March 31, 2022 • 22 mins
Lauren Lapkus is a SAG Award-winning and Emmy-nominated actress and comedian best known for her role as corrections officer Susan Fischer in Orange is the New Black. She has appeared in films including Jurassic World, The Wrong Missy, in which she starred as the title character opposite David Spade, and Between Two Ferns: The Movie opposite Zach Galifianakis. Lauren’s television credits include The Big Bang Theory, Bob’s Burgers, Good Girls, Crashing, Lucifer, and the upcoming animated series Bad Crimes.
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(00:01):
Hi, I'm Wendy Loie Sloane,and this is what's up with Wendy's podcast.
I just wanted to tell you alittle bit about myself. I began
my career in New York City asa television producer for talk show legends Phil
Donahue and Heraldo Rivera, and forthe last decade, I've used these experiences
to create my unique style in interviewinghundreds of a list celebrities, newsmakers,
(00:22):
comedians, musicians, reality stars,fitness and nutrition experts, best selling authors,
and so much more. So.I hope you enjoy this wide variety
on my podcast. I hope you'llshare and subscribe, and again thanks for
tuning in. My special guest Todayhas a new animated series on Netflix called
Bad Crimes. She also started anOrange Is the New Black and the Wrong
(00:45):
Missy. You won't want to missmy sit down with Lauren Lapcus up next.
My guests Today sag Award winning andEmmy nominated actress and comedian, best
known for her role as the correctionofficer Sam Fisher and Orange Is the New
Black and also the Wrong Missy oppositeDavid's Fade and Jurassic World and so much
more. Actress, comedian, impressionist, podcaster. Welcome to my show,
(01:07):
Lauren Lapkus. Hi, thanks forhaving me. You look so beautiful this
morning. Thank you that I hadsome people come over and whip me into
shape. So it feels good,so lucky, so lucky to have that.
Can you send them to my houseplease? I love your room too.
I love the room you're in.Thank you. This is my podcast
studio that I built during the pandemicto kind of give myself a place to
(01:30):
work. So it's I have somefabric on the walls. It's actually soundproofing,
so it looks kind of pretty,but it's it's got some hidden secrets
under it. Oh boy, I'mgonna have to get that done in my
house. It looks so pretty.I love all the flowers. It's so
bright and cheery. Thank you.Okay, So I couldn't imagine anything better
than this. You're partnering with straightTalk Wireless, who is using your comedic
(01:53):
approach to share advice on seasonal taxtips, which we all need desperately write
this second, and making your refundwork harder. How how perfect was that?
What a perfect fit? Totally totally, I mean, honestly in my
life. My friends know that I'msomeone who loves to save money and I've
always been obsessed with that. Soit is a really perfect fit. It's
(02:15):
brilliant. It's actually brilliant because itwill make people like think and just having
you be the spokesperson for this isamazing. Is that what it was for
you? What was it about this? And tax season is always stressful for
everybody because it comes really fast.You know, it's it's here right,
No, it always sneaks up andit's always the worst. Um. But
yeah, I think it is aperfect fit because I really, I really
(02:38):
value saving money and one of thebest things you can do is to change
your phone plan because straight Talk givesyou forty five dollars a month unlimited,
just like any other service gives youall the same stuff for for forty five
dollars a month. I mean,that's just an amazing deal. So it's
a great way to save money atthis time of the year and through the
whole year so that when tax seasonarrives, you're not scrambling. It's great.
What is your advice on how topair for tax season? Like including
(03:00):
tips on how to protect your refundand spend smarter with a few simple saving
tips. I mean, yeah,I mean truly, the phone bill I
think is one of the places whereyou can save the best because this,
I mean this straight talk makes itso easy just to cut your bill in
half basically. But um, Ialways look for ways to save money.
(03:22):
I'm always I mean it's something thatI really really care about and I've it's
helped me throughout my life as anactor, where you're kind of struggling all
the time to make ends meet asyou're getting your career going and everything.
So I always focused on finding waysto make it so that my money was
going towards things I was really excitedabout and not towards all the boring stuff
that you need in your life.So finding deals on you know, paper
(03:44):
towels and anything like that in yourlife where you can just make it cheaper
than the stuff that you're excited tohave, you know, to spend your
money on, like entertainment, aregoing to the movies, You have that
little extra money for you, Soall that's really important to me, and
I think this is a really easyway to cut that, cut your bills
in half and save some money.It kind of makes it a little fun
too, especially during the pandemic.We were all like, oh my god,
(04:04):
where was the toilet paper, Wherewas the paper towels? Where was
right? So now that we spentso much money when we did find them,
it's you're right like now, especiallynow, like find out where you
can save because now it's all overthe place now everybody has I know.
I literally bought huge rolls of toiletpaper from an office store at the beginning
(04:26):
of the pandemic because there was notoilet paper anywhere. So I had those
gigantic roles that were like two feetwide that I was using for like a
full year. So yeah, Imean, it's great to not be in
that situation anymore. It's great tobe out of it. I know.
I walked around without my mask forthe first time yesterday. I'm like,
people have been doing this, LikeI feel weird now. I know.
It's such a weird adjustment. Yes, So Orange is the New Black.
