Fly on the Wall with Dana Carvey and David Spade - RE-RELEASE - Laraine Newman

Episode Date: November 3, 2025

One of the first ever Fly episodes with the OG Laraine Newman. To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Discover the magic of BetMGM Casino, where the excitement is always on deck. Pull up a seat and check out a wide variety of table games with live dealer. From roulette to Blackjack, watch as a dealer host your table game and live chat with them throughout your experience to feel like you are actually at the casino. The excitement doesn't stop there with over 3,000 games to choose from, including fan favorites like cash eruption, UFC Gold Blitz, and more. Make deposits instantly to jump in on the fun and make same-day withdrawals if you win. Download the BetMGM Ontario app today. If you don't want to miss out, visit betmgm.com for terms and conditions. 19 plus to wager, Ontario only.

Please gamble responsibly. If you have questions or concerns about your gambling or someone close to you, please contact ConX Ontario at 1-866-531-2-600 to speak to an advisor, free of charge. BetMGM operates pursuant to an operating agreement with Eye Gaming, Ontario. Grab a coffee and discover Vegas-level excitement with BetMGM Casino. Now introducing our hottest exclusive, Friends, the One with Multi-Drop. Your favorite classic television show is being reimagined into your new favorite casino game, featuring iconic images from the show.

Spin our new exclusive, because we are not on a break. Play Friends, the One with Multi-Drop, exclusively at BenMGM Casino. Want even more options? Pull up a seat and check out a wide variety of table games from blackjack to poker. Or head over to the arcade for nostalgic casino thrills. Download the BetMGM Ontario app today. You don't want to miss out. 19 plus to wager.

Ontario only. Please play responsibly. If you have questions or concerns about your gambling or someone close to you, please contact Connects Ontario at 1866-531-2,600, to speak to an advisor. Free of charge, BetMGM operates pursuant to an operating agreement with Eye Gaming, Ontario. So it's today we got Lorraine Newman where we're showing. This is like vintage great shows that were really early on. She was within the first 10 episodes we've ever done.

I didn't even, the sounds of the law, because it was so new. It was only our fifth show that I kept the mic way away from me. And so, you know, I didn't, that was how early it was. You know. Well, she did a great job. Very interesting. To be in the original OGS and L cast from 75, millions of stories about that. And I saw her when we did, I think, was it our Phil Hartman tribute? Yes. We were live because we have a photo backstage with her. And she does a lot of voiceover work. So we were at the Secret Life of Pets premiere. Oh.

to some of that. And she really does. I mean, you know, there's the original cast and everybody else. It's just the way the world works. They were the first. And they changed in the show still on. But yeah, she has great stories about Chevy and John Belushi and the dad and acroids. This was really fun and easy.

I'd like to have her back on again. Gilda, Jane Curtin. Yeah. Yeah. Anyway, here she is. You love it. Lorraine Newman. Everyone loves Lorraine.

Lorraine, you have a great voice and not that I'm flirting, but when you, when women say what, or people say, what do you like about women, one of my weird things is not that weird, but aside from the basics, oh, I like this and this that all guys like, a voice is very interesting because it's very unique on every person. And even as you get older, people recognize your voice. They know mine from the Emperor's New Groove, which was a cartoon movie I did a long time ago. And so when I'm in 7-Eleven, people... No touchy.

No touchy. Everybody in my family, all my kids know that reference. Oh, they know that about a movie? Did you ever think? No, but I was telling that whole story just to get to see if they knew my movie. But, no, but you have a recognizable voice, David. You have a recognizable. And she has a good voice that's right off for that on my...

Lorraine has a very seductive. smooth feminine voice you know where it really came in handy e Buzz Miller weren't you the girlfriend or something Christy Christina a character

that I never understood why anybody thought that was funny I never ever thought that character was funny I just was like you know well they gave me the part I'm going to do the best I can and they even made this kind of peace

that that gave me those boobs with the, you know, the little bullet nipples because it was actually a rubber piece that went, you know, under the leotard. It's always a weird meaning that they probably don't have anymore. Who knows? Yeah. Well, okay, Lorraine, when you do a part like that,

I think S&L people want to, and we can talk about anything, but on the S&L tip, when Dana and I have been in that mix and it's probably similar when you were there, but is that Danny Aykroyd is right? something up or someone else they walk by knocking your door and go, hey, do you want to be in this thing? We're writing it up. It's Tuesday night where you play. Is that kind of how it goes? The way that it went with you is exactly the way it went with us. I remember listening to Andy Samberg on a radio show and he talked about the schedule, like Monday, meet the host,

pitch some ideas. Lauren says, work on that. Everybody works until Wednesday. She'll read through. you know the whole thing choosing what you know build the sets yeah and you guys didn't have they probably ironed out a lot of the problems you probably had a little rougher as far as oh yeah yeah well we didn't we we didn't have WordPress it we didn't have I wasn't there during being online and stuff so I did go back to host at one point Bill Hader and John Mullaney were there and they're like oh well we'll click up this sketch that you did from dress that was cut in 1987 so they have everything in a database I wouldn't even think of that And I, I, you know, when you never know what's going to land with people.

So I had done a sitcom with Mickey Rooney and it's the freakiest person ever, you know, hysterical. I have a Mickey Rooney story, but go ahead. Mickey Rooney. And so then I just took Mickey's lines. Some sketch Bonnie and Terry Turner were doing old-fashioned movie stars. So I just told them stuff Mickey had said. I was the number one star in the world. You hear me?

Bang! The world. So I just did Mickey's lines. and I had prosthetic makeup so I go there and Bill Hader and John Mullaney they just go our favorite thing you've ever done

is Mickey Rooney so just one of those things Well that's a great impression of him What is the language code on this show? Oh you can say what you want What the motherfucker What were you saying?

So I did a movie that I had had nightmares that had been released And I would wake up sweating And it was called Revenge of the Revenge of the movie. the Red Baron. And it was the kind of thing where I said to my agent, just ask for this amount of money. They'll never agree to it and be over. Well, they agreed to it. And it was a Roger

Corman. It was a Roger Corman movie, okay? And I'm thinking, well, you know, Catherine Bigelow started with Roger Corman. But no, this was some schlepper that had been cutting his movies for 20 years. But Toby McGuire played my son. Clifty Young was in it. And it was written by Mike McDonald from the groundlings in Mad TV. Okay, so it could be good. And there was some groundlings in it. And so I thought, well, you know, kind of safe.

