What’s Up, Caroline Rhea? The Comedy Queen Gets in the Mood for Love

Funny lady Caroline Rhea has done it all—from playing Aunt Hilda on Sabrina the Teenage Witch to having her own talk show to hosting reality TV sensation The Biggest Loser. The new mom (of daughter Ava with longtime love Costaki Economopolos) has now added something new to her list of accomplishments: off-Broadway star, in Love, Loss and What I Wore. As she began her monthlong gig iin the hit show, Rhea chatted with Broadway.com about comedy, kids and clothing.

Why did you want to do this show?
Well, I went and saw it when Rosie [O’Donnell] was in it, and I really enjoyed it. I thought it would be fun; I love anything that’s women for women. It’s a new exploration because I don’t know what I want to do now that I have a baby—I certainly don’t want to leave home. Even leaving the Upper West Side has been stressful.

How did your first few performances go?
I have had so many emotional ups and downs because this piece covers everything. It’s so relatable. This is the first thing I’ve done since I had the baby. I toured a little bit [doing stand-up] last year, but I wouldn’t do more than one night away.

How old is your daughter?
She’s 15 months.

It must be hard to be away from her at night when you’re doing the show.
I have to confess something really terrible: I make her wait up for me. But she gets up at 9:30 or 10 in the morning, so it’s not a big deal if she goes to bed late. The show ends, and I race home.

Is this show sparking any clothing memories for you?
When I first moved to New York, one of my greatest aspirations was to have a credit card with a $1,000 limit at [discount clothing chain] Strawberry. I thought if I had that, that’s pretty much all I needed.

Are you inspired to dress differently?
This show is anti-pink. Yet the other day, I realized I had on a pink fuchsia jacket and pink fuchsia Uggs, but I didn’t make the connection that I was also wearing pink fuchsia Juicy Couture sweatpants. So when I walked out of the house, I looked like this big fuchsia middle-aged Barbie.

It doesn’t sound like you’ve succumbed to the uniform of black clothing worn by many New Yorkers.
I used to. In my 20s I thought black was really great, but the truth is I like color. I made the Worst Dressed list when I was wearing a black dress—literally, the simplest black Prada dress, and the caption under the picture said, “What was she thinking?” And I’m like, "Seriously?!"

That’s hard to take.
Do you want to hear my absolute favorite clothing story? One day I was being unnecessarily judgmental toward my cleaning lady. I looked at her and I thought, “Oh my God, she has gotten so fat!” And then I realized that she was wearing my pants. I swear to God. It was instant comeuppance!

Ouch! What do you think when you open your closet in the morning?
I don’t open my closet in the morning—there’s no closet to be opened. I have a little cupboard of sweatpants attire. I’m not like, “Which of my gowns shall I wear today?” In fact, I have overspill. I have a clothing rack in my bedroom, so it looks like there’s at least 30 items on sale at all times in the corner of my room.

Do you have comic heroes?
Oh, yes. Beloved Bea Arthur, who I’m very sorry I never got to meet to tell her how much I loved her. Also Rue McClanahan and Carol Burnett. There are a lot. I just saw that Valerie Harper is going to be Tallulah Bankhead in Looped on Broadway. I love her, too. And Carol Kane! Sometimes I have this out-of-body experience where I go, “Is Carol Kane really on stage with me? Oh my God! How did that happen?”

Doing this show means you don’t have to decide between watching Lost or The Biggest Loser.
That’s like the present and past tense of the same show. [Laughs.] Biggest Loser and then Lost, though grammatically, you should watch Lost after Loser. I feel it’s called Lost because that’s how you feel when you’re watching it. I haven’t seen The Biggest Loser in a long time. I don’t ever like watching myself on television actually.

I can understand that, especially if you’re critical of your cleaning person.
Exactly! Can you imagine?