READING BETWEEN
THE LINES OF FAME

Broadway’s funniest staged reading
proves that truth is often stranger
—and funnier—than fiction

Dayle Reyfel, Christopher Jackson, Eugene Pack, Jackie Hoffman in CELEBRITY AUTOBIOGRAPHY on Broadway

Yevgeny Yevtushenko famously wrote, “A poet’s autobiography is his poetry. Anything else is just a footnote.”

Judging by the material on display at the opening night of Celebrity Autobiography, many celebrities probably should have stopped at the footnotes.

Scott Adsit

The long-running comedy favorite returns to Broadway for its first extended engagement after a brief three-performance run in 2018. Created by Eugene Pack and Dayle Reyfel, Celebrity Autobiography transforms excerpts from celebrity memoirs into an evening of comedy, with a rotating cast of performers reading the often bewildering, self-serious, and unintentionally hilarious words of the rich and famous.

Bobby Moynihan and Rita Wilson

No two performances are exactly alike. Both the readers and the selections change throughout the run, giving the show an improvisational, cabaret-like energy. On opening night, Scott Adsit launched the festivities with excerpts from Don’t Hassel the Hoff, David Hasselhoff’s account of starring in Jekyll & Hyde on Broadway, setting the tone for the evening’s blend of absurdity and sincerity: “I was far from okay. After forty years in show business, my childhood dream was about to come true. It had been a long journey. Knight Rider had made me famous. Baywatch had made me rich. But Broadway had always been my dream. When I had stepped on to the sidewalk that night I could see my name in lights over Times Square. At eight o’clock a hush would fall in the Plymouth Theatre, the overture would begin and I would step on to the stage as the lead in Jekyll and Hyde: The Musical. This would be the greatest night of my career, the pinnacle of my success.”

Jackie Hoffman

The opening-night lineup featured an impressive collection of stage, screen, television, and media personalities, including Scott Adsit, Mario Cantone, Jeff Hiller, Jackie Hoffman, Gayle King, Andrea Martin, Bobby Moynihan, Ben Mankiewicz, Kenan Thompson, Nia Vardalos, Rita Wilson, and co-creators Eugene Pack and Dayle Reyfel.

Nia Vardalos

The staging is intentionally minimal. Derek McLane’s set consists primarily of a long table, a bench, and stacks of books, leaving the focus squarely on the performers and the material. Ed McCarthy’s lighting subtly isolates readers when emphasis is needed, helping shape the evening without distracting from it.

Ben Mankiewicz and Mario Cantone

Among the highlights were Reyfel channeling Dolly Parton, while Mankiewicz and Cantone gleefully recounted the whirlwind romance of Geraldo Rivera and Liza Minnelli. Vardalos also revealed an unexpectedly spot-on Miley Cyrus impression.

Jeff Hiller

The evening even finds room for poetry—though perhaps not the kind destined for literary anthologies. In one particularly memorable segment, Kenan Thompson delivered Matthew McConaughey’s passionate poem “Tonight I Made Love to My Woman” with precisely the right combination of conviction and disbelief.

Ben Mankiewicz

The grand finale brought the entire cast together for a dramatic retelling of “The Cleopatra Affair,” chronicling the tabloid-worthy saga of Eddie Fisher and Debbie Reynolds, with different performers assuming roles throughout the increasingly outrageous story.

Christopher Jackson, Rita Wilson, and Nia Vardalos

What makes Celebrity Autobiography work so well is the delicate balance required of its performers. The comedy does not come from mocking celebrities outright. Instead, the actors find humor by presenting the material with enough sincerity to let the absurdity reveal itself. Successful readings require both comic timing and a keen understanding of the peculiar world these memoirists inhabit.

Gayle King

Celebrity Autobiography delivers a thoroughly entertaining 90 minutes. It may not offer the spectacle of Broadway’s larger musicals, but audiences looking for big laughs will find plenty of them in these gloriously self-unaware passages from some of popular culture’s most famous figures.

Mario Cantone

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photos by Evan Zimmerman for MurphyMade

Celebrity Autobiography
Shubert Theatre
225 W. 44th St. in New York City
ends on August 16, 2026
for tickets, call 212.239.6200 or visit Telecharge
for more info, visit Celebrity Autobiography

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