''Tracey Ullman in the Trailer Tales'' is a 2003

HBO Home Box Office (HBO) is an American pay television, premium television network, which is the flagship property of namesake parent subsidiary Home Box Office, Inc., itself a unit owned by Warner Bros. Discovery. The overall Home Box Office busi ...

television special A television special (often TV special, or rarely television spectacular) is a standalone television show which may also temporarily interrupt episodic programming normally scheduled for a given time slot. Some specials provide a full range of ent ...

starring Tracey Ullman in a spin-off from her

sketch comedy Sketch comedy comprises a series of short, amusing scenes or vignettes, called "sketches", commonly between one and ten minutes long, performed by a group of comic actors or comedians. The form developed and became popular in vaudeville, and i ...

series '' Tracey Takes On...'' The special, which was originally conceived as a pilot for a possible series, spotlights just one of Ullman's characters – Ruby Romaine, a

Hollywood Hollywood usually refers to: * Hollywood, Los Angeles, a neighborhood in California * Hollywood, a metonym for the cinema of the United States Hollywood may also refer to: Places United States * Hollywood District (disambiguation) * Hollywoo ...

makeup artist in her seventies. Ruby recounts tales of old and present-day Hollywood as celebrities sit in her makeup chair in the on-set hair and makeup trailer. She also reveals details of her personal life, which includes living with her

shell shock Shell shock is a term coined in World War I by the British psychologist Charles Samuel Myers to describe the type of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) many soldiers were afflicted with during the war (before PTSD was termed). It is a reac ...

Vietnam veteran son Buddy, and their

pot-bellied pig Vietnamese Pot-bellied is the exonym for the Lon I ( vi, Lợn Ỉ, italic=no) or I pig, an endangered traditional Vietnamese breed of small domestic pig. The I is uniformly black and has short legs and a low-hanging belly, from which the name d ...

, Oinky. The celebrity in Ruby's chair for this particular episode is actress Debbie Reynolds. The working title for the project was ''Ruby Romaine, Trailer Trash''. This was Ullman's directorial debut (aside from directing

second unit Second unit is a discrete team of filmmakers tasked with filming shots or sequences of a production, separate from the main or "first" unit. The second unit will often shoot simultaneously with the other unit or units, allowing the filming stag ...

during the fourth season of her series ''Tracey Takes On...'').

Premise

Septuagenarian Ageing ( BE) or aging ( AE) is the process of becoming older. The term refers mainly to humans, many other animals, and fungi, whereas for example, bacteria, perennial plants and some simple animals are potentially biologically immortal. In ...

Hollywood makeup artist, Ruby Romaine recounts the time she decided to retire and the events that followed, including her decision to return to the business."Tracey Takes On... Tracey Ullman in the Trailer Tales"
TV.com. Retrieved July 1, 2008.

Cast

* Tracey Ullman as Ruby Romaine, Svetlana, Pepper Kane *

Barbara Bain Barbara Bain (born Mildred Fogel; September 13, 1931) is an American actress. She is best known for her role as Cinnamon Carter on the action television series '' Mission: Impossible'' (1966–1969), which earned her three Primetime Emmy Awar ...

as Judy Utermeyer * Maury Chaykin as Dan Weisman * Paul Dooley as Dean Duaney *

Simon Helberg Simon Maxwell Helberg (born December 9, 1980) is an American actor and comedian. He is known for playing Howard Wolowitz in the CBS sitcom ''The Big Bang Theory'' (2007–2019), for which he won the Critics' Choice Television Award for Best Sup ...

as Adam (DGA Trainee) * Steven Held as Buddy *

Galen Hooks Galen Hooks is an American dancer, choreographer, creative director, producer, singer/songwriter and actress. Work Hooks is an MTV VMA-nominated choreographer and dancer who has worked with over 60 artists, such as Janet Jackson, Justin Bieber, ...

as Rap Dancer #1 * Leslie Jordan as Rog Monroe *

Jane Kaczmarek Jane Frances Kaczmarek (; born December 21, 1955) is an American actress. She is best known for her role as Malcolm's mother Lois on the Fox television sitcom '' Malcolm in the Middle'' (2000–2006), which earned her three Golden Globe nominat ...

as herself *

Rose Marie Rose Marie (born Rose Marie Mazzetta; August 15, 1923 – December 28, 2017) was an American actress, singer, comedian, and vaudeville performer with a career ultimately spanning nine decades, which included film, radio, records, theater, night ...

as herself *

Cheech Marin :''The surname'' Marin ''is of Spanish language origin. In Spanish, it is spelled'' Marín'', with an acute accent on the'' í. Richard Anthony "Cheech" Marin (born July 13, 1946) is an American actor, musician, comedian, and activist who gaine ...

as himself * John McKeown as Young Skip *

Sam McMurray Sam, SAM or variants may refer to: Places * Sam, Benin * Sam, Boulkiemdé, Burkina Faso * Sam, Bourzanga, Burkina Faso * Sam, Kongoussi, Burkina Faso * Sam, Iran * Sam, Teton County, Idaho, United States, a populated place People and ficti ...

as Skip Westland * Nicki Norris as Young Pepper Kane * Debbie Reynolds as herself * George Schlatter as himself *

Glenn Shadix William Glenn Shadix (April 15, 1952 – September 7, 2010) was an American actor and comedian. He was known for his role as Otho in Tim Burton's horror comedy film ''Beetlejuice'' and as the voice of the Mayor of Halloween Town in ''The Nightmar ...

as Garland Madden *

Lynne Marie Stewart Lynne Marie Stewart (born December 14, 1946) is an American actress, best known for her performance as Miss Yvonne, the Most Beautiful Woman in Puppet Land. She originated the role in the 1981 stage show ''The Pee-wee Herman Show'', continuing it ...

as Lynn *

M. Emmet Walsh Michael Emmet Walsh (born March 22, 1935) is an American actor who has appeared in over 200 films and television series, including small but important supporting roles in dozens of major studio features of the 1970s and 1980s. He starred in '' B ...

as Wally Westland * Chris Williams as Assistant Director *

Gary Anthony Williams Gary Anthony Williams (born March 14, 1966) is an American actor, comedian and filmmaker. He voiced the character of Uncle Ruckus on '' The Boondocks'', and a number of video game characters. He also appeared on the television series '' Weeds'' ...

as Slurr P

Reception

Awards and nominations

References

External links

*
''Tracey Ullman in the Trailer Tales'' promo
{{Tracey Ullman Tracey Ullman HBO network specials 2003 television specials 2000s American television specials