Mickey Rooney would say those things, you know, I was the biggest star. And then as he's, as he's hitching his trousers, when I was having my single and he was in my peripheral vision, he would spit in his hand and make masturbatory gestures and then squirt the spit out of his hand like it was semen. Talk about him. picture lorraine.

Thank you. Thank you. Oh, man. Yeah, can you imagine? I thought I was the one that did that on sets. That's always a real fun one. I know we shouldn't speak ill of the dead.

No, not at all. He was just the most bitter person who was so funny. He had a 38 revolver with him and he would pull it out sometimes. This script is caca! And he's kind of waving it around. She's reliving in her head.

I would go to work. It would be a Rockefeller Center on the sixth floor, six years before I got on the eighth floor. And I'd hear him down the hall. all way. You know, Judy Garland never owned a car. Never owned a car. You know why? And then he would get really close to your face, because they pumped her so full of drugs they killed her. He would talk until the air, there was no more air left. And once you've worked with Mickey, I mean, Nathan and I

had so many stories about working with Mickey, but yeah, he could be crude. He said he had an idea for a show where every character's name was a swear word, and he would act it out for like 20 minutes. Hello, Mrs. Fuck. I'm Mr. Shit. How are you, motherfucker? And it went on for like 20 minutes. Dude, I can get that sold. Well, I actually saw him say to an actor,

have you accepted Jesus Christ as your personal savior? Hey, would you look at the tits on that one? You know? It was like, right? You know. And he was phoning it in. He was in Sugar Babies on Broadway doing the sitcom. So we'd have to act

to this guy who's like 30 years old, but he was five feet tall. All week long we were rehearsed with him. And Mickey would have giant cue cards. And he was just, and he would always have cash because he'd been broke for decades. And sugar babies, he was making money on this sitcom. So he'd pull out like $5,000 and put it right up to your face and go, think I can afford lunch. Oh my God. There's too many stories. We don't want to make it all about Mickey. What were you doing on the sixth floor for, you say, four years? I was doing a pretty long, story short. I was doing, stand up in San Francisco

NBC people came up I had kind of this innocent Timmy Lassie look going on I was kind of funny whatever so I got a deal with NBC a holding deal $50,000 up front

against things I would be doing I was on the Marie Osmond Variety show as a sketch player for like a day but anyway then all of a sudden I got a call from NBC you're going to play Mickey Rooney's grandson

on a sitcom in New York. And Nathan Lane had auditioned in L.A. We flew back out on a 747. George Burns was playing cards. Anyway, everything was surreal. And it was in Rockefeller Center on the sixth floor. And then I would go up to the eighth floor on Thursdays, watching them run through the thing,

Joe Piscopo and Eddie Murphy, and going, oh, man, I'd want to be up here. But I was cast as a straight man for many years because I just had, and I had no confidence. I had no, I had ambition, but I had no real confidence, which kind of comes full circle a little bit to your story. When I'm watching Saturday Night Live from 75 to 80, you were the Beatles, you were rock stars, you were more than comedians, because you were the first. And I was so in awe of the show, the idea that I would be on it. And I don't know how you felt, because you get on and the show is not the show yet.

It's still, maybe it'll get canceled. Yeah. So can you just talk a little bit about that very, very bare beginning? Were you there for the first show of the 75 season? You're there, and who's with you? Is everyone there, Chevy? Everybody's there. And the last, like, you know, the 11th hour, it was between Billy and Chevy.

Really? Yeah, which killed me because I had never seen Billy, except he was one of the first people I met. My first friend was Gilda Radner. And she took me up to a recording session for a National Lampoon album, the one that's called That's Not Funny, That's Sick. So I'm on that album, but I meet Harold Ramos and Chris Guest and Landau Murray and Bill Murray. And so I got a sense of what Billy had, and then I saw his audition. I'm thinking, oh boy, you know, and then they chose Chevy. Wait, they weren't that long?

And they couldn't have both of them? and that's that's what I thought that's what I had hoped but they had Belushi and Akroyd already and they felt like Well now they have 32 cast members They could have

I know How many was it with you guys Seven So explosive I mean I really want to talk through this a lot But just for a second I just because of Everyone's love of Gilda Radner

And your whole cast But she just seems so likable I mean was she just really fun And just a genuine I mean all of you and Jane, you know, I don't know, there's just a likeability of that whole cast, but speak to Gilda for a second. Well, she was a really good person.

That's nice to know. She was the person that, you know, made a fuss over your birthday. Mm-hmm. And just, you know, she and I found ourselves in some pickles, which I talk about in my book. Oh, and what is the name of the book? Maybe we'll get a big following here. May you live in interesting times.

And, you know, one was that when we did the New Orleans live from New Orleans special, the technology, you know, for doing green screen and shifting from one set to another was like a minute old. And everything that could have gone wrong did. But the days before, during the rehearsal process, Gilda and I were put into a room in a building at a part of town. We did not know where we were. We were scared to go out because we were literally getting mob. And we were in this room with nothing but chairs and a trash can with one of those lids that you step on a pedal and the lid goes up. They forgot about us for four hours.

