October 6, 2025 • 48 mins
Join Lynn Hoffman on this episode of Comedy Saved Me with the legendary comedian Wendy Liebman. Wendy has had an amazing career of Stand Up and Television work and she shares the stories behind her career about the true power of comedy.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:02):
Comedy Saved Me. Hey, welcome to Comedy Saved Me. I
am your host, Lynn Hoffman, And if you're enjoying the show,
first of all, thank you, and also, could you do
me a quick favor maybe drop a rating or review
on iHeart Apple or Spotify or wherever you listen, because
it would really help us spread the word and let
others know that you think the show is kind of cool,
(00:23):
which we so much appreciate, and hopefully we can get
more folks to check it out, because the more good
that we can do and the more good we can spread,
the better, So thank you for that. Today, I sit
down with a comedian whose punchlines are like magic tricks,
boom right between the eyes. You never see them coming
until you're laughing out loud. She is the queen of
(00:43):
the perfectly timed pause, a master of the one liner,
and a trailblazer who's been making audiences crack up for decades.
Get ready to walk through a sharp, witty, and wonderfully
surprising world of Wendy Leadman right now on Comedy Saved Me. Wendy,
welcome to Comedy Save Me. That's so great to have
you here.
Speaker 2 (01:05):
I loved that intro. Thank you. I hope I can
live up to that.
Speaker 1 (01:11):
You already have. And then some and everybody knows you.
You've been on every show that's possible that could feature comedians.
Wendy and I were talking before we started the show
about our weird thing that we have with the color black,
that if you go look her up online, pretty much
every time you see her on stage, she's wearing black.
(01:34):
And I thought, wow, I do the exact same thing.
I went into my closet, it's all black. It's unbelievable.
So we have that little kinship between us.
Speaker 2 (01:43):
Well, I think when I'm on stage, I don't want
to distract the audience. So if I just were black,
then they're not looking at my paisley or skirt or
you know whatever. But I did tell you that I
bought a pink jacket to wear on stage the other day,
(02:05):
just because people need to change every once in a while.
I don't mean change their clothes, but you know, change grow.
So I bought a pink jacket from Macy's and I'm
going to return it tomorrow. I do it, not me,
It's not me. Who am I kidding?
Speaker 1 (02:25):
I do it all the time, all the time, I
try to convince myself that it's going to look good,
and then I always end up throwing on a black
T shirt and calling it a day.
Speaker 2 (02:34):
I mean, my niece once asked me, aunt, Wendy, why
do you dress like a mime? And I was like,
who can say?
Speaker 1 (02:43):
That's all you had to say with the hands I
love it all right. Well, Wendy, I just got you here,
and all of a sudden, we have to take a
quick break, but we have to pay the bills somehow,
So if you wouldn't mind hanging out for a second
and we'll be right back with Wendy Leibman on comedy
saved me. Comedy saved me, and we're back, Wendy Liebman,
(03:08):
can you share a moment when comedy truly saved you,
when laughter helped you get through a really tough time
in your life?
Speaker 2 (03:17):
You know, honestly, I think I started doing stand up.
I mean, who knows why anybody does anything, But I
was very depressed. I was doing psych research. I was
going to be a therapist. I was doing psych research
at Harvard Medical School. I had just graduated from college.
(03:40):
I went to Wellesley and I thought I was going
to be a therapist. And I myself was very depressed,
and I took in the mail from the wrong apartment
and in the mail was a course catalog or an
(04:00):
adult ed center like the Learning Annets, but it was
called the adult Ed Center of Cambridge. In it was
a course on how to be a stand up comedian
and Lynn when I read those words, it was like
a light bulb went off, like Eureka, like I heard
(04:21):
angel singing. And even though I had never thought about
being a stand up comedian in my life, I just
felt like it was a calling, basically, like this is
what I'm supposed to do. And even though I was
(04:43):
not great for a couple of years, I just knew
that this is what I am, a stand up comedian.
So it saved me in that I was less depressed.
I would go to every comedy show I could. Laughter
(05:04):
itself is very healing, and they've done studies. There's a
whole study about laughter. I think it's called gelatology, and
they it's out of Stanford, and they show how it
helps increase breath and dopamine and you know, all the
(05:26):
good things in your body. And just being around people
was really good for me too, and I decided I
would rather make one hundred people laugh than one person
cry as a there or cry by myself. And I
(05:46):
think it really that was a long answer, but it
truly was what I needed psychologically, both watching comedy I
love to laugh, and and being the person on stage
making the audience laugh. It's a weird job, though, if
you think about it, like that's what we do.
Speaker 1 (06:08):
It is, and it's interesting to me when I was
reading about you graduated Wellesley College as a psychologist, which
is amazing. I minored in psychology, but I kind of
knew what I wanted to do, so I thought it
would be helpful just to be able to communicate with
people overall, just to understand people more. But you actually
(06:29):
wanted to go full on and help people with therapy,
and I'm just curious how much of that has helped
you in comedy.
Speaker 2 (06:38):
I think a big part of being a therapist is listening,
and I think I really listened to the audience, like
I've owned that skill. I am aware of the audience,
like I realize. I'm also aware like if I'm in
an airport, I pick up on things around me. So
(07:00):
it just honed my senses. I think being thinking that
it was going to be a psychologist and then actually
doing stand up. I don't know if that answered your question,
but there's some overlap.
Speaker 1 (07:13):
No, No, that does make sense. And it's interesting too
that you just said that you can kind of tell
what's going on with people. And is that because of
your education or maybe you're sensitive.
Speaker 2 (07:24):
I think a little of both. Yeah, yeah, it's hard
to tell.
Speaker 1 (07:27):
Yeah, it is. It's very confusing when picked the right
career path, right, because you've been incredibly successful. I was
curious what you approach to comedy and how it evolved
over the years. You've been doing this a while, and
what advice you would give to your younger self, maybe
when you were just starting out.
Speaker 2 (07:50):
Well, I tell comedians now who ask me for advice
to perform as much as humanly possible, which is what
I did when I first started. Even though I had
a day job, I was at at least one, if
not three, open mics every single night in Boston, and
there were a lot more venues and a lot fewer comedians,
(08:13):
so it's a lot easier to get on stage. So
I would drive all over town or through five states,
Rhode Island, Connecticut, Vermont, New Hampshire, Massachusetts, and then I'd
be back at work the next morning. So that's the
main thing, is performing as much as possible, because you
(08:35):
could think you're the funniest person in the world, and
you might be, but until you hear the audience laughing, yeah,
you need like practical experience. So that's one thing I
would tell myself, which I listened to. But the other
thing I would I tell people Now, the thing that
(08:56):
I wish people had told me was tru I knew
material all the time, because I would tend and I
still do tend to hone my jokes that I have
and work on them for years. And I would have
a lot more material and a few more specials if
(09:18):
I had taken chances and trusted the audience enough to
or trusted myself to feel comfortable trying out new material.
I write all the time. I just don't try it
out all the time.
Speaker 1 (09:33):
Well, wouldn't you say that? That would be That's incredibly
interesting but very familiar as I work with a lot
of producers and I see that happen a lot, where
they get in their own way because it's not done yet.
But it's only subjective to you. But then it's like
a birthing because then you have to put it out
there to be judged by everybody, so you want to
(09:54):
make sure it's perfect. So that's kind of.
Speaker 2 (09:56):
Hard, exactly. And I was with a few comedians the
other night. I produced a benefit for reproductive rights and
I performed last year and they asked me to produce
it this year. And I had some of the best
(10:16):
talent out there. I had Reader Rudner, who was one
of my idols, and Kathy Griffin and Kathy Ladman and
Stephanie Blum, and we were talking backstage about using jokes
that we wrote thirty years ago. And not that any
(10:40):
of us is Bruce Springsteen, but I said, Bruce Springsteen
still sings Born to run every show, so if it works,
it works. So yeah, if your jokes aren't topical or
seem out of context or ridiculous, they work, so why
not use it anyway? But yes, I would tell my
(11:03):
former self to just take a million chances.
Speaker 1 (11:07):
And be fearless.
Speaker 2 (11:09):
Be fearless. Yeah, but part of what makes me do
or made me do stand up, was an insecurity of
that I would fit in or get along. And I've
I've been heckled a few times, and I've been and
I've bombed, not many times. I mean, I'm not bragging,
(11:30):
but like I I've bombed in the last ten years,
but uh, I haven't bombed like where it was just
painful where.
Speaker 1 (11:42):
It came out and like dragged you off right.
Speaker 2 (11:46):
But in those times when I have bombed, I felt
the same way that I felt before I did stand up,
which was very alone, very missile, understood, panicky and depressed.
Speaker 1 (12:05):
But that hasting true with so many people. What you
just said, it happens to me all the time. It's amazing.
You think you get ten steps ahead and then one
thing happens and then you're right back where you were before.
You learn that lesson.
