Video jockey Karen “Duff” Duffy on... eyewitnessing Sinéad’s freaking epic ‘SNL’ gig... Woody Allen blowing up her voicemail... and dancing like a dying gangster with flailing appendages By DANIEL KUSNER | March 30, 1993 Dig, if you will, the picture... Karen “Duff” Duffy — goddess of the 30-second attention span — chills in her Manhattan apartment, which is littered with unpaid cable bills and half-read, undeserving screenplays. While a saintly image of Ernest Borgnine watches over Duff, the ravishing wisecracker says the rosary — praying that her Schwartzenegger-sized priorities remain balanced. After unpacking her suitcase, Duff installs a new idol to her collection of satanic icons. As if crucifying the messiah, she pounds a nail into her bedroom wall. Then a brief wave of regret crashes over Duff. She experiences repentance over a former decision while in Washington, D.C. That’s where Duff once sacrificed her passions to an uptight enemy. However, a smile crawls across her face... knowing that her job influenced the election of President Bill Clinton. Duff calls from her dressing room at New York’s MTV Studios. KUSNER: This morning, you were on MTV interviewing Texas’ “Ranger” — Chuck Norris. DUFF: I’ve never seen that show that I do. Really? Have you ever watched yourself on MTV? Hardly ever. Actually, I didn’t have MTV for... Come to think of it, I never had MTV. But I got a job there about a year ago. It took me another three months to get cable. Because New York is all backed up. But I didn’t pay my cable bill. So they shut it off. I think it would drive me mad to watch it. When Elvis died, where were you? Well, I was only a little kid. I was with my grandfather, who’s kinda like Thurston Howell III... I remember we were at a pool. That was like 1976-77, right? So I was just a little kid swimming at somebody’s pool. My grandfather told me. He broke the news. If you were a hooker... what kind of hooker would you be? I don’t know. That’s kind of an interesting question. I don’t think... Let’s see... I’m trying to think of a way to turn this into a “fishing” kind of answer. I’d be a hooker way out in Nantucket. What won’t you do on MTV? Kiss anybody’s butt. They’ve got this whole cheesy thing about how “The New Music Revolution Is Going To Be Televised.” That’s the biggest pile of malarkey I’ve ever heard. So I refuse to do that. And I refuse to be sycophantic. I’m always stepping on people’s toes — not that I’m intentionally being mean. But I just feel, like, “Gee... Great video. Sorry about the song.” I dunno, I’m always getting in trouble. I usually open up my evening show by saying, “MTV is a termite in the timber of integrity.” We’re always asking the question: “Will we have to wait until the day that Dolly Parton sleeps on her stomach to see an inspiring video?” Biting the hand that feeds you? Yep. Will you be on MTV forever? Nope. I mean, I feel lucky to be on MTV. I made a cheeseball $2 production of me being a veejay and sent it in. So this all happened rather suddenly. But I’ve got other things in the works. And, hey... Anybody who reads this, send in an audition tape. We really need good people. I wanna be in good company. What films have you worked on? Well, most recently, I had a cameo in “Last Action Hero,” which is a Schwarzenegger movie. I worked on “Who’s the Man?” I’ve worked on two Woody Allen films. Which ones? “Husbands and Wives” and “Alice.” Who did you play in “Alice?” I played a secretary. He shoots so many different scenes. So it’s not really anything to toot my horn about. But the fact that I’ve worked with him a few times has been great. I also worked on “29th Street.” I’ve done about half-a-dozen films. Which films have you turned down? I’ve walked away from a couple of things that really kinda cheesed women out. Right now, I’ve got a picture deal with a studio. So they’re giving me scripts. And I can kinda choose which ones I wanna do. I’m just in the process of that. So I’m really not, ya know, big enough to be turning stuff down. I haven’t really been offered that much. It’s just getting rolling now. Any plans for a singing-and-dancing career? Hell no. I’ve got Van Gogh’s ear for music — the one he chopped off. And when I dance, I look like a dying gangster with flailing appendages. No. Not at all. I don’t dance. I don’t sing. I don’t watch MTV. What’s hanging on the walls of your apartment? Nothing, right now. Because it’s being painted. But I travel all the time for MTV. So I’ve been buying art. Like really satanic, scary art. I was just in Utah for the NBA All-Star Game. And I got this really satanic oil-painting of a pumpkin. When I’m on tour with a band or whatever, I like to check out little galleries or local art. I’ve got a big picture of Ernest Borgnine because I just won an Ernest Borgnine Look-Alike Contest. My best friend and I dressed up as a two-headed Ernest Borgnine from “‘McHale’s Navy,” and we gave a dramatic recitation from his award-winning film, “Marty.” I have those pictures. Plus, gold records from my boyfriend [Whitfield Crane, singer of Ugly Kid Joe] because he doesn’t have a house. What do you mean when you