Sandra Bernhard born June 6, is an American actress, comedian, and singer. She first gained attention in the late s with her stand-up comedy , where she often critiqued celebrity culture and political figures. She is number 96 on Comedy Central 's list of the greatest stand-ups of all time. She has three older brothers: Dan, David, and Mark. She later returned to Israel during the Yom Kippur War. Bernhard became a staple at The Comedy Store in Hollywood.
She began performing her first one-woman show, I'm Your Woman , in , and an album version was released. By , it had become a film and a double album of the same title. The two alluded to their romantic relationship and staged a sexy confrontation; the appearance received much publicity. They continued to be friends for several years, with Bernhard making an appearance in Madonna's film Truth or Dare. In , Bernhard began playing Nancy Bartlett on the hit sitcom Roseanne. She appeared in 33 episodes between and , and was one of the first actresses to portray an openly bisexual recurring character on American television.
In , she briefly appeared as a guest in the "Jerk" episode of the animated talk show Space Ghost Coast to Coast. In , she guest-starred on an episode of Highlander: The Series called "Dramatic License", where she played a romance novelist writing about the life of the main character. When their ruse is exposed, Bernhard rants at them, with the sounds of a blender she was having a smoothie made blotting out supposed obscenities.
She briefly returned as herself two years later. Bernhard returned to Broadway in with the show I'm Still Here Damn It! She was pregnant at the time, and gave birth to daughter Cicely Yasin Bernhard on July 4, The CD of the show, released by indie label Breaking Records, was lauded as one of her best. In , she made her first appearance as the recurring character of Joedth "Joe" in season 4 of 2 Broke Girls. In , while serving as a guest panelist on the Comedy Central talk show Politically Incorrect , Bernhard became engaged in an argument with fellow panelist, conservative political commentator John Lofton.
In the commercial, promoting PlushGlass lipgloss, she referred to someone who might not approve of her outspokenness as a "little freaked out, intimidated, frightened, right-wing Republican thin-lipped bitch. In September , she warned vice-presidential candidate Sarah Palin that she would be gang-raped by her "big black brothers" if she visited Manhattan. Palin had a campaign stop planned in New York City at the time. In the show, Bernhard disparaged Carey's Black ancestry, saying "She's trying to backtrack on our asses by acting real nigger-ish there at the Royalton Hotel suite with Puff Daddy and all the greasy, chain-wearing Black men.