(04:49):
How fun was that role? Ohmy god, it was amazing. I
feel I was so lucky to bea part of that show. It was
so cool. I mean, thatwas right when Netflix was just kind of
getting started with streaming shows. Theyhad really. It was one of their
first shows, so there was kindof no precedent for you know, what
the audience would be like for that, and it was just so exciting how
(05:10):
much people took to it. Itwas really cool. Did you actually go
to prison and like like you know, stay there for a lens at a
time, just to like see howit was? Really? Oh my god.
No, we didn't actually do that, but we did shoot um in
some really interesting places in upstate NewYork. And one of the places we
shot was an abandoned psych ward thatwas like this old building that was all
(05:33):
kind of like creepy and weird.They made it into a jail for the
show, and it was so cool. I mean, there was so many
cool, interesting stuffs like that,and definitely the vibe of being, you
know, in a prison environment.They made it look very real, so
that was cool. It was prettyamazing, such a great, great show.
(05:53):
The Wrong Missing So they said fiftynine million people saw it in the
first four weeks. How do youfeel about that? I a few weeks
ago, thank you, Oh thanksfor watching. It's so surreal. It's
it was really crazy because that wasalso like right in the height of the
pandemic, just everything getting going withthe pandemic where we were not sure what
was going to happen, and tobe sitting at home and have that movie
(06:13):
come out and know that people werewatching it was really was really cool.
It was a nice kind of silverlining to the situation, just to feel
like we were able to bring somelevity to the moment and get people a
laugh just for a couple hours.So that was really neat. It also
made yes, exactly, getting peoplelaughed, that's what we need. You
had some crazy things that you didin that Huh. Yeah, that movie
is insane. I think there's amoment where I fall from a cliff and
(06:36):
flyover multiple trees and land on thebeach and I and I lived to tell
the tale. So yeah, it'sa really funny, crazy movie. That's
amazing. Okay, So what's new, what's coming up with? What's coming
up in your your new upcoming rolesin a new animated series? I hear,
yes, my new show Bad Crimes. I'm really excited about it.
(06:57):
It's a Netflix animated show. It'sit's a dark comedy procedurals, so like
Law and Order SVU that kind ofthing, but just with a with a
comedy twist to it, and itwas created by Nicole Silverbrook. She's she's
such a funny comedian, she's ahilarious writer. UM and in conjunction with
Greg Daniels and Mike Judge, whoare executive producing, who are just legends.
I mean they created King of theHill and Babis and butt Head and
(07:19):
The Office Silicon Valley, like theirresumes are insane and so impressive, and
I'm just so excited about It's sofunny, and it's um starring me and
Nicole Buyer, who you might knowfrom Nailed It on Netflix. Um,
she's also on Grand Crew on NBC. She's so funny. We do a
podcast together as well. UM,So I'm really excited to get to work
with her in this way. That'sawesome. How do you how do you
(07:40):
do it? How do you keepso busy juggling your career, your family,
quality time yourself. It's really hard. I had a baby this year,
so I'm adjusting to Light's baby,thank you, and she's she's eight
months now, so it's you know, we're getting to a bit of a
group, but it's also really challenging. I'm looking forward to eventually having some
help. It's not easy. It'sthe time goes by. I can tell
(08:03):
you the time goes by. Mykids are in college very fast. But
it's it's definitely an adjustment I have. I have a puppy. He's ten
and a half, mansult, andit's like having a new baby. I'm
like, what did I do?What? I love him? But what
I do? No, that's such. That's a moment where you're like,
oh, wait, they need alot of attention. And this one in
particular, he's a golden so hefeels like he's human. And he's right
(08:24):
now about to bounce some balls onthe ground really loud, so you might
hear that. But anyway, soa new baby, that's so, that's
so awful. This changed your life, doesn't change. He feels so different
now, Yeah, definitely. AndI mean just my priorities shifting, you
know. I think that's been areally interesting element of it, and just
realizing what matters to me more thanyou know, certain things like I think
(08:48):
just being able to spend time withher is my most important thing right now,
and I feel so grateful that,um, you know, my job
is is In some ways, Ithink that's the hard part of being an
actors that you don't know when you'rejob is coming. But at the same
time, now that I'm a mom, it allows me time to spend that
time with her when I'm in betweenthings, so I'm grateful for that.
She's just the best. Oh well, congratulations again, and we look forward
(09:11):
to your new series Bad Crimes andall the things that you do. And
I can't imagine you're not being busybecause you've done so many wonderful things in
the past. We look forward toseeing more. So if you just tuned
in Lauren Lathcus, so you wantto plug one more thing about anything else?
Yeah, I mean, if youwant to know more about street Talk,
go to street talk dot com.If you want to know more about
(09:33):
me, you know, you cango listen to my podcast Newcomers that I
host with Nicole Buyer. It's reallyfun. We watch shows that we've never
seen before, and we're doing allof the Marvel Cinematic Universe right now.
We've never seen any of the movies. We're watching them all, so it's
really fun. Podcasters have to supportother podcasters, so we will definitely tune
in. We will tune in.Congratulations again, thank you so much for
being here, Lauren. Thank you. He was part of one of television's
(10:00):
greatest cast as j Peterman On Seinfeld, actor, singer, author, comedian,
and so much more. Joining meto talk about his one man show
and more. Welcome John O'Hurley.Well good, what a wonderful introduction.
