← All Of It with Alison Stewart
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- [00:08]
A
This is all of it on wnyc. I'm Alison Stewart. Just a reminder, WNYC is teaming up with the New York Blood center for a one day blood drive. It's taking place this coming Tuesday, December 9th from 9:30am to 2:00pm right here in the WNYC green space at the corner of Varick and Charlton streets. You can do something good for your fellow New Yorker and you can do it from our performance space in lower Manhattan. To sign up, head to nybc.org wnyc that's NYBC stands for newyorkblood center.org wnyc that's in the future. Now we have an hour of concert previews for you. Let's start with Anna Gasteyer.
- [00:57]
Sugar and booze is the name of Anna Gasteyer's holiday Spectacular happening on December 15th at at the town Hall. Take a listen.
- [01:08]
B
Bells are ringing and a jinglin folks are mixing and a mingling Twinkling lights and tinsel on the tree.
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How I love to keep the yuletide gay Call me corny or cliche but there's a reason that the season brings so much joy to me.
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I love snowmen and turtle doves in twos Holly ivy mistletoe can take away my blues Kris Kringle and his reindeer friends they endlessly amuse but the best part of the holidays is sugar and booze I love mittens and skating on the ice But I cried right through December Mixing naughty with that nice so pour a nip into that dog and let it light your fumes because the best part of the holidays is sugar.
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A
And booze Anna is a wonderful singer. She trained at Northwestern before this thing they referred to as comedy came calling. Whether it be on Saturday Night Live playing Martha Stewart or lampooning public radio or on its lute as an uber wealthy divorcee or on Broadway in Wicked or in Once Upon a Mattress. Anna is a delight. She joins us to give us a preview of her concert. Welcome back.
- [02:37]
C
Yay. Thank you so much for having me.
- [02:39]
A
So I told you I am going to your show. I bought tickets. I invited friends to come to your show. What do we need to know? Do we dress up? Yes. Is there audience participation? What do I need to know?
- [02:50]
C
All of the above. Obviously it's me. So it's a little comed, a lot of joy and it's basically just it's a collection of seasonal secular favorites. As I like to say, we're going to celebrate the holiday. We're going to let it rip. We have custom town hall's been coming up with some cool custom drink ideas and specialty beverages. I like a Christmas sweater. I'd like an elephant. A white elephant. Re gift.
- [03:13]
A
Okay.
- [03:13]
C
If you. If you've got a dud hanging around in the closet and you want to get rid of it, we've got some games we're going to play with it on stage. And basically, yeah, we're just going to laugh a lot and sing a lot. We've got a full horn section here in New York, which is always my favorite because I have a big, loud, horny voice, if you will. And, yeah, we're gonna let it rip. My bandleader, Julian Fleischer, is gonna be with us, and I'm really excited. This is my favorite band. We've worked together a long time, and the opportunity to do it in a big, storied venue like Town hall is so exciting.
- [03:43]
A
Yeah. I was gonna ask about Julian Fleischer. What do you like working about with him?
- [03:46]
C
So Julian and I have been working together for, like, 20 years. He produced my first album, I'm Hip, and my second album. And he's just sort of a. He's just got a. He's like a savant. He's a really talented music producer. He hears.
