Rosebud Baker

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Rosebud Baker
Born
Rosemary Baker

Alexandria, Virginia, U.S.
Alma materEmerson College (BA)
Occupation
  • Comedian
  • actress
  • writer
Years active2010–present
Spouse(s)
Andy Haynes
​
​
(m. 2020)​
RelativesJames Baker (grandfather)
Comedy career
MediumStand-up
Genres
  • Dark comedy
  • blue comedy
Subjects
Websiterosebudbaker.com

Rosemary Baker, known professionally as Rosebud Baker, is an American comedian, actress, and writer. Based in New York City, she is known for her dark humor based on personal, often satirical stories.

In 2010, while working as an actress in independent films and off-Broadway, she appeared on the first season of the Sundance Channel reality television series Girls Who Like Boys Who Like Boys. Baker began her career in stand-up in 2014 by performing at open mics throughout New York City. In 2021, her debut comedy special, Whiskey Fists, premiered on Comedy Central, and she became a writer for the HBO Max television series That Damn Michael Che. She hosts the podcasts Devil's Advocate and Find Your Beach, the latter of which she hosts with her husband, Andy Haynes.

Early life[]

Rosemary Baker was born in Alexandria, Virginia to a wealthy Protestant family, and grew up in McLean, Virginia. She has three surviving younger sisters as well as one deceased sister. One of her sisters, Mary Stuart Baker, is a digital media editor at an art gallery, and Hallie, a nurse. Her father is James "Jamie" Baker IV, a retired senior partner at Baker Botts L.L.P. in Washington, D.C. and the son of James Addison Baker III, the former Secretary of Treasury of President Ronald Reagan and the Secretary of State under President George H. W. Bush, and her mother is Nancy, a painter born in Texas.[1] As a child, she was given the nickname Bud due to her being a tomboy and refusing to wear dresses, which gave her the name Rosebud. Because of her family's connections to the Bush family, she would often visit the White House and spend time with George H. W. Bush's grandchildren. Baker's father was mostly absent in her life and emotionally distant due to his work, while her mother was an alcoholic. She also developed an eating disorder at a young age.[2]

Baker attended Langley High School, where she received mostly poor grades and was briefly a cheerleader before getting suspended from the squad. In June 2002, her 7-year-old sister, Graeme,[a] drowned in a hot tub after being sucked into a drain during an outdoor graduation party in McLean.[4] In the wake of Graeme's death, Nancy got a law passed in her name advocating for safer pool drains.[3] Baker received a Bachelor of Arts in acting at Emerson College, where she also became severely alcoholic and depressed as a result of grief from the death of her sister, which she compared to "getting very old quickly". After going on a trip throughout Europe with Hallie and spending most of it intoxicated, she told her family she would come home to check herself into rehab, but instead moved to Brooklyn and moved in with her then-boyfriend. While in Brooklyn, she attended group therapy sessions, where she would often lie about herself, and later started seeing a grief counselor.[2] She began attending Alcoholics Anonymous meetings, which helped her to become sober in 2007.[5][6]

Career[]

While working as an actress in independent films and off-Broadway, Baker also worked on the side as a nanny and a waitress. She also wrote horoscopes for Elite Daily as Rosey Baker. In 2010, Baker appeared as a castmember on Girls Who Like Boys Who Like Boys, a Sundance Channel reality television series based on the lives of four gay men and their female best friends.[7]

Baker's father later encouraged her to pursue stand-up comedy as a career. In 2014, Baker did stand-up for the first time during an open-mic night at a comedy club in Austin, Texas while on a cross-country road trip with a childhood friend. Her first performance in New York took place at the Metropolitan Room in Chelsea. Early in her comedy career, Baker performed four to five times a night at the LOL Comedy Club in Midtown Manhattan, also frequenting open-mics at various comedy clubs around the city.[6][2] In 2018, she appeared on Just for Laughs's New Faces list, and was featured in the Amazon Prime Video television series Inside Jokes, which showed her journey to the New Faces festival.[8][9]

In March 2020, at the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, she began hosting Find Your Beach, a biweekly podcast hosted alongside her husband, fellow comedian Andy Haynes.[2] Baker's debut comedy special, Whiskey Fists, was produced by All Things Comedy and premiered on Comedy Central's YouTube channel in August 2021, while an album of the special was released through 800 Pound Gorilla Records.[6][10] Also in 2021, Baker became a writer for the HBO Max sketch comedy television series That Damn Michael Che, which earned her a nomination for the Black Reel Award for Outstanding Writing in a Comedy Series for the episode "Policin'".[2][11]

Baker hosts Devil's Advocate, an All Things Comedy podcast. She will appear in the upcoming Hulu television series Life & Beth.[2]

Comedic style[]

Baker's comedy has been described as dark comedy, and many of her jokes revolve around personal stories or anecdotes, such as the death of her sister or her domestic abuse at the hands of her alcoholic ex-boyfriend.[6][3] Her jokes are often satirical and have twists. Baker learned how to write jokes after watching comedy specials by Dave Attell, Amy Schumer, Dave Chappelle, and others, and transcribing the jokes to find the set up and the punchline.[2]

Personal life[]

Baker identifies as liberal. In March 2020, Baker got engaged to Andy Haynes, and the two got married in September 2020.[3][2] Baker had recurring miscarriages in 2020 and 2021.[6]

Notes[]

  1. ^ The original article from 2002 in The Washington Post calls Baker's sister Virginia Graham Baker. In interviews, Baker has called her sister Graeme.[3][2]

References[]

  1. ^ Escobar, Romeo; Rubin, Sam (13 September 2021), "Comedian Rosebud Baker talks about her stand-up special 'Whiskey Fits'", KTLA, Nexstar Media Group, retrieved 5 October 2021
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i Grove, Lloyd (December 30, 2021). "Her Grandfather Is a Conservative Icon. Her Comedy Is Liberal AF". Rolling Stone. Retrieved January 8, 2022.
  3. ^ a b c d Dingfelder, Sadie (18 May 2020). "During lockdown, comics Rosebud Baker and Andy Haynes have gotten sick and engaged, plus hosted a surreal podcast". Washington Post. Retrieved 4 October 2021.
  4. ^ White, Josh (June 19, 2002). "James Baker III's Grandchild Dies in Whirlpool". Washington Post. Retrieved January 8, 2022.
  5. ^ Rush, Rebecca (September 3, 2018). "Rosebud Baker: A Stand-Up Career Started by Sobriety". The Fix. Retrieved January 8, 2022.
  6. ^ a b c d e Fox, Jesse (19 August 2021). "Rosebud Baker Wants to Be Honest But Not Ruin Birthday Parties". Vulture. Vox Media. Retrieved 4 October 2021.
  7. ^ Stuever, Hank (7 December 2010). "Emotional naggage in 'Girls Who Like Boys'". Washington Post. Retrieved 5 October 2021.
  8. ^ Wright, Megh (July 23, 2018). "Just for Laughs Announces Its 2018 New Faces". Vulture. Retrieved January 8, 2022.
  9. ^ "Rosebud Baker To Perform At Tropicana Room". The Post-Journal. November 28, 2019. Retrieved January 8, 2022.
  10. ^ "Rosebud Baker Just Wants a Karaoke Date With Justin Bieber". Vulture. November 1, 2021. Retrieved January 8, 2022.
  11. ^ "Plenty of "Love" in the Heart of the Country!". Black Reel Awards. 17 June 2021. Retrieved 5 October 2021.

External links[]

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