Oh, God. We're in this room for four hours. And Gilda turned that trash can into a puppet because that's the kind of person she was, you know? And, God, there's just so many times that she and I for some reason, you know, but we also just just. you know would have breakfast together before we went into work and that's you know I think it comes across and I don't know if Lauren hone this later or you think about there's the funny part there's the likeability part and then there's the charisma and finally there's how might they work together you know well they you know kind of like a sitcom you know you have this this key piece this

piece this piece but I think everyone who's gone through that you never lose a certain kind of bond with your cast, especially unknown people, not famous at all, no money at all, going on this television show. And I was 10 years later in 86, but you still feel that a spree decor with your original cast if you run into Dan Aykroyd or whoever, or, you know, it's an extraordinary experience. As you know, it is an extraordinary experience. And I always liken it to a lifeboat where, you know, you all survive something. some of us didn't but you all survived something that was very extraordinary i was i was on

dennis miller's show a couple weeks ago and we talked about the very same thing and i he mentioned the movie the right stuff which i think of this scene every time people ask about the camaraderie of the cast and the closeness where they're backstage i think linden johnson is introducing them many times yes that scene where they're backstage and the all just kind of looking at one another, like, I guess we did this thing that nobody else has ever done, you know? And obviously, I'm not comparing our show to space exploration, but, you know, it was the same feeling. Well, I would say, you know, without that analogy, but in terms of show business, especially as the show grew live, I remember just doing a cold

opening in one is the president or whatever and just the whole weight of the show is on you and then there's that joe disco five dixgo five seconds and you're just you're like floating and then you're just reading the card and hoping that you're articulating that is a lot of pressure you know i think in show business i don't know if there's any more anything that currently exists live like that and they were ready from that background i'm sorry what did you say everything i say is important so everyone has to listen closely. Keep going. I was just saying that when Dane and I were on,

there was a chance you could get famous or just being on it, you'd get a little bump in fame, even if you suddenly didn't click or whatever. But with you guys, you seem like a very sweet woman in, Gilda and all those people together and not knowing that it's such a whopper

and getting the biggest hit out of it that anyone's gotten must mess with your head. Like you were saying, just walking the street or getting breakfast and you feel like do I deserve this or why what's going on here and why are so many people thinking this is so great even though you think it's fun but I think it I don't think anyone can prep for that well you kind of I mean since you're part of this era it really when you think about um the evolution of comedy from laugh in and Lauren used to say it's fucking Carol Burnett I'm sure he loves Carol Burnett but he had a thing about

breaking in scenes when we were there It didn't want you to break. Yeah. But the rock and roll, George Carlin, Richard Pryor thing had started. And then all of a sudden this sketch show manifests itself with this kind of post-1960s, early 70s comedy sensibility, right? Well, it was alt comedy. That's what I've come to realize is that, yes, you had your show of shows in Carol Burnett and, you know, laugh in. But those were really mainstream and written by writers that were not our age, did not have our references.

sensibility. And this was truly an amalgam of a bunch of really great minds like Michael O'Donohue and Herb Sargent and, you know, Franken and Davis and all these amazing people whose tone and style had never been seen before. And then you also have the references that we all came with. I mean, you know, I came with these characters that I had done at the groundlings. And so you, you know, you talk about the format. That's exactly what I can. came from is doing a sketch, running off stage in the dark, changing my costume, coming back in the dark, lights come up, and you go. I mean, that's what I came from, and that's, you know, Jane came from the proposition. You know, Gilda came from Second City and the Lampoon Show. So, you know, we all had that background. You know, the holidays are here, and that means it's the most wonderful time of year to save with Racketon. Use Racketon to stack cashback at your favorite stores on top of holiday sales. That's savings on savings. With Racketon, you can get cash back on gifts

for everyone on your list, from toys for the kids to kitchen gear for the person who loves it to cook to electronics for everyone. You can even save on something for yourself. Just shop to stores you love and cashback is automatically added to your account. And you could choose to get paid via Interact e-transfer, PayPal or check. Join for free today and get a new member bonus. After minimum qualifying purchases, just go to racketon.ca.com. Download the app or install the browser extension. That's R-A-K-U-T-E-N. Terms and conditions apply. With Instacart, you get groceries that over-deliver. Like when you get groceries that are the same price as in store. With no markups at select retailers, you get in-store products for in-store prices. And the only thing

that isn't in-store is you. That means you could order in-store products at in-store prices while you're in sweatpants, in spin class, in stuffy work meeting, in anywhere but in store. So download the app today and get $0 delivery fees on your first three orders. Instacart, groceries that over-deliver. Service fees, exclusions, and terms apply. Did you, were you the first or one of the first on television

to do the Valley Girl voice kind of, or it? It feels like that. I mean, because that is still around. I know. It's organic, too. You're welcome. How did you hatch that? Where did that come from?

That was in your early grounding time? I had always noticed even in high school that the people from the valley spoke differently. And my twin brother was a surfer. He still is, actually. And so I'd go to the beach with him every once in a while. And, you know, there was this whole thing about the valley surfers versus the Malibu surfers and the west side surfers. And, you know, but I did my ear picked up. because I'd always loved dialects.

I'd always picked up on them. There was, you know, when I was four years old, there was an Orange Julius stand in Westwood Village run by this Scottish couple who would say things to me like, would you like your hot dog steamed or grilled? And I would just, you know, grab on to that kind of stuff. So you were doing that at age four?

No, I wasn't doing it. I was noticing it. Yeah. You know, but then I was, I did start doing dialects very young. But that was, yeah, I started hearing that, valley accent and realizing that it was a very unique accent.

So many people have used it. I mean, it's just... Well, it's become ubiquitous, I think. Were you, I'm familiarized me with your take on it. Did you do the thing, oh, my God, or how did you process it? That became later, I don't know who did that, but... No, I think that Moon Unit did, oh, my God. Oh, okay.

But, you know, I break down that dialect in my book. And, um, which is called, you should have an interesting life or what I say? May you live an interesting life. May you live an interesting life right now on everywhere books are sold, Ray Newman. Audible. And, uh, you know, contractions like wouldn't, shouldn't or couldn't would become want, shun't and couldn't, you know, and I and G endings were E-E-N, so I'm going there. And things like that. It's just, and then there was also words like bitchen and super, that came before, you know, like in my monologue in the Godfather group therapist sketch, I said, you know, I had to get super reflective, you know.

It was that, that was the language and the dialect that I kind of twig to that I love. Yeah, that is still around my way. That was like super reflective. Can you that again? I had to get super reflective. God, even that like voice grainy, that's out there too with every girl in The Bachelor. but Lorraine what is

underneath that I just want to know for a second the process I mean like someone who talks like that is it is it

an elitism or is it trying to be cool or what is kind of behind someone who would change their voice like that

I'm just thinking out loud like I don't think people change their voice to it I don't think they change their voice to it I think that it

becomes ubiquitous yeah and is there a charm to it a sexuality to it is I'm just wondering why front but anyway we may never figure that out exactly doesn't charm me one fucking bit

because the stoner dude the male version was like most like spikoli yeah i know what you're talking about man this is crazy dude but also if she does that then everything even moon unit it's all sort of a spin off of that ground laying the groundwork like you know someone doing lorn the first time or christopher walking and everyone's kind of doing that version but you're laying everyone's like oh that's a thing now so they're kind of playing off that one and building on it. So that's the hard thing is to come up with the code. Frank Zappa?

