A Magical Journey with Leslie Carrara-Rudolph: Behind the Scenes of Sesame Street, Muppets, and Personal Triumphs

Join me as we journey into the whimsical and inspiring world of Leslie Carrara-Rudolph, the magical hand behind Sesame Street's Abby Cadabby. Our conversation takes you through the colorful streets of Muppet projects and how Leslie expertly breathes life into her enchanting characters. This episode promises to unveil the behind-the-scenes magic and share secrets on how a Leslie works to inspire young hearts and adults alike.

Our adventure goes beyond puppetry, as we dive into Leslie's beautiful chaos, the arts, and her unique take on fashion. We explore the perspective of this talented actress, from the charming story of her plastic reindeer companion to her deep connection with her character Lolly Lardpop. We also traverse through her challenges with anxiety and perception processing disorder, and how these have shaped her journey to stardom.

Wrapping up this enchanting ride, we chat about Leslie's upcoming show at Green Room 42.  So, join us on this vibrant and magical journey with Leslie Carrera Rudolph, and be ready to be inspired, amused, and enlightened.

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:08):
Hello, hello, welcome to the Bad Chest podcast.
I am your host, the currentreigning and defending third
worst chess player on kick KD215.
And everybody.
When I started this podcast,everyone told me that a podcast
needs at least five episodesbefore people will start to take

(00:28):
it seriously.
And here we are, episode five.
It's a very exciting episodefive we can start promoting now.
We couldn't promote forwhatever reason.
Companies won't let you promotebefore you got five episodes.
So here we are.
We have five episodes tonight.
I mean we don't have five yet,but at the end of this there
will be five.

(00:49):
And we saved an awesome guestfor episode five.
I can see her.
You all can't see her.
I can see her right now.
And new heart.
And new heart Can't forget me,just trust me, guys.
Tonight's guest once gave aninterview where she said your
environment and your success ismeasured by what you contribute

(01:11):
to the world.
So even if you're not workingyour dream job, you should be
doing your dream job.
My dream job was retire youngand wealthy, and obviously that
didn't happen for me, but I tryto fake it till I make it.
Well, from an early age, leslieCarrera Rudolph dreamed of
being on Sesame Street.
She's on the record, sayingthat a lot of the characters
from the show were alreadyliving in her head and how she

(01:33):
could relate to them andunderstood their imagination and
their wonder.
Having had the privilege ofwatching this woman perform, I
can say that the life she bringsto her characters is nothing
short of magical.
From her earliest Muppetappearance as Spamala Anderson
to over 17 years as Abby Cadabbyon Sesame Street, leslie has
helped bring magic to the livesof children and adults all over

(01:54):
the world.
Aside from all of her Muppetand Sesame Street duties, leslie
, with the assistance of herfriend Lolli Lardpop, finds the
time to work with children andteenagers, helping them to wake
up their weird and find theconfidence and self esteem to
believe in themselves.
Tonight, we are very lucky tohave with us the talented and
magical Leslie Carrera RudolphLeslie Hi.

Speaker 2 (02:17):
Wow, that was amazing .
New Heart, give him the way.

Speaker 1 (02:24):
This is what I was dealing with, this guys, while I
was trying to do that.

Speaker 2 (02:30):
That was wow, Thank you.

Speaker 1 (02:34):
You have a New Heart fan, by the way, in chat already
, just putting that out there.

Speaker 2 (02:40):
New Heart we just finished doing a bunch of.
You know the D'StoniaFoundation, which a lot of
people don't know what D'Stoniais, but it's a really rare
disease.
Let's start with disease, shallwe?
But it's a very rare diseasethat can.
It's in all different agegroups and everything, and it

(03:02):
can overcome you at any time.
Carol Spinney, a lot of peoplethat realize had D'Stonia
towards the end, and so anyway,we got involved with that
foundation for the last threeyears.
During COVID they needed helpwith content for their younger
audiences.
So Lolly and New Heart andmyself kind of chimed in and
they asked us they're doingservice dog videos.

(03:27):
So Lolly and New Heart didservice dog videos.
It's pretty funny.
So we did a bunch of those.

Speaker 1 (03:37):
So you are.
In my opinion, you are like aclassical type of variety
performer, the likes of which donot.
It doesn't exist anymore.
You are funny, you can sing,you do character work Like this
year is this?

Speaker 2 (03:56):
kind of variety.

Speaker 1 (03:57):
Yes, yes, the Vaudevillian, yeah, slapsticky-.

Speaker 2 (04:04):
I'm having good things online.
They don't sell them anymore.

Speaker 1 (04:08):
What funny glasses.

Speaker 2 (04:09):
Yeah, they didn't know what these were, these
ground chimed marks.
I went into spirit and they hadno idea what I was talking
about.

Speaker 1 (04:16):
I added the candy corn.
Oh, I was going to say thatthey come with the candy corn
nose.

Speaker 2 (04:21):
No, I made that.

Speaker 1 (04:24):
So, leslie, just so you understand the complexity
from my point of this podcast, Iam literally doing total inside
, not for anybody else, tom'sjob and Frank's job and
everybody's job in the world onthis Like I'm controlling stuff
with my feet, with my hands,with my-.
Oh yeah, it's crazy.
It's all sorts of craziness Metoo.

(04:44):
Just full disclosure.
I've known Leslie now 17 or 18years.
I met you for the first time onthe set of a show that didn't
last long.
It was called Johnny and theSprites.
We were just talking about that.
It was Johnny and the Spriteswas such a great show.

Speaker 2 (05:02):
It's one of my favorites and Ginger was
fantastic Ginger Sprite and shewas kind of like a skinny, like
me, you know.
She was totally rough andtumble and the music on that
show was incredible.
One of the my favorite songsI've ever done or pieces ever
done was on that show calledMuddle in the Puddle and it was

(05:24):
beautiful.
It was like Ginger's, like shedidn't like who she was.
She caught a glimpse of herselfor something and she started
self-judging and it was reallyheartbreaking but beautiful
because you know her friendBasil's, like we love you and
Johnny, it was so great but itwas shot beautifully, you know,

(05:44):
and Sean he shot, he did thewhole thing.
That I think maybe two only,maybe two or three episodes.
Sean didn't shoot on the jig.
It was beautiful.

Speaker 1 (05:57):
So Johnny and the Sprites was a single camera.
Just so everybody knows it wasa single camera show shot very,
you know, film-esque.
And the Sean she was talkingabout was the Jib Operator, sean
Harkins.
He is just a legendary Jiboperator.
He does Sesame Street as well.

Speaker 2 (06:14):
Look, I have visuals even though you're listening.
So that's Basil coming up toGinger and then that's Ginger.
The camera is underneath andshe's looking down through a
reflection and at the very endof that song she puts her finger
in the puddle and it goes likethis and it's so touching, it's

(06:37):
just so.
It's one of my favorite showsand, plus, it was just pure joy
to work on.
I love.
I'm a musical theater person,so I loved being able to sing
all those incredible songs, youknow.
So it was fun.

Speaker 1 (06:53):
So you obviously you now have a rich history with the
Muppets and Sesame Street.
Your first introduction to thatworld was Spamala Hamderson on
Muppets Tonight, which that was.
Can you explain that?
Well, how did you come intoSpamala Hamderson was it was a
pig.
Representation of PamelaAnderson from Baywatch.

Speaker 2 (07:13):
Yeah, she was a pig and with no neck, and hooters.
Well, I am so you know.
Yeah, can I explain that?

Speaker 1 (07:23):
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (07:24):
Well, guess what?
It was created by a male writer.
What a surprise.
I also did Darcy and AngryRooka, that was kind of like
that.
So there was, she was a lot offun.
I mean, you know, I that showwas like falling down a rabbit
hole because I had never intolike a world like I.

(07:48):
You know, my degree is childdevelopment through the arts, so
it's child psychology,therapeutic recreation, theater,
arts, therapeutic recreation islike when you design programs
for kids at risk.
You know foster homes, yeahwell, do no gore plays.
So I don't know if you heardthat honk, but you know

(08:11):
hospitalized kids, different,different environments, and so
the puppets that I made werevery were soft puppets, or
slippers, or very immediate orout of dryer hoses.
And you know characters, Iwould just reach kids through
characters.
So I'd written a show calledLife in Other People's Shoes and

(08:32):
I would cartoon the characters.
I'd go into them and sing andwrite stories for them, because
I love characters more thananything.
So when I auditioned for theMuppets, it was a cattle call
for female comedians who dovoices and can sing in character
, and I had no idea what I wasdoing.
I, you know, I didn't have acomputer, I didn't have a cell

(08:56):
phone.
I didn't have.
You know, it was back in theday where people had beavers,
right.
So I I never knew how peopledid stuff, you know, and I'm
like a child of wonder.
So when I watched the Muppets, Ijust believe them to be
characters.
I didn't think what was under,I didn't think about how they
came to life.