Speaker 2 (12:21):
Well, I did a show the other night. It was
like a private club in Beverly Hills and it was
thirty year olds somethings, and it wasn't my audience, let's
put it that way. It wasn't my audience. And I
had to work, like really work like they didn't know
(12:42):
me at all. And I was reminded that, yeah, this
is my this is a job. What's my point. My
point is every time I get on stage, it's a
new Audien, and you never know, like I have done
(13:04):
it so many times for the past forty something years
that I know that I could get a laugh with
a certain joke, But there's never any guarantee.
Speaker 1 (13:15):
Forty years, man, you have not even aged a second
since the first time I saw you. Look amazing.
Speaker 2 (13:21):
It's the filter.
Speaker 1 (13:22):
Oh yeah, that's right. Everything looks better on the camera.
Your punchlines are famous for their subtle, shall I say, misdirection.
How did you develop that signature style of yours and
what challenges sort of came with it?
Speaker 2 (13:36):
I think that's just the way my brain works. But
I think any quote unquote artist, if I can call myself,
that is influenced by the people that they grow up with,
that they start their art with. And I was in
(13:57):
Boston in the eighties, and I would watch watch comedian
Jonathan Katz, comedian Brian Kylie, who's my favorite joke writer.
I would watch Laura Kitlinger, Don Gavin, Steve Sweeney, and
(14:17):
Kevin Meanie, and I would see them, oh and Bill Broadest,
and I would see them and see what worked with them.
And I remember watching Kevin Meanie one night, the late
great Kevin Meanie, and he was on a roll, like
(14:37):
there was never any lag and I thought, that's what
I want to do. I do not want silence, so
I kept adding taglines. So it was an evolution, like
that's all I can say. It was like I learned
from watching and listening, and now in my sixties, I
(15:03):
appreciate the silence more because I think there's actually my
husband for our twenty second anniversary gave me a book
called The Power of Silence. Oh that's just a joke.
Was he trying to tell you, just a joke.
Speaker 1 (15:21):
I should have been getting that book too.
Speaker 2 (15:25):
Yeah, So I do like the silence now. I take
my time now on stage.
Speaker 1 (15:33):
Yeah, that's weird. I always felt my whole life I
had to fill the silence. I'm so nervous, like if
it's too quiet, it gets weird, right, But now it's
like very powerful.
Speaker 2 (15:44):
I feel the exact same way. And I realized recently
that it was about being around my mother, who had
to fill all the silence too, Like we could never
have any lag time in our conversation because then it
meant something else might happen. And not to get too
(16:05):
not to get too heady and psychological about it, but
I think that's where it comes from for me. Yeah,
so I find myself with people probably like you, trying
to make them feel comfortable and fill the gaps. I've
been talking to my husband's cousin. She's a wellness coach,
(16:29):
and at the beginning of our zooms we take breaths,
and so we have to be quiet.
Speaker 1 (16:37):
Oh God, it must be so cool we can do that,
I know.
Speaker 2 (16:41):
All it is.
Speaker 1 (16:42):
What is a common misunderstanding, Wendy that audiences have about
comedians and stand up comedy?
Speaker 2 (16:50):
Ooh, maybe that we're funny all the time. And I
have to say, I know some comedians who are all
always on, and then I know a lot of comedians
who are like the opposite of funny when they're on,
I mean when they're not on. In my situation, my
(17:12):
husband is the funny one for real and for real,
he's so funny, my husband. But he's also really shy,
like he would never do stand up. He said, if
I do stand up, I'm just going to be on
stage and I'm gonna wet my pants. Hey, Mike gonna
say right, and I'll say, that's my time. But he
(17:37):
always has some really creative, funny thing to say about
every day.
Speaker 1 (17:45):
Wow.
Speaker 2 (17:46):
Well, he's a writer. He wrote on a sitcom called
Boy Meets World.
Speaker 1 (17:51):
Oh I remember that.
Speaker 2 (17:53):
Yes, And he's also the son of a songwriter who
wrote a lot of the Sick for Disney. Wow. They
wrote Mary Poppins and Shitty Chitty Bang Bang. Oh my gosh,
the music. Yeah. They wrote the song It's a Small World.
Speaker 1 (18:14):
So you're like your own little entertainment mecca empire right there,
just the two of you.
Speaker 2 (18:18):
Wow, it's just funny. Yeah. My husband inspired the song
spoonful of Sugar No way Edison go down. Yes. He
came home from school and his dad said, what did
you do today? And he said, we got the salt
vaccine or the vaccine for polio. And my father in
law said, you let them give you a shot. He
was seven, And my husband said, no. They put it
(18:41):
on a sugar cube, and the sugar cube was on
a spoon and we just ate it.
Speaker 1 (18:46):
Oh my god, I know it's I can't believe. That's
such a fun fact that no one would ever.
Speaker 2 (18:51):
Know, right, And so my father in law like twiddled
his thumbs and called his brother who was his writing partner,
and the next day they wrote a spoonful of sugar
helps medicine go down.
Speaker 1 (19:04):
In the most delightful way.
Speaker 2 (19:06):
Exactly.
Speaker 1 (19:07):
Wow. Wow, you heard it here first. That is very cool.
Unless you must you must have told that story before.
Speaker 2 (19:14):
I'm sure once or a zillion times.
Speaker 1 (19:18):
What what what's the funniest or most memorable show that
you've had and what made it stand out? Can you
remember you've done something?
Speaker 2 (19:29):
I have two shows that I always think about, and
one was I got to open for Bob Hope in
the nineties Wow outside for five thousand people wow, and
in Indianapolis, and that was surreal. I mean I've opened
(19:52):
for a lot of famous people like Ray Charles and
and Margaret and Leo Glacy like I can't even believe
my life. I feel like Zellig sometimes. But that was
memorable just because of the comedy gravity. And then one
(20:19):
time I was in a basement of an Italian restaurant
called Paisanos in Dearborn, Michigan, and there were eight people
on a Sunday night and it was joyous. I just
included all eight of us. By the end, we knew
(20:42):
everybody's name. I think I bought everybody. During why I
felt like a puk on an air hockey board. I
was in the moment, I just it was It was
really fun. And you know, I've gotten much more conversational
(21:02):
talking to the audience over the years, whereas when I
first started, it was like I had to follow my
script and every word had to be in place. And
because jokes rely on the rhythm and the punchline and
you know, the wording, there's timing and yeah, the timing.
(21:24):
So I was very studious like that. But then I
started talking to the audience, probably just to fill the
time sometimes, and the audience loves that because it's like
an inside joke with the audience. You feel like you
(21:46):
feel like the comedian is not just an actor saying
lines that they are really the comedy brain. The people
who are best at that. You know, now you see
it a lot. Now you see a lot of comedians
posting their audience interaction videos. But before that, this wave,
(22:10):
Paula Poundstone is the best at it. She riffs with
the audience. Comedian named Jimmy Brogan, who was one of
Jay Leno's head writers for many years. He's phenomenal. Russell
Peters is amazing, like it's a real gift. And so
(22:30):
I'm not great at it, but I've gotten better over
the years and I really enjoy it. Like I opened
for I have a standing gig opening for Fritz Coleman,
who was the weather guy here in LA for forty years,
and he just stand up. That's how he started. He
was seen at the comedy club and they asked him,
(22:51):
do you want to do the weather?
Speaker 1 (22:53):
Of all things?
Speaker 2 (22:53):
I know, I know. I think David Letterman started that
way too. Wow. But so now he is a standing
gig and I do twenty minutes in front of him
once a month, and his is more like a play.
But so I do the opposite of that. I just
interact with the audience and talk to them about life.
(23:17):
So love I love using that creative muscle.
Speaker 1 (23:21):
It's sort of like relaxing in the saddle of life.
It's the only kind of Someone said that to me once.
Oh I love that right, all of a sudden, It's
like even when I was doing the show originally, I
had come off all public stuff for probably like ten
twelve years, and I really wasn't going to get back
into doing anything unless it was for good purposes. Hence
(23:44):
I'm here but being comfortable to say, wait a minute,
hold on a second, let me look at a note
that I just had here. You just meant, you know,
and then it's okay to do that. You don't have
to be so polished and perfectly right.
Speaker 2 (24:00):
Yeah, I bring notes sometimes, and I even asked the audience,
I say I'm trying some new jokes, would you mind?
And they're like no, no, of course.
Speaker 3 (24:11):
We'll be right back with more of the Comedy Save
Me Podcast. Welcome back to the Comedy Save Me Podcast.
Speaker 1 (24:24):
You mentioned Paula Poundstone, and I just found out yesterday
that she's going to be coming on the show as well,
So I'm so stoked over that. First I get Wendy Leidman,
and now Paula Poundstone's going to come on, and I
can't even wait to talk to her. If you could
ask her a question, what would you ask her?
Speaker 2 (24:40):
Let me think about that, but I want to tell
you a story about please yea, that's okay, yea. So
she originated in Boston, so when I was starting, she
came back to do a show and I remember watching
her and thinking, and I had just done it for
like six months, and I remember thinking, I am, I
should just quit because I'm never going to be that funny.
