'Campy,
outrageous & refreshingly raunchy' -Los Angeles Times
'Brazen sketch comedy trio is high-octane, high-camp' -Vanity Fair
'Much too good for prime time' -The New York Times
Named after Laura Ingall’s rich-bitch rival on the classic television
series, Little House on the Prairie, The Nellie Olesons skewer
everything from circuit queen dads, public relation queens, whorey Spanish
TV hosts Marisol & Estivan, Momma & Elda (Grey Gardens meets Sybil),
swingers, dance routines, and lots of 'mangina'. They'll be premiering
new material as well as classic send-up sketches of Faye Dunaway as Joan
Crawford as Annie Sullivan in a retelling of The Miracle Worker
& a nude pas de deux shower ballet homage to Psycho's Janet Leigh.
Founded by Nora Burns & Terrence Michael in New York in 1993 (John
Cantwell joined in 1996), the Nellies have toured all over the US &
Canada including Montreal's Just For Laugh's Comedy Festival, Toronto's
We're Funny That Way Festival, & NYC's PS 122, the Ridiculous Theatre
C., LaMama, & Town Hall. Based in LA since 1998, they’ve performed
at Luna Park, Highways, The Laugh Factory, The Improv, & the LA Gay
& Lesbian Center to name a few. They also made a short film, simply
titled The Nellie Olesons, which won the Audience Award for Best
Short Video at Outfest in 1997. After a five year break, the Nellies spent
2005 performing Older! Uglier! Meaner! to sell out houses at
LA's Cavern Club Theater, Gay & Lesbian Center, Outlaugh!, LA's first
Gay & Lesbian Comedy Festival. They also returned to NYC, christening
the new performance space, Ace of Clubs.
The Nellie Olesons have created several critically acclaimed shows including
Nellier Than Thou (1994), Nellie-A-Go-Go (1995), Fistful of Nellies (1996),
Pulp Nellie (1997), Full Frontal Nellie (1998), a best of show, And Now...
The Nellie Olesons (1998), the David Schweizer directed You Are Now Entering
Nellie Oleson (1999), Nellie Is The Cruelest Bitch (2000), & finally,
Older! Uglier! Meaner! (2005).