Unless you’re a fan of her stand-up or you’ve already seen “Shiva Baby,” you’re likely not super familiar with the work of Rachel Sennott. The young actress-comedian has been sitting on a breakout performance in her festival darling debut, “Shiva Baby,” for over a year now, and finally, the world is going to be introduced to her unique brand of comedy…and terror. In this episode of The Playlist Podcast, Rachel Sennott stops by to talk about “Shiva Baby,” how the film might be the scariest comedy of the year, why it’s great for bisexual representation, and how doing stand-up comedy via Zoom is terrible.
“Shiva Baby” comes from writer-director Emma Seligman and tells the story of Danielle (Sennott), a young Jewish woman that is graduating from college and doesn’t really have much planned for her post-school life. So, when she’s forced to attend a shiva by her parents, Danielle has to confront a ton of family friends and relatives, who are constantly grilling her about her life’s ambitions and goals. Oh yeah, and throw in the fact that her ex-girlfriend and her sugar daddy are in attendance and you can see just how anxiety-ridden the young woman becomes.
“It’s sort of the horror film of what it’s like to be a woman and have all your different identities collide,” explained Sennott. “I think that’s funny but also terrifying.”
The film also goes to great lengths to show just how bisexuality is handled in society, with Danielle’s parents understanding she has dated women but considers it a phase.
“I think this character is really important for bisexual representation in film because it shows a nuanced depiction of it,” said Sennott.
As mentioned above, Sennott isn’t just known for her acting career. In fact, for years now, she’s been a stand-up comedian doing the rounds in New York and Los Angeles, telling all sorts of sexual jokes that have, as she explains in the interview, caused very uncomfortable responses from her family. But obviously, during the pandemic, the shows haven’t been happening. Instead, Sennott talked about the Zoom comedy shows that have popped up and why they’re “brutal.”
“It’s horrible. I did a Zoom show where it was just me, and I’m doing stand-up and people were commenting, ‘Ha ha ha ha ha,’” she said. “It was just brutal….I just miss live performance.”
“Shiva Baby” was expected to debut at last year’s SXSW before that festival was canceled. The film eventually premiered at TIFF 2020 and received incredible reviews. And for Sennott, she’s just happy that digital festivals are happening, as a way for film fans to show support for indie projects.
“It’s nice to see the film community come together for SXSW and TIFF, where it’s like even though we can’t be in a movie theater with a bunch of people, you still have people being supportive,” Sennott said.
“Shiva Baby” hits theaters and VOD on April 2. You can hear our full conversation below:
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