(25:02):
I can never be that funny. And forty years later,
I have realized everybody has their own voice. It's like
there's a room for every single voice. And so I
was on a show that she was hosting recently, like recently,
(25:24):
probably a year and a half ago, and she watched
everything and laughed at everything I said, and I thought,
oh my god. And she even tweeted about me the
next day, and I thought, oh my god, this is
surreal and it's full circle. And so what would I
ask her? I would ask her if she would let
(25:51):
me open for the road. Now I know that's a
great question. She doesn't have anybody open for her. I
don't know what I would ask her.
Speaker 1 (26:00):
Think about that.
Speaker 2 (26:01):
We'll circle, I will, we'll stirkle back.
Speaker 1 (26:03):
I just like saying that. I'm trying to think you'd
mentioned something that I'll come back.
Speaker 2 (26:11):
Your notes, look, get your notes.
Speaker 1 (26:12):
I'm mean. Steve Sweeney Kevin Meaney, two of my all
time favorites. In fact, when I was doing morning radio
in Boston one year, I got a random phone call
and I didn't know who it was, and it was
Steve Sweeney and they had hired him to do morning
radio a comedian doing mourning radio, like having to get
up at the time you would normally go to bed
after a show. I have one question for you, and
(26:36):
I said what he said, How the hell do you
get up at this ungodly hour and try to be
funny and entertain people? I don't And it was like
I couldn't imagine that he would even do the job.
But he was really good, and we competed against each
other in Boston and it was wow. It was very
fun and we became friendly. He is just an amazing
(26:56):
I love him so much. I just absolutely adore him.
Speaker 2 (26:59):
Yeah, ye, he was like he was amazing. I mean
he still is. But doing morning radio, that's like in
any job, it's not just the job. My job I
see as getting to the gig, you know, either flying
or driving. There's always some travel, yeah, and it's also
(27:24):
learning how to do morning pr which is radio, or
learning how to do press, which I didn't know that
was part of my job. So I would fly to
a city on the East coast, so I'm three hours behind.
I'd go to sleep at three anyway at home, so
I wouldn't be asleep for more than an hour, and
(27:46):
then I would have to get up and do radio,
so it like really messed with my circadian rhythm. But
what's my point? Yeah, I don't know how. I don't
know how you did morning radio.
Speaker 1 (27:57):
I love that you get lost. Sometimes I was great.
But sometimes the more tired you are, the better it is,
you know, because you don't think so much about what
you're doing, and you're just like.
Speaker 2 (28:09):
Whatever, oh my god, oh my god.
Speaker 1 (28:12):
Oh wait, you in the back, you have your hand up, yeah,
oh my god.
Speaker 3 (28:15):
What.
Speaker 2 (28:16):
So for years this is exactly true. I had a
day job, as I said, so I didn't sleep a lot.
So a lot of comedians back in the eighties they
would drink a lot, and so it was easier for
them to get on stage. I anesthetized myself by being exhausted. No,
(28:41):
I'm being serious. And then I recently had to do
a radio show here in La at night, and I
was not tired at all, and I realized this is
harder when I am way conscious. Yes, like because I'm
used to doing morning radio out So yes, I totally
(29:02):
agree with you. Having less or fewer faculties at that
hour makes you freer.
Speaker 1 (29:11):
Yeah, it just makes you looser and you don't care
as much. You know, it's kind of what we talked
about earlier.
Speaker 2 (29:17):
Connected with you. We have two we have the necklace,
we have the hair.
Speaker 1 (29:24):
You look. I can't even tell you. I really really
feel connected to you the minute that you popped on
the screen. And it's really weird. But I grew up
in Boston, so maybe that might have something to do
with it. And I'm sure you came on the John
Lander Morning show once or twice in Boston. It was
like the number one show for many many years. It
was Lander and Maddie.
Speaker 2 (29:45):
I'm sure I was on your show, I'm sure.
Speaker 1 (29:48):
And funny enough, it was Maddie at one point, Maddie
Lander and Steve Sweeney all on the morning's different stations
in Boston. Isn't that crazy?
Speaker 2 (29:58):
Well, I would have listened to you.
Speaker 1 (30:00):
Ah, thanks, Wendy. When life gets stressful, what role does
comedy play in keeping you grounded?
Speaker 2 (30:10):
I realized recently that I was having a hard time recently,
and I haven't felt depressed since the eighties when I
started doing comedy. I know that's pretty good. I mean,
medication and therapy help, but comedy just play a big
role in that. And I realized that I hadn't performed
(30:34):
in a while, and it's like a thick I needed
a fix.
Speaker 1 (30:40):
You were going through withdrawals.
Speaker 2 (30:42):
I really was, but I didn't realize it until I
sat down and thought about it, that it does play
a big role hearing people laugh. I'm curious about that too.
I don't have that answer, but hearing laughter for forty years,
(31:02):
I wonder what that does to somebody's psyche. Wow, like
maybe some kind of I don't know, I don't know,
but so comedy. I also love watching comedy, Like yesterday
I watched a comedian ning Sam Morrill. I've recently watched
(31:22):
Jessica Curzon and Nate bart Gaze. I don't know how
to pronounce his name. But I love like listening to
Brian Reagan and David tel And. Yeah, I just love
laughing because what it does is it makes me think
(31:44):
a different way. Like when somebody's making you laugh, it's like, oh,
there's like an out, So there's another way to think
about this. It's not all consistent. Wow.
Speaker 1 (32:03):
Wow, Well, I have to tell you two things popped
into my head when you were just saying that. One
we need the laugh app, the Wendy Leeveman laugh app.
Where you just turn it on and it's just funny
people laughing, like you don't even have to tell a joke,
just laughing and hearing it. And then the other thing
I was thinking is my oldest, dearest friend, Scott. He
(32:24):
had the funniest laugh growing up that I remember telling
him if we could somehow bottle your laughter and or
sell it like a commodity, they need it on TV
shows because back then you had to have laugh tracks
and stuff. You know, there wasn't any ai or so.
But I loved him the most, and I look back
(32:46):
and I think about what you're saying, and I'm wondering.
You know, he could tell great stories and he always
made me laugh, but his laugh was even funnier than
his funny stories. And I wonder if maybe that's another
reason why I was so close to him, because he
made me feel so good all the time.
Speaker 2 (33:03):
Well, I think that's it's so healing to laugh, especially
with somebody, and I feel like laughter is the healing
is exponential when you're laughing in a group. I want
to get my quote right. I wrote something and I
(33:24):
want to get it right, like I can't remember exactly.
I think it's a laughing crowd is a chorus of
peace because we're all on the same wavelength at that point,
and it's joyous. It really is.
Speaker 1 (33:41):
It is. Have you ever had a moment like when
you were on stage and you felt like you were
helping the audience get through something and heal, helping them heal.
Speaker 2 (33:50):
Well, always after something big, like after the pandemic or
after nine to eleven, I can feel that the audience
wants to laugh more. So we're just the instigator. We're
like the impetus. We are there to say it's okay
to laugh, So we're giving you permission, and if what
(34:12):
you're saying is funny, that's even better. So I felt
the laughter was like deeper after tragedy.
Speaker 1 (34:25):
So you know, and you bring up tragedy and then
you know, tell me to shut up or not bring
something up. But I saw something that in my research
on you that I thought was just so impressive. And
you know, you don't have to get into the reasons
and all of it, but you were kind of taken
out of commission because of a car accident and.
Speaker 2 (34:46):
Oh, i'll talk about it.
Speaker 1 (34:47):
Okay, Well, I mean I don't know, and yeah, but
what I read was you put yourself back on the
scene by going on. Was this correct? America's got talent?
Speaker 2 (35:00):
Yes? Okay, so you're talking about the first act that,
oh there.
Speaker 1 (35:03):
Was more than one. You weren't driving, were you?
Speaker 2 (35:07):
Do you not hang out with me? Unventurable of ours?
Speaker 1 (35:10):
I guess all I could say.
Speaker 2 (35:11):
Okay, the first time my husband and I were driving
back from a dinner, it was eleven at night. We
were at a stop light. There were four lanes across,
two of them were turning left, and we were hit
by a drunk driver. All seven cars, well he was
(35:33):
the seventh, but it was like he bowled into these
stationary cars. The woman in the car right next to
us died like it was that close.
Speaker 1 (35:46):
Oh my god.
Speaker 2 (35:46):
And so just by fate, by fate, we moved lanes
because we didn't want to be behind this one group
of kids in a car that seemed a little rowdy,
so we moved over. I was sitting on the bus
bench on the side, waiting for whatever to have the hullabaloop,
(36:09):
and I thought I have to get back out there.
That's exactly what I said, because I'd been doing stand up,
but I was also a stepmom at that point. And
I stayed home more and so I auditioned for America's
Got Talent and that really did like boost my visibility.
So that was great.
Speaker 1 (36:30):
But that's incredible that you put yourself out there that way.
I mean, that's like you didn't just come back. You
went on a major, widely watched show and put yourself
right out there.
Speaker 2 (36:42):
Well. I had seen other like some peers on that show,
and I thought, oh, they did it, I can try.
And it was really fun. And I never expected to win.
