Jackie Hoffman Has New Tales

Of course, she's got plenty to talk -- and sing -- about: most notably her role as Grandma in the hit Broadway musical The Addams Family. Not to mention, she is turning 50 -- which will happen on the day of her second show, November 29. "The worst part of all this is the pressure I feel in planning my own birthday party. But it was too perfect not to do it now."

Hoffman has actually accomplished a great deal in her first half-century, including numerous memorable turns on Broadway -- most notably in the original casts of Hairspray and Xanadu -- and in film. But she seems determined to look at the glass as half-empty. "There's a whole part in the show about how people didn't recognize me at this bagel store in Long Island; by now, I thought I'd be famous enough to at least be recognized there," she says in her signature deadpan.

Hoffman actually finds songwriting one of her greatest pleasures. "I'm singing two songs at Joe's Pub that I've written for the character of Grandma, which will have their world premiere," she notes. "I started writing my own songs at Second City and I find lyrics flow out of me easier than jokes do. And I'm so lucky to have my collaborator, Bobby Peaco, who does such an amazing job of having his music serve my lyrics. I don't think we've ever run into a snag getting a song together. And I have to say, we'll be doing one of the most offensive songs I've ever written."