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- [00:08]
A
This is all of it. I'm Alison Stewart live from the WNYC studios in soho. Thank you for spending part of your day with us. Whether you're listening on the radio, live, streaming or on demand, I am grateful that you are here. Coming up on the show today, the creators and stars of the Tony nominated musical Titanique will join us in studio. We'll learn about the work of Nuorican photographer Sophie Rivera, who is the subject of an exhibit at El Museum del Barrio. And WNYC host Tiffany Hansen joins us to talk about her debut novel, it's called My Name Was Jerry Sass. That's the plan. So let's get this started with Lisa Ann Walter and her new comedy special called It Was an Accident. A lot of us have come to love actor Lisa Ann Walter for her portrayal of a teacher on Abbott Elementary. She plays Meliss, the kind of woman who knows a guy. However, the television and film actor got her start in stand up comedy years ago. Now she returns to the stage in a new special. It's titled It Was an Accident. And if you're familiar with Lisa's game, you know she can get political. In the special, she doesn't shy away from cracking a joke or two about the decline of American democracy, referencing the Handmaid's Tale, talking about raising four kids with two ex husbands. And she also shares her fellow her few relatable stories about coming of age as a Gen X woman. I Hear that It Was an Accident is streaming on hulu this Friday, May 15th. You can all see Lisa in person in the Off Broadway run of Heather's the Musical through June 22 at New World Stages. Or maybe you caught her co hosting the event called the Ball Without Billionaires, a counter event to the Met Gala. Lisa, thanks for being here.
- [01:54]
B
Well, thank you. Clearly, I, I have tons of free time. I'm listening to you read that. I'm like, my God, I'm exhausted.
- [02:02]
A
Have a glass of water, settle down.
- [02:04]
B
Thank you. I appreciate it.
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A
You've done stuff stand up for a long time.
- [02:08]
B
Oh, decades. Alison. Yeah.
- [02:09]
A
Why did it feel like the right time to release your own special?
- [02:12]
B
Well, I mean, honestly, I came to New York to be an actor. I went to Catholic University. I studied the Greeks and Shakespeare. Like I knew what I was doing. I did off Broadway shows. But something else that I did very well, come to find out, was get pregnant, which I did pretty much right after graduating college. I had a child and I had some friends that I had graduated that were in my BFA program. Everybody was in New York. And they said they dared me. It was the height of the comedy boom in the 80s. And they said, all of us, you should be doing this. And there were so many things going on that I never heard women talk about. Because remember back in the day?
- [02:50]
A
Oh, yeah.
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B
There were like, what? There was six female comics. Three of them you saw maybe on the Tonight show or Hollywood Squares. And the rest Mike Douglas. Yeah. The rest of them work blue. And you never saw them. You never saw Mom's Mabley.
- [03:03]
A
Yeah.
- [03:04]
B
Joan Rivers, Phyllis Diller, one or two others. And I just got tired of hearing male comics talk about. I remember Bill cosby had a 15 minute hunk on childbirth. And I'm like, why is he telling our story?
- [03:16]
A
Yeah.
- [03:17]
B
Why are there not women talking about this? So I said, yeah, I could do that. I had an hour and 15 minutes before I ever got on stage the first time on this dare that my friends gave me. And supposed to do three minutes. I did 15.
- [03:30]
A
How'd you feel about your friends daring you to do that?
- [03:33]
B
You know, it's the same reason why I do game shows. I'm competitive. I like a challenge. I didn't love it. On the day I was supposed to go do it, I was terrified. I think I went to the bathroom 8,000 times. But then when I did it and killed, I was like, oh, this is good. Because there's nothing like getting people to laugh is the reason I wanted to get on stage in the first place was to make people feel, laugh, cry, you know, change their minds. And it turns out when you're funny, it's a easier job.
- [04:04]
A
It's interesting. People sometimes describe your comedy. I saw the special last night.
- [04:08]
B
Oh, thank you. Oh, thank you.
- [04:10]
A
Yeah. But you're really honest in it. You're very unfiltered.
- [04:14]
B
I'm authentic.
- [04:15]
A
Were you always that way or do you have to kind of work up to that?
