Welcome to what we thought would happen. Hi. This is exciting because the extremely talented, multifaceted Laraine Newman, the legendary who is hilarious and we're so lucky to have this. It's Palm Sunday and I it makes me believe in blow mold rabbits because Lorraine's here. There's a rabbit over there. You turn it on and I'm here. What is it? Plastic. Yeah, it's called blow. Laura's pointing to it. Molds, huh? I usually. I do that on the second date. Oh, here we go. Blow mold.
It's, like, almost three feet tall. Bunny, the plastic lights up. Yeah. Yeah. Normally you put in your yard laws, put it in the bedroom. Yeah. Yeah. For a certain ambiance. Yeah. Mm hmm. Because Lorraine's here, you know. Oh, happy Palm Sunday, right? Thing is, he came home. That's the part where Jesus rises. So you get a chocolate bunny. Exactly. Yeah. And a basket full of eggs. Yeah. And I took the most. My favorite thing about the whole thing was the rabbits that I still pray to today.
Our parents, totally. They treated Easter. We would wake up on Easter Sunday with, like, a like a spread, like a whole present display right there. Like a basket and like a couple of other things. Fun. It was so fun. So we fast leaned into it as like, a greedy holiday, right? Like we were excited to wake up on Easter just for the gifts. And then it's not like Christmas because every Easter you have to fucking go to church.
Yeah, well, if you're real. Yeah, we got, we got, like, Purim where you can dress up and maybe get some raisins. Yeah, it's. Oh, fuck. Come on. That stuff looks better. Yeah, I swear by a church. One time they made us two. They were telling the lesson of Moses in the desert. And to prove it, they gave us all a pretzel. And then they wouldn't give us a glass of water until the end of the lesson to show us the thirst of being in the desert for 40 years. Wow. But we were like, eight.
That's abusive. Lorraine, you grew up out here. I'm a native. Yeah, Yeah, yeah. L.A. L.A. Hmm. Wow. Yeah. Westwood Did you go to Hollywood High and all that? No, I was in the Warner Avenue and Uni High district, so I went to Warner Avenue Elementary School of Grammar School as we called it. And then my family moved to Beverly Hills from my brother and I were 11. Oh. And so then I went to Hawthorne and Beverly Maze.
I thought, My God. Yeah. Beverly Hills High School is fictitious from Beverly Hills. No to or no. Right. It's a real high school. And it was written by my classmate Chuck Rosen. Uh huh. And. Yeah. Okay. Yeah, That's crazy, because at West Beverly, that's the. West Beverly is a fake one. Okay. Gotcha. Was it so technically grew up in Beverly Hills? Well, we were 11. Paul and I were 11. Mhm. And I just. I tried to downplay it because it takes away any kind of cred that I might know, you know?
Life is hard. No matter where you go. Your life is tough. You earned your stripes. I suppose so. Like in those days, Beverly Hills was already like movie star Hollywood stuff, right? Yeah, it was. We lived down the street from Kirk Douglas and, like, across the street from Groucho Marx. I went to school with the kids of movie stars. And when you went Christmas shopping, then you'd see, like, Cary Grant and Fred Astaire and Mays, It was. But just, you know, it was like Mayberry.
Yeah. Yeah. Well, did you ever see Groucho Marx? You saw Groucho Marx? I saw him once. Yeah. Wild. Yeah. I'm a big Harpo fan. Harpo's Great. His music is on Spotify. Did you know that? No, I have no. He plays like Stardust on the harp, so I'm like, classics. God, that's so cool. I know. But you knew him. I didn't know him. I saw him. There's a difference. Yeah, yeah, yeah. That's so cool, though.
My favorite thing I was watching because old SNL, like, all of them are on Hulu or something right now. And I was watching the first season because I love the first season, which is not Lorraine's first season, obviously, but I'm like, What is it like to do the conga with Desi Arnaz? Like, you know, that's insane. Oh my God. And to sing Cuban Peete insane. You know, one of our writers, Tom Schiller, his dad, wrote for I Love Lucy. Wait. Bob Schiller, his dad shot I met Tom Schiller, too.
He was he's amazing. One of a kind. He has a great comic mind. His dad is. Yeah. Far. Yeah, That's crazy. So it was kind of all in the family, and I think we did. I know we did. The Untouchables. Mm hmm. Yeah. With Danny doing Robert Stack so beautifully. Mm hmm. I watched that episode because they all, like, he finishes the show, and then they all my job. But, like, right behind them is Lorraine. I'm like, What are you. That's insane. And Chita, you know, what is her name?
Chita Rivera. Not Chita Rivera. Carmen Miranda. Oh, my God. Oh, So my closet it ass when I was like, nine or ten years old, 100% did a Carmen Miranda routine in the school talent show like Pineapple Belt Buckle Fruit hat. Wow. How was it received? Really well. That's fantastic in the nineties, but it was still very like kind of flip to be like in drag. It wasn't yet like a political statement. And where was this? This was in Texas. Oh, my. So we were really asking for it. Since it was Texas.
They thought of it as more as some like it hot. Oh, he's a guy. Ain't like a word that's funny. And just like bosom buddies. Precisely. They just can't get housing. It was a I always felt that that was my demographic was like moms who wish I could marry their daughters if it weren't for that one little thing. Right. Well, because there's that my friend Fontaine would try to convert men from gay. That was her whole thing. Oh, no, I know.
She was this weird, crazy Texas girl who moved to New York, became a heroin addict, and then quickly moved back. And then she dated a bunch. And I thought I hated myself. I didn't know where you're hanging out. We were hanging out all summer. And then finally my friend goes, You know, she's trying to, like, convert you. I know. Wow, that's kind of interesting. I mean, I feel like I accidentally converted a lot of guys. Laura, you get that look in your eye. She needed that.
