March 17, 1996

Comic's inspiration found all in the family

By: Nancy Van Valkenburg
1996 Republican-America

Comic Liza Vann is just a little worried about her Waterbury show.

She's not nervous about the comedy. She knows her one-woman show will get laughs. Born the seventh of 12 children, Vann has been "surrounded by great material my whole life." Her 65-minute show is the distilled experience of all her years, honed and polished to perfection.

No, her material on growing up in a wild, wacky, oversized family isn't the problem. The problem is the audience. Specifically two members of the audience: Vann's mom and dad.

"It will be the first time they've seen this show," Vann said. "I've tried to prepare them. I've given them the 'fair warning' speech. There's nothing too shocking in the show, but it's always difficult to hear your life told out loud to a crowd of people."

Vann knows that her parents- up from their native North Carolina to visit their New York daughter - will survive the Seven Angels show.

"My parents are pretty used to taking me as I am," she said. "And you can't have 12 kids without having a pretty good sense of humor. They are just as wild as their kids are."
Vann's show is filled with comical stories, strong opinions and wry observations. She and writer Katherine Griffith took 20 hours of Vann's comedy and stories, and came up with a 65-minute show.

Part of the performance is devoted to Vann's seven rules of life, and how she came up with them. Some of her rules are self-evident.

"Save screwing up for the things that don't count. Pick your battles. Look for the logic," Vann said. "These are good basic rules. I don't know why people don't have them written down."
Other rules take some explaining.

"Don't jump out of a car if you can't make pig noises," Vann said. "I'll talk about that one in the show. I have to tell a story about my sister, Gooche, and yes, that is her name."

Vann said that portion of her scripted show often forces her off book.

"Sometimes members of the audience will break into spontaneous pig noises," she said. "I have to stop and tell them I'll give pig-noise lessons after the show. And I do give lessons. It's a lot of fun."

Vann said she talks a lot about her family, and she talks fast.

"I talk 100 miles an hour," she said. "When you're born into a family like mine, you learn to talk fast and see life from lots of perspectives. Our oldest was in college when our youngest was born. "In our house, there were 14 personalities around us all experiencing different things. You'd have to be deaf, blind and dumb not to develop some opinions about life."

Vann said her parents, both from small families, had 12 kids "because they always wanted 12 kids." (Vann has no children. She says she spent enough time with kids during her childhood.) Vann's dad is a criminal attorney, and her mother worked as his secretary and as a homemaker.

Vann said her mother took mental breaks from the household chaos by playing solitaire.

"We'd all be running around, and she'd be sitting on the living room floor playing solitaire. I think it was her way of removing herself from the craziness."

No word yet on whether Vann's mom will bring her deck to Seven Angels.

"I'm looking forward to the show and to connecting with the audience in Waterbury," the comic said. "My audience is as much a part of the show as I am, and we've never let each other down yet."