I just thought this is a good experience, like that
I have as I gotten older. I think everything is
just cumulative, all good experience. And I met amazing people
(37:03):
and I'm still friends with people that I met. The
sons of serendip which is this beautiful quartet. They started
it be You, actually they met it be You, and
they're just phenomenon. Matt Franco, who won that year, he's
a magician, he has his own showroom in Vegas. So anyway,
(37:24):
it was the people that I met.
Speaker 1 (37:26):
That's cool. So you remain friends with all those people,
that's very cool.
Speaker 2 (37:29):
Yeah, I fight. I knew I wasn't gonna win, so
I wanted to win this Congenie out.
Speaker 1 (37:34):
Runner up. Oh my gosh.
Speaker 2 (37:37):
And then the second accident, I was just walking across
the street and I was hit by a car. Don't
feel bad for me, because I.
Speaker 1 (37:51):
I've never read anyone say that to me. No, I
was hit by a car, but don't feel bad for me.
Speaker 2 (37:55):
Don't feel bad because so they broke a leg and
both my feet. Oh, then it should have been like
six months recovery. But when they took the cast off,
this is something that this goes into the category of
shit you can't make up. They took the cast off,
(38:19):
they saw that one of the foot that was being
rehabilitated or the leg was crooked like they said it wrong,
the rod was twisted. They had to go back and
rebreak the leg, and so that took another six months.
So I was basically in bed. Don't feel bad for me.
(38:41):
I was in bed for fourteen months. But it wasn't
all bad. I have to tell you, Like I well,
I try to find the good and everything, but I
no pun intended. I needed a break. I had done
the road for so many years and here I was
being waited on hand and foot. I felt so loved
(39:04):
by my friends and I got a little money from
the woman that had hit me.
Speaker 1 (39:10):
Oh well that's always good, yeah, because that would suck
if you find out they don't have insurance and your
sol in bed fourteen months with bed sores. Right, hopefully
you had cute nurses though.
Speaker 2 (39:23):
Well, I have my husband who now I say, I
will do anything like he was sick for one day
recently and I got, oh my god, I can't stand this.
Speaker 1 (39:36):
Nothing gets done and.
Speaker 2 (39:37):
He did it for fourteen months. Wow.
Speaker 1 (39:40):
That means he really really loves you a lot.
Speaker 2 (39:43):
He was an angel.
Speaker 1 (39:45):
How long have you been married?
Speaker 2 (39:47):
Twenty two years and together for three before that? So
something like that. Yeah, I can't remember. So you got
to know each other too long? No, No, is there are.
Speaker 1 (40:00):
Piece Actually, let me skip back to one before, because
you've been so generous with your time and we're kind
of coming up on that and I'm like, my last
couple of questions and although I don't want to let
you go other than comedy, are there other passions that
you have or creative outlets that we should pay attention to,
or maybe that you could share that maybe nobody knows. No,
(40:26):
that answers that question. I love it.
Speaker 2 (40:29):
No, No, it does nothing.
Speaker 1 (40:30):
Else for comedy. That's it. I do you like to cook?
Speaker 2 (40:38):
Love playing the piano? Oh? See, so I'm not a
good cook. I'm not a good cook, but I watch
all the cooking shows and my husband's like, why do
you even bother? I'm like, I don't know, I might
learn something. I also watch all the true crime shows.
Oh I don't know how to cook, but I try
(40:59):
to eat really healthy. Not every night, but I try to.
Speaker 1 (41:04):
It's obvious by the way. Wendy, thank you seriously. You
are what you eat and you look like you're ageless,
Like you look exactly the same as I remember seeing
you ten, fifteen, twenty years ago.
Speaker 4 (41:15):
Wow.
Speaker 1 (41:16):
So that's a testament. It's a good eating.
Speaker 2 (41:18):
Thank you. I love my jog. They're in the background.
I don't know if this is video or audio.
Speaker 1 (41:25):
They're not moving though. It's everything now. They stuffed.
Speaker 2 (41:30):
Yes, I'm attacked to jermists. You know they are the picture.
Obviously they are rescued from Korea. Oh, they are called
Jindo's and they were going to be eaten, not joking,
not joking what They were rescued from a meat market
(41:52):
in South Korea, and they are I love them so much.
But they're high maintenance and as trained as a carrot.
They are.
Speaker 1 (42:04):
That's why I got a cat, Because they do what
they want. You don't have to worry about it.
Speaker 2 (42:09):
I love it. I actually got them cat treats by accident,
and they loved them. And now they ignore me like
a cat.
Speaker 1 (42:18):
Oh see, yeah, very smart, smart animals. They're beautiful and
lovely that you thank you rescued them from dinner cheapers.
I know, right, that's crazy to me. Is there one
piece of wisdom that you wish that you'd learned earlier
in your career?
Speaker 2 (42:35):
Just to try new material all the time and also
just have fun, like I try to just have fun
now in my career. Like I had a show recently
where I heard there were going to be agents in
the audience, and I already have an agent, but I thought, ooh,
(42:57):
maybe they would cast me in a movie or something hike,
And then I saw, you know what, now I am
here to make this audience have a ball. Like I
heard Yo Yo Ma say that every time he stepped
on stage, he thought of himself as throwing a dinner party,
(43:19):
and that this the audience were his guests, And that
made a lot of sense. To me, so yeah, I
just want the audience to feel good.
Speaker 1 (43:32):
I wonder, I wonder if yo Yo Ma was a
was a waiter ever, because I don't know why that
popped into my head. But I worked at a restaurant
when I was young, and every time i'd get a
large party, like a table with lots of people, I
couldn't even wait. Not that I wanted to be a comedian,
but I just loved, you know, trying to get them
(43:53):
to laugh, making them, making sure that they had a
good time. Of course, so i'd get a good tip,
but most of the you know what I mean, So
I couldn't even wait.
Speaker 2 (44:01):
Did you ever do stand up?
Speaker 1 (44:02):
No? No? I love making people laugh. I loved. My
favorites were Carol Burnett, I watched you know, Goldiehan laugh
and all of it. Saturday Night Live me too huge,
But I never thought that I could ever do it
because it was me alone. Like I never wanted to
host my own show by myself. Wow, careful what you
(44:26):
wish for, But but I always wanted to work with
a comedy troup, like a team of people, like a
collaborative team, which unfortunately is very difficult to find. And
why most bands need therapy after touring for fifty years.
So yeah, no, but I wanted to be a host
(44:48):
that was funny, like Tom.
Speaker 2 (44:50):
Bergern right, you know in Boston.
Speaker 1 (44:53):
Yeah so, and he's been on comedy Save Me too. So,
speaking of which, before I let you go, Indy, we
were talking about Paula Poundstone and I've given you some
time to think about it, although I haven't really because
I've been talking your ear off. What you know, because
I'll play it for her if you want, so, if
you really want it to be opening for her, I
(45:13):
will do that.
Speaker 2 (45:15):
No, no, because she'll say, I don't have anybody open
for me.
Speaker 4 (45:18):
I am ask Paula how she started taking pictures of
a chair at every venue she talks to the chair backstage,
she takes it.
Speaker 2 (45:37):
She takes a picture of a chair.
Speaker 1 (45:40):
All right, this is cool, this is totally inside.
Speaker 2 (45:42):
And oh, I do want to tell her something though, okay,
if that's okay.
Speaker 1 (45:47):
Absolutely.
Speaker 2 (45:48):
I follow her social media and in the background of
her house or somewhere in her house she has a
picture of I think it's Mary Poppins, and so I
want to tell her about my connection to Mary Poppins.
And I've met her like a dozen times now, but
(46:08):
I don't think she knows who I am. But also,
we're really good friends with Mickey Dolan's from the Monkeys,
and she and Nicky share a cat. Not really, it's
just on on social media. Okay, So I want, I
guess I want to vet myself by telling her that
(46:30):
we're best friends with Nicky Dolans. So not really a question.
Speaker 1 (46:35):
So you have a mutual monkey between you exactly. Not
on our back, not on your back, Wendy Leebman, I
could talk to you for hours. You're an amazing person.
Thank you so much.
Speaker 5 (46:46):
Talking to you and comedy truly saved me from depression,
from uh just figuring out my life.
Speaker 2 (47:00):
Learn so much from comedy. I once wrote a piece
called what I learned from stand up comedy. Figure out
your hair. You are unique, but you're also equal to
everybody where. Whatever you want, and pray that nobody throws
(47:21):
anything at your head. I mean, there are like forty
things on the list, but those are the ones that
come to mind.
Speaker 1 (47:27):
Oh, and eat healthy if you can.
Speaker 2 (47:29):
And eat healthy.
Speaker 1 (47:31):
Yes, sustenance, Wendy Leibman, thank you for being on comedy
save me and good luck with everything. And I do
hope our paths cross again, because it was just.
Speaker 2 (47:40):
I hope so too. You're my sister from another mother.
Speaker 1 (47:43):
I love it. Thank you so much. Have a great
rest you Oh is there anything you want to plug?
Where can people find you?
Speaker 2 (47:49):
Website Wendyleibman dot com.
Speaker 1 (47:52):
That's it.