I know you said a bit about that. You're not like that. I was like the TSA for gay guys. Like, you're not gay. And you go through me first, man, because everyone I dated in college wound up being gay. It's because you're sassy and fun. Yeah, you're fun. Yeah, that's the thing. It's like that fish at the bottom of the ocean with that light at the end of it, that attracts, you know, lantern fish that is. Oh, I like that. You're a wealth of like, like biophilic knowledge.
I listen to a lot of podcasts. She's also brilliant, incredibly, not just incredibly funny, but incredibly smart. In fact, we have to get Green's audible book a moment. I had like a little tiny stroke there, right? Is on Audible. Yes. Yes. Please say the title. It's called May You Live in Interesting Times and it's about growing up in Los Angeles, stirring like, you know, the folk movement. My sister was in the New Christy Minstrels.
Yeah. And we'd have wow hootenanny, as you heard me in the backyard. Love her name. And people like Theodore McCall and the lime lawyers would come and and then, you know, the rock music, the British invasion. My brother Steve was a lighting director at Gooseberries, and he'd come home and say things like, Hey, there's this great band. You've got to see them. They're called The Doors, you know, I mean, the whole Sunset Boulevard thing.
And then I was there for the opening of the Comedy Store, you know, and the founding of the Groundlings was and then the beginning of SNL and then, you know, having children, because I was the only person at 40 who had children ever. And the whole beginning of the the animation wave, I've just been like a beast. I feel like Zelig. You were part of that conversation.
So when you're growing up and like such a big tapestry of creativity in Hollywood and like, as was 1670s, like how do you chart a path for yourself when like the doors are right down the street and the Groundlings and the comics were all happening around you? Well, I you know, I never imagined that I would have a professional career just because I knew how hard it was. And that was something that my parents were emphatic about. Mm hmm.
So I just did it for the love of it, with no expectation, which I think is a really good thing to do. Sure. Yeah. Good foundation. And I didn't know I was auditioning for SNL. Lorne Michaels and Lily Tomlin were in the audience, you know, and they hired me from that. And Lorne was hired to do SNL. He came back to the Groundlings, saw me again and hired me for SNL.
So I hate saying that because the gantlet that people run when they audition for the show now, it's like, Well, I didn't know I was right. No, because I was like, You didn't wake up one day and just like, Do you know what I mean? Like, there was work before that. There was. It wasn't just handed to, you know, I worked I, you know, I really learned to write at The Groundlings. It's a great program for that. It's a great program for creating characters.
And there was never really any kind of breakdown and method of creating characters. The Groundlings has really developed a curriculum that helps people do that. Gilda was Groundlings in Second City in Chicago. Yes. Okay. Yeah. Or not. Chicago. Toronto, Ohio. Okay. Yeah. Even though she's from Detroit. Aha. That's so crazy. First of all, Lily Tomlin is my favorite because we weren't allowed to touch my dad's record player ever.
But when they left the house, the only two things I'd pull out was like her Ernestine album or Fiddler on the Roof, and I would just play the Graveyard song over and over again. Oh, wow. Like, I like Lily Tomlin. I don't think as a queer person, she's just now really getting her like, icon status as a queer representative. Do you know what I mean? I'm surprised because she's always been out, and that's the thing.
She never downplayed it like Jane's been part of the conversation forever and things. But I just think for people who don't know her right at all, you know what I mean? Like, they just miss her being like a leader in that perspective. What's she supposed to do? Hey, who was it? Yes, she says yes, You know, just an hour. She's busier. I'm gay, but yell it louder. Yeah, I think she probably would prefer status as as a performer, as a comedian rather than, like a symbol.
Yeah. There was a motel called the Tropicana, and below it was a coffee shop called Dukes. Oh, I know. Yeah. Dukes was new. Dukes is still on Sunset. That's a different one. I Oh, okay. I'm not sure. It might be the same people that opened that one, but this was like at the bottom of the Tropicana Motel, which was like, the scene of many heroin overdoses. Yeah, And I think Andy Warhol filmed trash there. Oh, wow. But Dukes, I would go every day with my boyfriend.
And Tom Waits and Rickie Lee Jones were always there. Oh, my God. Don Simpson, who became partners with Jerry Bruckheimer, he was there when he was just a writer. Martin Scorsese, He let his friends see this movie that he was just putting the finishing touches on. And it was Mean Streets Insane. You know, that was a whole wonderful scene, too, which I write about in my. So you were there in the room with Rickie Lee Jones and Tom Waits and all that stuff.
Yeah. So, okay, like first season of SNL is your head spinning because you're in like, had you been in New York? I'd never been in New York, and I was scared to death. I, you know, Stevie Wonder song Living for the City or something like that or, you know, I was so scared of New York. And so I pretty much stayed, you know, at the studio, which we had to do anyway. Right in the beginning, the first things we did was to film the commercial parodies. So that's how we kind of bonded as a cast.
But also Lorne thought it'd be a good idea if we did improv at his loft. Oh, wow. Which happened twice. I, you know, with him watching. Yeah. Just to see if anything could be sourced out of it. Well, I think it was. It was to engender a camaraderie. But I do remember one thing where we were given. It was me, Danny and Jane, and we were given an alien family. Mm hmm. You know, and I came up with the voice, and then, you know, we forgot all about it.
