Anna Gasteyer (3:20)

Thank you. It's so nice to be here.

Interviewer / Host (3:21)

When was the first time. First time you heard about Once Upon a Mattress?

Anna Gasteyer (3:25)

Once Upon a Mattress is one of those, like, drama club favorites because, you know, it's just one of those shows that everybody's done in middle school. Everybody does it at summer camp. It has, first of all, a lot of parts, which is usually, like, the baseline for these things. Like, everyone's done Grease. There's a lot of parts whenever they have to fill it up. So it's one of those shows. But it also has this. It's a fairy tale, so it's very accessible, and it's very, you know, audience friendly, user friendly. And so I knew. I knew some of the music. I'm a huge Mary Rogers fan in general. I just find her an intriguing phenomenon. I mean, just to be born in the midst of this dynastic musical theater family and also to have sort of carved her own or paved her own way. I mean, a beautiful composer. I think the music of the show in the show is just glorious and very much like 1959, you know, golden era of entertainment. Just lush and romantic, and the music's fantastic and joyful. And then, you know, she wrote Freaky Friday. She did all these unusual things with her career that I really admire. And I had already read anyway, so that's how I knew about the show. And I had read Shy. I'd read her memoir and loved it. And she talks quite a bit, actually, about creating the show in it. And so I was aware of it that way. And then, you know, when I got the offer, I surveyed my crew of friends and especially my SNL girls. Like, literally everybody had done one mattress. Yeah. So it was a very easy thing to say yes.

Interviewer / Host (4:52)

Who was in what's in Pot of Mattress?

Anna Gasteyer (4:54)

And they asked me, well, dratch, my, you know, go to was like, Rachel Dratch was like, you know, had played Larkin in middle school. Amy Poehler had played Winifred in high school. Like, it was fun. You know, it's one of those shows, people have just done it, they know it, they know the music. And a lot of, you know, old fashioned musicals, you might not actually love the music, but again, the score itself is very lovely and fun to listen to. So I think it's just a pleasant evening at the theater.

Interviewer / Host (5:21)

You know, you've done Broadway before. You know, it's a stretch. It takes a certain amount of skill. What were you concerned about when you took the role?

Anna Gasteyer (5:30)

It's, it's a very. Well, so it's only. It was only one number, which. So right away I was like, great. One number. I can go out and have drinks after because, you know, I've played Elphaba. I've gone, I've done the range of roles and something that's deeply, deeply vocal. You spend your whole, you know, you've heard, you've spent your life like a nun, you can't do anything. But Agravain screams constantly. She's constantly yelling at people. So actually that's the biggest physical challenge of doing the role is just being vocally warmed up and comfortable enough to be able to holler a lot, you know, comfortably, which just takes a certain amount of technique and frankly, sleep. And so the last time I did Broadway, you know, I think my kids were 2 and 8, and now they're 22 and 16. So it's just a total game changer to be able to say, get your own yogurt and get yourself to school. I'm sleeping.

Interviewer / Host (6:25)

She's got a certain accent. I kind of hear a little bit of Miranda Priestley in her voice. How did you work on the accent we went for?

Anna Gasteyer (6:32)

I just wanted to play with a really aristocratic kind of, you know, she's the person in the kingdom that's withhold. She's the gatekeeper for sure in terms of this challenge, who's gonna marry her son. But she's also sort of the up, which is my favorite kind of character to play. I think if you look at my resume, she's sort of the self designated, self appointed upkeeper of protocol and decorum. And so it felt fun to just settle upon the snootiest possible semi aristocratic sort of faux British lady. Not ambiguously pompous and upper class.

Interviewer / Host (7:17)

Well, you know, Queen Agravaine rules the land.

Anna Gasteyer (7:20)

Yes.

Interviewer / Host (7:20)

Why doesn't she want the prince to get married?

Anna Gasteyer (7:23)

So in the text, you know, It's a funny thing. Lierre de Bessonnet, our fearless leader, our director, who's actually just been named artistic director of Lincoln center, which is really exciting. She, you know, she's really great with the sort of dramaturgy in the book. And even though it is a fairy tale and it's honestly, it's a big, goofy joyride of a show, you guys.

Interviewer / Host (7:43)

Look like you're having so much fun.

