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“How it actually came about was that I was watching a marathon on Bravo of the ‘Real Housewives of New York City’ and I actually grew up in North Jersey, a half-hour outside New York City,” Sara Carano, of Ninth and Bainbridge streets, said of “The Real Housewives of South Philly” skits. “There was just something about those women, those personalities. It was very reminiscent of home.
“My heritage is Italian and Irish, but more Italian. Where I grew up was very Italian. I’ve been in Philadelphia for the last 14 years, and I have lots of friends who live in South Philly. I saw a real similarity between North Jersey Italian and South Philly Italian-American.”
As a member of The WaitStaff, a sketch-comedy troupe, Carano created her own rendition of what the successful Bravo series might look like if it featured local housewives.
“I brought it in to the comedy group and said, ‘I wrote this sketch and I don’t know if it’s funny,’” she said. “I gave each person a character and my comedy troupe was dying laughing so I though, ‘OK, I guess we have something good here.’”
The original skit that debuted three years ago featured three housewives: The Duchess, who is the real “mouth” of the group; Bev, played by Joanne Cunningham, a native of the 2400 block of South Lambert Street, who is the smartest of the three; and Marie, a constantly pregnant wife, played by Carano.
“She has this big pregnant belly and she’s always saying things like, ‘Did you ever do it with an Irish man? Did you ever do it with a Mexican?’,” the creator said. “I think a slutty character with a big pregnant belly — it’s a real opposition and it works.”
Audiences took to the sketch, and it has become a much-requested addition to the group’s lineup. There are multiple iterations of the sketch, which bring in the troupe’s other members, including an appearance in drag by 10th-and-Mifflin-streets resident, Eric Singel.
“He has actually played The Duchess’ mother,” Carano said. “Joanne still has friends and family that live there and Joanne is kind of like our speech coach … She kind of clues us in on just the different ways South Philly people do what they do. I might write something and she’ll say it would never happen like that, it would happen like this. So we’ll revise sketches so they are true to that world.”
Philadelphia audiences are known as a vocal bunch so the group knew it would have to get things spot on or they’d never hear the end of it.
“It’s just this amazing feedback we’ve gotten from the audience — people dying laughing. It kind of really took off,” she said.
With about 13 different vignettes in rotation, Bev, Marie and The Duchess will likely be making an appearance at The WaitStaff’s upcoming show at Center City’s Helium Club March 13.
“It’s been a great draw,” she said. “People are in love with the characters. I certainly feel some of the South Philly people that come, come just because they hear of ‘The Real Housewives of South Philly.’”
Growing up just outside New York City, Carano came to Philly to attend The University of the Arts in 1995.
“One reason I wanted to go to UArts was that most professors were working actors in Philadelphia and in any business, it’s about who you know,” Carano said. “I fell in love with Philadelphia even just coming here to audition for UArts.”
While many of her friends headed north to the Big Apple upon graduation, Carano didn’t feel New York was going to be a good fit for her.
“Having grown up near New York City and gone in two or three times a year, my entire life was swept up in the lights and action and romanticism of it,” she said. “But then you have three friends living in a two-bedroom in Astoria and the romanticism goes right out the window.
“Philadelphia is a really nice place to live and in Philly there is tons of culture. You don’t need a car like in L.A. you need a car.”
Finishing her degree in musical theater in ’99, Carano was lucky enough to start working right after school.
“I had done an audition when I was still at school and I got a children’s musical theater touring job with American Family Theater,” Carano said. “As soon as I graduated, I had a job, which was fantastic. The first time we learned all the shows and went on tour for two weeks, then we learned a new show in two days, etc.”
Though the schedule was grueling Carano was grateful to be working in her field. Once she left that gig, she spent most of her time working at The Brick Playhouse, formerly at 623 South St., while also doing odd jobs. The playhouse was where Carano first saw The WaitStaff.
“For awhile they were called the Friday Night Dive, back when they were at The Brick Playhouse. They started doing an SNL thing, a sketch show midnight on Fridays. It was the biggest income for The Brick Playhouse,” she said. “That’s how I saw them. I was doing shows at the Brick and I was friends with a couple people in the Dive and I kept saying, ‘What do I have to do to get involved with the group?’”
Eventually, they left The Brick and they had to change their name. Though not a member at the time, Carano heard that the name “The WaitStaff,” was chosen because “no one liked it but no one really minded it. It was a wink and nod because most out-of-work actors are waitstaff,” she said.
Carano eventually joined in 2004, and while, at that time, there were 13 members, the current core group is six people. The members also hold down full-time jobs (Carano has spent three years in ad sales at City Paper), and meet in their free time to prepare for the next show — and invent new scenarios for Marie, Bev and The Duchess.
“I definitely would say in the past six to nine months of performing, our shows seem to have more of a theme and more of a through-line. Working an hour-long show is much easier when there is a theme or through-line, so we are definitely going to stick to what works,” Carano said. “I don’t know what [our next show] is going to be except hilarious.” SPR
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