I don't know if I can liveup to all of that. You will,
you will? You have the greatestvoice of any person. Well,
(10:24):
you know the irony of that ismy voice was the last one to change
in high school. For you tosay that, it's a lot to me,
Thank you. I had to suffer. I had to suffer the embarrassment
of one of those little squeaky voicesup till I was about the fifteen years
old. Wow, that must havebeen Janeful high school, right, Well,
(10:45):
you know it was what it was. But I was lucky enough to
you know, I was growing upat the time and most of my life.
It's in Park West Harkard, Connecticut. Uh and uh so I was
at the time in the late sixties. I was wrapped around some of the
great DJ voices and all of music, Dick Robinson and Sandy Beach and all
these all of these these great DJsback in the golden age of rock and
(11:09):
roll and radio there and I thinka lot of my vocal intonations came from
listening to them. So you're goingto be in your kind of in your
old neighborhood. You're gonna be atthe Ridgefield Playhouse this Sunday, January twenty
six with your one man show,A Man with the Standards. I love
the name, the title. Howdid you come up with that? And
why? Well, very simply,I do a show with the standards,
(11:31):
the songs from the that we recognizefrom the great American songbook Moon River,
Henry Mancini, Sinatra, songs likeBeyond the Sea, and I take a
collection of all of that great musicof the fifties and the sixties of big
band music, and I use itto underscore the stories of my life that
(11:52):
were going on not only at thattime, but at other periods of life
when I was on Broadway and Seinfeldand years following, and I use that
time, I use those that musicto really to underscore and to us in
that respect. It makes it alot of fun. It's very funny.
It's great music. And uh andthere's only one tier I promise only one
(12:18):
tier in the show. So it'sstorytelling, songs and humor. And it's
always sold out when you do theYouTube, these shows all over. I
just finished the I was just outtwo nights ago in Lamorada in California doing
the show. They're a beautiful sellout there and it was just what a
wonderful crowd. Oh, they justthey just loved it. It's just an
(12:39):
unusual show. It hits you ina different way. Very few people come
in and tell stories anymore, andI'm a storyteller. I always have done.
That was the nature of j Petermanon Steinfeld. He was a storyteller.
And I've had so many of crazy, quirky things happen in my life
that it's been fun to bring themto the stage and and wrap them around
(13:00):
music that is so inspiring and memorable. You're so right. People do not
tell stories anymore. So true.It isn't, Yeah, it isn't.
I mean, I go back.I talk about my days in West Hartford
when my mother would go to thebeauty parlor every Saturday morning and get her
air done, and it would comeback, you know, with something the
consistency of a chafing dish and thenthey would go out for dinner at night.
(13:24):
My dad had his a little skinnytie and they would go out to
a steakhouse in West Hartford, Delmonico's, and they would have every This was
every weekend. They'd go for dinnerand dancing. They always had a little
combo band there and they'd go fortheir same steak every week, same martini,
and they would dance their dance tothe same music that there sis.
(13:45):
That's what they did. It wasdinner and dancing, and that is that
sadly disappeared. So I'd like tobring back that that that little slice of
nostalgia with not only the music butthe stories, because I feel that it
was a time of style and swingand la and as I say, it's
called a man with standards because Iwas lucky enough to grow up grow up
around men who had standards. Ohmy god, times are so different.
(14:09):
Now you're telling that story about yourparents, and like, you're right,
people used to time. I lookat pictures of my parents and they were
always so dressed up and there wasglamour, and it was just it was
so different then. It was thetime. There was a time of being
a gentleman meant something. Being alady meant something. And there was an
elegance and there was music. Themusic and the manners were indistinguishable. As
(14:33):
I as I kind of laughing,we say luck was a lady. We
danced cheeked to cheek, and lovewas a many splendid things beautiful. If
you just you know, I'm talkingto John O. Hurley. He's going
to be at the Ridgefield Playhouse,one of my favorite places, by the
way, this Sunday, January twentysix his show A Man with Standards for
tickets two oh three, four,three, eight, five, seven nine
five. It's a thoughtful autobiography withsong and storytelling, which I love even
(15:00):
I can just you can feel itwhen you're when you're talking about it too.
It was, and you know,I think with the people the audience
there at Richfield will will come tounderstand. Is that so much of this
as local flavor because I grew uptwenty years of my life in Connecticut over
the border as well for a fewyears in outside of Boston I lived so
(15:22):
and then you know, my firststeps on the Broadway stage, we're just
you know, just down the roadin New York City, so it's all
as a wonderful local flavor. Andand I'll add an even one more level
into it is that not many peoplewill remember this, but I took six
years off before I became an actorout of college and I went into public
relations and I was director of publicrelations for Waterbury Hospital in Waterbury, Connecticut,
(15:46):
just up the road from the Ridgehioplayoffs. I don't think I ever
knew that. Yeah, Yeah,I was. Yeah, And I'm a
director for for several years, directorof the public relations for the Red Cross
in Farmington. Yeah. My fingerprintsare all around the state. So can
we reflect back a little bit aboutSeinfeld? How that change your life?
(16:08):
And what do you miss the most? Well? I was playing with the
championship team in the championship season.I don't think there's ever been a cast
assembled that was quite as talented oras intelligent as the four of them.