And then Danny and Tom Davis created the Conehead. I love the conehead. So that was one of the things that I remember most, you know, when I used to watch that. And the bees are watching my mom. The bees. Oh, God, we hated the bees. Oh, you hated to be by the costume was just so uncomfortable. We couldn't pee. You know, It just. And in those days, was it still like your writing? And then there were still, like, a like a room full of writers. Also, Like, everybody was 13 writers.
No. Danny of the cast. Danny pretty much Was the writer a big writer. Oh, yeah. And Gilda collaborated with Alan Zweibel. Mm. You know, I brought stuff from the Groundlings. I brought some of the characters and some of the monologues that I'd performed at the Groundlings. But then a lot of the characters I got from the writers, which was always fun. Yeah, I loved doing that. It was like some back and forth or like, collaborative use. Like if you had an idea.
What's crazy is how, like, I feel the first few seasons of SNL are so pervasive culturally, but so many people like there's a like The Source family, which is my favorite cult ever. Source family. They had the vegetarian restaurant on Sunset, right? Right. Oh, my God, Yes. I ate there all the time. And y'all are all have a sketch about it on SNL. We do? Yeah. You're one of the like servers. And you're like, What do you want to mind me again, dear? You're guessing their astrological sign.
You're like, You're an Aries, aren't you? They're like, Actually, I'm a Pisces like that. I totally had Pisces. So it's one of those you enter the source. Oh, yeah. We never really did have those incredibly beautiful girls with flower garlands on their head and these flowing white dresses. And they were the servers there. So were you. Like, were you into that whole like, I like the L.A. culture of that time, or at least the Hollywood sunset. Were you absorbed in that?
Were you like an outsider or did you feel because you were in all these spaces? Yeah, but comedy was my focus. I did like music and I did I like the blues. And so the Ashgrove, which is now the Improv, was a great club to see blues artists. I mean, I saw everybody you can think of. There's a movie called Cadillac Records that Adrien Brody stars in, and every act in there except for I think, Little Walter I've seen live. Wow. So you know, that was a great education I saw.
And this was a moment for me at the Hollywood Palladium. I saw David Bowie, his first tour. Oh, what that is like, cut to like, I don't even want to say how many years later I'm there for Skrillex. Ha ha. There you go. That's incredible. Yeah. Yeah, I love it. Yeah. Because, like, I worked with someone who had, like, met Bowie. I'm like, Do you ever does that? Not the day you quit, you're like, Well, I've done it all. Yeah, You know what I'm about. Have you met Bowie?
No, I kind of felt that way. I did it just one curve episode and and I played Albert Brooks's girlfriend, and that to me, was it because I. Wow. I just think. Yeah. Laurier an East Coast girl. Yeah. When did you move to L.A.? I moved here 20 years ago. With dreams of becoming a beard that I couldn't do anyway. Yeah, but wait. When did Laura meet Lorraine? Lorraine? I was trying to remember this. I think we were at a club, and I'm one of these assholes.
After, like, even the third or fourth time, somebody tells me they don't drink cake. I have. Can I get you a drink? I know you can't give me a drink. Oh, that's right. You know, I'm one of those. Was that baked? Oh, that's right. The at the one potato or whatever. Yeah, the big potato tater. And I will never forget seeing Andy Kindler play and sing All Along the Watchtower on the electric guitar. Yeah, that was. I kept saying, Dude, why don't you put that in your set? Yeah, Yeah.
It's just like, whatever. Yeah. No, it's quite another thing. We have to lug an instrument with you. It really changes it, I suppose. Yeah. So I'm talking to two SNL alumni, and it's like, I know there's definitely. There's an interview with Gilda with like, do you miss it? And she's like, Only when I see something in the news and I wish I could parody it. Like, if you see something happening, is there ever a time you're like, Not that you want to be on the show now, but is it do you miss it?
I guess. I love Sketch where the 40th anniversary was so fun because I had always wanted to be in the Californians. Oh, you got to merge. Yeah. Yeah. And even like, when I heard that they were going to do a 40th anniversary, I called up Lorne and I said, Look, I think since most soap operas have a matriarch, I think it would be really fun if Sherry was the matriarch for the Californians. And I thought, That'll never happen. Click, you know?
And then Fred Armisen got in touch with me and we sat in my kitchen for three days and wrote something, none of which was used by God in the kitchen. One. Yeah, Yeah. What is that like? I guess for both of you, Like if you have an idea and you think it's good, do you have like, especially season one or something like that or your first year on the show? Laura No, I had a terrible time, so I know, you know, you talk about it, but I know, but I think like a lot of people had a terrible time.
It's a it's a grind. It's like a high stress. And I think I got there right in the pit of the frat. But yeah, it was always hard with them. Again. Yeah. Was there we had. Do you feel resistance like just even like I'm a woman. I have an idea, like in a big o, like group of dudes. I mean, I think like, yeah, they were times. I mean, I think even now, like, I'm writing on a show and I kind of feel like I'm talked over more. Then the men start talking and then I'll pitch an idea or something.
That's okay. And then then 2 minutes later, another guy will say, This is exactly your idea. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, let's do that. But we need to pull out like a bonnet. And every time that happens, you just put the bonnet on and just fold your hands. You know what I mean? Yeah. Try to get Colonial on. Or a clown horn. That's the other. I never. Yeah, but I feel like. I mean, that standup to me is like the one release where it can really do stuff and I'm not edited or whatever.
I mean look and you probably feel that way about, you know, when you're doing improv and stuff. Yeah, I still do improv. The Groundlings, We do this kind of alumni class and we do have people from, you know, later iterations of the Groundlings, so we have some some youngsters in there. But Saturday I do this improv class and it's so much fun. That's amazing. Woo is every Saturday and you do it at the It's a little theater in the valley.
