Episode 1642 - Bridget Everett

Summary

WTF with Marc Maron Podcast: Episode 1642 - Bridget Everett

Release Date: May 12, 2025
Guest: Bridget Everett
Topic: Exploring Bridget Everett's journey in the cabaret scene, her HBO series Somebody Somewhere, personal struggles with grief, and the creative process behind her performances.

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Introduction and Connection to Somebody Somewhere

Marc Maron begins the episode by expressing his admiration for Bridget Everett's work, particularly her HBO series Somebody Somewhere. He shares how, despite initially not being familiar with her, he became deeply invested in the show after watching all three seasons back-to-back.

Marc Maron (00:02): "I started watching the show Somebody Somewhere, and I was locked in. I loved her. I loved her character. I loved the comedy of it."

Bridget echoes Marc's sentiments, highlighting the emotional and comedic depth of the series, and how it resonated with her on a personal level.

Bridget Everett (22:33): "It changed my life, my outlook. It helped me with my grief, with finding a little more happiness."

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Creating Her HBO Special at Bam Harvey Theater

Marc delves into his personal experience preparing for a special taping at the historic Bam Harvey Theater in Brooklyn. He describes the unique ambiance of the venue, which retains its early 1900s charm, and how the production design, inspired by the Japanese art form kintsugi, complemented the theater's personality.

Marc Maron (05:50): "The production design just melded perfectly with the spirit of the structure. It was almost too good for me."

Despite some challenges during the taping—such as minor stumbles and technical issues—Marc reflects on the fulfillment of completing a project he had been working on for over a year and a half.

Marc Maron (14:00): "I worked on that thing for a year and a half or more, and that was it. That was what I was working towards."

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Bridget Everett's Journey in Cabaret and Television

Bridget shares her path from being a classically trained opera singer to embracing the vibrant New York cabaret scene. She recounts her initial struggles with confidence and self-expression, which transformed through her performances and collaborations with influential figures like Amy Schumer.

Bridget Everett (32:00): "Singing and music, to me, are the best ways to connect with other people."

Her involvement in Somebody Somewhere stemmed from a holding deal with HBO and the support of producers who believed in her unique blend of comedy and emotional depth. Bridget emphasizes the importance of her relationships and support system in navigating the challenges of both her personal life and her career.

Bridget Everett (54:40): "Everyone, mostly, does it. Unless you're, like... a different kind."

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Dealing with Personal Grief and Its Influence on Her Work

A significant portion of the conversation delves into Bridget's personal experiences with grief, particularly the loss of her sister, father, and mother. She discusses how these losses have profoundly influenced her performances and the narrative of her show, allowing her to process and honor her loved ones through her art.

Bridget Everett (75:44): "My brother Brock, who's been to see me in New York. But, you know, at one point, I finally made it into People magazine. And they're like, okay, that's."

Bridget reflects on the therapeutic aspect of her work, explaining how creating and performing her show has provided her with a sense of peace and a way to confront her grief head-on.

Bridget Everett (77:28): "I think this is kind of a way of honoring her. That sounds like such a shitty thing to do, like, after somebody's gone. But I think about her all the time."

Marc relates by sharing his own struggles with grief and how his performances serve as a medium to navigate his emotions, drawing parallels between their experiences.

Marc Maron (80:35): "But once it's out and you see, it's okay. It's like a fucking gift."

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The Creative Process and Emotional Vulnerability

Throughout the episode, Bridget and Marc explore the intersection of creativity and emotional vulnerability. Bridget discusses her fear of letting others see her true self, which drives her to seek authenticity in her performances. She emphasizes the importance of genuine connection with her audience as a means to overcome personal barriers.

Bridget Everett (46:47): "I feel like I'm always worried to, like, talk to somebody when it's gonna be for more than 15 minutes, because it could go."

Marc shares his own challenges with vulnerability, particularly in personal relationships, and how public performances offer a controlled environment to express his deeper emotions.

Marc Maron (86:00): "But it's so controlling when you get into the zone of it. But there were two things that kind of were in my mind, which was like, this isn't unusual. It happens to everybody. This is part of life."

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Conclusion: Finding Peace Through Performance

As the conversation wraps up, both Marc and Bridget reflect on the cathartic nature of their work. Bridget acknowledges the support and care from her collaborators, which has been instrumental in her journey towards healing. Marc appreciates the deep, authentic connections formed through shared vulnerabilities, reinforcing the therapeutic power of storytelling and performance.

Bridget Everett (82:57): "But, like, grief, it's just there."

