Before the alt comedy scene became a thing in the 1990s, comedian Judy Tenuta opened the door for it. Maybe more like kicked the door down. Dressed like a tired prom queen and armed with her trusty accordion, Tenuta commanded stages as “The Love Goddess.” Her comedy was sharply observational and sometimes played hostility. She was one of a kind.
Inspired by Tenuta, actor/writer/director/accordion player Taylor Blackwell pays homage with a surreal 12-minute biopic, It Happened: The Judy Tenuta Story. To help tell the story, she cast her TV father Alan Tudyk as a Pope who might be Pope John Paul II, but let’s not split hairs or blasphemies. Never falling into a trap of seriousness, the short bursts with Judy Tenuta’s energy and spirit.
At the end of a long travel day, Blackwell jumped on a video call with me to talk about the short and answer the musical question, “why Judy?”
The award-winning short opens at Cinequest this week, and will play online through Cinejoy March 24-31.
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