Speaker 2 (47:53):
I'm on on every social media platform except X. Thank you,
Thank you so much, a wonderful day, you too.
Comedy Saved Me. Hey, welcome to Comedy Saved Me. I
am your host, Lynn Hoffman, And if you're enjoying the show,
first of all, thank you, and also, could you do
me a quick favor maybe drop a rating or review
on iHeart Apple or Spotify or wherever you listen, because
it would really help us spread the word and let
others know that you think the show is kind of cool,
(00:23):
which we so much appreciate, and hopefully we can get
more folks to check it out, because the more good
that we can do and the more good we can spread,
the better, So thank you for that. Today, I sit
down with a comedian whose punchlines are like magic tricks,
boom right between the eyes. You never see them coming
until you're laughing out loud. She is the queen of
(00:43):
the perfectly timed pause, a master of the one liner,
and a trailblazer who's been making audiences crack up for decades.
Get ready to walk through a sharp, witty, and wonderfully
surprising world of Wendy Leadman right now on Comedy Saved Me. Wendy,
welcome to Comedy Save Me. That's so great to have
you here.
Speaker 2 (01:05):
I loved that intro. Thank you. I hope I can
live up to that.
Speaker 1 (01:11):
You already have. And then some and everybody knows you.
You've been on every show that's possible that could feature comedians.
Wendy and I were talking before we started the show
about our weird thing that we have with the color black,
that if you go look her up online, pretty much
every time you see her on stage, she's wearing black.
(01:34):
And I thought, wow, I do the exact same thing.
I went into my closet, it's all black. It's unbelievable.
So we have that little kinship between us.
Speaker 2 (01:43):
Well, I think when I'm on stage, I don't want
to distract the audience. So if I just were black,
then they're not looking at my paisley or skirt or
you know whatever. But I did tell you that I
bought a pink jacket to wear on stage the other day,
(02:05):
just because people need to change every once in a while.
I don't mean change their clothes, but you know, change grow.
So I bought a pink jacket from Macy's and I'm
going to return it tomorrow. I do it, not me,
It's not me. Who am I kidding?
Speaker 1 (02:25):
I do it all the time, all the time, I
try to convince myself that it's going to look good,
and then I always end up throwing on a black
T shirt and calling it a day.
Speaker 2 (02:34):
I mean, my niece once asked me, aunt, Wendy, why
do you dress like a mime? And I was like,
who can say?
Speaker 1 (02:43):
That's all you had to say with the hands I
love it all right. Well, Wendy, I just got you here,
and all of a sudden, we have to take a
quick break, but we have to pay the bills somehow,
So if you wouldn't mind hanging out for a second
and we'll be right back with Wendy Leibman on comedy
saved me. Comedy saved me, and we're back, Wendy Liebman,
(03:08):
can you share a moment when comedy truly saved you,
when laughter helped you get through a really tough time
in your life?
Speaker 2 (03:17):
You know, honestly, I think I started doing stand up.
I mean, who knows why anybody does anything, But I
was very depressed. I was doing psych research. I was
going to be a therapist. I was doing psych research
at Harvard Medical School. I had just graduated from college.
(03:40):
I went to Wellesley and I thought I was going
to be a therapist. And I myself was very depressed,
and I took in the mail from the wrong apartment
and in the mail was a course catalog or an
(04:00):
adult ed center like the Learning Annets, but it was
called the adult Ed Center of Cambridge. In it was
a course on how to be a stand up comedian
and Lynn when I read those words, it was like
a light bulb went off, like Eureka, like I heard
(04:21):
angel singing. And even though I had never thought about
being a stand up comedian in my life, I just
felt like it was a calling, basically, like this is
what I'm supposed to do. And even though I was
(04:43):
not great for a couple of years, I just knew
that this is what I am, a stand up comedian.
So it saved me in that I was less depressed.
I would go to every comedy show I could. Laughter
(05:04):
itself is very healing, and they've done studies. There's a
whole study about laughter. I think it's called gelatology, and
they it's out of Stanford, and they show how it
helps increase breath and dopamine and you know, all the
(05:26):
good things in your body. And just being around people
was really good for me too, and I decided I
would rather make one hundred people laugh than one person
cry as a there or cry by myself. And I
(05:46):
think it really that was a long answer, but it
truly was what I needed psychologically, both watching comedy I
love to laugh, and and being the person on stage
making the audience laugh. It's a weird job, though, if
you think about it, like that's what we do.
Speaker 1 (06:08):
It is, and it's interesting to me when I was
reading about you graduated Wellesley College as a psychologist, which
is amazing. I minored in psychology, but I kind of
knew what I wanted to do, so I thought it
would be helpful just to be able to communicate with
people overall, just to understand people more. But you actually
(06:29):
wanted to go full on and help people with therapy,
and I'm just curious how much of that has helped
you in comedy.
Speaker 2 (06:38):
I think a big part of being a therapist is listening,
and I think I really listened to the audience, like
I've owned that skill. I am aware of the audience,
like I realize. I'm also aware like if I'm in
an airport, I pick up on things around me. So
(07:00):
it just honed my senses. I think being thinking that
it was going to be a psychologist and then actually
doing stand up. I don't know if that answered your question,
but there's some overlap.
Speaker 1 (07:13):
No, No, that does make sense. And it's interesting too
that you just said that you can kind of tell
what's going on with people. And is that because of
your education or maybe you're sensitive.
Speaker 2 (07:24):
I think a little of both. Yeah, yeah, it's hard
to tell.
Speaker 1 (07:27):
Yeah, it is. It's very confusing when picked the right
career path, right, because you've been incredibly successful. I was
curious what you approach to comedy and how it evolved
over the years. You've been doing this a while, and
what advice you would give to your younger self, maybe
when you were just starting out.
Speaker 2 (07:50):
Well, I tell comedians now who ask me for advice
to perform as much as humanly possible, which is what
I did when I first started. Even though I had
a day job, I was at at least one, if
not three, open mics every single night in Boston, and
there were a lot more venues and a lot fewer comedians,
(08:13):
so it's a lot easier to get on stage. So
I would drive all over town or through five states,
Rhode Island, Connecticut, Vermont, New Hampshire, Massachusetts, and then I'd
be back at work the next morning. So that's the
main thing, is performing as much as possible, because you
(08:35):
could think you're the funniest person in the world, and
you might be, but until you hear the audience laughing, yeah,
you need like practical experience. So that's one thing I
would tell myself, which I listened to. But the other
thing I would I tell people Now, the thing that
(08:56):
I wish people had told me was tru I knew
material all the time, because I would tend and I
still do tend to hone my jokes that I have
and work on them for years. And I would have
a lot more material and a few more specials if
(09:18):
I had taken chances and trusted the audience enough to
or trusted myself to feel comfortable trying out new material.
I write all the time. I just don't try it
out all the time.
Speaker 1 (09:33):
Well, wouldn't you say that? That would be That's incredibly
interesting but very familiar as I work with a lot
of producers and I see that happen a lot, where
they get in their own way because it's not done yet.
But it's only subjective to you. But then it's like
a birthing because then you have to put it out
there to be judged by everybody, so you want to
(09:54):
make sure it's perfect. So that's kind of.
Speaker 2 (09:56):
Hard, exactly. And I was with a few comedians the
other night. I produced a benefit for reproductive rights and
I performed last year and they asked me to produce
it this year. And I had some of the best
(10:16):
talent out there. I had Reader Rudner, who was one
of my idols, and Kathy Griffin and Kathy Ladman and
Stephanie Blum, and we were talking backstage about using jokes
that we wrote thirty years ago. And not that any
(10:40):
of us is Bruce Springsteen, but I said, Bruce Springsteen
still sings Born to run every show, so if it works,
it works. So yeah, if your jokes aren't topical or
seem out of context or ridiculous, they work, so why
not use it anyway? But yes, I would tell my
(11:03):
former self to just take a million chances.
Speaker 1 (11:07):
And be fearless.
Speaker 2 (11:09):
Be fearless. Yeah, but part of what makes me do
or made me do stand up, was an insecurity of
that I would fit in or get along. And I've
I've been heckled a few times, and I've been and
I've bombed, not many times. I mean, I'm not bragging,
(11:30):
but like I I've bombed in the last ten years,
but uh, I haven't bombed like where it was just
painful where.
Speaker 1 (11:42):
It came out and like dragged you off right.
Speaker 2 (11:46):
But in those times when I have bombed, I felt
the same way that I felt before I did stand up,
which was very alone, very missile, understood, panicky and depressed.
Speaker 1 (12:05):
But that hasting true with so many people. What you
just said, it happens to me all the time. It's amazing.
You think you get ten steps ahead and then one
thing happens and then you're right back where you were before.
You learn that lesson.
Speaker 2 (12:21):
Well, I did a show the other night. It was
like a private club in Beverly Hills and it was
thirty year olds somethings, and it wasn't my audience, let's
put it that way. It wasn't my audience. And I
had to work, like really work like they didn't know
(12:42):
me at all. And I was reminded that, yeah, this
is my this is a job. What's my point. My
point is every time I get on stage, it's a
new Audien, and you never know, like I have done
(13:04):
it so many times for the past forty something years
that I know that I could get a laugh with
a certain joke, But there's never any guarantee.