- [04:03]
Comedy really well inside of music, which is not the most comp. It can be an overly earnest skewing group. It can also be a ridiculous skewing group. But I have. Yeah, I live. I live squarely in the middle of these two Personas that I have. My comedian Persona and my musical Persona, which you encapsulated beautifully in the introduction. But it took me sort of a long time to fuse them because I really went from funny SNL wig lady to, you know, I started as a music major, as you described, and then I fell down the comedy rabbit hole at Northwestern and then went out to LA and did the growlings and sketch. And music was just sort of something in my toolkit. But then when I left snl, I dug deeper, did a bunch of Broadway shows, started studying again, and when I started putting my own act together, kind of found this really fun marriage between. It was. It's very throwbacky. It's very nostalgic. Sort of Rosemary Clooney May Idol, like, sort of the ability. Late entertainers, late 50s, early 60s. Late late 50s, early 60s entertainer era of ladies who could. Broads. Who could stand in front of a. Broads. Yeah, broads who could stand in front of a band and deliver a joke. So I feel like I do both well. And Julian kind of helped Me tap into that part of myself. And I love arranging with him, I love writing with him. And I'm really. There's a. There's just always a sense of joy. It always leads with joy. Which is why the holiday album, I think, has persisted. It's a, you know, five year old album, but as continued to tour, we pick up sort of loyal traditionalists every year. And the holidays do that. You know, they have this throwback sense of tradition that people want to come together and celebrate. So that's what the. That's what the show aims to do.
- [05:44]
A
I think people need joy in their lives right now. Yeah, you know, they really do.
- [05:48]
C
They do. And that's why we give away prizes. I collect things throughout the year. I keep all of my husband's Delta first class amenities kits. I think it's important for people to feel like they can fly first class, even if they're sitting in first ass, as we like to say.
- [06:00]
We try. I basically, I go around my house and meet both of my needs. I purge things I no longer want and I give gifts to others.
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A
Sounds perfect. It sounds perfect.
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C
So come on down to town hall for some of Anna Gasteyer's crap.
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But yeah, we have, we have. And we have a few new songs too. I'm going to bust out the fiddle for the first time in a long time publicly.
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A
Oh, my gosh. I knew you played fiddle.
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C
Many people don't, and they're shocked to learn that I do. I'm still shocked. But I did go to fiddle camp for my 50th birthday, and so I felt that I had to add that, you know, I mean, nothing says the holidays like fiddle.
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A
Not violin, though.
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C
No, not violin. It's all in the attitude.
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A
I was about to say.
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C
Yeah, sad violin. If you want a wistful, sad holiday song, I'm, you know, maybe I'll write that just in time.
- [06:48]
A
But yeah, now you have shows planned for across the country.
- [06:52]
C
Yeah, we're running across the Midwest next year. I mean, next week. Next week, hopefully.
- [06:56]
A
But you already played in Philadelphia.
- [06:57]
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Yes, we did. Yeah.
- [06:58]
A
What did you learn from that show? That's like, yay, we're gonna do that again and other times we're gonna pass on that.
- [07:05]
C
We never pass on anything because there's nothing but a good discovery. I would say it's a lot. I talk a lot. I'm a talker, and I have a long set list. So I always have to be very mindful of what, what. What pearls are worth sharing and which are best kept. You Know, and we forgot to bring the prize box on stage, so we did have to do some vamping. Okay.
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A
Remember, prize box?
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Yeah. We have to bring the prize because everybody wants prizes. Everybody. That's the whole point. Everybody likes a prize, a holiday prize.
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A
Your next show, I think, is in Minneapolis.
- [07:33]
C
Yes.
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A
How are audiences different from region to region?
- [07:36]
C
That's such a great question.
- [07:39]
The Midwestern crowd really leans in heavy on the Hallmark side of things. They like the sort of. They really go for the costume, which I really enjoy. There's a lot of tartan, there are a lot of bows. People deck it out and they get their hair done, which I enjoy. There's some hot rollers in the house, you know, and this will be my first year in Minneapolis. I'm really looking forward to it. We've never played there, but we always play Chicago, and I originated Alphabet there. So I have a very loyal and lovely fan base. And what I find so fulfilling. Well, first of all, my favorite vintage shop is there, so I always try to get it on the. So I can stop by Secret Treasures in Evanston. And we do actually add my merch this year. I have a bunch of vintage you are wearing. I'm rocking the merch. I love my merch. I like my holiday stuff. I like the holidays. But we did a vintage, a curated vintage collection this year, too, which is really fun. And so Secret Treasures is always a stop along the way. Anyway, it's not really answering your questions. There's just a joyous sense of tradition in the Midwest, I would say. But that said, I've played New York now several years, and it's always wonderful because we land here. So it's this kind of savvy homecoming and smarty pants in the audiences in New York. And I always feel like I can tell the truth 100% because I'm a New Yorker, and.