Oh, wow. Yeah. So where did where did you first start doing sketch? Like, where did you start going out first? The Groundlings. That was the first time you went on? Yeah, I mean, in high school. And we had a very actually well-known drama teacher of Beverly Hills High School named John Engel. And he I don't think he knew what to do with me, but he encouraged me. And, you know, I was learning mime at the time, too.
Don't judge. No. Martin Luther Ball says that she was mime is one of the most divine things you do. 100%. Yeah. And it's bless her. She taught college. Taught college. I heard about that. Oh, wow. There's a bootleg of her. Sherwood Oaks, not Sherman Oaks was Sherwood Oaks, which I think was a college in Hollywood. And there's like a three hour bootleg of like 1970s IRA, like Lucille Ball.
And it's fascinating. Wow. It's fascinating because she put some students in their place and there's one point where she corners a dude to name people who mime, actors who mime. And the guy can't answer the question. It's just like John Houseman in the paper Chase to be like, you were taking things like mine and stuff like that. Yeah, I, I was studying. I saw Marcel Marceau at Royce Hall, and I went backstage and I said, Can you recommend a teacher here in L.A. Mm hmm.
So he recommended this guy, Richmond Shepherd, and I studied mime with him, but I also learned improv, and I was 16. So this is the first time, you know, I was exposed to the violence Bolan games and my mime technique, so that when I, I did study with Marcel Marceau in Paris, I was like one of the few people that had any technique. Wow. You know, it was kind of like it was more of like a hippie notion, like, you know, people who would, you would see probably at the Renaissance Faire.
Yeah, I, I go to Paris and study mime, you know, we talk about that really fast because you say you were followed like you never pictured yourself having, like a career career, but you're following all these lines. I followed my passions and my interests, and your parents said, okay, go to Paris and mime. They were fine with it. Well, what happened? See, what happened was I auditioned for the acting schools in London. Oh, wow.
And they all have, like, a preliminary audition that's done in the States. And like, for RADA, there are 300 people out of that group. They take 80. So I made the 80 group. But the final audition was in London. Oh, wow. And I was rejected by all three schools and, you know, sobbing on the phone to my parents. And my mom said, Hey, why don't you go check out Marcel Marceau in Paris? So that is what I did. That's so cool. And your parents are artists really at heart also, too, I suppose.
I mean, my dad was a really funny guy and, you know, comedy was definitely currency in our house, But my dad was a quilt manufacturer. Okay. Amazing. Yeah. And my mom was kind of she was a self-taught decorator. You know, decorating is kind of a common like occupation for middle class women. But she was really talented. I was looking at I think I was just looking up a an actor. And there were so many, like, obituaries or whatever where they said that their wife was a homemaker. Yes.
And I was like, I'd like to do that now. Just be a homemaker or homemaker. Yeah, it's a shame they didn't just say home builder, Do you know what I mean? Like, why homemaker sounds so baked? I mean, it sounds like something with frosting on it. Yeah, well, some guy did this really great thing about describing the real job of a mother, and it's like, you know, financial advisor,
uh, educator. Mm. Cook. You know, I mean, but then he, he took these occupations and did like, you know, a more technical term for these, which is accurate. Yeah. Yeah. And I really appreciated that. I wish I could remember his name, you know, growing up here and, you know, being friends with kids whose parents are movie stars or whatever, you get to see them in their everyday life, you know, and you realize that look like any other company town, I swear to God.
I mean, nobody believes me, I suppose, but this is just like any other company town. It just so happens that the enterprise here is glamorous, you know? That's all it is. And people ascribe all of these characteristics to actors. That is so annoying and especially to people from Hollywood and Los Angeles. And I tell you, you know, us natives were not like that. Yeah. You know, usually the people that adopt the trappings of a faddish culture are from somewhere else.
Oh, yeah, I feel it moving here. I've lived here six years, and it's kind of the same as New York. It's very much that, like, the locals get a bad rap. And I think it's the invasives that give it the bad character and stuff, like the actual bad character in the Marine. What when you had, you know, your friend's parents who are movie stars, did you feel like they felt pressure to do the same thing or to be, you know, actors? I think they like the glamor. Oh, the kids.
Oh, there's nothing more tragic than that, right? You know, there were quite a few kids that that had talent and did well in the industry that their parents were in. And then there were those that didn't. And I just I remember at the time, because my parents were not in show business feeling like how lucky I am to have, you know, don't not have a legacy, you know, on my ass. Yeah, it's like overcome or climb over.
Yeah. What is it like the on Laura's question though because both of you have been on a show where it's just in flux. It's like a rotating like a door of just like, all kinds of celebrity, like, not just like actors, but musicians and things. How long did it take you to adjust to that? Because that had to be a huge leap from life in California, and all of a sudden you're in this like nexus of I mean, celebrity was different then, I would assume. Laura Oh, like, where do you answer that question?
Is it faze you? Do you, are you excited? Is it care or are you just there for the job and you're focused on your work? It was such an unromantic time for me there. I mean, for example, I think the only reason I got a sketch in in the year I was there was because Roseanne said she was going to call her agent if I didn't get my sketch in because I had a thing called it was a Women in Prison sketch, and I was the host of the Women in Prison, and it was called
Lock Up with Bobby Blake. Oh, yes, great. And I introduced Roseanne as the woman who owns me. And then one of the things, one of the things we had like a regular night show segment was these are these are items that we've made into ships. And one of them was a gun, you know, a gun that was appointed and that barely made it got it was the last straw. Great. Yeah. So but to me, it was really, you know, exciting to meet certain celebrities. Like, I was really excited about meeting
Bob Newhart and. Yes. Yeah, I love Bob Newhart. Yeah. I feel like he's super underrated. I'm like, living legend. Why don't people talk about, like, other comedians? Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. I'm just proud that his button was a button down humor. It was recorded in Houston, Texas. Oh, nice. Very nice. But yeah, it never made sense to me because my cousins always just had the drinking game. Hi, Bob. And I never knew that. And then. Then finally we there was a guy talking about Bob Newhart.
