← The Grand Tourist with Dan Rubinstein
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- [00:00]
Laura Ramoso
My mom would say, you know, it's
- [00:04]
Laura's Friend or Family Member
really surprising, I think, for some people to know that elaura is actually like a really like obsessive cleaner in the house. Like, she's always cleaning with the vacuum cleaner or something. I'm like, take a break from this cleaning. The house is clean. But she's. You come over to her house, she lifts your legs up to get the carpet. It's like, yeah, completely rude actually.
- [00:29]
Dan Rubenstein
Hi, I'm Dan Rubenstein and this is the Grand Tourist. I've been a design journalist for more than 20 years and this is my personalized guided tour through the worlds of fashion, art, architecture, food and travel. All the elements of a well lived life. I'm recording this in early May and I'm just back from a two week trip to Italy where I survived my umpteenth Milan Design Week. A brief visit to see family in Florence, and a visit to a hotel outside of Rome that you'll see in the fall issue of the Grand Tourist. And while I was there, one amazing publicist based in Rome was absolutely giddy and quite impressed. I had my particular guest on the show today. The publicist is a huge fan and even had tickets to see this rising star in Milan later this month. Comedian Laura Ramoso. While the Grand Tourist is always looking to celebrate our cultural differences, sometimes it's good to laugh at them too. So many of you might know Laura from her many characters she's created for Instagram and TikTok, where she now has millions of combined followers. My personal favorite must be Chiara, the Italian bombshell at an airport check in counter.
- [01:32]
Chiara (Character by Laura Ramoso)
Your bag is overweight, senora. You need to pay. You need to pay an extra bag? Yes. If you do not pay, the plane will crash. It is €175. Okay, but for you, I do 250. No, you cannot pay here. No, I don't have a machine. I don't have hands. For the cash, you need to go to the payment kiosk. If the payment kiosk doesn't exist them.
- [01:58]
Dan Rubenstein
Laura is based in Toronto and has a German mother and Italian father, both of whom have become recurring characters of hers online. Since first going viral during the COVID era, she's had tours across the world opened for the likes of Matteo Lane, as well as Tina Fey and Amy Poehler on their Restless Leg tour. This fall, she's embarking on a massive American and Canadian tour. So I decided to include this clever cultural observer on the podcast today as well as in our new spring print issue. I caught up with Laura from her home in Toronto to chat about her upbringing via two incredible and incredibly hilarious parents, how the famous improv group Second City changed her life, how her comedy translates into Italian, and much more. I've read that you consider yourself a
- [02:45]
Interviewer
Toronto girl through and through. And as someone who, you know, I went to school in Buffalo, New York. So Toronto was always this sort of shining city on a h hill. Our little trip to Europe practically back in the day for us when I was there in the 90s.
- [03:06]
Dan Rubenstein
But I read that you kind of,
- [03:07]
Interviewer
you know, you weren't born in, in Toronto. So tell me a little bit about your life before coming to Canada.
- [03:13]
Laura Ramoso
Yeah, I was born in a small town outside of Verona in the north of Italy called Liniago. Salieri was born there, Mozart's rival. And who is my rival? I don't know. I then, because my mother worked for the World Health Organization, we moved around a lot. So her work took us to Douala, Cameroon for six years and then Baku, Baku, Azerbaijan for three years and then Hanoi, Vietnam. Oh, no, sorry. Beijing, China for five years and then Hanoi, Vietnam. And that's where I graduated high school and then decided I wanted. Wanted to have one of those North American type college experiences that I witnessed in the movies. And I did. Then I decided to move to Canada on the west coast.
- [04:07]
Interviewer
Were you doing like international school with, you know, taught in English and things like that?
- [04:12]
Laura Ramoso
That's right, yes. I did internal school the whole time
- [04:15]
Interviewer
and like just going to all of, you know, speaking English at school, but obviously being multilingual at home. Right. You, you, I guess you were raised sort of hearing Italian and German from your parents, right?
- [04:28]
Laura Ramoso
That's right, yes.
- [04:29]
Interviewer
Do you think it kind of made you a little bit more, slightly more aware of these kinds of differences that maybe like if you had just been raised in Canada the whole time, that you maybe have tuned it out a little bit differently?
- [04:40]
Laura Ramoso
Yeah, for sure, definitely. I think it was informative and really made me who I am. The way that my parents mainly spoke to me. My mom in German, my dad in Italian, all of us together in Italian because there's no way my dad would have learned German.
