Cat Cohen’s new Netflix special isn’t the kind of show you watch with the whole family. In The Twist …? She’s Gorgeous, the singer/comedian/actress talks about topics that are decidedly NSFW, but with a sweetness and charm that’ll make you do a double-take after each punchline. She delivers her lines in the form of stand-up, alongside cabaret-style musical performances like “Look at Me,” in which she dissects the fact that being ignored by boys as a teen led her to seek approval by becoming the very performer you see in front of you. (She follows it up with “What Are You Running From,” an anti-exercise screed, and “That Time of Year,” in which she imagines murdering a guy who wronged her at a party.)
Cohen’s cocktail of sultry-and-shocking comedy is totally irresistible, and her special is one you’ll want to watch at least twice, to catch all her sharp-tongued asides. We caught up with this glamorous (and yes, gorgeous) performer to learn more about her star-making moment, and find out what’s next.
KCM: I saw you do this show live at Joe’s Pub in NYC pre-Covid, so when I saw your special pop up on Netflix, it felt long overdue. I’m assuming it felt that way to you too, because you’d been working on it for years. How did the timing work with COVID?
CC: I did a version of the show for the first time at the Duplex in New York in 2017, and then it evolved and became the Joe’s Pub show, and then we took it to the Edinburgh Fringe Festival in 2019. After that, the show felt sort of “done” in my mind. We were aiming to shoot the special in the spring of 2020, which obviously didn’t happen, and then we finally taped it in September 2021. So I feel lucky that we got to do it, and the fact that it’s out now just feels surreal.
KCM: You looked incredible on stage—can you tell me about that romper?
CC: That was made by my friend Kelsey Randall, an amazing designer. It had 25,000 rhinestones hand-placed by Kelsey and people who work with her. I think Kelsey and I totally had the same vision: We wanted sparkles and we wanted it to feel like a beautiful fever dream.
KCM: It had almost a “Cher in the early 70s at a variety show” feeling.
CC: Cher is always on the mood board.
KCM: A lot of people identify with your brand of comedy — the “Boys never wanted to kiss me, so now I do comedy” thing is a perfect encapsulation of the way you interpret your anxieties into something so funny and fresh. When do you think you started to turn the corner on turning those fraught feelings into art?
CC: I think that didn’t happen until my first few years in New York, when I was meeting other people in the comedy scene and being exposed to other artists who used their experiences this way. And I was finally realizing that these things that I thought were so embarrassing maybe are ultimately funny. I always admired Bernadette Peters and Kristen Wiig and Molly Shannon, and when I got to New York, I was obsessed with John Early and Kate Berlant. For years I did a show with my friends Patti Harrison and Mitra Jouhari called “It’s a Guy Thing,” and they also really inspired me to find my voice. Similarly, when I started my podcast Seek Treatment with my best friend, Pat Regan, who’s basically the funniest person in the world, he helped me hone my voice as well. Those people who you connect with, and get to work with, help you figure out what makes you funny.
KCM: You write the music and lyrics for your songs: What were you listening to around the time that you were working on songs for the special?
CC: I mostly either listen to musical theater or lo-fi indie rock or true-crime podcasts — almost nothing that actually relates to my work. I essentially just walk around the city listening to every single true-crime podcast.
KCM: As a performer, you’re pretty open about your embarrassing or even semi-traumatic experiences, but was there cutting-room-floor material that you felt was a little too intense to include?
CC: That’s the question I’m wrestling with now, since I’m working on a new hour of material: What do I wanna include? When I was doing the first show, it was like, “Oh, these are things that happened many years ago and I’ve had time to process them.” But a lot of the things I’m considering including in my new special happened like, six months ago. I don’t know if I’m ready to talk about all of it. The special had been locked in for so long that I was numb to those concerns by the time it was released. But it’s something I’m thinking about more now: What’s ready to become a joke and what’s something I’m still going through?
KCM: I feel anxiety about writing about sex because I think about my parents reading my work. Does that give you pause? Or do you just not care?
CC: No, I totally get what you’re saying. It’s funny, my podcast is about sex and dating, and my parents aren’t allowed to listen to it. That’s not for them. But I feel like if it’s a topic I’ve formulated into a joke, then I’ve sort of broken the seal. Once you perform a joke enough, you become numb to it. Also if something is artistically done, I feel like I can proudly stand by it. Whereas if I’m just saying disgusting things to my friend on the air, my parents don’t need to be a part of that.
KCM: Do you seek out reviews of your work? Do you read them?
CC: I like reading nice stuff, but I don’t seek out reviews. I think my special is amazing, so I don’t really need a stranger to tell me that they think it’s not, but to each their own.
KCM: Have there been any reactions to it that you thought were especially delightful?
CC: I get messages from people who say, “I’d never heard of you before watching the special, and I live in the Midwest, and I’m so grateful that you’re talking about these things I haven’t heard discussed on stage before.” That’s the best kind of response. Today someone posted a review in French and I was like, That’s so fucking cool.
KCM: I was laughing so loudly when I saw you live, that a few times I had choke back my loudest laughs.
CC: Oh my God, never stifle your laugh. Post-pandemic, I feel like crowds are either crazy manic or a little nervous to laugh. Performing recently has been really good: I just did a bunch of shows in London that were amazing, and I’m back onstage at Club Cumming in New York every week. It feels really good to be back, especially to have put this material out in the world and now being able to work on new stuff.
KCM: Well, I’ll be following along as you make your next act, whatever it may be.
CC: I don’t know what’s next. We’ll find out together.