(09:16):
You know, some people juststudied it, got certain books
and stuff, but I was just likeI'm a believer, you know.
So when I got on set I was like, oh, I'm going to be fired any
second because it's a wholenother art form above your head.
You know, making your put yourheartbeat in your hand and
trying to make somebody careabout something on your hand.

(09:39):
It was a huge learning curve.
And Bill Beretta just took ahuge chance on me, and so did
Brian.
They said she has charactersand Kevin was like what am I
gonna do with her?
How that was painful.
Did you hear how loud that wasit?

Speaker 1 (09:56):
did it?
Did hear that, but look,obviously the gamble worked off
right.
I mean it worked out.
I mean you are amazing atpublic view.
I think it's because you'reamazing with the characters, no
stop.

Speaker 2 (10:09):
You know.
Well, I have to tell you, jerryNelson got me through that show
because I'm a messy performer,like I try everything, you know,
and I still feel like I stillfeel you and I were talking
about how you feel it's yourfirst day.
I always feel like that.

(10:30):
It's my first day, so but Jerrywas really awesome because he
got to know me as a person.
He asked.
I had two HBO workspace showsduring Muppets Tonight.
You know, right up the street Iwas doing my work and stuff and
but people didn't know that Ihad this whole other life, you

(10:52):
know, doing outreach and doingtheater and stuff.
So I just was a, I just sat onset and I watched everybody and
I had a monitor in my room and Ijust practiced and practiced
because I thought it was gonnabe fired pretty much every day.

Speaker 1 (11:09):
You know the weird thing about Muppets Tonight, if
I recall correctly, that wasreally the first time the
Muppets came out and didanything after the passing of
Jim Henson.

Speaker 2 (11:17):
So yeah, as far as the television show, I think
Sure yeah.

Speaker 1 (11:23):
And it was weird because you know they didn't
have all of the original cast.
We're gonna get to that in thetrivia section later, by the way
, because you know they.
You know because it was stilltoo soon and too fresh and
people's hearts, so that's gottabe.
I always tell people that theweirdest thing about Sesame

(11:43):
Street is it doesn't matter howmany years you've been on the
show, you're the new person.
When you have people that havebeen on the show since season
one is still there and you'recoming in at season 35, 36,
you're the new kid.
Even though it's been 20 yearssince then, you're still the new
kid.
Yeah, it's gotta be that sameway.

Speaker 2 (12:03):
walking into that environment, you know, with oh
man, are you talking aboutMuppets tonight?
You're talking about Muppetstonight.

Speaker 1 (12:13):
Yeah, right, because you have Dave Gohls, right, you
have.

Speaker 2 (12:18):
Dave Gohls, frank Oz, kevin Clash, bill Beretta,
brian Henson, steve Whitmire,and when they were like
brainstorming, I was sittingthere and I full on think they
thought I was just a PA.
You know, I was just sittingthere probably waiting to get

(12:40):
them something.
You know, I was just frozenLike I don't even know.
You know, I just it was amasterclass.
But I fell in love with itbecause I'm I don't really fit
into Hollywood or Holly Plastic.
You know I just I'm not a.

(13:02):
I've always struggled with filmand television in that world.
I just love the art form, likeI just love to play with the
world.
And so I didn't enjoyauditioning.
I mean I dreamed of being onSNL I think.
You know that was a huge dreamof mine.
Any female comedian that doescharacters thinks that that's

(13:24):
where they wanna go.
But they said they had someonethat looked like me.
So I was like all right.
But and my friend Paula Pellgot a job on Muppets I mean,
excuse me, on SNL the same timeI got a job on the Muppets and
she got a job as a writer, andPaula Pell, you know, is one of

(13:44):
the funniest people on theplanet.
I mean we did the Kathy and Moshow together.
Have you ever heard of that?

Speaker 1 (13:52):
Oh.

Speaker 2 (13:52):
Kathy, and Kathy and Jimmy did a two-person show.
It was called Parallel Lives,and Paula and I did it, you know
, just in an equity theater inOrlando.
And then, you know, I alwaysthink I'm like we're backstage
in these huge angel wings, going, I'm wondering how you make it,
you know.
And then three months latershe's on SNL and I'm on the

(14:16):
Muppets and we're like what youknow.
So I feel like if you just, Imean, I genuinely follow my
heart, but I was way out of myleague.
I didn't even know what I wasdoing there, you know, except
for I just wanted to learn asmuch as I could.
And you know, I pick angelcards all the time.

(14:36):
Caitlin, the angel card that Ipicked for the day of my
audition was Adventure, and it'sthe angel with the walking
stick and I was like, okay, well, life's an adventure.

Speaker 1 (14:52):
And it's been a crazy adventure since then.
I mean like think of how muchthat has shaped your life.
Right, you met Paul, yourhusband, didn't you?
You met him on, right, yeah.

Speaker 2 (15:03):
On Muppets.
So here's something that's justcrazy, crazy.
So Paul Rudolph, so handsome,so kind, you know I was just
like we, you know, work togetherand he kept on writing parts
for me to sing, because a lot oftimes the guys would sing

(15:23):
falsetto and I was like I'mright here, I can sing that part
.
And you know, in the recordingsessions he was the assistant
musical director, I think it was, I don't know it was official
title, but he used to sit at thepiano.
There was a piano on setsometimes because people would
play live.
Like Ralph Sharon, TonyBennett's musical director,

(15:46):
played live on the set for TonyBennett.
Little Richard played live.
Paul did drums for him.
You should have Paul on yourshow and he's a great interview.
He's got great stories aboutmusic.

Speaker 1 (16:00):
But I would want to talk to him about his stage show
.
Remember his stage show, oh.

Speaker 2 (16:04):
Glank.

Speaker 1 (16:05):
Glank yeah.

Speaker 2 (16:06):
Yeah, paul and I we sat like, sadly, is, when you
independently produce your ownstuff it's very hard, you know,
when you can't afford to do yourshow.
So, like Paul's, it's hard forPaul to do a show.
I'm barely doing my shows, butanyway on.
So meeting Paul was just.

(16:29):
It was his first show too, sowhere'd you go?

Speaker 1 (16:34):
I mean wait, no, I'm here.
I had to feature you for asecond.
You were telling a story and Ineeded to look away.
I needed to look away for asecond.
For the people listening onaudio, this is gonna make no
sense at all.

Speaker 2 (16:49):
But I don't know, I'm sorry, I got me caught on a
roll.
Oh, here's my mic.
Jerry Nelson, right?
Jerry Nelson would pick me alot.
You know I was always the lastpicked for right hands and stuff
, but Jerry would have pity onme.
It's like the last one pickedhim kickball and he'd say, well,

(17:09):
look who I have in my armpit.
You've got those smelly men andI'm like I'm fresh, you know so
, and I think I had the same youknow he had his daughter had
got her wings and I was near thesame age as her.
So I think that kind of energywe picked angel cards every day.
And so this is I'm getting to apoint for the Muppets.

(17:33):
It was the PS Brosnan show andthere was this really wild
puppet and I loved her and I sawher and I picked it up and she
was in this gold the night.
She had a barrel shaped body,she had, you know, sunglasses, a
long nose and she was fabulousand I was playing with it and I
gave her the name MinnieGoldberg and I had to put it

(17:56):
down because I was.
The other people get to picktheir puppets first for scenes
and Dave had gone to pick thatpuppet and I was so heartbroken
and but Jerry had seen meplaying around with her and he
went over and he grabbed it andsaid, hey, do you mind less than
I are working on something?
And I was like I was so shocked, I just was crying because you

(18:20):
know, when you come see us onset, most of the fun happens
before the camera rolls, becauseyou're sitting, you're
improvising, you're back andforth and Jerry and I who's like
one of the greatest ever got toimprovise and be characters
together and it was such abeautiful exchange and cut to

(18:46):
Muppets, mayhem and thecharacter is.
I was like, hey, it only tookwhat?
23 years to do anothercharacter, like you know, and it
was written by Adam Goldberg.
How bizarre is that?
I mean, talk about that.

Speaker 1 (19:04):
Cause you're doing Muppets Mayhem right.
So like Penny Wexman and yeah,Penny Wexman.
Yeah, yeah.
So then, how do you?
So then, how do you go fromMuppets Tonight to Sesame Street
?
How do you end up as cause?
Now I mean, let's be honest,abby Kedaby has got to be one of
the now most iconic characterson the show.
I mean, you see Abby almost asmuch as I mean she's got to be

(19:28):
the second most featuredcharacter on the show.
No, certainly merchandising.
She's got to sell.
You know, top three.

Speaker 2 (19:36):
I you know I that's the part.

Speaker 1 (19:38):
I know you don't pay attention to that stuff, but
she's amazing.
Abby Kedaby's amazing.