- [04:58]
Interviewer
And then when coming to Canada, was there any kind of like culture shock in that sense or like, what was your first impressions of life there?
- [05:07]
Laura Ramoso
I feel like I was really looking for the Canadian slash North American experience. So, yes, it was incredibly different, but I was super into it. You know, going to parties and seeing that fame red solo cup. That was mind blowing. Yeah, I was ready for it and the university I went to, I did theater. So I just was immersed in that world almost immediately. Yeah, I actually really enjoyed it.
- [05:40]
Interviewer
And obviously, we'll speak a bit about your parents, who are obviously a big part of your work, but how did
- [05:45]
Dan Rubenstein
the two of them meet?
- [05:46]
Interviewer
The sort of German mom and Italian dad?
- [05:49]
Laura Ramoso
Yes, it's a great story. I mean, they were both living separate lives, obviously, he in Italy and she in Germany. They met later in life because I think when my father, in his early 40s or even in his 30s, had a bit of a something needs to change in my life moment, and he was just working in Italy and he saw a call out. He was a builder. He saw a call out from an NGO to they needed help, an Italian NGO out in Burundi, down in Central Africa, and they needed help building a hospital. And so he kind of dropped everything and said, that's what I want to do. I'm going to go out and start my life abroad. My mom in Germany, on the other hand, she was working as a surgeon. And she too, kind of later in life, this is like late 30s, felt like she needed a change and kind of answered that same call. And they met in Burundi at this. At this hospital he was helping build, and she was working as a doctor.
- [06:52]
Interviewer
Oh, wow. Okay, that sounds like. It sounds. It does sound like a little bit like a movie. Like a. And out of Africa kind of like movie. But. And, you know, when you.
- [07:01]
Laura Ramoso
You.
- [07:01]
Interviewer
You graduate from school, you studied theater, right? And then you decided that you kind of wanted to try acting, and then acting led to comedy. But, like, tell me a little about the. Your. Your kind of. Your acting journey.
- [07:13]
Laura Ramoso
Yeah, yeah. So, yes, at university, I always thought I'd be more of a classical actor, although I enjoyed the comedies a lot, especially our University did what was called a school spoof, which meant that the crew working on a show in the main stage season would kind of do a parody of the show just for the cast and crew at the end of a run for. Just for fun. And I loved the spoofs. It just was my first foray into kind of parody and satire of something everyone knew about. But here we were kind of twisting it every which way. But, yeah, still, I thought I'd be a classical actor, and I thought I'd audition for Juilliard after my bachelor's to. To go do my master's, and did. Did it twice. The second time I went to Chicago to do it. Completely bombed the audition. I mean, stratospherically. Yeah, yeah, yeah. But I. To Cheer myself up. I. I kind of read about this comedy theater called the Second City, and I heard about it and went to see a show on that trip, and I had one of those epiphany moments in that theater. I just. They absolutely blew my mind. Like, I didn't even know this kind of performance existed, this kind of sketch performance.
- [08:36]
Interviewer
And explain. Explain Second City to people who might not know, especially if they're not from the US Or Canada. Like, it has such a kind of a special place in comedy and acting, and it turned out so many amazing people.
- [08:48]
Laura Ramoso
Yes, yes. So Second City, I would say, is the sketch comedy mecca, at least for North America. Essentially. Second City shows are a series of sketches that usually a cast of six perform, and they're usually developed out of improv and improvised scenes. And they kind of mirror society in many ways. I mean, yes, lots of politics and current events, but also. And my favorite kind of sketch is the small observations of daily life, of how people conduct themselves. So, yes, they would be just a series of sketches kind of tied together with a bigger theme. And. Yeah, lots. Especially back in, you know, like the. Even now, but mainly back in the 90s, 2000s, Second City was just the birthing place of many SNL cast members because the style just translated almost exactly to snl. So, yeah, I didn't know about it, but so many people are out of Second City. I mean, the Tina Fey, John Candy, Jason Sudeik, everybody, you know, of that time.
- [10:06]
Dan Rubenstein
And did you have to audition for it?
- [10:07]
Interviewer
And how does that work for Second City? Yeah.
