Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:11):
Well, hey, everybody, how are you. It's me Rosie O'Donnell.
Welcome to the podcast Onward with Rosi o'donald. That's me,
how are you. I'm doing pretty good. This is the
week two of Pride Month. We kicked it off with
the wonderful Holland Taylor, and I was so happy that
everyone enjoyed that interview. We got so many comments about
(00:34):
how wonderful she was and what great topics we discussed.
And you know, it's wonderful when it all works out
and then you guys appreciate it. So leave us a
little note or a little voice memo if you have
a comment or anything about this podcast, and we will
we will get to it if we can. All right, Well,
(00:54):
what can I tell you? I am so excited because
I am headed out this weekend. You know, it's a
couple of days. It's well, actually it's the eighth of June.
On the tenth of June, which is two days from now,
I'm going to be seeing Joni Mitchell in concert with
Brandy Carlyle, who put it all together and kind of
(01:15):
started this remounting of Jonie's performing with the Newport Festival.
And I just couldn't be happier. We're going to Seattle.
We're going to the Gorge, which is apparently very cold
at night, but we've got some warm clothes and I
got a Jony hoodie that I'm wearing. And I can't
(01:35):
even tell you how much she means to me and
what an influence she has had on my, you know,
emotional life, and boy, I can't wait to tell you
all about it next week as we we unload or
download or whatever you call it the next episode. But
this episode, I think you're going to love and know
(01:56):
you're going to love. In keeping with our Pride Month guests,
we have the wonderful, talented Bridget Effort. Bridget Effort is
so gifted. She's an amazing singer. She was a cabaret
and still is a cabaret star for many years in
New York at Joe's Pub, having a rowdy, rambunctious act
(02:19):
filled with kind of pathos and humor and drunken funniness.
Is that a way to describe it, I'm not sure,
but she was often called her husband called the modern
day Bette Midler. Right, very similar antics in a way
and cabaret. Although we know Bett started at the baths.
(02:39):
I don't believe that Bridget did, but you know, we'll
find out, won't we. So it's a wonderful, wonderful conversation.
I hope you enjoy it. She and I got to
know each other a couple of years ago when I
went to see her perform with Natasha Leone and Rose
McGowan down at the Joe's Pub and I was totally captivated,
(03:00):
a little frightened really at what she was doing, and
got to know her through my friend Carolyn Strauss, who
we speak about in this interview. She's been my friend
for thirty years and she was the head of HBO
back when HBO was amazing, and she's now doing this
show on HBO for Bridget Everett somebody somewhere, and I
(03:21):
love it. If you haven't seen it, please watch it.
It's on Max also known as HBO Max. But what
happened to the HBO don't ask me, but it's a
great show and it's just been picked up for its
third season. Since we recorded this. Also, since we recorded this,
very sadly, Bridget's mom had passed and she needed some
time to work that through herself and just sort of
(03:44):
told everyone about it just this week, so we don't
get to discuss that in the podcast, but we do
talk about her mom and how great her mom is
and at the time is I guess and was, and
you know, our condolences go to her. I sent our
a little text, and I know how hard that is.
No matter what age you are, no matter what age
(04:05):
your mom is, that's a grief that can't be spoken,
as they said in Les Miserab So listen, I'm very excited.
We're gonna have some questions at the end, and sit back.
Here's the conversation.
Speaker 2 (04:19):
Bridgid Effort, Hi, bridget Everett.
Speaker 3 (04:34):
Where how are you?
Speaker 2 (04:35):
I'm very good. How are you?
Speaker 3 (04:37):
I'm good.
Speaker 2 (04:38):
It's been like a whirlwind in your life.
Speaker 1 (04:40):
Would you say since the last three years, it's been
a crazily successful, wonderful show on HBO starring you number
one on the call sheet?
Speaker 2 (04:51):
And how does that feel?
Speaker 4 (04:53):
I mean, I wouldn't say crazily successful, but I we're
doing all right. You know, we don't have those Game
of Thrones numbers, but no.
Speaker 2 (05:00):
I mean it's so well received.
Speaker 1 (05:01):
It's such a beautifully done show and different from anything
that you've seen on before.
Speaker 2 (05:08):
It got picked up. It's doing really well.
Speaker 5 (05:11):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (05:11):
I think it's a perfect slice of life kind of
vignette into a world that I never got to see Kansas.
What do I know from Kansas? You know, from the Midwest,
and we don't really get to see what life is
like in the middle of the country on our television shows,
and this show grabs it in all its beauty.
Speaker 4 (05:33):
Well, I mean, I'm from there, so it just seemed
like a you know, when Paul and Hannah, who are
our show creators, pitched the idea of doing a show,
because you know, well, I I don't want to walk
it back too far. But basically I started working with
our friend Carolyn Strass and then she suggested Paul and
Hannah to do the show with And anyway, they pitched
the idea of Kansas, and I was really excited, but
also kind of terrified because you know, you kind of
(05:55):
don't want to mess up the place where you're from.
You know, I got my brother's lives there, you know,
my my family, you know some of my family, and
it's just like I did not want to jack it out.
Speaker 1 (06:05):
Right, you didn't want to sort of talk ill about it.
Is that when you were worried it would be like that,
you guys were.
Speaker 4 (06:11):
Well, just just to misrepresent it, you know, because no
place is perfect, right, there's definitely people there.
Speaker 3 (06:19):
You know.
Speaker 4 (06:19):
There's a line in the pilot episode, love the Sinner,
hate the Sin that the character Tricia says to my character,
and that's something that two of my friends have, Two
different friends of mine from growing up, had said about,
you know, my gay friends, and I was like, you know,
so there are limitations obviously by legislation you can see
what's happening in that part of the country, but sure,
but there's also a lot of great and wonderful people,
(06:41):
and I just didn't want them to feel like caricatures.
Speaker 6 (06:43):
I wanted to feel like real people.
Speaker 1 (06:45):
Well, the writers have hitted it, and I think you
guys improvise a lot. I've heard right that they get
what they need and then you have a real kind
of free way to play, you know, to add.
