Breaking Bread with Tom Papa - Episode 320 - Lisa Ann Walter

Episode Date: April 28, 2026

This week we welcome legend Lisa Ann Walter to the table! She and Tom gush about Italian food, dig into Lisa's experiences performing for the Mob, compare comedy notes, and have a blast. Enjoy! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

There were not women doing what I was doing. Right. There were hardly any that were parents. So I didn't have a lot of time to go and do set. I should have. I should have continued straight through with the stand-up. Got into the next relationship. He told me stand-up's not feminine.

Who did? He shouldn't do it. Second husband. Said that it's not feminine? The brief story that's in the act is I have four kids, two-ex-husband. The first one was a lovely Jewish guy. Turns out we had too much in common. He also liked men.

The second one was a cheater. which is not technically a religion, but he practiced it like it was. What the fuck was orthodox? So anyway, the relationship was not great. He was not great to me. He was like, it's not, it's a man's job. You shouldn't be, if anybody should do stand up,

it should be me. I'm the funny one. What? And I could think, listen, I wasn't like a little shy flower. I'd be like, get on stage once, asshole. One time, tell one joke. It's breaking bread. just looking at the ones that I've met.

Who have you met on the wall? Not Lucy. No. Although I wish. Phyllis. You met Phyllis? I have two pieces of her art and hung out with her at least three times at the house. Come on.

Yeah, she invited me into her closet. What? Yeah. I got to see all her Farragamo shoes and feather boas. No. Yeah. How did you meet her? I had a friend who was out of New York and she was a comic as well,

but an artist and she had artist friends. And I think through the art connection, she said, oh, I got all these paintings and drawings that I do. And my friend said, do you want to go over and, like, look at her art. And I'm like, do I want to see Phyllis Diller's etchings? Yes, I do. And so... Was this in New York or?

No, it was here. It was here in Brentwood. And so we went over there and her house was just gorgeous and beautiful and big, like the houses used to be in old Hollywood. And she was telling stories, you know, Like, you would expect a Phyllis Diller, like, so I was sitting at the piano. She didn't talk like that, but I'm just, I can't really do with Phyllis' voice. And Elliot Gould is laying under the piano, making me sing Christmas songs.

I said, Elliot, I don't know any goddamn Christmas songs. I don't know why he thought I knew Christmas songs. Well, Phyllis, you knew. You were familiar with Jesus. Yeah, I knew him. He was annoying as a teenager. I'm like, this. It was so meaningful to me, so I got a couple pieces of art.

And you got to go back? I got, I was invited back several times, so then I think she got too sick. I'm sure I would have gotten back more, but. That's amazing. Yeah, because I just sit there and hang on every word. And she drank champagne, a lot of vodka, and then champagne. Really? Yeah, four o'clock the champagne would come out.

And she wrote on the back of one of the pieces of art that I bought to a fellow female comic. Oh, come on. Yeah. Come on. Yeah, I know. I want to hang it backwards just for that. Yeah, right. Yeah, you should actually, yeah, take a picture of imprint that, put it on the front.

Exactly. Like you're like Fridays. What about Joan? I never met Joan. I got to go to her house. Did you? Did she give you art? She didn't give me art.

It wasn't, and it wasn't that. It was, it wasn't one-on-one. In New York, the house of New York? She did a show, no, in L.A. She did a show, I forget what it was like from her bed, like, from my, something from my, something from her bed or something. Yeah, I remember that. And it was in her house down, I guess they, I guess it probably was the Palisades. Yeah. And it's like a Jonah Melissa joint. Yes, right, right, right. Yeah. Who I just saw the other day actually coming,

yeah, I remember an interview. And, uh, and you, you went down into this little bedroom and had like a heart-shaped bed, I think. And that was a set. You know that wasn't her real bedroom. Yeah. And you're not invited into her bedroom. No, it wasn't her bedroom. Her bedroom has antiques. Yeah, it was smaller than this. Yeah. And, uh, your entrance. was from the closet. So you'd be hiding in the little closet. And then Joan would be in bed. Yes. And then she brought. Such a gay icon. Yeah. And then bursting out of the closet. Yeah. She was the real deal. She was. And I mean, honestly, this is incredible to me because I often speak when people talk about like, who are influences as a comic? I always say, well, the people I wanted to be

was Richard Pryor and George Carlin. Those were the albums that I had. That was a, of stuff I should not have been saying. I knew all of the routines. I would repeat them to my mother and not get in trouble with my Catholic mother, which is where I discovered the power of comedy. But the only female comics you saw on TV were these two. And if you watched an episode of Hollywood squares and like Tody Fields would be a center square. But she was a, she was a Vegas act. Like we didn't see her comedy because she was blue. Remember? And then she had the one leg. But these these were the women that I said, oh,

they could be funny. You can make a living as a girl doing this. And then the women from laughing. Oh, yeah. Okay, this bug hates us. Yeah. Like, he's not just like around. He's like in your face.

Notice me. He went to my face to your face. Yeah, like, my eyes. He's like, I have floated. He's like, I had lunch at Tony Fields house. Like, that's what he said. Yeah, I have floaters sometimes and I was like. That wasn't it.

That wasn't it. There's a real bug. All right. Whoever kills the bug first. Gets the bread. That's a dollar. Well, I made you the bread. Thank you.

Don't look at my nails. I baked it this morning. I have one fake one and a bunch of really short, real ones. Don't look. Just don't look. I'm going to hold my glass like this. I'm very excited that you're here because you've had around my house. Did you ever meet Cynthia?

Cynthia Corey? She was a comedian who I married. No, I don't remember. Was she out of New York? She was after you had left. Okay. Well, of course. You got a fresh, a young one.

You don't want to fused up, tired. But we both know you as such a powerhouse comedian from New York before you did your shows and before. And so when Abbott Elementary, when you all of a sudden popped up on there and you're a TV star, it was like everybody was discovering you. And we're like, no, no, no, no. She's been around. We know her. Thank you. But you were always comedy first.

performer. That means so much to me. And it means a lot to us to watch that happen. Oh, well, please tell her I said hello. And I, I appreciate that you, that you are including me in our brotherhood, sisterhood, familyhood of comics because I think you're, so many people don't know that that was my entree into the business out here that I had done stage. I was an actress first and had done stage work, but stand-up was my not just, yeah, it was not just my bread and butter and how I was able to afford a house. But it got me the notice of the people. I never thought I was going to do shows and movies. I never thought it. I thought I was going to do, I was going to be an actress on a stage and do stand-up. Where'd you grow up? Outside of Washington, D.C.

Outside of D.C. And so when did you come up to New York? Right after college, about a year after college, and was immediately pregnant. Right, you got pregnant right away. Yes, very young and had my son and then said, everyone was the height of the boom and all the people I went to college with that had moved to New York to be actors said, you should be doing stand-up. You'd be really good at it. So I took about a year.

I put together an hour. The first time I got on stage, I had an hour. You did? Yeah. How'd you do that? I didn't do the hour. I did. I was supposed to do.

I just kept writing stories and I was always, and it was what my life was. Were you trying them? Yeah, in front of friends at parties. I mean, like, that's what people were saying that knew me. They said, all this stuff that you talk about when we're standing around in a circle and you're making us die and we're falling on the floor, crying, laughing. Do that on stage. Right. So my life experience as being a mother was different from any of my friends.

Remember, this was a generation that didn't start. It was like that Lichtenstein print. Whoops, I forgot to have kids. Everybody's 40 going, oh, I've got a Wall Street career. I forgot about them. Everything. I was all going to be busted. It's all going to dry up.

So I was so young to have that experience. But purposefully, I said, why aren't there women talking about this experience? I see Bill Cosby doing a 20-minute hunk on childbirth. I'm like, that ain't your experience, my man. That's right. We're just one of the things we do. That is hilarious. He was doing like a color long bit.

Everyone was like, oh, you know. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, you're on the receiving end, so I'm sure you have a piece. OV about it, but... So wait, you got... So you were pregnant when? 23?

Yeah, yeah. Out of it, 24. And, yeah. And he's old now. The special's great, though. Thank you. In Philly. Oh, thanks.