Speaker 1 (13:15):
Forty years, man, you have not even aged a second
since the first time I saw you. Look amazing.
Speaker 2 (13:21):
It's the filter.
Speaker 1 (13:22):
Oh yeah, that's right. Everything looks better on the camera.
Your punchlines are famous for their subtle, shall I say, misdirection.
How did you develop that signature style of yours and
what challenges sort of came with it?
Speaker 2 (13:36):
I think that's just the way my brain works. But
I think any quote unquote artist, if I can call myself,
that is influenced by the people that they grow up with,
that they start their art with. And I was in
(13:57):
Boston in the eighties, and I would watch watch comedian
Jonathan Katz, comedian Brian Kylie, who's my favorite joke writer.
I would watch Laura Kitlinger, Don Gavin, Steve Sweeney, and
(14:17):
Kevin Meanie, and I would see them, oh and Bill Broadest,
and I would see them and see what worked with them.
And I remember watching Kevin Meanie one night, the late
great Kevin Meanie, and he was on a roll, like
(14:37):
there was never any lag and I thought, that's what
I want to do. I do not want silence, so
I kept adding taglines. So it was an evolution, like
that's all I can say. It was like I learned
from watching and listening, and now in my sixties, I
(15:03):
appreciate the silence more because I think there's actually my
husband for our twenty second anniversary gave me a book
called The Power of Silence. Oh that's just a joke.
Was he trying to tell you, just a joke.
Speaker 1 (15:21):
I should have been getting that book too.
Speaker 2 (15:25):
Yeah, So I do like the silence now. I take
my time now on stage.
Speaker 1 (15:33):
Yeah, that's weird. I always felt my whole life I
had to fill the silence. I'm so nervous, like if
it's too quiet, it gets weird, right, But now it's
like very powerful.
Speaker 2 (15:44):
I feel the exact same way. And I realized recently
that it was about being around my mother, who had
to fill all the silence too, Like we could never
have any lag time in our conversation because then it
meant something else might happen. And not to get too
(16:05):
not to get too heady and psychological about it, but
I think that's where it comes from for me. Yeah,
so I find myself with people probably like you, trying
to make them feel comfortable and fill the gaps. I've
been talking to my husband's cousin. She's a wellness coach,
(16:29):
and at the beginning of our zooms we take breaths,
and so we have to be quiet.
Speaker 1 (16:37):
Oh God, it must be so cool we can do that,
I know.
Speaker 2 (16:41):
All it is.
Speaker 1 (16:42):
What is a common misunderstanding, Wendy that audiences have about
comedians and stand up comedy?
Speaker 2 (16:50):
Ooh, maybe that we're funny all the time. And I
have to say, I know some comedians who are all
always on, and then I know a lot of comedians
who are like the opposite of funny when they're on,
I mean when they're not on. In my situation, my
(17:12):
husband is the funny one for real and for real,
he's so funny, my husband. But he's also really shy,
like he would never do stand up. He said, if
I do stand up, I'm just going to be on
stage and I'm gonna wet my pants. Hey, Mike gonna
say right, and I'll say, that's my time. But he
(17:37):
always has some really creative, funny thing to say about
every day.
Speaker 1 (17:45):
Wow.
Speaker 2 (17:46):
Well, he's a writer. He wrote on a sitcom called
Boy Meets World.
Speaker 1 (17:51):
Oh I remember that.
Speaker 2 (17:53):
Yes, And he's also the son of a songwriter who
wrote a lot of the Sick for Disney. Wow. They
wrote Mary Poppins and Shitty Chitty Bang Bang. Oh my gosh,
the music. Yeah. They wrote the song It's a Small World.
Speaker 1 (18:14):
So you're like your own little entertainment mecca empire right there,
just the two of you.
Speaker 2 (18:18):
Wow, it's just funny. Yeah. My husband inspired the song
spoonful of Sugar No way Edison go down. Yes. He
came home from school and his dad said, what did
you do today? And he said, we got the salt
vaccine or the vaccine for polio. And my father in
law said, you let them give you a shot. He
was seven, And my husband said, no. They put it
(18:41):
on a sugar cube, and the sugar cube was on
a spoon and we just ate it.
Speaker 1 (18:46):
Oh my god, I know it's I can't believe. That's
such a fun fact that no one would ever.
Speaker 2 (18:51):
Know, right, And so my father in law like twiddled
his thumbs and called his brother who was his writing partner,
and the next day they wrote a spoonful of sugar
helps medicine go down.
Speaker 1 (19:04):
In the most delightful way.
Speaker 2 (19:06):
Exactly.
Speaker 1 (19:07):
Wow. Wow, you heard it here first. That is very cool.
Unless you must you must have told that story before.
Speaker 2 (19:14):
I'm sure once or a zillion times.
Speaker 1 (19:18):
What what what's the funniest or most memorable show that
you've had and what made it stand out? Can you
remember you've done something?
Speaker 2 (19:29):
I have two shows that I always think about, and
one was I got to open for Bob Hope in
the nineties Wow outside for five thousand people wow, and
in Indianapolis, and that was surreal. I mean I've opened
(19:52):
for a lot of famous people like Ray Charles and
and Margaret and Leo Glacy like I can't even believe
my life. I feel like Zellig sometimes. But that was
memorable just because of the comedy gravity. And then one
(20:19):
time I was in a basement of an Italian restaurant
called Paisanos in Dearborn, Michigan, and there were eight people
on a Sunday night and it was joyous. I just
included all eight of us. By the end, we knew
(20:42):
everybody's name. I think I bought everybody. During why I
felt like a puk on an air hockey board. I
was in the moment, I just it was It was
really fun. And you know, I've gotten much more conversational
(21:02):
talking to the audience over the years, whereas when I
first started, it was like I had to follow my
script and every word had to be in place. And
because jokes rely on the rhythm and the punchline and
you know, the wording, there's timing and yeah, the timing.
(21:24):
So I was very studious like that. But then I
started talking to the audience, probably just to fill the
time sometimes, and the audience loves that because it's like
an inside joke with the audience. You feel like you
(21:46):
feel like the comedian is not just an actor saying
lines that they are really the comedy brain. The people
who are best at that. You know, now you see
it a lot. Now you see a lot of comedians
posting their audience interaction videos. But before that, this wave,
(22:10):
Paula Poundstone is the best at it. She riffs with
the audience. Comedian named Jimmy Brogan, who was one of
Jay Leno's head writers for many years. He's phenomenal. Russell
Peters is amazing, like it's a real gift. And so
(22:30):
I'm not great at it, but I've gotten better over
the years and I really enjoy it. Like I opened
for I have a standing gig opening for Fritz Coleman,
who was the weather guy here in LA for forty years,
and he just stand up. That's how he started. He
was seen at the comedy club and they asked him,
(22:51):
do you want to do the weather?
Speaker 1 (22:53):
Of all things?
Speaker 2 (22:53):
I know, I know. I think David Letterman started that
way too. Wow. But so now he is a standing
gig and I do twenty minutes in front of him
once a month, and his is more like a play.
But so I do the opposite of that. I just
interact with the audience and talk to them about life.
(23:17):
So love I love using that creative muscle.
Speaker 1 (23:21):
It's sort of like relaxing in the saddle of life.
It's the only kind of Someone said that to me once.
Oh I love that right, all of a sudden, It's
like even when I was doing the show originally, I
had come off all public stuff for probably like ten
twelve years, and I really wasn't going to get back
into doing anything unless it was for good purposes. Hence
(23:44):
I'm here but being comfortable to say, wait a minute,
hold on a second, let me look at a note
that I just had here. You just meant, you know,
and then it's okay to do that. You don't have
to be so polished and perfectly right.
Speaker 2 (24:00):
Yeah, I bring notes sometimes, and I even asked the audience,
I say I'm trying some new jokes, would you mind?
And they're like no, no, of course.
Speaker 3 (24:11):
We'll be right back with more of the Comedy Save
Me Podcast. Welcome back to the Comedy Save Me Podcast.
Speaker 1 (24:24):
You mentioned Paula Poundstone, and I just found out yesterday
that she's going to be coming on the show as well,
So I'm so stoked over that. First I get Wendy Leidman,
and now Paula Poundstone's going to come on, and I
can't even wait to talk to her. If you could
ask her a question, what would you ask her?
Speaker 2 (24:40):
Let me think about that, but I want to tell
you a story about please yea, that's okay, yea. So
she originated in Boston, so when I was starting, she
came back to do a show and I remember watching
her and thinking, and I had just done it for
like six months, and I remember thinking, I am, I
should just quit because I'm never going to be that funny.
(25:02):
I can never be that funny. And forty years later,
I have realized everybody has their own voice. It's like
there's a room for every single voice. And so I
was on a show that she was hosting recently, like recently,
(25:24):
probably a year and a half ago, and she watched
everything and laughed at everything I said, and I thought,
oh my god. And she even tweeted about me the
next day, and I thought, oh my god, this is
surreal and it's full circle. And so what would I
ask her? I would ask her if she would let
(25:51):
me open for the road. Now I know that's a
great question. She doesn't have anybody open for her. I
don't know what I would ask her.
