic comedy , are often what she shapes her own comedy around — from the aspirational nature of these moments to being able to find the bodily fluid in daily life .
I do n’t remember which Sandra Bullock movie it is , but there ’s one where she ’s ordain Formosan nutrient and they take how many masses it ’s for and it ’s just for her . That ’s me every day . Also theLegally Blondemontage where Reese Witherspoon is buying the Mac in the bunny suit — that ’s everything . Legally BlondeandMiss Congenialitycame out around the same sentence , and those were very shaping . [ In worldwide ] , rom - coms are the only movies I manage about — You’ve Got Mail , When Harry Met Sally , really any Meg Ryan feature , How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days .
It ’s not evena moment . There ’s justa moodwhen a fictional character ’s cast on a jumper and I ’m like , " Oh , it ’s so glamorous . " It ’s just the whole thing about knowing when someone else does something , it ’s really beautiful and poetic , and then when you ’re doing it , you ’re like , " Why does n’t this feel special ? " That ’s something I ’m obsessed with . Like , I see someone in the metropolis running errand , I ’m like , " Oh my God , that count so fabulous . " but when I ’m schlepping around with all my whoreson , I ’m like , " This lactate . "
‘Superstar’|Paramount Pictures
Her favorite women writers
At one point in the particular , Cohen jest that , as she dry - withdraw her nascency control while bike over the Williamsburg Bridge , she consider , " I estimate I am the voice of my generation . It ’s exhausting , but someone has to do it . " In some way , she ’s not wrong , being such an outspoken millennial funniness vocalisation whom so many immature people have discovered and found relatable . But while Cohen has always matt-up that " there was no other alternative " than to be as unfiltered as she is , she also gives reference to many outspoken women writers who come before her and were vocalization of their generations that have empowered her to compose in the way that she does .
[ There have been ] all of these amazing female writers who so have distilled their picky experience in a style that feels so universal . I ’m a hugeGirlsfan . I intend that ’s one of the best shows of all sentence . Girlswas huge for me . I also think about Joan Didion and all of those Nora Ephron movies — she ’s a voice of her generation , obviously . I ’m obsessed with Sheila Heti — she ’s an amazing writer . [ Her novel]How Should a Person Be?was very formative when I first read it . Taylor Swift , too . I love that she ’s turned her life into artistic creation and is not afraid to verbalize her judgment and suffer up for herself . Whenever I ’m sad , I care to interpret something by a hefty woman to make me feel less alone .
Just sensual, glamorous moods in general
While Cohen can indicate to names like Cher , Molly Shannon , and even the Spice Girls as source of stirring , it ’s ultimately all about vibe for her . It ’s figure of luxury and feelings of glamor that give her brainchild , which certainly attain gumption , as she emulate that gal - about - town thing so seamlessly .
I ’m most inspired by ideas and moods , rather than specific things . Like , I ’m more inspired by just the idea of taking a tub or the idea of holding a book during a thunderstorm or sipping a martini in a ruddy leather stall . Those are my main inspirations .
‘Legally Blonde’|MGM Distribution Co.
Aaron Ricketts/Netflix
