Fresh Air - Bridget Everett On Not Fitting In, Then Finding Her People

Episode Date: October 21, 2024

Growing up in Manhattan, Kansas, Bridget Everett and her "blue sense of humor" never quite fit in. After moving to New York City and developing a cabaret show, she returned home for her HBO show Somebody Somewhere. The series is semi-autobiographical, about a woman struggling with self-worth and grief as she finds her people and her voice. Subscribe to Fresh Air's weekly newsletter and get highlights from the show, gems from the archive, and staff recommendations. Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy

Terri Gross This is Fresh Air. I'm Terri Gross. My guest Bridget Everett stars in the semi-autobiographical HBO series Somebody Somewhere. The third and final season begins Sunday, October 27th. Everett is also known for her wild raunchy cabaret performances in which she does stand up and sings. In the New York Times, Stephen Holden wrote about her cabaret act, multiply the mouthy, flesh-jiggling early Bette Midler by 100, give her the super plus-size figure and fashion sense of divine, the John Waters diva, and the manners of a Flintstone and you've got a rough approximation of Bridget Everett. Holden also described her singing voice as a

formidable instrument. In Somebody Somewhere she plays Sam, a 40-something woman who's returned home to Manhattan, Kansas, to help care for her sister Holly, who is dying of cancer. The series begins about six months after Holly's death. Sam is still grieving in ways she doesn't even realize. She has no direction. She's lost track of what makes her happy, except singing. And she feels like a total outsider in her small hometown until she befriends Joel. They work at the same office which they both hate. He's gay and single, she's single too. They share a sense of humor, have similar interests, confide in each other, and love being in each other's

company. Joel reminds her they were in high school show choir together and he always loved her voice. He's the pianist at his church and has a key so under the guise of choir practice he holds regular parties for his LGBTQ friends at the church. At the first one Sam attends Joel practically forces her to get up and sing and everyone loves it. This community of friends becomes her community but finding a welcoming place and a best friend in Joel doesn't heal her insecurities, like believing she's unlovable, lashing out and withdrawing from anyone who she feels has offended her, and it hasn't healed her grief. She takes offense easily, but she also

manages to offend the people she's closest to. In this scene from the second episode in the series, she visits Joel and notices he has a vision board, a collage of photos representing what he wants to do and to have in the future. Joel is played by Jeff Hill an Eiffel Tower there? Well, just Europe. I want to go to Europe. Okay. Oh, and then of course, everybody's hands in a heart. Community.

Uh-huh. Great. What is that, a blender or something? It's a Vitamix. I just, I really want to have a nice kitchen. And, oh, what's this one? Is this you and Michael and your nine adopted kids, or what? It's not nine, it's six.

And four of them are adopted, yes. Okay. And you want to do all of this here in Kansas? Yeah, this is where I live. Oh. Family, prayer circles, pots with cactus. What is wrong with this? What's wrong with this?

I'm dreaming about the future. This is what I want. Well, I mean, dream all you want, Joel, but this is the future. We're in our 40s, and it hasn't happened yet, has it? It hasn't happened for you, it hasn't happened for me, and that's because it's not going to happen, and it's definitely not going to happen here. Keep cutting up your pictures but that's the way it is.

We deserve to be happy. I'm not sure. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. Bridget Everett, welcome back to Fresh Air. I really love this series. Hi, thank you. I'm very happy to be here. Is this character a version of who you might have been had you not discovered a place for yourself in New York's cabaret world?

Did you ever feel as hopeless about the future as Sam does? Oh, yeah. I think I waited tables for 25 years. I worked in restaurants from maybe like 14 years old to maybe 42. And, you know, you make money and it's great. It's nice to have a job and everything, but that's not what I wanted to do. And so, yeah, there's a lot of years I'm like, maybe I'm just a karaoke singer. Maybe I'm, you know, and a lot of the self-worth stuff that Sam struggles with, you know, I struggle with. So we have a lot in common.

On IMDB, you are not listed as a creator of the series. So whose idea was it to do the series? Paul Threen and Hannah Boss came up with the idea. They pitched the world. And when they were, you know, pitching it to me and Carolyn Strauss, they talked about the themes of singing and a dead sister. And then they said, and Mr. Murray Hill plays Frederick Hoccon, I was like, oh man, this is like,

this checks all my boxes, Murray's my people. Singing is the love of my life. And I had lost my sister and didn't really know how to deal with it. So I'm like, let's just, let's give it a shot. And so once we got together to do the pilot, you know, we all, it's been a very collaborative effort sort of across the board. You mentioned Murray Hill and he plays Fred Rococo, who is a trans man in the series.