Marc Maron (83:22): "You can't stop it. And so that feeling of not having control of these emotions, it's hard. But, like... Yeah, once it’s out, it's okay."

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Notable Quotes

• Marc Maron (00:02): "I watched it, like, nonstop all the way through all three seasons. She just got me, man."

• Bridget Everett (22:33): "It changed my life, my outlook. It helped me with my grief, with finding a little more happiness."

• Marc Maron (05:50): "The set and the production design just melded perfectly with the spirit of the structure."

• Bridget Everett (75:44): "My mom now, and so on. So on."

• Marc Maron (80:35): "Once it's out and you see, it's okay. It's like a fucking gift."

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Final Thoughts

Episode 1642 of WTF with Marc Maron offers an intimate glimpse into Bridget Everett's life, her artistic endeavors, and her profound journey through personal loss. The candid dialogue between Marc and Bridget not only highlights the therapeutic nature of performance art but also underscores the importance of authentic connections and emotional honesty in both personal healing and creative expression.

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Transcript

[Marc Maron]

Lock the gate. All right, let's do this. How are you? What the fuckers? What the Buddies? What the Nicks? What's happening? I'm Marc Maron. This is my podcast. Welcome to it. How are you? What's going on? I. What? You know what. What is going on? I have been immersed. I've been immersed for what seems to be a year and a half. I have been immersed in heading towards this special taping. I've got no more dates to announce. I've got nothing. I've got nothing but this and you and some promotions to do, you know, for a lot of things, I've got things happening, but, I mean, what am I going to do comedically? I just did it. I did it and it went well. You know, I could be a little self conscious and a little diminishing and a little dismissive of myself, but I think it went very well. It's weird. It almost happens in a dream. I've tried to tell you about it. I will try to tell you about it. Today on the show, I talked to Bridget Everett. She's the star and executive producer of the HBO series Somebody Somewhere. She got her start in the New York cabaret scene. And I'll be honest with you, when I got the opportunity to interview Bridget, I didn't really know her. I didn't know the show, but I knew she was a thing. I knew the show was a thing for some people. So I was like, okay, sure. You know, Brendan told me she got started in, you know, cabaret. And I was like, all right, well, that's close to comedy. All right, fine. And then I started watching the show Somebody Somewhere, and what a great show. What a great show. Look, I don't know if it's for everybody. I'm not even sure why it's for me, but I started watching it and I was locked in. I loved her. I loved her character. I loved the comedy of it. I loved the other characters. I was crying, I was laughing. I was invested emotionally. I watched it, like, nonstop all the way through all three seasons. She just got me, man. I mean, I just couldn't. I couldn't pull away from it. I just thought it was so beautiful and human and interesting and, you know, eclectic and diverse. And there's something about her character that I obviously identified with emotionally. And, man, did we have a conversation. I can't explain it. Sometimes I just feel so connected to somebody's character. But she's a lot like the character. It's basically her. But, you know, we got into some other stuff, but I was just so surprised and excited to be so emotionally torn up and entertained by that show. It's a big talk and it was really great for me. I think it was for her. I think we kind of ended kind of amazed at ourselves. So New York City, I just got back and look, we made it through this long run, you know, from a week ago Friday through, you know, Toronto and Vermont, Portsmouth, New Hampshire. That show went great. And then like, I, I drove down, we had to rent a car, me and Kathy Ladman, who was opening for me. She did great on the special and on all the shows. We drove down from Portsmouth to Boston, flew to New York. We made it. I didn't lose anything else. I got home, my computer was back, which was nice, and my cats hadn't shit anywhere. And there was limited cat drama. I don't know how it worked out. You know, the woman who watches my cats, she bought them a bunch of toys. She exhausted them. Every night she was giving them the zilkeen or Charlie and some probiotic calming stuff. It seems like him and Buster are kind of at it again. But no shit. I mean, no shit. Which was really nice to come home to. Now I gotta, you know, wait for three days for them all to calm the fuck down and realize I'm. I'm back in charge. I've got it. I'm the king. I'm the alpha of you three little. Fuck Sammy. I'm not even sure Sammy knows me. This episode is sponsored by BetterHelp. Mental health awareness is growing, but there's still progress to be made, folks. 