Madeline Kahn attending Irving Berlin’s 100th Birthday Celebration at Carnegie Hall, 1988

They were doing one of these galas where they were celebrating Irving Berlin. And I was asked to be a part of it and to sing a specific song. I was thinking I would be singing a nugget as they say, one of those marvelous nuggets. But they had something very specific in mind for me.  And that was a song called You’d Be Surprised. At first I thought well, I guess this is cute but it’s silly why do I always have to sing the silly songs? Why do I have to be the one at Carnegie Hall when we’re all dressed in formal attire, people are coming out and singing these rousing dramatic nuggets. Why do I have to be the idiot that comes out and does the silly one? But I decided since they really liked it a lot and it was for PBS that I would do it. And I insisted on using an original arrangement that was so old and antique sounding than something new and peppy. I came out and sang what I thought was this ridiculous song and they loved it. You don’t get to try it out first in front of an audience, you simply go out and do it for the first time. It really was a highlight of the show, the audience loved it, so I learn all the time, I’m reminded of how  people enjoy the good combination of comedy and music.

-Madeline Kahn