Speaker 2 (19:43):
And I see Abby.
Like we just went to the parks,paul and I went to Sesame Place
and I was like oh look, who'sAbby?
And I have to like I neverthink of it, I never think of
her as Wait, wait, wait, hold on, hold on.

Speaker 1 (19:55):
We can't skip that.
Did that Abby know that you'reAbby?
Yeah, oh, okay, okay,absolutely.
How meta would that have been.

Speaker 2 (20:03):
I follow the characters, I know how hard they
work, the you know, the JapanAbby's, can I just tell you.
Their costumes are fierce,they're gorgeous and they just
love Abby over there.
I just you know Abby is, she'slike a fairy puppy.
Actually I am a fairy puppy andI'm almost dog now.

(20:25):
So it's like, all right, an afairy, I'm like that's my breed,
how perfect.
But she, I think, because shehas her wings, are dragonfly
wings, right.
So, as a fairy, someone wholoves fairy, dragonflies
represent transformation andtransition and they're able to

(20:48):
go between worlds.
You know the spiritual worldand the real world, you know.
And Abby, what I love aboutAbby is she's between worlds.
She's not really, she'smulticultural in that sense.
You know, she's beaks,dragonfly and you know like
she's, she flies within worldsand she can, and she's a wish

(21:13):
fairy.
So that means that she's aheart, she's guided by heart,
you know, which can get.
Well, that always gets me introuble sometimes, but but not
really.
I mean, following your heart isreally the secret to life, you
know.
So that's why I love Abby and Ilove the fact that she has a

(21:34):
fairy garden and I was always inthe garden growing up because I
had a lot of energy, you couldimagine.

Speaker 1 (21:40):
Oh, you didn't grow this energy as an adult, yet as
a kid all the time.

Speaker 2 (21:44):
Oh, my gosh Like, and my mom who's 95, she's got it
too Like.
She's like energizer bunny, so,anyway, so I it's funny because
I see Abby, but I feel like sherepresents the part of me that
is collaborating with my spirit,the part of me that is in love

(22:07):
with, you know, with art andanimals and people's stories.
Does that make sense?
Sure so, and she's also crazy.

Speaker 1 (22:20):
Well, hold on.
Since you mentioned crazy, Ihave to.
I was gonna segue in the lolifrom that, but we're gonna pause
.
I have to.
I have to share a story thatinvolves.
It's my favorite life story andI've told Leslie this so many.
Everybody who knows me knowsthis story.
So I was in New York City, I wason the subway and I don't even

(22:44):
remember who I was with anymore.
I was with a friend who neveryou were taking this.
While you were telling me, Iwas with a friend who never
likes to ride the subway and weand they were like there's so
many crazy people on the subway,whatever.
I try to avoid it, but I'm likeno, I take the subway all the
time.
Crazy people never bother you.
And I remember getting on thesubway and it wasn't even a pack

(23:06):
train and we sat down and youdon't look at people.
I mean you people watch, butyou watch, but you don't look on
the subway.
I think that's the easiest wayto explain it, because if you
make eye contact and it's acrazy person, you're now in it,
so don't do that.

(23:26):
So we're sitting on the car andthis crazy bag lady gets on the
subway and I know the crazy baglady is there, but you can't
you know eye contact.
So I remember I turned my bodya little bit, I'm like angling
towards my friend, and I'm likewe're just gonna like this
person's not there.
Crazy bag lady sits next to me.

(23:47):
Crazy bag lady sits next to meand I'm like, oh my God, this is
happening and then hits my arm.
So now I have to engage and Iturn and the crazy back lady was
Leslie and I was like but thatis because Leslie has this, you
at times you carry that thosehuge bags Because she's look,

(24:11):
leslie has at any given moment abag of everything, everything.
Right now she has a fish.
Right she, her purse is like afish that's like I don't know
three feet long.
I feel like three feet long.

(24:31):
It's like three feet long andshe goes everywhere with the
fish.

Speaker 2 (24:34):
And I have a passport to Oz in that fish.

Speaker 1 (24:36):
So well, I mean, if you're going to go anywhere, why
not go to Oz?

Speaker 2 (24:39):
Right, oh, I was looking for these glasses.

Speaker 1 (24:42):
But yeah, but it was just, it was.
I forget.
You know it was just one of myfavorite store, because you know
it's not.
Once you looked at you Irealized it was Leslie.
But you know it's that momentwhere you don't pay attention to
the person.
You're on the subway.

Speaker 2 (24:56):
Well, I'll have to say, though I was, I was doing
my show, I was working on a kidshow and I had to carry my
characters in the bag because Ihad to go.
No, I know that's what I'msaying.

Speaker 1 (25:08):
You obviously had like.
It's not like she was a crazybag lady, she was just carrying
a lot, and Leslie has a veryunique fashion.

Speaker 2 (25:20):
Such a nice way to put it.
It's fun.

Speaker 1 (25:24):
It's whimsical, it's I thought it was fish shoes.

Speaker 2 (25:30):
No, it's a dragon.

Speaker 1 (25:32):
They're dragons.
It's dragon, absolutely.
I saw the scales in the eyes.

Speaker 2 (25:36):
Yeah, the other one is the unicorn.
But I mean, but listen, I thinkabout this.
This is how much I love PaulRudolph.
He, I, he must just be numb toit because there's times I'll
realize I have a fish bag.
You know, hat.
This is just easy for mebecause I don't like to make an

(25:57):
effort unless I'm in a show andI have to make an effort with my
hair.
But I'm almost always in abaseball cap, I'm usually
wearing something whimsical andPaul holds my hand all the time.
He even holds my hand when wewalk new heart.
He's such a gentleman and Ioften think that people must

(26:17):
look and say, oh, look at thatnice man keeping that crazy lady
from running into traffic.
She won't hurt herself.
I was like aren't youembarrassed to be seen?

Speaker 1 (26:31):
I mean, I believe, I believe I've heard rumor that as
you walk through Queens, peoplesay it's the fish lady.

Speaker 2 (26:39):
Yes, I feel like a unicorn, I'm the fish.

Speaker 1 (26:46):
I feel like there was a deer at some point.
You used to walk around with adeer.

Speaker 2 (26:50):
Yes, when I was on um .
Okay, so I get, I have a lot ofum.
I get lost easily and I'm veryanxious.
Like I've had a not so greatthing happen in my life where I

(27:10):
was taken right and I.
So I get really anxious in cars, like cabs, you know, I want to
have to be able to get out.
Um, I, when I first got to NewYork I was really scared.
I didn't know how to take thesubway.
I just I'm afraid to be lostbecause once I'm lost I don't
know how to get back.
Like my brain, I haveperception processing disorder,

(27:33):
so I can't figure out things ifI can't visualize it.
So if I can't visualizesomething, it's kind of tricky.
So anyway, um, and so when Ifirst got to Queens I lived with
my um, my friend's parents.
Um, not Queens, but on um is.

(27:53):
It is the brownstone of theMuppets, the carriage house.
Is that 63rd and third?
Or 36th and third?
I think it's 36.

Speaker 1 (28:04):
I don't know, but I know you're confusing, I don't
remember, I don't remember.

Speaker 2 (28:08):
Well, just so you know, I had to walk 30 blocks to
work because I didn't havemoney for a cab and I was afraid
to take a subway.
So there's that right.
So then my friend then I knewthis lady when I worked at
Disney.
Um, she invited me on theweekends to go stay with her
because I didn't have anyfriends.
And we went to a Kmart andthere was this big, beautiful

(28:29):
plastic reindeer.
And just to make my friendlaugh, I thought, oh, I'm just
going to carry this around thestore.
I'm like this is my store puppy, because sometimes you do that.
You know, you see something youlike you carry around, just
contemplating whether you wantit.
But this was a full sizeplastic light up reindeer.
And so I'm walking around.

(28:49):
And walking around she goes,okay, we're getting ready to go.
And I'm like, okay.
So I put the deer down and thiswas just for my friend.
I was like you can't come homewith me, you have to stay.
No, I don't love you.
And I just kind of like wastrying to do a scene from a
movie like no, go, be free.
You know, I was joking, right.

(29:12):
So we walk up to the registerand we're standing there and all
of a sudden I get this tap onmy head.
I might, that's not my head,this is a call to shoulder.
And the man turns around andthere's like the manager, and
he's holding this plastic deerand I'm like I know I probably
should have put it back.
And he goes I believe this isyours.

(29:34):
And I'm like what?
And he goes up and he tells thered just cast register.
He goes, put this on my tap,this is your deer, it belongs
with you.
And I'm like oh.
And then I go, what's your name?
And it said Mr Fry.
I'm naming this deer Mr Fry.

