Cable’s Victoria Looseleaf Takes a Page From Ed Sullivan’s Book

“No,” says cable personality Victoria Looseleaf, “Looseleaf isn’t my real name. We started from Looseleafkowitz.”

With that sort of moniker and sense of humor, it’s no wonder that Looseleaf’s public access talk-variety show, “The Looseleaf Report,” has become a haven for some of the odder members of Los Angeles’ arts community. During her four years on the air, Looseleaf (whose name is actually a rough translation from the German) has allowed a bullwhip artist to snap his whip around her neck, celebrated her birthday with performance artist John Fleck portraying her mother, and unveiled a nude portrait of herself, accompanied by stock footage of screaming, fleeing multitudes. She has also interviewed such cult favorites as Bud Cort and the Del Rubio Triplets.

“I’m a deconstructionist Ed Sullivan for the ‘90s. This is postmodern brain food for those who want a little kitsch with their culture,” says Looseleaf of her show, which also airs weekly in New York. “The strangest people migrate to this town in search of fame, and whatever kind of talent they have, however small or obtuse, they’re out there displaying it.”

Herself an emigre from Cleveland, Looseleaf has also chatted with more mainstream guests and spotlighted classical musicians and singers, reflecting her own background--she is believed to be the only recipient of an MFA in harp performance and literature from prestigious Mills College, and is the creator of “Harpnosis,” a stress-reduction program.

“That utilizes my (bachelor’s) degree in psychology from Berkeley,” she says. “I don’t know if it utilizes my criminology degree, though I have played harp at Vacaville Prison.”

Looseleaf is now polishing a farcical screenplay appropriately called “Public Access,” and has a theatrical musical work in progress. She has no plans to stop doing her anything-goes show.

“That’s the beauty of public access,” she says. “Do you think Johnny Carson is going to unveil a nude portrait of himself?”