Speaker 1 (26:00):
Think about that.
Speaker 2 (26:01):
We'll circle, I will, we'll stirkle back.
Speaker 1 (26:03):
I just like saying that. I'm trying to think you'd
mentioned something that I'll come back.
Speaker 2 (26:11):
Your notes, look, get your notes.
Speaker 1 (26:12):
I'm mean. Steve Sweeney Kevin Meaney, two of my all
time favorites. In fact, when I was doing morning radio
in Boston one year, I got a random phone call
and I didn't know who it was, and it was
Steve Sweeney and they had hired him to do morning
radio a comedian doing mourning radio, like having to get
up at the time you would normally go to bed
after a show. I have one question for you, and
(26:36):
I said what he said, How the hell do you
get up at this ungodly hour and try to be
funny and entertain people? I don't And it was like
I couldn't imagine that he would even do the job.
But he was really good, and we competed against each
other in Boston and it was wow. It was very
fun and we became friendly. He is just an amazing
(26:56):
I love him so much. I just absolutely adore him.
Speaker 2 (26:59):
Yeah, ye, he was like he was amazing. I mean
he still is. But doing morning radio, that's like in
any job, it's not just the job. My job I
see as getting to the gig, you know, either flying
or driving. There's always some travel, yeah, and it's also
(27:24):
learning how to do morning pr which is radio, or
learning how to do press, which I didn't know that
was part of my job. So I would fly to
a city on the East coast, so I'm three hours behind.
I'd go to sleep at three anyway at home, so
I wouldn't be asleep for more than an hour, and
(27:46):
then I would have to get up and do radio,
so it like really messed with my circadian rhythm. But
what's my point? Yeah, I don't know how. I don't
know how you did morning radio.
Speaker 1 (27:57):
I love that you get lost. Sometimes I was great.
But sometimes the more tired you are, the better it is,
you know, because you don't think so much about what
you're doing, and you're just like.
Speaker 2 (28:09):
Whatever, oh my god, oh my god.
Speaker 1 (28:12):
Oh wait, you in the back, you have your hand up, yeah,
oh my god.
Speaker 3 (28:15):
What.
Speaker 2 (28:16):
So for years this is exactly true. I had a
day job, as I said, so I didn't sleep a lot.
So a lot of comedians back in the eighties they
would drink a lot, and so it was easier for
them to get on stage. I anesthetized myself by being exhausted. No,
(28:41):
I'm being serious. And then I recently had to do
a radio show here in La at night, and I
was not tired at all, and I realized this is
harder when I am way conscious. Yes, like because I'm
used to doing morning radio out So yes, I totally
(29:02):
agree with you. Having less or fewer faculties at that
hour makes you freer.
Speaker 1 (29:11):
Yeah, it just makes you looser and you don't care
as much. You know, it's kind of what we talked
about earlier.
Speaker 2 (29:17):
Connected with you. We have two we have the necklace,
we have the hair.
Speaker 1 (29:24):
You look. I can't even tell you. I really really
feel connected to you the minute that you popped on
the screen. And it's really weird. But I grew up
in Boston, so maybe that might have something to do
with it. And I'm sure you came on the John
Lander Morning show once or twice in Boston. It was
like the number one show for many many years. It
was Lander and Maddie.
Speaker 2 (29:45):
I'm sure I was on your show, I'm sure.
Speaker 1 (29:48):
And funny enough, it was Maddie at one point, Maddie
Lander and Steve Sweeney all on the morning's different stations
in Boston. Isn't that crazy?
Speaker 2 (29:58):
Well, I would have listened to you.
Speaker 1 (30:00):
Ah, thanks, Wendy. When life gets stressful, what role does
comedy play in keeping you grounded?
Speaker 2 (30:10):
I realized recently that I was having a hard time recently,
and I haven't felt depressed since the eighties when I
started doing comedy. I know that's pretty good. I mean,
medication and therapy help, but comedy just play a big
role in that. And I realized that I hadn't performed
(30:34):
in a while, and it's like a thick I needed
a fix.
Speaker 1 (30:40):
You were going through withdrawals.
Speaker 2 (30:42):
I really was, but I didn't realize it until I
sat down and thought about it, that it does play
a big role hearing people laugh. I'm curious about that too.
I don't have that answer, but hearing laughter for forty years,
(31:02):
I wonder what that does to somebody's psyche. Wow, like
maybe some kind of I don't know, I don't know,
but so comedy. I also love watching comedy, Like yesterday
I watched a comedian ning Sam Morrill. I've recently watched
(31:22):
Jessica Curzon and Nate bart Gaze. I don't know how
to pronounce his name. But I love like listening to
Brian Reagan and David tel And. Yeah, I just love
laughing because what it does is it makes me think
(31:44):
a different way. Like when somebody's making you laugh, it's like, oh,
there's like an out, So there's another way to think
about this. It's not all consistent. Wow.
Speaker 1 (32:03):
Wow, Well, I have to tell you two things popped
into my head when you were just saying that. One
we need the laugh app, the Wendy Leeveman laugh app.
Where you just turn it on and it's just funny
people laughing, like you don't even have to tell a joke,
just laughing and hearing it. And then the other thing
I was thinking is my oldest, dearest friend, Scott. He
(32:24):
had the funniest laugh growing up that I remember telling
him if we could somehow bottle your laughter and or
sell it like a commodity, they need it on TV
shows because back then you had to have laugh tracks
and stuff. You know, there wasn't any ai or so.
But I loved him the most, and I look back
(32:46):
and I think about what you're saying, and I'm wondering.
You know, he could tell great stories and he always
made me laugh, but his laugh was even funnier than
his funny stories. And I wonder if maybe that's another
reason why I was so close to him, because he
made me feel so good all the time.
Speaker 2 (33:03):
Well, I think that's it's so healing to laugh, especially
with somebody, and I feel like laughter is the healing
is exponential when you're laughing in a group. I want
to get my quote right. I wrote something and I
(33:24):
want to get it right, like I can't remember exactly.
I think it's a laughing crowd is a chorus of
peace because we're all on the same wavelength at that point,
and it's joyous. It really is.
Speaker 1 (33:41):
It is. Have you ever had a moment like when
you were on stage and you felt like you were
helping the audience get through something and heal, helping them heal.
Speaker 2 (33:50):
Well, always after something big, like after the pandemic or
after nine to eleven, I can feel that the audience
wants to laugh more. So we're just the instigator. We're
like the impetus. We are there to say it's okay
to laugh, So we're giving you permission, and if what
(34:12):
you're saying is funny, that's even better. So I felt
the laughter was like deeper after tragedy.
Speaker 1 (34:25):
So you know, and you bring up tragedy and then
you know, tell me to shut up or not bring
something up. But I saw something that in my research
on you that I thought was just so impressive. And
you know, you don't have to get into the reasons
and all of it, but you were kind of taken
out of commission because of a car accident and.
Speaker 2 (34:46):
Oh, i'll talk about it.
Speaker 1 (34:47):
Okay, Well, I mean I don't know, and yeah, but
what I read was you put yourself back on the
scene by going on. Was this correct? America's got talent?
Speaker 2 (35:00):
Yes? Okay, so you're talking about the first act that,
oh there.
Speaker 1 (35:03):
Was more than one. You weren't driving, were you?
Speaker 2 (35:07):
Do you not hang out with me? Unventurable of ours?
Speaker 1 (35:10):
I guess all I could say.
Speaker 2 (35:11):
Okay, the first time my husband and I were driving
back from a dinner, it was eleven at night. We
were at a stop light. There were four lanes across,
two of them were turning left, and we were hit
by a drunk driver. All seven cars, well he was
(35:33):
the seventh, but it was like he bowled into these
stationary cars. The woman in the car right next to
us died like it was that close.
Speaker 1 (35:46):
Oh my god.
Speaker 2 (35:46):
And so just by fate, by fate, we moved lanes
because we didn't want to be behind this one group
of kids in a car that seemed a little rowdy,
so we moved over. I was sitting on the bus
bench on the side, waiting for whatever to have the hullabaloop,
(36:09):
and I thought I have to get back out there.
That's exactly what I said, because I'd been doing stand up,
but I was also a stepmom at that point. And
I stayed home more and so I auditioned for America's
Got Talent and that really did like boost my visibility.
So that was great.
Speaker 1 (36:30):
But that's incredible that you put yourself out there that way.
I mean, that's like you didn't just come back. You
went on a major, widely watched show and put yourself
right out there.
Speaker 2 (36:42):
Well. I had seen other like some peers on that show,
and I thought, oh, they did it, I can try.
And it was really fun. And I never expected to win.
