Grace -- Brett Butler style
May 11, 1996
Web posted at: 8:35 a.m. EDTFrom Correspondent Sherri Sylvester
LOS ANGELES (CNN) -- Comedian Brett Butler stands apart from other comics-turned-sitcom-turned-book authors with her Southern upbringing and candid demeanor.
For starters, Butler is more grounded now, at the height of her popularity, since she indulged in the excesses of fame long before she became famous. The drinking, drugs and sleeping around were just growing pains.
"Fame is such the opposite of what I'm trying to learn," Butler said.
Butler has become widely popular for portraying the fiesty Southern single mother named "Grace" in her sitcom "Grace Under Fire."
Yellow dog roots
A Southern flavor has always run deep in Butler's comedy, and it's also evident in her book, "Knee Deep in Paradise." And when it comes to politics, Butler, who says she was brought up as a "yellow dog Democrat," isn't afraid to make her political opinions known. (94K AIFF or WAV sound)
"I'm so far left, I don't even care about the Democrats," Butler said in an interview with CNN.
Her standup comedy routines are laced with political satire, making no exceptions for fellow Southerners such as former President Jimmy Carter and President Clinton.
Butler hammers the President (459K QuickTime movie)
Butler's distrust of politicians crosses party lines. But, despite her negative opinions of politicians in general, she admits she can't turn down an invitation from the president to host an event at Ford's Theater. (187K AIFF or WAV sound)
'Dirty stinking liars'
She is less forgiving of the tabloid reporters -- "dirty stinking liars," she calls them -- who chronicled her abusive first marriage.
"(They) hunt down bitter ex-husbands and go 'hey, why don't you add something that didn't happen, say she hit you back.' And I've also said it doesn't make me a better person not to have done it, but let's get the record straight -- that's not how those little tangos work," Butler said.
But her sharpest verbal blows fall on Hollywood's heavy-hitters -- the folks she meets now that her sitcom has made her famous.
"They're a bunch of insipid, unoriginal, self-righteous, ridiculous idiots. They're boll weevils. They eat the cotton crop of my work and other peoples', and if I sound snotty, they're really one of the few complete groups of people I think I can feel snotty about," Butler said. (153K AIFF or WAV sound)
The popularity of Butler's sitcom character has demonstrated that a once-abused, now single mom can still be funny. And viewers she meets face-to-face seem to approve.
"My favorite part of being famous, besides the money, is people let me hold their babies. It's great, they go, 'Here, hold my baby.' I know they're waiting for me to drop them so they can sue me, but I don't," Butler said.
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