- [08:58]
It is always very close to the holidays. So there's a. I don't know, the fact that I like to think of my show as a holiday party. And I feel like people treat it that way, at least historically. One of the highest compliments is that I feel like people show up, you know, in the way that you would to a holiday party, that they dress up, they come out, they have their cocktails, they come together, whatever their crew, their family, their mom group, whatever it is, and people tend to festoon themselves. So I, I, I, I applaud that because it.
- [09:28]
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I'm planning an outfit in my head just as we're talking.
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C
I bet you are, because you Always got the looks.
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A
A little bit on the arms, a little bit of fur around the edge.
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Exactly. And everyone has more plaid and holiday sweater in their. The. In their collection. I have four pairs of tartan shoes at this point and I don't have anywhere to wear them because I'm always performing it on the road. So tartan shoes.
- [09:47]
A
Okay. Yeah, I can picture it. Anna Gasteyer is my guest. Her holiday spectacular Sugar and Booze is happening at the town hall on Dec. Said you're going to Evanston.
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C
Yep.
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A
It was 15 degrees in Evanston yesterday.
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C
Yes.
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How do you take care of your voice on the road?
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C
I. It's. It's such a thing. It's like I have to travel with a humidifier like a nerd. I have glycerin spray Entertainer secret. I use. I have all of these on a TikTok that went weirdly viral last year. I use these cough drops, you know, Grers, which all the Broadway people use, but I also use.
- [10:23]
What are they called? Something Brothers Pine brothers. It's super O.G. it's like they're. They've been in a vault from the 50s, but sometimes you find them in like Rexalls, like old timey drugstores, like call your neighborhood druggist. But they're called Pine Brothers Cough Drops. And they're just glycerin. But most of it is just humidity and water. Water, water, water, water. And you can't really booze it until after you're done.
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A
All right.
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C
Which kind of sucks because the show's called Sugar and Booze. But I like to. I'll entitle myself to a delicious cordial when I'm done.
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A
What did you learn at Northwestern?
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C
Nothing.
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A
About your voice?
- [10:58]
C
I learned how to make fart sounds under my armpits in the best possible way.
- [11:03]
A
Which you still use this day?
- [11:05]
C
Well, so I did. I trained in high school and I trained at Northwestern. I definitely know how to breathe. I learned. I learned diaphragmatic don't giggle breath. And then my. When I really. So I think that's always been there. Like all of that fake legit stuff I do as Bobby Mohan Culp, my character. The middle school music teachers I did with.
- [11:22]
A
Oh, we're getting to her.
- [11:23]
C
That's all like, in there. I learned obviously the most about my voice from eight a week. You just learned that from Wicked, From Threepenny Opera, from Passion. I had this great sequence because I did Elphaba in Chicago. Then I came here and I did Threepenny Opera on Broadway. Then I did Elphaba on Broadway. And then I did Passion, Stephen Sondheim's show again in Chicago. And so I went basically from screaming belt lady to legit to screaming about lady to legit, which muscularly was just a happy accident for my voice, because all of that Elphaba screaming is not good for you day after day after day after day. And, you know, you have to live like a nun, but the legit is just better supported, period. So it just lives in a different, less dangerous place in your voice for the music nerds out there, or voice nerds. And sleep. Sleep's the number one. Sleep is the number one antidote to everything, period. The end. So from Northwestern, I learned how to breathe. From Broadway, I learned placement and safety. And then honestly, post, like last year, I did Mattress. But I mean, working with my own band and working with American, you know, songbook standards and jazz and lyrically driven music and comedy, frankly, for Bobby and Marty and all the characters that I've played because there are notes that I can sing in character that I often don't believe I can sing.
