Celebrity Autobiography has finally landed on Broadway — and the show feels exactly like what would happen if a late-night comedy sketch, a drunken book club, and a celebrity roast all crashed into each other.
Sometimes it’s hilarious.
Sometimes it drags.
But when it works, it really works.
The long-running comedy revue features actors reading ridiculous passages from celebrity memoirs completely straight-faced. The material isn’t supposed to be funny — which is exactly why it becomes funny. Think oversharing, giant egos, bizarre life lessons, and painfully bad writing delivered with total dramatic commitment.
The audience gets everything from Kris Jenner self-mythologizing to Ryan Seacrest discussing orange juice preferences like it’s a national emergency. There are stories about Neil Sedaka’s stomach issues, Cher’s opinions on candy, and David Hasselhoff complaining about performing onstage.
Yes, really.
The biggest laughs come from the cast, not necessarily the material itself.
Andrea Martin practically steals the entire show with her fully committed chaos energy. Jeff Hiller is another standout, especially playing Cher with complete seriousness and somehow making it hysterical. Mario Cantone, Jackie Hoffman, and Rita Wilson also keep the energy moving whenever the pacing starts to wobble.
And wobble it does.
One of the biggest problems is that a lot of the material feels old. Some of these memoir excerpts date back years — even decades — and not all of them hold up. References to Justin Bieber and Miley Cyrus as teen sensations feel oddly frozen in time. Younger audience members may wonder why the show keeps circling celebrities their parents care more about.
That said, the production finally finds its groove during the last third of the evening.
Suddenly the show stops feeling like random readings and becomes something much more theatrical.
One standout segment mashes together Broadway legends Ethel Merman and Carol Channing with Jeff Hiller playing the dog from “Annie.” It sounds insane because it is insane — but it’s also one of the funniest moments of the night.
Then comes the finale — a gloriously over-the-top soap opera involving Elizabeth Taylor, Richard Burton, Debbie Reynolds, and Eddie Fisher.
At last, the show actually feels Broadway-sized.
The final stretch becomes campy, dramatic, chaotic, and genuinely funny in a way the earlier scenes sometimes struggle to achieve.
Visually, though, don’t expect spectacle.
The set is intentionally bare-bones: microphones, a table of books, and oversized typewriter-style set pieces. That simplicity probably works better in a small downtown theater than inside the giant Shubert Theatre.
Still, there’s something undeniably charming about watching talented actors treat absurd celebrity nonsense like Shakespeare.
That’s the joke.
And even when the material misses, the cast’s commitment often saves it.
Celebrity Autobiography may not be groundbreaking theater, but it doesn’t really want to be. It’s silly, nostalgic, messy, fun — the theatrical equivalent of flipping through old tabloids with very funny friends.
If you love sketch comedy, celebrity gossip, camp, or Saturday Night Live-style humor, you’ll probably have a good time.
Just maybe don’t expect high art.
Ben Mankiewicz joins Celebrity Autobiography
Rob Shuter’s novel, It Started With A Whisper, is available now.