So Murray Hill has been active in the New York cabaret scene. Describe his place in that part of the scene. Well, he's kind of like the mayor of downtown. Everybody loves Murray. He's, you know, he's always out at night doing hosting some show, you know, he's done a lot of work with the burlesque community. We've done a lot of stuff together. We've toured together. He's a great cheerleader for everybody. He's always bringing on the, you know, new face and giving people a chance. So, you know, his spirit, the spirit of Murray Hill is definitely in Fred Rococo. So when Sam returns to Manhattan, Kansas, after her sister dies, especially,

she feels like an outsider that there's no place for her until she finds her best friend Joel and the LGBTQ community of friends that are his friends. When you went back to Manhattan, Kansas, from Manhattan, New York, what was that experience like for you in terms of feeling like an outsider? I mean, you went to high school there, you still had family there. Did you feel like an outsider too? And if so,. Did you feel like an outsider too? And if so, what made you feel that way? Well, I was born and raised in Manhattan and I love it.

There's so much that I love about it. In Manhattan, Kansas. Manhattan, Kansas, yeah, thank you. The little apple. And it's true. It's there on the water tower on the side of town. You know, I had a lot of friends growing up and I was popular, but

I never felt like I fit in because I wasn't, you know, I didn't have like traditional values. You know, it's a very conservative place and I had kind of a blue sense of humor and I was always getting in trouble for, you know, doing something naughty and, you know, not just like keg parties and whatnot, but like for my mouth. Like it's not the actions that I was doing. It was like who I was that was kind of like, oh, oh, Bridget, you know, like that kind of thing. So I just, I don't know, I just, I just felt like I wasn't like it wasn't where I was supposed to be. So, so I left, but you know, coming back over time, I've, I've got a new appreciation for it and I, and I love it. But yeah, you kind of never shake that feeling

of not feeling like you belong somewhere. And it can run the gamut for a lot of people, but for me it was just like, oh my God, I'm like, my personality is a problem or something. I don't know. Do you still feel that way? Maybe not as much because we're older and I just felt like I was

constantly being tamped down and and it makes sense for how the kind of person I was growing up in that kind of town in the 80s and the 70s and 80s and so when I came to New York, Murray Hill's one of the first people I met I was like oh my god this is like this is what I've been looking for these are my people. Stage is a great place for that kind of big behavior. And you take advantage of that in the series and in real life. Yeah, I guess I finally got my shot

to be like who I wanted to be. So I really went for it and probably went a little too far. There's a couple times there when I was really like trying to find my footing and figure out exactly who I was on stage where Murray be like, all right kid, we gotta sit down and talk. You don't have to go that far. Good, what couple times there when I was really like trying to find my footing and figure out exactly who I was on stage where Murray be like, kid, we got to sit down until you don't have to go that far. Good. What's an example of that? I'm not going to say it on NPR.

Oh, all right. Then give us an example of what you do do that's pretty outrageous. Well, I sing about different kinds of breasts. I have a song about it. It rhymes with cities. The point of that song for me is that it's just making light of it. It rhymes with cities. And the point of that song for me is that it's kind of just making light of it. It's like, it's no big deal. These are just boobs. My mom used to go to the grocery store in just her nightgown with no bra on. And for as conservative and buttoned up as she was, she had a really foul mouth. Her favorite customer, which I know you can just bleep, is b******. And like, and she...

That's a long bleep. I know, yeah. But she was a real character. And there was something about, like she, she wanted to like fit in and play by the rules, but she also had this kind of off the rails part about her. And that's the part about her I loved. So I think the sort of lawlessness of her going to Food for Less, a grocery store without a bra on, like I just loved that. And so now I go on stage without a bra and I just want people to not be so locked up. I want them to come and to let go. And so I do everything I can to help them feel free. Because when I grew up, I didn't feel that way, and I guess I chased that feeling on

stage. And, you know, you're a large woman. Yeah. And some people would be covering up their bodies. On stage, you really show it off. And you wear revealing clothes, and you use it both with pride and with comedy. Yeah, I think it's sort of all that stuff I was talking about with my mom. My friend Larry Crone makes all my dresses,

we call him the house of Larry on. We like to lean into the size of my body and the shape of my body. He's always like, he's like, you know, you have an incredible body. He's always like really building me up. And so when there's something that like, that like a low cowl that may like slip and something pops, you know, that makes us laugh.

