[quote name=\'Card Shark\' date=\'Oct 9 2003, 09:27 PM\']But, I'm sure she has no idea how annoying she really is. Either way, she's laughing all the way to the bank with her damned accordion.[/quote]
Oh, she knows--that's been part of her act from the beginning, when she was hitting all of the stand-up clubs in Chicago.
The problem is that she's ineffective outside of a stand-up setting, where her act makes sense in a nonsensical way--and where she can more freely interact with the audience, since it's her world and she's controlling it. (Also, of course, if you don't like her style, you don't have to pay money to go see her or you can change the channel if her stand-up special comes on Comedy Central or a premium channel.) In an environment where she's not in control, like a television game show (or a talk show, for that matter, particularly a panel format like \"PI\"), she becomes an annoying fifth wheel.
Also, I've heard it said that outside of her persona, she is notoriously shy--which is why she stayed firmly in her persona when she went on Bob Costas' much-missed \"Later\" show (much to Costas' dismay, because there was simply no way he could get her to stop doing her schtick). For whatever reason, she feels she cannot be Judy Tenuta the reasonably-intelligent, soft-spoken serious practicioner of her craft in an unrehearsed television situation--she must be Judy the accordian-wielding Love Goddess at all times. (However, I seem to remember that her appearances on \"PI\" were less Love Goddess and more herself--Maher got her to drop the accordian and wear normal clothes, but she couldn't shake the persona completely.)
And the \"H2\" bookers were completely aware of this when they booked her--the best thing the contestants could do is try to avoid picking her. (Was she a Secret Square this week and did she, in the words of Peter Marshall, \"serious up\" for that?)