Yeah, which is at Helium, which is such a great spot. You seem so comfortable. And I was like, as a comic, my first thing was, oh, she's still getting up while she's doing the show. Oh, yeah.

You're not, yeah. Well, I'm going to be honest with you. There was times throughout the years that we knew each other in New York and I was getting up, you know, I was doing weekends. And then during the week, I'm in the city and we're doing the showcase clubs and you're doing 12 sets a week. And there were, there were years when I came out here that I wish. It's a reason why this is my first special because of what I should have done was immediately cemented. And what would be Goldberg tried to make it happen because I did my first big movie with her. And she introduced me to Caroline at HBO.

She was doing comic relief. She even pulled me on stage for a comic relief finale in the year that I did the movie with her. I'm like, what are you doing? Eddie. It was called Eddie. She was a Knicks coach. Right. And I was the best friend.

And she picked me. So I owe a lot to Whoopi. But she said, you know, we need more female comics. And I like made some goofy joke like, like, ah, you know, whatever. And I should have been like, yeah, my. manager is going to call you. Like, I should have. I didn't, I don't know, I wasn't thinking of myself as being like them, like all these people on the comic relief stage. And I had an hour and a half that I knew where, not just the applause breaks were, where the standing O breaks were going to be.

That's why I was offered TV shows. I should have been like, yeah, I got an hour and a half, let's do this. I didn't have that kind of confidence. I thought, if I'm like this, other people must be better. That is a that is a problem that is indicative of when we came up. Oh. When we came up. Yeah. Maybe you're right. Because it wasn't, it was at a time when you couldn't just make stuff yourself, post stuff, put stuff, do stuff. You had to be told you're good enough to have an album. You're good enough to be on this late night show. Yeah. So you walk around thinking, when are they going to tell me I'm good enough to do whatever. When someone's going to call me at my house.

Where now, like, you can do it and everybody has a ton of confidence. Yeah. Because they're like, nothing's going to stop me. There's no gatekeeper. That's right. Right. Yeah. And then it was kind of dumb because I should have said, they called my house and said,

do you want to star on your own TV show based on your character? And then I did showcases at the Laugh Factory and every network, except NBC Warren Middlefield. Everyone, I remember everything. You see this red and white check table clauses of my blood. This runs through me. So the Sicilian remembers everything. But all of them wanted to do a show. So that should have been indicative of having the goods. But I was... How old are you here now? This is... I'm like, I'm under 30. You're under 30. Yeah. And there were not standing for like eight years maybe. Yes. And there were not that many seven years. And there were not women doing what I was doing.

Right. People, they weren't working blue. There were hardly any that were parents. Roseanne. That was it. Who else? Right. Did Phyllis talk about?

You know, there weren't any that I knew if they were doing. And telling the real thing about being a mother and like being in a long-term relationship and being not having sex and blah, blah, blah. Right. So it was like I should have done it, but I didn't. And then there were time periods after that when I was. either making the show. And I was doing the job Quintas doing now.

So I was producing it. I was in the writer's room. I was not as much as I wanted to, but I was writing. I was on the road publicizing, doing all these gigs around it. So the time was, and I had kids.

So I had to go home and actually be a mom. So I didn't have a lot of time to go and do set. I should have. I should have continued straight through with the stand-up, got into the next relationship. He told me stand-up's not feminine. who didn't do it second husband said that it's not feminine yeah the story the the brief

story it's in the act is i i have four kids two ex-husband the first one was lovely jewish guy turns out we had too much in common he also like men the second one was a cheater which is not technically a religion but he practiced it like it was the fuck it was orthodox so anyway um the relationship was not great he was not great to me he was like it's not it's a it's a man's job shouldn't be, if anybody should do stand-up, it should be me. I'm the funny one. What? And I could think, listen, I wasn't like a little shy flower.

I'd be like, get on stage once, asshole. One time, tell one joke. When did you meet him during this story? When does he show up? A year after the first one came out to me. I mean, you know. But like where in your career? Like, where are you at?

I was in between shows. I had just finished the ABC show and was doing movies. That was your first one was the ABC one. No, that was second. First one was a Fox show. Okay. And with three presidents of the network and three executive producers on my show, and somehow it still made it on the air. Turns out Rupert Murdoch like me.

He was like actively running the network at that time. Really? Yeah. And then I kind of married him. My life would have been so different. Totally. You'd have like a big blonde thing right now, like all hard. Well, you don't know what's, you don't know what's on.

of this wig. I got fill his hair. Um, yeah, so I didn't do a lot of stand up then because I was too worried about him disapproving of me and not liking me. And so wait, I'm sorry, I lost track. So this is the Fox one. Husband number one was with me basically through the first two shows, but in between the shows he had said, look, you know, this is my reality and I supported him. And And he's still one of my best friends. He's over every week. So he was, we assume, a pretty good guy. He's a great guy.

Newborns and you're still going on stage. You're doing all the stuff. The reason why there were so few women doing stand-up is because what guy is going to be like, I'll stay home and take care of the kids. You're the talent. I support you. He became my manager. Oh, he did.

Yeah. Yeah. That's a good story. Yeah, he was always, he still to stay. He's still to stay. He's like, you're the best female comic to ever live. And I'm like, eh, easy. That's great.

No. That's great. That's what you need. That's like an old school manager. A hundred percent. The one guy who just... It's just you. Yeah, exactly. Yeah. So he was super great that way. So how much of a headbanger was that when he... Were you suspicious at all?

No. Not at all. Nobody was. And he's just like, I'm... This isn't really me? This is my deal. And then he spent a lot of years after that not being, not being comfortable with it. Like, he didn't want the kids to know.

Right. because we had a son and a daughter at that time, and he thought that it would affect the way his son looked at him and viewed manhood or something. I think he was just not comfortable. He came from real people in Worcester. You know, so I think he was just kind of afraid of that judgment, and so he didn't want me to talk about it.

So the only people that really knew were like my immediate family and his immediate family, said, you got to tell them, because I can't have them think we got to Hollywood and I shit can do. Right, exactly. Right? Because, oh, now I got a little something. Yeah. I said, I can't have that.

So they knew, but the kids didn't. And my thing has always been telling the truth on stage about where I am in my life. So not being able to talk about that, I couldn't do stand-up. I imagine. Because it was such a big part of what I was living. Yeah. You're not going to be up there just making up a breakup. story. Yeah, exactly. We just couldn't seem to make it work. Yeah. Oh, yeah, that's not you at all. Yeah.

So you just, yeah, so just didn't do it for a while and then. Well, but at the time you had the success of, you had enough going on anyway with television. Yeah, movies, but there was a lot of years of struggle in between. Yeah. I did radio here when my kids were the youngest, the twins were in high school because that way I could be around and pick them up from school and be an active and participating mom and I got to talk unfettered for three hours at a time. I'll try not to do that here. But then when I, it was before Abbott, but I started to say like, I really have got to get back on stage. I got to work. I have to, I got to talk. There's a lot. This was after radio was over. Yeah. And I had gone back and I was doing other jobs, but I did dance your ass. So I created a

dance weight loss show. Like, I was doing other stuff. But Sherry Shepard was the one, and I knew her when she was just starting as a comic. I met her at a charity gig and loved her. Yeah. And we stayed friends. And then we did a TV show together and went through divorces together. Oh, really?

I talked her into doing The View. Like, we stayed close. That's great. Yeah. So she said, you know, girl, I'll take you out. Come on. So I started, like, run into gigs with her. It is an interesting thing, isn't it?

it doesn't matter what you have going on. When you go, if you are a stand-up, and you go away from it, you start to not feel like yourself. 100%. 100%. I feel like the version of myself that is being an actress, I mean, that was an incredible gift that I got from doing Abbott. And I could just do that. But first of all, that's not who I am. When we're not in production, I'm already on what's the next show?

I'm making, what am I pitching and selling, and how am I going to be in front of people? Right. I want to be in front of people and make them laugh. Because that's the gift to me. Yeah. That's the thing. That's what you are. Yes.