Anna Gasteyer (7:44)

We are having so much fun. And, you know, it was rooted. Again, if you've been. If you've read shy, you know this. But it's A lot of the comedy is rooted in vaudevillian schtick, Catskills humor. That is so. There's a lot. There's a true NBA star team of comedians on stage, comedic actors, so that comes really naturally. But the sort of sit down and think about the real story part, which always makes me laugh when you're doing a big, goofy show. To answer your question, we did talk about. There's, you know, you have to play the stakes as though they're very, very real in a fairy tale. And they're all sort of exaggerated components. And so there's. In the text, it does say that, you know, I'm afraid that if Dauntless marries, he'll rule and I will no longer rule. But it's also. We've discussed, you know, Dauntless. His name is Dauntless. I mean, especially in Michael Urie's capable hands. He's kind of a more you know, just idiotic portrayal, hapless prince sort of man child. And I think, genuinely, Agravain is probably pretty intelligent and a kind of holding the kingdom together by a thin little thread. And I think she's terrified. I mean, if you really stop and think about what's gonna become of this republic under the stewardship of Winifred and Dauntless, it's a terrifying prospect because they're both very childlike and goofy and find one another in this kind of, you know, love story between two weirdos.

Interviewer / Host (9:06)

You definitely play the villain, though.

Anna Gasteyer (9:08)

I do play the villain.

Interviewer / Host (9:09)

What have you learned about playing a villain?

Anna Gasteyer (9:12)

Capital V. That it's incredibly fun. I mean, you know. Yeah. Because I always actually have felt like I'm too mean and maybe frightening to children, but I think they like it. My daughter used to like to play the villain. It's a funny thing. I think there's a lot of power in it, and especially in a female villain. And again, she's sort of in my inspirations, like I said, Miranda Priestly, but also sort of the queen in Snow White. I mean, there's like this vanity and kind of shameless confidence to what she's doing that make it really fun. So I don't really think about playing mean as much as I think of playing sort of the straight. The straight stiff pole against which kind of the noodle of Winifred can bounce. Because Winifred, you know, was originally played by Carol Burnett. It's a fantastic. Sutton is an incredibly gifted comedic especially I think, physical comic. Yeah. And so sort of playing, you know, I know I'm not allowed to swear, but can I say tight ass, sort of the tightly wound queen. You know, the more sort of tensile that is, the more goofy her sort of noodle can push against. And so playing the little conversations in between that are fun, like when Agravaine slips. Cause she's. Her soft spot is. And her weakness is her love for her son. It's not. It's not. She's not a. She's not cruel to her son. She's controlling, which is. She lives out of fe of, you know, sort of keeping him safe and keeping him childlike, which I think actually most mothers of sons can relate to. So, yes, I got a 16 year old son. Yeah, I have a 16 year old as well. So it's fun. In fact, I ran my lines. We had such a fast process that. And it was over the summer that he would run lines with me sort of funny 24 7, whenever I was home, not at rehearsal. And it was fun to play those scenes against him because he's, you know, very sweet little affable 16 year old.

Interviewer / Host (11:06)

My guest is Anna Gasteyer. We're talking about Once Upon a Mattress will be at the Hudson Theater until November 30th. You know, I was reading an interview with you from Northwestern, your alum, and you said you just want to make sort of non cynical work. You want to make work.

Anna Gasteyer (11:23)

Did I say that?

Interviewer / Host (11:23)

Yeah, you said you want to make work that make people happy.

Anna Gasteyer (11:25)

Oh, who knew?

Interviewer / Host (11:27)

Who knew?

Anna Gasteyer (11:28)

Yeah. No, I mean, it's funny because that's my exact. And again, I think it's just a. It's just sort of a personal. Like I'm in my third. What am I, third decade, fourth decade? I don't know. I've been working for 30 years. What does that mean? I'm starting my fourth decade of entertaining. And yeah, I think you kind of grow into what your strengths are and you give in a little bit. And I think early in my career I was you know, determined to prove that I could also do drama and all kind of other things. And I feel like I have plenty of gifts that I should be taking advantage of. It took. It took long enough, and it's still taking long enough to convince people that I started as a singer. It's very confusing to people when you have a television image that you're not just a sketch player, that you're not just this one thing they know you as. And I started. You mentioned Northwestern. I was a voice major at Northwestern and then found improv and kind of fell down the comedy hole, but then came back out on the other side of Saturday Night Live and did all these musicals and perform with the jazz act and of my own and write music and, you know, have a Christmas album and all kind of things. So my life as a vocalist is just as valid, just not as well known. And so, again, I'm getting to your answer, I promise. But I think giving into that, just knowing that there are certain attributes that are. The ones that come to me naturally and that are, frankly, the most fun to do are the ones I want to share with audiences. I think it's more about them and less about me, in a strange way. And I wrote this movie a couple years ago with Rachel Dratch, this Hallmark Christmas parody called A Clusterfunk Christmas. And we're actually in the process of adapting it into a musical and working with Rachel, who's a fantastic Tony nominee in her own right, fantastic stage actress as well as, you know, funny girl. It. It's joyful. It's. It's fun to do. It's. I think, giving. Giving up on, like, trying to seem smart or trying to have people, you know, think I'm witty or those things, like removing those elements from my craft, my work as a craftsmanship, even as a songwriter, like writing sugar and booze. My. My Christmas songs. It's. It's a relief. And I think.