He loved that character. He absolutely loved it and wanted to do something with it. And it just never happened. And he's also, he was from Kukamonga. He was from the Valley. So he absolutely, you know. Frank Zappa. I did him once on the show and Michael Thomas did such a great job with my makeup.

And I came out of the room and Eric Clapton was in the hallway. Sorry, folks, name dropping, but that's what Saturday Night Live does. Michael Thomas, oh, God. He was my guy, brilliant, funny, so fucking funny. He made vampire teeth for me. Did he? Oh, Michael Thomas, for everyone listening, was one of the quintessential, brilliant makeup artists, and he could move so fast and do little things, and you'd sit in the chair,

and you'd get more and more into character, and he would keep doing stuff, and then he had such a funny ear. I was doing a show a few years later, and I was asked to do all these classic impressions, like Groucho Marx. It was an Easter special. I was rich little. And I didn't really have him. And so he taught me Jack Benny, and then I would go out and do Jack Benny.

Oh, my God. So this is how you do Groucho. So he also had an ear and he loved monsters, but God rest his soul, loved him, loved him. I'm so glad you had a connection with him. He was such a great. Did you start the Groundlings or you were part of the founding people? Yeah, one of the founding members. That's great.

That's so cool. Wow. Who knew? Yeah. Who knew? So S&L is like the Groundings. But suddenly when you leave, everyone has seen it. It's so funny.

You can do a sketch walk in your room and someone could text you and say, great one. I was in Oklahoma. I just saw it. And you're like, it's such a mind-blower. Yeah, there's a thing going on in the groundlings now where people would stay in the main company and they just wouldn't leave. And even though it's like, you know, they're on series television now, they just don't leave.

So what they started to do to get them to leave was to do a retrospective and a celebration. to just, you know. To get them out the door. And I always marveled at the technology because they had the, you know, ability to film their sketches. And when we did our 40th anniversary, the people from the 1970s,

we just did straight improv because there was no, we'd never filmed any of our sketches. But later on, of course, everybody had, you know, early Melissa McCarthy, early Kristen Whig, early Maya Rudolph, you know,

it was just great stuff to see. I wish when I was there, and it was sort of with all of us, if you missed a sketch, then you waited for the rerun six months later. And if you missed it again, you might have been in the best of in the summer, but that's a long shot. And now I don't get to see the show as much. So if Monday on Yahoo News, wherever you are on your computer, sometimes it just says, here's a sketch from,

and they give you the best one, and then you go, Oh, the show is pretty funny still, even though who knows how much of the show, it's always like hit and miss, but that keeps it alive. I think that's a big part of why it's still out there and still killing it. Well, now it's 1.6 billion YouTube hits last year for their season, which is extraordinary. And then it's now, I don't know if it still is, but Peacock, I think you can watch it live at 830 on the West Coast. So it's evolved in so many ways. The interesting part about you and Gilda and Jane,

being the first women and there's all these you know the the society is involved and we were talking to anagastair who's another great performer uh and just the idea that how many women have emerged in such a big way in the last 20 years in some of the ones you were mentioning but it was three on your casts then there was those intermediate casts i know julius drifus was on we had um jan Hooks, Nora Dunn, and Victoria Jackson. Yeah. Jan Hooks, she's supernatural. I love that reaction to Jan Hooks.

That's such a good. So unbelievably funny. Yeah. Just balls out funny. Oh, God. And funny offstage. We had so many laughs. We would just get, you know, when you get so tired in a stressful job like that, you

get laughing fits. Oh, yeah. Like your little kids. I remember one time Phil had a suit on the late great Phil Hartman and we called him the glue because he was like our Danny Aykroyd or something what do you need this week

you know and he didn't even it was effortless for Phil but Jan and I just saw his tie or something and we're just like it's like we were stoned we were so tired Oh sure that's a great place to be though don't you love it? It is you're just so

weak you can't not laugh I have a question about Lorraine about you know we had in our run Chris Farley you guys had John Belushi and Jen, Chris looked up to John so much because they were sort of, you know, bigger guys and very, very physical. I remember even in wardrobe, he would find pants for a sketch and he'd look in it and it would say Belushi, they still had them. And he'd wear them and then he'd wear his pants over those because he wanted to have anything. And at one

point I said, Chris, you're as good as Belushi. I mean, I hate to sound like blasphemous, But I go, we all love Volusci. And I go, Chris, you're at the point where when we go down the street, you're so good that I would put you in the same. And he would never buy that. He would never buy it. And it was hard. Here's the thing that I have to say about all of that. Because when I hear people say, your cast was the best cast.

I say, no, the cast that was on when you were an adolescent is the best cast. Because they've always had great casts. always, always had great casts and great writers. And, you know, I mean, guys, your years had you guys and the people around you, there have always been great casts. And people that don't even know ours. They said we're bad, and then later they say we're good. It's so funny.

When we're there, they're like, you missed the good people. They were just here. You guys suck. And then later they go, Saturday Live dead. It's been funny sense. Who on to the left? That never ended. Lauren goes, Saturday, dead.

It's going to get it every year. It'll be a headline. That's a good impression. I can't do it. The problem with the critics, they're like really into their own thing. It's that thing of like, you know, you have to be really light on your feet. It'd be nice if this sketch was like, you know, funny would be a good thing. We love Lauren's sarcasm.

Did he overcome saying things like, absolutely? or no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, we definitely have, no, no, no, no, no, don't misunderstand me. Mostly it would be exactly, if you were telling him something, exactly. Well, you know, he was always the same, but now that we, we have data now, we have almost 50 years of the show, it's hard to imagine another human individual navigating it like Lorne. He was so good with the network and all that part of it. He was very good with the hosts, and he also was, I think because he's a very, very smart guy,

he could get all those Ivy League guys to come in and respect him, you know, the Harvard guys. Sure. Because I went to San Francisco State. But everyone, you know, they would all giggle when I would mispronounce a word and read through. And I go, you fuckers, I'll get you on the stage. That was intimidating.