It's not like, oh, I'm trying to be sexy or provocative. It's more just like, oh my God, that's so funny. It's just nothing's meant to take itself too seriously. But what I do take seriously is making people feel good. So you and your character Sam are capable of a wide range of types of singing and you can do like really beautiful ballads but also like really belt it out and give it everything.

And I wanna play examples of that from the series. So we're gonna hear two songs back to back. Okay. And the first is a beautiful quiet ballad. And this takes place when you see your old high school singing teacher for the first time, because you want to develop your voice and you want to take singing lessons. And she's seeing you for the first time in years and wants to hear you sound now,

so she asks you to just sing something that you love a cappella. So that's the first song we'll hear and the song is called That's All. It's an old standard. And then the second song is what you choose to sing at one of the so-called choir practices. It's really just a party for a circle of LGBTQ friends. And that song is going to be Piece of My Heart, which Janis Joplin, she was not the first to record it, but she really made it famous and it was a real showstopper for her. And it's one for you too. So first the ballad, that's all.

And then Piece in My Heart. I can only give you country walks in springtime, and a hand to hold when leaves begin to fall, and the love whose burning light will warm the winter night. That's all. That's all. There are those, I am sure, who have told you they would give you the world for a toy. All I have are these arms to enfold you and the love time can never destroy. And I make you feel Like you were the only man Yeah! Yes! Yeah, and did not you feel anything that a woman possibly can

Honey, you know I did And each time I tell myself That I think I've had enough And I'm gonna show you, baby that a woman can't be tough I want you to come on, come on, come on, come on and take it Take another little piece of my heart now baby, yeah, break it Take another little piece of my heart now, darling, yeah. Have another, have another little piece of my heart now, baby. You know you've got it, does that make you feel good?

Do those two songs represent different sides of who you are? Yeah, absolutely. The piece of my heart is from my karaoke days. I used to be a song that I would, I go to this place, the parlor on the Upper West Side, which is not closed, but I would go there every Sunday night with my friends. I would sing that on top of the bar,

rip my shirt open, and then- Yeah, you rip your shirt open at the end of the song in the series. Yeah. Oh yeah, that's right. I guess you can't shake it up. It's just something that stays with you. You see, you do enjoy revealing what's underneath. Well, it's also just like, yeah, it's about ripping yourself open.

The shirt is like a dumb metaphor for how I want to be outside of my skin, outside of myself, that's what it feels like. And then that's all is, you know, I love that song. And for me, singing and music is my ultimate love story. My, you know, it's how I feel most connected. It's how I feel alive and. It's how I feel alive. And I love the beauty of it. And I also love the rip in the shirt openness of it. I think it represents all sides of how we feel.

In the series, there's family members who you're alienated from and friends who become like family. I think something like that has been experienced by many people who are probably hearing us now. Your character, Sam's best friend, is Joel, the only person outside of her deceased sister who Sam thinks ever really looked out for her. He's gay and single. Sam is single.

So Sam and Joel become very close. But then Joel meets a man who he falls in love with and they become a couple. But Joel doesn't tell your character, Sam. When you find out from someone else, you're really angry. Joel calls and texts, but your character won't respond. He finds out that you're going to be at a diner with a mutual friend.

So he goes there to try to see you, or I should say your character Sam, to apologize and to tell you how much he misses you. Your character Sam speaks first. I'm so mad at you, Joel. And I don't want to be, but I can't help it. I'm sorry, Sam. You have a boyfriend and you don't think I can handle it,

so you just don't tell me? Sam. Do you have any idea how stupid that makes me feel? I'm sorry. Why does anybody think I can handle anything? I can handle it! God, first my sister and now you! Wait, what happened with your sister?

No! You don't get to know! Maybe I wouldn't have been okay, okay fine. But I thought that we had the kind of relationship that there was something that was that important to you that you would want me to know that you would want to share it with me but you didn't, did you? We do have that kind of relationship. No, you keep your secrets and I don't want secrets!