Yeah. And it's like that's the thing that I would do. I mean, I'm glad they pay me. I'm glad that they like me enough to buy tickets. Yeah. But, you know, honestly, between you and me, compared to what you make on a network television show, which is like stupid. Yeah.

It's just like incredibly grateful to be able to afford my kids college at maybe a house. What a blessing. Really? Yeah. That's fine. So the standup is not that. But it's, I know. Watching them laugh is why I got on stage to begin with.

I know. People don't understand. Like, when I was walking through Vegas, this is like, I don't know, 10 years ago. And so I'd been at it, you know, but it was like this moment of clarity when I went through the casino. after doing a show. And it wasn't a great show, but it was still a show. And I was walking through the casino. And I saw all these people going to shows at the machines getting hammered.

And I'm like, they're all chasing. They all want to feel what I just had in a mediocre set. Yes. Yes. Oh, my God. That's so good. It's so lucky. It's so lucky that you get to like, that's, you find the thing that makes you the happiest. And, yeah.

I mean, it ruins vacation. and birthday parties with your family because nothing is as much fun. Yeah, exactly. And also the actually doing of that, that was one of the things that I had to, back when I was doing it for a living, and my comedy money was paying the bills.

And it was good enough that I could buy a house. Like when houses cost $175,000 in Jersey. Yeah, yeah. Still. We're in Jersey. Summit. Nice. You know where it is?

Yeah, of course. I love it. Yeah, I grew up in New Jersey. I loved it. Where'd you go? Yeah. North, Wiccliffe Lake, Park Ridge. Okay. Beautiful. Montpell, like all that area. Yeah, good schools, right?

Yeah, really good schools. Yeah. So you would take gigs, and it would have to be on New Year's Eve. Right. I mean, I never worked Christmas, but you worked all these other Thanksgiving weekend. And, you know, my vacations were planned around doing a gig. You know, I went and did gigs in Florida, in Orlando, so I could take my kid to Disney World. Right. But then you get out. I mean, that's not when we live.

We live when we're on stage. Yeah. I have a friend who's doing the, my bestie girlfriend is doing the Dancing with the Stars tour right now, like dancing. Oh, really? And they sleep on the bus. And I think she thought it was going to be like, you know, it's going to be so great. I'm on tour and it's like a dance show. And I'm like, I'm just thinking to myself.

I don't want to be a poopie pants. But all I could think was just wait for the road. Yeah. You don't get it. Yeah. Yeah. Did you start in New Jersey? New York? I started in the city. I did. My first set was at a bar whose name I don't remember on 27th

Street. And this is what happened. A friend of mine from college, they knew that I wanted to do it and that I was writing and writing and writing too afraid to get on stage the first time. And she said, I'm giving you a date. You're going to do it by this date. I'm going to go with you. And you're going to promise me right now, this is going to happen on this date. And I was like, no, but if I, okay, okay, we'll do it. And I gave her the date and then because I said I would, I did. And I was supposed to do three minutes and I went for 15. They didn't pull me for 15. Oh, really?

Yeah. And I could have kept going if I pulled myself. Right. I was killing. You were right off the bat. Let me explain to you, kids, what this woman would do to the comic strip in New York City. It was a square little box. It was a great, like on a weekend, it was just this, the energy of that place was just dynamic.

If you killed there, you would kill in a way that was so different from killing other places. And she would just rip the roof off. She would just rip the roof off. It was such a force. It was a force. It was a force. It wasn't like, oh, kind of funny. It was like, oh, shit, I'm not following that.

Yeah. Yeah. Thank you. That's so nice of you to say. It was just the truth. Thank you. I did well. Yeah.

So how... I did okay for a girl. How quickly then did you get like pretty regular spots then at the... At those clubs. Okay, so here was the great thing. I told you about my husband being so supportive. Okay. Love this guy.

You love him. You know him. He hung out. He was always with me, Sam. Oh, really? He was always with me. Yeah, he probably just looked like my manager. Right.

But except for the fact that he would come in quite often, I would drive into the city with my baby. He was like 18 months old and hand him off to Sam. They would stay and watch the first show. And then he would go home with Jordan on the bus to Jersey. I would keep the car. And then I became like the comedy taxi. Like I drive to all the different.

Yeah. Yeah. I'd go all over the place and drop everyone off at their spots. Uptown, downtown. I want to go to the cellar next. Oh, God. Free transportation. Yeah.

And then I drove home to Jersey. But what Sam did after I did the Eagle Tavern spot with Andre Davis, remember? I know. Andre was, that wasn't his real name. They called him Andre because he looked like Andre the Giant. He was an enormous behemoth of a man, just with the hair and the big head. He looked like Andre the Giant, so they called him Andre. And he booked these gigs.

A lot of them were bringer rooms. there was a Chinese restaurant in the financial district, you know, like that kind of thing. Yeah, yeah. And but, you know, if you got, if you got good enough, you would get regular gigs and you would actually get paid a little money. Right. And I got that pretty quickly. Yeah.

Because I was a girl who could handle the room. Right. And then I got the showcase rooms first. Here's what we did. We knew that you had to, there was a whole rigmarole you had to go through to pass, right? To pass. So you had to go and pull a number, sit outside the comics. strip or the catch stay in line stay in line wait until if your number got called you could do three

minutes in front of the third guy down or the second guy down yeah and then if he passed you up lewis it would see you at catch or luci would see you at the comic strip yeah right and then maybe you got a few minutes to do on a late show still right but you would do a few minutes for them and see if they thought you had anything you got to want it sam said that. We're not doing that. And along with Nancy Murrah, who was a good friend of mine who was working at that time, they decided to put together showcases called Off the Local onto the Express. And Sam, for his like day job, his hustle job, because he was an actor, he worked at a, like, office supply company that was all made up of people that instead of watching,

driving cabs or waiting tables, they sold office supplies. So he had all these people that loved him. He was really personable. They all adored him. And he was telling them all about his wife, who's a comic. He said to the Lucian or whoever,

we will fill up your room for an early show, a 6 p.m. show. We'll sell every ticket. We'll sell out the joint. You can keep all the bar and all the food. We want the ticket price. And the person in charge

the artistic director has to watch Lisa for 20 minutes. And Nancy for 20 minutes. And so we went in front of a friendly audience with a sold-out room making money, real money. Yeah. And passed at every club in Manhattan. Oh, Sam. That's my guy.

Yeah. What's he doing now? Not that. Is he all right now? He could. Yeah, he's doing great. He's solid? Yeah, he decided, you know, he was with me as a producer on my TV shows.

And then after that, he just got disenchanted with the business. It's rough, man. People were trying to break it. separate us, not even having anything to do with our dynamic because people didn't know, but just because it's easier to control the number one on your call sheet if they don't have a lot of backup around them. So he just didn't like it anymore. And he got into like senior community. And he takes care of seniors. Oh, that's great. He's still a good guy. Yeah, great guy. I love this guy. Yeah, great guy. So. That's nice. That's a great story. I mean, to be able to.

Yeah, that's what happened with that. Just that level of support. I mean, you can send it all up by taking the baby and taking the bus home to New Jersey. Yeah, 100%. I mean, good guy. I don't know anyone in my life I would have done that for. And like just was really, just viscerally, I did stand up at the Apollo standup as a featured, not as an amateur,

but as a featured act six months into my first time on stage ever. Six months in? Six months in. And I was, I remember there was an audition and I learned about it driving home from the city. I was with him. And we were driving home. And they called from Stand Up New York. Carrie. Carrie. Carrey. Yeah. So he calls us and says, hey, there's going to be somebody in from Showtime at the Apollo. I want you to go up. Because at that time, I used to have this bit at the end of my act about rap and black and white cheerleader bit and doing double dutch. Because I grew up essentially in

D.C. And the line ran through my house. Right. So they tried to boo me off on stage when I was in the rap bit, but I wouldn't happen. I turned it around. Oh, you did? Yeah, yeah, I did. I did. Really? You heard him starting to go?

I heard the Rumble start. Uh-huh. I was a little guy. Do you know, I didn't know this before I did the show. People at Showtime met the Apollo, I hear that music to this day and sweat runs down the crack of my ass. But they sit there for like 12 shows. Like, they're in their seats all day. Oh, my God.

