Every Tuesday night, a small number of people religiously watch Fox. Not the television network (although judging from its ratings, the same probably holds true), but comedienne Celia Fox. Not unlike an electrical socket, the 26-year-old comic has become a regular fixture at the intimate boiler room level of Luna Park, home of the hip Uncabaret that has become an incubator for many a local rising stand-up star.
Clad in Jim Morrison black leather pants and matching top and boots, Fox takes to the stage in character as cowgirl Debbie Dynamo. In her monologue, she morphs into various LA-inspired characters, complete with colorful vernacular. Her performance is a showcase for her potential as she works toward landing sitcom or feature work. With her creative partner, local boy Cardell Walker, Fox is also shopping around several projects, including an animated series satirizing LA’s underground scene.
Not an actual Texan, the Philly-bred Fox has definitely paid her dues. During leaner times, she telemarketed print ribbon cartridges while aspiring to waitress. “It’s easier to get on a sitcom than get a cocktail waitress job,” Fox explains. “This is the kind of town where you do their taxes if they like you. You can coordinate the Emmys if you know the right people. I actually did that!”
After four years of struggle, it all came together for Fox within six months. The comic – who considers Chris Rock, Richard Pryor, Martin Lawrence and Whoopi Goldberg among her favorites – began to get noticed and, all at once, landed representation and management.While professionally on the move, Fox admits that she’s had mixed success in her quest to ingratiate herself with the local Jewish scene.
“I haven’t been embraced by the Jewish community here,” Fox told The Journal. “The guys don’t ask me out. They think that I’m too wild. But I’m really not.”Recounting her trek last month to a synagogue to attend one of the city’s most popular Jewish singles services, Fox says she was overwhelmed by the aggressive beauty-pageant competitiveness among some of the women.
Muses Fox, “I don’t really want to pray and date in the same place.”
