Rita Rudner, Louie Anderson set to perform at Downey Theatre
DOWNEY -- Top-selling comedians and entertainers Rita Rudner and Louie Anderson are set to perform at the Downey Civic Theatre on Saturday, and tickets are still available.
Rita Rudner is one of the country's top comedians and a house-filling favorite in Las Vegas since she opened in June 2000. Two-time Emmy award winner Louie Anderson is one of the country's most recognized comics and was named by Comedy Central as "One of the 100 Greatest Stand-Up Comedians of All Time."
Rudner has appeared in several television shows both in the US and the UK (recording a six-part series on BBC2 in 1990 in the latter), and she appeared often on The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson. She has recorded several award-winning comedy specials, most notably Rita Rudner: Born to Be Mild and Rita Rudner: Married Without Children for HBO and Rita Rudner: Live From Las Vegas for PBS in 2008 (now available on DVD). She also appeared on the Tales from the Crypt episode "Whirlpool".
Rudner and her husband and producer, Martin Bergman, wrote the screenplay of the film Peter's Friends, in which she also acted. Rudner also has a role as the character Bunny in her husband's 2011 film Thanks, which had its world premiere at the 2011 Palm Springs Film Festival.
Rudner is the author of the books I Still Have It; I Just Can't Remember Where I Put It, Naked Beneath My Clothes and the novels Tickled Pink and Turning The Tables. She has written several screenplays with her husband and a play called Room 776 which premiered in Las Vegas in 2008.
Since 2001, Rudner has performed almost exclusively in Las Vegas, selling over one million tickets. She moved to a larger theater at The Venetian in January 2011. She also created and hosted the syndicated improvisational comedy show Ask Rita, which mimicked the format of a talk/advice show. For this she received a Gracie Allen Award from the American Women in Television and Radio. In May 2009 she performed for Senator Harry Reid and President Barack Obama at Caesars Palace alongside Bette Midler and Sheryl Crow; a video of some of this performance can be found on Rita's Facebook page or YouTube.
On August 8, 2012, Rudner appeared as Melissa's mom on the sitcom Melissa & Joey.
In late 1985, Anderson was cast as Lou Appleton alongside Bronson Pinchot on the pilot episode of Perfect Strangers for ABC (which was known in this early stage as The Greenhorn). When the show was picked up, Anderson was replaced by Mark Linn-Baker in the role of Appleton (whose first name was then changed from Lou to Larry) as the producers didn't think the chemistry between Anderson and Pinchot was quite right. The show ran for eight seasons on ABC.
In 1999, Anderson landed the role of host of the new version of Family Feud. Anderson asked former Feud host Richard Dawson to appear on the premiere show to give him his blessing, but Dawson declined.
Anderson organized a 9/11-themed tournament week of Family Feud between the FDNY and the NYPD, putting up $75,000 toward both organizations for recovery from the September 11, 2001, attacks. Anderson was let go from the show in 2002 and replaced by former Home Improvement star Richard Karn.
Although Anderson predicted the demise of the show within a year under Karn, Family Feud remains on the air; Karn, however, is no longer hosting the program after being replaced in 2006 with John O'Hurley, who in turn was replaced by Steve Harvey in 2010. (In addition, Ray Combs hosted the show from 1988 until 1994, when Dawson was rehired to replace him due to faltering ratings.)