(29:56):
And so I took it home and Ididn't know what to do with it
and so I just thought you know,I'm kind of scared, I'm anxious,
I'm just going to walk throughNew York with this plastic beer
deer.
So I did like 30 blocks and Iwalked to.
This was for Muppet, this wasfor Dr Seuss, second season.

(30:17):
And I did I was still doingstand up at that time and I
would bring it on stage, like Ihad it on stage with a lobster,
lobster bib.
And I would just bring it onstage and I tell the story and
never make reference to it.
I just put on stage and I'd saystay, and then I do my stick
and then I leave.

Speaker 1 (30:39):
You're too anxious to ride a subway or take a cab,
but gosh darn it, she's walkingthe streets with a full size
light up.
Christmas reindeer, that'stotally yeah.

Speaker 2 (30:52):
I'm like Frankie Avalon goes, it's Rudolph, I go.
No, it's Mr Fry.
You're Frankie Avalon, you know.
It's Susie Mosier.
I love her.
I'm actually going up at SusieMosier's on Tuesday she has it.
Susie Mosier has a varietycabaret show every Tuesday and

(31:13):
it's great for artists like mewho can't afford to, you know,
put up their own shows, Like Ido a show once a year, once a
couple months or something.

Speaker 1 (31:24):
You have a show coming up too, by the way,
moonlight Madness, october 21st.
Yes, there's two shows, one PMand seven PM.
That is Muir Imaged.
Some reason.
Wait upside down, there it goes.
What's the green room?

Speaker 2 (31:37):
Yeah, the green room 42, which is a new venue for me
Really nice.
I love the beach.
Men, I moved above ground firsttime I've been not in a
basement performing Usuallyperform under Congratulations.
Yeah, I mean I, right rightbefore Sesame Street, I was
under a gay bar and silver lakeperforming once a month just

(31:58):
emptying my brain.
Called just for fun BecauseChuck McCann was kind of like an
uncle, almost like my bestfriend, and used to hang out
with me and he was an old time,an old timer, vaudevillian.
His parents were in Vaudevilleand, like you, brought like the
variety show thing and I I feellike I was born at the wrong

(32:19):
time.
You know, I mean I havepuppetry in my show and puppets,
but they're characters.
Sometimes I use weird things totell stories, but you know
there's some brilliantpuppeteers out there who use the
art form much nicer than I do.

Speaker 1 (32:35):
No, you are definitely a cat Like you're.
What makes Leslie great?
Definitely the character workthat you do, like you, you when
you.
But I think that's why thepuppetry works, because when you
put that puppet on your hand,it just there's so much love and
so much love and so muchcharacter and so much soul put
into it that you, you say I'mnot the cleanest puppeteer.

(32:58):
All of that just goes away.
You know, because Jim Hensonalways used to say you know,
when you watch some of his olderinterviews he talks about how
he's not the best puppeteer.
That's why it wasn't aventriloquist.
You know what?
That if you think about thetime when he was becoming big,
it was all ventriloquist andthen you had a guy who just hid
because he was like I can't.
You know, you're always goingto see my mouth move.

(33:19):
And think about the voices too.
If you think about the voices,if you think a lot of people
don't realize this, but Hensonseldom changed his voice.
Carol Spinning never changedhis voice, frank Oz, you, if
you're.
But you know who the charactersare.
You know when Henson was doingErnie or Kermit same voice.
Or Big Bird or Oscar same voice.

(33:40):
But the character that theygive to that voice is what gives
them that inflection.
And then you.
There's no mistaking.
When you hear Ernie or Kermit,you know the two can have a
conversation and you know whichone's talking, but it's the same
Miss Piggy and Yoda are thesame voice.
I just want to remind that youknow people.
If you want to mess with yourhead, watch Yoda, listen to it

(34:04):
and then listen to Miss Piggy.
It's the same voice.
Well, at the same timber, youknow because each, because
they're putting the personalityof that character into the voice
, but they're not putting on avoice.

Speaker 2 (34:19):
Yeah, I love the voice.
I just think it's such anincredible instrument.
I mean, I was fortunate enoughto grow up in an area that the
arts were affordable.
Like I'm from NorthernCalifornia, so I didn't grow up.

Speaker 1 (34:39):
Way cooler than Southern California.
By the way, guys, I'm just like.

Speaker 2 (34:42):
It's completely different, you know, but we had
a lot of like.
The park and rec department wasactually bigger than the city I
grew up in.
So there's all these outdoorparks, there was theaters,
there's programs that like, evenI, I mean, I taught after
school programs.
I started teaching drama when Iwas 16, at the after school

(35:03):
programs, just helping kidscreate, you know, tell stories
and stuff.
So, but we did, you know, wedid all kinds of theater, like
Sweeney Todd, you know I did thebigger woman little shop got to
do Audrey, um, pumpoys anddinettes chorus line.
You know, we did so manyincredible like productions

(35:27):
because there was lots oftheater, you know, and um, so
I'm really grateful for thatbecause, you know, sometimes I
feel like gosh.
You know, I wish I was aroundhere in New York or I wish I'd
gotten, you know, but I reallydon't.
I wouldn't change my path or myjourney.

(35:48):
I mean, you know, certainly itwould be great if I was better
at social media or if I thoughtabout taping my first one person
show, which was when I was 21,you know, but people just didn't
do that back then.
There was, like I said, therewas no YouTube.
There was computers.
Nobody could afford a computer,you know, nobody had a cell

(36:10):
phone.
Or like our cameras weredisposable, you know.
So I mean, those were the fancyones.

Speaker 1 (36:19):
I mean, think about that, how it's a miracle when we
were younger you had to likeyou would go and you would have
this thing in your hand thatcould take 20 something pictures
.
Then you had to go someplace,drop it off to a stranger who
was then going to look throughyour pictures before you ever
got to see your pictures and youhope that whatever you took

(36:41):
looked good and wasn't dirtyenough to where the person at
the photo mat was going to belike.
Oh, it's Leslie, up to mypictures are always weird.

Speaker 2 (36:51):
Obviously, windows.
I'm taking pictures of mystudents dressed up weird, you
know, but you know it was great.
It was just a time where you'rein the moment and you're really
celebrating the moment and thepeople around you with just
being there, not stoppingholding, you know.
So it's just a different vibenowadays, you know.

Speaker 1 (37:14):
I feel that when I go to concerts.

Speaker 2 (37:16):
I made it because there was no YouTube.
It's a miracle that I am evendoing what I'm doing today.

Speaker 1 (37:26):
I don't think it's a miracle.
I again, I think your characterwork, as I said in the
beginning is is beyond brilliant, beyond brilliant, and where I
was saying that the other peopledidn't change their voice.
You have, you can have any voicelike you are amazing with your
voices.
Yeah, like I don't know.
I love you, I love your work, Ijust think it's.

(37:49):
It's great.
And and I want to talk aboutLolli, which I've wanted to get
to, and we keep getting sidetrack.
You created this character,lolli Lard pop, and it started.
Did she start as a pipe, aspipe cleaners?
Was that her start?
Because I have, I have for thefor the record.
In my living room I have thegiant pipe cleaner dragon that

(38:11):
you made that everybody comes tomy house and says what is that?
That is the coolest thing I'veever seen and I'm like it weighs
20 pounds and it's made out ofpipe cleaners Wrong thing.
Yeah, that's crazy.
You guys are just listening tothe audio.
Go to YouTubecom, search BadShess podcast, just to see the

(38:33):
visuals of these pipe cleanercharacters.
It's crazy.

Speaker 2 (38:38):
I know I pulled out.
Oh, Andy Warhol doing here Geez, Geez.
No, but Lolli, is my phoenixrising she?
I had a short live show for theDisney company that was at the
El Capitan theater.
I wonder if I have a flyer fromthat.

(38:59):
Sometimes they keep that around.
Oh yeah, I do Look at this.
Since noon today the set hasbeen executed with deathm.

Speaker 1 (39:08):
That's cool.

Speaker 2 (39:10):
At the El Cavite.

Speaker 1 (39:11):
Wahoo wagon.

Speaker 2 (39:13):
Yes, I think I have, I don't know there's a couple
other ones.
I have lots of buttons ifanybody wants them in a poster.
But I had a show and it ran forI think I want to say six
months, but it was indevelopment and at the time, you

(39:37):
know, I didn't have anyrepresentation or anything.
And so when you sign something,you know you think, wow, this
is great, an animated series.
Because my cartoons and comedyalbum, wow, you know, and they
were like you're like TracyElman meets Peewe Herman I was
like, oh my gosh, this is amiracle.
But it just didn't.
It was a live show and, asusual in my life, nobody knew

(40:00):
what to do with me because I'mlike, and I did a lot of improv,
and Disney was like, oh, we gotto be careful with the improv.
So it kind of morphed intosomething that anybody could do,
you know, because they have toprotect themselves.
And then it just didn't.
You know, I had the best timeperforming it at the El Capitan
Theater and then they would showmovies.

