Following her success alongside Lenny Henry and David Copperfield in Three of a Kind (1981 – 1983), Tracey Ullman moved to the US to live and work. She became a household name and established herself as the most successful British comedian on the other side of the Atlantic with The Tracey Ullman Show(1997 – 1990).
Over four seasons of Tracey Takes On… for HBO, Ullman “took on” a single topic each week, with her subjects including romance, charity, nostalgia, royalty, family, law, vanity, death, health, fame, sex, fantasy, mothers, Las Vegas, secrets, childhood, food, crime, movies, money, race relations, politics, the supernatural, music, marriage, Hollywood, smoking, age, religion, culture, sports, dating, drugs, hair, lies, erotica, books, obsession, America and the end of the world.
Using her natural chameleon-like talent for mimicry, Tracey took on a number of guises and accents.
Recurring female characters included Hope Finch (an eternally “up” 18-year-old college student), Fern Rosenthal (a middle-aged Jewish woman from Long Island), Ruby Romaine (70-year-old bigoted makeup artist, Hollywood historian and lush), Sydney Kross (a slick, irritating Beverly Hills defence lawyer, her motto is “you name it, I’ll sue it”), Linda Granger (a washed-up collagen-swelled actress who is her own biggest fan), Mrs Noh Nang Ning (an offensive Asian doughnut shop owner), Janie Pillsworth (a super upper-crusty magazine editor), Birdie Godsen (a right-wing devout Christian fundamentalist), Rayleen Gibson (Australian “stuntwoman to the stars”), and Sheneesha Turner (a black airport worker).
Tracey’s male characters included Trevor Ayliss (a world-weary gay flight attendant) and Chic (a lewd, hairy, male taxi driver and self-proclaimed “chick magnet” of indeterminate Middle-Eastern origin).
Guests on the series included Julie Kavner, Helen Mirren, George Segal, Judy Geeson, Roddy McDowall, Hugh Laurie, Cheech Marin, Tim McInnerny, Udo Kier, Ron Perlman, Olivia Newton-John, Whoopi Goldberg, Harry Shearer, John Stamos, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Penny Marshall, Erik Estrada, Gary Oldman, Victoria Principal, and Leeza Gibbons.
Over four seasons of Tracey Takes On… for HBO, Ullman “took on” a single topic each week, with her subjects including romance, charity, 
Recurring female characters included Hope Finch (an eternally “up” 18-year-old college student), Fern Rosenthal (a middle-aged Jewish woman from Long Island), Ruby Romaine (70-year-old bigoted makeup artist, Hollywood historian and lush), Sydney Kross (a slick, irritating Beverly Hills defence lawyer, her motto is “you name it, I’ll sue it”), Linda Granger (a washed-up collagen-swelled actress who is her own biggest fan), Mrs Noh Nang Ning (an offensive Asian doughnut shop owner), Janie Pillsworth (a super upper-crusty magazine editor), Birdie Godsen (a right-wing devout Christian fundamentalist), Rayleen Gibson (Australian “stuntwoman to the stars”), and Sheneesha Turner (a black airport worker).
Tracey’s male characters included Trevor Ayliss (a world-weary gay flight attendant) and Chic (a lewd, hairy, male taxi driver and self-proclaimed “chick magnet” of indeterminate Middle-Eastern origin).