Interviewer / Host (13:45)

I think that's being in your 50s. We're about the same age. We are the same age. Same vintage.

Anna Gasteyer (13:49)

Yeah.

Interviewer / Host (13:49)

There's something about it where you're just like, I'm just gonna do what I want to do.

Anna Gasteyer (13:52)

Screw it. Yeah. Curly hair. You know, you're wearing your hair curly. I'm still obviously straightening mine. But it's the. It's the same idea. It's just like, this is where it is. This is what. This is what I have. And this is probably. Should probably just work with what I got and what I love, you know.

Interviewer / Host (14:05)

Should we play a little bit of Sugar and booze sure, let's listen why.

Singer (performing 'Sugar and Booze') (14:11)

Bells are ringing and a jinglin folks are mixing and a mingling Twinkling lights and tinsel on the tree 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 I love snowmen and turtle doves in tub 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 glide right through December Mixing naughty with that knives so pour a nip into that nog and let it light your throat because the best part of the holidays Is sugar and booze Wake up, baby don't you hit the snooze Just forget the headlines and the news Pop up a cork Put on your dancing shoes Give me honey and hooch and I'll give you a smooch and let's give those devils their dues I could.

Anna Gasteyer (15:37)

Listen to that all day long. I know. I was just thinking, like, when they start rolling out the Christmas, right before Halloween, that's what we're. We're ahead of the game.

Interviewer / Host (15:45)

You mentioned that you went. Initially, you thought you'd be an opera singer, a music major.

Anna Gasteyer (15:51)

Yes. So at the time I went to Northwestern. It was a proper opera program, which, in retrospect, I'm grateful for. I actually think about it all the time playing Agravaine because you learn breath control, you learn how to breathe. And breathing is really the most fundamental thing in terms of using your voice either theatrically or vocally, you know, musically. So even though I fled the music program, I mean, had it been, you know, and went on to improv, I think I probably had it in my early sort of muscle memory. And my mom. I come from a classical music family, so that was just the assumption that that's what I would do. It wasn't really thought that. Like. In fact, I remember someone saying, I think she'd be good at musical theater. My mom going musical theater, even though I think she thought it was tacky. There were a lot of tacky things in my childhood references. But she. Which is ironic because we listened to musicals all the time, and we. We. They love. My parents love musicals, so I don't really know. I think it was just like an elevated. You know, it's the snob factor. It's like fighting against all that, you know? Yeah.

Interviewer / Host (16:52)

When did comedy enter the Picture in school.

Anna Gasteyer (16:55)

Well, in a formal way at Northwestern, I wrote my first sketches and performed with my first improv group my junior year. But so I did the Meow show, which is kind of a storied improv group. Julia Louis, Dreyfus, all kinds of groups. Craig Beercrock, great performers, Dermot Mulroney all came out of the Meow Show. Seth Meyers, a number of amazing comedians. And it's kind of a fraternity of itself. And I worked with one of my closest girlfriends. Now. We wrote. We sort of did the girl thing, where we were disgusted by our lazy male counterparts and there was not enough material. And so we stayed up all night and we wrote, I think, like, seven sketches in a night. Which is insane when I think about it, because even the thick of it at snl, maybe two sketches in a night. But we were, you know, determined to kind of.

Interviewer / Host (17:45)

We're gonna do it.

Anna Gasteyer (17:46)

Yes. Yeah. We're gonna do the grade a girl thing. Yeah, exactly. But I grew up amongst really funny people. I mean, really, really funny people. My friends in high school were hilarious. My husband is hilarious, who I knew in high school somewhat. My. My parents, even though they're snooty, my mom's an amazing audience. She's the first person to laugh at herself if you do an impression of her. And incredibly witty. So I think I just kind of grew up knowing that it was a value, if that makes sense. Yeah. And. Yeah. So I don't know. I was still surprised when people thought I should do it. And again, you know, whatever. Necessity. What is that? Invention is the mother of necessity. Necessity is mother of that one.

Interviewer / Host (18:30)

Something like that.