(40:20):
It was just a blast.
But when it terminated I didn'trealize the characters wouldn't
come back to me.
I thought it would take acertain amount of time before
they didn't.
So, and that was like you knowsomething I learned.
I had a great time.
I'm so thankful for Disneybecause they took a chance on a

(40:40):
nobody.
I literally had been in theMuppets, which was amazing,
right, but still nobody knowswho you are, right.

Speaker 1 (40:49):
And you're a total nobody.
You were only in the Muppets.
It's total nobody.

Speaker 2 (40:52):
No, but nobody, you know, I was just kind of a weird
fluke, honestly, you know,really, I mean, it was like,
again, I didn't think I wouldget cast on Dr Seuss.
I hadn't been to New Yorkexcept for once during a theater
tour where we went for familytheater and we went and saw cats
.

Speaker 1 (41:12):
We performed in the Muppets Total fluke, total fluke
Muppets to Dr Seuss, to SesameStreet.
It's just an accident.
She fell into it.
She fell into Sesame.
She was just walking down thestreet you know, Sesame Street
is shot in.
Queens and she was just walkingdown the street and tripped it
onto the Abbey.

Speaker 2 (41:32):
No, they had not opticians for Abbey.
I'm so sorry, we skipped overthat they had opticians for the
country.
For that, you know, I justhappened to have the right
energy.

Speaker 1 (41:43):
That she stripped, her hand fell right into the
puppet and it was just like,like, like, like, think of King
Arthur pulling the sword fromthe stone.
Her hand went into the puppetand it's just, the Abbey didn't
come off, it just stayed thereand she was like, guess what?

Speaker 2 (42:01):
So, anyway, this next part involves Miss Coco Puru.
So after the Disney thing I wasLeslie Carrard, but during that
time I was allowed to perform.
I was rated G, right PG, but Iused to still perform under the
gay bar and I used to do kindsof crazy things under under

(42:23):
Leslie Rudolph.
See what I'm saying.
So, when that went away, Istarted.
So I was Leslie Rudolph andduring that time I went to drag
competition.
Long story I just did.
It was a.
It was a fundraiser for it wasan AIDS benefit which I'm very
active in because I livedthrough the AIDS crisis and

(42:47):
watched my friends get theirwings to soon I was after the
Disney thing.
I was really nervous aboutperforming because everybody
expected all this whimsy for meand my Auntie Irene another in
heaven said you know, before allthis you were a singer.

(43:08):
You know used.
When I met you in San Francisco, you were a singer, you were a
comedian.
Comedian but used to sing.
I used to sing with a big bandand I was like, yeah, so I want
you to be in this camp array andI want you to get back to
singing, I want you to just beyou.
And I was like I was terrified.
I was like no one's going tolisten.
We're going to be on stage,it's going to be weird.

(43:30):
So I'd become friends with MissCoco Clinton because we did a
lot of the same AIDS benefitstogether.
We kept showing up because Iwon this drag competition and
he's.
I said what am I going to do?
I'm so nervous.
You're such a brilliant writer,do you have any advice?
And that's when Coco said well,there's always suicide or you

(43:53):
can make a puppet.
And at that time Coco clarifiesthis on her show.
There was reading a book, but Ichose to make a puppet and that
puppet was lolly.
So I took that puppet to thecabaret and my Auntie Irene had
no idea.
I said I'm sorry, I'm late, Ineeded a sitter and I'd already

(44:15):
planned on singing the Candyman,but as myself.
But I let Auntie Irene read andgoes well, bring whoever it is
out here.
And I brought lolly out and shesang Candyman, but it took her
like 20 minutes because she wentthrough the audience looking
through people's purses formints and candy.
So that's how lolly was bornand that was 23 years ago.

Speaker 1 (44:40):
Wow, the first time I saw lolly was you had done the
Milano.
That was my first.
She made puppets of Milanocookies and had lolly singing
with Milano cookie puppets.
I showed it on stream the othernight.
It was his step.
There you go, milano cookie.

Speaker 2 (45:02):
Well, John Kennedy helped me make these.
They're from a shade.

Speaker 1 (45:14):
So you perform now with lolly right.
You use lolly right through forkids and teenagers, teach them
self-esteem, issues and bullying.
And yeah, that's you're verypassionate about that.

Speaker 2 (45:25):
Yeah, she has no boundaries.
First of all, when you know, ifI were, I don't because it's
just me and you know I started acompany with my creative
partner, jamie Domoy, calledHumor with a Heart, because we
get a lot of asks, that says tome is nonprofit and our

(45:45):
characters are preschool, right.
So you know I, my friend, wasworking at detention center with
girls and you know he's like Ithink they need to hear your
story because my story is deep,my smile is deep, and so I would
take lolly, I'd take granny dot, I do.

(46:06):
I teach them how to draw andcartoon and so lolly can go
anywhere.
I don't, I don't have to, Idon't have to get permission.
Where I take lolly, you knowshe's, she has a fairy drag
mother, like Coco, you know, andlots of places.
So like she is an art activistand so that's why I have lolly,

(46:31):
because she can go anywhere.
Also, to she's a sock puppet,right.
So when you take a puppet intoa school, kids can look at it
and go.
I could never make that.
That's too nice or that's.
You know, even kids play withAbby differently than they do
with lolly.
When they play with Abbythey're like really she's a

(46:54):
fairy.
They're like oh, you know.
It's like.
Oh.
When they play with lolly, itlike there's something on your
face.
Come here Like but lolly's asock.
But when kids play with lollythey go home and they make a
puppet.
They're like I can make that.

Speaker 1 (47:11):
Did you have Lolly?
Can we see Lolly?

Speaker 2 (47:14):
Yeah, she's in her cosplay for tomorrow.
She made her own costume.

Speaker 1 (47:21):
You're going to Comic-Con.

Speaker 2 (47:23):
Yes, tomorrow I'm going to be at Dr Pinkhamstein,
which is so crazy.
I made a mask out of pipecleaners and it's so painful,
but I don't know if I'll wear itor not.
Lolly is All right, I'm superexcited.
Push down everything, because Imade it out of pipe.
That's a wonderful song.

(47:47):
Boys and girls of liberty age,would you like to hear something
strange?
Come with us.
I knew well, this is the CarTown of Holloway.
Hi hi, hi, hi, hi.
Yeah, this is hard to managethis hair.

(48:09):
It looks over conditioned.

Speaker 1 (48:13):
Right, you have this obsession with pipe cleaners.

Speaker 2 (48:18):
This one.
I look like you.

Speaker 1 (48:22):
What is the pipe cleaner obsession?
It never ends.

Speaker 2 (48:26):
Well, the thing is, leslie Spinklstein has made our
pipe cleaners, and so I justthought I needed to blend.
And then this I made out ofpeel and stick.
I'm wearing my sweaterbackwards the sweater.
The sweater belonged to aChihuahua.
I fit in Chihuahua.

Speaker 1 (48:51):
So so you know, I was telling Leslie before the show
we had Steph De Bruzzo on andshe says I'm an expert at candy
trivia and got every candytrivia question wrong and I
should have saved the candytrivia.
I didn't save it and it's mymistake.
I would have loved to have hadLolly do candy trivia and it's

(49:14):
yes.

Speaker 2 (49:15):
Red, red lollies, licorice and tamales, rocket
pops, raspberry drops, cinnamonbear with fruit, rat pairs.
Strawberry jello must be wildwatermelon trappy.
In my job, fire sticks for redhot bricks is how I get my
favorite kind of sugar is red,yeah.
A little potato cake thing yeah.

(49:40):
The only kind of candy I don'tlike is nature's candy.
Yeah.
In fact, in our show moonlightmadness Lolly has written the
candy bylaws that she's going tomake everybody in here too.
You have to come to the show.
Seven o'clock is wide open.
Matt and I is filling up.

Speaker 1 (50:02):
And while you have the puppet in your hand.
Just to explain everybody, youtalk a lot about right hand.
I was this person's right hand.
Somebody always picked thesepeople.
It's because when you do apuppet right, you have one hand
that's the mouth and the otheris.
You know she's got a rod tocontrol the hand, but how do you
control the other hand?
That's where the other personcomes in, or you know?
I don't see it.

(50:23):
Leslie's making me a liar now.

Speaker 2 (50:25):
Look, I'm giving myself, I'm self-hugging.
Oh, it's so cold, I'm so cold,stop it.

Speaker 1 (50:33):
So that's a rod puppet as opposed to a hand
puppet where you know earningwhatever.
That's a live hand.

Speaker 2 (50:39):
That's a live hand puppet.
Yeah, yeah, you need to get theexperts on, but I do know that.

Speaker 1 (50:45):
Yeah, no no, I was just trying to explain so people
you know, since we were talkingabout it in the in the video
earlier, it can make sense toknow that you have a loli in
your hand.

