WSHU: I'm Randy Kaye from WSU Public Radio, and this is an arts and culture feature, and I am so excited to be here with, dare I say, my friend and mentor, Lisa Lampanelli, who I'm reading straight from your website, Lisa. “After having hit every possible career high in her stand-up career, including sold-out shows at Radio City Music Hall and Carnegie Hall. Lampanelli is thrilled to see what lies ahead.”
Lisa Lampanelli: Yaaas queen! Yaaas.
WSHU: Whoever wrote that website did a fantastic job.
LL: They summed it up.
WSHU: And one of the things that is coming up for Lisa is a show that you are associate producing, yes, and it is called The People versus Lenny Bruce.
LL: Yes, one of my comedic heroes, Lenny Bruce. It's based on his obscenity trial in 1964. And by the way, let me say, Randy, I love you. Thank you for having me on. We're actually super good friends. She's my best student ever.
WSHU: Hear that, everybody in the class.
LL: Never forget. But it's so cool, because I literally, after retiring from stand up in 2018, I thought I really didn't care about my legacy, because I had let a lot of that go, and part of me, about a year ago, started going, Wow, I wonder if people know how into freedom of speech promotion I was? And that's why I did comedy, and that's why the kind of insult comedy I did included everyone. And then this play, like drops in my lap, literally, by a playwright who's like, “Oh, I heard you're really into these issues. Want to read it.” And I read it, and I was like, oh my god, I have to be involved with this. So I couldn't believe it. She has a theater booked, Theater Row on 42nd Street. It's just like, so exciting. And I just got overly involved and bossy and made the associate producer. I know I can't imagine. It's so off-brand.
WSHU: That is so wonderful. And I do want to talk about the play, because it remains, sadly, so timely.
LL: Yeah.
WSHU: But let's go back a little bit. You are a Connecticut native.
LL: Yes, proudly-ish.
WSHU: Well, you know that is our listening area.
LL: I love it. I love it.
WSHU: Although you are a global star. When I first met you and I took your storytelling class, and I'm still your student and mentee. And you are the person who coached me to my one-person show called Cracks and All that, booking here and there, which is very exciting. And I have to say that one thing I love about you is that when you're done with something, you're done with it.
LL: I have always said. And I think this is, this is not a joke. Quitting is really important when you know in your entire body, below the neck, that you're done with something, you can leave it before you hate it. You can leave it before you burn bridges. You could just notice it in the body and go, You know what, I think I'm done. It's happened with divorces. It's happened, so I've had great ex-husbands, because we're never, like, hateful of each other. I've had amazing experiences, like ex-careers, like stand-up in newspaper journalism, where I didn't make any enemies, or, for the most part, more enemies than I could have handled. And I was like, wow. And sold houses when I was supposed to I was like, Okay, I just know when to go. So I knew in 2018, like, oh, stand-ups kind of like, not for me anymore. It's not filling my soul. And I said, let me see what comes next, without searching. And these different things just keep coming in. Like, teaching the adult class of students I have with you, teaching stand-up at the Norwalk Conservatory of the Arts.
WSHU: Tell me more about that, because, you know, we hold our classes there, and I've been to some of the showcases. Tell me about the Norwalk Conservatory and the students there, and your work there.
LL: It's so insane. Another thing that just came to me by remaining open after retirement. So one day I was reading my Instagram, and the head of the school, Danny Loftus George. He had DM me, and I don't know him. And he had said, “Do you want to come and, like, just give a talk as a guest speaker?” And I go, “No, I want to teach a class.” Like, I love teaching stand-up. And I did that early on, when I didn't have a career yet, to just, kind of, like, make some extra money, whatever. And I was like, Oh, I really know what I'm talking about now. So I'm like, on faculty there, which is nuts. Just call me Professor!
WSHU: Are you Professor Lampley?