Speaker 4 (06:57):
Yeah, but the idea is not like it's like, you know,
I'm one of the writers too, so that certainly helps
to get kind of the language right. But we do
like some fun runs, but not in the way of
like you know, bump set Spike jokes. You know, it's
just more conversational and like if there's anything you can
kind of bring into it that way, because anytime it
feels like you're trying to I don't know, I don't
(07:19):
want to, you know, use a specific persons name, you know,
like there's certain movies in a style of like sort
of topping each.
Speaker 3 (07:25):
Other with the jokes at the end of the scene.
Like we didn't want to.
Speaker 2 (07:27):
Do that very stand upy right would Yeah, just yeah, that.
Speaker 4 (07:31):
Wasn't the goal for this. I mean, I can certainly
enjoy a show like that, but we didn't want to
do that for this.
Speaker 1 (07:36):
Yeah, And I read which I could not believe that
you never took acting lessons.
Speaker 3 (07:41):
No, I mean I probably should.
Speaker 2 (07:43):
But you should not.
Speaker 1 (07:45):
You're doing and honestly, it's such an honest portrayal and
so real and defined.
Speaker 2 (07:51):
It's a beautiful performance.
Speaker 4 (07:53):
I think that a lot of that is due to
feeling supported by the people around me, you know, Carolyn
Paul and Hannah and everybody on set, you know, our DP,
Shawna and the directors, like every it just feels like
we're all kind of doing this fun little thing together.
It's like a secret and so it doesn't feel like
really pressurized, like you're not showing up on set with
(08:14):
you know, Julia Roberts.
Speaker 3 (08:15):
You know, you just like it's just.
Speaker 1 (08:16):
It's you hanging out with your friends who were actors
and are great. Yeah, you know, because I know that
you and Mary Catherine, who plays your sister Tricia, that
you were roommates for a very long time, right when
you were.
Speaker 6 (08:28):
Ten years Yeah.
Speaker 2 (08:29):
Wow wow.
Speaker 4 (08:30):
Any the truth is she she was, you know, there
was a different Tricia and the pilot and then they
didn't want to come back for the when we.
Speaker 6 (08:40):
Got picked up.
Speaker 4 (08:41):
So I didn't even pitch Mary Catherine. Amy Gravitt did
at HBO, and I was like so excited because Mary
Katherine is one of my favorite actors. She's so talented,
she's so nimble, she's so funny, and like I've always
loved her as a performer us and like we're really
good friends.
Speaker 6 (08:56):
I'm like, I can't act with a friend because I'm
not an actor. I'll just giggle the whole.
Speaker 2 (08:58):
Time, right right, But it just didn't.
Speaker 3 (09:01):
I don't know, it kind of worked out.
Speaker 4 (09:02):
But I also think like as far as the acting
thing goes, you know, from doing all the years of cabaret.
Speaker 6 (09:07):
I kind of learned how to like talk to people
or to sort of tell.
Speaker 3 (09:10):
A story in a way. Yes, so that was kind
of like my acting school.
Speaker 4 (09:14):
My acting school was at juzz pub in gay bars
and clubs, trying to engage an audience.
Speaker 3 (09:21):
You know how it is.
Speaker 2 (09:22):
I mean, I know how it is.
Speaker 1 (09:23):
And it's an interesting thing because it's so different, the
acting than the performing.
Speaker 4 (09:28):
Well, have you taken acting because you're a great actor
dies that?
Speaker 2 (09:32):
Or you just started to college for that?
Speaker 1 (09:33):
And I did take a lot of classes when I
got here and studied. I always wanted to be like
acting wise, like Geraldine Page. Like I remember watching her
and she was Irish, and my family, like parents liked her,
and I thought, well, when I get older, I have
that irish face. I could do those Geraldine Page roles. Now,
don't ask me why a ten year old kid was
(09:55):
thinking of Geraldine Page, but that's what I want. When
I was a kid and I I loved acting so much.
But unlike you, I cannot sing.
Speaker 2 (10:05):
You know.
Speaker 1 (10:05):
I did three musicals, but it was because they were
about to close and I could sell tickets. People enjoy me,
But I'm not not a singer. Anyone in the chorus.
When I was doing those shows, I felt so guilty
that I had like three songs and here was a
girl who had one line in the show could out
sing me in any day of the week. And you know,
(10:27):
just they weren't famous.
Speaker 4 (10:29):
Yeah, it's more than that. You got that star power.
That's you know, that's the bottom line.
Speaker 1 (10:33):
Yeah, Well I am lucky I do because I would
never have made it on Broadway. Now what about you
and Broadway? Why did you not go and do a show?
Like did you not go audition or.
Speaker 3 (10:44):
Oh sure, I auditioned.
Speaker 4 (10:46):
I've gone to the chorus calls, I've done all that,
but there was just no interest. But there is something
that I'm developing with Patti Lapoem We'll see how far
along that comes back. At this point, if I'm going
to do something, you know, eight shows a week, that's
a lot of hard work.
Speaker 2 (11:00):
It certainly is, I can't even imagine.
Speaker 3 (11:02):
I want to make sure I love doing it.
Speaker 2 (11:04):
You gotta love it.
Speaker 1 (11:05):
But anything with Patty Lapone, come on, Yeah, I mean
I heard she came and she saw you at a
show and she stood up and screamed, as.
Speaker 2 (11:12):
No one in the world like you is that true?
Speaker 4 (11:14):
That is one hundred percent true? And that's like that's
like can I cuss, yes, fucking I that's like a hole.
That was like it was a holy shit moment. Yes,
not only that she was there, and not only I
could hear her laughing, but then she stops traffic, She
stops the show to get up and say that. I
was really blown away of the generosity of that.
Speaker 2 (11:35):
You know, yes, you sort of, I don't know.
Speaker 3 (11:37):
I just couldn't believe it.
Speaker 2 (11:39):
And then she invited you to Carnegie Hall and you
sang with her, and.
