Just as The Waitresses' 'Christmas Wrap' captured the melancholy and romance of spending the holidays alone – making it a timeless holiday playlist, Cat Cohen recorded, overdressed, an album of 10 original songs that mines the comedy of single life today, including the kind of sloppy, end-of-year hilarity that lives in nightmares and brunch conversations.
While Overdressedout Nov. 15, it's not strictly a holiday album, but it strips away the out-of-office Christmas parties and the boring behavior presented to them in songs like “Plus One,” “Time of Year” and the inevitable self-help delusions that accompany her resolutions new year in “Just Bought a Journal” and “Blame It on the Moon”.
“I've done cabaret songs in my standup for a long time, and I've always wanted to do poppier versions of them — flashier, funnier tracks,” says Cohen. “The holidays seemed like a good way to get into that festive mood. I had a bunch of songs that sort of fit the holiday theme and I thought this is a fun little idea.”
That said, Cohen's idea of fun, as expressed in Overdressedwould have made Bing Crosby drop his pipe. After “four to six glasses of wine” at an office holiday party, the “plus one” star tells quite the time she had sex on a boat. And in the future anthem of the Instagram generation, “Can You Send Me That?”, she ends up walking home from the club with a foot fetish in a fedora. “Luckily, no one took pictures,” he sings.
Before thinking about the characters overdressed have set women back decades, Cohen throws herself into “Time of Year,” a song that would fit on the soundtrack of Black Christmas – select your version — or any other feminist Christmas themed slasher movie.
“When you wake up in this hole and wonder how you fell so low, know that you touched my back at a party four years ago,” Cohen sings. “And when I see your friends, because it's that time of year when the boys close the bar, I'll let them know with my eyes, there won't be any surprises. If you touch me, I will destroy your life.” (Spoiler alert: the guy in the hole doesn't make it.)
On his eve Overdressedhis release, Cohen spoke Bulletin board about the inspirations behind the music, many of which came from personal experience.
Why record a holiday themed comedy album?
Comedically, the holidays are a great thing for jokes.
It was one of the songs overdressed inspired by your real life experiences?
Unfortunately, they all are.
Well.
The story of the man who asks to see my legs at the club. This is true. The story of the sex-on-a-boat situation as reported in “Plus One”. I will increase things in my act or change details, but I always draw from real life, for better or for worse.
I was going to ask you if you actually had sex on a boat and had sand?
Sure. Give it a chance. Try it out. I want to encourage all my listeners to try it. You know how the floor of a boat is always wet and sandy. Something must have been lost in the mix.
Office parties are always great fodder for comedy. Is “Plus One” based on any specific experience?
I wrote this song before the pandemic. I often see pictures of these totally lavish parties thrown by these companies. I was like, “Wait, just because I don't have a desk job doesn't mean I should be left out.” Big parties are back, so this is my formal appeal to be a guest at yours. I want a seafood tower, I want a DJ, I want specialty cocktails.
Songs like “Blame It on the Moon” and “Just Bought a Journal” seem to be more about the modern tropes we buy into and believe – usually wrongly – to be a path to self-improvement.
Completely. It just fascinates me how we are all obsessed with bettering ourselves. I make fun of all this but only because I do too. I have paid so much money to astrologers, healers, psychics — because I am obsessed with it. So does the magazine. Especially on New Years, you're like, “Wow, I think this calendar is going to change my whole life.” So I thought this would be a relevant point for people.
And then you stop journaling before January is over.
Exactly. A few years ago I bought one of those five-year journals where every day, you're supposed to write a sentence. It stopped like 18u of January.
Did an astrologer really ask you to dip your nipple…
Yes, yes. This is a while ago. We were talking about drinking. I was like, “I think I've had too much to drink.” What should I do? He was like, “You should have some sparkling water. Drink sparkling water. Play around, feel it. I don't know, put your nipple in.” I was like, “Wait, did I hear you right?”
Good lord. The album covers a few different genres of music. It starts with a disco feel, and there's a bit of Prince-y funk. But you also do some kind of cocktail music. Are these items your tests?
Before I went into the studio, I was listening to a lot of 90s Spice Girls. From there, when I write a comedy song, it's like, “hey, if you're talking about something grotesque, maybe we'll make it a love ballad.” Controversy is always interesting to me. The genre I use is just to comment on the message of the song, and what joke I'm going for. That's why it covers so many different little pieces.
Will you be touring behind this release at all?
This album is like, half old songs that are already in my offerings and half new. I think I'll wait until I write my next comedy hour to go on tour. I just finished a tour at the end of the summer. So, I'm going to start fresh in the new year, and then hopefully incorporate some of these newer songs into my next show. I probably won't be touring for a few months.
You were on his current season Only murders in the building. What character did you play?
I play one of the Brothers.
Did you do it? Looking at the photos from this album release, I didn't make the connection.
I hope to be a transformative actor, so I appreciate that. Especially living in New York, Only murders in the building it was a dream gig — I worked my comedy heroes in a show that everyone watches. I'm waiting for the next big gig, so I'm manifesting, obviously — a huge role for the new year, this interview.
And seeing an astrologer for that too.
Always, always.
Cohen cat
Courtesy photo
