Amy Borkowsky is one half of a comedy team. The other half is her late mother, who appears onstage via telephone answering machine messages. Lots of messages. Ten years’ worth.
After a decade of collecting unintentionally hilarious voicemail messages left by her Jewish mother, the former advertising executive has swapped Madison Avenue for the comedy clubs. Today she is a full-time standup comedian, author and public speaker.
She’s coming to the Bay Area, with a performance Thursday, Jan. 10 at a fundraiser for the Women’s Philanthropy Aliyah dinner, sponsored by the Jewish Federation of Silicon Valley.
Though Jewish herself, and though this performance will be for a primarily Jewish audience, the New York-based Borkowsky says one need not be Jewish to enjoy her show.
“Anyone who ever had a mother,” she says, describing her appropriate fan base. “Everybody relates. One girl emailed me and said, ‘My mom is Korean, but on the answering machine your mom sounds just like mine.'”
What sort of messages did her mother leave? One classic has Mom telling her full-grown daughter not to sleep on her stomach because she read an article explaining how that is one of the leading causes of sudden infant death syndrome. One warns her against eating breakfast without toast, while in another, Mom suggests the safest clothing to wear on an airplane in case of a crash.
“The pivotal part of the relationship was she never acknowledged I was an adult,” Borkowsky recalls. “Most people [who attend the show] say, ‘She’s like my mother only more extreme.'”
Borkowsky is Brooklyn-born and Long Island-raised, but jokes that the most Jewish influence she had growing up was her mother worrying about her. Mom would leave notes in little Amy’s lunchbox telling her to be careful not to choke on the apricot pits.
Comedian that she is, Borkowsky has a sociological take on it all. Her grandmother was a Jewish immigrant from Poland, which may explain some things. “That’s part of why Jewish mothers tend to worry about their kids,” she notes. “There were times there wasn’t enough to eat or people wanted to do them harm.”
During her career as a Manhattan-based advertising executive, Borkowsky began braving open mic nights at comedy clubs. She found audiences loved her recorded messages best.
In 2000, she released her first CD, “Amy’s Answering Machine,” followed by a book version in 2002. She has appeared on “The Today Show,” NPR and other national outlets. In 2005, Simon & Schuster published another book, “Statements,” in which she examines her life based on several year’s worth of American Express statements.
Borkowsky’s sociological experiments continue this month, when she voluntarily gives up her cell phone for a project she calls “Cellibacy” (which just may end up being her next book). That’s why she hopes nothing goes wrong during her stay in the Bay Area. She won’t have a cell phone with her to make things right.
But just in case, she plans on carrying a half roll of quarters for pay phones.
Says Borkowsy, “It’s my cell phone methadone.”
Amy Borkowsky appears at the Women’s Philanthropy Aliyah dinner, 6:30 p.m. Thursday, Jan. 10 at the Levy Family Campus of the Addison-Penzak JCC, 14855 Oka Road, Los Gatos. Tickets: $36-$5,000. Information: (408) 358-3033, or www.jvalley.org.