- [12:46]
A
Oh, really?
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C
If you just put the music in front of me, be like, I can't hit that. But then people, musical directors I've worked with, like, I have heard you do that as that character. So I've learned from being on my own with a band and really leaning less about how other people think it's supposed to sound and more into just whatever's fun that. That there's more flexibility in my voice than I ever would believe. Like, I think if you're a rule follower, sort of the voice lesson part of it, and the Broadway part can be pretty uptight because you're living inside somebody's instructive manual and you're trying to deliver something that you feel they want to hear as opp to the freedom of working with my own band and making my own music. And when I started writing songs is when I really started. You know, I've always written comedy songs, but when I wrote songs for Sugar and Boost for the album, I just started making choices that I don't think I. That I didn't feel judged around, you know, because it was my own judgment.
- [13:39]
A
Does that make sense? It does. As you said, you're really big into the holidays. Yes. And New York magazine asked you for your gift giving strategy.
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One of the. Yes. One of the highlights of my life.
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My friend, was like, you're gonna interview Anna Gastar, ask her about things. They wanted to know all about the things that you suggested.
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C
Okay.
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A
And you Got a whirly pop. You said it was your favorite thing that you have ever gotten. Well, are you or you?
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C
It's just a high. I take gift. I have a gift guide on my website, anagastire.com where you can also get your tickets to town hall. But yes, I have a gift guide this year because I really do. I'm a Taurus. I'm a Taurus. And I do take gift giving very seriously. Like I've had the dream that people have where they have to finish their math exam in high school about like not having the right presence for people. I'd rather not give a present at all than give a crappy stupid. Just buy something to have it. So I really like giving gifts that are practical, that fix someone's life, that make them that, that, that sort of make their life better. So either in an aesthetic way because it's a pretty elevated version of something or because it's a little bit nicer than they might swing for themselves. You know, the thing that they're like, that would be a little, you know, the nicer. And I also. But if there's pragmatism at the heart of it, I also love that. Like if you can get, you know, Dr. Teal's foot magnesium spray, there's like this hot to trot magnesium spray for people's feet to help them sleep. Right now that's like $70 a bottle. You can get Dr. Teal for five. And it's the same ingredients. Like I'm all about that. Or the Trader Joe's retinol. Go for it.
- [15:08]
But the Whirley Pop is this ridiculous. This friend of mine at Saturday Night a writer gave it to us one year. She was just giving out holiday gifts because she was in the. Had the holiday spirit. And it's this old fashioned popcorn maker. It's Stove Top and it makes the most incredible popcorn. We've probably given that gift gift 20 times since I got it. It's just a great gift. I, I love a good salad bowl. Go to my gift guide. Seriously. I really put some time in it. Not just the one on the strategist, but the one on anagastire.com because I really am proud of the like, I don't know, it's ridiculous that I spend time on this. But I, I like, I, I like giving something that makes someone's life better. Like a super fancy umbrella that they would never buy for themselves. Because you're, you know, you're pro gift card though. I am pro gift card, which People find scandalous. But I would rather someone use the thing and make their life better than re. Gift it at my show, you know, so, like my. Especially for you of a teenage teenager, too. I actually think gift cards are great for teenagers because they. They don't really want to be cornered or labeled, so. And also, if you, like, know they're gonna use it, I mean, my son will probably go to use a. I've given him, like, Cane's chicken. I've given him Chipotle cards. You know, they're just. They make very handy, like. Like all purpose. And also people who give you, I don't know, anytime you're having a bad day, I feel like a gift card is just like an extra bonus.
- [16:28]
A
Oh, free money.
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C
Free money. Right.
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A
Free money.
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C
So, like, you're on jury duty, you've got the blues, but, oh, my God, you can get yourself a, you know, Starbucks. You know what I mean? Or it's raining. I like rain things. I. I do like. That's why I like a nice umbrella. I like cute wellies. Because if it's raining and you're sad, like, then you're like, oh, I get my. I get to use my fun umbrella, though. Though.