I just didn't think you would understand. I'll understand, Joel? What? I do love what we have together, but we can't provide everything for each other. God, I don't want you to be my boyfriend, Joel. I just don't want you to leave me. I'm not going anywhere.

Oh. I'm not going anywhere. Well it can't be the same now. It's not going to be the same. No, I guess not. That's a scene from Somebody Somewhere, the HBO series that begins its third and final season October 27th. And we heard my guest, Bridget Everett in the role of Sam and Jeff Hiller in the role of Joel.

Have you been on both sides of that experience? The person who gets a boyfriend and then also the person who has a best friend who either you know finds a boyfriend or a girlfriend or gets married or who has a first child and you feel excluded you feel like your relationship with that person can't ever be the same. Well I think that I've more really only been on the Sam side and you know, I think it's taken her so much to open up. You know, she's not like other people. A lot of people can collect people or meet new people and easily assimilate to that feeling.

But Sam is paralyzed by new people and new emotions and new feelings and she's found somebody that has opened her up and now she's terrified of losing him. But I understand his side of the thing. He's just like he's in his bubble and he's falling in love and I understand that. But, you know, I think for Sam, and it's sort of central to the show actually, is that for some people, romantic relationships aren't the goal. Sam just wants to be loved and wants to have her person, but that doesn't necessarily mean it's a romantic relationship. And I think that usually in TV and film or in theater or whatever it is, or in music, like it's about boy meets boy, boy meets girl, girl meets girl, whatever the scenario is,

and that's the ultimate, you know, that people fall in love. But this is it for Sam. Joel is the person, and it's hard for her to find that person and then see them, that she's not gonna be the primary focus of his life. It's, and she's sloppy about it. She's very sloppy about it, and I think that that's fine. If you're just joining us, my guest is Bridget Everett.

She stars in the semi-autobiographical series, Somebody Somewhere, which begins its third season on HBO, Sunday, October 27th. We'll be right back after a short break. I'm Terry Gross and this is Fresh Air. This message comes from NPR sponsor Organic Valley, a co-op of small organic family farms. Farmer Tyler Webb shares what being a steward of his land means to him. When I think of land stewardship, it's taking the opportunity to like slowly walk through your farm. To listen.

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Somewhere. She plays Sam, a 40-something woman who's returned to her hometown Manhattan, Kansas, to take care of her sister Holly, who's dying of cancer. The series begins about six months after Holly's death. Sam is still in Kansas, but feels like a total outsider until she becomes part of a circle of LGBTQ friends who are also outsiders. The story is about grief, friendship, how friendship is changed when your best friend becomes involved in a romantic relationship and you feel cut out. Anger management, insecurity, and trying to figure out what you want out of life when you're in your 40s and other people seem to have already figured it out.

Somebody Somewhere begins its third and final season Sunday night October 27th on HBO. So Sam was back to Kansas to take care of her older sister Holly who's dying of cancer who you've been referring to because you also had a sister who was dying of cancer and you returned to Manhattan, Kansas where you grew up to take care of her. No, I didn't. I didn't. Oh, you didn't return there?

No, no. I did have a sister that died of cancer and she was in California. And in fact, I was waiting tables at time. I barely had two pennies to rub together and I couldn't go see her at the end and I've kind of never forgiven myself for it. So this is a way to honor her in a way that I wasn't able to before.

Were you able to tell her why you couldn't go? Well, there was a point at the very end, you know, they wanted me to talk to her because she was kind of refusing treatment and stuff, and they thought that I might be able to have some influence on her. And you know, she was just in so much pain and it didn't it didn't she didn't want to talk to me you know after I was like you know let them help you whatever anyway I then I asked the nurse I said you know cuz I talked to a friend who was gonna get me a ticket out there and not you know she just said that, you know, it wasn't worth it because she wouldn't know

who I was anyway, so I didn't go. What you went through must have been really difficult because, you know, you're playing the part of someone whose sister recently died, like just months ago. At the same time, your mother died while you were making the series. And at the same time, while you were making the series, one of the lead actors, Mike Haggerty, who played your father in the series, he died.