Speaker 2 (50:56):
I think so Okay, stop it, I have a new face.

Speaker 1 (51:00):
So so the Milano video Loli gets all up in those
Milanos right all over you, youfeel like.
Because it's a sock puppet, youcan be as you said.
Not only do the kids play withit harder than you, I mean you
can play with it harder too,right, because you could just go
make another.
I mean there's only one, loli.
Wait, I'm sorry, there's onlyone.
Why did she jump at the screen?

Speaker 2 (51:23):
It's not true.
I saw one of my heads aroundand, well, it's so funny you
could say that Don't listen,loli, I don't have ears.
Okay, that's true.
So I've had Loli for 23 yearsand I think there's been this
particular Loli.
I think, caitlin, you were atmy first cabaret in the city.

Speaker 1 (51:46):
Like.

Speaker 2 (51:46):
I finally got the courage to do my cabaret here
because it was New York and Iwas like I don't have a Broadway
credit, I'm not part of thecabaret community, so I was
really anxious because I wasn'tsure anybody would, even though
I've been an entertainer foryears.
I didn't think anybody wouldcome because, again, nobody.
I'm a nobody here and peoplejust think like, I'm a writer, I

(52:13):
love to tell stories, so Ithink of myself as a storyteller
.
If there's puppets in my show,they play a part.
There's a reason for them to bethere.
You know it's so.
You want me to eat it.
So one of the things for Loli isI made a new Loli and that was
in 2016.

(52:34):
Was that my first 17?
Maybe 2000?
Yeah, 17 or 18, I don't know.
Let's just say even 18, 1920,21, 22, 23.
So, putting your hand in andout of a sock that has
everything.
So she started to stretch out.
My finger was almost goingthrough her and I tried to wash

(52:57):
her in moonlight because so it'sreally hard.
So I've got everything.
She put a new sock over my face.
So I wanted to make a new Loli,but I kind of got attached to
this one because Loli, when wewent through you know, I'm a
cancer survivor and we wentthrough COVID together.

(53:19):
We went through outreachtogether.
We've been through so muchtogether that I kind of get
attached like Loli.
This Loli has history, you know.
So even though I've had them,there's only been like five or
six.

Speaker 1 (53:32):
I do enjoy that.
You were whispering about whatyou were doing to Loli, so Loli
the sock puppet couldn't hearyou.

Speaker 2 (53:42):
Listen.
My mom sends Loli a birthdaycard every year.

Speaker 1 (53:47):
My mom what's Loli's birthday?

Speaker 2 (53:51):
It's Halloween, it's the national day of the century,
it's the 31st.
Ironically, loli doesn't knowthis, but Abby's birthday is
October 21st which is the day ofour cabaret, but I'm not
telling Loli that.

Speaker 1 (54:09):
I wouldn't.

Speaker 2 (54:10):
She'd be bitter.
So she's already bitter.
There's restraining, there'slots of things.
So what?
My mom sends $5 in an envelopeand a birthday card to Loli and
one time she called me up andshe said I didn't get Loli's
birthday card out in time.
And I'm like I just won't tellher.

Speaker 1 (54:35):
I won't tell her it's not her birthday.
Does Loli have an age?
Do we know?
How does Loli know how old sheis?

Speaker 2 (54:42):
I'm five.
Well, I'll be five when I getanother finger.
Look at that.
Look how tattered I am.
Yeah.

Speaker 1 (54:49):
My friend Heather's making her hands.
So listen, leslie, I told youon the show we like to also open
it up to viewer questions, butwith a twist.
With a twist, if we play thegame on this show where if a
viewer or listener asks aquestion, we have to roll this

(55:11):
D20 die as a knowledge check tosee if you can answer your own
question.
So if anybody in chat has anyquestions, I mean Leslie.
Leslie's an open book and sheloves to answer questions,
especially if If I can't answerespecially.
Especially if I can't answer.
By the way, a couple of peoplein chat said I guess this one

(55:34):
guy said his wife's aunt.
After I met my wife's aunt allI could hear was Chucky from
Rugrats, from everything sheplayed in.
So I'm guessing his wife's auntdoes the voice of Chucky.
You did a voice in All Grown Upright the Rug.
No, I thought you did no.
Straight from the record.

Speaker 2 (55:53):
Yeah, peg Puppy, I've been on Nature Cat David Redman
was gracious enough to give mea bunch Splash and Bubbles.
I both animated it.
Digital puppetry did voices.
For that that I got nominatedfor an Emmy Award.

Speaker 1 (56:17):
Have you won Emmys?
Do you have Emmys?

Speaker 2 (56:19):
I'm like the Susan Lucci of Children's Television
I'm super honored.
I always feel weird because Ifeel like it's such a team sport
Everybody's great, but I'velost every single time.

Speaker 1 (56:31):
You know, I don't know if you know the story or
not, but I have you either losethe Elmo or a human?
There's a lot of Emmys forSesame Street that somebody else
won for the work that I did.
We're not gonna name namesbecause it's become a running
joke for the years.
Over the years they never putmy name down, even though it's
my work.
They always put somebody else'sname down.
So the joke is that that personstole more Emmys from me than

(56:55):
most people will ever see intheir lifetime, regardless.
So there is a question about,in terms of I'm gonna phrase
this differently than thequestion that was asked to me in
message they asked about well,I'll just do it Is there a
difference between you know theecosystem of working with the

(57:17):
Muppets, working with SesameStreet, doing a puppet for Seuss
Like does as you've changed andmoved between different groups
of puppeteers?
Does the way people interactwith each other or the way the
puppets work?
Does that change?
And the dynamic of it all?
But you don't have to answeryet.
We have to roll to see if youcan, even while you're thinking
about it.
Oh, it's a 19.

(57:37):
You definitely know that answer.
If you know it, do you feellike it's the same like going
from show to show or brand tobrand Like?

Speaker 2 (57:47):
I think what this question is.
It depends on where the show isin its development.
Like you said, with SesameStreet it's a well-allowed
machine, so you're always thenew person and that you know.
There's Puppet Captain, thathierarchy, there's people that
have been there, so you knowyou're working with these

(58:09):
incredible, like the people onSesame Street.
Those puppeteers are genius tome so I was really shy around
them because I have a differentskill set and it wasn't
manipulation.

Speaker 1 (58:24):
Oh no.
I would like to point out thatat this point, the irony of us
talking about being the new kidson the block is, at this point
we are some of the oldergeneration.

Speaker 2 (58:33):
now that's on those shows, I mean the nothing, no
come in and they it's acompletely different thing
because they come in alreadyknowing so much because there's
puppetry classes, there'sworkshops, there's video,
there's all these tools thatthey have now that help them
understand what to do, whereasme, coming in 23 years ago, I

(58:58):
was, I had no clue and it was ona show.
That again, where these giants,they don't have time to teach
me or tell me what to do.
It's like sink or swim kid, ifyou're here, you better figure
it out.
So in that sense, in mypersonal journey, I had to
figure it out right, and now Ithink it's a little different.

(59:24):
You know, it's just a littledifferent.
And I think also, too, when youstart a new show together,
everybody's excited to be,create and develop.
There's a lot of collaboration,Like when we did Splash and
Bubbles.
You know you're kind of makingup your character and the rules
of the universe, right.
There's certain amount of stuffthat you can.
You know you can do a few morethings.

(59:48):
Same with Johnny and theSprites.
It was really fun.
You know, johnny is a greatleader in a playful environment.
So I think for me personally, Ipretty much I'm always the same,
like I never assume that I justlike to play.
I really am a puppy dog.
I really am that.

(01:00:11):
I go in and I have ESP.
I wanna eat, sleep and play.
So I always start from a placeof discovery and I never assume
that I know more than anybodyelse.
So that part, and I think theanswer depends on the individual
and where they see themselvesin that journey I know for me,

(01:00:31):
like when I'm in, if I'm in awriting set writing and creating
or comedy or improv there'scertain places that I feel like
I have a stronger skill set.
But I don't know, I think itdepends on the individual.

(01:00:52):
Like that probably didn't help.

Speaker 1 (01:00:55):
No, it's like that's the answer that you gave.
I mean, so do you ever getconfused on what personality
goes to what character?
Don't answer.
Oh no, you don't know this.
You have to actually make up ananswer.
You do not know.
If you ever get confused onwhat personality goes into the
character, you see why it's fun.
Now, right.

Speaker 2 (01:01:14):
I can't tell because I don't know how it works.
Though what?

Speaker 1 (01:01:18):
does that?

Speaker 2 (01:01:19):
mean I don't know the answer.

Speaker 1 (01:01:20):
I just don't know the answer you don't know the
answer, you have to make up ananswer.
Do you know?
Do you ever get confused onwhat personality goes to what
character?

Speaker 2 (01:01:31):
I don't understand the answer, the question.

