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Arkansas may be better known for hog-hollerin'
contests and a president then comedy but the excitement
is pretty much the same when ETTA MAY takes the
stage. Clad in a floral blouse and polyester pants,
sporting a print bandanna and pointy glasses, she
may remind you of the lunch lady from your old school
or your deranged Uncle Zeke in drag. But make no
mistake Etta May is for real.
A veritable steamroller of southern sass, she has
made audiences howl with laughter from Arkansas
to Wyoming.
Born in the sprawling metropolis of Bald Knob,
Arkansas, Etta May grew up alongside nine brothers,
who referred to their only sister as "the human
sacrifice". In fact, Etta's parents -- her
father a potpourri farmer, her mother bedridden
by constant childbearing --did not realize Etta
was a girl until she required a training bra.
The colorful comedienne tips the scales at a beautiful
200 pounds. She realized she had a weight problem
when she sat in the bathtub and the water in the
toilet rose. But modesty aside, Etta May details
the thrill of para-sailing, the joy of raising pit-bull-like
children and the agony of marriage. Her hilarious
antics were seen weekly on ABC's situation comedy,
Davis Rules.
Audiences may already be familiar with Etta from
her weekly syndicated radio show called Ask Etta,
an advice column carried by over 200 country radio
stations in the United States and Canada. Fans of
the show write in and Etta May proceeds to give
them straight from the hip, no nonsense guidance
on life's little worries, in a way that only Etta
can.
Her fan club of over 40,000 Etta Heads, as she
calls them, started growing from appearances on
such hit shows as Oprah Winfrey, Showtime's Aspen
Comedy Festival, Arsenio Hall and several Comic
Strip Live appearances, just to name a few. Her
uproarious performance on The Comedy Store's 15th
Anniversary Special, broadcast in prime time on
NBC, nearly upstaged such seasoned pros as Robin
Williams and Richard Pryor, but then again, even
comedy legends move aside when Etta May takes the
stage.
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