Episode 16 - The Sixteenth One... and Denny Dillon

Wendi and Dfernando's sixteenth episode and their guest interview is Tony Award nominated/CableACE Award-winning actress, comedian and writer Denny Dillon.  

Denny Dillon began her professional career six weeks after moving to NYC in 1973 when she made her Broadway debut as Agnes in the highly anticipated 1974 Broadway revival of GYPSY, starring Angela Lansbury.  She quickly followed it with the 1975 Broadway revival of Thornton Wilder's THE SKIN OF OUR TEETH.  Roles she created on Broadway were in the 1980 Broadway stage adaptation of HAROLD AND MAUDE and Mickey in the 1983 hit Gershwin musical MY ONE AND ONLY, starring Tommy Tune and Twiggy, for which she received a nomination for a Tony Award for Best Featured Actress in a Musical.  She later appeared as a replacement cast member in the 2003 Broadway play ENCHANTED APRIL.

Dillon famously made her big screen debut in the 1977 classic SATURDAY NIGHT FEVER, playing Doreen, who asks John Travolta's character Tony if she can wipe his forehead for him.  Other films followed, such as GARBO TALKS, SEVEN MINUTES IN HEAVEN, UNITED 93, RACING DAYLIGHT and as the voice of Glyptodon in the classic animated feature ICE AGE.  Recently she was seen in Academy Award-winner Halle Berry's directorial debut BRUISED as Crazy Esther and in 2022 she will be see opposite Owen Wilson and GENERATION RIPE's Wendi McLendon-Covey in the film PAINT.  

Other notable career highlight was being a member of the first replacement cast on NBC's SATURDAY NIGHT LIVE (Season 6 - 1980-1981) during the troubled tenure of producer Jean Doumanian.  Sidebar: Denny Dillon was the shortest cast member in SNL history at 4'11".

On television, Dillon went on to win a CableACE Award for her role as series regular Toby Pedalbee, the abusive yet loyal assistant on the long-running HBO sitcom DREAM ON and has appeared on several classic series like DESIGNING WOMEN, NIGHT COURT, MIAMI VICE, FAME and NASH BRIDGES and as a series regular, she appeared on WOMEN IN PRISON and DR. SCIENCE.  Most recently she was seen on LAW & ORDER: SVU, FX's LOUIE and HBO's THE OUTSIDER.  

She continues acting in regional theatre and was seen in the musical TRIUMPH OF LOVE at Center Stage in Baltimore, Tennessee Williams' plays 8 BY TENN at the Hartford Stage, as Beatrice in the World Premiere of Tom Dudzick's DON'T TALK TO THE ACTORS at Studio Arena Theatre in Buffalo, and as Berthe in the comedy farce BOEING-BOEING at Hartford Stage. In 2010, she was part of a new musical in "development" of Roald Dahl's JAMES AND THE GIANT PEACH at Goodspeed Musicals in Connecticut, directed by acclaimed director/choreographer Graciela Daniele.  

Dillon has headed the IMPROV NATION, based in the Hudson Valley (New York state), since 2006, and is an Artist in-Residence at SUNY Ulster where she teaches improvisation and is on the faculty of Primary Stages.

She's currently writing a book of memoirs and shares her life with partner Barbara Smiley.  

And on the weekly RIPE & ROTTEN REPORT, the fabulous Debi Mazar, some words for Meghan McCain, the Criterion Collection release of Robert Zemeckis' 1978 film I WANNA HOLD YOUR HAND, and the curse of that TikTok peach cobbler.  Wendi and Dfernando also bring up TV sitcom theme songs and do a little singing themselves.  

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Wendi McLendon-Covey
Dfernando Zaremba
GENERATION RIPE

... and our guest Denny Dillon

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Visit Dfernando Zaremba's website: dfernandozaremba.com