LL: Kind of a teacher, yeah. But it's so cool because the kids are all, you know, very good actors, singers, dancers, some of them are trying to stand up for the first time. It's adorable. And I just love it, because that age group is so different than the one I teach; your class is adults, like people, normally over 35 or so, who are kind of reinventing, et cetera. And these kids are just getting started, and there's so much hope and openness, and they're just willing to fail too, which I love. Like they're willing to try stuff, screw up and come back next week and do it. So I love that school also, because so much is on scholarship. So many kids just wouldn't have the chance to go to the conservatory for that kind of price. And it's pretty amazing. And oh, by the way, one of them just opened on Broadway, had to drop out in The Outsiders. Three others had to drop out because they're on tour with national tours. And I'm like, “Okay, this school puts out really good kids,” and actually, good attitudes to. Like so far, I always say, Danny, so far I don't hate anyone, and that's saying a lot. Girl…
WSHU: I know, and that is so wonderful. Now, in between those things, though, you tried being a life coach for a while.
LL: Oh, god yes. I have my opinions, but I'll keep them to myself.
WSHU: I know that would be frustrating for me, too. Yes, it's like you don't want to do what I told you to do. Why are you even here? But you're still, there's still a huge interest of yours. But I also, can I ask you about your podcast?
LL: Yeah, well, I just phased it out again. I knew I'd had enough.
WSHU: Did you? Okay.
LL: I did one year of this IHeart podcast called Shrink This. All episodes are up. It's so funny and heartfelt, and it's a lot of the coaching training I'm getting now to help people, but in a funny way. So we would combine humor and self-help. But I was like, hmm, this feels like it's complete. Yes. I go, cool, and it's so funny because I leave there and I'm still talking to all the people and we're still having fun and conversation. I go, boy, you just have to listen to yourself.
WSHU: Yet, there's something about a clean slate and leaving before you get resentful. I totally, totally get that certain things you can't leave, like parenting, but I always know that there's, there's such power in saying I did that, it's done, and now I'm going to do something else.
LL: Yes, or I'm not going to do anything, which I think is a superpower also of just contentment and peace, which I mean, hopefully when I'm 85, I'll be able to do that, because I can't do it now, because I'm like, I just have to be creative somehow.
WSHU: I'm kind of like, what's next? What can I do next?
LL: Yeah, and I think, instead of me, in the old days, where I just looked and looked and looked, what, what, what? I go, “Wait a minute. You have full evidence that if you stay open and just listen, it'll come in.” And these things, these like this, Lenny Bruce thing, it just wandered into my lap. I go, Oh, all right,
and now it's the message I want to give about freedom of speech and about, you know, come on, it's a big issue now, more than ever, more than in 1964 even,
WSHU: So in a different way, in a more you know, again, 1964, there was no social media. The world is different, but judgment is not.
LL: Oh my goodness. Yes ma’am.
WSHU: So I know this is not your first off-Broadway experience. You wrote a play called Stuffed to that, and now you're associated with it, and I would love to talk about that for a long time, but it was about, you know, eating disorders and weight management and so on, and people can probably find a little bit of that on YouTube. I think,
LL: Oh, okay. And also, what's funny again, that was another thing where I spent, like, three years developing it, writing it had two off-Broadway runs at really respected theaters, and that I remember, you would love this. It closed early, but I knew it was the right call. I did. I'm not an eight-show-a-week person. As a stand-up, I was doing two shows a week at theaters. And I was like, that's like, my schedule. I was like, I have to go on stage every night. Like, that's just not in my nature, also, as I get older and stuff. So when that ended, I remember writing the press release myself, instead of having the press agent do it and thanking the Broadway community and saying we didn't find our audience like we should have. Because this issue of food and body image is so huge, especially for women.
WSHU: Of course,
LL: I said it'll find its place someday, if it's supposed to. But thank you, because I've never felt more supported, except in the Broadway and off-Broadway community. So I was like, I was almost happy that it ended that way. So I don't think financial or achievement is the way to look at success. I just let go of the results and am gone. Okay? It served its purpose. Those who needed to see it did.
