Ruby Wax Personality Journalists, like TV viewers, tend to love her or hate her. Some think her courage is admirable and questions just cheeky, others would say she is downright rude. Therefore some reporters have complained about her and concentrated at the bad side of the interviews, having asked questions which seem deliberately insulting and then being surprised when Ruby doesn't appreciate her work being ridiculed, so they end up giving the impression that Ruby is unco-operative; "Just don't ever ask me to follow her again please" "frosty" "Suddenly she rises from the sofa. I assume she's about to walk out, then I remember she cannot walk out because she is in her own home." Then you get the journalists who like and respect her work, or at least who meet her with more of an open mind, who end up saying things like; "She is funny, engaging, open... she speaks quietly in staccato sentences, flitting jerkily from subject to subject. The impression she gives is of someone whose speed of thought outstrips her concentration." "her publicist has warned me that she is not at all like her bubbly screen persona, which is normally code for morose and rude, but she is neither." "charming, endearing, funny" "I am left feeling that more than anything else, I would like Ruby to be my friend." Family She doesn't cook, shop or do housekeeping. "Ruby is more likable when she talks about her children than when she talks about herself". Comedy Abfab - patsy's character in joanna was evident in an early ruby show, Ruby's Celebrity Bash. She was also script editor, coming up with fab one liners. Girls on Top Don't Miss Wax The Full Wax stand up for charity events Wax Acts/East Meets Wax Her description of childbirth is almost enough to put me off for life, painwise- she says, 'it's like sitting on the eiffel tower and spinning'. ouch indeed. Career She came to England in 1977. She didn't get in to RADA but was awarded a place at the Scottish equivalent, before later joining the RSC. "I couldn't stand being a nobody. America put too much value on being tall and blonde. So I used laughter to make people take notice. It was either that or become a serial killer." "I really could never find my niche. I was a terrible actress, I couldn't sing, I couldn't do characters, I couldn't do an English accent and I lived in England, so i was narrowing it down' Wrote for NOT THE NINE O CLOCK NEWS, then went on to co-write and star in the sitcom GIRLS ON TOP with the young French and Saunders. She eventually got a chat show after drunkenly interviewing Michael Grade (who was head of Channel 4 at the time) in a tent at the edinburgh festival. Now, as an established and somewhat respected interviewer, she describes her interviews as "an exploration of the nature of fame." She is never deliberately rude to her guests, often she spends days talking with them and getting to know them personally before having the cheek to explore their houses and ask about She relaxes her interviewees by telling them about her life and this is always removed from the final show. Ruby's Celebrity Bash: More stages and rehearsed than her recent interviews. With acted bits and prepared one-liners to the cameras. "Does Joanna Lumley know we're here? of course she does' (SMASH!) Ruby 'breaks into' Joanna Lumley's house and hides behind the sofa in her living room. She gets thrown out but returns later with a ladder and calls up into the window, before climbing up and breaking in. Joanna Lumley's character is very much a premonition of Patsy - an alcoholic with no career, - the show was very much pre-Abfab, and an early and unusual role for joanna in comedy. Despite her variety of work over the years, Ruby is probably best known for her celebrity interviews in the series 'Ruby Wax Meets...' She has rehearsed on stage with the Spice Girls and squeezed Pamela Anderson's breasts - she has the courage and confidence to ask the questions we all want to ask but would never have the guts to! She transformed herself intoa baywatch babe - complete with red swimsuit in order to be an etra on the show (she was later thrown off the beach) Funny quotes She yelled at Pamela Anderson who's just said she's looking forward to being 40. "It's horrible being 40!" she protests loudly, before quickly facing back to the camera and adding "not that I'm 40, not that I'm 40". She has abandoned the predictable routine of parky-type chat shows and broken all the respected rules and conventions. She doesn't have a studio, set or live audience. She travels around the world to be wherever the stars are, at work, home or away. She doesn't let stars plug their latest products, except on rare occasions such as when she made Bette Midler sing a piece from her latest album (in a department store on the escalator!) while Ruby did actions in the background. If she gets temporarily bored with the guest she wanders off to chat to the public, who don't have any idea who she is in the USA. She always feels free to pull a face when the guests aren't looking if she doesn't agree with something they've said. She regularly interacts with the viewers by speaking to the camera and making various facial expressions. She also speaks to her film crew and producer quite often, whether she's supposedly annoyed with something they've done or just to playfully demonstrate sexual positions! (She found it impossible to understand one of Pamela's favourites and so was given directions which she tested out on the producer Clive) Ruby Wax appears to be a walking contradiction. She moans when Liza Minelli makes it difficult to be interviewed, but one journalist had just as much trouble trying to pin down Ruby for the same purpose. She doesn't like too many people being around when she's interviewing people, yet when she invades the working space of her guests, she ends up butting in and wangling her way into being an extra (eg Dr Quinn). Ruby is one of the most prying of interviewers, and has asked very personal questions to the biggest of stars, yet she won't even reveal her age. She resorts to talking about sex when there isn't much left to talking about with her guests, but admits 'I don't have a sexuality. I'm not confident'. She seems to amazingly different as an interviewer and interviewee. I get the impression that if Ruby Wax were to interview herself, it would be a disaster. But I'm not the only person to have wondered this, for a journalist once posed this question to Ruby herself, who replied 'I'd love it'. hmmm Several years ago she took a BBC director's course, "people will get sick of me and my ego will have to be removed, but I'd still like to express my view of the world". Ruby's Heath Quest (with accompanying book) Vauxhall ads (voted 3rd most irritating ad in a poll) She has said that there won't be any more series of "Ruby Wax Meets..." because she has run out of things to ask. She has explored all the angles and I presume, learned all she set out to discover. "This is the best time yet. This is pretty happy. To have three kids, to have a job like mine. This is the ultimate." "A wax performance always contains energy and a willingness to look daft." She is a good sport and always gets involved. "She can amaze and astound in her boldness and silliness" She is writing a screenplay with jennifer saunders to star one of her previous guests, Goldie Hawn. American Pie - meeting 'real' people FERGIE - nominated for a BAFTA, was given a huge amount of attention. "Ruby is so sensitive about the subject that she turned off the tape recorder of one broadsheet journalist who dared ask her about the Duchess." She got Lisa Kudrow (Friends) to sing Smelly Cat in Trafalgar Square. She got into a jacuzzi and bed with Goldie Hawn She waitressed with Sandra Bullock in an American cafe.