Needing to go to the bathroom, wanting to eat. They're, I don't know how many. They're getting angry and angry and angry. Angry and angry. And angry. And then they. do all of the amateur stuff at the very end. But our show was in the evening.

So it was one of the last shows. And I went on right after run DMC. No, there was a comic. There was a black comic out of Atlanta. So they already hate him because he's this New York. Right. And he's from Atlanta. And he's wearing a suit.

Oh, no. And they told him, I'm in makeup. I'm watching this guy. And I'm here and go, just let me finish. And I'm like, this is, this is. This is the delusion. I go, they love him so much. They won't let him finish the setup.

They love him. And the guy is doing my hair. I'm brushing it, by the way, brushing white girl hair in August in Harlem. I'm like, no! And he's brushing my hair, and he goes, I told him not to wear the suit. And he dies. They boo him off stage. Then I go down, run DMC is on, and it was Sinbad, who was hosting at the time.

And he goes, well, they booed the black guy off. You're next. Oh, white girl from Jersey. And I was like, I don't care. I'm going to win. And so I- How they introduced you, do you remember? They didn't say that.

Yeah. I think they said the housewife from hell. Right. I think that was the brand that Sam had given me. Yeah. And it's just too corny. But. And they were with you in the beginning?

Yeah, I got some laughs. And then I went into this bid. It's just silly. It was about the tone logg song Wild thing. Uh-huh. And I'm like, they're doing the wild thing in the bathroom and the bedroom in the middle of the living room floor. The mother walks in and she says, hey, I was once young like you. I like to do the wild thing too.

Yeah, this happens. My Sicilian mother caught me stooping on her living room floor. I don't think poetry would be the woman's first reaction. That was a bit. And there was a little more, but I heard the rumblings. Like, how dare you? Yeah, right? I mean, this is high risk.

And I went, this is not going to take over because you can see it pick up. It's like laughs. You know how laughs start in the back and then they ripple to the back? Look at you. You're getting Ajeda. I am. Okay. Relax.

It ends well. All right. So I see it start to pick up and I go, no, that's not going to happen to me. I can't let that happen. I got a win. Right. I got the mic. Yeah.

How long is this at? Five? Yeah. Yeah. Like six, seven. And I said, yeah, they're not going to win. And I said, I hope it's okay if I curse because I have already. So I looked out and I went, I don't care if it's on TV either.

I just went, oh, yeah, well, the guys in the balcony like me because they're the ones I can see my tits. I was wearing something a little cut. And they threw themselves out of their chairs. They threw themselves out of their chairs. Mom and probably. Fell out. Couldn't believe this white girl said that.

Oh. So I turned the crowd around, got laughs, did my act faster than I've ever done it in humankind and got off stage. I mean, there's no hard. harder place. There's no harder place. They said to me, right when I got off, we want to have you back. I said, not unless I'm dying of terminal cancer. Do I ever need to be that afraid again? Yeah. Oh, man. But I would run into Sinbad over the years like at Montreal or whatever and he would bring it up every time I saw him. He would say, only girl, only person I ever saw. Turn that room around. Oh, man. I mean, there's nothing, there's nothing scarier. Yeah, but you know, that's the thing is that after you do that, then you go, what else do I?

I have to worry about. What was it about comedy at that time? I was asking somebody, like, it doesn't exist now of these rooms. I mean, it wasn't just Apollo. It was late night at the comic strip. It was Caroline's late, you know, prom shows. It was a, it was a battle. It wasn't just, like, let's see if my jokes were.

It was bloodsport. It was bloodsport. The audience was going to destroy you. Win or. If they didn't, if they got any instinct. Yeah. Yeah. Before you even spoke.

Smell the chum and the water. It was game on. They were going to attack. Yeah. Like that doesn't exist anymore. That was one of the reasons why they, I got invited to play the place that that guy Blue owned. One of them was grandpas in Staten Island where they, by the way, that place and there

was his other place in Bay Ridge where my mother grew up where they didn't pay comics. They were famous for it. They would not pay comics. They paid me. Is that toppers? Because they knew my family. Oh, they knew your family. Yeah, they paid me.

I never didn't get paid. And I remember one night we were there, this is his place in Bay Ridge. And Pips was the other one, and Sheep's Head Bay. Yeah, yeah. They always paid. But the place that this guy ran, this guy Blue ran, they were all fronts. They were all laundering operations. Just laundering money.

Yeah. He didn't care about the art of comedy. Right. No, one night he goes, hey, the fellows are coming in. You stick around for a late show. And now we're already in the late show. It's like one in the morning. And so the guys, the other two comics were like, no, man, we want to go home.

What are we getting paid? And he goes, just stick around. And the guys are coming by. And so I was like, what are you stupid? So I like stayed around, I got on stage and I just started making fun of their dates. Literally did no material. I just bagged on their dates and then them for like 15 minutes and they were throwing hundreds on the stage. It was a stripper.

And then like when I would do the parties that they would have on the weekends, they would do like day. parties for both the wife and the gumar. And they all had daughters that were getting married or having babies. So you'd have, you'd have the bridal showers. You have the baby showers. They'd have these giant platters of food. They would give me like a thousand bucks and send me home with chafing. You got kids here. And I get the food and the money. So wait, who's your family when you say you knew your family? You don't need to know that. We have Sicilian too. Yeah. I assume that. Yeah. Yeah. It's a last name. they, where were they?

And it wasn't, I should, I should be clear. My, my people are, you know, they're doctors and stuff like that. Right. There's the original connections, the older generations, there's always somebody who did somebody a favor. A little bit of a lineage where, right. Yeah, took a bid because he didn't rat. Right.

You know, so he did his time. So he was good. Then they hooked him up for the rest of his life. Right. Yeah. So stuff like that, without saying too much. But wait, but that, so where's, D.C. So my dad was, my mom was from Brooklyn. My dad was from the Bronx. We moved down there

because my dad got a job with NASA. He was a physicist. Yeah. So, you know, that mob joined the physicist racket. Yeah, the physicist. Yeah. He's a scientist. Yeah. So did you still have family up there when you were being spots? So we went. You had family that were coming out. Oh, yeah, tons of family. I would go out to Staten Island all the time. Right. Not a lot of family left in Brooklyn. They all started out in Little Italy. Just recently I did that ancestry show where they like figure out not just like, oh, here's the boat. Yeah, here's the boat where your people came over. Here's the, I remember the apartments they lived in because it was the same apartment. Yeah. For 20, whatever years, they lived in the same building on Thompson

Street, below Houston. Dom Deloese lived in that building. My great-grandmother had 12 children. They all lived in a one-bedroom apartment, 13 of them. My kids saw it when we went up there and we're like, what? Yeah. 13 people. 13 people. Yep. And then the other.

And you know, you walk through Thompson, below house, and now it's such a cute little block. Yeah. Yeah, but I miss the book. He's sitting outside the newsstand. Yeah. You know, the guy, the little metal chair, just taking numbers. It's so crazy. That was so fun.

I know. It's just, yeah, little. now is one street. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. So they're still, they moved, they went from there to like the Brooklyn, you know, and then they're further out now, like South Island, Long Island, Jersey. Wow. So you have really good memories of being in the city, like in the other spots. Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah. Back when you used to have to step over junkies in the East Village. Yeah. I had one grandmother, one great grandmother that lived on St. Marks, right? Elizabeth Street. Right. That's my nephew. Yeah. So she was right off of St. Marks on Elizabeth. Elizabeth Street and you would step over junkies. It was the 70s. It was rough. Yeah. It was rough.

Have you seen the Scorsese documentary? No, but you know what? I found out that his mother, that Catherine lived on that same block. On that same? Yeah, and so did my best friend Elaine Hendricks? No idea that she had DePersio ancestors. They found this out and surprised me with it on that show. Oh, really?

Her great grandparents were two blocks down. Same parish. Really? How weird is that? It's so bizarre. Yeah, they must have known each other. It's crazy. God.