And it was you just knew youwere in Saint Peter's Cathedral when you were
(16:29):
there, either rehearsing or doing theshow, and you knew that you were
going to be part of something thatyour grandchildren would be watching with you.
And I can't say that about anyother show that I've done. It was
just blessed with permanence, and timehas proven me correct, not only domestically
but internationally. It's syndicated in eightyfive countries, so you really can't go
(16:51):
anywhere in this world now and itwill not be recognized for the achievements of
that show. Do people walk upto you all the times, don't say
Peterman, Peterman and they ask oh, not only that they quote, they
quote lines perfectly. Do you havea favorite episode? Well, you know,
I do, um. I mean, I loved a lot of the
(17:12):
things, but I thought I thoughtthe Friars Club episode was especially good when
Rob Schneider was playing my Heart ofHearing assistant. But my favorite one,
I think was the Wedding Cake episode, which was also the Frogger episode,
because I think that that was justone of the best executed scripts that we
(17:33):
did. The idea of George chasinghis Frogger's score is you know, lifetime
achievement um at a pizza parlor thatwas now closing, and he had to
save that Froger machine because that hadhis high score on it, which was
the only thing he ever the onlygreat moment in his life. And as
he turned to Jerry once said,so whimsically goes Jerry, I'm never going
(17:55):
to have kids. This is allI have. Was it easy for you
to get into character all the time? Oh? Yeah, the character,
And actually it was easier to watchthe character develop. And I mean he
just became a crazier and just amore and more more and more of a
walking lunatic. I read that yousaid that j Peterman came naturally to you.
(18:19):
Well, I really did you knowhe was? And again it goes
back to a little bit of Imean you could probably hear one of those
disc jockeys in the background, youknow that I grew up with in Connecticut,
Just that sense of those you know, huge melodic almost musical voices.
And that's really where Peterman developed alittle bit. He was kind of a
(18:42):
forties radio drama combined with a littlebit of a bad Charles Cavult. I
think that was kind of the genesisof the character. What an amazing Joan.
Do you still we did many ofyour scenes, most of your scenes
I think with Julia, right,most of them there, Yeah, a
little bit with Kramer's some Jerry,and I mean we I worked with all
(19:02):
you know, obviously with all ofthem, but there was definitely a Mary
Tyler more Luke Grant type of connectionbetween she and I at a more absurd
level. Do you all keep intouch? Oh? Sure, yes,
I see Jerry all the time.Just was in New York with him so
fine doing a doing a little littleSeinfeldt thing that UM over on the Upper
(19:27):
West Side there at the b ComTheater and had some Yeah, I've just
had some wonderful experiences with all ofthem. And and the business is a
very small business, so it youknow, there's only a few of us
in it at any one time.Amazing if you just changed. I'm talking
to John O'Hurley. He's going tobe in our neighborhood the Ridgefield Playhouse this
Sunday, a Man with Standards,a thoughtful autobiography with song. Um.
(19:51):
What an amazing night that's going tobe. Are you do you? You
must? You can tell that youlove doing what you do? Well?
I loved and I love doing thisshow. It's just so much to get
out on stage and with this wonderful, little wonderful band that I have to
recreate the music, and to reallysit down and just tell stories, just
(20:11):
very in a very real sense andsing the glorious music of the time,
and it relaxes the audience and theyknow that they're going to have fun.
From the second I walk on stage. I make them laugh and I let
them know that they're in good handsand we're going to have a good ninety
minutes together, for sure. Isthere anything that you can talk about that's
(20:33):
coming up with you? Well,I have a lot of fun stuff.
I'm actually over here today on ShopHQ, the Home shopping channel, because
I've premiered a new show called ThePet Shop with John O'Hurley, and it's
celebrating because I am the host ofthe National Dog Show, as I've been
doing that for nineteen years now,and so I have my my pot pourri
(20:56):
of a great pet products that I'veselected from all over the world. And
in addition to that, I havea new show on HGTV that's going to
be called by Like a Billionaire,which is a game show that allows a
couple of average means to peruse abillion dollar homes and try to discover which
(21:18):
one was purchased recently most recently bya certain millionaire and if they get if
they get it right, then theshow pays off their mortgage for the rest
of the year. So it's ait's a fun combination of what HDT does
really well, along with a wonderfulgame show theme to it as well,
So fund the National dog Show.We spoke I think once before about that.
(21:40):
You've been doing that for so long? What was it about that?
Yeah, this is year nineteen comingup. It's you know, who knew
that this two hour slice of programmingright after the Macy's Thanksgiving Day parade and
right before football was going to beso ripe for something as crazy as a
dog show. It used to youknow, they used to get They used
to ratings of less than a millionwatching reruns of It's a Wonderful Life.
(22:03):
They put that in there, andlo and behold, we now have eighty
two million people that launch that show. It's We've been very, very lucky,
amazing. Well, what a wonderfulday to talk to you. Thank
you so much, Thanks so muchfor joining me on this episode of What's
Up with Wendy's Podcast. If youlove this episode, head over to iTunes
(22:26):
or Spotify or your favorite platform tosubscribe and leave a review. If you
want, Please also follow me onInstagram. Twitter and Facebook at what's Up
with Wendy. And you can alsolearn more about my podcast and about me
on my website What's Up with Wendydot com. Until next time, this
is Wendy Lowie Sloan and I reallyhope you enjoyed my podcast, and I
hope you'll keep on listening and mostimportantly, keep being kind. Thanks so much,
Hi, I'm Wendy Loie Sloane,and this is what's up with Wendy's podcast.