I don't know. You guys had great writers, Lorraine, but it got very Harvard-y when I was there from Scottsdale Community College. And I could just tell it was very clear I was in over my head. And it takes a while. to figure out, like, I don't know if you wrote, but yeah, I think you did, but how to write a sketch or how to fit in with these guys and just get to the level. I just want to go and read through and say, I don't want everyone to go, what the fuck? Who wrote this?

I just wanted to be like, oh, we're not doing it, but it's sort of mixed into the bunch, you know? Because sometimes I would write something and I didn't know how to write and I just got that yellow pad and they would be like, that's eight pages too long. I'm like, well, no one is talking to me. I don't know. No one tells you anything. Was that the same when you were there in the 70? You have to learn it yourself or ask other cast members. Absolutely. Yeah. Nobody tells you anything. And I didn't quite get that it would be good if I were to align myself with a writer who could really get me. But fortunately, it worked out that way anyway. And O'Donohue and Schiller and Rosie Schuster, they really wrote beautifully for me. And, you know, I brought us some of the material that I had done at the groundlings I brought there.

But that was basically how it worked because I did not know how I, the things I did in the groundlings were what we now call in ones or down lefts, which were just character monologues. Yeah. I am a shitty improviser. You know, so, you know, I don't know how to write a sketch. But people think we improvise on Saturday Night Live, but you don't improvise. Yeah, people think you do. But backstage you do, you know, just for a second. and Rosie Schuster came back, Lauren's ex-wife, one of them,

and she was assigned to me. I'd just done this character in my stand-up. I didn't do it all day long. I never wore a dress with this church lady person. Oh, my God. And so we sat for a couple weeks, you know, making the talk show out of it. And she was the one who said, uh, church chat, you know. And she was very, very good.

Oh, yeah. Yeah, really good writer. Yeah. Really beautiful. Yeah. So Lauren loves that when the writer's in the cast. get together, and I actually talked to a young cast member recently, wanted to talk to me. I won't say, you know, who it was, who's currently on the show, and struggling a little bit with

the process. I said, well, fine, whatever your rhythm of your character is, you know, collect your hooks or what makes it funny and crunchy to you. Seek out a writer that has influence and maybe would want, so at the ground floor, while the sketch is being written, your rhythms are being integrated. Don't wait where they've written jokes and then you're trying to put your character into it. Make sure you do it together. So it sounds like you had that with Michael Donahue and Rosie and all the rest. Yeah, that's one that Lauren loves that thing too. It's like, it's like the Congress and the Senator getting along or something. He wants, he doesn't want one side to dominate too much. Yeah, well, Conan O'Brien talks about not knowing how to write a sketch and how he really

started out by just like telling somebody's stories. And people say, yeah, you should write that as a sketch. Yeah. But, you know, the idea that any, any writer would come there not knowing how to write a sketch. Well, I audition to be on the show. And then they say, me and Rob Schneider, and they go, you're hired, but you're, they liked your stand-up, but they like the writing of it. So, which is not, which is good and bad news, because they go, he wants to be a writer performer. And then they go, oh, maybe Chevy was.

I don't know who was, but I go. He was just hired as a writer. Chevy was just hired as a writer. Yes. Yes, Garrett and Chevy were hired as writers. Oh, I did not know that. That's cool. How long till Billy came on?

Was it three years? No. Actually, it was right away, wasn't it? Oh, second year. Yeah, because Chevy did like one and a half seasons, whatever. He was on the cover of time or whatever he was. He just blew up from the show. Yeah.

And then he always regretted leaving. You know, when he would come back and host, he talked about wishing he'd stayed longer. Sure, for sure. I think once you leave it, you can never go back, you know. Once you what? Once you leave S&L, you're never going to do... I thought you said once you diva, you never come back.

Oh, funny. I was thinking, that's good. That's better than what I just said. So I did say that, Lorraine. Once you diva, but once you leave, you can't go back to that experientially. And it haunts your whole career or life in some ways because it's New York, it's the grease paint. There's a horse in the show. and someone's juggling and it's all chaotic and weird

and there's just nothing quite like that intensity of SNL. Or how hard it is and you go, I could do that. And then you leave, I'm sure Chevy after years, like, and he sees the show stays huge and even huge and you're like, fuck, that was fun, I was in that, I was in the mix. Yeah, that's the thing, a sketch comedy is so fun. You know, I mean, when I was back for the 40th, just doing sketches.

Oh, right. so goddamn fun oh yeah it's just and the people you get to work with they're always super sharp funny yes you get to look around and go god damn all these people are great and then

then they go on to do great things and you go shit everyone was good I was not wrong it feels like it's more pressure now but you guys did you when did you for yourself Lorraine so you're on the show and the show's not the show yet but you're becoming rock stars when did you know I think the audience starts to discover and they discovered Chevy first

probably because he was on update, had an N-1 at home base. It was like very potent Chevy. But when do you feel like, when did you personally get comfortable, you feel? Were you comfortable right away? It took me, I feel, like, 60 shows. 60?

To get, I'd say I was better after the third season, fourth season. I mean, to be really having fun, to go back full circle to like just enjoying it because everything is picking and wigs and going and then the cards and changing to get relaxed. Did you feel you had a breakthrough

with a certain character? I mean, was it the cone heads or any sketch you remember where I've got this, we're winning, we're a winning team, we're rock stars, or maybe it was immediate for you guys. No, I was very young and I was very inexperienced.

You were like 21 or something? No, no, I was 23, but I was a very young 23. I was a young 23. That's what I have to say about that. I was very inexperienced and I did not have a lot of confidence. And so I can't say that I ever got to a place where I felt comfortable. When I was doing something either that I wrote or that I really had an affinity for

and felt like I could score with, those were great times. I mean, Marilyn Miller wrote this Barbara Streisand song for me. And I was just thinking about it the other day because someone was talking about, I think it was the documentary on Mr. Kelly's and that Barbara Streisand does the intro on that. And I was thinking, you know, it was a complicated song. I was the only one who could sing a little bit better than everybody else of the girls. And I just remember afterwards that kind of explosive applause when it was over. And as I'm bowing and my legs are shaking, you know, it was such a great moment and experience to have. But I didn't have a lot of those, you know.