- [10:11]
Laura Ramoso
Oh, yeah. I mean, you do audition for it, and there's various companies, our main stage company, touring company, and then I know the States has more companies than the Second City here in Toronto, which is why I moved to Toronto, because after that Juilliard bomb, I was like, oh, I gotta go to Toronto because they have a second city. So I'm gonna try. Try to try my hand at going there.
- [10:37]
Interviewer
And was there, like an epiphany moment? Like, once you were there, that kind of, like, you were like, wow, this really works for me. This is where I'm supposed to be 100%.
- [10:46]
Laura Ramoso
Yeah. Yeah. I started. As soon as I saw that show in Chicago, I decided I. I started reading about improv and sketch, and then I moved and took every class under the sun and just started doing all the circuits. You know, all the comedy theaters here or anywhere, really. They have all these, you know, improv 101, 102, 103. And I did everything. Sketch, improv, writing, and Then I started
- [11:14]
Dan Rubenstein
performing and yeah, and I've read that,
- [11:16]
Interviewer
you know, while you don't do standup, that doing sketch comedy, but like often opening up for comics like you, you, you've done, you know, the Edinburgh Fringe Festival, you've opened people like Matteo Lane and stuff like that. Like, and I think in with the Mateo Lane bit, like, you kind of go, I'm so sorry, but you're about to see some sketch comedy. Like, I know you're expecting, I know you're probably expecting stand up, but here I am, one woman theater, essentially. Do you find that you get like a weird kind of people feeling like, ugh, sketch, or do you have to kind of like mentally prepare people?
- [11:52]
Laura Ramoso
Okay, that's an incredible question because it's exactly how I start an opening set for someone who's doing stand up. I'll say you might be thinking, am I really going to see someone do sketch comedy right now? And I'm so sorry. The answer to that question is yes, but no. I find that, you know, you call it out, you tell people
- [12:16]
Laura's Friend or Family Member
what the,
- [12:16]
Laura Ramoso
what to, what to expect and then people are pretty open minded about it. Especially at a Matteo Lane show. He, he kind of primes his audience for all sorts of things because his show is also incredibly physical and act outy and yeah, they're up for it. And I do a lot of Italian comedy and his audience is, is very Italian. So it really, it really works out.
- [12:40]
Interviewer
That helped your addition is that you're quite fluent. Yes. Okay, good. And you're quite physical too. I mean, like, I, I know that I read an interview where you kind of like, you know that you are like kind of clowning around. Like, there's a lot of clowning, for lack of a better word. Like, how would you describe that kind of like brand of physical comedy? Do you think it was something that like, you, you really enjoy? Because maybe clowning around wasn't something that like, maybe your parents were kind of, were they kind of clowny people themselves or. No.
- [13:08]
Laura Ramoso
My father is, is an incredible clown. He actually went to clowning school. That's. He did, yes.
- [13:14]
Interviewer
Does he ever give you pointers like, come on.
- [13:16]
Chiara (Character by Laura Ramoso)
Always.
- [13:17]
Laura Ramoso
I have a no show that he watches that doesn't result in a note at least. But that's okay. I take it in stride. Yes. I love physical comedy. I think it's just an another plane to, to play in that can add so much.
- [13:37]
Interviewer
And like, what does your mom think about all of this? Especially when you said, you know, hey, I'm gonna not do Classical theater. And I'm just gonna. I'm gonna do physical improv and second city. And what was her reaction to that?
- [13:52]
Laura Ramoso
Her reaction was like, great, keep doing the hobby, but get a master's degree. Yeah. So she. Not that she made me. I will say that I. I wasn't super keen on continuing schooling at that time. Obviously, I look back now and I'm, like, very thankful that I did. But, yeah, she kind of said, yeah, great, keep doing it, but you're not gonna not go to school. Which is very privileged and incredibly lucky that she pushed me to do that. I think it wasn't until I was able to sustain myself on comedy alone or that it really started to become a job that I think she clued into. Oh, this is. Might be a thing.
- [14:37]
Interviewer
And then at some point, you start doing things online on, like, TikTok and Instagram and stuff like that. What. How did that start for you? Because that seems to be when things really kind of clicked with people.
- [14:48]
Laura Ramoso
Yeah, that started in 2020. Like, it did for a lot of people. Yeah, I went from, you know, performing all. All the time to everything being closed. I think for a lot of people, there was nowhere else to turn but the Internet. So, yeah, I thought, why don't I just do the characters that I've been doing on stage? Why don't I just try and figure it out for the Internet? And it honestly was a way to just pass the time and it was a new creative outlet. But, yeah, that kind of then took its own. I had no idea that. I just couldn't even believe that this is my life, because I, I. If I'll be honest, if I were. If I wasn't forced to make online content, I don't think that I would have.