Speaker 4 (11:42):
She invited me to sing with her Carnegie Hall. And
not only did she invite me to sing it Carnegie Hall,
she stopped the show and did like this basically a
longer version of that. If you have not seen Fridget Evert,
you must see her. You go to Joe's Pup, go
where she is performing.
Speaker 3 (11:57):
It will change.
Speaker 4 (11:58):
I mean, it was like so effuse, and I was like,
just like shit came up. It's like I can't believe
because I always I used to have this line in
my show. I may never played Carnegie Hall, but I
was there at Carnegie Hall with in my mind Broadway's
greatest living legends.
Speaker 2 (12:14):
Yes, and without a doubt, and then about.
Speaker 4 (12:16):
To come out and sing a duet with her. It's
just it's like one of those moments that you kind
of can't wrap your head around.
Speaker 5 (12:20):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (12:20):
So I'm so grateful that I grew up on Long
Island because I got to see her do a Vita
when I was in high school.
Speaker 3 (12:26):
Oh my god, I must have been incredible.
Speaker 2 (12:28):
It was unbelievable.
Speaker 1 (12:29):
It was one of the most unbelievable experiences I've ever seen,
you know, on a stage, and she commanded that role
and Mandy ptankin genius too. It was out of this world.
And you know, to be surrounded by Broadway my whole life,
my whole childhood. It really gave me a destination of
where I wanted to go to do what I wanted
(12:50):
to do. You know, there was a street, you know,
Hollywood seemed like such a far away illusion. I can't
imagine in Kansas. Like, how did you come up with
thinking the way to get into this entertainment industry is
to do a cabaret?
Speaker 2 (13:08):
Was it Bette Midler inspired? Was it?
Speaker 5 (13:10):
Well?
Speaker 4 (13:10):
That was that was an accident. But I did grow
up listening to you know, my mom was a music teacher,
so there was always music in the house, always like
singing around the piano, like on holidays, everybody drinking all
that business. But my mom always played Barry Manilow, Barbara Streisan,
Neil Diamond. And then I started to discover When I
discovered Bette Midler, I was like, holy shit. And then
(13:32):
also Debbie Harriett really loved so those were kind of
like some of the just the voice, I mean.
Speaker 3 (13:38):
But then the cool thing was, I.
Speaker 4 (13:41):
Mean, I guess the six kids and every you know,
and I was in the middle bedroom, so you could
sort of hear the soundtrack of everybody else's lives around you.
Like one brother was Rio Speedwagon, one was DeBarge, you know.
Then my brother would listen to Bread and my sister
would listen to Manilow. I don't know, so it was
like sort of like this, yeah, really cool kind kind
of musical education.
Speaker 3 (14:03):
But I don't know. All I knew is that I.
Speaker 4 (14:05):
Wanted to go to school for music, and I went
and studied opera, which was kind of wild because that's
not really.
Speaker 6 (14:13):
Who I am.
Speaker 4 (14:14):
But I loved singing that way, and it got me
to Arizona State. You know I got a scholarship.
Speaker 1 (14:17):
It good for you. We'll be right back with more
bridge and effort after this.
Speaker 2 (14:43):
What kind of student were you? Were you a good student?
Speaker 3 (14:46):
I was okay, you know, I was a good student
in high school.
Speaker 4 (14:49):
But when I got to college I kind of just
coasted buy And I remember I had this professor of
doctor Rogers.
Speaker 6 (14:54):
He sat me down.
Speaker 4 (14:55):
He's like, you have so much ability if you would
just apply yourself. And he was so heartbroken while.
Speaker 3 (15:01):
He was saying that to me. Right, But by that.
Speaker 4 (15:03):
Point I'd led a couple of years slide by, so
but that always kind of stayed with me. If you
just apply yourself.
Speaker 2 (15:09):
You know, it's all a takes Bridget come on.
Speaker 3 (15:12):
I mean, you know, it takes a lot of things.
But I don't know, I never really you know, my
mom would.
Speaker 4 (15:17):
Always had wanted to be a Broadway singer. She'd loved
Hello Dolly. She always saying Hello Dolly. That was like, yeah,
a real special thing for us. I have a lot
of videos of her singing that same song.
Speaker 2 (15:30):
That's what.
Speaker 1 (15:31):
But when did you first see Bette Midler perform? When
did you first actually see her on a stage? Was
it in a movie like in the row.
Speaker 4 (15:38):
It was like, yeah, all the you know, anything I
could get my hands on, you know, I saw The Rose,
of course, I saw all the different movies that came out.
I had that Uh oh god, what was the tape?
Speaker 3 (15:47):
You know what about?
Speaker 4 (15:48):
You know, you gotta have friend I loved. I loved
like just the sort of breath, breadth, breadth, you.
Speaker 3 (15:56):
Know, the one word.
Speaker 4 (15:57):
I'm looking of different things that she was yes doing
and I even in Kansas, I had heard about this,
like the Legends of the Bathhouse and that she was
doing it with Barry Manilow, who was also like such
a big presence from my childhood. I was just like,
I don't know, but I never saw any of those
tapes until years later, you know, until they're available on YouTube, right,
(16:18):
you know, some of those sort of grainy tapes that
are out there for Yeah, doing that.
Speaker 1 (16:21):
I think about kids today and how like we didn't
have an ability to consume Bet Midler on a computer
anytime we wanted, or Striy Sand. Yeah, we had to
wait until we were in adult years to get access
to it.
Speaker 6 (16:35):
Absolutely.
Speaker 4 (16:36):
Yeah, And you know, because I just didn't know anything existed,
you know, Like I went to I grew up in Kansas,
so you don't. I just didn't even none of this
was coming across my desk. I knew about Broadway, but
only like in sort of a like ethereal sort of
otherworldly kind of you know. We had a lot of
cast albums and you know, would listen to those and things,
and my mom loved ethel Merman, so we would talk
(16:59):
about her. And you know, there was like this Sophie
Tuckert joke around our house, so like I started to
his she was a little bit but I don't know,
Like I went to Arizona State and nobody was talking
about Avida, you know, like people just said, don't know.
