Just a Minute With: Comedian Rita Rudner slams 50

By Belinda Goldsmith

SYDNEY (Reuters) - Turning 50 for comedian Rita Rudner was a scary experience, but also enlightening as it prompted her to reflect on the good things in life -- her husband, her daughter, her career and her large closet.

In her fifth book, "I Still Have It ... I Just Can't Remember Where I Put It: Confessions of a Fiftysomething," Rudner jokes about body issues, technology and embracing age.

Rudner, 54, who has a regular show in Las Vegas, spoke to Reuters about aging, writing and marriage:

Q: Did 50 really hit you with a bump?

A: "Yes, suddenly you realize you really are in the second half. In your 30s you think you need to get serious, and in your 40s you are having a great time and don't really believe you are getting older.

But at 50 you realize that it is going to come to an end. At the same time there are a lot of people going through the same thing -- with Madonna and Jamie Lee Curtis turning 50, too. But at the 50s I dwell on the fact restaurants are getting darker and how very uncomfortable underwear has become."

Q: You've been happily married to British producer Martin Bergman for 20 years. What's the secret of your marriage?

A: "I think the fact that no other people have ever found us particularly attractive has helped as there has been no outside forces pulling us apart. We have the same sense of humor -- he makes me laugh and I make him laugh when I am not annoying him. I was friends with him for two years before we went out, so I knew I liked him before I liked him."

Q: You became a mother later in life -- just six years ago. How has that changed things for you?

A: "Everybody does things differently. I was concerned about being an elderly mother, but we will connect in different ways, maybe lose our teeth at the same time. Martin and I were career-oriented for a long time. We traveled a lot, so it was not the right time for us. We adopted a little girl six years ago, and now we have a whole new life with new priorities."

Q: How have your lives changed?

A: "Your focus is no longer about your career, your focus is about your child. Our careers take a back seat to our daughter."

Q: This is your fifth book, including two novels. Do you enjoy writing?

A: "I love writing essay books because they come very easily to me. I can sit down and write an essay about Martin and I'm learning to pay golf, and it is fun to develop ideas in two to three pages. The two novels I've written -- about romance and about a stand-up comic -- took me about four to five years each."

Q: Martin and you have written a play together, "Room 776," that will play in Las Vegas for two weeks in June, and you still have your show on the Strip. Are you happy in Vegas?