say “satanic art?” Scary-looking. Really primitive. Mark Kostabi — the artist — he made me two beautiful paintings because I interviewed him, which was awesome. The best thing about MTV is the swag you accumulate. And Kostabi makes these original paintings while you’re talking, and then he flips them over. I buy a lot of quirky, thrift-store art. What are you reading? This book by Paul Fussell called “Class.” Also “Head Hunting In the Solomon Islands Around the Coral Sea,” by Caroline Mytinger. She’s a physical anthropologist. As an Irish Catholic, what did you think of Sinéad O’Connor ripping up the pope’s picture on “Saturday Night Live?” I was there! I was there — in the audience. And it rocked my world. I gotta tell you... When she ripped-up the picture of Pope John Paul II, she was freaking. It wasn’t like she did it with a whole lot of conviction. She was trembling. And everyone just shut the hell up. No one laughed for the rest of the night. Then after every “Saturday Night Live,” there’s big hootenanny at some big bar. And it was so down. On Sunday, I felt really bummed. It really hurt me. All day long... I just could’t forget what had happened. It rocked my world. The next week, I was at the Bob Dylan tribute where she got booed. So that thing has had a lingering effect. I'm glad Sinéad did it. For a bunch of reasons. She has a different perspective as a Catholic from Ireland. But that whole night just crashed. Everybody was freaked. Do you remember when the cast from “Saturday Night Live” edited that issue of SPIN? Yeah. SNL’s cast members said Sinéad surprised them. Wouldn’t you sort of expect that from Sinéad? She’s so outspoken. And when “SNL” re-aired the episode, they showed Sinéad’s taped rehearsal instead of what was broadcast. Ripping up the pope’s photo is the third most-remembered moment in TV history. Right next to Jack Ruby assassinating Lee Harvey Oswald and Crispin Glover trying to kick David Letterman in the head. But I could understand it bringing the whole evening down. It did. You didn’t expect it at all. The way she did it, she was freaking and trembling. And her voice was quivering. You know how it is when you’re rude to somebody and you don’t really mean it? That feeling that you’re like... “Oh, my god...” That was what it was like. Do you still go to church? Yep. How often? I’d say every Sunday. And I usually try to go once or twice mid-week. Wow, dedicated. I try. I try to say the rosary every day too. I also have my little novenas and candles. I visit a nursing home three times a week — so it’s a big Catholic thing I’m lugging around. If you won the lottery, would you quit working? I’d quit MTV. But I can’t ’cuz I’m under contract. No, I wouldn’t quit. Before I was working MTV, I was working at a nursing home. I didn’t have any money. And now, 10 movies, 30 commercials, a TV pilot and a movie deal... My bank account is a lot fatter. But nothing else has changed. I’d definitely keep working. Because you’d just fall apart. You gotta keep yourself inspired. I would’t necessarily punch a clock. But I would definitely be developing projects. Name three good music videos. Faith No More’s “I’m Easy,” Guns N’ Roses’ “Garden of Eden.” Boy... You asked for three? I didn’t mind Green Jello’s “Three Little Pigs” — the song sucks. But the video’s cool. Actually, I liked Ugly Kid Joe’s new one, “Busy Bee.” What effect did you think MTV had on the ’92 presidential election? We had to grovel. But MTV got younger voters to the polls. Only because they were guilted into it. I hope those voters thought about issues rather than experiencing a knee-jerk reaction to “Choose or Lose! Choose or Lose! Choose or Lose!” Tabitha Soren did a great job by having President Clinton on MTV... as well as Ross Perot. It opened people’s eyes. At the inauguration, President Clinton said thank you to MTV — that without MTV, he didn’t think he’d win. Last week, I was in Washington at a big, hoity-toity Horatio Alger event that I co-hosted with Maya Angelou. I met Ross Perot, Gerald Ford and even Jack Kemp. All of them told me, “I wanna be on MTV.” So people are certainly paying attention. What’s one of your biggest mistakes? God... There are a million of them. After I graduated from the University of Colorado, I lived in Washington, D.C., for a year-and-a-half. It was the worst year-and-a-half of my life. Stay away from D.C. It was too conservative. If you have any amount of passion, they think you’re crazy. It was a miserable time. I regret that. Name three of your favorite celebrities? Tom Jones, Frank Sinatra and Ernest Borgnine From your wealth of experiences, what advice can you share? My dad gave me some good advice. He said, “Life is like the three rings of a Ballantine Ale can. One ring represents your family and friends. One ring represents your spiritual life. And one represents your professional life. You should keep all rings the same size so you’ll stay a balanced person. If you focus too much on your career, or your boyfriend, or blind religious abandon... Then... boom! You gotta focus equally — on each one.”
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