It was just it was a world away. But I
knew that Bette Midler and Barry Manilow and Wie Harriet
all been there, So that's where I wanted to end up.
I just knew that that's where I wanted to go.
Speaker 2 (17:20):
And how did you end up there?
Speaker 1 (17:21):
How did you get from Kansas to living with Mary
Catherine and working at Joe's Pup? You did you do
places all over the country like I did, like ten
years on the road, or how did you get to
where you wanted to be?
Speaker 4 (17:35):
Well, you know, eventually I worked with this resort called
quis Asana in Maine, which is like a dirty dancing
kind of resort, and there was a lot of like
singing shows at night, wait tables during the day. But
it was during that time that I met a lot
of kids that were at Carnegie Mellon and Eastman School
of Music and like and all these different and they
were all going to New York and so I felt
like I was like, well, now's the time. And I
(17:56):
eventually moved there, and I was just karaoke bars for
a very long time.
Speaker 6 (18:01):
Early on, my friend took me to Keke.
Speaker 3 (18:03):
And herb show, remember Kiky in Her.
Speaker 4 (18:05):
Which I love, which is the famous you know, cabaret
duo here, and then also to a Murray Hill show
who is now Fredrick Cook on the show, and then
took me around to see some drag queens, notably Sweetie
who's now passed away. But Sweety was this incredible, incredible,
supersized I think she called herself the big titty honky
(18:26):
Tonk Mom or something like that, you know, and she
had this like mama tattoo on her arm, and I
remember like chatting with her after one of her shows
down at the Parkside Lounge, and she kind of heard
that I was a singer, and she just sort of
like took me under a wing. That dragon trans community,
like really took me under their arms and lifted me up,
but also showed me that there were no lines you
(18:48):
had to color in right like that. It was just
an explosion of kind of creativity that was like nothing
i'd seen. And that's where I discovered cabaret, which to
me is kind of like a stodgy word or whatever
not I'm not using the right terminology, but like, cabaret
isn't like a hip right right.
Speaker 2 (19:07):
To me, it is, but to other people it's not.
Speaker 3 (19:10):
To other people it's not.
Speaker 4 (19:11):
But there's a lot of people doing a lot of
really cool stuff with cabaret. Now that's different than what
I thought it was. Anyway, I didn't even know that
cabrea exist until I moved to New York.
Speaker 3 (19:19):
I didn't know about.
Speaker 4 (19:19):
Drag queens, I didn't know about drag kings, trans performers.
I didn't know any of it existed. But once I
found it, I was like, this is the shit's my people.
These are my people, right, And I didn't find my
people until I was like thirty, so, you know, or
however old I was.
Speaker 3 (19:33):
It just it takes the time.
Speaker 6 (19:35):
It takes.
Speaker 4 (19:35):
So I wish I would have had the opportunity of
living closer to New York and Discovery and things sooner,
and I probably would have applied myself, like doctor Rogers said,
I should have a long time ago.
Speaker 2 (19:45):
But what did the ll cool Jake tell you?
Speaker 3 (19:48):
Dreams don't have deadlines?
Speaker 1 (19:49):
That's right, dreams don't have deadlines. I thought, that's that's
a beautiful little story that I heard you tell on
a talk show. You know, what a beautiful thing you
heard him say that in an interview. Really stuck with you, right.
Speaker 3 (20:01):
Yeah, And you know, and I say it a lot.
Speaker 4 (20:03):
I've sat on stage quite a bit in interviews and like,
and people still just like, oh my god, that the
DDHD thing, that dream son have deadlines?
Speaker 3 (20:11):
I really you know, and the people like.
Speaker 4 (20:13):
Tag me about it, and yeah, I think it resonates
with people because it's it's true. It just feels like
there's so many you know, you're supposed to do things
by a certain age, you know, have success by a
certain age. But speaking of you know, living with Mary
Catherine you know.
Speaker 6 (20:29):
Through her.
Speaker 4 (20:29):
I met John Slattery because they've done a play together,
and I saw him at this like party for Madmen
or whatever, and I was talking to him and he's like,
you know what, Bridget, I didn't get successful.
Speaker 6 (20:39):
T He was fifty years old. Do you hear me?
Fifty years old?
Speaker 5 (20:41):
Right? Like?
Speaker 3 (20:42):
Right?
Speaker 4 (20:42):
I just feel like there are like people along the
way that are just like it's gonna happen. Just chill out,
you know, like give yourself a chance.
Speaker 1 (20:51):
Well, you gotta admit you're a force of nature on
that stage. I did not know what to expect the
first time I came in and I came in with
Rose McGowan.
Speaker 2 (20:59):
Do you remember that, Yeah, And we saw the fixtures recently, Dasha,
I was like, oh my god.
Speaker 1 (21:07):
And I was so confused about what part of it
was an act and what part of it was her.
So like I remember going backstage thinking, I'm going to
try to suss out whether or not this is an act.
Like I couldn't quite understand which part of it was
you and which part of it was just a character.
You know, but boy, are you a powerhouse and you
(21:27):
are absolutely brilliant at it. You do what no one
else besides Bett Midler in my history mind of cabaret
has ever done well.
Speaker 3 (21:35):
Thank you.
Speaker 4 (21:35):
I don't know, I think like it, just like I
didn't really go on tour until after I met Amy
Schumer and she took me out on the road, but
you know, I was mostly just in New York and
performing at a lot of gay bars and gay clubs,
and like you just sort of they welcomed, they welcomed
the madness and kind of encouraged and ate it up.
And so I feel that kind of guided me to
(21:56):
sort of landing where I did with a sort of outsize,
over size kind of will to beast thing on stage.
But it's also very empowering, you know, I can't imagine.
Speaker 1 (22:06):
I loved how you know me as being a overweight
person in my whole life. I like was like in
stunned at the courageousness and the self esteem.
Speaker 2 (22:16):
And I was like, oh my god, where do I
get some of that?