Speaker 1 (01:01:35):
Do you ever get confused on what personality
goes to what character?

Speaker 2 (01:01:39):
Like when I'm performing yes, oh Well, I do.
You know, I do the Wizard of Oz, right?
So what I do is I have to hit abody's dance.
You know a certain thing.
But if I've been doing Lollielike I just did a tour with

(01:01:59):
Lollie and I was Lollie for fivedays and I had to lower her.
She's a little more grating andnasal and she laughs like huh,
I had to change Lollie's laughand then when I go to Abby,
she's up here and it's it's likeyou said, it's like it's the
same.
You know range, you know, butAbby is just a little bit and

(01:02:27):
sometimes I don't know, you know.
So that is kind of tricky.
If Abby and Lollie are rightnext to each other, that's
tricky.

Speaker 1 (01:02:36):
So yes, so that was an honest answer when you were
supposed to give a made upanswer.

Speaker 2 (01:02:40):
Oh, I was supposed to make a, make up one.
Yeah, I guess I don't know howit works.
I never get confused, I'm agenius.

Speaker 1 (01:02:48):
You know, what's funny is I just heard a little
granny dot when you were goingbetween Lollie and Abby.

Speaker 2 (01:02:54):
it kind of I know and I had to lower that because I'm
in a show and I had to lowerthe song.

Speaker 1 (01:03:01):
So Okay, there's another question.
Do you ever use one of thecharacter's voices and say a
swear word?
I'm going to roll the dice forthis and I'm going to answer
this just to protect Leslie.
Oh, it's a 14, so we can answerit honestly.
Back in the day, they used toedit together a, an outtakes
reel of Sesame Street, if youwill, for the rap party, which

(01:03:24):
is some of the funniest stuffyou'll ever see.
But that was at a time when itwas edited on a tape, like a
physical tape, that nobody owneda machine that could play.
I mean, the machine to play itwas thousands of dollars and
tens of thousands of dollars andyou needed all this equipment
to make it work.
They tend they do still do itsometimes, but they protect that

(01:03:48):
because, man, could you imaginesome of those videos getting
out into the world?
Because when I mean, I mean youcan answer this for yourself
but I mean when you get in thecharacters, and certainly the
characters that are directing,they don't always leave their
voice when they want to make anote or make a change, because
they're in that scene andthey're in the voice, and so
they just go and I'll let youanswer.

Speaker 2 (01:04:08):
Well, I think that's why they the Avenue Q people got
their idea when they saw thosethings happen.
I personally do not swear.
I am really adamant about it.
My shows are I'm kind of a MaryPoppins meets Monty Python.
I'm twisted and dark, but I donot like to swear.

(01:04:31):
I don't like it.

Speaker 1 (01:04:33):
She has rated PG.
I mean, most of her stuff is G,most of your stuff is pretty G.

Speaker 2 (01:04:37):
I can do double on Chandra, but I don't like it
when people swear.
In fact, for me, when I feellike a puppet swears, I just
think that's lazy comedy.
So there you go.

Speaker 1 (01:04:47):
I'm kind of a star.
That's why she wasn't in AvenueQ.
She was like I don't need thatshenanigans in my life.

Speaker 2 (01:04:55):
Well, I didn't get called back.

Speaker 1 (01:05:02):
So so we also have the fun trivia game that we're
going to play, and maybe NewHeart can play along too, if New
Heart knows the answer.
So so I you know, when it cametime to to do you, I always ask
people in advance do you have afandom Like what?
Are you good at, nerd wise, toanswer questions?
But for you, I think, we have aunique opportunity to play a

(01:05:23):
game of Sesame Street and Muppettrivia, and if you do well, if
you, if you get this right,printbills is going to win a
prize.
Ben and Chad all night.
He's very excited about this.
Now here's the thing, leslie,just so you know.
There's no pressure.
Nobody has won.
I think these trivia questionsare pretty easy.
Oh, new Heart's going to answer.
So that way, when it's wrong,you got to blame.

Speaker 2 (01:05:45):
Wait, hold on Someone's here, Hold on.

Speaker 1 (01:05:48):
Oh no.

Speaker 2 (01:05:51):
New Heart.
Hey, come on, joe, in themiddle of a podcast.
Oh, I'm so sorry.
I thought it was going to be aguy with us At the door.
Hey, maybe you could be.
If I don't know the answer,maybe you do.
Sure, okay, my friend Joe ishere Because he's going to Hi
Joe.
Hey, he's going to sleep Sure.

Speaker 1 (01:06:07):
Yeah, he can.

Speaker 2 (01:06:09):
You want to pop in.
It's my friend, joe.
We've known each other forever.
We were in a show with thebaked potato together where we
wore the giant B-52 wig Huge,huge wigs, anyway, all right.

Speaker 1 (01:06:22):
Are you ready?
Yes, question one.

Speaker 2 (01:06:26):
Oh my gosh.

Speaker 1 (01:06:27):
The character who would eventually become Grover
was first seen.
On what TV Show, oh God?

Speaker 2 (01:06:35):
Oh my God, oh God, he's got my B.
I'm going to say laughing.

Speaker 1 (01:06:47):
It was the Ed Sullivan Show, the Christmas Eve
episode in 1967.
That's, that's original, grover.

Speaker 2 (01:06:54):
Oh my God, that's amazing.

Speaker 1 (01:06:56):
Oh my God, which Muppet was the first to reach
national stardom.

Speaker 2 (01:07:02):
I have to look at it.
Oh, I would say Ms Piggy, ohKermit.

Speaker 1 (01:07:09):
Kermit was the first, but the first to reach national
stardom was Ralph.
He was the Purina Spokes dog in1962 and then became a cast
member on the Jimmy Dean show.

Speaker 2 (01:07:21):
I love those episodes .
They're so good.

Speaker 1 (01:07:24):
What floor did Barton Ernie live on at 123 Sesame
Street?
What, what?
What floor do Berton Ernie liveon at 123?
They live in the basement.

Speaker 2 (01:07:35):
Yeah.

Speaker 1 (01:07:37):
What is the name of Elmo's Goldfish?

Speaker 2 (01:07:43):
Dorothy.

Speaker 1 (01:07:45):
It is Dorothy.
Which human cast member didBarkley belong to?

Speaker 2 (01:07:52):
Oh, I want to say Bob , but I think it might be Linda.

Speaker 1 (01:07:58):
Linda.

Speaker 2 (01:08:01):
I dressed as Barkley one year for Helen.

Speaker 1 (01:08:05):
As we discussed before, there were characters
that did not appear on MuppetsTonight.
Ralph appeared in only a singleepisode of Muppets Tonight.
Who was the guest he performedwith, by the way?
This was because, when and whenHenson had passed, Ralph was
his favorite puppet, and so theyreally.
That is why Ralph is now notseen as often or used as often

(01:08:27):
as the other puppets.
It was out of respect to him.
Also, you know, Ralph was thefirst nationally known one I'm
Muppets Tonight.

Speaker 2 (01:08:35):
The one.

Speaker 1 (01:08:35):
I was Muppets Tonight .

Speaker 2 (01:08:38):
Yeah, oh my gosh, where's Paul?
He played piano.
I was gonna say, was it duelingpianos?

Speaker 1 (01:08:47):
I don't remember.
It was Garf Brooks, oh my gosh.
He played in the Garf Brooks.

Speaker 2 (01:08:53):
He was one of my favorite guests.

Speaker 1 (01:08:55):
Leslie, I gotta give me for you what was the name of
the male pig in Bay of PigsWatch.

Speaker 2 (01:09:00):
Hogs will have.

Speaker 1 (01:09:03):
David Hogslehoff as Champ Swimmer.

Speaker 2 (01:09:06):
That's right.

Speaker 1 (01:09:09):
In the early days of Sesame Street.
Who was the Count's partner?

Speaker 2 (01:09:14):
The Countess or the baddie cat.

Speaker 1 (01:09:17):
Countess, countess darling Von Dowling.
Ernie is most famouslypartnered with Burr but in the
70s and early 80s he would alsofeature with what Shady
character, my personal favoriteSesame Street character.

Speaker 2 (01:09:31):
Oh, wanna play Belle.
No, yes, what was his name, youknow?
Hey, you wanna play Belle.
Oh gosh, I wanna say it's notSuper Fine Joe's, it's Sherlock
Hemlock.
Oh, I can't think of it, I'msorry.

Speaker 1 (01:09:51):
Sherlock Hemlock was Jerry Nelson Lefty.
I know Lefty was Frank.

Speaker 2 (01:09:55):
Lefty.

Speaker 1 (01:09:56):
Lefty, by the way.
Guys, if you ever, as an adult,wanna go back and watch the
brilliance of that era of SesameStreet, watch Ernie and Lefty
their bits together legendary,Just hysterical Going to.
I wanna resnuffle up againsthis eyes originally.