- [04:17]
B
No, you know what, Alison? I was. You know how rage, female rage is like a thing now?
- [04:22]
A
Yeah.
- [04:23]
B
Like we see it on the Internet. We're like, yeah, about time. Right. I was doing this way back before it was popular. I was, you know, I think always have been women that have been truth tellers that are just like, I've had it with your nonsense. I've got zero Fs left. I was that as a kid. I think there were things that made in innate sense to me and things that seemed unfair and I just liked calling stuff out, as was true. Just back historically, they used to burn those women as witches. Yeah. And now we Just call them female comics. And they pay us money to get a Hulu special. I guess I'm like an auntie, just cranky advice.
- [05:04]
A
Oh, but it's good advice.
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B
It is. It's so good.
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A
That's the best advice. Your auntie advice. Come on now.
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B
Yes.
- [05:09]
A
You touch on politics in the special. You say there are whole portions of the country. You just said, nope, not going there.
- [05:15]
B
Tara. I used to do it when I was doing standup as a young woman, you know, with a baby going around the country. That was my. I paid my rent doing stand up. And there were places I had to go to. The only place I was afraid I did a pro choice bit. Back then, the only place I was really afraid to do it was Indiana. And that didn't even occur to me until after I had done it the first time. And then I was like, oh, this is maybe not, but it was still in those days less of a thing to speak your mind than it is now. And you are on your way to a question. I stopped.
- [05:50]
A
No, that's okay. That's all cool. We're having a conversation. What do you think is something in our society, in our culture right now that really deserves a satirical look?
- [06:04]
B
I mean, God, all of it. The. The First Amendment is something that we should all be really vigorously supporting and defending. People that are in your position, people that are in the press, people that are doing late night comedy shows. Since the dawn of time, the jesters have been the ones that were allowed to say what the king was doing.
- [06:31]
A
Right. The traitors.
- [06:33]
B
Right. Say that the emperor had no clothes. So I think if we lose our ability to allow that to happen, we're. What kind of culture do we have? We've lost our civilization, really. So that's a big one. I mean, the thing is, is that with comedy, you can hold the mirror up to nature and people can look at stuff, but because it's funny, nobody's getting yelled at. I think I touch on stuff in my act that has to do with what we're all feeling without calling out individual. Well, maybe there's one individual I call out. But you will have to watch the special. Do you know who I'm talking about?
- [07:12]
A
Oh, yes.
- [07:13]
B
So dumb. There's a whole. They're so dumb that. But you'll have to watch a special to figure that out.
- [07:20]
A
We're talking to Lisa Ann Walter. She's here to discuss her new comedy special, it was an Accident. It's premiering on May 15th on Hulu. Have you noticed that audiences have Become more politically sensitive? Are they less politically sensitive? I'm curious what you. What you found.
- [07:36]
B
There's some polarization going on. But you know what's wild is that, first of all, I recognize the fact. And you had a question a while ago. This is my ADHD brain. I have to butt something or I can't go forward. But you asked me, like, why now? Well, the truth is, when I had my stand up at an hour and a half tight, and I was plucked out of standup world to go create and star on my own sitcom, which they used to do, they used to hand them out like Tic Tacs back then. Not true. I was very lucky. And I had a lot of people because I was a female comic still in those days. Not a lot of us, certainly not a lot with children because there were not a lot of men that were happy to help raise kids while the woman went out every night and, you know, hung out with drunks. Basically. You know, I had a very wonderful partner. It just turned out we had too much in common. He also liked men, but bump up.
- [08:30]
A
But you know what's interesting? Cause when I first got this job, my boss is a woman.
- [08:35]
B
Yeah.
- [08:35]
A
And said to the people who were working on the team, like, we have to support this woman who was a child doing this job, because it's a two hours a day live. And women didn't get these jobs.
- [08:46]
B
That's correct.
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A
Because you had kids to take care of, blah, blah, blah, blah. And I felt so. I felt so welcome in that moment that somebody saw that.
