Tracey Takes On... features Tracey Ullman playing an array of original characters. Unlike her previous shows where characters were very rarely repeated, Ullman came up with a recurring cast of nineteen characters to play over the course of the show's four-season run (plus six one-offs). Six of these characters originated from her previous specials: Trevor Ayliss, Virginia Bugge, and Janie and Jackie Pillsworth from Tracey Ullman: A Class Act, and Linda Granger and Fern Rosenthal from Tracey Ullman Takes on New York. Janie is the only character to appear in both specials and all four seasons of the show.
Two characters were retired during the show's run: Virginia after season 2, and Mrs. Noh Nang Ning after season 3. Conversely, three characters were added over the course of the show: Birdie Godsen in season 2, Sheneesha Turner in season 3, and Madam Nadja in season 4.
Three actors portrayed Virginia's husband, Timmy: Michael Palin in (Tracey Ullman: A Class Act), Hugh Laurie (season 1), and Tim McInnerny (season 2). Likewise, two actors played Fern's husband, Harry: Michael Tucker (Tracey Ullman Takes on New York; seasons 1, 3–4), and George Segal (season 2).
Age 36. British. Virginia Bugge (pronounced 'byoog') was born in Rhodesia and is married to The Right Honourable Timothy "Timmy" Bugge, the ConservativeMP for Greater Diddlebury and the Minister of Fishing and Game. They have two children, Tasmin and Piers, who have attended boarding school since the age of six.[1] She does not appear after season 2.
Chic
Chic (pronounced 'chick' or 'cheek') is a male New York City cab driver of indeterminate Middle Eastern descent and a self-described "chick-magnet" (hence his name). Chic came to the United States illegally with his sister. He made his way around New York City knowing only two English phrases: "Are you talking to me?" and "Show me your tits!" He sold drugs in the 1970s to get his hack license ("1976").[4] He has a brother, Piki, who runs a falafel stand, and a cousin, Momo, who owns a discount carpet warehouse ("Money").[5]
Chic claims to have had many celebrities in his cab, and even claims to have taught John Travolta his moves for the movie Saturday Night Fever ("1976").[4] Chic runs "the only two-star cab cafe in Manhattan" ("Food").[6] He was the bronze medal winner at the Pan Mediterranean song Festival with his band Teiku, for their song "Slide Down My Olive Tree (Ooh, Baby, La La La)".[7]
Chic's real name is an ongoing gag in the show. His license identifies him as Chic with only the first three letters (A-v-a) of his surname visible due to a sticker that says "Hot Sex" covering the rest. In the episode "Money", Chic is audited by an IRS agent who tries to pronounce his last name: "Okay, Mr. Abbab... Avvan?"[5]
Age 42. Kay is a spinster originally from England. She moved to the United States with her invalid mother to take advantage of the health benefits. She works at a bank, Van Nuys Savings and Loan.[7]
Hope Finch
Age 19. Hope is an idealistic college student. She attends Sweetbriar College, where she resides in Margaret Sanger Hall. She's a virgin, and although not currently a lesbian, she's "young and impressionable".[8]
Rayleen Gibson
Age 34 (approximated by the wear on her back molars). Rayleen is an Australian "stuntwoman to the stars". When she was a child, she was lost on a family camping trip and until the age of ten was raised by dingos ("Childhood").[9] She eventually met up with a woman (Olivia Newton-John) who saw to her education and put her in touch with film producers. She went on to marry Mitch Gibson (Danny Woodburn), a little person ("Romance").[10] Rayleen and Mitch own and run Aged-Animal-Actors-Home (or A.A.A.H.), for retired animal actors.[8] Mitch was killed during a freak accident on the set of The Lost World: Jurassic Park. At his funeral, Rayleen learns that Mitch had been married previously and never bothered to divorce his former wife, thus making her and Mitch's marriage legally invalid ("Loss").[11]
Birdie Godsen
Age 42. Birdie is a right-wing devout Christian fundamentalist homemaker. Her husband Robert is a tobacco industry executive.[5] Birdie homeschools their seven children to prevent them from being exposed to multicultural programs and teaches them subjects that will be useful to them in their daily lives: reading, writing, arithmetic, religion, marksmanship and taxidermy.[12] The family lives on Dan Quayle Drive in a 'graceful gated community' in Atlanta, Georgia. Birdie is aunt to Chris Warner. She has a twin brother, Sandy, who runs a homosexual deprogramming center, Straight Ways ("Religion").[13] In her spare time, Birdie sells Militia M'Lady products,[14] attends a "We Hate Hillary" club ("Politics"),[15] and looks out for black government helicopters flying overhead with weaponry in her backyard to shoot them down if need be.[16]
