Fisher's one-woman show opens on B'way

NEW YORK, Oct. 10 (UPI) -- Carrie Fisher mines for laughs her dysfunctional famous family, her film career and her battle with addiction in "Wishful Drinking," her new Broadway show.

Other topics covered during the course of her one-woman act include being bipolar, her failed marriage to singer Paul Simon, Hollywood inbreeding and the many tabloid headlines that have marked the events of her life.

"If my life wasn't funny, it would just be true and that's unacceptable," the actress -- clad in pajamas and a robe -- tells the audience, adding, "If you don't come (to my show,) I'll be talking about myself alone in the dark."

Fisher, 52, then offers a glimpse of what it was like growing up in a mansion in Burbank, Calif., as the attention-starved daughter of screen star Debbie Reynolds and singer Eddie Fisher.

"Just simple folk, people of the land," she quipped before comparing how her father left her mother for Elizabeth Taylor to how Brad Pitt divorced Jennifer Aniston and went on to have six children with Angelina Jolie.

Fisher also admitted she secretly harbors the hope her divorced parents will attend her show on the same night, "get that old feeling, get back together and raise me right."

"When celebrities mate, something like me happens," she added, jokingly describing her family as "blue-blood white trash."

Among her own accomplishments are playing Princess Leia in the popular "Star Wars" movies and penning the book "Postcards from the Edge," which was adapted into a movie starring Meryl Streep and Shirley MacLaine.

Noting how she is often asked if she had any idea at the time how big "Star Wars" would become, Fisher deadpanned: "Yes, I knew. We all knew."

She also mentioned how quirky actor Christopher Walken had at one time been up for the role of Han Solo, which eventually went to Harrison Ford.

"Wouldn't that have been awesome?" Fisher asked the audience about the notion of Walken as her character's love interest.

Of seeing Leia transformed into practically everything from a Pez dispenser to a shampoo bottle to a Mr. Potato Head toy, Fisher mused, "If you haven't been merchandised for 30 years, you haven't lived. ...

"('Star Wars' creator) George Lucas owns my likeness," she teased. "Every time I look in the mirror, I have to send him a few bucks."

In exchange, Fisher said, Lucas' movies gave her and her co-stars "enough fan mail and a small, merry band of stalkers to keep us entertained for the rest of our lives."

On a more serious note, the actress and author was candid about her own mental illness, confiding she is trying hard to stay healthy and sober these days.

"I'm very sane about how crazy I am," she said, explaining how talking about her life helps her feel like she has some control over it.

Although one minute she pokes fun at the fact her photo appears in an abnormal psychology book somewhere, she also seems genuinely proud she has managed to get through so much in her life.

"When you're a survivor, you have to keep getting in trouble to show off your gift," she observed. "I'm a Pez dispenser and in an abnormal psychology text book, so, obviously, my family is so proud."

"Wishful Thinking" opened Sunday at Manhattan's Studio 54. It is scheduled to run through Jan. 3.