Yeah, I haven't seen it. But I had good times in that area even when it was like even pre-Juliani before they cleaned it up. Yeah. Like when you used to go to CBGBs. Yeah. Were you a naughty boy? No. You're a good boy.

Yeah, I wasn't in the city yet. I started in 93. Oh, okay. Yeah. So I wasn't cool enough to get to see. I was just trying to. That's like right before I left. Yeah.

So did you start in clubs in Jersey yet? No, I started in New York. Oh, you did? What was your first club? You passed out. New York Comedy Club. Love it. And that was my first spot.

I came in and it was like four in the afternoon. And it was just me and Greg Geraldo. That was the only people. I mean, yeah. We were just waiting to go on. Yeah. God, that was what a funny guy. Rest in peace.

I know. He was so great. And that's when we met. He was shaking like a leaf. He was terrified to go on. And I was like, my first set ever. And the only reason he got on is because I brought five friends. So we.

Okay. What was the smallest room you ever played for? What was the smallest room? Like people's parties. Okay. No, but the fewest number of people. Like at a party, at least you're guarantee. teeth like 30 people. No, I'm stand up New York. I mean, that first spot was just my people.

Stand up New York late at night. It was a Monday night. It was pouring rain. The only people in the audience was my father and his two brothers. That was it. Do you do well? I did okay. Did you get laughed. Kevin Brennan was on the show. Oh, Kevin. David Tell. So many Brennan's. Greer Barnes. Okay. Just performing for. and they're all like making mafia jokes of my father. They all look exactly the same. Yeah, exactly. Did they bring this tablecloth with them?

Yeah, pretty much. Yeah. I did, Janelle James and I were talking about this, comparing small room notes. And we both had the same number of four people. Yeah. Mine was that club out on Long Island was in governors. It was like a bar.

I remember that room really well because it's where I watch Whitney Houston sing the Star Spangled Banner was at the bar, like either before or after. Like, why did they do a show on Super Bowl Sunday? Why? Right, exactly. But this night was a blizzard, and there were four people, and they were not going to cancel the show. So I did the jokes at their table. Yeah.

They just sat down, like we were hanging out. Right. And you still do it. Yeah. Like table side magic. Yeah. No, it didn't matter. You just did it in whatever situation they would throw at you.

That's right. Am I still going to get paid? That's all I need to know. You ever do Toppers out in Brooklyn? Remember that club? Toppers? I don't remember. Was Toppers the one that was in the, oh God, who was the mobster out there? Godi. Thank you. It was Gotti territory. This is the story I heard. Yeah. And they told the comics, don't make any Gotti jokes.

Like, you think it's cute and you're smart ass. Right. And you're going to make a Gotti joke. Yeah. Don't do it. He's loved in this neighborhood. and we don't put up with it. Oh, boy.

The guy did, and he was in the fish tank at the end of the night. I don't think they killed him, but they did put him in the fish tank. I think it was Nick DePaolo. Probably. Who told me. No, who tells probably him. He played like a room like that. Yeah.

What was the Staten Island one? Grandpas. Grandpas? Yeah. Grandpa Al Lewis's club. I'm sorry, Nick, if this wasn't you. And I'm going to say it's you because I'm pretty sure, but I'm, the club won't be right.

And something like that, like late at night, they're all in the audience, all the guys. Yeah. And made some kind of joke, you know, about mafia, whatever. Right. And the, or the, or made fun of the girlfriend that he was with. Right, right. And he just took his jacket.

Yeah. Just opened his jacket. Just to show what's, just to show what's strapped. Just to show the gun that's in his thing. He was, tell another joke. Not to you. You're too. handsome to laugh. Yeah. No, you didn't mess around. There was some, there was some rough stuff.

Like you said, like it became like a blood sport. I remember playing Pips and it was the years of dice. And people wanted to be that. The thing was they wanted to be the target. They wanted to be helping. I'm part of the show. Yeah. But as a girl, the line is more delicate because women drunks are worse. Nobody cares if you slaughter a guy because you got to keep the women on your side as a woman. That's what I learned right away is that I win the women first to say, I'm not a threat. I'm one of you. And then the guys, you just throw them something that says, I acknowledge that I'm a woman that's in a short skirt and, you know, has boobs and then you're fine. But Pips was like an arena. That one was tough, but they knew I was tough and I could do it.

I could handle it. Tough was a part of the gig. Yeah. Tough was a, tough had to be a part of what you brought to the stage. It's not just funny or clever. Yeah. And it could be subtle. Like there were quiet acts, but they still had to endure and be able to let the audience

know you weren't afraid. Yeah. It's like that Bernie Mac, you know, at the Apollo that you ever see his legendary set. No. No. I mean, I probably did. I don't remember. What do you do? The King's of Black Kings of Comedy? What? Def Jam. Thank you. You got to look it up on YouTube. I'm sure you've seen it. Oh, Depp Jam. I'm seeing a bunch of times. So it was Bernie. I ain't afraid of you, motherfuckers. Oh, yes. No, I did see that. I ain't afraid to you. Yes. Yes. The set starts to get a little wonky.

Yes. And he's like, and he's like, uh-uh. And he tells the joke. I ain't afraid of you, motherfuckers. That was me. It's like, I got a win. I got a win. I'm the one with the mic, I have to win. I ain't afraid of you motherfuckers. Hit it and the DJ would play a little thing. And they were just like, oh, no, he's not afraid of us. Because that's part of it. It's the ringmaster part of it of saying, I got to whip it and a chair.

Come at me. You know, I'll take you on. Yeah. It's probably the reason why the X-Ed stand-up's not feminine. Because in a way, that kind of power and control, and confidence is inherently what we think of as being masculine. I don't think that this podcast is long enough for us to do like to figure all that out. Well, no, I know.

Sexual, political dynamics. Well, just the math that the math that female comedians have to do getting up on stage was so much great. Like, it's hard enough just to do it. But then to figure like you can't be too attractive or you can't be or then the women are going to like all of the math. But that's why I did, because I was told by. Lucian at the comic strip, Why do you wear that sexy? You don't have to dress like that.

They're not going to listen to you. Talk to you. Talk like Thurston Howl, Lucian. We all love Lucian. Hello. Rest and peace. Hello. Young lady. Young lady.

Why don't you? Why are you dressing like that? And I said it's part of my power package. I mean, it's part of what I have that sells. And I said, I'm not hiding. I'm not hiding being cute. And I would make a joke about it right off the top. I'd take off the jacket.

I'd have this horrifying nursing bra. I mean, granted, it's a baffo bit. But, you know, I understood the dynamic, especially at that time. When there weren't a lot of female comics, I said, what do you want me to wear? The big David Byrne jacket. Walk in and the city of strong shoulders. You know, I'm like, that's not me. I'm going to be the person I'm going to be on stage.

And then, and I would talk about it. I, like, referenced it right up front. I'm like, sometimes I jumped around and I giggle and my boobs pop around. That's for you guys. Enjoy it. But, yeah, I remember you using your sexuality as just a funny in your face bit. Yeah, thank you. Yeah.

And that's why, because it was purposeful and it said this is. And it was sexy. Oh, she was hot. I was. Smoking. Thank you. You're still hot. Oh, thank you.

I was cute in those days. And, you know, I think that was part of it. I didn't feel, I never walked into a room going, oh, I'm the hot one here. Or not even for a comic. I never thought of myself as that. I thought of it as this is material. Right. I'm overdoing it for the funny.

Yeah. You knew you were hot, though. No, just remember, I was around a lot of dudes. time. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Comics. Yeah. But like you said, you weren't putting on a big, you weren't putting on a big jacket.

No. No, no, no. You were still, like, you weren't selling out who you were. Thank you. But it was suggested that I should. And there were times. I remember doing a gig when I drove to, like, every gig in the tri-state area was four hours to get there because of the traffic.

You know, by the time you do your two shows and come home, you're gone for 10 hours. The whole reason you would get booked is because if you had a car. 100%. I remember having the little guy. of all the, of all, that remember the paper, like it was literally a printed book of all the comedy clubs in America. That's right.

And I'd call them and be like, I have a tape, I'm going to send you my tape. And then I mentioned to one guy that I had a car. And he was like, you're a car? Should I open with that? You can work on Tuesday. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. You can work this week?