Anna Gasteyer (18:31)

The one that's like that. And I, you know, graduated from college in 1989, and there weren't a lot of examples of successful female comedic people out there. I mean, there were some. There was. You know, I'd grown up watching Carol Burnett, and there were. There were people to admire. But even when I got SNL in the mid-90s, it was considered, like, a real dodgy place for women. Incoming. They were like. Other comedians would say, like, good luck with that. You know, So I think I knew that I could. I could do comedy and that it was a skill I could lean into. And I didn't look like, you know, my. I didn't look like all the blonde girls going to LA at the time.

Interviewer / Host (19:13)

So you mentioned SNL. It's celebrating its 50th anniversary this year.

Anna Gasteyer (19:19)

Yes.

Interviewer / Host (19:20)

What do you think you learned about the business by working at snl?

Anna Gasteyer (19:24)

That's an Excellent question. It is not what people usually ask you about snl, so thank you for asking me that instead of who my favorite hosts were. I think I learned. I learned a couple of things. I learned, you know, that I learned that it really is more of a meritocracy than you would think. I think that there are these presumptions about fairness that are, or at least if you're me, that you can spend a lot of time stewing about. And the reality is, for all the sort of frustrations with the competitive atmosphere there, most good work eventually makes it to the air there. It may not make it in a way that feels loving or kind or even rolled out as a red carpet for you, but overall, a good sketch cut through eventually and there was a sense of kind of goodwill towards even independent voices there. Voices, weirdo writers that maybe took a minute to find their footing once they were sort of established in the community, there was support for that work. I also learned that it's all about community. That's not the value system of Saturday Night Live per se. I mean, it is something of a famous gladiator bit in terms of their approach to work and how it is generated mostly. But that's also because it's done on such a quick timeline. The camaraderie and the fraternity and the sort of shorthand of people who have been through that, who work in that way, who think quickly on their feet. The sort of mutant skin that everybody shares on that program, having survived live late night television lasts for a lifetime. So, you know, like, I still, like I wrote, you know, I think Dratch and I wrote two sketches together and then we've now written two movies together. You know, Yorma Taccone of the Lonely Island. I never was on the show with him, but when I needed someone to produce my, you know, direct my first music video, I was like, oh, I'll call Jorma. And the immediacy with which we speak the same language and the immediacy with which people want to cast one another and take care of one another is really a surprise and a delight. And then the sort of most industry related answer is that I was going to say that image is important. You know, maintaining a certain amount of whatever that means to you, you know, kind of they take. Lauren is kind of a super genius about image. Like how people look in the media and how they, you know, whether or not they're using the show to, as a host to rebound from a crisis or they want to look a little bit more fun or even Mary Ellen Matthews, amazing photographs and those bumpers. You know, the way that she can sort of manipulate the idea of a chameleon. You know, it's a really masterful place that way.

Interviewer / Host (22:31)

You are well known for the beloved character of Margaret. Margaret Joho McCullen, co host of an auntary NPR show.

Anna Gasteyer (22:38)

Yes.

Interviewer / Host (22:38)

Let's listen to a little bit of the delicious dish.

Margaret Jo McCullen (Character) (22:45)

Hello, I'm Margaret Jo McCullen. And I'm Terry Rialto. And you're listening to the delicious dish on National Public Radio. Now, Terry, the days are getting longer and the mercury is rising. It sure is, Margaret Jo. And that can only mean one thing. Summer. Summer. Now, one of my favorite things about summer is that you can have your meals outside. That is neat. Yeah. It's fun.

Anna Gasteyer (23:15)

Because it's warm.

Margaret Jo McCullen (Character) (23:16)

It's warm outside. Yeah. Summer's my favorite season. Same here. Because it's hotter than the rest of the year. It sure is. Yeah. It's neat, isn't it? It's fun. It's neat. It's fun. It's neat.

Anna Gasteyer (23:29)

Yeah.

Interviewer / Host (23:31)

The funny part about what are you looking at when you were doing that skit? There's a visual of your eyes just kind of staring off into nowhere, I think.

Anna Gasteyer (23:44)

Yeah, I mean, I think one of Boy, again, really perceptive. What we had fun with is the idea that they're truly not aware of how much time they are taking on the radio, which I might be accused of today. And you know, the gift of public radio is that they do not have to cut to commercial. And so you can really, I mean, last summer I was running errands and, you know, doing cleaning up around my house and I suddenly realized I'd been listening to the same story about Mead making on npr. I swear it had been like, I was like, it has been like an hour and a half and this man is still talking about his Mead Enterprises, you know, so there's something just delightful about the, the lack of self awareness and the sort of, you know, and our most fun things would be like when they would, I think it was the second one we ever did where they'd be looking at photographs and it's a non visual medium, you know, just again, just not really very aware that they're on the radio and that they might want to speed it up.

