To celebrate our first Comediva of the Week of 2012, I thought I’d reach back into a classic comediva who seems as much a part of my childhood as Mr. Rogers, pudding cups and Rainbow Bright — Whoopi Goldberg.
Whether she was a singing nun, an Oscar winning sardonic psychic, or a mysteriously alien bartender on a space ship exploring the final frontier, it’s hard to imagine a time when Whoopi Goldberg wasn’t a classic of comedy. She was, however, once just a twinkle in Emma Harris and Robert James Johnson’s eyes. Once being sometime in 1954. Originally named Caryn Elaine Johnson, Whoopi grew up in Manhattan. She decided to call herself Whoopi after Whoopee cushions and not just ’cause they’re hilarious. Apparently, Whoopi doesn’t believe in holding things in and her, shall we say gaseous habits led to the whole whoopee cushion comparison. Which makes Whoopi Goldberg perhaps the only woman who has ever turned a little case of Irritable Bowel Syndrome into an iconic comedy career.
That same audacity and laid back confidence gave Whoopi the kind of career that any comediva would commit a number of class one felonies for. Before she turned thirty, she had Mike Nichols taking her first one-woman show, The Spook Show, on the way to Broadway. The show, which was a hit, caught the eye of Steven Spielberg, who cast Whoopi in The Color Purple (not a comedy, though if I have to explain that to you, you need to download it now, along with Bridesmaids, because you’ll need cheering up when you’re done). The Color Purple earned Whoopi a Golden Globe award. Not satisfied with Globes and Emmys (she’s got a bunch of those too) Whoopi became the first African American woman to win a Supporting Actress Oscar by being nominated for Ghost. Though the snobs at the Academy might beg to differ, I say that she’s also one of the few people to win an Oscar for an essentially comic role.
Nowadays, Whoopi spends more time on The View than she does producing new stand-up specials, or singing classic Motown while dressed like a nun, but she’s still a funny lady who says what she means and means what she says, and says it in such a way that people love her for it. That’s Whoopi’s gift, really, and the core of the iconic characters she’s crafted. Whether you’re thinking of Guinan or Deloris Van Cartier or Oda Mae Brown, if Whoopi Goldberg is playing a character, you can be pretty sure they’re going to speak their mind and speak it loud and clear. Even Celie Harris, who starts out being almost silent, finds power in her ability to speak the truth.
So that’s what we’re learning from Whoopi today. “It’s funny because it’s true” is a cliche for a good reason. Speaking the truth makes you funny, and speaking it in a way that people actually listen will make you a legend.