So like you're playing the role of somebody who's still grieving. And my dog, by the way. Yeah. So it wasn't a great run. So like you're playing the role of somebody who's still grieving and my dog by the way. Yeah, so It wasn't a great run Yeah, so i'm just wondering what that was like for you to play somebody who's grieving and to be Having really fresh wounds of grief um

you know, it was actually nice because it was you know the The set and the world and all the people in the show are so, they're like the kindest people that you want to be around and they are respectful of your feelings and your emotion. And my family, who I love, we don't really talk about things necessarily. So I never really talked that much with them about my sister or my mom or my dad. And then Mike died, that was a whole different kind of hell because when I met him, we had this instant connection.

You know, when he came in to read for the part of Ed, who plays my father in the show, I just started crying right away because I was like, oh my God, he just walks in a room and he's one of those people you just feel safe around and you love and you feel comfort and he's funny and he's like, you know, and so when he died we were getting ready to film season two and we had written quite a bit for him because he was so great in season one and we had such a great connection. And so it was very hard on all of us, but we've tried to keep his memory live through

the show, whether it's like having his truck in the shot or there's a scene in the final episode that's for him. You know, there's just, I think being around such a supportive group of people helped get me through a lot of the grief. And you were sharing some of the grief too. Absolutely. We were all doing it together and also Poppy, my dog, who was there season one and I had to put it, this is such a, this is so much darkness, but you know, other than singing, she was the other love of my life, and I had to put her down on a Sunday afternoon and go back to work on Monday morning. And everybody, you know, we all love our dogs and our animals, and people knew how difficult that was. And people just, you show up to work,

people make you laugh, and they get you through it. And I mean, if I would have been at home alone, just sitting in my apartment staring at the walls, who knows what would happen, but being around all those people working, making a show that we really love doing and being a part of a group of creative minds that kind of all were in sync, it was really wonderful actually.

In the series, your parents live on a farm. In the real world your parents divorced when you were young and from what I've read and correct me if this is wrong that your father Don James Everett was a Republican in the Kansas State House and in the Kansas Senate. Yeah and then he was also at some point mayor of my hometown. So was my brother Brad. So, you know, political dynasty. I always feel for the children of politicians who are used in campaign ads and on the stump when they're making speeches and they have to go up and be like perfect children at the

convention. We have one picture. I have it in my house. It's a framed picture. It's like my mom and dad and all six of us kids and we're all riding bikes. I think I'm in either my dad's arms or something and then we're all riding down our street that I grew up on, Fairview in Manhattan. And it's like this whole image of family and that just was not what was happening behind closed doors. What was happening behind closed doors. But um. What was happening behind closed doors? Uh, you know, just fighting and infidel on your classic, um, your classics.

Did what you do on stage ever become an embarrassment to your family? I think in the early days. Because it's so raunchy? I worried about that. So that's why I kept it from them, largely try to keep it from them. And eventually my friend, Pilo, was like, your mom really should come and see you. And of course, I didn't really have much money. So he flew her out to New York and she came to see me at Joe's Pub.

And she just loved it. And I really underestimated it. It was like such a waste of time. It's always what I do. I sort of get in my own way and think people aren't going to like something and blah, blah, blah. It's just such a waste of time. I brought her up on stage actually to sing Hello Dolly because she'd always wanted to

be on Broadway and she wanted to be Dolly. I have like a really terrible recording of everybody just up on their feet, yelling, Freddy, Freddy, after she sang. So in a way, she got her, her Hello Dolly moment. But then afterwards she came backstage and she just looked at me and she said, you know, that was really wonderful, Bridget. And then she said that was freedom in motion. And, and, you know, still

the best compliment and probably the nicest thing anybody's ever said to me. Maybe she was ready at that point in her life to appreciate what you're doing. Maybe if you'd brought her to Manhattan earlier, to Manhattan, New York, earlier she would not have been ready. Well, and I went to Kansas City and I also did a show in Lawrence and, you know, my mom, as she got older, got a real foul mouth on her and I have a song, what I gotta do to get that d*** that becomes a sing-along and, you know, at the end I just, you know, get everybody singing, women singing, now the men singing, now just my mom and then she

would sing it and everybody quiet and she just brought the house to its knees every single time. That's hilarious. And then later in life when she would go around her nursing home, she would sing it to the nurses and stuff. My daughter wrote that song. Yeah, oh, absolutely. Not my daughter's on HBO because she wasn't sure what was going on at that point, but she could still remember the hook of what I got to do to get the... Yeah, oh absolutely. You know, not my daughter's on HBO because she wasn't sure what was going on at that point, but she could still remember the hook of what I gotta do to get the ****

****. And what are they gonna do? They can't say anything because she's, what's she gonna do? She's in a wheelchair, she can't walk. All right. Let me introduce you again. If you're just joining us, my guest is Bridget Everett and she stars in the HBO series Somebody Somewhere. The third and final season begins Sunday, not October 27th. We'll be right back. This is Fresh Air.