Did you, like singing, did you sit with someone, we had Cheryl, and Mark Shaman, we had Cheryl and Mark Shaman. Mark Shaman worked on the show? He did. Well, I was there for a couple years. Then he went off and did movies, but he was there with Cheryl. I didn't know that. This is just for people listening, you know, if there's a musical number, it's so much fun to sit down. Let's just say Cheryl was so wonderful and she could just play anything.

and you had a song you wanted to do. I think she said she did Black Magic Woman. Is that Santana? I don't know who did that. She played the chords backwards for the church chat theme. Oh, my God. How brilliant. But she would help you with notes and know we're going to harmonize.

We're playing Cowboys and we're harmonized in Woody Harrelson and she would help you. And I'll speak to you. I want to hear your experiences. I had one freaky thing of I was in a booth with Willie Nelson. He had his old guitar. And then he was learning a song, maybe I didn't, and I'm seeing him learn it in real time. Oh, wow.

But you have those kinds of moments. In terms of the movies, the hosts that came along in those five years, who, does anyone stick out? Oh, the hosts? The host, because you're, then you're meeting, like you had a monster stars come through. It's unreal. Richard Pryor. Yeah, Richard Pryor. I had met Richard Pryor when I was 14 because he was friends with my sister.

And he was playing the troubadour guys, the troubadour. He was playing the troubadour. West Hollywood. Yeah. So I met him when I was 14. So when he came to host the show, I was like, I'm Tracy Newman's little sister, do you remember me? And he was so great to me.

He was just, you know, always, like there are three people who were my main influences. Eve Arden, Madeline Khan, and Richard Pryor. those are like the holy trinity for me. Madeline Kahn's another monster. Did she come host? Twice. Oh, how great.

So that's the exact example of what happens to you on Saturday Night Lives. You have this mentor who doesn't know, and then you're now you're in a sketch with them. I know. It's killer. It's all surreal, right? Dana, what about Lorraine, did I read that you were stopped? I mean, this is where your career just hits a zenith when you got stopped by John and Yoko. Is that true?

Yeah, I was coming from a photo session with Francisco Scovolo. Jesus. I was in full makeup for the rethru with Jew Kleiberg. And out of my, I'm walking through the lobby of 30 Rock, and through my peripheral vision, I see these two forms, and they come into focus, John and Yoko. God, damn. And as they pass in front of me, John goes,

Hi, Lerene. You know, not a high. High Lorraine, you know? Wow. And I was like Lou Costello in those serious, you know, like Frankenstein. It was like. Yeah, yeah, that's exactly what I was like. John Lennon.

Oh, my God. There were so many intersections that happened to have my cast with different people and Paul McCartney and so forth. But yeah, I was always bittersweet. I would love to have met John Lennon. Oh, my God. Yeah. Would love to have him.

Well, Christopher Lee was the person that I. I was very excited to meet. I had lobbied for him to be a host for three years, but it wasn't until he was in a James Bond movie that he hosted. And God, was he a great host? Of course, he immediately said, I do not want to do Dracula. He was like, wow.

He's your Stephen Seagull. Yeah. I'm going to play Coco the Clown. I don't want to do Dracula. It's not saying to him. Lorraine, I was just saying that because when Stephen hosted, I think I got a bad rap of being quoted in sometimes these stories that that's our worst host. But the truth is, I did like Steven Seagal, and I liked his movies.

And I was just trying, I was saying he was sort of known to others as a bad host. He wouldn't roll with the flow. And I think both of you know that the best thing to do if your host is to just put your hands up and go, what do you want me to do? And if you're Christopher Lee, we'll make a track that. We won't make you look like an asshole. This will be a funny version. people like it and he wouldn't do any karate monologue and we wanted to do kung fu fighting or something stupid and he just was latching onto wanting to be cool and and i got what he was

saying he's like that's i have an image and it was just too hard to trust us and talk him out of that that's all he wasn't a bad guy to me i well i i didn't mean to imply that he was difficult he was absolutely great sure but a lot of people don't want to do that yeah that's what i'm saying A lot of people just say they get on there or the music, we had that a lot. The music doesn't want to do their hit song. And you want to go, you get two songs. You could do whatever you want on the second one. But the first one, can you please do your hit, you know?

It's kind of when a host comes in like, you know, there's an athlete or we had George Steinbrenner, a billionaire owns the New York Yankees. So George Stenbrier, so he's got kind of, you know, he's a billionaire. He's George, and Al Franken pitched him something to the effect in the sketch. He would be on all fours in a diaper with a dog collar. It's funny. Just, you're like, Al, he's not going to do that. Well, I think it's really funny.

Remember Conan was saying at dinner the other than that. We saw Conan, he was saying he had Bob Odenkirk had to go pitch to George Scheinbender and he fucking hated it and said, I'm not. doing that shit, get out of here. And they leave and Lauren goes, give it another try. What? Go back in. We have to go back in. I did a sketch once. It was during Matthew Broderick. Married to Sarah Jessica Parker. Bradrick. Matthew Broderick. So we were all bare chested in diapers in the sketch. And so the sketch bombs. I mean, it really bombs. I mean, it's dead quiet. And then you have to walk off. It's too busy. No one puts a rope. You're walking through 8-8 through the audience

with a big diaper on and a sketch that just shit itself. And then I looked in an audience member and did a little like, hey, how are you doing a little wave? And they looked away. They were like embarrassed. That was in my first season. They looked away. Oh, the pain. Of pain. I know. It was like, it's not about humiliation. That's what comedy is. Dude, in a sketch, if it's bombing, it's a grossest, feeling to sit there looking at the, you're looking at the cards, your next line's coming, you're like, we should end it right now. It's going nowhere. It takes your chances. The sickest, if it kills a dress, and then on air, you're like, what happened? I know. That's the

worst. Well, that's the alchemy of the show, you know? Shit. Well, it's sometimes the dress show is so hot and you're like, ah, I don't like this. Yeah. Because then the air show is not so hot and a lot of invited guests, and then all of a sudden the same. and it's half the laugh, and then you've gotten spoiled with the dress show. But sometimes the air audience was the best, so you never knew, but it was a high-wire act. Boarding for Flight 246 to Toronto is delayed 50 minutes.

