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Billed as "America's First Hearing
Impaired Comedienne", Kathy Buckley is also
a four-time (1995-98) American Comedy Award Nominee
as Best Stand-Up Female Comedienne. In June of 1998,
her highly acclaimed autobiographical hit theater
play "DON'T BUCK WITH ME!" A One Woman
Show and Tale enjoyed a three month return Los Angeles
engagement at the prestigious Tiffany Theater in
West Hollywood, California.
"DON'T BUCK WITH ME!" first opened in
February of 1997 at the Hollywood's legendary Tamarind
Theater. Following a run there, which began as four
weeks and ended after four months, both Kathy and
the production were recipients of a Los Angeles
Theater Ovation Award for Best Writing of a World
Premiere Play or Musical; DRAMA-LOGUE Award for
Best Writing and Best Performance; and the Los Angeles
entertainment industry's coveted Media Access Award
as Best Play of the Year. The project, chronicling
the comedienne's extraordinary life, was directed
by veteran comedy television director Sue Wolf,
and marked Ms. Buckley's theatrical stage debut
as an actress, writer, and producer. As a result
of the success of "DON'T BUCK WITH ME!",
Kathy's unlimited talents were recognized by the
producers of the hit CBS television series, Touched
by an Angel, on which she made her guest starring
debut as a television actress in October of 1998.
Success, however, in the theater or any other medium,
was far from mind the first time Kathy stood the
world of comedy on its ear. On a dare from a friend,
she entered a comedy contest called, "Stand-up
Comic Take a Stand", in 1988. She was nervous.
Not because it was her first time performing comedy
on a stage, or even the fact that she couldn't hear
the audience response except by vibration from the
stage floor. What made her nervous was discovering
that she was competing against comedians who had
been in the business for years.
But, Kathy forged ahead, easily winning fourth place,
and soon began touring the U.S., playing major comedy
venues like Carolines (New York City), Catch a Rising
Star (Las Vegas, Reno), The Improv (West Hollywood),
The Ice House (Pasadena), The Comedy Store (Hollywood),
The Laugh Factory (Hollywood), and many others.
In record time, she became one of the most popular
comediennes in the country with material based on,
among others things, her hearing loss. That impairment,
however, is only one of the many hurdles Kathy has
encountered in her life. Her poor performance in
second grade landed her in a school for retarded
and physically impaired children. It took school
administrators, psychologists, and audiologists
nearly a year to discover it was just a hearing
loss and not a lack of mental acuity that was impeding
her speech and language development. Today, Kathy
shakes her head as she quips to amazed audiences,
"... And they called me slow?"
 During
her late teens, Kathy's life was interrupted when
she was run over by a jeep while sunbathing on a
beach. As a result, she experienced intermitted
paralysis in her legs. Her recovery took almost
five years. Then, just six years later, she was
diagnosed with cervical cancer.
Undaunted, she has turned roadblocks into springboards,
using her personal experience as launching pads
for humor and the education of others.
In 1992, she was selected from among hundreds of
performers to showcase her talents at The National
Association for Campus Activities Convention. That
appearance made her a favorite of the college campus
circuit.
Kathy's popular appeal, unique persona, and refreshing
sense of humor also attracted the attention of high
profile comedy television shows, entertainment news
programs, and talk shows. She has been a guest on
The Tonight Show - Starring Jay Leno and The Howard
Stern Show. She has been featured in various national
magazines including People as one of their most
touching stories of 1997, and profiled in depth
on the Today Show, Good Morning America, CBS This
Morning, Entertainment Tonight, Extra, Inside Edition,
Turner Entertainment Report, CNN'S Show Biz Today,
Real Life, Live! With Regis and Kathie Lee, Phil
Donahue, Leeza Dr. Ruth's Never Too Late, Caryl
& Marilyn, Geraldo, Mike & Maty, Crook &
Chase, The Tom Snyder Show, and the KTLA Morning
News. She has appeared on Stand-Up Spotlight (VH-1),
Comic Strip Live (FOX), Evening at the Improv (A&E),
and Caroline's Comedy Hour (A&E), to name just
a few. She also served as celebrity guest host for
Fox Television Special, Smart Kids, and made a cameo
appearance in the ABC Television Movie of the Week,
Breaking Free. She was featured in the HBO Television
Special, "Women of the Night", shot on
location at the U.S. Comedy Festival in Aspen, Colorado,
and was included in the E! Entertainment Television
Special, The World's Most Intriguing Women.
In one of her many special projects, Kathy was the
focus of I Can Hear the Laughter, a 1991 Emmy award-winning
documentary, and although she regularly receives
national media attention, Kathy Buckley is more
than just a popular comic. Her humor has a higher
purpose. "My comedy disarms people," says
Kathy. "I love to make people laugh, but I
love it even more if I can teach them something
at the same time."
She backs her philosophy by tirelessly performing
on behalf of nonprofit and educational organizations
such as The MDA Jerry Lewis Muscular Dystrophy Telethon,
Children's Hospitals, and the Children's Miracle
Network Telethon, and numerous other causes.
Recently, Kathy was Mistress of Ceremonies at a
Permanent Charities annual fundraising gala featuring
Quincy Jones, Warren Beatty, and Chevy Chase. She
has appeared in benefits with Bob Hope, Nannette
Fabray, Donald O'Connor, Phyllis Diller, and Robert
Guillaume for The House Ear Institute in Los Angeles,
the Alexander Graham Bell Awards with Charlton Heston,
and some of the most prestigious theaters in the
country including the John F. Kennedy Center for
the Performing Arts in Washington D.C., the Flint
Center for the Performing Arts in Northern California,
and the Wiltern Theater in Los Angeles.
Among her many honors, Kathy has received the 1998
Woman of The Year Award from the Oralingua School
for the Hearing Impaired, 1997 American Hero Award
from the City of Hope as their role model of the
year, the 1996 Toastmasters International Communication
and Leadership Award, the 1991 Dole Foundation Media
Awareness Award for her dedication to all people
with disabilities, the National Council on Communicative
Disorders Individual Achievement Award, and the
Hear Now Hear America Hear award for her commitment
to children.
She was also recognized by the U.S. Air Force and
U.S. Army for outstanding efforts toward disability
employment awareness.
She is a key motivational speaker for Anthony Robbins'
Life Mastery Classes and works to entertain and
enlighten people of all ages but her heart belongs
to children. "Every child deserves to have
a real childhood," Kathy asserts. "And
they should have healthy role models to show them
that people do care about them deeply."
Whether performing in a comedy club, guesting on
television, speaking publicly, teaching at camps
for the deaf, or appearing in any number of other
settings, Kathy Buckley bears her message that anything
can be achieved when the heart and the mind work
together.
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