- [15:38]
Interviewer
And, like, did you find that, like, what was connecting online was different than what connected on stage, or was it, like a different, you know, kind of way of approaching it?
- [15:50]
Laura Ramoso
It's a different, completely different medium almost to me, because it's so, so different. I'll say that prior to the Internet stuff, I was doing a lot of, I would say, more alt clowny sketch content. And I then started to really make, like, characters and videos based on my life and, you know, my parents. And that really resonated with people. But that wasn't stuff I was doing before. I was really still, I think, getting excited about doing crazy stuff on stage
- [16:35]
Interviewer
and, like, you know about these impressions of your parents, sort of your German mom and your Italian dad.
- [16:41]
German Mom (Character by Laura Ramoso)
Oh, I'm going to sink into this sofa. Do you have a wooden plank I can put behind my bed. Am I excited? Nothing has happened. You want to wear white?
- [16:53]
Laura Ramoso
White?
- [16:54]
German Mom (Character by Laura Ramoso)
Why not wear gray? Why not wear brown? How about you do something original for once? How about instead of a bouquet of flowers, you hold your bachelor degree?
- [17:03]
Interviewer
Like, obviously they're a little bit over the top now, but I think there's definitely something that rings true for a lot of people. How did that kind of start and then how did it sort of evolve into something that's more something that is really kind of true to your parents specifically or just sort of German mom in general? Like, it's kind of a new character?
- [17:22]
Laura Ramoso
Yeah, I remember I did the German mom, the first German mom video, just one random afternoon. And I remember thinking, oh my gosh, this is so my mom specifically. Like, yes, it's a German mom, but it's my mom. And I wonder who's even gonna relate. But it was kind of a lesson and the, the importance of specificity in, in comedy, which I knew theoretically, but it was then that I realized I'm literally saying direct quotes from this one person, but it, but they are somehow relatable. So, yeah, once I started, I was like, oh, wow. I was really surprised by the reaction. And yeah, I thought, oh my gosh. Well, I gotta keep going. She's really fun to do. Obviously it, as you say, incredibly exaggerated now. And a two dimensional character who's kind of taken a life on its own. Like sometimes my mom will do something and we'll be like, that was kind of German mom of you. As if it's like she dips into that facet of her personality.
- [18:36]
Interviewer
And obviously like then at some point, I think it's maybe, maybe it's almost two years ago now comes sort of the Italian check inside character.
- [18:46]
Chiara (Character by Laura Ramoso)
You need to know. This car does not drive under 200 kilometers an hour. You turn it on, it's going 200 immediately. It has five seats and no doors. The brake, when you push it does not work. It's not work. And it's a manual transmission. You can do. You need the automatic do everything for you? No, no, we don't need your license. You have a personal insurance. Okay, congratulations. It's not valid. If you do not get this insurance, if you make an accident, you would pay. If you get this insurance, if you make an accident, you will pass. Nura. If you have a problem, call the assistance on this website, which seems to
- [19:22]
Interviewer
really kind of connect with just about anybody who's ever been to Italy or been to an airport. How did that start.
- [19:28]
Dan Rubenstein
Was it a trip to Italy that
- [19:29]
Interviewer
kind of made you go, yeah, this is. This. This has legs.
- [19:34]
Laura Ramoso
Yeah. I think the first kind of sprinkling of it I did a year ago with the Italian, renting a car in Italy after a. After a personal, horrifying, personal experience in a. In. In a car rental at an airport in southern Italy. And I remember being in that environment, hating my life. But then as often, these things come out of that feeling of, oh, my God, this sucks. Wait, is this a sketch? And then all of a sudden, I'm like, super excited to be in that horrible place. So then, yeah, of course I've traveling a lot to Italy, encountering this. This specific person at a check in, I. I thought, this is probably something. I don't know. I'm gonna try. She didn't have a name, though, or. Or anything until I posted that. That first one. And. Oh, yeah, people, did you reach out?
- [20:35]
Interviewer
And that was me.
- [20:37]
Laura Ramoso
She's like, please cease and desist immediately.
