Remembering Gilda

We'll return to our regularly scheduled hockey blogging soon enough.

I just wanted to take a couple of minutes to commemorate the anniversary of Gilda Radner's death.

I haven't been able to finish her autobiography. I can't bring myself to do it just because it hurts me to think about how painful it was for someone so sweet to suffer from cancer. (Cancer, I hate you so much for hurting so many people, both close to me and not.)
Gilda was as funny and charming as any comedian could ever hope to be, but she was so much more than that. Everyone who worked with her loved her. NBC wanted to give her her own series and turn her into the new Lucille Ball because that's how well she connected with audiences. And she connected with audiences not just because of her talent, but because she was just like us. She loved to laugh, but more than anything she just wanted to be loved. Deep down she was just as awkward and insecure as we all are (see this essay, that I first read when I was in high school.) To this day, thinking of Gilda reminds me that it's normal to think that I'm not perfect or not good enough, and that I'm not the only person who's ever felt that way about themselves.

I try to remember Gilda as often as I can. Maybe that's why I'm so surprised that producers these days are treating female-driven comedies like a novelty or a trend. There will only ever be one Gilda Radner, but there have always been funny, unique women in comedy and I hope that there always will be.

Rest in peace, Gilda. I wish you were still around.