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A
You said, though, in the article that the worst gift you ever got happened when you were seven years old. And they were tights. Tights were the same vintage.
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C
Yeah.
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Tights were bad when we were little girls.
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Well, first of all, they float. All of them float. It was like crotch float.
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Exactly, right.
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Sort of waddle around. She's the same age. Yeah.
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Like, you all wore tights. They were around your knees.
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Yeah, around your knees. Just kind of bunchy in. In prohibitive. Itchy. Just generally unpleasant. Yeah. Somebody gave me. I remember. And it was like back in the day, Children don't have to do this anymore because they live a privileged life. But we used to have to gather and then open everything in front of everyone. Do you remember that?
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Oh, yes.
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And then you would have to look excited about the tights because you couldn't hurt anyone's feelings. So that's. I think I burst into tears and was separated in that particular incident, which is why I remember it. I mean, it was a pair of navy tights.
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That's sad.
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Isn't that sad?
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That is sad.
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That is not a Barbie.
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A
Let's talk about something more fun. My guest, then. A guest star, by the way, her holiday spectacular Sugar and Booze, is happening in the town hall on December 15th. Come to the show. I'm coming to the show. It's Going to be really, really fun. 2025, it was a big year for SNL.
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C
Yeah.
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A
The 50th anniversary show.
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C
Yeah.
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A
When you look back on your period in that period of your life.
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Yeah.
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A
What is something that you just won't forget?
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C
Saturday Night Live times Saturday Night Live. But then why did I say it that way? It's like the voiceover Night Live. Saturday Night Live.
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Well, I never. I don't remember much because I literally didn't sleep and was just adrenal. The pure joy of. It's the. I can't believe that I was dropped into this experience. Well, a life between the groundlings and SNL. Groundlings also turned 50 this year, as did the improv show I was a part of at Northwestern. So something was in the water in 1975.
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My favorite memory universally vibe wise about SNL was a Wednesday. We would write All Night Tuesday. And for the most part, that was like all things creative, about 11 hours of dread and one of the. Of ecstatic joy. Right. We're just avoiding, avoiding, avoiding, avoiding. And then you get the thing done and then it's like your favorite thing you've ever done. And on a Wednesday, you know, every odd. Every now and again, you would write something that you were so excited to bring to the table later on that day to the read through table. And that pure like, just psychotic mirth after like an hour and a half of sleep, heading uptown to the read through table, knowing that something delightful was about to happen that you were, that you were gonna bring to the table. That was the greatest feeling in the world. And I loved the rewrite table. Writers hate the rewrite table. They all find it absolutely miserable. I could never get over the fact that I was. I'd written something and then I got to have this team of whatever, 20 experts sit and punch up my sketch. I mean, that's like the greatest privilege in the world. And when Rachel Dratch and I wrote, we wrote this holiday, Another Christmas Thing, we wrote a Hallmar Holiday parody. It's called A Cluster Funk Christmas. You can watch it on Paramount. Plus, when we wrote that, we had like a little punch up room. And that was one of my favorite parts of that experience. We had, you know, six of our favorite comedy writers just spend a day again punching it up and finding better jokes. There's just nothing better than a hive mind of comedic people in one room.
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A
At the 50th anniversary. You performed as the Culps.
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Yes.
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Wikipedia describes them as Marty and Bobby were an awkward, unstylish, married Couple who serve as music teachers at Altadena Middle School. In the sketches, they would perform prim, conservative medleys of modern pop, R and B or rap songs at various school functions, much to the embarrassment of their unseen son who attended the school.
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C
Unseen son. That's funny. That's the Wikipedia part. I was waiting for the Wikipedia shoe to fall. That would be. I don't know who they're talking about.
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A
Okay.