I just wanted to tell you alittle bit about myself. I began
my career in New York City asa television producer for talk show legends Phil
Donahue and Heraldo Rivera, and forthe last decade, I've used these experiences
to create my unique style in interviewinghundreds of a list celebrities, newsmakers,
(00:22):
comedians, musicians, reality stars,fitness and nutrition experts, best selling authors,
and so much more. So.I hope you enjoy this wide variety
on my podcast. I hope you'llshare and subscribe, and again thanks for
tuning in. My special guest Todayhas a new animated series on Netflix called
Bad Crimes. She also started anOrange Is the New Black and the Wrong
(00:45):
Missy. You won't want to missmy sit down with Lauren Lapcus up next.
My guests Today sag Award winning andEmmy nominated actress and comedian, best
known for her role as the correctionofficer Sam Fisher and Orange Is the New
Black and also the Wrong Missy oppositeDavid's Fade and Jurassic World and so much
more. Actress, comedian, impressionist, podcaster. Welcome to my show,
(01:07):
Lauren Lapkus. Hi, thanks forhaving me. You look so beautiful this
morning. Thank you that I hadsome people come over and whip me into
shape. So it feels good,so lucky, so lucky to have that.
Can you send them to my houseplease? I love your room too.
I love the room you're in.Thank you. This is my podcast
studio that I built during the pandemicto kind of give myself a place to
(01:30):
work. So it's I have somefabric on the walls. It's actually soundproofing,
so it looks kind of pretty,but it's it's got some hidden secrets
under it. Oh boy, I'mgonna have to get that done in my
house. It looks so pretty.I love all the flowers. It's so
bright and cheery. Thank you.Okay, So I couldn't imagine anything better
than this. You're partnering with straightTalk Wireless, who is using your comedic
(01:53):
approach to share advice on seasonal taxtips, which we all need desperately write
this second, and making your refundwork harder. How how perfect was that?
What a perfect fit? Totally totally, I mean, honestly in my
life. My friends know that I'msomeone who loves to save money and I've
always been obsessed with that. Soit is a really perfect fit. It's
(02:15):
brilliant. It's actually brilliant because itwill make people like think and just having
you be the spokesperson for this isamazing. Is that what it was for
you? What was it about this? And tax season is always stressful for
everybody because it comes really fast.You know, it's it's here right,
No, it always sneaks up andit's always the worst. Um. But
yeah, I think it is aperfect fit because I really, I really
(02:38):
value saving money and one of thebest things you can do is to change
your phone plan because straight Talk givesyou forty five dollars a month unlimited,
just like any other service gives youall the same stuff for for forty five
dollars a month. I mean,that's just an amazing deal. So it's
a great way to save money atthis time of the year and through the
whole year so that when tax seasonarrives, you're not scrambling. It's great.
What is your advice on how topair for tax season? Like including
(03:00):
tips on how to protect your refundand spend smarter with a few simple saving
tips. I mean, yeah,I mean truly, the phone bill I
think is one of the places whereyou can save the best because this,
I mean this straight talk makes itso easy just to cut your bill in
half basically. But um, Ialways look for ways to save money.
(03:22):
I'm always I mean it's something thatI really really care about and I've it's
helped me throughout my life as anactor, where you're kind of struggling all
the time to make ends meet asyou're getting your career going and everything.
So I always focused on finding waysto make it so that my money was
going towards things I was really excitedabout and not towards all the boring stuff
that you need in your life.So finding deals on you know, paper
(03:44):
towels and anything like that in yourlife where you can just make it cheaper
than the stuff that you're excited tohave, you know, to spend your
money on, like entertainment, aregoing to the movies, You have that
little extra money for you, Soall that's really important to me, and
I think this is a really easyway to cut that, cut your bills
in half and save some money.It kind of makes it a little fun
too, especially during the pandemic.We were all like, oh my god,
(04:04):
where was the toilet paper, Wherewas the paper towels? Where was
right? So now that we spentso much money when we did find them,
it's you're right like now, especiallynow, like find out where you
can save because now it's all overthe place now everybody has I know.
I literally bought huge rolls of toiletpaper from an office store at the beginning
(04:26):
of the pandemic because there was notoilet paper anywhere. So I had those
gigantic roles that were like two feetwide that I was using for like a
full year. So yeah, Imean, it's great to not be in
that situation anymore. It's great tobe out of it. I know.
I walked around without my mask forthe first time yesterday. I'm like,
people have been doing this, LikeI feel weird now. I know.
It's such a weird adjustment. Yes, So Orange is the New Black.
(04:49):
How fun was that role? Ohmy god, it was amazing. I
feel I was so lucky to bea part of that show. It was
so cool. I mean, thatwas right when Netflix was just kind of
getting started with streaming shows. Theyhad really. It was one of their
first shows, so there was kindof no precedent for you know, what
the audience would be like for that, and it was just so exciting how
(05:10):
much people took to it. Itwas really cool. Did you actually go
to prison and like like you know, stay there for a lens at a
time, just to like see howit was? Really? Oh my god.