Speaker 2 (01:10:16):
Originally.

Speaker 1 (01:10:17):
Originally.

Speaker 2 (01:10:22):
Like the pupils.

Speaker 1 (01:10:23):
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (01:10:25):
Ooh, I'm scared, I don't know, oh, I would be.
I'm just gonna say green.

Speaker 1 (01:10:34):
They were yellow and green.

Speaker 2 (01:10:36):
Oh, I got that right, you should give me one, that is
, that looks like the ToxicAvenger, which, by the way, if
that ever comes back to Broadway, please somebody tell him to
ask me.

Speaker 1 (01:10:49):
You know, somebody said in chat that they missed
Snuffle Up Against beingpossibly imaginary.
The reason they took that awaywas, if I recall correctly, it
was because, you know, big Birdwould always talk about Mr
Snuffle Up Against as imaginaryfriend and people didn't believe
him.
It was real and it was veryimportant for Sesame Street to
teach kids that when you need totell an adult something, an

(01:11:09):
adult should believe you, and sothey didn't want that portrayed
on the show, which is why theychanged him to a real character,
if I recall correctly, yeah,that is absolutely right.
I also like to point out topeople the creepiest thing when
you, if you ever show up to theset of Sesame Street not that
any of you will, but if you everdid Snuffle Up Against is
hanging.

Speaker 2 (01:11:29):
The bag lady that lives there.

Speaker 1 (01:11:31):
He is hanging from the light grid right Like in the
back by like meat hooks up inthe grid like.

Speaker 2 (01:11:40):
He's gassy when I see the kids, when they tell the
kids I go and I'm usually ifthere's kids on set, I will grab
Abby immediately and I'm likeStephanie sleeps.
He retains a lot of gas whenhe's sleeping so when he's not
sleeping, man, you can hear itwhen he's there on a great big
air blow.

Speaker 1 (01:11:58):
Oh.

Speaker 2 (01:12:00):
That's for your listeners.

Speaker 1 (01:12:03):
Well, listen, leslie, honestly it's been such a treat
having you on.
I want to remind everybody,october 21st, two shows 1pm and
7pm.
7pm wide open 1pm.
The tickets are almost gone.
Green room 42.
She's above ground, she's notin the basement anymore.
She said I'm moving out ofBurton Ernie's apartment.

(01:12:25):
I'm going up, moving on up.

Speaker 2 (01:12:28):
This is a special show.
Do you know why?

Speaker 1 (01:12:31):
Why is it a special Abby's birthday?

Speaker 2 (01:12:33):
no, yes, One, I haven't done this show since
2019.
That was like five weeks aftermy surgery.
And two, it's not just me, wehave a cast.
And three, it's storytelling,but it's you're a dog lover.
It's very good.

(01:12:53):
So it's kind of like it's notyour typical.
It's not your typical cabaret.

Speaker 1 (01:13:00):
It's a lot of when can people?

Speaker 2 (01:13:01):
get tickets.
You can get them at Green Room42 on the website and also I
think it's really important toknow, there's a no food or drink
minimum.
So I'm new to the Green Room 42and they set their ticket
prices.
So they'll have main diningroom, premium booth, ringside.
They're all great seats.

Speaker 1 (01:13:23):
Ringside.

Speaker 2 (01:13:24):
Yeah, you can be like ringside, but what I'm just
saying is that I move around alot, so I try to give the love
all over the place.

Speaker 1 (01:13:35):
Does Lolly still go through people's bags looking
for mints or gum?
She might.

Speaker 2 (01:13:40):
You never know what's gonna happen at one of my shows
.
So one of my favorite shows,because this is my.
If you come to the show you'llunderstand more about me.
My, yeah, it's kind of mycoming out party.

Speaker 1 (01:13:54):
There.
I already know some people thathave tickets to your show Do.

Speaker 2 (01:14:00):
Oh, Carolyn, probably Is she watching.

Speaker 1 (01:14:02):
Carolyn.
Carolyn is watching.
Carolyn is my biggest fan.
I love Carolyn.

Speaker 2 (01:14:06):
I know well, carolyn appreciates you, and the dogs
are probably watching too.
So there that's.
Ha ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha,ha, ha, ha ha ha, ha, ha ha.

Speaker 1 (01:14:14):
We.
Carolyn is um A dear friend ofmine and is the biggest
supporter of this.
Like she watches every secondof every one of these podcasts
and will immediately, as soon asa podcast over.
She knows where I'm going.
It's McDonald's for my dog.
My dog needs his chickennuggets because I keep him out
of the room during the podcast,so he loves McDonald's chicken

(01:14:37):
nuggets.
I don't know how, but he criesfor them.

Speaker 2 (01:14:41):
Now.
I want chicken nuggets now.

Speaker 1 (01:14:43):
And so we're gonna go .
We're gonna go get chickennuggets, and she will.
She knows that we will be onthe phone and critiquing this
whole episode as soon as it'sover.

Speaker 2 (01:14:52):
You have to have friends like that.
I.
I'm really appreciative Carolyn, because again she got to know
me.
For me, you know, outside ofAbby and you know, you know how
it is to be an artist in thistown, you know.
So it's just like the shows arehard to put up.
The worst part is having topromote it.
I might, I hate it, I hate it.

(01:15:12):
Liz Har says well, just, youknow, consider inviting people
to a party and I go.
It's kind of true, because ourplace is so small we can never
have anybody over.
I tell these stories to Paul.
He's kind of bored with them.
He's wearing headphones.
Newheart doesn't really commentanymore, so I just kind of go
somewhere.

Speaker 1 (01:15:31):
She tells the stories to Lolly, and Lolly just sits
there and stares at me.

Speaker 2 (01:15:35):
My brain, so it is kind of a party it's.
It's my form of cookies, sinceI don't bake, but I bake up some
storytelling.
So I hope to see you there.

Speaker 1 (01:15:47):
So she'll be there.
I will probably be there to penI was.
I was actually supposed to bein Vegas for another show, but I
don't think I'm going, so yeah.

Speaker 2 (01:15:57):
I'm sure it's just as , probably as, extravagant as
your Vegas show.

Speaker 1 (01:16:04):
Well, my problem is I have a farm.
I have a farm, leslie, did Itell you?
I have cows and goats andchickens.
Now, and it's starting to getcold, I live on a mountain and I
have to build a barn.

Speaker 2 (01:16:15):
You know, you know the struggles, the farm, you can
bring a cow to the show if youwant.

Speaker 1 (01:16:21):
I don't think I can bring a cow to the show, if you
see.

Speaker 2 (01:16:25):
I don't know, might be tricky.
There's an elevator, is whatI'm saying.

Speaker 1 (01:16:31):
Fair between me and the cow, though on the elevator
the weight limit might be, Ifeel.
Oh my god, leslie, thank you somuch for coming on listen.
I'm not going to announce nextweek's guest.
It's the Bad Chest podcast.
It's available wherever you getyour podcasts.
You can search for it onSpotify, apple, itunes, odyssey,

(01:16:54):
tune in.
It's on YouTube.
Youtube, sure, right on YouTube, absolutely can.
Thank you so much.
You want to.
You want to promote me anymore?
It's right on right on theYouTube.

Speaker 2 (01:17:04):
We find you.

Speaker 1 (01:17:06):
We're live on kick all the time, which we are right
now.
I mean, oh, it's just so.
So many places it's it's hardto mention them all.

Speaker 2 (01:17:13):
Well, thank you.
Thank you for having me.

Speaker 1 (01:17:16):
You're welcome and thanks Chad and everybody else.
And look, next week we'll beback.
We have a great, another greatguest, which I can't.
I can't.
The problem, leslie, as youunderstand, is there was a
writer strike that was going onforever.
The writer strike ended Now abunch of people are going back
to work and then everyonethought the actors were going to
be back to work and now, as oftoday, that is does not look

(01:17:39):
like it's going to happenanytime soon that those talks
broke down, so I know everybodythat's been on my show is now
like or had that was scheduled,is all like I don't know what
we're going to do, because theperson that was coming on next
week was so under the impressionthat they were going to be able
to plug something and they'relike I really might want to wait
to see what's going to happenwith the strike and it's like
you know, I understand, I get it.

Speaker 2 (01:18:01):
Listen, that's live.
Theater is bread and butterright now, like outreach and all
that stuff.
That's what it's like.
It's tricky, oh, there is a sagafter a discount to my show.
That's why I wanted to say it'ssag after all caps 15.

Speaker 1 (01:18:20):
Thanks for you know.
Oh yeah, and that's green room42.
It's October 21st.
Don't tell Lolly that it'sAbby's birthday.
Thank you so much.
Let me have a great night,everyone.
Thanks for watching.
Thanks for tuning in.

(01:18:40):
We'll be back next week, takecare.