Like, really, every time something like that goes, Hi, Bob, you have to drink the numbers. Yeah, those are the old days. Oh, you know, did you your work with Bob Newhart? Yeah, he did. He did. Our show, I think season five. We did The Dating Zone. Oh, and Jane Curtin did one of my favorite characters that I've ever seen her do, which was kind of like a bull dike hairdresser, you know, I can't remember the name of it, but I talk about it in my memoir.
Fantastic. And yeah, it just and then Gilda has a character that is mentally challenged named Colleen. So she was one of the other bachelorettes. Oh, man, I was a dominatrix. It was. It was. So you have to remember what I'm going to look for that I, I was not starstruck with actors, but with musicians I was. And meeting David Bowie was. Did he do the show? Yes. Yes, he did it. And here's the, you know, circle of whatever.
When we started out in the Groundlings, before we even called ourselves the Groundlings, we were just like an improv workshop. One of the people in our company was a guy named Joey Arias, and he's like a very famous drag queen now. And I he I met up with him again in New York. He was working at Fiorucci, and I was supposed to get him tickets for the show and I forgot. So he told Bowie they were going to play a trick on me. You know, I didn't know he was singing with Bowie and class.
Naomi was there, too. And, you know, so I thought, Here's this strange friend of Joey's, and they're out on the floor and I'm saying, God, guys, how did you get here? I know I don't want you to get in trouble. And I do not remember this. Joey told me this happened, that Bowie came up behind me and hugged me, and he said, you know, because you forgot to get, you know, Joey tickets, I'm going to have him in my show. And then they both wound up on the, you know, class.
And Joey, well, my agent performed with him. You guys all left kind of at the same time, right? Like the original cast? Yes. Yeah. John and Danny left first, and then. Then we all left it at the end of five years, because that was the. That was the contract. Yeah. So it was like a not a good thing to leave, but it was like an easy decision to me. It was. I was homesick. God, I was homesick, and I knew what I would be facing. I knew how difficult the life of an unemployed actor was.
I knew how, you know, the disgrace of having been on a hit series and then not working. Yeah, you know, I knew all about that, and it was much worse than I thought really way. But but I was again, you know, I was a practicing drug addict, which didn't help. Right, right, right, right. Lorraine, when you say you knew how it was going to be, it was it because, like, maybe somebody in your neighborhood, you knew, you know, an actor that was a famous person.
There were character actors that I would see on the street in Beverly Hills, and they would absolutely look lost, you know, and like, yeah, did Frank Nelson, what happened to him? I don't know who that is. Yeah, you do. He's on Everything is Jack Benny. He's on all the FCC. Yeah. Yeah. I must. I don't know what happened, but he was like, a success after I dated him. No, wait. You said you saw Fred Astaire. I did see Fred Astaire, like on Rodeo Drive. Just walking around. Yeah, just walking.
And it was before he did that movie, Ghost Story, which had, like, I think Ralph Bellamy and Douglas Fairbanks Jr and it and he was very feeble, I remember. And I just like came up back of him and startled him and I was like, It's you. Yeah, yeah, yeah. And he said something like, Thank you, dear. It's nice to be remembered. No. And I remember thinking, Nice to be remembered. Are you kidding? He's a legend. Yeah.
And it's like when he did this movie, it just, like, brought him back to life because he was so frail when I saw him. Just to go back to that thing, when you had character actors in your neighborhood or were people that you knew and was it like a gossipy thing, like someone said, Well, they had they can't get work or it's just like a regular neighborhood. I think that was something that I intuited, Oh, yeah, you know, I could be wrong, you know?
But it just it looked it looked like their lives had become difficult. Yeah, I feel like there was my there's a weird thing in the seventies, particularly the eighties were like, everything's just changed. Like technology, fashion, like all the buildings, architecture, everything. Everything's so drastically different from, like, glamor, thirties, forties and fifties, like the 80, 90 Oscars.
One of those is where they hauled out every old act like a, you know, like Will Rogers and de, you know, they're all on stage. And it just was this huge clash just visually, you know, it's like the two worlds just really don't belong together like Fred Astaire. So interesting, you know, just the look of it, because everything about like, you know, where they came from, their version of like celebrity Hollywood, thirties, forties was slick and beautiful.
Yeah. Art Deco. And then because L.A. in the seventies was a little garish and oh, yeah, now yeah. And so there's like, it's like very casual. You're in another world, right? But yeah, there's fuckin Fred Astaire. Yeah. Feeling it. I, you have such a good memory. And the fact that someone your age knows who Will Rogers is. Al Gore's a Native American, by the way. Uh huh. See, they should have given that, like, because didn't he own all that land and then they took a lot of land. No, they didn't.
It wasn't like, no, I mean, and like Malibu and all that stuff. Like he didn't. Well, you know, he owned lots of land in Beverly Hills, that sort of was. But the government did not come in and say, yeah, no, didn't take it away from him, I feel like. So when you come back to L.A., what's the landscape like? Did it feel like a different world after New York? Oh, absolutely. But I was so happy to be home, but I was very much into my disease as well. And so because I did, it exacerbated.