- [20:41]
Interviewer
Now. Now are you sort of attempted to sort of like, record people on your iPhone when you. When you check in at an airport or try to get a car just to be like, I need notes.
- [20:50]
Laura Ramoso
I'll definitely have my notes app open.
- [20:52]
Interviewer
Oh, you do? Okay.
- [20:53]
Laura Ramoso
I do. Yes, yes. I'll write down stuff, quotes, feelings. Yeah.
- [20:58]
Interviewer
What was your horrible experience?
- [21:00]
Laura Ramoso
Oh, well, we were in southern Italy and we rented a car and we got a flat tire and we called the assistance number and they came in to tow it, which was a surprise, but we were like, okay. And they were like, just go to the airport and get. And we'll get another car. And I was like, with what method of. How are we supposed to get to the airport? Like, it's your problem. Like, okay, great, get a taxi. Which the debit. The machine on the taxi didn't work. They're like, go to the. Go to the airport. Get cash. I'm like, great. Atms didn't work in the airport. So then he. But the beauty of it is the guy was like, I know your airbnb host. He'll. You pay him? He'll pay me. I'm like, that's the. That's. It's all getting finagled somehow, right? Yes. Schedule the rental and we get a new car. But they say we have to pay for the flat tire and the towing. But we're like, the towing? We didn't. They just came and towed it. They didn't tell us that they were going to do this. They're like, well, that's the towing company, that's not our problem. You need to pay the towing company. Just a whole series of events of being like, that's not our problem. You need to call this number, they'll help you. The number doesn't work. You need to go to this person, they'll help you. They're not there. It's all, it was just a drilling down of, please just let us have this car. And they're like, fine, fine, fine. Yeah.
- [22:31]
Interviewer
If you think you could channel either your mother or your dad to tell us something about you that maybe doesn't, that you don't get to come across in some of your work, what do you think they would say to channel them? To kind of be like, hey, and you know what? This is what she's like, how would they do kind of, how would your mom do an impression of you?
- [22:52]
Laura Ramoso
Oh, my mom would say, You know,
- [23:03]
Laura's Friend or Family Member
it's really surprising, I think, for some people to know that Laura is actually like a really like obsessive cleaner in the house. Like she's always cleaning with the vacuum cleaner or something. I'm like, take a break from this cleaning. The house is clean. But she, you come over to her house, she lifts your legs up to get the carpet. It's like completely rude, actually.
- [23:30]
Laura Ramoso
That's what she would say. And then my dad, anytime I'm like, what would you do if you did an impression of me? He just references this one thing I said when I was, I think four years old, when I got a piece of cake and my friend got a piece of cake and her cake was bigger and I said, it's small. So that's who I am to him still.
- [23:56]
Dan Rubenstein
Before we return to Laura Ramoso, a word from our partner, the World Around. The World around is the global online platform dedicated to championing architecture and design in the service of people, communities and the planet. At the core of its work is the Inspiring Young Climate Prize initiative which identifies and supports 25 emerging global leaders under 25 who are using architecture, design and culture to address the climate crisis in their communities. Anyone in the world ages 13 to 25 can apply for free until June 30th. Winners of the prize receive funding, mentorship from renowned designers and join an international network of like minded changemakers. In addition to the Young Climate Prize, the World around partners with MOMA in New York to present its annual summit on May 9th. This event brings a year of architecture to light in a single day. It's also free to attend and livestream, where you can discover the world's Best architects, designers and cultural leaders from across the globe who are shaping the future of our built and natural environment. To learn more about the Young Climate Prize, or to attend or stream the annual summit, visit theworldaround.org that's theworldaround.org.
- [25:19]
Interviewer
And it sounds like you, you've got, speaking of travel, you're also going on tour soon with the Calm Down Tour in Australia. I think by the time this comes out it will have ended, of course. But like, tell me about this tour that's coming up and, and is it like new, new material or how do you, how do you like to test your new material? Do you do it, you know, at home in Toronto before you go out on the road and stuff like that?
- [25:41]
Laura Ramoso
Yeah, so yes, this is my fourth or fifth show, but the second big international tour. I did the Sit up straight tour two years ago or in 2024 and this will be the second one. Very excited about it. It's an hour of new, brand new material and yes, I'm work shopping it now. So I like to do a lot of, we call them work in progress shows here in Toronto at our, at my local comedy theater to yeah, test out new material and slowly, slowly put together a new, a new hour.