Linda Granger
Age varies. Linda is an actress, singer, dancer and author. Linda starred as Vickie Starr in the hit 1970s television series VIP Lounge.[4] She has a tell-all autobiography, I'm Still Here!! My Lifelong Battle with Alcoholism, Disease, and Personal Misfortune, which details her battles with drugs, alcoholism, cancer, and eating disorders.[17] Linda is also a recovering sex addict. She has one child, a daughter named Marmalade, who she secretly gave up for adoption (to sustain her public image) and then later re-adopted. Marmalade's father is unknown ("Secrets").[16] Her manager Candy Casino (Seymour Cassel) helps run her life. She often remarks, "I have such a solid homosexual fanbase."[3]
Her Royal Highness
Age 57. HRH derives enormous pleasure from making everyone around her as uncomfortable as possible. Her private secretary, Captain Philip "Pip" St. Aubyn (Alastair Duncan), is always on hand to assist her.[17]
Sydney Kross
Age unknown ("It's illegal to ask that question"). A ruthless and charmless high-profile Beverly Hills attorney. Her motto is "You name it, I'll sue it."[17]
Erin McColl
Age 47. Erin is the former lead singer of the 1970s band Wisechild.[18] Erin often loses her train of thought and depends on her manager Dusty (Mo Gaffney) for guidance.
Madam Nadja
Age 60. Nadja is originally from Romania and is now a Hollywood madam who conducts all her business from her bed. She was great friends with Nicolae and Elena Ceaușescu, and was at one time his mistress. Her parrot Vlad talks to her.[19]
Mrs. Noh Nang Ning
Age 70. Mrs. Noh Nang Ning, who is of indeterminate Asian origin, owns and operates a Los Angeles doughnut shop, Yankee Doodle Donuts. She is a hard-working and patriotic American who almost always relates everything to the doughnut. Mrs. Noh Nang Ning grew up as an orphan in her homeland. She was eventually engaged to a prince, but the wedding was interrupted when a revolution broke out. She then escaped to the United States.[9] She works long hours and finds little time for pleasantries (playing Pai gow in Las Vegas).[20] However, she does make time to sponsor her granddaughter Kim in ice skating competitions ("Family").[2] She does not appear in season 4.
Janie Pillsworth
Age 37. Manhattan magazine editor. Janie, born Janine, hails from Broxbourne, England and is the only child to Frank and Jackie Pillsworth. She attended a prestigious British boarding school thanks to her working class father who sacrificed his kidney to pay her tuition. While there, Janie reinvented herself and disowned her parents. The family wasn't reunited until an unscrupulous colleague revealed Janie's true identity and she was forced to face her past. After her father died, Janie let her mother, who also acts as a live-in nanny, live with her.[21]
Age 72. A Hollywood makeup artist (one of the oldest still working in the union) who's seen it all; she worked heavily during Hollywood's heyday. Ruby's hobbies include wine tasting, poker, and preserving the old Hollywood. She takes care of her shell-shockedVietnam War veteran son Buddy, along with her cat Duke and their Vietnamese Pot-bellied, Oinky.[22] Ruby has one daughter, Desirée.[21]
Fern Rosenthal
Age 56. Fern is a Jewish homemaker, originally from Long Island. After thirty-seven years of marriage, Fern convinced her husband Harry to retire to Boca Raton, Florida after he suffered a heart attack. Harry was the owner of a chain of seventeen discount pharmacies. They have one daughter, Sheila and a grandson, Ryan.[23] Fern's closest friend (and sometimes rival) is condo board president Jobie Wolff (Julie Kavner).[15] Harry was thought to have been eaten by an alligator on a golf course ("Loss"),[11] but Fern soon discovered that he had been having an affair with their maid and the two had run off together and were living in Belize. Fern tracked Harry down and an altercation broke out resulting in Harry being eaten alive by a shark ("Agents").[14]
Sheneesha Turner
Age 34. Sheneesha is an African American airport security guard. She works the metal detector, along with her friends and co-workers, Hellura (Adele Givens) and Ida (Patricia Belcher). Sheneesha has given birth to seven children despite years of standing next to the airport's X-ray machine.[11] She has severe blood pressure issues that require medication. She is enthusiastic about searching passengers and their luggage for forbidden items.[24]
Chris Warner