Can you drive Billy J. to the show? That's exactly it. And I was like, oh, so I just called everybody up and said, I have a car. Yeah, all of a sudden, you're everybody's opener. Yeah, it really. Yeah, I remember a guy. going to gigs in like that gig in Connecticut, I got on stage and I was wearing what I would normally

wear a little jacket and a cute dress and, you know, stockings and heels. And it was like open season. They were hooting and hollering. And I thought, you know, any, I could get mad and like take them on. And this night, I just didn't feel like it. And I was just like, ahead. I just turned around like three times. I'm like, whatever. I'm getting paid either way. This is as far as it goes. not taking anything off. But there were times when it was rough. I went and did gigs and got, I remember one gig, I was in a coat room getting paid.

They had the cash out. And the next thing I knew, there was a hand down my, up my dress, down my dress. I'm like, where'd the cash go? I just saw cash in your hand. There were a lot. From the club owner. Oh, yeah.

A lot of gropers. Did you see that one that just happened in New York? Look like a month ago? Yeah, I did. Shut the whole place down. I know. What a different world. I know.

Right? Back then, would you even think to even mention it? Not in a million years. You're just like, yeah, one of these guys. Yeah. And you say anything, you make too big a deal, you don't get booked back. I had one guy tried to offer me the entire pay and blow. And I'm like, that's very generous, sir, but I got to pay mortgage.

I don't know if I can do this at the bank, if there were like a currency exchange. Yeah. Yeah. It was wild. Yeah. Danger Fields was wild back then. It was wild. It was, I think people, the audiences,

where, I mean, COVID has changed the world completely. Like, there's people, like, late shows don't exist anymore. No, that's right. You would go on the road, you'd do three shows. Yep. You'd do one, like, seven something, nine, ten, and then twelve. Midnight, yeah. It was like, people aren't going out like that anymore.

No. It's just not, it's the dynamic of the audience is different. And I think, like, when we were doing it in the 80s and 90s, there was a proliferation of stand-up shows. You know, I was just get in front of a brick wall somewhere and start telling jokes. And I don't have any problem with it. I, you know, cut my teeth, got, you know, was...

Did you do those? Oh, yeah. Stand-up Spotlight and all that stuff. Yeah, stand-up spotlight, a lot of those. I showed up like... The Rascals Comedy Hour. Right, right. Carolines, when it was at the Seaport and then at Midtown.

They all had shows. Yeah, they all had shows. And so you had to burn material to do it. But it also killed comedy. for a while. It did. When I showed up was right after all of that. Oh, really? It was over. That's good because it was... Because I could get spots. I could get spots. I could get spots because everybody, a lot of people could... Did you work rascals? Yeah. I was there all the time. I love that. Those guys, the brothers. They were great, Danny. They would put me on, I remember

the, like the second or third time I played there, I had gotten enough of a following, especially in Jersey, because I lived right there. Yeah. Two towns away. Yeah. And Sam working as magic me, I'm at the bank. When are he going to be doing stand-up? Because they saw me on TV. Right. And I'd be like, oh, I'm at Rascals. Come next weekend. So I would fill the room, and they would say they were there to see me. Yeah. So one of the times that I was there pretty early on, a brother hands me, Matt, Matt, Mark, hands me an envelope. And I look at it and I count it. It's always cash in those days. Yeah. Right. And I counted and I went, I think there's a mistake. And they were like, what's up? And I went, this is more than we agree to. Like

The Catholic girl comes out. I said, you pay me too much. And they went, just take the money. They're coming to see you. And I said, that's very nice, but then why don't you headline me? And I gave them the money back. Ah, nice. And he said, we don't headline women.

What? He said, the only woman we headlined is Rosie O'Donnell. What? And he said, when you get like, like Rosie O'Donnell, come back and we'll headline you. I said, I won't need you. But I played there all the time. I didn't care. They were very good to me.

and I played there and I got them to... And they changed their tune. They did. And I also... I opened for Wendy Lehman there. They're... See? Back in the mid-90s.

Okay. Now I want to talk to them and say, what that out? But somebody who brings that up to me quite a bit is Juan da Sykes, who's also from D.C., so I took, I was kind of protective over her. Yeah. And she brings us up every time she's around like Quinta and my cast, she's like, this is the one who made them take me seriously. We'd be out and she'd say, you've got to watch this woman. She's going to be huge.

huge. You better watch her. You got to play her at your club. Headliner. Because we would do competitions and stuff. I'd always make them watch Wanda. Oh, that's great. Then she would get sets. Oh, that's fantastic. Yeah. Yeah, it was a different time. Tell me about the, in, uh, in New York when you had family there and you, uh, was your grand, were your grandparents there? Or who was, was their food? That's the, this is a long question. Oh, always. Because that was like little Italy dominated. Oh, I mean, it was... The lower part of Manhattan.

What I first said when I came in here was I feel so at home, and I don't like to go out to Italian restaurants, but if I do, it's this. Right. You know, I don't like these northern Italian places. Right. You have a new. Yeah, there's a California Italian that is, they all have the same dishes, I feel like. Like, they talk to each other, and they're like, how can we suck out most of the flavor?

and serve it to you no fat and gluten-free. I told somebody this recently. Foe Italian. Yeah, I said if I ever have a restaurant, which I might, I'm just going to call it shut up and eat. You're having it with full fat regard. That's what you're eating. My great-grandmother's house on Sunday,

all the kids would come. Where was this? This was on same Thompson Street, the apartment. The one bedroom apartment. So now it's not just the 12 kids. it's their spouses, the grandchildren. I don't know how we fit that many people in that room. It's amazing, isn't it?

She would be up moving furniture around. She still didn't speak English. She only said, I scream, you scream, we all scream. That's all she said in English. Everything else was Sicilian. And she would make escrow soup, a roast, a pasta. Like it would come out in courses. Yep.

Like only an 85-year-old woman can serve things very slowly. Yeah. And you think you'd be so full. Yeah, but it's over. And then here comes another course. Except when I was in middle school, I went to Weight Watchers and lost a whole like 35 pounds I lost. Right.

And I was like the figure you saw when I was in New York. So I was not used to eat in that much. And I remember I ate the escrow soup and she came out with the next course. And I said, Grandma, I'm full. And she started crying. And they were like, what's wrong, Grandma? And she said in Sicilian, she's dying. consumption.

Because I was normal size. It was not even like a Zemphic face. I was just normal. Yeah. Just that you said no. Just that you said no. Couldn't believe. Yeah.

And the cake, nobody baked in my, did anybody bake in your family? They went to the bakery, right? No, went to the bakery. That's a great point. Because people always say, what did they make for dessert? And I'm like, a box. A box. Struthfully.

Oh, Shoyadell. Yeah. And canolian. Like the honeyballs at Christmas? Yes. My grandmother would bake those. Well, because that was hard to get still at a bakery.

Like that was a recipe from the old country. I've made it the last two years. It's so fun. So fun. Do you know that when Talia Shire played on Abbott, which was, that was huge for me. Yeah. Huge. Oh, my God.

I mean, remember, I went to see that movie in the theater. I'm a little older than you. But I was like nine. Yeah. My mother dropped me and my sister to a double feature of the Godfather and lady sings the blues. That's what every 10-year-old wants to see is a blues artist shooting hair went. They're just happy and something to do. Yeah, exactly.

She had errands. I don't know. It was a different time. Yeah. And so we're watching Sonny get shot up at the causeway. And it was, and you know, Talia Shire, who's royalty. And we spent the whole time sitting in. in my kitchen, the set kitchen, at the table, like we were having a party with a Struple,

which she asked for especially because it's a Christmas episode, sitting with that in between us talking about our families and art. And she said, well, all my families are artists, you know, my brother. And I said, oh, what does your brother do? What's his art? And she was like, well, it's Francis Ford Coppola. Oh, oh. I knew that.

Of course, I know that. Like, it's such a moron. But she's just hanging out talking. One of the things that I loved about movies that get it right, like Big Night. Big Night got it so right. Yeah. Not that, I mean, they're not Sicilian. No.