- [08:56]
B
Yes, yes, we love that word now. But it's facts. It's you on your adhd. Anyway, I went to. I appreciate you. I went out to California to create and star in a show. The job that my boss, Quinta Brunson, is doing now, it's a big gig because when you're not actively in the writer's room on stage, you were publicizing the show, you're promoting, you're flying to New York, you're going all over the country to do that. And occasionally I wanted to see my children so they didn't grow up and write the book called Mommy Never Loved Me. So I, you know, had a full life, and I did not do the standup as much as I should have. Whoopi Goldberg was telling the people at hbo, this girl should have a special. Like, she was telling them, she's strong, she's badass. You should be doing a special with her. And I just kind of went like, I should have went, yeah, I Should do a special, but I didn't know then, like, here's your shot, right? Yeah. So a lot of years went through, and then Abbott comes along and I'm headlining all over the country. And so Hulu said, yeah, Disney family, let's go. Let's make this happen.
- [09:59]
A
Can we talk about Ball without billionaires?
- [10:01]
B
Sure.
- [10:02]
A
You were co hosting and you had a really interesting take on. On the Met Gala. Let's listen.
- [10:08]
B
We all know what's happening uptown tonight. We know, right? There's one guy, one very big, very bald billionaire who wants to make the Met Gala all about him. Ew.
- [10:21]
A
Boom.
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B
And what's that even about? How did an event that's supposed to celebrate creativity, artistry and fabulousness in all genders end up revolving around this Temu. Lex Luthor, right? Oh, right. Who profits off of pushing working people to their very brink. How did an event that is supposed to be about celebrating our culture become a vessel for one man's ego?
- [10:50]
A
So tell us what you really think.
- [10:51]
B
Okay, so here's the truth. I think he bought the Met Gala for his new bride. I don't think. I mean, I don't even think it was about him so much. I think it was like, she likes fashion. Let's do. You know, I guess when you got a lot of money. I have a really wacky theory. As long as we're going with how these things work, because I don't know how they work in that strata. I know some rich people that's like, they like go to Mars for fun. Yeah, they. They do extra planetary travel.
- [11:22]
A
I got an island, rich.
- [11:23]
B
Just an island in another planet. And I don't think it's an accident. This is my new theory. I think that the extraterrestrials. You know how all of a sudden We've heard about ETFs, UFOs. Yeah, yeah. The UFOs are coming by. I think they've already landed. I think they've done a deal. I think they sold Earth. I really do. And you know, when you buy a property that's tenant inhabited, nobody wants that. I think that there's some way they've got in mind of clearing out.
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A
Don't worry, Begonia.
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B
We're delivering vacant. Exactly. Pluribus. Whatever you take. Any of your choice. Look, whenever there's art, it's not that far off the truth. It's true. Right? So they've got a planet they're already planning on going to, and they're just having their fun with Earth while it's still a Thing I'm interested, though, you're
- [12:12]
A
really involved with the unions, right?
- [12:13]
B
I'm what?
- [12:14]
A
You're really involved with the unions, right?
- [12:16]
B
I'm very involved with the unions, yeah. I mean, this is part of why it's so important to me to show up for people that don't have anybody speaking their side, that doesn't see them, that doesn't understand that this all works. Because there are people that are the. The least of ours, as was said once famously in the Bible, right? So the people that are in sag, aftra, and all of our entertainment unions, all of the unions, there are people that are on the very, very top. And everybody thinks in my union, that's all of us. And I am here to tell you, Miss Girl, I was doing radio for three, two, three years because when my kids, when my twins were in high school, I was the responsible parent. I had to pick them up and make sure that they were on the street. I don't want to. I don't want to show up anywhere with bail money. I had to make sure that they were going to be okay. So I had to have a job that kept me in town. Right. It's not a big money gig. It's a maybe try to get by gig. I've done other jobs that people think because they see me on TV all the time in a movie that they love, like the Parent Trap, that I get paid every time they see me. Of course I don't. You make a certain amount of residuals and then that ends. And with the streaming deal that has pretty much gone away, there is no what we used to have as residuals that paid us so we could live in between gigs. So there are giant actors that make $20 million and up a picture, and then there's everybody else who can't afford health care and doesn't qualify because of what they're earning. So when I became active in the union years ago, it's honestly because I was trying to get the ages off of IMDb because that's our database that tells all about actors and people use it, and when they look it up and they see a woman's age, they're like, oh, well, she's a rocket scientist. She has to be 23, or whatever crazy metric they go by. So I said, this is disproportionately unfair to women because as we know, ageism is sexism. So I was trying to get the ages off, and they really couldn't do it because it was Amazon.