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Let's get back to my interview with Bridget Everett. She stars in the semi-autobiographical HBO series, Somebody Somewhere. And the third and final season begins Sunday, October 27th. Well, your mother was a singing teacher. I don't think she taught you, but... My mother was a music teacher. My mom taught in, she's a public school teacher, music teacher, and she also taught after school lessons, you know, violin, piano, whatever, guitar, everything. So she did not teach me, but she insisted that we all take piano lessons. And what's great about having

lessons and what's great about having a music teacher for a mother is that she thought that me wanting to be a singer was totally okay and she really supported it. And even as I was waiting tables all those years, she, she not unlike my sister was, well, you know, I remember I got some, I booked a festival in Australia and I called my mom and she said said look at that You're going across the world because of your singing. You know, it's just like Yeah, what did she think of your voice? she loved it she she was another one like You know when I would sing if I didn't get the lead part in the musical she thought I got robbed and

She loved my singing, but really we like to make music together. My brother Brock can play just anything by ear on the piano. He's so talented. He's very funny. And we actually, the three of us all love NPR. We love public radio and my... We appreciate that. In fact, this is a little story about my mom that I think is really funny. So my brother many years ago called, it was Mother's Day, and he called public radio, our local public radio station, and asked them to dedicate a song to my mom. He wanted to play their favorite song.

And so he's on the phone in Lawrence, I think, and she's in Manhattan, Kansas. And they're like, okay, this one is for Freddie Everett from your son Brock, blah, blah, blah. And they play My Funny Valentine, which is her favorite song. And at the end, they're sitting there and Brock says, well, mom, what'd you think of that? And she said, well, you know, smoke her a cigarette. Thoughtful. Cheap, but thoughtful. And that is my mom. So that's our connection to public radio. That's hilarious.

I love it. I love it. I don't know if I should ask you this about your mother or not. So your mother was a drinker. Should I go there or not? Yeah, that's fine. Your mother was a drinker, as is the mother in your series. And I'm wondering what kind of responsibilities that put on you and what kind of questions you had to ask yourself

about what to try to do about it when she was, you know, when the drinking was really getting out of control. Well, when my mom's drinking was honestly always out of control, but I just thought that that's the way life was. And then when I was in college or when I was living in Arizona, it really got bad. Like she stopped going to work, she locked her doors, you know, that kind of thing.

And then my brother and sister came and got her and took her to rehab. So they were the ones who really took action. For me, I just kind of thought that was how it was gonna be. I don't know. That's not a great answer, but it's the truth. Was she drinking when you were young and depending on her?

Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. She, you know, we used to, we still say to now fill it to the rim, Roger. She would have us go, you know, take her glass and fill it with scotch. And, you know, she'd say, fill it to the rim. You had to contribute to her drinking by filling the glass? Oh, yeah, yeah. And then, you know, help her get up to stair up the stairs to bed. And, you know, when it was just my brother Brock and my mom and me and every, you know, every else had grown up and left the house, we would go to Taco Tuesday and she'd have a bunch of margaritas and, you know, Brock would drive us home, drive her home. And, you know, she's

just kind of in the end, she's probably a narcissist of some kind, but she just was lawless about everything in life. And her drinking, you know, until she just, when she went to rehab, she just, that was it, she just stopped. She's like, I lost a taste for it. But her life was really out of control because of drinking. Did that contribute to any feelings you had of being uncared for or unloved? No, I think that probably stems more from my relationship with my dad. Even though she drank a lot,

she made us laugh and spent so much time with us. She came to every single swim meet, everything, every concert, every sitting in the front row. And she was very supportive. She just had a, she just drank way too much. I want to get back to your voice. So you studied voice in college at Arizona State University. You had a full scholarship. Opera was one of the things that you studied. in college at Arizona State University. You had a full scholarship. Opera was one of the things that you studied. Do you love opera? I do. I do.