Age 32. Chris, a lesbian, originally from Barstow, Texas, is the girlfriend of professional golfer Midge Dexter (Julie Kavner) and niece of Birdie Godsen and Birdie's twin brother, Sandy, a Christian fundamentalist preacher who runs a homosexual deprogramming center, Straight Ways. Chris put her career as a step aerobics instructor on hold to travel the country with Midge.[23] The pair made headlines when they came out publicly by embracing after Midge's first win ("Romance").[25]
An actress who takes part in a documentary about The Epic That Never Was.[26]
Alicia Del Mar
Appeared in "Tracey Takes On... Nostalgia"
An actress who went into seclusion after a film, which would come to be known as The Epic That Never Was, shut down production. Only Ruby Romaine knows her whereabouts.[26]
Sydney's mother
Appeared in "Tracey Takes On... Fantasy"
Sydney fantasizes about blackmailing her with information she has about her murdering her father.[27]
Sandy
Appeared in "Tracey Takes On... Religion"
Birdie Godsen's twin brother (also Chris Warner's uncle). A Christian fundamentalist preacher who runs a homosexual deprogramming center, Straight Ways.[13]
Tracey Ullman is a British-American actress, comedian, singer, dancer, writer, producer, and director. Critics have lauded her ability to shift seamlessly in and out of character and accents, with many dubbing her the "female Peter Sellers". Her earliest mainstream appearances were on British television sketch comedy shows A Kick Up the Eighties and Three of a Kind. After a brief singing career, she appeared as Candice Valentine in Girls on Top with Dawn French and Jennifer Saunders.
Margaret Lenny "Maggie" Simpson is a fictional character in the animated television series The Simpsons and the youngest member of the Simpson family. She first appeared on television in the Tracey Ullman Show short "Good Night" on April 19, 1987. Maggie was created and designed by cartoonist Matt Groening while he was waiting in the lobby of James L. Brooks' office. She received her first name from Groening's youngest sister. After appearing on The Tracey Ullman Show for three years, the Simpson family was given their own series on the Fox Broadcasting Company which debuted December 17, 1989.
Julie Deborah Kavner is an American actress. Before becoming well-known for her voice role as Marge Simpson on the animated television series The Simpsons, Kavner attracted notice for her role as Brenda Morgenstern, the younger sister of Valerie Harper's title character in the sitcom Rhoda, for which she won a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series. She also voices other characters for The Simpsons, including Marge's mother, Jacqueline Bouvier, sisters Patty and Selma Bouvier, and half-step-great-aunt Eunice Bouvier.
The Tracey Ullman Show is an American television sketch comedy variety show starring Tracey Ullman. It debuted on Fox on April 5, 1987, as the network's second original primetime series to air following Married... with Children, and ran for four seasons and 81 episodes, until May 26, 1990. The show was produced by Gracie Films. The show blended sketch comedy with musical numbers and dance routines, choreographed by Paula Abdul, along with animated shorts. The format was conceived by creator and executive producer James L. Brooks, who was looking to showcase the show's multitalented star. Brooks likened the show to producing three pilots a week. Ullman was the first British woman to be offered her own television sketch show in the United States.
Jeanne Marie Tripplehorn is an American actress. She began her career on stage, acting in several plays throughout the early 1990s, including Anton Chekhov's Three Sisters on Broadway. Her film career began with the role of a police psychologist in the erotic thriller Basic Instinct (1992). Her other film roles include The Firm (1993), Waterworld (1995) and Sliding Doors (1998). On television, she starred as Barbara Henrickson on the HBO drama series Big Love (2006–2011) and as Dr. Alex Blake on the CBS police drama Criminal Minds (2012–2014), and she received a Primetime Emmy Award nomination for her performance as Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis in the 2009 HBO movie Grey Gardens.
The Simpsonsshorts are a series of animated short films that aired as a recurring segment on Fox variety television series The Tracey Ullman Show for three seasons, before the characters spun off into The Simpsons, their own half-hour prime-time show. They feature Homer, Marge, Bart, Lisa, and Maggie, and a few secondary characters. The series was created by Matt Groening, who designed the Simpson family and wrote many of the shorts. The shorts first aired on April 19, 1987 starting with "Good Night". The final short to air was "TV Simpsons", originally airing on May 14, 1989. The Simpsons later debuted on December 17, 1989, as an independent series with the Christmas special "Simpsons Roasting on an Open Fire".
