Watching Susie Essman perform is like taking a joy ride in your high school boyfriend's, banged up, Camaro. It's exhilarating because you never know what's going to happen. I've been a fan of Susie since the first day I started doing stand up. She is one of the best at crowd work; talking to the audience and making stuff up as she goes along. You get the same feeling with Susie that you get with a real, performance - centered rock band. Yeah, their cd is great, but to see them live, wow! That's the real experience. Susie is a comedian who loves the art form for the pure process itself, which makes me wonder (as I do with most female comedians of this caliber) why we don't know more about her. An interesting Susie Fact: she keeps track of how many live performances she's given. I don't think she jots them down in a notebook either. What I picture is an interesting door jam that looks like it's been clawed by a Siamese cat in heat. So, I saw performance number 2,053. Add another notch to the knotty, pine. We're at Caroline's on Broadway. It's Saturday night and the club is packed. There is a palpable, electricity in the air. This is what every comedian loves about Saturday night gigs. There's an awesome energy to it. It's a perverse thrill. Sort of like being in a room with a guy you used to love, but he never gave you the time of day. Now, he's begging for it AND you turn him down. The audience won't just laugh at your best joke, they will erupt. Think about any athlete you've ever seen play that championship game in the "zone", where they couldn't miss a shot if they tried, and you'll know how a comedian feels with a good Saturday night crowd.

Enter Susie. She starts off talking to the audience. "Excuse me sir, you look familiar. Did I fuck you?" The audience explodes. Then into a bit about her cousin Jewdy, the militant Zionist. There's her mother, a big, Eastern European - looking woman, "You know the kind of woman that looks like she has a brisket under her skirt." She zings the audience again and again. Susie chats it up with a woman in the front row. The woman explains to Susie how her ex-husband left her for another man. A big smirk slowly breaks over Susie's face. Comedy gold. Talking to this woman alone gets Susie a couple of "applause breaks". The hilarious, forty-minute set wraps up with Susie doing an impression of her Italian, ex-boyfriend on her answering machine. You know that dripping with machismo, yet completely, stupid-sounding, guido voice we all love. "Hey Susie, it's Joey. I hate this freakin answering machine. Call me later, alright. Hey Susie, it's Joey. I hate this freakin answering machine. Call me later, alright. Hey Susie, it's Joey. I hate this freakin answering machine. Call me later, alright." More applause.

It just feels good to watch Susie. It's like eating anything with french fries. Comforting. She reminds me of a few friends I had growing up on Long Island. She is the kind of woman you want as a friend because no matter how bad your day is, Susie's guaranteed to be quick with a joke. "Why the long face? Joey's not waiting outside for you in his IROC wearing his brand new, ZCavarrichis?" You laugh. For a few minutes at least, things are o.k.

We chatted with Susie after the show in Caroline's, top - of - the line green room. Here are some of the gems from the jacuzzi:

GC: We've seen you in Larry David's, Curb your Enthusiasm on HBO and in Eve Ensler's, Vagina Monologues (which we both loved). Do you like to act?

Susie: I like to act if the material is good. What I do on Curb Your Enthusiasm, I LOVE because it's all improvised. It's such a good show. When you have a horrible script and they ask you to make it funny and it sucks...I don't really enjoy it. The Vagina Monologues were so well written, that I really enjoyed it. I like doing movies and TV, but I wouldn't want to just do that. It's very different. IT'S NOTHING LIKE LIVE.

GC: There's something that I call "Comedy Juke Box Syndrome", when a comic really hits on a universal chord with a joke and as a result, the audience wants to hear it again and again. It's like playing your favorite song on the juke box. The audience never gets sick of it. Does that happen to you? Do people request bits?

Susie: I don't know. I think the bane of every comic's existence is having new material. We all, always want to have new material. Now, I'm not all that prolific. When I'm headlining and I have to do 45 minutes, I have to bring out some of "The Old Faithfuls"...(laughs). You know what I mean. Especially, on a Saturday night.

GC: I think people want to hear "The Old Faithfuls", though.

Susie: I think people want to hear it. Well, when you go to a rock concert to see your favorite group, you want to hear the songs that you're used to. So, I think because I work the crowd so much it's always a little different. I always try to do it a little different. I try to bring the context in differently. Also, there's a lot of people that haven't seen it.

GC: Crowd work. It's such a skill. You are a complete pro at it. I think it's really under appreciated. Maybe because it's not something you would do on TV.

Susie: Well, you can't really. It doesn't translate on television. Here's the reason I like to do it. Because if I just go up and do my act, I just don't see the point of doing "live" like that. The way I like to do a performance, I like to feel as though we're all in this live moment and it's never going to be the same again. We're all in this experience together. Everyone in the audience knows people...because I always go back (to different people in the crowd I've talked to). I create this whole family of people. We're all experiencing this together AND IT'S THIS MOMENT AND IT'S NEVER GOING TO BE LIKE THIS AGAIN. That's why I like to work the crowd and also, it's interesting.

When I first started it wasn't something that came naturally to me. I just used to do characters and I never even spoke in my own voice.

GC: Everybody talks about The Comedy Boom of the 1980's. I was in high school, but should I have put down my protractor and picked up a coke habit? Was it that good?

Susie: Well, yeah, it was hot. No, it was hot. But, you know people still wait outside. It was packed here tonight. You go to Stand Up NY or Gotham it will be packed on a Saturday night. I remember during the "Comedy Boom" I mean, people were waiting on a line around the corner to get into Catch a Rising Star. But, I don't know how different it is. There's so many factors. There's the economy. There's this. There's that. I'm in a different place, so I see it from a different point of view. I know it was different when I was starting. I think there was more stage time available from what I'm hearing from younger comedians.

GC: Did you do the road a lot?

Susie: I NEVER DID THE ROAD EVER. I think like once, maybe. I never did it. It was too scary to me. I always worked a lot in Manhattan. I would just hustle. You know on a weekend, a Friday or Saturday, I'd do seven shows a night and just hustle from club to club.

GC: What was the best gig you ever did?

Susie: I don't know. I could tell you the worst. FOR THE HASIDIM. (Everyone laughs) They just stared at me. There was nothing I could say. It was silence. Complete silence. There was nothing I could say to get a laugh. I cut it short. I had to. I was offending them. My very presence was offending them. It was horrible.

GC: There are certain "Cross Over" comedians. The megastars, Seinfeld, Tim Allen, Roseanne, that "Cross Over" to the mainstream. Do you want to do that? Are you happy where you are?

Susie: I have no master plan, Becky. I always just take it as it comes. I have never been one of these comics who is just putting five minutes together to get a Development Deal. I'm a comedian. I'm going to do this for the rest of my life. No matter what else I do. I'm always going to be a Stand Up Comic. I like doing movies. I like doing TV. I like making a lot of money. And really the only place you can make a lot of money is in television. I won't move to LA.

GC: You're such a New Yorker.

Susie: Yeah, and I like my life here. I don't know. For me, it's always more about the work. It's whatever work that comes along that I like and that is interesting I'll do, basically. Whether it's writing something or it's performing something, acting, stand up. Whatever it is. People that are in it for a quick fix, I don't understand that. IT'S AN ART FORM. I mean, I see these old guys. It's incredible. George burns was performing at 90 something. I remember seeing Henny Youngman on stage at 90. It's something you do for the rest of life.