So do I. It's not as trendy as it used to be. When was it trendy? I think I missed that. Oh, I know. Oh, that was a joke. Okay. I thought I missed something. No. I love it. I went to the opening night of the Met Opera last year,

which is really incredible. And it was just, to be able to sing that way is, for me, it was not compatible with my lifestyle. What do you mean by that? Well, I used to, in college when I was singing that way, you could still smoke in bars. Like, I don't smoke, but if you go to a bar and I like to go to bars, I would lose my voice

because I'm so sensitive to smoke. And if I drank, you could hear the clarity and my voice would change. And I was like, man, I don't want to be all, I don't want to live a life like this. So I found a style of singing that was more suitable to my lifestyle, which is however I sing now. But I do, I love classical music and I love just the richness of an operatic voice.

But it's not for me anymore. I had to hang up those cords. But what did you learn from opera that you can still take with you? Discipline. And that it's, you know, you have to care for your voice. You have to warm up. You have to cool down. It's like any other muscle.

You want to stretch it. You want to care for it. I wish that I took care of my insides and the rest of my body the way that I care for my voice. I'm always like drinking way too much water. I'm always running for the toilet, but you know, I know that's going to help me my voice stay healthy because when I can't sing, when I lose my voice for if I get a cold or for whatever reason or I've over sung or something, it really sends me into a spiral and kind of like, and it's just not worth those depths that I go to because it's like, oh, what if I get ever sing again?

It's the only thing that makes me happy. I often lose my voice when I have a cold. It turns into laryngitis and that can last for a couple of days or for a week. And they always think like, well, it'll come back. And then another voice in my head goes, how do you know? How do you know exactly? What if it doesn't? You know, for people like us who need their voice to pay the rent,

it's like, you know, it's a big deal. It's not just the paying the rent of it. It's because I love it and I need it. There was a period years ago when I'd get a cold, start to lose my voice, and I'd still be smoking on the air. This was in the days when you could have an ashtray and a cigarette in the studio. Yeah, and I thought, what are you doing? Do you still smoke?

Oh, no. I gave it up years ago, many years ago, decades ago. And that's what helped me give it up. I thought, like, this is sick. If you're smoking and losing your voice at the same time. That's that is really destructive. Yeah, totally well, my mom used to smoke in the car with the windows rolled up and It was just it was a living nightmare I just the smell makes me really sick to my stomach

If you're just joining us, my guess is Bridget Everett. She stars in the HBO series Somebody somewhere the third and final season begins Sunday night, October 27th. We'll be right back. This is Fresh Air. If you love our Fresh Air podcast, you should definitely try NPR+. With an upgrade to the NPR Plus bundle, you get access and perks from over 20 of NPR's most popular podcasts and more. And with Fresh Air+, you get sponsor-free listening and exclusive bonus episodes every week.

So basically, give a little and get a lot in return. Visit plus.npr.org. This message comes from the podcast Strict Scrutiny. Join law experts Melissa Murray, Leah Littman, and Kate Shaw as they break down the biggest legal headlines and SCOTUS decisions. New episodes drop every Monday. Subscribe to Strict Scrutiny wherever you get your podcasts and on YouTube. As election day approaches, NPRs consider this podcast is zooming in on six states that

could determine who wins the White House. Georgia, Nevada, Wisconsin, Michigan, Arizona, and Pennsylvania. We'll ask voters in these swing states what matters to them and which way they want the country to go. Follow along with new episodes this week on the Consider This podcast from NPR. This is Fresh Air. Let's get back to my interview with Bridget Everett. She stars in the semi-autobiographical HBO series, Somebody Somewhere. The third and final season begins Sunday, October 27th. You play a version of yourself in this series. Is that fair to say? Mm-hmm. You've been in

other films and played somebody who may resemble you, but it's not you in the way that this is, has like very direct connections to your life. What's it like to kind of play yourself in something that's also fictional? Well, I like it because I'm not a trained actor, and if there's something that emotionally resonates with me, it's easier for me to relax and connect to the scene. I also like it because I feel like the character of Sam is somebody that you don't really see, and she's got a lot of problems and a lot of flaws and you know she's like a plus-size woman in middle age and I don't know there's a lot I love playing about her

and getting to represent her and but for me I don't know I'm just like it's so unbelievable I'm talking to you right now about a show that I am a part of on HBO. Like I just, and that I play a part that's perfectly suited for me. This will never happen again. And it's, it's really incredible. In terms of your acting, you've learned how to cry on camera when your character needs to cry. Yeah. But I think it's like,

it's not like I want to cry? Yeah. But I think it's like, it's not like I want to cry in the scene. It's more when I'm just trying to understand where Sam is in that moment and just let it rip. And sometimes there's a scene and I think I'm going to cry and I don't cry. And then there's a scene where, you know, it's sort of unpredictable. Like, there was a scene in this think I'm going to cry and I don't cry. And then there's a scene where it's unpredictable. Like there was a scene in this season, I was like,