I just thought this is a good experience, like that
I have as I gotten older. I think everything is
just cumulative, all good experience. And I met amazing people
(37:03):
and I'm still friends with people that I met. The
sons of serendip which is this beautiful quartet. They started
it be You, actually they met it be You, and
they're just phenomenon. Matt Franco, who won that year, he's
a magician, he has his own showroom in Vegas. So anyway,
(37:24):
it was the people that I met.
Speaker 1 (37:26):
That's cool. So you remain friends with all those people,
that's very cool.
Speaker 2 (37:29):
Yeah, I fight. I knew I wasn't gonna win, so
I wanted to win this Congenie out.
Speaker 1 (37:34):
Runner up. Oh my gosh.
Speaker 2 (37:37):
And then the second accident, I was just walking across
the street and I was hit by a car. Don't
feel bad for me, because I.
Speaker 1 (37:51):
I've never read anyone say that to me. No, I
was hit by a car, but don't feel bad for me.
Speaker 2 (37:55):
Don't feel bad because so they broke a leg and
both my feet. Oh, then it should have been like
six months recovery. But when they took the cast off,
this is something that this goes into the category of
shit you can't make up. They took the cast off,
(38:19):
they saw that one of the foot that was being
rehabilitated or the leg was crooked like they said it wrong,
the rod was twisted. They had to go back and
rebreak the leg, and so that took another six months.
So I was basically in bed. Don't feel bad for me.
(38:41):
I was in bed for fourteen months. But it wasn't
all bad. I have to tell you, Like I well,
I try to find the good and everything, but I
no pun intended. I needed a break. I had done
the road for so many years and here I was
being waited on hand and foot. I felt so loved
(39:04):
by my friends and I got a little money from
the woman that had hit me.
Speaker 1 (39:10):
Oh well that's always good, yeah, because that would suck
if you find out they don't have insurance and your
sol in bed fourteen months with bed sores. Right, hopefully
you had cute nurses though.
Speaker 2 (39:23):
Well, I have my husband who now I say, I
will do anything like he was sick for one day
recently and I got, oh my god, I can't stand this.
Speaker 1 (39:36):
Nothing gets done and.
Speaker 2 (39:37):
He did it for fourteen months. Wow.
Speaker 1 (39:40):
That means he really really loves you a lot.
Speaker 2 (39:43):
He was an angel.
Speaker 1 (39:45):
How long have you been married?
Speaker 2 (39:47):
Twenty two years and together for three before that? So
something like that. Yeah, I can't remember. So you got
to know each other too long? No, No, is there are.
Speaker 1 (40:00):
Piece Actually, let me skip back to one before, because
you've been so generous with your time and we're kind
of coming up on that and I'm like, my last
couple of questions and although I don't want to let
you go other than comedy, are there other passions that
you have or creative outlets that we should pay attention to,
or maybe that you could share that maybe nobody knows. No,
(40:26):
that answers that question. I love it.
Speaker 2 (40:29):
No, No, it does nothing.
Speaker 1 (40:30):
Else for comedy. That's it. I do you like to cook?
Speaker 2 (40:38):
Love playing the piano? Oh? See, so I'm not a
good cook. I'm not a good cook, but I watch
all the cooking shows and my husband's like, why do
you even bother? I'm like, I don't know, I might
learn something. I also watch all the true crime shows.
Oh I don't know how to cook, but I try
(40:59):
to eat really healthy. Not every night, but I try to.
Speaker 1 (41:04):
It's obvious by the way. Wendy, thank you seriously. You
are what you eat and you look like you're ageless,
Like you look exactly the same as I remember seeing
you ten, fifteen, twenty years ago.
Speaker 4 (41:15):
Wow.
Speaker 1 (41:16):
So that's a testament. It's a good eating.
Speaker 2 (41:18):
Thank you. I love my jog. They're in the background.
I don't know if this is video or audio.
Speaker 1 (41:25):
They're not moving though. It's everything now. They stuffed.
Speaker 2 (41:30):
Yes, I'm attacked to jermists. You know they are the picture.
Obviously they are rescued from Korea. Oh, they are called
Jindo's and they were going to be eaten, not joking,
not joking what They were rescued from a meat market
(41:52):
in South Korea, and they are I love them so much.
But they're high maintenance and as trained as a carrot.
They are.
Speaker 1 (42:04):
That's why I got a cat, Because they do what
they want. You don't have to worry about it.
Speaker 2 (42:09):
I love it. I actually got them cat treats by accident,
and they loved them. And now they ignore me like
a cat.
Speaker 1 (42:18):
Oh see, yeah, very smart, smart animals. They're beautiful and
lovely that you thank you rescued them from dinner cheapers.
I know, right, that's crazy to me. Is there one
piece of wisdom that you wish that you'd learned earlier
in your career?
Speaker 2 (42:35):
Just to try new material all the time and also
just have fun, like I try to just have fun
now in my career. Like I had a show recently
where I heard there were going to be agents in
the audience, and I already have an agent, but I thought, ooh,
(42:57):
maybe they would cast me in a movie or something hike,
And then I saw, you know what, now I am
here to make this audience have a ball. Like I
heard Yo Yo Ma say that every time he stepped
on stage, he thought of himself as throwing a dinner party,
(43:19):
and that this the audience were his guests, And that
made a lot of sense. To me, so yeah, I
just want the audience to feel good.
Speaker 1 (43:32):
I wonder, I wonder if yo Yo Ma was a
was a waiter ever, because I don't know why that
popped into my head. But I worked at a restaurant
when I was young, and every time i'd get a
large party, like a table with lots of people, I
couldn't even wait. Not that I wanted to be a comedian,
but I just loved, you know, trying to get them
(43:53):
to laugh, making them, making sure that they had a
good time. Of course, so i'd get a good tip,
but most of the you know what I mean, So
I couldn't even wait.
Speaker 2 (44:01):
Did you ever do stand up?
Speaker 1 (44:02):
No? No? I love making people laugh. I loved. My
favorites were Carol Burnett, I watched you know, Goldiehan laugh
and all of it. Saturday Night Live me too huge,
But I never thought that I could ever do it
because it was me alone. Like I never wanted to
host my own show by myself. Wow, careful what you
(44:26):
wish for, But but I always wanted to work with
a comedy troup, like a team of people, like a
collaborative team, which unfortunately is very difficult to find. And
why most bands need therapy after touring for fifty years.
So yeah, no, but I wanted to be a host
(44:48):
that was funny, like Tom.
Speaker 2 (44:50):
Bergern right, you know in Boston.
Speaker 1 (44:53):
Yeah so, and he's been on comedy Save Me too. So,
speaking of which, before I let you go, Indy, we
were talking about Paula Poundstone and I've given you some
time to think about it, although I haven't really because
I've been talking your ear off. What you know, because
I'll play it for her if you want, so, if
you really want it to be opening for her, I
(45:13):
will do that.
Speaker 2 (45:15):
No, no, because she'll say, I don't have anybody open
for me.
Speaker 4 (45:18):
I am ask Paula how she started taking pictures of
a chair at every venue she talks to the chair backstage,
she takes it.
Speaker 2 (45:37):
She takes a picture of a chair.
Speaker 1 (45:40):
All right, this is cool, this is totally inside.
Speaker 2 (45:42):
And oh, I do want to tell her something though, okay,
if that's okay.
Speaker 1 (45:47):
Absolutely.
Speaker 2 (45:48):
I follow her social media and in the background of
her house or somewhere in her house she has a
picture of I think it's Mary Poppins, and so I
want to tell her about my connection to Mary Poppins.
And I've met her like a dozen times now, but
(46:08):
I don't think she knows who I am. But also,
we're really good friends with Mickey Dolan's from the Monkeys,
and she and Nicky share a cat. Not really, it's
just on on social media. Okay, So I want, I
guess I want to vet myself by telling her that
(46:30):
we're best friends with Nicky Dolans. So not really a question.
Speaker 1 (46:35):
So you have a mutual monkey between you exactly. Not
on our back, not on your back, Wendy Leebman, I
could talk to you for hours. You're an amazing person.
Thank you so much.
Speaker 5 (46:46):
Talking to you and comedy truly saved me from depression,
from uh just figuring out my life.
Speaker 2 (47:00):
Learn so much from comedy. I once wrote a piece
called what I learned from stand up comedy. Figure out
your hair. You are unique, but you're also equal to
everybody where. Whatever you want, and pray that nobody throws
(47:21):
anything at your head. I mean, there are like forty
things on the list, but those are the ones that
come to mind.
Speaker 1 (47:27):
Oh, and eat healthy if you can.
Speaker 2 (47:29):
And eat healthy.
Speaker 1 (47:31):
Yes, sustenance, Wendy Leibman, thank you for being on comedy
save me and good luck with everything. And I do
hope our paths cross again, because it was just.
Speaker 2 (47:40):
I hope so too. You're my sister from another mother.
Speaker 1 (47:43):
I love it. Thank you so much. Have a great
rest you Oh is there anything you want to plug?
Where can people find you?
Speaker 2 (47:49):
Website Wendyleibman dot com.
Speaker 1 (47:52):
That's it.
Speaker 2 (47:53):
I'm on on every social media platform except X. Thank you,
Thank you so much, a wonderful day, you too.
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