Interviewer / Host (24:43)

My friend's daughter was just named a Saturday Night Live.

Anna Gasteyer (24:47)

Oh my gosh.

Interviewer / Host (24:48)

She's one of the three that was named.

Anna Gasteyer (24:49)

That's so exciting.

Interviewer / Host (24:50)

What advice would you give her?

Anna Gasteyer (24:53)

Oh, boy. Well, I'll call her and take her to lunch, if you want. That's one of my favorite activities.

Interviewer / Host (24:57)

There you go, Jane.

Anna Gasteyer (24:59)

I love to mentor the young. I think, again, I was gonna say this, actually, when I was waxing poetic on my reflections, I think. Right. The whole nature of improvisation is this now famous phrase. Yes. And. And kind of working with what's in front of you and making the best of each opportunity. And I think even in the depth of a pressure cooker, risking and failing and risking and failing. It's really hard there because you. You're on such a, you know, under such a microscope and even internally in the workplace, you're new and you've got to fit in, and so you've got to figure out how to read the room. There's a ton of personalities that aren't always, you know, out inside the.

Interviewer / Host (25:46)

Just a lot of personalities.

Anna Gasteyer (25:47)

A lot of room. Yeah. And a big room. And a lot of ego and anxiety. A lot of anxiety. Right. Just from time and pressure and all that. So I think just, you know, writer wants to write something for you, Lean in and enjoy it. You want to get to know a new writer, knock on a door and get to know them. Want to collaborate with new people. I mean, again, you're just. You're. You have to sort of constantly say yes to the situations rather than worrying about what's not going to work, because there's plenty that's not going to work. So just, you know, finding everyone there is incredibly talented, so finding. Finding the parts of it that are the most fun for you.

Interviewer / Host (26:24)

You did a walk for New York Fashion Week.

Anna Gasteyer (26:26)

I did. I know. Wasn't that fancy.

Interviewer / Host (26:28)

And there were dogs involved.

Anna Gasteyer (26:29)

There were rescue animals.

Interviewer / Host (26:30)

So. Tell me about that.

Anna Gasteyer (26:32)

It was so fun. It was Rachel Antonoff, and she's a friend, and she lives in Brooklyn. She's great and she's playful, and she has a dog that looks very similar to my dog and is also similarly violent to strangers at times. So we've bonded over that. Her. She's a very charming dog, but also hilariously, you know, hostile. His name is Laffite, which really makes me laugh. But. And he looks a lot like Gloria, my dog. And so we actually met on the street because our dogs look so similar. And she's loaned me clothes, and so she's a real animal lover. And her. Her concept, which was fantastic, was a. Was a dog show, like in the proper, you know, kennel club.

Interviewer / Host (27:13)

Oh, sure, yeah, yeah.

Anna Gasteyer (27:14)

Model. And. And we had rescue dogs from Animal Haven. And it was this amazing. She collects great people, so it was just an incredible collection of all comics that I love. Bridget Everett was the judge, and Kate Berlant and Jacqueline Novak were the sort of color commentary. And Chris Fleming. All kinds of great comics were there and personalities from Broadway and everywhere. So it was really, really fun. I had a dog, unfortunately, who still had his balls and so was a little bit aggressive towards the other dogs. He was a 10 year old beagle. It wasn't his fault, but so I carried him. And then he was. He was asked to leave the arena due to his behavior issues. But, you know, it happens, it happens, it happens. And sometimes it happens to me. You know, we all try.

Interviewer / Host (28:00)

And before I let you go, are you finished on Lute? You were so funny.

Anna Gasteyer (28:04)

I had the best time on lute. Well, Maya is like, you know, an old and dear friend and a superstar.

Interviewer / Host (28:10)

And you're playing these two rich women.

Anna Gasteyer (28:13)

Rich women who are like, really struggling with what it means to no longer be married to a power billionaire. I really hope I go back. It's not in my hands, unfortunately, but I had the most wonderful time on that show. Yeah, well, do not quit. Knock, knock, knock.

Interviewer / Host (28:28)

Anna Gastauer. You can see her on Broadway until November 30th in Once Upon a Mattress. Thanks for coming to the studio.

Anna Gasteyer (28:34)

Thank you so much for having me. This was really nice.

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Anna Gasteyer (29:22)

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