When you come back to Los Angeles increase. Well, because I had so much time on my hands, you know. Yeah, it did. But, you know, I look back on I look at my IMDB page and I've worked ever since the show. It's just there are two years I didn't work, which was 91 and 95, and that's when I had my kids. Uh, so but it was God, I don't like talking about it because it's such a cliche, you know, actor addicted. But, um, I did get exposed to cocaine at Sawyer Business College. See, that's the way it
go. That's a street cred. I wouldn't, I wouldn't. Don't downplay that. But anyway, yeah, it's there is a lot of loss associated with drug use and I certainly experienced that loss. And at the same time I had terrible envy. Mm. You know, so that is a very painful confluence, you know what I mean? Because I know that it was I did this to myself and I'd see other people working on shows that I would like to work on. And so, but you know, I've been sober this month will be 36 years.
Yeah. And, you know, I've I've grown a great deal and, you know, I switched careers. I went into animation voiceover, which I absolutely love. And, you know, I feel very fortunate. Um, also really quick shout out because he did mention that the only time you are here is when you have kids is also Spike unloads this book. Oh, thank you so much. So good. Spike's got a great mind. Yes, very creative. And Hannah is great too. Thank you. Yeah. Have you got really funny kids, though?
I love spooky children. Yeah. Who? Yeah, Yeah, I guess so. Da. I love it. Yeah. When Spike floats in, I'm like, I want that love. Yeah, well, I have the distinction of having both my kids being Halloween costumes. There's a picture of two people as Julio and the water nymph. Amazing. And two people is Deborah Vance and Ava. I know. And this is that's. I do pretty cool in comedy.
I date myself because everybody loves hacks, but I'm always just like, I'm like, That is Charlie's Deerfield from Designing Women. I'm like, That's where my jeans are. So I No, I know. Oh, yeah, you didn't. I didn't see it. No, I didn't. I was not into comedy sitcoms. Yeah, it's, well, it's a very, very faggy that show. Like, it's like that's where my interest was. It's like a very. It's like a gay magnet. Mm hmm. But, yeah. Oh, I see what you're saying. That you recognized her
from that show. Yes. Yeah. Yeah, She's superb. One of my favorite jokes ever is from Designing Women, where their friend has gotten addicted to running, and they say she's so high on endorphins and delta. Burke's character goes, Endorphins. Where are you all talking about? Flipper. It's so easy. I love that joke. That one's forever funny. Yeah, it's like Golden Girls, But for closeted gay men. That's why I say about designing women like Golden Girls. But for men who don't know they're gay, too.
Yeah. So we're in, like, the eighties of, like, you know, like sitcoms or anything you want to, like, watch or. Yeah, like for, like, what were you you as a comedian, like when you were doing Groundlings and stuff? What inspired you or who did you like? I loved Madeline Kahn. Me too. Everything she did, her character work. What's up, doc? Like her and I mean, hilarious. I loved. I loved Blazing Saddles. And I thought, I think she was doing like a Marlene and yes, for sure.
Yeah. I'm so tired. I think she's amazing. She does. Marlena Dietrich with Gilda as Baba Wawa and they both are doing their WS and they confuse each other. They can't understand each other is a great sketch. She goes, I've had everything with dead even my way, or You're what she was my We are. You're aware of what? My God, you are encyclopedic. I love it. Madeline Kahn kills me, though. Yeah, I would say Richard Pryor, Madeline Kahn and Everton were my biggest shoes.
I feel the same. I've always. You love even I know you do. I just. You used just stage Doris. That would be. Oh, yeah. I love. And walking around with the cat. Oh, yeah. And she's great in Mildred Pierce, but her show, our Miss Brooks, I just. I loved it, really. And I watched it when I was really small because it was already in reruns. And. Yeah, you know, I was really little. I have a blindspot. I mean, I know it was her and Gail Gordon, right? Yes, I think. Oh, Gail Gordon was on.
Oh, he was on. Yeah. Lucille Ball thing late in the sixties and seventies and eighties. But also Richard Crenna played a teenager. Oh really. Okay. And he got the squeaky like that adolescent male voice that's cracking. He was able to affect that. It was so good. You know, the thing about Stage Door is that he the director, I forget who it is now, Pedro Berman or something like that. He would have secretaries eavesdrop and listen to all the actresses in their downtime and write down, Oh, my God.
And then the next day that would be in the script. Well, all the overlapping talking and stuff was like things that, like, you've never write. Isn't that really smart? Yeah. Because, like, ever leave in a room and and come back in rags? Yeah. I'm sorry, but it sounds like things they would say. I think that's where it comes in. Like they gave the actors their own minds, basically. Yeah. And that was so good. I know also when I was watching that movie, I just.
I was like, I had long hair and I want 1930s hair, you know, I go to sleep in the low and then the curls like I want that Veronica Lake right. And Everton. So those are like the three, those were like when you looked at like I hope she made you laugh like that. But also her character work was unlike anything I'd ever seen and so personal to her. And those characters appealed to me a lot. Did you ever see her in mixed nuts? That nicey Martin movie? No. She plays Mrs. Mutchnick. I don't remember.
She gets trapped in an elevator and then you never see her again, right? And then like 30 minutes later, you just hear Madeline Kahn's voice go, Hey, okay, I'm still in the elevator with that amazing soprano that she has her voices. Why are you guys did you guys hang out at all or did you not really know? But did you? Me? Yeah, she did our show twice. Oh, yeah, I was on. Yeah. Yeah. I'll do, like, the sleepover sketch. We did that and we also did. She did The Bride of Frankenstein. Yeah.