Speaker 1 (22:19):
Like I like to put a tower on before I
see the mirror in the bathroom. Like I like to
wear a hoodie all the time so no one can
possibly see any outline of my body. Like I have
like the opposite thing, And when I saw you do it.
That's the first word. I thought, Look how free she is? Well,
look how beautiful, free and kind of fantastical she is.
Speaker 4 (22:43):
But you know what's really interesting is like, first of all,
I don't know like how much self confidence I have
off stage sometimes, but there's something about doing it to
being there and sort of like having the microphone and
being control and sort of doing exactly what you want,
and then that people sort of the more they kind
of and they go along for the ride, the more
exciting it is in a way. But a lot of
(23:05):
that stuff about like the bralus and all that because
it came from my mom, because when I was little,
we used to go to the grocery store, we go
to food for us, and she would come in with
like her nightgown on and her slippers and underwear but
no bra.
Speaker 3 (23:18):
She just didn't give up, didn't give a shit, which is.
Speaker 4 (23:21):
She just kind of walked through life that way, and
like when we were getting ready in the mornings and stuff,
she'd be naked and my brother called them her beaver
tails because she has these long, long hand tits or whatever.
So I've sort of adopted that. But like, but she
just kind of had this freedness with her body, even
when we were little and we'd be downstairs watching TV
and her and her bedroom was above the TV room,
(23:43):
and she would come down the backstairs in her underwear
holding her tits, just like even if we had friends
over by the way.
Speaker 1 (23:53):
Yeah, no, our house was the opposite, the way opposite.
You know, we had a dead mother and a kind
of screwed up and a grandmother who couldn't see your
cook and I don't know, everything was scary.
Speaker 2 (24:05):
It didn't.
Speaker 1 (24:05):
There was no kind of freedom like that, you know.
I don't know if it was Catholicism, I don't know
why it was particularly or you know, maybe in therapy
this week we'll go through that.
Speaker 2 (24:16):
But I just was.
Speaker 1 (24:19):
I was in awe of you, and I was a
little nervous too. Did Carolyn ever tell you that I
get nervous Sometimes She's like, oh, yeah, come see and
blah blah blah, and Bridget's gonna be there.
Speaker 2 (24:28):
I'm like, I hope I don't say anything stupid.
Speaker 5 (24:30):
You know.
Speaker 2 (24:31):
She's like, why do you feel like why do you
feel like that? I go I don't know, I don't know.
Speaker 1 (24:35):
I feel like unworthy in a way of your my god, Well,
in a way, I really do. I feel a little
like you were the girl in high school that was
you know, out there, and I was the senior class president.
Speaker 2 (24:49):
I was the homecoming queen.
Speaker 1 (24:51):
I was you know, in high school, and you were
like Bette Midler, do you know what I mean?
Speaker 2 (24:56):
Like, I feel like I wouldn't have been the cool
kid in your world.
Speaker 3 (24:59):
You know.
Speaker 4 (25:00):
Well, I was a class president for a couple of years,
the younger year, and then I was also homecoming queen.
Speaker 6 (25:04):
Not to bray.
Speaker 1 (25:05):
Flout that I would have felt different had I known.
Speaker 3 (25:11):
That, but like I was, I felt like as the
people's queen, you know.
Speaker 1 (25:15):
Yeah, yeah, yeah, me too. Though truthfully I did too.
I won because I was funny. I was funny to
all the teachers and everything.
Speaker 4 (25:22):
You know, I think I was probably funny too. And
and also just like my brother, who my the the
number five or six sumber six, you know, he was
close to me an age, and he was just friends
with everybody and I and I feel like I'd learned
a lot from him. I just didn't have like a
cliquer group. I kind of was the same in a way,
sort of friends with everybody, friends with no one in
a way.
Speaker 1 (25:42):
But yeah, yeah, I had that too, interesting because I
had you know, we're five in a row and I'm
number three, but we all were a grade you know
apart in school, and my two older brothers were very popular,
and it really helped when I went to school and
you know that we had sort and the teachers kind
of tried to take care of us because they knew that,
(26:02):
you know, there was no parents at home.
Speaker 5 (26:04):
Kind of.
Speaker 1 (26:04):
Yeah, so I had like a wonderfully loving relationship with
the public school teachers that like has stayed all the
way through and it stayed my whole life. You know,
they're members of my chosen family, and it saved me
for sure.
Speaker 4 (26:18):
Yeah, I definitely had a couple teachers. Yeah, because even
though like my mom would be like walking through the house,
you know, there, we also had some it didn't always
feel like the safest place to be in my house, right,
but but you know, there's always like sense of humor
to kind of get through everything. I think that's some
of those are all very funny, just to kind of
(26:40):
as a survival mechanism.
Speaker 3 (26:42):
Right.
Speaker 1 (26:42):
You talk about how you are character Sam in your
Wonderful Show on HBO somebody somewhere that her sister has
died in the story and your sister has died.
Speaker 2 (26:51):
In real life.
Speaker 1 (26:52):
And when Carolyn, who I assume knew that, you know,
brought up the topic or the writers of what do
you think if we if we can go there, did
you have any reticence were you're thinking, I don't know,
how long had it been since your sister passed?
Speaker 3 (27:06):
Well, I mean it's been a number of years.
Speaker 4 (27:08):
My sister died in two thousand and eight, so, you know,
but it's something I never really dealt with, Like when
Paul and Hannah were pitching this the world kind of
you know, I just had a lump in my throat
the whole time because from my sister part of it
and the musical aspect of it, which music to me
is such a lifeline a connective thread to other people,
(27:30):
like totally, but I felt like it was important for
me to do something that I could relate to, not
that I was playing a sheriff, you know, who busted
up a sex trafficking or something. I needed to have
something that felt very personal because then.
Speaker 2 (27:44):
I knew I could kind of go there, yeah.
Speaker 6 (27:47):
Go there and.
Speaker 4 (27:49):
Do my best and not kind of try to sort
out how to feel, but just kind of have a
little comfortability. But you know, just as long as you
bring up Carolin, I just feel like I need to
like talk about her for a second.