What? Sounds like Ojo time. Play Ojo? Great idea. Feel the fun with all the latest slots in live casino games and with no wagering requirements. What you win is yours to keep groovy. Hey, I won! Feel the fun.

Play Ojo. will begin when passenger fisher is done celebrating. 19 plus Ontario only. Please play responsibly. Concerned by your gambling or that if someone close you, call 1-8665331-2-60 or visit Comex Ontario.ca. With Amex Platinum, $400 in annual credits for travel and dining means you not only satisfy your travel bug, but your taste buds too. That's the powerful backing of Amex.

Conditions apply. This episode is brought to you by Peloton. A new era of fitness is here. Introducing the new Peloton Cross Training Tread Plus, powered by Peloton IQ, built for breakthroughs with personalized workout plans, real-time insights, and endless ways to move. Lift with confidence, while Peloton IQ counts reps, corrects form, and tracks your progress. Let yourself run, lift, flow, and go. Explore the new Peloton Cross Training Tread Plus at OnePeloton.ca. Lorraine, I don't want to keep you forever, but do you?

Do you ever, do you ever get mad and say MAPS? Say what? Mabes. Mabes. What are you saying, cone heads? MAPS. MAPS. MBS.

Wow. Mabes. M-E-B. I've been saying it wrong. I've been saying it wrong every time I stubbed my toe. That's all right. I was in cone heads. I was in the cone heads.

Really? Yeah, I played. Oh, that's great. That's right. I played. You were in the cone. I wasn't in that one, but I just loved. Dana, it was almost jury duty.

It was everybody. It was Ellen DeGener's, Phil Hartman, Sinbad, Schneider, Sandler. I was too big at the time, and I had a beach house, and I didn't really, you know. I was turning down a lot of things. I'm just processing this idea of when it came out, the idea that the character's name was what the character was. So the cone heads had cone heads. So I always love that. And that's why I said the church lady is the church lady, you know, or.

People would probably call it. We see that sketch where he plays like a church lady. Right. Well, did that, I mean, did Carol Burnett and Flip Wilson or whatever, did they do that? Because that was the first time I saw it. It's a certain knowing dry silliness that the character's name is what the character is. It was that predate SNL. But I love that about Connets.

I don't know. I don't know, Dana. I don't know what happened with Flip Wilson. Exactly. I love all those variety shows. They were great. Lorraine, do you laugh when you're going to do cone heads in rehearsal? Does it kill at the table or is there any weirdness along the week going?

What if this just does not work? I adored Danny's writing. I absolutely adored it. And he could do no wrong as far as I was concerned. Even if it was like something really subtle and tasty that I knew the audience would not get. That was fine. That is fun, too. Because, you know, some of those sketches, you're like, I don't care how it does.

I love it. We need to do it. And Lauren's good at keeping stuff like that on. He's like, I don't care if it doesn't work. This is what we, this represents us. That's a good sketch. Jack Handy used to write a lot of really weird ones. And we all loved him at read through.

And he goes, put it on, put it on, whatever. That's part of the magic of the show is that that sensibility is allowed, even if it doesn't kill. And, yeah, Dan Aykroy would write these long, he would talk really super fast and have all the language coming out of him, you know, and you'd have to just figure out later what he was saying. But the coneds was silly and it was, I mean, how many times did you think you did that? It seemed like it was on a lot. Gosh, I do not know. I just know that the one time that we did an extended version where we filmed us going back to Remulac. Lemulac. You know, we had never been in the cones longer than the length of a sketch, but this was like a whole day. And the spirit

gum. Fuck. Started to burn. You know, this is where it was anchored here. Unproven. Yeah. Start to burn your skin. Oh, my God.

And so, you know, Jane and Danny were in the front seat and they just started smoking weed. And I was in the back seat. Are you on location or something? Yes, we were shooting on location. I'd be terrified. It was all improvised, too, because, you know, we didn't get permits. We went to a gas station to fill the tank.

He was walking around. You know, Danny did a bit of drinking the gasoline, but, you know, it was like guerrilla because you got no permits or anything like that. And you're in your outfit, your giant head and everything walking around? I got a question. When you do cone heads, did you have to do it either cold open or after update because there's so much work? It was always at the top of the show. When I did Gap Girls, it was so much work, they could only put it first or after update because that's the biggest chunk of update and music. And that's like 12 minutes or something.

And did you get Stone that day then? No, I didn't. I didn't like that. I never, I never was able to perform high. I mean, I tried it with a couple beers once out of nerves. Try it stone once. Didn't work for me. Well, you know, heroin is good for doing sketch.

You know, I think the good thing about fentanyl is what makes James Woods. The meth is what informs his choices. Marcy, please, more popcorn. Anyway. But, you know, that thing that you said, about Lauren is very astute because that is what causes an audience to come to you. You know, it's like you, you don't write for them, you let them come, you write for us. Yeah.

And you let them come to you. And some things like, like, Cheeseburger, Cheeseburger, one of those, like, that might not work the first. There's a lot of sketches that might not work. And then by the time it comes on, you don't realize they really did like it. They had to watch it and think about it. And then their friends talk about it. And you go, that is good.

It gets, it's kind of hooky. Even if it's not a catchphrase, just a smart bit, and then you go, oh, fuck, that's bigger than I thought. But also that was active and high energy, and I've said this before, but for me, personally, when I was doing Johnny Carson on the show and sort of a new way. It's a great impression, by the way. Thank you. Kind of my favorite thing, because I thought I enjoyed it so much, and I had Phil, of course, there that the drafts. Oh, God, I forgot. You are correct, sir.

You are correct. Those of you at home, you're watching a television, and that's how you're seeing the pictures. We are not actively in your living room, you know, how Johnny would include everyone in the country and on stuff. And I didn't care, and I was in my sixth season or something, but I wasn't thinking whether it was going to get a laugh, because I intrinsically knew it was so fucking, it was almost too funny. Some things that I'll watch sometimes are so funny that I know I'm going to, I can't even laugh as hard as I want to laugh. I'm going to laugh later. Because you want to hear it. It wants to hear it and it hits you so hard.