- [14:34]
A
Oh.
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B
And it's all back it just occurred to me.
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A
It's all back to the man.
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B
It just occurred to me. It just occurred to me. But. No, but hang on. It did finally work out because Fran Drew came in. Who? I just. She came to my premiere party for the comedy special last night. She's lovely. And she talked to them like people and said, hey, hey, this is disproportionately affecting women. And so they. They got rid of it finally. But then I was stuck. I was. Once you're involved in union politics, it's like the mob. They're gonna have to beat you for you to get out.
- [15:06]
A
I'm talking to Lisa Ann Walter. Her new special is called It Was an Accident is premiering on May 15th on Hulu. You have to find out why it's called it was an acc. I'm not gonna give anything away. It's a big secret. You know, it's interesting. You do a lot of crowd work. I do in the special. How do you know when it's time to get back on your well crafted jokes?
- [15:31]
B
Well, there's a couple things going on. I mean, first of all, there are comics that are like, I formulated my hour. My hour is set. I'm proud of it. Crowd work is leaning on something. My crowd work is person is purposeful. There's a means to an end. I. I'm really good. Part of that is the adhd. Part of the other is trauma, kid. So you learn to figure out who people are and feel them before they even open their mouth. But I am really good at finding the people that are going to feed me what I need to move to the thing I want to do anyway. So that's part of it. But the other thing, if I'm being honest, the reason I did it in a club, Helium Club in Philly, first of all, Philly, because they love me. I've never had a bad show there. I mean, once they decide they like you, forget about it. You're. You're it.
- [16:21]
A
You're in.
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B
They keep bringing me food, though. They gotta stop, like, up two sizes. But that was part of it. The other part is I wanted to do a small room that was intimate. I didn't want to. I love a big theater. I love those theater shows where comics go in and they just. It's crazy screaming. But it's not the same as doing a comedy show. Like, you're used to seeing it where you're in a room. The thing that I wanted to throw back to from how I came up, which is I'm on A stage. And right in front of me is the first row. And the laughs travel. It's science. The laughs travel from the front of the room to the back. There's no waiting for the laugh. You can gauge it. You could feel. Feel it when it's slowing down and when you can hit your tag and the next thing is going to pop. So that was the experience that I wanted for my audience and for the home viewing audience to have was like, you're in the room with the wait staff and everything else and the picking of the people. Just because I think a lot of people see me and they already feel like I'm familiar. They feel like they know me. A lot of them grew up watching me from the Parent Trap or whatever. And they feel safe and homey, like your cranky aunt who's giving you advice. And that feeling of, we're just folks talking. Yeah, that's what I like to carry in my shows.
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A
When you're thinking about what comics have available to them now, you know, whether it's social media, whether it's YouTube, what do you. Not jealous of? But what do you think? Man, I could have really used that in my career.
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B
Wow, that's a really good question. I could have used post. Me, too. That's what I could have used. I was on the road at a time. I was just bringing this up with some people last night that were at my premiere party. I went. I remember going to a gig, and I used to wear a skirt and hose and high heels and a little jacket. And I remember the club owners in New York, one of them who was very good to me, and that was my home club, the Comic Strip. And Lucien would say to me, you can't dress like that. They won't listen to you. And I said, no. Sexy is part of the power package. It's probably a big reason why I got an offer to star on my own show, because I wasn't hiding it. I was like, you don't get to take that from me. This is part of who I am. And I purposefully would disarm the women first by saying, I'm one of you, but then I would get the men immediately. And they're like, oh, she's a female comic. I can. Like, clearly she can get laid. So there's not a. There's not that dynamic going on. And golly, I went. I strayed too far away.
- [18:54]
A
You were there before. Me too. But me too came into the picture.
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B
So because I was sexy, I would oftentimes go to gigs first. Of all. All the comics would hit on you whether you were sexy or not. It was. If you were a girl and you were on the road, you were. They were trying to make you.