- [26:23]
Interviewer
And so tell me about the new hour. Like, what's the gist of it?
- [26:27]
Laura Ramoso
So it's getting figured out right now, but we, we typically start with pure, the sketches that are going to, that are gonna go in and it's. I work with a director, his name is Alistair Forbes. We start with premise generation. Just interesting things that I've been thinking about, premises, thoughts, characters that I know I obviously want in the show. Like, I'll say we definitely have, need to have Chiara, the airport lady in the show and German mom has to be in the show. So those are needs. And then, and then the other things we play around with, with sort of themes that I'm feeling. And then yeah, once we've got some pure sketch going on, then we'll start to put together ideally the connective tissue, the story on top or what kind of links all of these sketches together. We're trying to figure that out now. But what's coming up so far is I just turned 30. So this idea of being in your 30s and what does that mean and how does that feel? And also this other idea of parents. Obviously I dupe my parents on as characters, but more how Laura me I feel about, about parents, about these pillars in my life and that kind of links into the 30 of it. So we're kind of talking about those themes. Although if this comes out after the tour starts, I might. Maybe the show has nothing to do with those things. I don't know. I don't know yet. That's just what's coming up right now.
- [27:59]
Interviewer
I will say that I did buy a T shirt. I did buy a Calm down. Yes, of course I did. I should have worn it actually for this interview now. And I feel stupid that I didn't.
- [28:08]
Laura Ramoso
Don't feel stupid.
- [28:09]
Interviewer
But you do spell calm down in a very sort of Italian English kind of way. Did anyone ever tell you to calm down? How did that like that particular pronunciation of calm down come from?
- [28:22]
Chiara (Character by Laura Ramoso)
Calm down. We send a notification when 20 seconds. If you did not look at your email, it is not my fault, signora.
- [28:29]
Laura Ramoso
Well, I mean, the check in attendant who was the biggest inspiration for, for the Kiara character did say to me and my husband that we had to calm down after she wouldn't let us bring a suitcase onto the plane. And I, I just did it in the first Chiara video. And then I realized the more and more I said it, the more garbled the word became. And I mean, I didn't know again, I didn't know that that, that people would like that phrase. So it just kind of happened. And then, and then I'm seeing the comments or people are messaging me like Carl Zaun. I'm like, oh, this is. Maybe it's something. I don't know, you know.
- [29:19]
Interviewer
Have you ever gotten any feedback to the sketches when you're at an airport?
- [29:22]
Laura Ramoso
Not yet. And I'm deeply scared to be banned or they hate me because I'm making fun of them. No, not yet. Not yet.
- [29:35]
Interviewer
And of course I need to have a little bit of a fangirl moment. You opened for Tina Fey and Amy Poehler on their Restless Leg tour, which I just. The name of it makes me laugh. How did that go? And I'm sure that kind of pressure must be sort of insurmountable. I mean, like, I mean, my God, like opening sketch. Doing sketch comedy for those two must be just, I mean, alone. It's like soul breaking pressure. I don't know how you do it.
- [30:05]
Laura Ramoso
Yeah, yeah, it was when I got the gig. I think I did like five flips mentally and physically. I mean, to be honest, the main. I, yeah, I was really nervous for them to see my stuff, but I was mainly really nervous about meeting them and about like, how would. What, what would. What are the backstage vibes? Like, what. What's it gonna be like from Person to person, you know? Cause I also didn't know if they would watch my set. Yeah, I don't know if they were doing their own thing.
- [30:47]
Interviewer
Did you have to like, audition for them in person?
- [30:50]
Laura Ramoso
No.
- [30:51]
Dan Rubenstein
Okay.
- [30:51]
Interviewer
Okay.
- [30:52]
Laura Ramoso
No. Yes. No, they, they knew I had my show and I think that they knew me from online and they love to have to highlight like female sketch comedians or comedians in general. But I think if it's sketch comedians, it's, it's, it's a plus because that's who, who they are. And yeah, the call just came in and it was amazing. I learned so much by, it was almost. Can I just say that it was because I did my, I knew that I had to put up kind of what I, the, my best of, the best of what I had at the time of sketches that I'd been running at during my previous tour. So there was a part of me that, that, that was like, okay, I know the sketches back to front. I've done these billions of times. It's like they'll, I, they've been workshopped. I, I, I can trust these, I can trust these, these sketches. It was so that part was kind of like, you know, me audience. That was like kind of not the most anxiety inducing part. I think the anxiety inducing part was hanging out or just them watching or. Yeah, it was.
