Weight 'Loser' Gains Comedic Edge
By Dean Johnson
December 2, 2004

For weeks, America has known her as Kelly Mac on the NBC reality series "The Biggest Loser," the show in which two teams of overweight people compete to lose the most weight.

But she'll be just Kelly MacFarland Saturday, the headline act at the Comedy Studio in Harvard Square. MacFarland, 32, was voted off the reality series Tuesday night after two of her team members agreed with the opposing crew that she had to go.

MacFarland lost out on the $250,000 grand prize, but she isn't bitter.

"It was the best experience of my entire life," she said.

"I'm 63 pounds lighter than when I left to do the show, and now I know how to train and work out, and I've found a determination I never even knew had existed," the Maine native said.

When MacFarland began competing, she weighed 223 pounds. Helped by one of the show's personal trainers, she lost 42 pounds during her 10-week stint.

Since her return to the Hub in mid-October, she's lost another 21 pounds on her own.

"Hand to God,"she said, "there's no eating disorder here or weird steroid thing. It's all diet and exercise. I work out like a fiend," she said.

Landing a role on "The Biggest Loser'' began with a phone call last spring from an agent from Boston Casting. MacFarland remembers being told a new reality show was looking for certain people, and that as a "chubby" or "bigger girl," she qualified.

"She was being polite," MacFarland said. "I was extremely overweight."

When she talked to the show's representatives, they asked her if she stayed home on Saturday nights and if her weight inhibited her from doing what she wanted.

"I don't think I'm what you're looking for," MacFarlandtold them.

"I do stand-up comedy and run with the big dogs in Boston comedy, and I have never felt insecure working with these men.

"If you're looking for someone who wants to improve their health and not die of a heart attack at 40, I'm your girl. Otherwise, this is not for me."

Their response: "My God, we love you."

MacFarland admits her natural tendency to blurt out whatever she's thinking, coupled with the quick lip that comes with seven years of stand-up comedy, probably did her in on "The Biggest Loser."

"I could have not been real and just surfed through the whole thing and gone under the radar," she said. "But by surrendering myself to the whole process, I got so much more out of it.

"It was a complete physical and mental makeover," she said. "I call it a soul makeover."

Boston's Best Women Comics 'Go Wild'
By Nick A. Zaino III
Boston Globe
February 27, 2004

There won't be any nudity Thursday at the Comedy Studio. But there will be a lot of outlandish sketch and standup comedy, and even a musical number or two, part of "Girlz Go Wild," a show spotlighting nine of Boston's brightest female comedians. Kelly MacFarland, who hosts Wednesday nights at the Studio, invited several friends to perform together last November for a one-time show. It sold out and ran smoothly enough that the group decided to do it again.

"It's really kind of a cool thing to see all of these talented women who are so much more than stand-ups," says MacFarland. "People think, oh, you can pull out five funny minutes, but these women are way more talented than that. They sing, they dance, they write sketches, they act. It's amazing."

The comedians on the bill provide a full spectrum of comic personalities: MacFarland, Malissa Hunt, and Mindi Fay are full of energy and attitude, in contrast to Carolyn Plummer's deadpan delivery. Nicole Luparelli and Elaine Shculbaum, sometimes known as the musical comedy act the Steamy Bohemians, are campy throwbacks to Mae West. Dot Dwyer is an improv and sketch pro. Alana Devich can be as sly as she is self-deprecating. Erin Judge is prone to subversive politics. Somehow all of these personalities work together to form a cohesive show.

"When you do something like this with a purpose - we're going to be a troupe, we're going to put ourselves together and work together, not just sort of each do stand-up on a women's showcase - you get a very different product," says Judge. "It's people who have a lot of creative influences from different places coming together as a group, and it's really worked out well. It's more of a choir than a bunch of individuals standing up and saying their own thing."

MacFarland has been taking the show to colleges and hopes to continue "Girlz Go Wild" nights in clubs and on the road as an equal-opportunity offender.

"It's poking fun at women, but also poking fun at relationships and at men," she says. "It's fun. Everybody's a target."

Loser Comic's Hair Affair
by Angel Cohn

Some people just can't take a joke. Stand-up comic Kelly MacFarland learned that when she rubbed her housemates the wrong way on NBC's The Biggest Loser (Tuesdays, 8 pm/ET) and got axed. After her Red Team rivals won a spa day, she cracked on Lisa, insinuating that her new hairdo was an outdated "Rachel." That dis spelled dismissal for Kelly Mac when the Blue Team's tie vote allowed the Reds to select her for elimination. Here, the spunky 31-year-old funnylady defends her cutting comments and updates us on her life post-Loser.

TV Guide Online: You looked great in your "after" photo. How much weight have you lost?
Kelly MacFarland: I've lost 63 pounds total. I'm following the "eat more" diet. I eat a ton of protein and vegetables and an occasional something other than that. I go by [trainer] Bob's philosophy: "If you want to play, you've got to pay." So if I eat something [naughty], I just work it off the next day.  (continued)

TVGO: Since you're a comedian, did you mean to be funny with that "Rachel" remark?
Kelly Mac: I'm extremely sarcastic and I have been since I was little. But when I said that Lisa's hair looked like Rachel [from Friends], I honestly meant that it looked like Rachel's haircut. It looked beautiful and I there was no backhanded comment there.