No, we didn't actually do that, but we did shoot um in
some really interesting places in upstate NewYork. And one of the places we
shot was an abandoned psych ward thatwas like this old building that was all
(05:33):
kind of like creepy and weird.They made it into a jail for the
show, and it was so cool. I mean, there was so many
cool, interesting stuffs like that,and definitely the vibe of being, you
know, in a prison environment.They made it look very real, so
that was cool. It was prettyamazing, such a great, great show.
(05:53):
The Wrong Missing So they said fiftynine million people saw it in the
first four weeks. How do youfeel about that? I a few weeks
ago, thank you, Oh thanksfor watching. It's so surreal. It's
it was really crazy because that wasalso like right in the height of the
pandemic, just everything getting going withthe pandemic where we were not sure what
was going to happen, and tobe sitting at home and have that movie
(06:13):
come out and know that people werewatching it was really was really cool.
It was a nice kind of silverlining to the situation, just to feel
like we were able to bring somelevity to the moment and get people a
laugh just for a couple hours.So that was really neat. It also
made yes, exactly, getting peoplelaughed, that's what we need. You
had some crazy things that you didin that Huh. Yeah, that movie
is insane. I think there's amoment where I fall from a cliff and
(06:36):
flyover multiple trees and land on thebeach and I and I lived to tell
the tale. So yeah, it'sa really funny, crazy movie. That's
amazing. Okay, So what's new, what's coming up with? What's coming
up in your your new upcoming rolesin a new animated series? I hear,
yes, my new show Bad Crimes. I'm really excited about it.
(06:57):
It's a Netflix animated show. It'sit's a dark comedy procedurals, so like
Law and Order SVU that kind ofthing, but just with a with a
comedy twist to it, and itwas created by Nicole Silverbrook. She's she's
such a funny comedian, she's ahilarious writer. UM and in conjunction with
Greg Daniels and Mike Judge, whoare executive producing, who are just legends.
I mean they created King of theHill and Babis and butt Head and
(07:19):
The Office Silicon Valley, like theirresumes are insane and so impressive, and
I'm just so excited about It's sofunny, and it's um starring me and
Nicole Buyer, who you might knowfrom Nailed It on Netflix. Um,
she's also on Grand Crew on NBC. She's so funny. We do a
podcast together as well. UM,So I'm really excited to get to work
with her in this way. That'sawesome. How do you how do you
(07:40):
do it? How do you keepso busy juggling your career, your family,
quality time yourself. It's really hard. I had a baby this year,
so I'm adjusting to Light's baby,thank you, and she's she's eight
months now, so it's you know, we're getting to a bit of a
group, but it's also really challenging. I'm looking forward to eventually having some
help. It's not easy. It'sthe time goes by. I can tell
(08:03):
you the time goes by. Mykids are in college very fast. But
it's it's definitely an adjustment I have. I have a puppy. He's ten
and a half, mansult, andit's like having a new baby. I'm
like, what did I do?What? I love him? But what
I do? No, that's such. That's a moment where you're like,
oh, wait, they need alot of attention. And this one in
particular, he's a golden so hefeels like he's human. And he's right
(08:24):
now about to bounce some balls onthe ground really loud, so you might
hear that. But anyway, soa new baby, that's so, that's
so awful. This changed your life, doesn't change. He feels so different
now, Yeah, definitely. AndI mean just my priorities shifting, you
know. I think that's been areally interesting element of it, and just
realizing what matters to me more thanyou know, certain things like I think
(08:48):
just being able to spend time withher is my most important thing right now,
and I feel so grateful that,um, you know, my job
is is In some ways, Ithink that's the hard part of being an
actors that you don't know when you'rejob is coming. But at the same
time, now that I'm a mom, it allows me time to spend that
time with her when I'm in betweenthings, so I'm grateful for that.
She's just the best. Oh well, congratulations again, and we look forward
(09:11):
to your new series Bad Crimes andall the things that you do. And
I can't imagine you're not being busybecause you've done so many wonderful things in
the past. We look forward toseeing more. So if you just tuned
in Lauren Lathcus, so you wantto plug one more thing about anything else?
Yeah, I mean, if youwant to know more about street Talk,
go to street talk dot com.If you want to know more about
(09:33):
me, you know, you cango listen to my podcast Newcomers that I
host with Nicole Buyer. It's reallyfun. We watch shows that we've never
seen before, and we're doing allof the Marvel Cinematic Universe right now.
We've never seen any of the movies. We're watching them all, so it's
really fun. Podcasters have to supportother podcasters, so we will definitely tune
in. We will tune in.Congratulations again, thank you so much for
being here, Lauren. Thank you. He was part of one of television's
(10:00):
greatest cast as j Peterman On Seinfeld, actor, singer, author, comedian,
and so much more. Joining meto talk about his one man show
and more. Welcome John O'Hurley.Well good, what a wonderful introduction.