That was so great. But the one is that it's you, Jane, Gilda and Madeline, right? And you all are doing like the sleepover, you know? Yes. What do you think of when you think of those years in terms of content? And. Yeah, I was just like, Wow, what was the rain like? What were you what was your like perspective at that time? You're like, I'm doing it. I'm killing it. I'm scared. I'm fake. No, I did not think I was killing it at all. Why?
Well, because it's it's really you're slaying the air time Dragon every night or every week and just trying to get stuff. Trying to be in the show. Oh, yeah. And everybody felt that. I mean, it's only later that I've gotten the perspective that everybody went through stuff like that, right? I felt that like Jane and Gilda were doing well, but I thought that I was like, invisible. So, you know, that was a tough thing for me.
But, you know, as time has gone on and I've had to like, look at some of the work because someone's want me to put a real together, I was like, That's not as bad as you thought it was. You. Yeah, it's like your driver's license. You know, all these pictures sucked ten years later, so I like. Good. Would you even like you to, like, would you watch it? Would you go back and watch yourself while you're on the show? Do you mean like in like that week? Would you go back and watch your sketch?
The only thing that I laughed about when I was on the show was I was my dressing room drinking and the blood frogs came on the commercials. But that was the only thing I laughed about that whole year. Oh, that's so funny. And that's why I want I like to actually that's why I like to write and direct commercials, because I really think a lot of that's the market. So when you you guys met after you were on SNL? GORE Yes. Oh, yeah, we were. Yeah. Yeah, we met. Like what?
Probably like, well, the first time I met you, you were with Jack Black, and it was a screening that Julia Sweeney put together. Oh, I love Julia Sweeney, but I didn't actually meet you. I just, like, saw you. And I, like. I love that girl. Oh, we didn't even meet that time. I don't remember when we met. Yeah, I feel like it was. We were at some club with Greg Behrendt, and he was like, That's Lorraine Lewin.
Yeah, but I don't want to go over there because I said he was saying that he was here and I said, I'm afraid to go over and say hello. All right. Just said like, What am I going to do? Just sit? And then he introduced us. I felt like, or maybe that was something I don't know. I felt they were inseparable now, though. Yeah. Yeah. Sean at the here. Yeah. Yeah. You breezed by me. Like I said, it was the year in Santa monica, and you said I really enjoyed your set and you were just on your way out.
I remember I looked and I was like, Oh my God. And I was like, She was already gone. I was like, It probably best that she walked away. I was like, Unload. But like, I've a thousand questions asked. Yeah, I love comedy. I still go and see it when I can, you know? But my God, when meltdown was still there. I know. And there was such a, you know, the alternative comedy scene in I guess it was the 2000s, tens, you know, around that time it was just thriving. And I went to see everything.
I was so inspired by it. That's the one thing Pandemic really did was like squash the alt scene for right now. And like the store and the improv were kind of back behind the times. Totally packed. Yes. When the store opened, was it I mean, I can say iconic, but it was like a big deal. It was a big deal. And I was too young to get in, except once the Groundlings auditioned because they were doing a new Smothers Brothers show. Oh, I love. So we won.
I was able to go in even though I was under 21, really, because one of the Smothers Brothers stopped my mom in an airport and told her she had nice perfume. She smelled good. I know. I was like, Which one? She can't remember which Smothers Brothers, but I, in looking back on them too, seems like it would be Tommy Wright, the cute one. But they were canceled for being scandalous, right? Yes. Yeah. Politically, yeah. Yeah. Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. But they were good. Yes, their show was good.
And then Steve Martin and Carl Gottlieb were writers on that show. I really. Yeah, I did. Steve Martin has always reminded me of my dad. Just looks like not an age thing, but it just has, like, kind of similar features and stuff. Mm hmm. He is from Texas. That's up in Orange County. But he's from Waco. Yeah. Yeah, he's from. Which is Waco, I believe so. I did not know that. I think so because it's my.
Yeah, I'm fifth generation Texan and way back when we started Waco which is I know I should have been at that cult compound. We were, you know, talking about the I didn't know that we'll Rogers was Native American and I was, I was trying to get a job writing on. CONAN And this is just at the start of diversity hires, you know, pretty much which, you know, should always be. But and then I said to my mom, is there any truth to it?
So she always thought that my great great grandfather was Choctaw and so they were looking through it. And she goes, Well, yeah, well, you know, so and so trace back and ah, the last name was Fly just fell y. And I was like, Damn, I wish I knew that could have been Laura Fly. That's so much better than this little drag ass long dog name my name. But anyway, I mean, that's good. We really into it.
And I said, Well, I wonder how much research they're going to do, because then my Aunt Joyce, who I was always think of, because we're like the only tall women in our family, in the whole family, because he was not Choctaw. He lived on a reservation because he was a drunk. And he was that would take him in. They thought it was a drunk and he lived on the reservation, so they him. But he was not shocked. And so we were just like, okay, yeah, figures. We're just pure white trash, right?
My great grandmother was four. I knew her. She was born in 1895. It brutal. Oh yeah, She lived to be 98 and she lied to everybody and said we were like Cherokee Comanche stuff. Well, like my parents did the swab test, and we're. I've been, like, 100% Welsh. There is nothing. Oh, there's nothing cool. I know. But we were like, Well, that's what you give her believing somebody from the 1800, you know, And they're like taking their, you know, medical advice.
I did 23 and me and it said that I was 99% Ashkenazi and I told Spike and they said to me, No shit. See the younger generation, Yeah, I know this has been really fun. I feel like I want I'm like, I need like a what's the after hours Oprah used to do where they kick the audience out and then they just, like, have like the like I want the dirt. I want all this stuff.
