Interview: Sandra Bernhard Makes Her Café Carlyle Debut with SHAPES & FORMS

Iconic comedian and actress Sandra Bernhard is bringing Shapes & Forms, her one-of-a-kind new live show for 2025, to New York’s Carlyle Café from April 29 to May 3, 2025 for her debut residency there. Fresh with new stories, one-liners, witty asides and an always surprising and eclectic blend of perfectly curated songs, Shapes and Forms comes packed with fun and raw emotion in only the way this American comedy queen and icon can do it: wildly funny, unfiltered and unforgettable.

Sandra Bernhard has been a performer, actress, singer and author for five decades and a pioneer of the one-woman show. The multi-hyphenate is fresh off a star turn in season 2 of Severance. Later this year, she’ll be seen on the big screen in the feature film Marty Supreme alongside Timothée Chalamet, plus RuPaul’s Drag Race (MTV), Survival of the Thickest (Netflix), and Percy Jackson and the Olympians (Disney+).

Bernhard’s other acting credits include Ryan Murphy’s American Horror Story, the Emmy Award-winning series, POSE, Broad City, Difficult People, 2 Broke Girls, Brooklyn 99, You’re the Worst, Will & Grace, The Sopranos, and Roseanne. Bernhard’s most notable film credit in Martin Scorsese’s The King of Comedy opposite Robert De Niro, won her Best Supporting Actress by the National Society of Film Critics.

Bernhard gained attention in the late ‘70s with her trailblazing brand of stand-up comedy and continues today with live stage performances throughout the U.S. and overseas. Bernhard brings a completely unique and raucous mix of cabaret, stand-up, rock-n-roll, and social commentary. 

She is currently in her ninth year hosting her weekly radio show “Sandyland” on SiriusXM, for which she won a broadcasting Gracie Award.

We spoke about the process of writing and perfecting Shapes & Forms, what’s coming up next for her, and more.

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Where did the inspiration for your Shapes & Forms show come from? Can you talk a little bit about your process writing and crafting a one-woman show like this, and fitting in the song selections?

It comes from so many sources, personal, global, political, songs float in and out in a dramatic way that highlights the stories. I like songs I can put my own distinctive touch on; that’s most important.

You just performed this recently in December at Joe's Pub. How did those shows go?

I came off of two weeks of performances on the West Coast, basically the show I did last year at Joe’s, Easy Listening, so it was a marathon shifting from that show to a brand new one, but it came off seamlessly, and I felt more inspired than ever.

When you do a tour like this, in general, how much are you tweaking the material as you go? Did you discover anything about the show from doing it at Joe's Pub?

Joe’s Pub is an incubator for me, I know I can do anything there and have it come to life. That’s the beauty of an intimate space – the crowd is with you, and that allows you to fly 

You have enormous depth and breadth both as an actor and a standup comedian. How does it feel to be performing your own material instead of reading someone else's script? What do you like or dislike about both?

Of course, I love both. It’s been really great doing my recent acting work; the pressure is off me, so I can just show up prepared but not under my own scrutiny – but I always love coming home to my own work, of course.

That is a luxury few can enjoy

As a woman who worked through a lot of the misogyny of the comedy industry and became an icon for female comedians, how does it feel to be where you are now?

I hope it means something; it’s so hard to tell with where we’ve landed politically. It sickens me really, the phoniness, duplicity, arrogance of these half-assed nowhere people - but I forge ahead with more conviction than ever

What music have you been listening to lately?

Always Lana Del Rey, Kendrick Lamar who blew it wide open at the Super Bowl, and of course all my standbys from Joni to Stevie to Carole to Aretha – the list goes on and on.

What's coming up next for you after this tour, or what else are you working on?

I’ll be in an upcoming episode of Percy Jackson along with Margaret Cho, who is amazing to work with, an episode of Survival of the Thickest on Netflix March 27, and some other big surprises.

Is there anything else you'd like to add?

Just that I am thankful for my audience – their support and enthusiasm means everything to me!

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Header Photo by Nick Spanos

Find Sandra Bernhard's entire Shapes & Forms tour schedule and tickets from April 24 to July 29 on her website at www.sandrabernhard.com

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