Ask the Fruitcake Lady

Marie Rudisill, aka “The Fruitcake Lady,” made her first Tonight Show with Jay Leno appearance in December 2000 in a now classic segment, when she helped Jay Leno and Mel Gibson make fruitcake. Since 2002 she has regularly dished out sassy advice to fans in her popular segment called “Ask The Fruitcake Lady.” A frenzied mother asks, “My teenage son sleeps all the time. How do I get him to help around the house?” The Fruitcake Lady responds with a no-nonsense answer: “Well, all you got to do is get up there and say, Get your ass out of the bed! And I mean get it out!” Ask the Fruitcake Lady will gather together some of Marie’s finest morsels of wisdom and advice, including:

• Spicy advice on profanity in children
• Nutty wisdom of talking to houseplants
• Dishing out a good helping of sass when she addresses curing hangovers
• Outrageous ways of dealing with mothers-in-law and bachelor parties
• Finding a rich man to marry
• What a single, soon-to-be 40 woman needs more than a man

“The Fruitcake Lady” is not just any nonagenarian from Florida. She is Truman Capote’s aunt, and it was her book, Fruitcake: Memories of Truman Capote and Sook, which brought her to the attention of Jay Leno. Her quips to viewers questions have made her a favorite on the The Tonight Show with Jay Leno.