I don't know if I can liveup to all of that. You will,
you will? You have the greatestvoice of any person. Well,
(10:24):
you know the irony of that ismy voice was the last one to change
in high school. For you tosay that, it's a lot to me,
Thank you. I had to suffer. I had to suffer the embarrassment
of one of those little squeaky voicesup till I was about the fifteen years
old. Wow, that must havebeen Janeful high school, right, Well,
(10:45):
you know it was what it was. But I was lucky enough to
you know, I was growing upat the time and most of my life.
It's in Park West Harkard, Connecticut. Uh and uh so I was
at the time in the late sixties. I was wrapped around some of the
great DJ voices and all of music, Dick Robinson and Sandy Beach and all
these all of these these great DJsback in the golden age of rock and
(11:09):
roll and radio there and I thinka lot of my vocal intonations came from
listening to them. So you're goingto be in your kind of in your
old neighborhood. You're gonna be atthe Ridgefield Playhouse this Sunday, January twenty
six with your one man show,A Man with the Standards. I love
the name, the title. Howdid you come up with that? And
why? Well, very simply,I do a show with the standards,
(11:31):
the songs from the that we recognizefrom the great American songbook Moon River,
Henry Mancini, Sinatra, songs likeBeyond the Sea, and I take a
collection of all of that great musicof the fifties and the sixties of big
band music, and I use itto underscore the stories of my life that
(11:52):
were going on not only at thattime, but at other periods of life
when I was on Broadway and Seinfeldand years following, and I use that
time, I use those that musicto really to underscore and to us in
that respect. It makes it alot of fun. It's very funny.
It's great music. And uh andthere's only one tier I promise only one
(12:18):
tier in the show. So it'sstorytelling, songs and humor. And it's
always sold out when you do theYouTube, these shows all over. I
just finished the I was just outtwo nights ago in Lamorada in California doing
the show. They're a beautiful sellout there and it was just what a
wonderful crowd. Oh, they justthey just loved it. It's just an
(12:39):
unusual show. It hits you ina different way. Very few people come
in and tell stories anymore, andI'm a storyteller. I always have done.
That was the nature of j Petermanon Steinfeld. He was a storyteller.
And I've had so many of crazy, quirky things happen in my life
that it's been fun to bring themto the stage and and wrap them around
(13:00):
music that is so inspiring and memorable. You're so right. People do not
tell stories anymore. So true.It isn't, Yeah, it isn't.
I mean, I go back.I talk about my days in West Hartford
when my mother would go to thebeauty parlor every Saturday morning and get her
air done, and it would comeback, you know, with something the
consistency of a chafing dish and thenthey would go out for dinner at night.
(13:24):
My dad had his a little skinnytie and they would go out to
a steakhouse in West Hartford, Delmonico's, and they would have every This was
every weekend. They'd go for dinnerand dancing. They always had a little
combo band there and they'd go fortheir same steak every week, same martini,
and they would dance their dance tothe same music that there sis.
(13:45):
That's what they did. It wasdinner and dancing, and that is that
sadly disappeared. So I'd like tobring back that that that little slice of
nostalgia with not only the music butthe stories, because I feel that it
was a time of style and swingand la and as I say, it's
called a man with standards because Iwas lucky enough to grow up grow up
around men who had standards. Ohmy god, times are so different.
(14:09):
Now you're telling that story about yourparents, and like, you're right,
people used to time. I lookat pictures of my parents and they were
always so dressed up and there wasglamour, and it was just it was
so different then. It was thetime. There was a time of being
a gentleman meant something. Being alady meant something. And there was an
elegance and there was music. Themusic and the manners were indistinguishable. As
(14:33):
I as I kind of laughing,we say luck was a lady. We
danced cheeked to cheek, and lovewas a many splendid things beautiful. If
you just you know, I'm talkingto John O. Hurley. He's going
to be at the Ridgefield Playhouse,one of my favorite places, by the
way, this Sunday, January twentysix his show A Man with Standards for
tickets two oh three, four,three, eight, five, seven nine
five. It's a thoughtful autobiography withsong and storytelling, which I love even
(15:00):
I can just you can feel itwhen you're when you're talking about it too.
It was, and you know,I think with the people the audience
there at Richfield will will come tounderstand. Is that so much of this
as local flavor because I grew uptwenty years of my life in Connecticut over
the border as well for a fewyears in outside of Boston I lived so
(15:22):
and then you know, my firststeps on the Broadway stage, we're just
you know, just down the roadin New York City, so it's all
as a wonderful local flavor. Andand I'll add an even one more level
into it is that not many peoplewill remember this, but I took six
years off before I became an actorout of college and I went into public
relations and I was director of publicrelations for Waterbury Hospital in Waterbury, Connecticut,
(15:46):
just up the road from the Ridgehioplayoffs. I don't think I ever
knew that. Yeah, Yeah,I was. Yeah, And I'm a
director for for several years, directorof the public relations for the Red Cross
in Farmington. Yeah. My fingerprintsare all around the state. So can
we reflect back a little bit aboutSeinfeld? How that change your life?
(16:08):
And what do you miss the most? Well? I was playing with the
championship team in the championship season.I don't think there's ever been a cast
assembled that was quite as talented oras intelligent as the four of them.
And it was you just knew youwere in Saint Peter's Cathedral when you were
(16:29):
there, either rehearsing or doing theshow, and you knew that you were
going to be part of something thatyour grandchildren would be watching with you.