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C
But, yes, the other. Anyone in the audience was bummed. I mean, the premise was always that it was a real. That you got Bobby and Marty at.
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A
Your prom or whatever, and you decided to perform as part of your special, as part of your contribution to the 50th anniversary, a little snippet of Kendrick Lamar.
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C
Yes. Yes.
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What was difficult about performing Kendrick Lamar?
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C
Everything. The rhythm is insanely hard. Also everything. We didn't. Those medleys are always the last thought, and you don't know that you're gonna get the rights until the 11th hour to even do the song. And, yeah, just finding the rhythm and finding the bit which worked. And also, frankly, that song had, you know, eclipsed all possible numbers of whatever revolutions in the world. And we actually went back and forth about whether or not we even wanted to do that Kendrick song because we were like. I think it was like just after the Grammys and, you know, it had been everywhere, but the universe allowed us to do it and like it.
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A
And because we are a news organization, we're going to play a little bit of it.
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Everybody at the party playing those out, we hear round.
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C
Certified lover boy, certified pedophile.
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I'mma do myself.
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A
So funny.
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C
Somebody in one of the early comments, because it went totally viral, obviously, and it was so fun to, like, read the comments. Somebody. Somebody wrote T H r o o t T o o T T o o T R which really made me laugh. Everybody. Yeah, it was so. It was so fun. It was. It was one of the most fun things I think I've ever gotten to do.
- [22:44]
A
Something else that is really fun is someone should go on your Instagram page because at the Thanksgiving Day parade, you were watching Ragtime.
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C
I know. I got.
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A
And you can see you in the back. You're verklempt.
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C
I got verklempt.
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They're performing. And you were the back. Like, oh, my.
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The embarrassing Broadway mom.
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What were you thinking when you heard the performance?
- [23:04]
C
Well, his voice, Joshua Henry's voice is just. I don't even know how a person can sing that well. I know a lot of unbelievable singers, but that music's so Beautiful. I just bought my tickets. My parents are much older and they're coming, you know, for, for Christmas. And I just bought my holiday tickets to go see Ragtime. And I, you know, Lear Debessonet directed Mattress. And I've been so, so excited. And one of the. We were invited maybe 10 years ago to sit in the front row at Macy's. And I didn't know that it was the, like a special, special thing like that, those particular seats. And so I mean that this. I didn't know they were in the front row, but they were like the 34th Street. So I sent my dad and my kid, my, the kids while I cooked. And then we were punished and banished to 72nd street for the next 10 years. And I like, I've done a million like interviews with Macy's. I love, I love the parade. So we go every year. So when they invited us this year, I was like, we're not blowing this. We're going to sit in the front row. We're going to look, you know. So I was so excited because, because the Broadway shows are right there. So you get to see everybody warm up. You get to watch every Broadway show. Like it was really exciting and I got extra excited cause it was my personal dresser, Courtney Alfrey, who was there with Josh. So I was really excited. Yeah.
- [24:14]
A
You can see Anna gasteyer on Monday, December 15th at the Town hall for her spectacular Sugar and Booze. We are really excited to see you. Come back to New York. Have a great time out in the road.
- [24:27]
C
Thank you so much.
- [24:28]
A
Make a U turn. Come on back to 43rd Street. Should we go out on a song with Maya Rudolph?
- [24:33]
C
Secret Santa, yeah, Secret Santa, yeah. One of my faves.
- [24:35]
A
Thanks for coming in.
- [24:36]
C
Thank you.
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Hey, Anna. Where have you been, girl? I didn't see you at the holiday office party.
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Oh, Maya, I'm so glad you called.
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C
I've needed a friend to lean on I think I got woke this weekend.
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B
Spill the beans Call me a banana But I went down to Havana to buy my secret Santa a present today But I slept on a banana Woke up in a cabana Sipping rum and orange fantasy so I think that I'll stay My secret Santa's rich and handsome he drives a fancy car.
- [25:17]
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