NOVEMBER 13, 2004—Victoria Jackson’s Saturday nights are no longer as lively as they were during her New York days as a Not Ready for Primetime performer.

From 1986 to 1992, the Miami native played the beautiful bubbleheaded blonde to comic perfection on Saturday Night Live. Then she all but gave up her trademark handstands when she married her high school sweetheart, police helicopter pilot Paul Wessel, and returned to Miami to raise a family. For Jackson, now 45, love meant abandoning a promising career in comedy to be with her husband in a hot and humid climax she abhors.

Now Jackson’s embarking on a comeback. She’s written, produced and directed a documentary about her efforts to maintain a career while raising two daughters. The Only Show in Town received its world premiere Saturday, Nov. 13, as part of the Fort Lauderdale International Film Festival’s Sunshine Celluloid sidebar. It will screen again Friday, Dec. 3, and Saturday, Dec. 4, at Cinema Paradiso.

Film South Florida.com spoke with Jackson about her new documentary, her life in Miami, and lip synching on Saturday Night Live.

Film South Florida.com: Why make a documentary about yourself? And how does the title relate to your life?

Victoria Jackson: The film is called The Only Show in Town, which is a title of a song a friend of mine wrote. The song is about when you fall in love, how everything else gets dim. That’s the only show in town. I made the movie because I left Saturday Night Live in 1992 to marry my high school. sweetheart, who lives in Miami, and I didn’t want to move here. But he liked his job, and I was in love, so I gave up everything I loved and worked for to be with me. It was trapped in the suburbs, I was really bored out of my mind for 12 years, and I needed some creative outlets. So I started doing standup comedy, and having babies. Also, we needed the money because we had to pay my ex-husband (Nisan Eventoff) alimony for six years. I was going to quit doing standup one day, and I thought I would start filming my trips so one day when I’m old, I can show myself and my kids what mommy used to do. It’s a very strange thing to be on Saturday Night Live and then to be in the middle of a dirty, drunk, smokey standup crowd. I went backwards. You’re supposed to start in the clubs and then get on SNL. People keep asking me: Why did you leave SNL? Why do you live in Miami? How did you get on SNL? How many kids do you have? They kept asking me these questions wherever I went. So I thought I’ll make a movie, and when they ask, I’ll tell them to watch the movie.

Film South Florida: What surprised you the most about how you were then and how you are now?

Jackson: I look a little bit heavier. I don’t know. I just wonder what the next decade is going to be like. The 20s were exciting. My 30s were this movie. My 40s, I don’t know what it’s going to be. But I definitely have enough film coverage to make the movie.

Film South Florida: How excited are you to have the film in the FLIFF?

Jackson: I’m very excited because it’s never been seen by a live audience. I’m really excited to stand in the back to see if they laugh or see if anybody walks out or throws tomatoes. I’ve only shown it to a few friends, and they know me too good, so it’s kinda boring to them. Plus, it’s my first time (directing), so no one’s expecting Gone With the Wind.

Film South Florida: What’s the plan for the film? Are you shopping it to film distributors or cable TV networks?

Jackson: I wish I could sell it to Lifetime or Comedy Central. I think if I was sitting at home, a 45-year-old woman, I would like to watch a movie about someone my age. The theme of the film is the struggle between motherhood and career. You won’t have it all. In my 20s, I had a great career and a bad marriage. In my 30s, I had a great marriage and a bad career. But I wish I had it both at the same time, like all women. If I was not me, I would love to watch it. Maybe if I got a check for it, I could go to my husband, I really am a filmmaker.

Film South Florida: What was the greatest challenge to direct a documentary about yourself?

Jackson: It was really hard filming myself in comedy clubs. I had no help, so I held the camera like this (arm stretched out, pretending to hold a camera to her face). The worst part was editing. I had a trunk load of tapes. I went to Comcast in Fort Lauderdale and asked if they had an editing system. I met Alan Taffel (who’s credited as one of the documentary’s editors). He really put the magic touch to it—I had an idea in my head, but Alan’s done this before and he had great ideas. He said, “Don’t you have original songs?” “Yeah, they’re already record.” he said, “Bring them in.” So he put that on top of the movie, so it’s my own music. He had ideas for montage, and great suggestions to make scenes shorter. I would have had my daughter sing Jesus Loves Me for 20 minutes. He’s like, “People don’t want to see your daughter for 20 minutes. Make I like five seconds”

Film South Florida: What’s your long-term career goals?

Jackson: My other goal is that the film will remind the entertainment community that I’m available, breathing, and available for work.

Film South Florida: Do you enjoy standup comedy?

Jackson: I don’t like it. It’s kinda lonely. You’re not acting with anyone. It’s repetitive because I’m saying the same hour over and over every couple of city. I love the liveness of it and the sound of laughter. I enjoyed seeing every city in America and Canada. It was an education, and they paid for it. I have a little wanderlust. I hate traveling, but if I’m home for a month now, and I have no been anywhere. I get itchy.

Film South Florida: It definitely sounds like you have a love-hate relationship with Miami.

Jackson: Mostly hate. I don’t like being hot. I’m hot right now. I don’t like humidity. It’s flat. I like mountains better. There’s not much opportunity for me here. In L.A., there’s so many opportunities. I’ve done one voiceover in Miami. I’ve been here 12 years, and that’s ridiculous. I can’t get into the clique. Maybe it’s because I don’t speak Español.

Film South Florida: How did you meet your husband?

Jackson: We met in seventh grade. We went to Dade-Christian High School in Miami. We feel in love in 12th grade. We were engaged, and then his dad said we were too young to get married. So I went off to find my fortune and blab, blab, blab. We got reunited.

Film South Florida: It’s been 12 years since you left SNL. Do you still watch the show? And what do you think of the current cast?

Jackson: Who is the current cast? I love (Rachel Dratch). I love Tina (Fey). I love the cast. I think the writing was better when I was on it. We had better writers. It was more mature. I was there at the beginning of David Spade, Adam Sandler and Chris Farley. Their first two years were my last two years. Their stuff was more juvenile like, My pants are falling down. We had more sophisticated humor. but I like the cast. I watch it whenever I’m awake. It’s geared to young people. Now we’re gotten older, and there are still younger people coming up and they like stupid things.

Film South Florida: When you were on SNL, did any of the musical guests lip synth à la Ashlee Simpson?

Jackson: I never knew anything about lip synching. I knew when Mariah Carey was on the show, she was not lip synching. I remember her manager saying, “She doesn’t know what to do with her hands. She’s going to get a coach.” But her voice was real. I thought everyone was really singing.

THE ONLY SHOW IN TOWN
Time: 5:30 p.m. and 7:30 p.m. Friday, Dec. 3, and Saturday, Dec. 4
Location: Cinema Paradiso, 503 S.E. 6th St., Fort Lauderdale
Tickets: $8, $5 FLIFF members
Information: (954) 760-9898
Web site: http://www.cinemaparadiso.org/cinema/whatson.htm

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