And I can't say that about anyother show that I've done. It was
just blessed with permanence, and timehas proven me correct, not only domestically
but internationally. It's syndicated in eightyfive countries, so you really can't go
(16:51):
anywhere in this world now and itwill not be recognized for the achievements of
that show. Do people walk upto you all the times, don't say
Peterman, Peterman and they ask oh, not only that they quote, they
quote lines perfectly. Do you havea favorite episode? Well, you know,
I do, um. I mean, I loved a lot of the
(17:12):
things, but I thought I thoughtthe Friars Club episode was especially good when
Rob Schneider was playing my Heart ofHearing assistant. But my favorite one,
I think was the Wedding Cake episode, which was also the Frogger episode,
because I think that that was justone of the best executed scripts that we
(17:33):
did. The idea of George chasinghis Frogger's score is you know, lifetime
achievement um at a pizza parlor thatwas now closing, and he had to
save that Froger machine because that hadhis high score on it, which was
the only thing he ever the onlygreat moment in his life. And as
he turned to Jerry once said,so whimsically goes Jerry, I'm never going
(17:55):
to have kids. This is allI have. Was it easy for you
to get into character all the time? Oh? Yeah, the character,
And actually it was easier to watchthe character develop. And I mean he
just became a crazier and just amore and more more and more of a
walking lunatic. I read that yousaid that j Peterman came naturally to you.
(18:19):
Well, I really did you knowhe was? And again it goes
back to a little bit of Imean you could probably hear one of those
disc jockeys in the background, youknow that I grew up with in Connecticut,
Just that sense of those you know, huge melodic almost musical voices.
And that's really where Peterman developed alittle bit. He was kind of a
(18:42):
forties radio drama combined with a littlebit of a bad Charles Cavult. I
think that was kind of the genesisof the character. What an amazing Joan.
Do you still we did many ofyour scenes, most of your scenes
I think with Julia, right,most of them there, Yeah, a
little bit with Kramer's some Jerry,and I mean we I worked with all
(19:02):
you know, obviously with all ofthem, but there was definitely a Mary
Tyler more Luke Grant type of connectionbetween she and I at a more absurd
level. Do you all keep intouch? Oh? Sure, yes,
I see Jerry all the time.Just was in New York with him so
fine doing a doing a little littleSeinfeldt thing that UM over on the Upper
(19:27):
West Side there at the b ComTheater and had some Yeah, I've just
had some wonderful experiences with all ofthem. And and the business is a
very small business, so it youknow, there's only a few of us
in it at any one time.Amazing if you just changed. I'm talking
to John O'Hurley. He's going tobe in our neighborhood the Ridgefield Playhouse this
Sunday, a Man with Standards,a thoughtful autobiography with song. Um.
(19:51):
What an amazing night that's going tobe. Are you do you? You
must? You can tell that youlove doing what you do? Well?
I loved and I love doing thisshow. It's just so much to get
out on stage and with this wonderful, little wonderful band that I have to
recreate the music, and to reallysit down and just tell stories, just
(20:11):
very in a very real sense andsing the glorious music of the time,
and it relaxes the audience and theyknow that they're going to have fun.
From the second I walk on stage. I make them laugh and I let
them know that they're in good handsand we're going to have a good ninety
minutes together, for sure. Isthere anything that you can talk about that's
(20:33):
coming up with you? Well,I have a lot of fun stuff.
I'm actually over here today on ShopHQ, the Home shopping channel, because
I've premiered a new show called ThePet Shop with John O'Hurley, and it's
celebrating because I am the host ofthe National Dog Show, as I've been
doing that for nineteen years now,and so I have my my pot pourri
(20:56):
of a great pet products that I'veselected from all over the world. And
in addition to that, I havea new show on HGTV that's going to
be called by Like a Billionaire,which is a game show that allows a
couple of average means to peruse abillion dollar homes and try to discover which
(21:18):
one was purchased recently most recently bya certain millionaire and if they get if
they get it right, then theshow pays off their mortgage for the rest
of the year. So it's ait's a fun combination of what HDT does
really well, along with a wonderfulgame show theme to it as well,
So fund the National dog Show.We spoke I think once before about that.
(21:40):
You've been doing that for so long? What was it about that?
Yeah, this is year nineteen comingup. It's you know, who knew
that this two hour slice of programmingright after the Macy's Thanksgiving Day parade and
right before football was going to beso ripe for something as crazy as a
dog show. It used to youknow, they used to get They used
to ratings of less than a millionwatching reruns of It's a Wonderful Life.
(22:03):
They put that in there, andlo and behold, we now have eighty
two million people that launch that show. It's We've been very, very lucky,
amazing. Well, what a wonderfulday to talk to you. Thank
you so much, Thanks so muchfor joining me on this episode of What's
Up with Wendy's Podcast. If youlove this episode, head over to iTunes
(22:26):
or Spotify or your favorite platform tosubscribe and leave a review. If you
want, Please also follow me onInstagram. Twitter and Facebook at what's Up
with Wendy. And you can alsolearn more about my podcast and about me
on my website What's Up with Wendydot com. Until next time, this
is Wendy Lowie Sloan and I reallyhope you enjoyed my podcast, and I
hope you'll keep on listening and mostimportantly, keep being kind. Thanks so much,
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