Who is someone that you were, like, intimidated to meet, to work with because they feel like on SNL you kind of like are at that level, like you're working with them. Well, as I said, I was not intimidated by actors. It was exciting because that was like, Yeah, but also I grew up around them, you know? But I do have to say that Christopher Lee, you know, I had lobbied for him because I, I loved him and I lobbied for him to be a host for like three years.
And finally he was in like a a James Bond movie. So then he hosted and that was pretty exciting for me. That's cool. I wonder. I know. Or I just want to talk about Universal ghosts. I go, See, I love that guy. Yeah. He lived in the valley or he lived in Beachwood. No. Yeah. Are you serious? Yeah. I read this thing about where he lived. That's on Beachwood. And then, like, when the offers kind of, like, dwindled, Kind of.
He lived in this house up on Beachwood and then kind of just kept moving down, like, damn near the airport. Oh, no. I mean, hooray for Hollywood. So depressed. I know, but the editor would like the actual editor would. He has to like the last shots. He just did bellow, like at his house or in the yard. And I think that's what is in plan nine from outer space.
But if you extracted from the Martian movie, just look at it like, Oh, it's just this like old Hungarian man, like, Yeah, hanging in the yard, like missing his wife kind of thing. I love Bela Lugosi. Yeah. Yeah, me too. His candidness about his addiction at the time and coming out, I thought was a big deal. Like him going to, like, I don't. I didn't know he was candid about it.
Oh, he was in the press in the paper when he was in detox a couple times they tried to make like a show of it or something like. But he was like, there's photos of him like on the bed or something. Yeah. How can you have such an archival compendium? That's all I see. I know, but I don't know what compendium means. Brought me right down to the level still from Texas. I mean, no, they don't teach us to read. Just we just learn. It's your box of information. There it is. I always thought that too.
Like the the Hollywood. You know what the the Walk of Fame or whatever. This Hollywood stars should all be in a rehab facility. All those stars. They shouldn't. It has nothing to do with Hollywood Boulevard. Yeah, exactly. Well, chances of that. Yeah. Charlie Tuna still has his star, and he. Tuna has a star. Yes, he does. It's fucked. I know. I didn't know that. That I found out that you have to pay to have a star. It's $50,000. It is, But there's an annual fee, too. Yeah, there is.
You got to pay someone to sweep it or something. Yeah, Yeah, they call it a, they call it a maintenance fee and it's $50,000 and it's just like, oh, why don't we why don't we say no to that and then keep somebody alive for $50, have a shelter or something for that crazy. I do. I just found out that you do have to pay for it. So every time I see someone get, like, their star or who who paid for it, Right.
Because it's it's a lovely thing to get unless you're self-financing, then it's like, well, I want to star. I like a star, but I'd rather have, like, my house fixed. Yeah, I need it or buy it. I need like, new window tent or like we have to buy our tickets to Iceland. I'm not happy with my neck, you know, None of us are. I see. Look at me. I'm the most. I've got my neck hidden. You all are out there in the open. I'm so.
I'm so psyched about this that we had that we have Lorraine here on what we thought would happen. And we. This is what you thought would happen. I never thought this would happen. I mean, I'm really psyched. I'm psyched to have good friends that are really funny. Like, you know why? I know it's you know, I know I feel lucky coming from Laura. I don't think Laura knows how funny she is. Like, I don't think she registers how funny she is. Yeah. See, my kids are super Jews. Oh, I don't know.
How about how well they went to Hebrew school? No. And they went. They were both bar mitzvahed. But I know nothing. My Jewish education came through their preschool. You know, which is a really great way to be introduced to it. But, you know, I still I just, you know, and this is not for your podcast, the problem with organized religion. Sure. Oh, hello. No, that's for the fellow. Yeah, we don't like it. Like what? Now? Are you in? Yeah. Yeah. Cause, yeah, I was.
I said earlier that a really good friend of mine became really religious. She was my best friend in high school, and my thing was we, when we were like, green, to possibly give these guys blowjobs. A case of blasphemy, married to God at that it didn't like. I don't remember her being so religious. She's really religious now. Isn't that a shame? I hate that. It's like I really applaud people, like I like people who get sober and things like that, which is such a struggle.
But I hate when they get sober and find the Lord like this. At the same time. It's like so abysmal. I'm like, I liked you better when you were a Satanist. Like, you know, I know. But the thing about AA is they don't insist on you having it's like a god of your understanding. And that's I it's like for me, it's, it's my group.
It's the people in the meeting that are kind of like, you know, my the guardians of my humility, you know, I guess they come from Texas where everyone's like George W Bush, like born again. It's like that degree of like, yeah, unrelenting. Like we gave up once or never losing it again. Kind of like, well, fundamentally, yeah, live and let live thing has been complete eradicated. Yeah. Yeah. Just ah. Also just don't tread on me. We should bring that one back.
I feel like they sort of say the same thing. Well. Well, Lorraine, do you have a book or a memoir where people can find article? The article? Remember, I have your I do have a memoir called May You Live in Interesting Times and it is exclusively on Audible. Yes. Yes, I can listen to it. Wherever you can hear. We do. Yeah, we've got to get that on. This was so fun. May you like you guys? May you live in interesting times. I like that. Thank you so much. This was so fun. Yay!
Laura, you're an interesting time. Yes, you are. Really? Yeah. Oh, that's really good. Happy to be here. Thank you. Well, thanks for listening. I'm. I'm Laura Fly. And I'm Daniel Ashkenazy. And I am Maria, Aspen skier. Yay! Woo! Thanks.