They're a Brzez or something like that. I forgot to ask. Naples? Stanley when we worked together. But he was a real deal. This was before he had the cooking show or the cookbooks. The sister had a cookbook, which I bought. He made that film?

Was that his project? Yeah. Yeah. He made that. Yeah. Yeah. We have a problem here with Shaloo, but we liked them in that. Came out with a show on CNN called Breaking Bread.

What? We call it faking bread. Yeah, well, I'll call it the yeast infection. What do you think of that? Always loved you. My buddy. Big Night was a solid one. That was good.

I don't like when they get the accent wrong. One of the things I loved about the Godfather is when they speak, it's with a Sicilian accent. You know, the mother, Morgana King, who plays the matriarch, when the babies are in the room, when Vito comes home from the hospital, the baby does something, you know, I beg this for you, grandpa, and she's like, oh, she's saying all these little Sicilian words. And it's one of the things that I love about my part on Abbott is that they let me pepper those in. And they just are like, can I say this here instead?

And they're like, yeah, sure, go ahead. Are you fluent? Do you have, or just the phrases? No, just mostly the curse words and insults. Right. Yeah. There's stuff that matters. Yeah.

When I go there, like when I was young, my dad lived, we lived in Europe when I was a kid, and then we lived there, he lived there again when I was like in high school and college. And I would go over for all the vacations and we'd go to Italy and just hang out because get a Ural past and you're a young girl in this. Italy. We'd have three sets of dates a night, me and my sister. Oh, really? Yeah. Oh, yeah. We'd, like, go out to dinner with the rich guys, and then we'd go to, like, the fancy club with the, like, next in line guys, and then the young hot guys, the bellow gosos, we'd hang out the rest of the night with them. We had a good time. By that time, the guys that took you to dinner or asleep. Yeah. No, they're with

their third mistress. Oh, really? Yeah, exactly. And we're walking home on the streets and our heels, doing the walk of shame like Putanas. It was terrible. But we had a really good time when we were over there. There was a lot of speaking of the language, whether you knew it or not. And we stayed with families. They're very hospitable, Southern hospitality, right? Yeah, yeah.

And we stayed with a family of tour guides. And the tour guides spoke enough English, but the family didn't. So we would just sit at the table and figure out a way to talk. And by the end, we were pretty fluent. Really? Yeah, not Sicilian, but Southern Italian. Can I admit something to you? Please.

We do on the show called The Uncomfortable Moment. I think this is it. I've never been to Sicily. We'll be right back. I know, I haven't gone. I'm going to share with you that although I spent many, many years and times loving Italy all over, that I learned to ski in the Dolomites. I've been to every city.

I was a little kid looking at the Sistine Chapel and Michelangelo's David. I mean, such beautiful cultural experiences there. I just got to Sicily for the first time three years ago. Oh, thank God. Yeah. But I will say, should have gone a long time ago, and you should go. Yeah. And you should bring your family.

Because here's the truth. It's not about the origin of your people and the birthplace. All that's fine. The food is the best you will ever have anywhere, anywhere in your life. Really? It's gas station food in Sicily. It'll make you slap your grandma. It's so good.

Really? The Sicilian food is, because it's an island in the Mediterranean and the sun bounces off that water and hits a mountain, much like in the aisles, like Capri and Isca. It's just sun-ripened tomatoes and grapes. They have a culture around making desserts. It's not like eating the rest of Sicily or Italy. That's the desserts that they brought to the new country that you get in the boxes. It's Sicilian stuff. Oh, man, oh, man.

It's so good. Yeah, why am I even thinking about other places? And also, you know the other thing that's really cool about it? Because our people, like, you're not a dark-skinned fella. Right. Neither am I. Yeah. Right.

I have green eyes. Right. My natural hair color is light brown with gold. in the front. Right. Because I take after the side of my family with a great grandmother named Clotilde, who was probably a descendant of a fucking Viking. They were inhabited by every country that could get to them by sea. So the Goths, the Vikings, the Moors, the Spaniards, the Greeks, they all came there. Moors ran that island for 800 years. Yeah. So I have 4% African blood. Right. Yeah, we're a big mix.

And so the, and Middle Eastern cuisine was part of the, the cuisine of the island. Right, right. It's all of it. Oh, it's so good. Yeah. My parents went, and they went pretty late too. And my father just, my mother, like, lost track of my father. And he was just similarly, like, it wasn't a gas station, but something like that, like this tiny little thing.

Yeah. And my father was just sitting there eating one canoli after another. I mean. He just, like, like it was, like it was tick-tacks. I went to a, I went to a, I went to a. breakfast at this hotel that was recommended and they had a beautiful breakfast set up. Like, you're looking at everything, like the most beautiful displays in these cases. You can take whatever you want.

You know, in Europe, they have like cold cuts in the morning and stuff, weirdly. But you're like, I'll try it, whatever. What's that, Brazil? All right, I don't take that. But she said, you have to have granita. You have to have granita. I said, come in a say, kifah. And she said it's an ice, like different flavors.

They usually, it's lemon or almond or something else. I can't remember. And you, it's like an ice cream, but it's ice. Right. And then they serve it with a brioche, which is just like a little croissant. Yeah. And she goes, and she puts it down and I'm eating it is the most delicious thing I've ever had. I'm like, for breakfast?

All right. People like sweets. And she was like, oh, it gets hot here and we like to have something cold. And she goes, we have to have it with a breached. and I'm like thinking, let me not start my day with 1,500 calories worth of carbs. But she goes, you have to. And I was like, I just make it me do it. I put it in my mouth, I'll go, oh, why have I never had this?

And like literally cannot wait to go back to eat this stuff. Never had heard of it before in my life. Is that crazy? Insane. That food just makes you want to punch people. We heard about, we were in a town called Noto, which was the town that tuna built. It was literally a giant trading hub that had all these beautiful Rococo buildings from, I think, the 1700s on, for 300 years. Three families ran the tuna industry that fed all of Europe.

Jeez, they all came through there. They all fished the Mediterranean, and they married their children to each. other so that they would maintain the wealth in those three families. I learned everything. Oh, fantastic. The descendant was having lunch with us. That was part of the tour we bought, was the great, great, great, great grandson in his jacket and like scarf, having like this seafood lunch with us in this restaurant. And it was hilarious because our tour guide, who was Sicilian, kept cozying up to him because he was, you know, tuna dynasty. And I'm like, girl, I don't think he likes tuna.

Barking up the wrong aristocrat. But he gave us like a history of the island, told us everything about it. Oh, fantastic. You have good wrecks for where to stay there? The tour guide, you got shut down by the gay aristocrat, said, you have got to go to this little town next to Tormina that became famous for a pub that had penises everywhere.

Apparently they built it after World War II because the men were so demoralized and absent that they wanted to honor the men and make this little bar all about penises. And so they did, and now, of course, it's a tourist attraction. But in this same town, which is on the top of a mountain, there's a square that's as big as this room. That's it, Casamoli.

there's a there's a church obviously a couple of little this penis bar on one side of the church on the other side is like a little pizzeria or whatever and down the street from there just a couple of shops is the best bakery I've ever been to in my life the woman makes her own she grows almonds and makes all the almond paste and the almond stuff from her own almonds she gets the sources the pistachios she sources the chocolate makes the chocolate Like everything is homemade, the gelato, the, all of it is homemade by this one little woman in this shop. And you just, I'm shoving this stuff into my face like it's my job. It should be our job.

I'm going to include myself in it. So that's my wreck. Yeah. It's the, not the penis bar, but the pastry shop in Casamoli. How are the hotels? Fantastic. Yeah. Beautiful.

Yeah. We stayed at the Tameo. grand tomato it's where pasta Norma was invented the pasta

with the eggplant yeah yeah it was invented there and it's stunning how how quickly in Abbott

did the writers realize what they had and start writing for you like you seem you seem

so in sync with your persona and a character like it's they've meld it together. Thank you. I think that that happened a little bit for all of us. Like, I don't remember

when I said, I got to this town with an hour and a half of solid material and said, I, I don't deserve a special. Yeah. Like, I'm not ready yet or that's not me. I go into looking at scripts with a producer brain. And I know who's out there that's vying for my part. I know how how they like to pick people and what it is that an actor offers. It's not just talent. I also was on the casting side of my TV shows. So I watched how arbitrary decision making is, which is both very freeing and also very upsetting.