I think this is going to be such an emotional scene for me. And it just wasn't at all. The other character is crying. But I mean, I was emotionally engaged, but I just wasn't crying. And then there's other times when you're overcome with emotion in the scene. And I think it's just trying to, what I've tried to do through the whole experience of the show, from the writing to production to the acting of it, is just be as present and as honest as I can be.

I really struggle with that in real life. I feel like I'm constantly like uncomfortable where I am and expressing, I have a hard time expressing myself. So I really wanted to take the opportunity of this show to live in it. If that meant crying, great. If it meant fart jokes, great. But I was all in. So it sounds like you learned to be more emotionally

accessible in terms of being receptive to other people and accessing your own emotions through playing yourself in the series. Yeah, I think that's 100% true. Because I've learned so much doing this show. And I've learned from not just playing Sam and writing the different characters but I've, you know, I have learned by being Sam who struggles with self-worth that I've learned that maybe I am enough and maybe I deserve this and maybe this moment

was because I earned it. So HBO at the end of the month will start the final season of Somebody Somewhere. It's the third and final season. How did you and everybody else decide that this is it? This is the final season? Well, the fact that we even got a pilot felt like a miracle. And every time we got greenlit for another season, it felt like a miracle. And every time we got greenlit for another season, it felt like

a miracle. It's a small show with a small audience on a small budget, and we have a very loyal and loving audience. And some of our biggest fans are at HBO, and they have been very supportive of us. And as far as, you know, behind the scenes, we wrote every season like it was a moment in time and never knowing when the show would be over. So it's, this is the end of this iteration, but, you know, maybe we'll do a movie one day. Maybe, who knows what's next?

Because for me, the characters still live on and I know that their stories are not done and, you know, ready to tell more when it's time. Are you still doing your cabaret act? I'm playing The Beacon on Thursday night and there are probably just a few tickets left. Do you wanna come and see it? I wish I could. Well, maybe a listener would.

Well, I wanna congratulate you on the series. I really love it. I wish I was friends with the people on it. I mean, with the characters. Not that I wouldn't mind being friends with you. But they're all such like interesting, complex, and you know flawed but wonderful people. Well I hope that you enjoy the new season. I'm I think it's the best season yet.

I'm so proud of this show and we really appreciate you having me on and talking about it because I we want more people to see it. Brigid Everett stars in the HBO series Somebody Somewhere. The third and final season begins this Sunday October 27th. Tomorrow on Fresh Air we'll talk with New Yorker staff writer Susan Glasser about her article Purchasing Power. We'll also talk about Trump's new crypto venture. I hope you'll join us. To keep up with what's on the show and get highlights of our interviews, follow us on Instagram at NPR Fresh Air's executive producer is Danny Miller. Our technical director is Audrey Bentham.

Our engineer is Adam Stanaszewski. Our interviews and reviews are produced and edited by Phyllis Myers, Ann-Marie Boudinotto, Sam Brigger, Lauren Krenzel, Teresa Madden, Monique Nazareth, Thea Challener, Susan Yacundi, and Anna Bauman. Our digital media producers are Molly C. Vinesper and Sabrina Seaworth. Roberta Shorerock directs the show.

Our co-host is Tanya Mosley. I'm Terri Gross. This message comes from Grammarly. Back and forth communication at work is costly. That's why over 70,000 teams and 30 million people use Grammarly's AI to make their points clear the first time. Better writing, better results. Learn more at Grammarly.com slash Enterprise.

Hey there, it's Ian and Mike. And on the How to Do Everything podcast from the team at Wait, Wait, Don't Tell Me, we will answer any question you have, no matter how ridiculous. Like maybe you want to get a haircut in space and you're not sure how. Astronaut Frank Rubio has had a haircut in space. We plan for everything, right? And so it's not a pretty haircut for sure, but it's functional. Listen to the How to Do Everything podcast from NPR.

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