WSHU: Right, same. I feel the same way I feel when you create something and you put it out in the world, it's like birthing a child and it's going to have a life of its own, and whoever needed to see it or hear it or heard it. You know, as a theater actor myself, sometimes you put your heart and soul into a play, and it's a theater that seats 44 people. And you're like, wow, I just work really hard for these 44 people, but these 44 people matter, and it’s still a sold-out house. So you put it out there, and I've written a book that, you know, was a bestseller for a day, and then it sells five copies a month, now it's a lot. But, you know, I figure whoever needs to read it will read it. So we keep doing these creative things because creativity feels good. So let's talk a bit about this play. It is about Lenny Bruce, one of your idols, and it's part of a trilogy called All the Court’s a Stage where Susan Charlotte wrote these three plays on these three famous cases by civil rights attorney Martin Garbus. But this is particularly Lenny Bruce, and it begins previews May 7, but opening night officially is Thursday, May 14. So tell us a bit about you, know, your involvement in the play. I know you've posted a few things on your Instagram about the cast and everything. What has your experience been like so far? And why should people see this play?
LL: Well, they should see it because the freedom of speech issue is so resonant now and so important, it's even ramping up more still. But also, it's not only very dramatic and well written, but it's also really funny, because Lenny Bruce is a comedy icon. This isn't about someone who wasn't funny, and the actor they got is someone who's not doing an impression, which I love. He's getting the heart and soul of Lenny Bruce in there. He's a really good actor named Johnny Anthony, a discovery. And every other actor is like a famous-ish theater actor, Roberta Wallach, daughter of Eli Wallach and Ann Jackson. They're Steven Schnetzer, who was on another world for 40 years as a lawyer, and he's playing the lawyer. So they're all really talented. So, of course, you know, I like the idea of being involved with theater people. They have so much to say, and they have so much heart, and they're funnier than I thought they'd be. I thought they'd be a bunch of actors who didn't have a sense of humor. But we're doing a lot of social media videos of them and a lot of postings. I was like, “Oh, these guys are multifaceted, too”. So the plays really land well. What I've seen of the script landed great for me, but also lands well the scenes I've seen; it's really emotional and also funny at the same time.
WSHU: Wonderful. Is it like a courtroom drama?
LL: Yeah, yeah.
WSHU: So it all takes place in the court.
LL: Yeah, it's very simple, one act, 90 minutes. And Martin Garbus himself is a producer on it, because he's still alive. He's 92 years old. Or about to turn 92 and I interviewed him for social media. And boy, he's got all the cylinders firing and like that guy keeps everything in his head. So he's a genius, really. So I bet that's nice for him to feel like he still matters. I think people need to see they still matter. And it's interesting because our playwright is over 70, and I love that too. So there's all this stuff too about while we're older, but we can get the job done. Like, I'm about to turn 65 and I'm like, Oh well, because I never had kids and never wanted kids, but
WSHU: But you're an aunt.
LL: Yeah, I'm a great aunt. I would say it's a I feel like, wow, I'm just getting started in a weird way. I never thought I'd say that. So I feel like so much is lying ahead. And this seems to be the first of many things that kind of light me up. It's cool.
WSHU: That's when you feel like something lights you up. It's fantastic. So the play is The People Versus Lenny Bruce, and it is at the Theater Row theater four, 410 West 42nd Street in New York City. By the way, the great parking garage right near there, and its performances will continue through Sunday, June 28.
LL: Yeah, I think that's great.
WSHU: So that is fantastic. Hope. I doubt that it will close early. And if you want to know more, your Instagram is @LisaLampanelli.
LL: Lisa Lampanelli, you could probably spell it right. I changed the real spelling to be palatable to people who aren't Italian.
WSHU: This way, it's hard to misspell. So Lisa, thank you so much for joining us and for your work. And I know you hate the word reinvention, but you're very inspiring and so much fun to be around. And I love you too, and thank you for joining us.