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A
Yep.
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B
And the club owners were. And the bookers were. And it was a very difficult, as many businesses were, if you did, you know, you're loose. And if you didn't, you wouldn't get rebooked. Rebooked. Right. So it was a tough time. I had a gig out in Long Island. I remember being in a coat room where they would give you cash. I had two babies at home. I was like, buying milk money. A lot of times. I wasn't even taking the 26 Motel because I wanted to drive home and save the money because we had rent. Right. So he's holding the money out, and the next thing I know, I got a hand up my dress and another hand down my shirt, and I'm thinking, where'd the money go? Like, it was just there. Wow. But that was prolific in those days, and there was no place to say anything. So now I look online and I see. I don't know that anything's changed that much. Maybe the outright grabbing is slightly less.
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A
But you have a way to talk about it, though.
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B
You have a way to talk about it.
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A
Right.
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B
Directly. Other women. Hey, by the way, this is going on.
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A
Yeah.
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B
You know, maybe stay away from this guy.
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A
Let me ask you about Heather's the musical. That's exciting.
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B
That's a segue.
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A
Yeah.
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C
Woo.
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A
Here we go. We're gonna run out of time.
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B
Sexual assault.
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A
Moving on. Yeah, we got.
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B
Well, you know what? It's very dark.
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A
It is.
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B
I've seen it. It's dark. It's dark. I have my best girlfriend, Elaine Hendricks, who was the mean girl in the Parent Trap. She comes to see it, and I get the story afterwards that she's talking to her friend who's like a musical theater guy, all the way through going, are they gonna kill that girl? Like, had no idea what was coming. I was like, yes.
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A
What do you like about being on the stage in that?
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B
Well, as I said, I started in theater, so it has been three decades. And the first jobs I did when I came to New York was off Broadway. So just being back on stage, doing a piece, that's not just me talking. Although I get a piece of that in the middle of the show. I get an improv bit. So I get a little piece of being who I am and never knowing what I'm gonna say. And neither does I Live to make them laugh. If I can make those kids who are insanely talented, like they popped out of the womb taking voice lessons, if I can make those shoulders do church giggles behind me. My day is a success. So it's great. I just like being back on stage, making people laugh and feel.
- [21:39]
A
We're excited to see you in the next season of Abbott Elementary. Thank you. What was interesting, though, Cheryl Lee Ralph introduces you in your special.
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B
Cheryl Lee Ralph.
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A
Sheryl Lee Ralph.
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B
Yes.
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A
And you kind of sort of apologized to her for your body.
- [21:53]
B
The first time she saw the show, it was the year before she came to see me with her with senator Vincent Hughes, her husband. And the first thing I did when I walked off stage was say, I'm sorry. And she said, no, girl, it was fun. You're hysterical. And then the next thing she did when I got back to work, and she called me, our dressing rooms are next door. And she said, come in, girl. And I thought we were gonna watch a Turner classic movie. Cause that's usually what we do. She said, this needs to be a special. And she said, we're gonna do it. We're gonna make. And she was a producer on the show. She saw the whole thing, says red curtains, red velvet, a gold jacket. That's what it's gonna look like. So she saw the whole thing. She manifested.
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A
That's what you need. You need that person in your life.
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B
You need that hype. And she is it.
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A
I've been speaking with actor and comedian Lisa Ann Walter. Her new special it was an accident is streaming on hulu this Friday, May 15th. Thanks for coming to the studio.
- [22:50]
B
Thank you so much for having me. Appreciate it.
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C
WNYC studios is supported by AT&T. It's when we share more time, more memories, and more photos. And at ATT, the iPhone 17 Pro is your summer essential. Its center stage front camera auto adjusts the frame to fit everyone into group selfies. Right now at AT&T, you can get iPhone 17 Pro for $0 with eligible iPhone trade in any condition required trade in of iPhone 15 or higher, excluding iPhone 16e and 17e required eligible plan terms and restrictions apply. Subject to change. Visit att.comiphone or visit an ATT store for details.
- [23:32]
B
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- [23:35]
A
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- [23:39]
B
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- [23:42]
A
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- [23:57]
B
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