Yeah, exactly. Because you're like, I don't know, we feel like we've seen her too much. Like, oh, gets a lot of work, so yeah, don't give her that job. Or reminds me on my ex-wife or whatever. This script came out. I looked at it and went, this is mine. Really? It was mine.

There was no one else in this town that can do this part like me. Really? No one. What part of it? Just that you knew. Because it was you. It was you from the start. It was, I could see her.

I'm not from Philly. So I had to study the accent, which I did a lot. But I knew I could get it. I love accents. I did it for fun, like when I was in college. If I hadn't been an actor, I would have been a dialect coach. I just love them. So I knew I could get that part of it.

But all the other part, the family, the fierce loyalty, the funny coming out of playing anger. I knew I could get all that better than anybody else. Right. And I just went for it. And was it in person? Was it in person? No. It was on tape?

It was during COVID. It was during COVID. Yeah. We shot the pilot deep in that COVID year. And I didn't know anybody's face. For a whole other year, we worked with. seeing a crew face. People would come up to me year two and a half and be like, hey, so when I'm like, who are you? I've never seen me before. Yeah, so we... One audition?

No. I did the first audition with Elaine Hendricks read with me. And I can't remember if we did a studio. I think we just went to network. I think we just did a... No, we did a second one that was like a coaching one where they were down to whoever their choices were. Right. And then, but I did the exact same thing. They gave me no notes. Right. I remember that I had a scene, an audition scene where I was, she was trying to talk to me. The Janine character was trying to talk to me and I'm trying to go to lunch and I have a line and then there's more, but she's talking nonsense at me and I want to go get Wawa, right? And so I say my, so I say my line, I'm going into the accent.

I say thank you. As soon as I say, as soon as I say, Wawa, so I say my line, and I exit. I just, I took my bag and I just left.

And then she's talk, talk, talk, and I finally come back into frame. I'm like, ah, la, la, say whatever the next line is.

And I leave. And the director, Randallinehorner, is one of our executive producers created the whole shooting look of the show, came out of the office.

He said, I knew. That's what I knew. Really? So you exited the, frame, I said that's her. So it just goes to show you sometimes you kill yourself over what you do or don't do or how you say it or, you know, and sometimes it's just a little thing that you do.

Because you were being so present and so real. Yeah, I knew who she was. Right. Yeah. And Quintin just said the same thing. They made me go in and do a network, but all the people at the network already looked because I'm a Disney icon. the parent trap and everything.

They like to, if they put money into you in the past, they'd like to keep it. So they're not Disney for nothing. So they were on my side for that. But I didn't know that. I thought there were six people I was reading against, but I didn't know I already had the job. They told me after. And I said, I would ask for more money. I didn't know that.

It's so funny. It's so solid. I always say it's always been a small, target, but now it's even smaller. Like, there's so few shows and there's so a few opportunities to be on network in a really good comedy. Yeah, and that's, you know, when people

talk to me about it, I've done shows where I'm not, I don't tell my family they get mad at me. And I'm like, I die of liver cancer. You don't need to see it. Don't worry about it. But this one, honest to God, makes me laugh. Yeah. No, it's legit. When I watch it, I don't see everybody's seen.

My favorite scenes are the ones where we're all together doing the quick riff, doing the 1930s ratat-tat-tat. That's my favorite. But when other people are doing their scenes that I haven't seen yet, Tyler will pick up his beer glass like this and I will die laughing because I didn't see him do that stupid crap. Right. It's just, it just strikes me funny even.

It's all. Yeah. Well, thank you. So I'm real, I'm proud of being in it. So now this special coming out, and will this be, you think, the first time that a lot of Abbott fans see this part of you? Or do you think, or has it seep through already? No, I think we've done really well on the road. So when I go out and the people that are serious fans, I mean, certainly that's why we shot it in Philly, both because I have to add shows whenever I'm there.

The town is really supportive. They're really, really lovely to me. And they bring me food. So for both those reasons. But also because I wanted to do the special in a club, I wanted the atmosphere. Because of what you said, like, we used to go to the clubs to see comics. And they didn't necessarily know them. Nobody was TikTok famous.

You might get Mark Marin or Dave Attell or you or whoever. But you might get nobody you ever saw before, but they're killing it in the clubs in New York. And you got a good night of comedy, right? maybe one, you know, local act that's still coming up, still learning. Still figuring it out. You know. What's that old joke about the headliner, the middle of the opener? You were great.

You were good, too. Nice shirt. But I wanted to have the experience for the people watching it. Yeah. That this is a little bit feeling of what a club is with waitresses and, you know, intimate. Yeah. And so that's what I tried to do. Yeah.

Well, you really captured it. Thank you. It's really cool. Thank you. And it's, you know, it's, you know, you've had such a cool journey. But you know that, like, you pick people up doing this and then on this film. And then it's, uh, it takes time because they're all segmented audiences. That's right.

To know that you are the totality of it. They think of you as, I mean, the greatest joy was sitting down and having you start it by saying, this is how I know you. Right. Right. Because I never did a special and because I didn't continue all the way along like Tiffany Haddish did or whoever that continued to do the work, they don't know. They think, I remember when I was starting to do set set like the laugh actor or the improv again. But laugh factor in particular, I would look out and see all these happy faces to see Jesse the nanny from the parent rap.

And I always think goes, God, am I going to ruin your childhood? Yeah, about four minutes. And then. But I, you know, then I talk about it honestly. Yeah, yeah. Yeah. But I thought it might be hard for them to see something they're not expecting because they think of me in one way. Right, right.

But, you know, after a little while that's gone away and I think we're cool. No, that's what's cool. Yeah. And yeah, and going back to what you were saying before, I think the writers have incorporated a bit of who we are. You know, those pieces that they put in about Cheryl never remembering anybody's name is Barbara Howard now. Right. always getting names wrong.

She just did it the other day. We were dying. I don't remember who it was, but it was like completely wrong. Yeah. Well, that's the beauty of those shows is when they really work. It's all character, really, right? And it's like, and you just love them all, and they all have the things that make them funny.

Yeah. So it just kind of gets dialed in. But the reason I ask the question is yours seems so, so dialed in so early that it seemed like there was, the writers got you, it seemed really early. Yeah. Well, and part of that was the, like I said, I knew that there were elements of her that were so, I'm not as quick to anger as Melissa, but I can get to it pretty easily. And I think it is.

And part of that of always saying I'm Sicilian and Sicilian, Sicilian culture is what we do, is part of what Sicilians do. Right. But there's a reason for that. It's because the identity was so, you know, over centuries. Yeah. Being Sicilian meant different things. Right, exactly. And you were encroached upon by all these other cultures, including mainland Italy.

So maintaining the autonomy of surprise you don't have the tri-clerc, flat. I'm going to get you one. You're right. I'm going to get you one. All right, good. But maintaining that identity was really important. So they put that in a lot. And that was based off of Quinta's experience with her mother's best friend, who is the Sicilian teacher.

Right. So it's based on a real person. It just happens to be pretty, it's pretty common. Yeah. And then they let me put the words in because they didn't have the words. Oh, that's great. I did. I was the only one who knew all of the slang.

Yeah. So in the first episode, in the pilot episode, I called someone a big struns. And they didn't understand what that meant. So it stayed in. So listen for that, kiddies. That makes it sense. That's a curse word. Well, this is really great catching up with you sincerely.

It was really nice. I was very happy on the drive over. Oh, thanks. We were going to get to see each other because I haven't seen you in a long time. I know. Thank you, my friend. You've been on the same path. It's been really, really cool.

And I hope you like the bread. I cannot wait. I'm going to eat that like just in my hand. On the right home. All right, good. Yeah. If that's okay. You're the best.

Thank you. We'll see you soon. Bring it in. Bring it in. I love you. I love you too. I'm gonna do. Thank you.