Maggie Cassella
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| Maggie Cassella |
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Maggie Cassella is a former lawyer, stand-up comedian, writer and American-Canadian actress who hosted the Canadian talk show television series Because I Said So.
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[edit] Biography
Her double degree in philosophy and women's studies led her to a position at a private boarding school in Connecticut teaching philosophy and religion. Finding that a private school teaching salary left little after repayment of student loans, she attended law school.
After almost ten years as a lawyer and dealing with cases involving people with AIDS, trans issues around marriage and bringing the test case for gay adoption to Connecticut, Cassella quit.
Cassella's comedy was a mix of rants and raves from the start (1989). Obsessed with the fact that she could get an unlimited supply of material from just reading the paper, Cassella settled in on her Because I Said So format of sit down comedy tearing through news topics from law, to entertainment, to technology, to religion, and finishing up with the things that just made her mental. She has performed Because I Said So for 20 summers in Provincetown, as well as in a whole mess of other places in North America.
Eventually, Cassella landed a full time job and the love of her life. One of the original on-air talents on STAR!, she parlayed that job into her own talk show called Because I Said So.
BISS, as it was referred to around the station, allowed Cassella to have some fun and interview some big time celebrities. She continues to do those interviews (even though BISS went bust) as a field producer during the Toronto International Film Festival for the syndicated US entertainment show, Extra. Over the years Cassella has had the privilege of interviewing comedy legends such as Phyllis Diller, Bea Arthur, and Joan Rivers, as well as performers such as William H. Macy, Jude Law, Juliette Binoche, Robert Downey Jr., Laura Linney, Eartha Kitt, and k.d. Lang.
In the meantime and in between time, Cassella wrote a book and two screenplays with Lea DeLaria, and has written for various publications and television networks.
Cassella has had a hand in radio since 1996 when she started doing daily bits for two US stations based in New Jersey. She has been heard in Canada on CBC’s The Current, CFRB, AM640, 104.5 CHUM FM, and eventually landed “The Maggie Cassella Show” a drive home show she hosted from April to August 2007.
Cassella recently[when?] completed six episodes of The Vent!, a thirty-minute show she co-created and produced, that focuses on one topic from a variety of angles. Her production company, A Sweet Little Production Company, is located in Toronto and she continues to work on developing shows and films.
[edit] Filmography
| Film | Year |
|---|---|
| Burgeon and Fade | 2007 |
| Do Not Bend | 2007 |
| Roots | 2006 |
[edit] Discography
- Because I Said So (1989)
[edit] External links
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Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to: Maggie Cassella |
- Living people
- American expatriates in Canada
- American people of Italian descent
- Canadian stand-up comedians
- Canadian television talk show hosts
- LGBT comedians from Canada
- LGBT radio personalities from Canada
- LGBT radio personalities from the United States
- LGBT television personalities from Canada
- LGBT television personalities from the United States
- People from Hartford, Connecticut
- People from Toronto
- Women comedians