Lynne Marie Stewart is an American actress, widely known for her performance as Miss Yvonne, the Most Beautiful Woman in Puppet Land. She originated the role in the 1981 stage show The Pee-wee Herman Show, continuing it on the CBS television show Pee-wee's Playhouse, the 2010 Los Angeles stage revival, and the Broadway production which opened in November 2010 at the Stephen Sondheim Theatre.
Joe Franklin, born Joseph Fortgang, was an American radio and television host personality, author and actor from New York City. Franklin is noted for having the first talk show and inventing the format. His television series debuted in January 1951 on WJZ-TV, moving to WOR-TV in 1962, remaining there until 1993, one of the longest running uninterrupted careers in broadcasting history.
Tracey Takes On... is an American sketch comedy series starring Tracey Ullman. The show ran for four seasons on HBO and was commissioned following the success of the 1993 comedy special Tracey Ullman Takes on New York. Each episode focuses on a specific subject, in which Ullman and her cast of characters comment or experience through a series of sketches and monologues.
Ruby Romaine is a fictional character portrayed by Tracey Ullman on her show Tracey Takes On... The character became so popular that HBO greenlit a pilot for a potential Ruby Romaine spin-off series resulting in the one-off television special, Tracey Ullman in the Trailer Tales, in 2003. Ruby is a self-proclaimed "star maker".
Maddie Corman is an American actress. She has appeared in over 25 films, including Seven Minutes in Heaven, Some Kind of Wonderful, The Adventures of Ford Fairlane and A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood.
Tracey Ullman's State of the Union is an American sketch comedy television series starring Tracey Ullman. The series was written by Ullman along with Hollywood satirist Bruce Wagner. Gail Parent and Craig DiGregorio acted as contributing writers to the series' first season. The show ran for three seasons on Showtime. On May 17, 2010, it was announced that the show would not be returning for a fourth season.
Tracey Ullman in the Trailer Tales is a 2003 HBO television special starring Tracey Ullman in a spin-off from her sketch comedy series Tracey Takes On...
Tracey Ullman: A Class Act is an ITV sketch comedy television special starring Tracey Ullman, along with Michael Palin, playing a variety of original characters.
Tracey Ullman Takes on New York is an HBO television special starring Tracey Ullman. The show was Ullman's first project for network; it led to the creation of the sketch comedy series Tracey Takes On...
Kay Clark is a fictional character created and portrayed by Tracey Ullman. She is the character Ullman has portrayed the longest, spanning over four decades and three television programmes. The character was born out of a television sketch for a guest appearance on the British television comedy and music show Saturday Live in 1986.
Tracey Ullman's Visible Panty Lines is American talk show and reality television series hosted by Tracey Ullman. The show focuses on fashion and individual style. Each episode consists of makeovers and celebrity guests. Celebrities reveal what's in their wardrobe and present childhood mementos. The show was inspired by Ullman's online fashion boutique Purple Skirt. The series was originally set to air on 13 September 2001, but due to the September 11 attacks the show was bumped to September 20.
Tracey Ullman's Show is a British sketch comedy television series starring Tracey Ullman. Tracey Ullman's Show premiered on BBC One on 11 January 2016. The programme marks her first project for the broadcaster in over 30 years, and her first original project for British television in 22 years.
Tracey Breaks the News is a British topical comedy programme starring Tracey Ullman. It premiered on BBC One on 27 October 2017 following a one-off special that aired on 23 June.
Tracey Ullman is a British-American actress who has had an extensive career in television, film, and theatre. She has worked in both comedy and drama. Her sketch comedy television programmes have won her numerous awards in both the United States and the United Kingdom. She began her stage career in the mid-1970s starring in various West End musicals and dramas. Her first television appearance came in 1980 playing Lisa Mackenzie in the British drama series Mackenzie. In 1981, the BBC cast her in two ensemble comedy sketch shows; A Kick Up the Eighties, and Three of a Kind. In 1983, Ullman launched a brief but successful pop singing career, garnering several chart hits and making several appearances on Top of the Pops. In 1985, she was cast in the ITV sitcom Girls on Top alongside Dawn French, Jennifer Saunders, and Ruby Wax.
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