TVGO: So you weren't trying to be cruel.
Kelly Mac: No. My god, it is an occupational hazard for me because I'm a comedian. I have no verbal filter. I'm extremely honest and I just say whatever is in my head. Sometimes people just take it the wrong way. I feel badly that they thought I was being malicious. I would never want to say anything to upset them or make them feel badly about themselves.

TVGO: Well, you also had a little tiff with your teammate Gary.
Kelly Mac: Gary and I recover quickly. Tensions run high and we have very strong personalities, but I really love Gary. He's one of the nicest guys I've met.

TVGO: You aren't mad that he schemed with the Reds to vote you off?
Kelly Mac: I'm not mad at all. Gary played the game very well and I commend him for that. It is a game.

TVGO: So, honestly, is Mo cheating somehow?
Kelly Mac: Maurice is not cheating. I would find that hard to believe. He is an honest, good Southern boy. He's a great man and he was classy until the end.

TVGO: But you did try to cut him because he was holding the Blues back.
Kelly Mac: The only reason why I voted for Maurice is because he had an ankle injury. That was a technical decision. It had nothing to do with personalities or holding people back.

TVGO: How hard was it to sit out that beach competition? Did you want to jump in?
Kelly Mac: Yes. The challenges are where you can really put all your hard work to the test. I've never been athletic in my entire life.

TVGO: You did make it up all those stairs earlier.
Kelly Mac: I did. Let's not forget about those stairs. I'm holding on to that for dear life.

TVGO: You seemed to get emotional a lot. Are you always like that or was it just stress?
Kelly Mac: I think it was the stress of the situation. I'm not an emotional person. I'm sensitive, for sure. But not like that. Even I was watching the show every week going, "Oh, my god, pull yourself together." I think it was just years of tears that were coming to a head.

'No strings attached'
By Christopher Muther
Boston Globe
June 4, 2003

Sad news for Boston's bachelorette parties. "Puppetry of the Penis" finishes its run at the Copley Theatre on June 10. This means you have less than a week to see a pair of Australian dudes fool around onstage under the guise of attending the theater. The premise is simple: The pair twist their privates into objects such as turtles, wristwatches, and (shudder) the Eiffel Tower. Go! finally gave in to temptation last weekend and decided to see what the fuss was about. We dragged along a coworker who looked miserable through most of the cheeky proceedings. Why so glum, chum? ''I was bored. I did all that stuff in my bedroom when I was 12 years old,'' he bragged. Naturally, we needed details. He did the sea anemone? "Yup." The windsurfer? "Yup." The pelican? "Uh-huh." Evidently, he did it all but the hamburger. Who knew we worked alongside a pioneer of the art? If you're reluctant, at least attend the show for comedian Kelly MacFarland, who opened with a routine that left us laughing so hard our sides hurt.

Comic's appeal? It's all about the teeth
By Nick A. Zaino III
Boston Globe
4/2/2003

When Kelly MacFarland was in Portland, Maine, trying to make a living as a stand-up comedian, getting onstage twice a week was an extraordinary achievement. The Comedy Connection is the only official club in Portland, although she did land occasional gigs at VFW halls and snowmobile clubs. But since moving to Boston a year ago, she has had as much work as she can take.

Tonight she is double booked, opening for the quirky hit "Puppetry of the Penis" at the Copley Theatre before running out to Cambridge to close the show at the Comedy Studio, as she does every Wednesday. She'll open for "Puppetry" again tomorrow, and then open for Larry Myles on Friday and Saturday at Nick's Comedy Stop, where she is a regular.

"Now that I'm here I feel kind of spoiled, because I can get stage time four or five times a week," says MacFarland.

In fact, it's not unusual to see her leaving a club she has just played on her way to another gig.

"I'm prepared at all times to go onstage," she says.

The extended stage time has also meant exposure to all manner of audiences, from the folkie crowd she faced while hosting last year's Festival of Funny Songwriters to Nick's rowdier crowds. She has been able to adapt to each of them, adjusting her mix from bubbly to bawdy, from cute to suggestive.

Ask her to explain her appeal, and MacFarland is flip. (What do you expect? She's a comedian.) "My material's not anything spectacular, but I am personality plus," she says. "If I have anything going for me, I have really great teeth, a nice smile, and a lot of personality. And I think that's half the battle."

Personality aside, her success is attributable to hard work, spurred on by the veterans she has known. "I figure they've been doing it for 20 years, and if they're still writing and still trying to find that perfect bit, that money bit, then I'm never going to stop trying, either," she says. "I don't think there will ever be a point where I figure, "I'm here; step aside, everybody."

To book Kelly at your club, college or party, please send her an email. She'd love to hear from you!