But the rock and roll sketches are easier. It was, you look at an old sketch, like even from Lorraine's seasons, and you go, I didn't even really get that back that, like how funny it was. Like, I was too young. And now you look back and go, holy shit, that's so well done or smarter. Because I was just like looking for the easy jokes. I'm younger, you know, and then you get older and you start to like different stuff. But you go back and go, oh, fuck, that was so good.

Yeah, that's an interesting point. I've experienced that, too. Yeah. Did you go on update a lot and do characters? I did it a couple of times when... When Sid Vicious murdered his girlfriend. There's a hilarious topic. Go ahead.

I went on as his mother. I went on as his mother saying that he was a good boy, you know. And I think Brian was Sid Vicious. you know and he just had the wig on and he just looked completely mad you know and I was just going on I did my best you know I did my best I did my best I don't know we've had a great time here oh my god Michael Kane and I doubt of course I did the the reporter you know Lorraine Newman the reporter which was kind of in that sort of reporter dialect in a sense of the language of breaking news right now all this at the whole That kind of thing? Yeah. I'm standing here. You know, I always had heard, you know, I heard that song.

And, you know, you know what I'm talking about, Dana. The song that they do, that is a newscaster's song. Oh, right, that. Yeah. Channel 7 action news. Their voice. Yeah. Oh, got it.

Yes. It is. Oh, da-da-da-da-da-da. You know, it is a song. I did it in stand-up, and I don't know. if I got it from Robert Klein, but it was a newsman ordering dinner with his wife. If I can remember, it was like a surprise kind of on my wife tonight. He's at a restaurant. She'll have the steak, meat, and I'm rare, and a cup of black coffee instead of their traditional cream and sugar.

I saw that bit. You did? I must have done it on a talk show or something. I could have done it on a talk show or stand up. That's a great bit. I love, I love, I'm like you, I love all voices, I love all dialects, and I so enjoy when I see people do them. on Saturday Night Live, the new young cast member does a Trump that is so brilliant. Oh, my God. And so, and I just, that's like so funny and so brilliant. I, you know, I have to like watch it later almost because he's doing so many hooks. Excuse me, and the people, a lot of people, they're saying many, and he's doing all that stuff.

His Biden is great too. His Biden is just, his debut. This is good stuff. We can do this. We can do it. No, here's a deal. My father lost his job. I'm not kidding around here.

We can, in fact, do better. We can. We're stressed, I'm out of my mind. Let me smell your hair. Biden is an interesting one. You know, the evolution of doing a president is that the country still has to get used to Biden. The kind of defensive guy has come out, a little bit angry, and then befuddled all the different flavors he has, but we're still discovering him, the whisper thing. And then he goes kind of loud.

Yeah. And sort of my dad would do that when he was 90s. It was kind of a patronizing whisper, because I know what I'm doing. Oh, man. That's right. We can do this. Number one, the one part. Number two, what the guy said, number three.

Come on, folks. He's always admonishing us for not understanding. It's not rocket science. There's some really, really interesting new cast members. Chloe Feynman. She's a groundling. She's a friend of my daughter, Hannah's been telling me about her for years. So I watched your daughter today.

She's really, really funny and talented. I just saw her on Colbert because I knew I was going to be talking to you. And she reminds me of you. There's a droll dry. Yeah, I mean, there's just a, well, I would just say this. Her stuff is very smart, you know. Thank you. Yes, we're just, you know, beside ourselves.

She belongs there. I mean, she's going to, she is having a career. She's on hacks now. She's just really good. And so I can't imagine what that must feel like to have someone have success because look at her mom and now you're the daughter and following a big act to follow and she's doing great. Well, her talent is completely different than mine. And my older child's talent is also, they're also, they started doing stand-up when they were 15. And they're on, they're on Losa Spookies, Julio's show.

And they both, their talent is completely different than mine. And that is exciting to watch. But, you know, my only contribution really was when this is so inappropriate. But when I was driving them to school, I mean, this is like grade school. I would play the Sclar Brothers and Maria Bamford and Patton Oswald, you know. I mean, because Mommy needed to be entertained, damn it. You know, I was not going to listen to Radio fucking Disney another second, you know. Oh, you gave him some good standups, wow.

Yeah. But your daughter, when she came on Colbert the first time, this is Hannah. She did kind of like a little story about her mom and dad and sperm donors and stuff. And it was very, very sketch. That's why it wasn't traditional stand-up. That's why it reminded me of your style. Yeah, she's very different. And I saw her set at Dynasty Typewriter this last.

last Sunday and it was pretty much a new material and 40 minutes set and it was so good and so interesting it was like how the hell did you come up with that stuff you know interesting wow well that's a great way to close the podcast because that's that's like this gigantic perfect full circle yeah talking about that and you know the apple does not fall very far from the tree you'll find but anyway that's that's very sweet Lorraine I'm so I'm so happy. I think I met one of your daughters or both of them at that Al Franken thing we did. It was probably Hannah. Probably Hannah. Yeah. She's, you know, whatever, just a sweet little girl. But now she's, oh, that's cool. Well, I've really enjoyed this a lot. I hope you did.

This is so fun, you guys. I really did. And thank you for having me, too. And good luck with it. I know it's a really fun thing to do. Hey, guys, if you're loving this podcast, which you are, be sure to click follow on your favorite podcast app. Give us a review, five-star rating, and maybe you can share an episode that you've loved with a friend. If you're watching this episode on YouTube, please subscribe. We're on video now. Fly on the Wall is presented by Odyssey,

and executive produced by Danny Carvey and David Spade, Heather Santoro, and Greg Holtzman, Maddie Sprung Kaiser, and Leah Reese Dennis of Odyssey. Our senior producer is Greg Holtzman, and the show is produced and edited by Phil Sweet Tech. Booking by Cultivated Entertainment. Special thanks to Patrick Fogarty, Evan Cox, Mora Curran, Melissa Wester, Hillary Schuff, Eric Donnelly, Colin Gaynor, Sean Cherry, Kurt Courtney, and Lauren Vieira. Reach out with us any questions to be asked and answered on the show. We can email us at Fly on the Wall at Odyssey.

That's A-U-D-A-C-Y-Y-I-com.