Speaker 1 (28:02):
No, I would love to talk about her. She is
the smartest woman I've ever met.
Speaker 6 (28:06):
She's the smartest one I've ever met.
Speaker 1 (28:08):
And when you play scrabble with her, she has to
spot you fifty points because she went to Harvard and
she kicks my ass every time we play scramble. But
I think she's the closest thing I've had.
Speaker 2 (28:19):
To a sist.
Speaker 1 (28:19):
Her in the last thirty years of my life. We
raised our kids together, and she created all these shows.
I remember her showing me the first few shooting episodes
of The Sopranos at my house in New York City,
and I was like, this will never go anywhere.
Speaker 2 (28:37):
Shows you what I know?
Speaker 1 (28:38):
I'm like, this is I didn't have music yet, it
was just it was just the raw footage. But she's
such a genius, Carolyn Strauss, and she used to be
at HBO and any great show that you've loved on
HBO in the last twenty seven thirty years. She had
something to do with and how did you meet her?
How did you become friends with her?
Speaker 4 (28:59):
Well, Michael Patrick King from the Sex and the City fame,
he felt like we should connect. Well that's there was
some point like she called me because actually Paul and
Hannah were doing another show with HBO years ago that
never went and they and Carolyn's like, well what about
Bridget I think maybe she had seen my act at
that point or whatever. But Michael really sort of put
(29:23):
us together. He's you know, we were all going to
have dinner with my friend Craig, who's Michael's partner, and Carolyn,
and we're gonna go to jar there in uh West Hollywood.
And it's like, well, you and Carolyn meet first, and
I'm like so bad with new people.
Speaker 6 (29:36):
I get very nervous.
Speaker 4 (29:37):
And there's something about Carolyn that's intimidating at first, like
she's just nothing that she's doing, it's just you know,
she just has like a sort of she has a
quiet confidence about her that I found very unsettling at first.
But you know, she got her She got her Teetos
on the rocks and I got whatever I got to drink,
and you know, we made it through. But she's turned
out to be just an incredible presence in my life,
(29:59):
and this show not exists without her. And I feel
like we do all these things, and like she's so
quiet and behind the scenes about everything, but really she's
the guiding force, but totally the guiding light, you know,
like and really helps guide us the right ways and
has a big hand and like the story and the
writing and everything. And and also more than that, I
think what's so special about her is like she makes
(30:22):
you feel like an equal. Yes, I feel like we're
in this together, and I feel cared for and supported
and and like she believes in me and and that
is invaluable. I'm somebody that really struggles with believing in
myself and I think she sees that. And I get
cry just talking about it. But I support is invaluable there,
(30:43):
and I think it's why we're so successful.
Speaker 2 (30:45):
Honestly, Yeah, I you know what, I believe it too.
Speaker 1 (30:48):
I believe she sees the talent you she has the
talent writers, and she knows there's a match and there's
some synchronicity there and she can put everyone together and
you say, how wonderful the set feels. That's definitely from
the top. Yeah, And you know, it's on a set
where Carolyn Strauss is the EP. You're gonna be taken
(31:09):
care of and everything's gonna go smoothly and nobody's gonna
get feel bad. Yeah, and that's a tremendous accomplishment that
she's had.
Speaker 2 (31:17):
What a career. Imagine what a career, right right, And
you'll never find a better friend, never find a better friend.
Speaker 4 (31:23):
But I can also call her and be like, I
haven't made my papa today.
Speaker 3 (31:26):
So she's she understands.
Speaker 4 (31:28):
She gets a little poop humber too, which I think she.
Speaker 2 (31:30):
Loves a good poop joke.
Speaker 1 (31:32):
You know that that diarrhea scene went on a little
long for me, but I'm sure she enjoyed every second
of that.
Speaker 6 (31:38):
I got.
Speaker 4 (31:38):
Every time she watches that, she's cackling. It makes me
so happy.
Speaker 2 (31:42):
Yeah, that was so funny. It really was.
Speaker 1 (31:44):
And it was a great scene between friends because it
shows sort of how close they were that there were
no holds barred, so to speak.
Speaker 4 (31:51):
Yeah, there's no better way to show intimacy than that.
You know, I have a friend who was I was
on the phone with it inspired that scene.
Speaker 3 (31:56):
It's just like he's like, oh oh no, oh no,
that's awesome. I hear this, Capal. I was like, what
did you hang up the phone? It's like there was
no time. I'm like, all you have to do is
just push the button.
Speaker 4 (32:08):
But it was it brought us closer, so you know
what it takes and is it true?
Speaker 2 (32:12):
Lisa Crone wrote that episode.
Speaker 3 (32:14):
Lisa Crone did write that episode.
Speaker 2 (32:15):
I freaking love Lisa Crone.
Speaker 4 (32:17):
And you know that's that's one of the scenes, kind
of the least improvised scenes because she's written it so
well on it and then we're just you know, she
did such a great job.
Speaker 1 (32:25):
Did you ever see the play about her mom?
Speaker 2 (32:29):
It was called Well, no, I didn't see it, but
I'm familiar with it of course.
Speaker 1 (32:33):
Oh my god, Judy Hashagal, Judy hodgesh Well, you know
the older actress who's said thank you. There she is,
she's fantastic and everything, and she played this sort of
sixties hippie seventies mother who was now in her seventies
and not really you know. Well, and the daughter comes
to ask about their childhood, the grown daughter in their
(32:54):
forties and basically you know, the question is who gets
to get Well.
Speaker 2 (32:58):
Yeah, it was really moving to me.
Speaker 1 (33:01):
It was one of those shows where I went to
see and I was like knocked off my feet, you know.
I had to stay in the theater afterwards crying.
Speaker 3 (33:08):
You know.
Speaker 2 (33:09):
I hate when that happens in public.
Speaker 3 (33:10):
What have you seen recently like that? Anything?
Speaker 2 (33:13):
Well?
