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Women's Fiction, Arts & Entertainment - Fiction, Occupations - Fiction

Tickled Pink

by Rita Rudner
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Overview

Mindy Solomon absolutely has to leave Miami. Florida is bad for her head and her hair. She dreams of a dancing career on Broadway and moves to New York, but after a string of failures and mishaps, she realizes that she needs to rethink her grand plan. Finding herself spending way too much time in the comedy club where her future ex-boyfriend works, she nervously goes up onstage one night. People laugh. Not in the places where Mindy thought they'd laugh, but hey, it's a start.

Mindy and her friend Ursula Duran, a man-magnet model-slash-actress-slash-deeply troubled woman, soon embark on a wild ride that ricochets from New York's East Side Hotel for Women to the comedy circuit, auditions, photo shoots, film premieres, cable TV specials, Hollywood studios, late-night TV talk shows, and beyond. Surrounded by sleazy agents, sleazier lovers, and Ursula's even sleazier mother, the two find that life writes a few punch lines they weren't expecting...but through it all, they somehow manage to have the last laugh.

Rita Rudner has crafted a debut novel that is not just funny, but moving and insightful. With its insider's viewpoint of the world of stand-up comedy, Tickled Pink is also, at its core, a touching tale of love, loss, female friendship, and forgiveness.

About the Author, Rita Rudner

Rita Rudner is well known for her prowess as a comedian. Less well known are her accomplishments as an author and screenwriter. Coauthor of the screenplays for the award-winning films Peter's Friends, which starred Emma Thompson and Kenneth Branagh, and A Weekend in the Country, which starred Jack Lemmon, Rudner is also the bestselling author of two previous books: Naked Beneath My Clothes and Rita Rudner's Guide to Men. She has starred in two of her own HBO specials, Born to Be Mild and Married Without Children, and presently performs exclusively in Las Vegas. Visit her Web site at www.ritafunny.com.

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Editorials

Library Journal

In her first novel, what could be a thinly veiled autobiographical look at Rudner's discovery of her own comedic outlook is embodied in the friendship between dancer-turned-stand-up comedian Mindy Solomon and model-turned-actress Ursula Duran. It takes the author a while to find the right level of character development versus the delivery of clever lines, but the story gets stronger as the friendship is tested by career moves and male companions; the two main figures are well supported by memorable minor roles and an insider's view of the stepladder system in comedy clubs. The book as read by Rudner herself resonates with her specific comedic style and pacing, often to a listener's detriment as the recording goes from near whisper to shouting, depending on the punchline. A nice diversion for primarily female audiences.-Joyce Kessel, Villa Maria Coll., Buffalo, NY Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information.

Kirkus Reviews

Can a brunette comedian forgive her blond best friend for stealing the show? Eventually. Heading for New York from Miami after her mother's death from cancer, teenaged Mindy Solomon hopes to make it big on Broadway-but changes plans after two men who were supposed to catch her during a dance routine . . . didn't. The injuries force her to hang up her tap shoes and turn to comedy, delighted to find that she has a gift for making people laugh. Meanwhile, beautiful Ursula Duran, illegitimate daughter of a self-absorbed shrew who neglected her, struggles to find work as a model and suddenly skyrockets to fame when her heretofore-indifferent mother, Eva, wakes up, smells the money-and appoints herself manager. She arrives on the scene just in time to rescue Ursula from the amorous designs of Brandon Holmes, former advertising exec turned TV honcho. Yes, he's Ursula's long-lost father . . . just one of many unpleasant surprises life has in store for both women. Mindy's road to success is equally bumpy, but guest appearances on David Letterman and other shows get her noticed, and soon she's tapped for the lead in a new sitcom. Unfortunately, loathsome studio head Leonard Felk thinks that blonds are better-and Ursula's mother Eva has been hanging around with him, displaying her enormous, brand-new boobs and other expensive plastic surgery. Mindy is aghast to discover that she's been demoted to writer and that Ursula will star. She knows her friend can't act-but she can't help being wildly jealous. Mindy ends up in bed with Ursula's ex-husband, a comedian-and gets pregnant. Understandably, she can't bring herself to tell Ursula-and then a car accident puts her former friend into a coma. Strickenwith guilt, Mindy makes a bedside confession, and . . . Ursula wakes up. A witty, droll foray into fiction for Rudner (Naked Beneath My Clothes, 1992). Author tour

Book Details

Published
April 1, 2002
Publisher
Thorndike Press
Pages
486
Format
Hardcover
ISBN
9780786240746

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