- [32:12]
Interviewer
What were the backstage vibes like?
- [32:15]
Laura Ramoso
Oh, great. I mean, they're exactly who you think they are. They're incredibly kind, supportive, hilarious. They fostered such a wonderful work environment and team. You can tell that they're like, they just are loved and, and as they should be. They're amazing. And the backstage vibes are work, which I was like, of course, of course. I watched them, you know, work on new jokes for each night and write new material. And yeah, coming off the show being like, here are the notes, here's what didn't, here's what felt. Maybe here's what we're going to do differently next time. And I was like, oh, wow. It never ends. Like, I don't think if you're, you know, obviously they're who they are because of this, but at that level, I think they, at that level, I think they could just come on stage, do whatever and people would scream their heads off. But they, they don't, they, they work so, so hard and keep finessing their material even during the show. And it was such a, I was so lucky to witness that.
- [33:20]
Interviewer
And obviously, you know, you've done comedy abroad and all these stuff. Have you ever done it in Italy?
- [33:25]
Dan Rubenstein
Or Germany.
- [33:26]
Laura Ramoso
Yes. Yes.
- [33:27]
Laura's Friend or Family Member
Okay.
- [33:28]
Interviewer
How does that go down? Especially in Italy, Their culture must be. It's different. Right. I've seen Matteo Linus done some videos about doing his bit in doing his standup in Italy. But, like, you're doing an impression. You're doing a character, not really an impression of where the funny part is, how Italian they are.
- [33:49]
Laura Ramoso
Yes. Yeah. I went to Italy and Germany on the last tour, and I will say it was like. It was like coming home. Like, it was. They were so open and receptive to the show and to even the parts of the show that weren't about cultural satire in Italy. I was a little bit worried because I had the only messages that I got from people when I announced the tour that asked me if the show was going to be in Italian were from Italians. So I was kind of like, is there going to be a sort of a different reaction to. To the jokes and the rhythms of the show? Because I honestly wasn't sure how much English they were. There was gonna. English. Under English. How do I, you know, English. Understand. What's the word? Like, English? Comprehension. Comprehension.
- [34:55]
Dan Rubenstein
Comprehension.
- [34:56]
Laura Ramoso
Okay. Comprehension.
- [34:58]
Interviewer
Did you do it in. In Italian?
- [35:00]
Laura Ramoso
No. I mean, I have a lot of parts of the show. The last show where I direct address to the audience and I sprinkled some Italian in. But no, they all. They all understood it. They all got it. And one thing that I will say that's very different, different about an Italian audience compared to anywhere else, is they do a lot of clapping. Like a joke will be like a big joke lands real hard. And they're clapping in the middle. Yeah, they're clapping. So lots of, like, applause breaks, but not because it's, like, blowing the roof off the place. It's just the reaction is an applause. Yeah.
- [35:34]
Dan Rubenstein
Kind of nice and formal, but also
- [35:36]
Interviewer
probably a little bit. Might break the rhythm a little bit.
- [35:40]
Laura Ramoso
Yeah, it was definitely a rhythm shift. But, I mean, it was. It was so much fun. And then Germany was amazing too. They were so fun. Yeah.
- [35:48]
Interviewer
Sometimes I ask people on the. On the show to describe themselves in three words, but I was wondering if you could describe Chiara in three words. How would you describe Chiara? Or how would Chiara describe herself?
- [36:03]
Laura Ramoso
Oh, well, Chiara would describe herself as differently than I would, but Chiara would say, okay, beautiful. I'm hardworking, and I'm compelling. And I would describe her as rude, snarky, and so beyond confident.
- [36:36]
Dan Rubenstein
Thank you to my guest, Laura Ramoso, and to everyone at 3Arts for making this episode happen. The editor of the Grand Tourist is Stan Hall. To keep this going, don't forget to visit our website and sign up for our newsletter, the Grand Tourist curator@thegrandtourist.net and follow me on Instagram danrubenstein and follow the Grand Tourist on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or wherever you like to listen. And leave us a rating or comment.
- [36:59]
Interviewer
Every little bit helps.
- [37:01]
Dan Rubenstein
Till next time.
- [37:07]
Chiara (Character by Laura Ramoso)
Next.