Roseanne Roseannadanna Gives A Commencement Address

On what would have been the 64th birthday of the late Gilda Radner - who died in May 1989 at the age of 42 - the Pop Culture Institute can think of nothing better to do than to watch her in action through the miracle of technology. Of course, it all comes down to the matter of which clip of many to select, and I figured since it's graduation season, this would be the most logical choice*.

Here we see her inhabiting one of her more famous characters, Roseanne Roseannadanna, in Gilda Live! - the filmed version of her hit one-woman show; Radner, of course, first introduced this particular alter-ego (or, indeed, alter-id) of hers in October 1977 on Saturday Night Live.

The premise is simple: Roseannadanna is supposedly giving the commencement address to the very real Columbia University School of Journalism Class of 1979, which she has mistakenly accepted. thinking the invitation had come from her alma mater, the fictional Columbia School of Broadcasting. Ah, but from such simple premises flow abundant comic genius, and as the hilarity ensues, it ensnares Geraldo Rivera and Walter Cronkite alike in its comic onslaught...

*Especially since there's still no embeddable version of Let's Talk Dirty To The Animals available.
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