Speaker 1 (33:13):
I saw good Night Oscar with Sean Hayes and it
is just yes, And I met him at the You
I was there. Yeah, he's a great guy and talented man,
and I loved the play. I thought it was absolutely brilliant.
But that's Sean Hayes man, that's Sean Hayes.
Speaker 6 (33:31):
Jury.
Speaker 1 (33:32):
I went to see the Neil Diamond show and like you,
I grew up with him and Barry and Barbara and Bet,
and I was unprepared for how emotional I was going
to get during it. I don't know if you know
the premise of the show, but he's an older man
who's been diagnosed with Parkinson's and he can no longer sing,
and he's talking to his therapist and then they go
(33:53):
backwards in his life.
Speaker 2 (33:55):
Oh my god, and then Will.
Speaker 1 (33:57):
Comes out Will Swinson order McDonald's as Neil Diamond that
we know with the long hair, and then at the
end they sing together I am, I said, I was
like a blubbering mass of hysteria.
Speaker 3 (34:11):
Oh my god, I don't know if I can handle it.
Speaker 2 (34:13):
No, I loved it so much.
Speaker 1 (34:15):
And I saw Sweeney Todd, which was absolutely brilliant, and
that Annalie Ashford.
Speaker 2 (34:19):
You friends with her?
Speaker 1 (34:20):
Do you know her? Are you only the funniest human
singer alive? I don't know how it is to say
it right. She makes a laugh, like I saw Sweeney
Todd the original one and I don't remember it being
funny at all.
Speaker 2 (34:32):
Yeah, and this she made it very funny.
Speaker 1 (34:35):
And Jeff Groven was wonderful. And that young boy from
Stranger Things.
Speaker 3 (34:40):
Oh yeah, yeah, I don't know it.
Speaker 2 (34:42):
Yeah, I don't either. He was great though too, he
was really great.
Speaker 4 (34:44):
Well, I have to see all those. I definitely gonna
see a good Night Oscar. I don't know if I
can get take us to Sweeney Todd, but I'll try.
And then the Neil Diamond thing, I think that that's
gonna suck me up too much, but I'll get that.
Speaker 2 (34:54):
Just be prepared. I wasn't prepared. That's all I could say.
Speaker 4 (34:57):
The problem is like, once I start crying and a
thing like that, I can't, and it's like it's like physical.
Speaker 1 (35:01):
It's like, oh yeah, that it happens to me too, right,
and then people like look at me like I'm weird.
Speaker 2 (35:07):
I can't control it. It's funny.
Speaker 1 (35:09):
When I was watching show and perform, I was so
blown away and then you know, it wasn't a show
that would make you cry. It was it was a
really riveting performance. You're captivated by the story. But I
went backstage and I started blubbering yeah. And I hate
when that happens too, because then I'm completely out of control.
I'm like, it's not like I was preparing or I thought.
I was just like, oh my god, it's good.
Speaker 2 (35:31):
You know.
Speaker 1 (35:31):
I felt like I needed to get control of myself.
But it was brilliant.
Speaker 3 (35:36):
My friend Grady had the same, the same experience.
Speaker 4 (35:38):
He said he could he was it was out with
Doug because he's he's uh, Diana Martinez. He's my favorite,
one of my very favorite performers ever. If you can
see Diana Martina, you have to. But I con Pete
Town anywhere.
Speaker 6 (35:49):
Anyway.
Speaker 4 (35:49):
He was telling me about seeing it and he just
he's like afterwards, I started talking to Doug about it,
and I just started weeping.
Speaker 3 (35:56):
I couldn't stap with me.
Speaker 4 (35:57):
Yeah, exactly, which that's what's what better impact to have
than correct than that?
Speaker 3 (36:03):
I mean, that's incredible.
Speaker 2 (36:04):
Correct. And now are you in La now mostly or
are you in New York?
Speaker 3 (36:08):
I'm in New York, you are?
Speaker 2 (36:09):
Yeah?
Speaker 3 (36:09):
Yeah, I'm sitting right over here by my Amy's Sedaris.
So you can't see it. Well, no, you can see
they're listening.
Speaker 4 (36:14):
But there's a I got my little apartment. I took
my dog to daycare and then go pick her up
and we'll just keep living the dream.
Speaker 1 (36:21):
How is the new dog? I know you were in
love with Poppy? How is the new dog?
Speaker 2 (36:25):
Were you able? Yeah? Good?
Speaker 1 (36:28):
It replaced and kind of helped your heart a little
getting into it's taken.
Speaker 3 (36:33):
It's taken some time.
Speaker 4 (36:35):
Like you know, we just had our year anniversary and
I I was just looking at her and it's only
sort of post the year mark where.
Speaker 6 (36:42):
I'm like, oh, I've fallen in love with you.
Speaker 4 (36:44):
You know, it's it's it's weird because you kind of
I guess I was trying to like find a replacement
for Poppy, but Poppy was so special. Yeah, you know,
my little Palmerdian so beautiful and sweet and never barked
and just gentle. And then I got Lulu, who's who's
also a rescue but she's like, you know, she has
(37:06):
a lot of spunk and a lot of she's very spirited.
Speaker 3 (37:09):
No really, but yeah, she was little.
Speaker 4 (37:12):
She had like two broken legs, so she's got a
lot of sensitivities and you know, she's all better, but uh,
she's been more of a project. But the reward is happening.
Speaker 2 (37:22):
You fell in love anyway, Yeah, i'man.
Speaker 4 (37:24):
I loved her, but like that's sort of like i'd
oh my baby girl, and I was like, oh my baby,
I could say.
Speaker 1 (37:35):
Very Now you're best friend on that show, Jeff. That's
his name, Hella, right, Jeff.
Speaker 6 (37:42):
Yeah, Jeff Hiller plays Joel.
Speaker 1 (37:44):
Yeah, he is so hysterical and great and wonderful, and
what a perfect balance for you, and what an extraordinary
actor he is.
Speaker 4 (37:54):
Well, I have to tell you this because I think
you must have gotten my number from Carolyn after the
first he's in our watching part of the first season.
