Jane Curtin Is The Most Underrated Comedy Genius In America

Jane Curtin deserves more from us. What I mean by that is the luminous comic actress is one of the most important figures in modern American comedy history, and we don’t treat her as such. Curtin was the first woman to anchor Weekend Update and she helped pave the way for future titans like Tina Fey and Amy Poehler. She’s also been a consummate supporting player, always boosting the efforts of those around her and nailing tricky line deliveries like it was nothing. After Saturday Night Live, Jane Curtin moved on to not one, but two successful sitcom runs. She was and is a ferocious professional, always delivering laughs no matter what was thrown at her, and she was an early out-and-loud feminist in the industry.

Today is Jane Curtin’s 71st birthday and I feel like it’s about time we spoke about her as a true comedy icon.

My personal obsession with Jane Curtin started when I was about 11 years old. The actress was returning to television to play Dr. Mary Albright on NBC’s zany alien sitcom 3rd Rock From the Sun. I remember finding the show silly and enjoyable, but it was Curtin who shocked me. While the rest of the cast played exaggerated versions of aliens attempting to fit in to human life, Curtin had to be the dour straight-woman. She was the straight-laced human raining on the fun parade. But I quickly realized she wasn’t doing that at all. Her character’s clever retorts not only made John Lithgow’s elastic Dr. Solomon seem goofier by contrast, but they were really funny. She was funny. Jane Curtin was the first comedian who made me understand the power of a straight line delivery and the work that goes into perfecting the rhythm and timing of jokes — both verbal and physical. I could tell she was a genius and that she was giving us all a masterclass.

Jane Curtin has often been called the “Queen of Deadpan,” but that short-changes her many amazing comic talents. Yes, she could deliver a blistering one-liner with a steely precision, but she was also a keen sketch comedian. Watch any old vintage Saturday Night Live, and you’ll notice that Curtain can flit in and out of various characters with total commitment. She could be everyone from the straight woman to a Conehead — and because of this, she’s ubiquitous in these early Saturday Night Live seasons. It’s often Curtin who is offering rowdier SNL players the support they need to really shine. Many of Gilda Radner’s effervescently over-the-top characters are immediately funnier if Curtin provides a pinned-down foil.

In many ways, Jane Curtin was the first. She wasn’t just the first woman to anchor Weekend Update on Saturday Night Live, she was arguably the first one to establish the foundation for what the gig would later be. Chevy Chase famously started the segment and he made it all about Chevy Chase. Curtin moved it more into news satire and topical one-liners. She sneered in exasperation at Belushi and Radner’s wacky characters and frequently traded barbs with co-anchors. Her cadence would be picked up decades later by Tina Fey. Her straight-man routine polished by Kevin Nealon and Seth Meyers.

Curtin’s trailblazing also occurred off the screen. Right now, we’re living in a time when a great many women in entertainment are starting to speak out about the undermining damage of sexism in the workplace. Jane Curtin has been speaking out about what she calls the “misogynistic environment” of Saturday Night Live‘s early days for years. In a 2011 interview with Oprah, she revealed that John Belushi would go out of his way to sabotage the female writers on staff (and she rather deliciously rolled her eyes at Chevy Chase).

However the reason why I will bow down forever to Jane Curtin is because she is a stone cold professional. What I mean by that is she never let her comedy or her acting look like an act of self-indulgent vanity. Her art was her job. She has this really gorgeous knack for getting down to business and making every move she makes look easy. But when you study what she’s doing, listen to how she controls her voice, manipulates her posture, and keeps everything in a state of play…that’s when you know that she’s a bona fide master. She’s a true comedy genius and a genuine role model. I adore Jane Curtin, and you should, too.

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