She's a no-nonsense performer (called "smoky, breathy, powerful, hip, hep, marvelous") born to piano player/mom Lyla, discovered by the likes of Steve Allen, Ed McMahon and appearing on rotating talk shows in the '60's and '70's (Ed Sullivan, Merv Griffin, Mike Douglas).
Delivering this stuff, he breaches the personal space between audience and performer, slinging the nonsense in our faces mock-belligerently, seeing what we make of it.
People have accused me of stealing from other performers, but that's nonsense.
And with no-nonsense clarity, Gold nails the isolation and exhilaration a performer feels just before going onstage, the way anticipation hangs in the air with its invisible but almost audible sizzle.
In 2007, Russia awarded the Ukrainian drag performer Verka Serduchk's song, whose refrain included a nonsense phrase that sounded like "Russia goodbye," the highest score possible.
She is best known as a regular of the Carry On films, where she typically played strict, no-nonsense characters, but was also a prolific television and radio performer.
Mr. Smith, the Hammond organist, and Mr. Donaldson, the saxophonist, sold a lot of records for Blue Note in the 1960's, and both have a no-nonsense way of playing the blues; Mr. Donaldson, particularly, can still be an electrifying performer.
I think Missy Elliott (who hasn't been around to help recently) is the only performer I can think of in recent times who is as comfortable with ecstatic nonsense as Celentano.
"The nonsense of being female": that's how Jessi Klein describes the comic terrain she cultivates as a standup performer and head writer of Inside Amy Schumer.
Another very well-known performer who has transitioned to somewhat of a content-side mogul said that all of this fighting is nonsense, that studios are making more films than ever, and people should just be happy they're working.