You left me a voicemail and I either sent it
to Jeff or like a transcribed it or so, and
we were both so so thrilled to hear that you
like the show, and you know, because we're both big
(38:15):
fans and everything, and I just you know, you're kind
of like the first one that, you know, the first
big star that like had kind of given us that
a blessing and we were both anyway, So he loves you,
and I know he would be thrilled that you're talking
about it right now. Yeah.
Speaker 1 (38:32):
I met him at the opening or the finale when
I when I went to watch it, it was so cold,
remember on the roof. Oh yeah, it was a freezing Yeah,
And I met him there and got to talk to
him about He was just adorable as I thought he
would be. And well, I want to say that this
was much easier than I thought it might be because
of my nervousness. But you made me feel at ease
(38:54):
right away, and I don't feel that anymore now. I
feel like, Okay, me and Bridget have broken through. We
both with we did we do?
Speaker 3 (39:00):
Do we do? Our time? Is that it?
Speaker 1 (39:02):
That's it. That's all we got to do on this thing.
Forty five minutes and we're out. That's a good job
if you can get it.
Speaker 3 (39:07):
You know, well, you're great at your job. You made
me feel very relaxed. So thank you. I'm not good,
I'm glad.
Speaker 1 (39:13):
Well, the show is wonderful and you're wonderful, and I'm
so happy for your success.
Speaker 2 (39:17):
I really am.
Speaker 1 (39:18):
And I'm so happy that you get to work with
Carolyn Strauss because what a joy that is to the
aspect of your life. Totally somebody somewhere on HBO, Bridget Everett,
thank you so much. Are you touring? Are you going anywhere?
Are you doing anything in the down the writers strike time?
Are you up on a stage somewhere?
Speaker 3 (39:38):
Oh, Papa Joe's pub A couple of times. We're releasing
an album.
Speaker 6 (39:41):
I don't know.
Speaker 4 (39:42):
I think I'm gonna call it BFD. Probably after my
mom's show is said, big fucking deal, so I call
it BFD.
Speaker 6 (39:47):
I think we'll get that out soon.
Speaker 1 (39:49):
All right, excellent, I'll look for it. All right, Thank
you so much. All right, we're back. Wasn't that amazing?
(40:15):
And now and now, when we have a little time left,
we're going to take some questions from you, the home listener.
Speaker 2 (40:22):
I keep saying viewer, but I'm learning.
Speaker 6 (40:24):
I'm learning.
Speaker 5 (40:25):
Hey, Rosie, my name is Sheila, and I'm from Australia. Hey, Sheila,
I've had some life changes recently that we can all
relate to, and people around me have been so generous.
But they always say it'll be okay, you know, in
the end, and I know it will be. But if
(40:45):
we couldn't say that, what would be the other thing
you would say to me? Thanks?
Speaker 6 (40:51):
Rosie?
Speaker 1 (40:51):
I love your podcast, Thank you, sweetheart. I wish I
knew what the changes were so I could give you,
you know, guidance and whatever I might be capable of.
Not that I'm anyone to go for for guidance, but
when people ask questions, you know, I don't know what's
gone on. Did you lose someone? Is it a change
(41:11):
within your own world? Or did it you know? It's
very hard. All I know is this that time changes everything.
And so far you've survived one hundred percent of your
most horrible days and you'll survive these days as well.
And if you can't, or if you're on the edge,
if you're feeling like you want to take yourself out,
(41:33):
make a phone call. Call suicide hotlines there where you
are there in the United States. They're all over the
world and I use them. You know, if you're suffering
in a horrible way. I always find that when there's
a major shift and something in my life, I need
to take some time and really get to a place
(41:55):
where it sits right within me before I go and
discuss it with other people.
Speaker 2 (42:00):
So I don't know. I would say take your.
Speaker 1 (42:02):
Time and know that sad as it is or tried
as it is, this too shall pass, and maybe it
will be something you carry with you forever, but you'll
find a way to lift that load and when it's time,
you'll put it down and onward, my friend, onward. Hope
that makes sense, Sending you lots of love down Undone.
(42:25):
Now we get another question.
Speaker 7 (42:26):
Here we go, Hi, Rosie, my name is Britney. I
have been a big fan of yours for a long
time and now I absolutely love that you are doing
this new podcast. My question for you is about interviewing.
Is there anyone that you would have loved to have
interviewed for this podcast but never got the chance because
(42:47):
they've since passed away? And also what would you have
asked them? Thank you so much for being you.
Speaker 2 (42:54):
Take care well, Britney.
Speaker 1 (42:55):
When you first said hey it's Britney, I had a
moment of oh, my god, Britney Spears is reaching out
so not insane. Seriously, I'm crazy person like that, you know.
I am hoping that you know, somebody is there when
she does reach out. It doesn't have to be me.
But anyway, Brittany, that was a great question. Thank you
very much for giving us a little voice memo. My
(43:19):
life was always filled with a yearning to be on
The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson, and I never got
to do that because he retired right when Leg of
their Own was just coming out. He was leaving, so
I never got to be on that show, and that
was always a big regret of mine. Somebody that I
admired my whole life, who I think was such a
(43:41):
skilled interviewer and such a skilled monologist, and what a
thirty five year trek through Hollywood he made and interviewed
everyone and did it brilliantly year after year after year.
So I know that he's been gone a while now,
but my first thought when you say that was Johnny Carson.
(44:02):
I love to have all kinds of people on this podcast,
interesting people with something to talk about, people who I'm
curious about their true nature, and getting to have a
non performative conversation really has been very interesting for me
personally and very creatively inspiring. So that was a great question.
Speaker 2 (44:24):
Thank you for that.
Speaker 1 (44:25):
Thank you so much for the questions. Next week, we're
going to have Cindy Lauper on Week three of Gay Pride.
Cindy Lauper, who I love and adore and have for
very many years, and she has just a wonderful varied
career in life and worldview perspective. I just love her,
and you know, girls do want to have fundamental rights.
Speaker 2 (44:46):
Thank you, Cindy Lauper. She will be on next week.
Thank you all.