Funny how Rhea’s
life worked out

By Rita Charleston
For the Times

During career day at her school, Caroline Rhea said she thought, "Well, none of the above fits me. I don’t want to be any of those things."
But what she did want to become was one of two other things: Either a comedian or an investment banker.
"Those are the only two things in life that really appealed to me," she recalled. "In fact, as my boyfriend says today, I’m ninety percent clown and ten percent investment banker. I know it’s a strange combination, but in college I combined it by being a theater and economics major. I like the order of economy and I also like to be funny. So there it is."
Well, years later, Rhea may be good with her checkbook, but she’s certainly very good with her comedy and will be showing audiences what she can do when she takes center stage at the Keswick Theatre in Glenside on Nov. 16.
Born in Montreal, Canada, in 1964, Rhea ventured to New York to start her career in stand-up comedy in 1989. She studied in the stand-up program at the New School of Social Research and trained at the comedy club Catch a Rising Star.
"I don’t know if you can actually teach comedy. I think you have to have a natural inclination toward it," Rhea said.
"I think you have to deconstruct and nurture talent. If you think you have it, figure out what makes you funny. And then it’s like taking a giant leap of faith, because the more you do it, the more you appear confident in what you’re doing until you finally believe you really know how to do it."
But there are some people who are just true naturals, Rhea added.
"Like my two favorites, Carol Burnett and Johnny Carson," she said. "I so wanted to be the two of them combined. Like their love child."
And even though that was not to be, her own natural talents did shine through. With nightly gigs at New York’s famous comedy clubs, her status quickly grew and she became an integral part of the city’s comedy scene. Her career was further boosted by numerous appearances on such shows as MTV’s Half-Hour Comedy Hour, Comic Strip Live and Caroline’s Comedy Hour.
She eventually moved on to film, and her credits include Man on the Moon, Christmas with the Kranks and Ready to Rumble. She also landed roles on TV shows like Sabrina, The Teenage Witch, Fat Like Me and as the host of NBC’s popular The Biggest Loser, among others.
Doing The Biggest Loser, she recalled, was OK — at first. "The show was pitched to me as a comedy until it turned out to be so dramatic. I really like the contestants. I just didn’t want to continue not being funny on television, if you know what I mean," Rhea explained.
And so, although she hasn’t given up film or TV, she’s back enjoying stand-up, which, she explained, "is certainly therapeutic for me and may be for the audience too. People come up to me and tell me that I’m saying things they’d like to say but are afraid to. And to me, that’s the biggest compliment I could receive."
Yet is there still something she hasn’t done that she’d still like to do?
"Absolutely," she said quickly. "I’d like to do a love scene with Jake Gyllenhaal, but unless they remake The Graduate, Part Seven, I really don’t see that happening." ••
For times and ticket information, call 215-572-7650.