26% of Americans who participated in a recent survey say they've avoided seeking mental health support. Support due to fear of judgment. When people hesitate to get help, it doesn't just affect them, it impacts families, workplaces and entire communities. This mental health awareness month, let's encourage everyone to take care of their well being and break the stigma. The world is better when people are healthy and happy. Therapy is one way you can shore up your mental health and BetterHelp is one way you can try therapy. In fact, it might be the right way for you because it's fully online, meaning you can go to therapy wherever you are. It's more affordable than traditional therapy and you can switch therapists at any time without any charges. BetterHelp has more than 10 years of experience matching people with the right therapists, helping out more than 5 million people worldwide. We're all better with help. Visit betterhelp.com WTF to get 10% off your first month. That's BetterHelp. H E L P.com WTF so I gotta tell you, man, the special looks stunning. The. The. All the people at the Bam Harvey were just great. And that theater is such a special place. I can't even explain it to you. You'll see it on the special, but it was built in, like, the early. Early 1900s, and instead of renovating it, they. They kind of preserved it in its decay. So it has a sort of personality that you don't see much in theaters that old, because most of the time, they get flipped, they get renovated many places, renovate them appropriately to the time, or restore the stuff that was there. But this place, the Harvey, is completely unique in that it has kind of broken down a bit. It's almost a bit of a ruin in a way. So they just let that be, and they just kind of maintain it. They didn't, you know, restore it, per se. They honor what it is, and it's got an incredible personality. And when I first went to the place and I saw the back wall of the theater that I believe still had paint on it from somewhere back in the 1900s, early 1900s, and the whole back of the theater, as I might have said before, looked like a piece of art to me, like a Rothko painting or something, kind of. It was chipped away. It had different colors, different tones. And I'm like, we're using that wall. We're using that wall. And my production designer, Mark Janowitz, it was like he got it right away. And he started talking to me. I don't know if I told you guys this, but he started talking to me about. I think it's called kensugi. It's a Japanese art. They take old ceramics, bowls and pieces, vases, and they repair them meticulously, using gold to bond it back together. So it's a completely new thing. And there was something that Mark saw in the theater where he was like, ken Sugi. And I'm like, what is that? And he says, it's this Japanese art form. You know, they put ceramics back together with gold, and I'm like, okay, do it. Run with it, dude. I love collaborating with people. So he had this whole concept, and I didn't know necessarily how it fit into the special, but it certainly felt it fit into the vibe of the room. So he kind of based his vision for the. For the production design around this kintsugi, and he created lights and little. What are they called? Gobos, maybe, where, you know, the. The kintsugi patterns were sort of around and the carpet on the stage. We put, we put a stage in and the lighting was warm and it just, it really made the Bam Harvey shine. What a beautiful theater. But, you know, with the lights and everything, it was just stunning. It was almost like, why ruin it with my comedy? And so I got there on Friday, we're taping on Saturday. And you know, I watched him, you know, put a lot of the stuff up and start to get the vibe. And then I went back over there on Saturday to do sound checks and feel the room and, you know, be present in it. And it was just fucking beautiful. The whole thing was fucking beautiful. The set and the production design just melded perfectly with the, with the sort of theater, with the vibe of the theater, with the spirit of the structure. And it was like. I was like, this is, this is almost too good for me that we're going beyond what anyone is even gonna read into a comedy show. So I've been working this set for a long time and there's something that happens when you do a special where it's almost a. It's a hyper, it's heightened. It's not a regular show. You know, I'm in a room. Steve Finarts, my director, had, you know, put together like nine cameras. I've got the audience of about 700 some odd people. And it's just heightened because everybody knows why we're there. And I've been running this set so much and you get out there and the sad thing about shooting these specials, it's almost an out of body experience. Cause you're thinking about so many things. I just wanted the sequence of the material to work. And I was doing two shows and I wanted it to time out properly so we didn't have to cut too much. And I was given 70 minutes. And I've been working on this thing and whatever it is a testament to whoever I am or how I work. And I was dealing with an hour and a half, half hour and 45 minutes of material up until a couple weeks ago. And I. We shot the first. I composed some rock music with some band that I put together with my help, with help from my friend Paige Stark. And we laid out this kind of rock riff to open the thing. I did that with the last special too. And then a longer version of at the End. So we got the music, Kathy Ladman opened, we got the music going, the lights were going, everybody was ready. I went out there and all of a sudden it's like, I'm just Locked into this mode. There's nothing comfortable about it, but it's not uncomfortable. You're just. There's an intensity to the focus of it. And I nailed it pretty good the first show. But of course I, you know, I wasn't happy. I stumbled on this word, you know, I didn't do this thing right? This was that. But the bottom line is I came in at 70 minutes on the fucking dot. And that's crazy. There's so much stuff in this special, I couldn't believe it. I amazed myself. I've got this inner clock. But the show went good and the audience was great. But second show, you know, I had my buddy Sam Lipsyth in the dressing room. I had Brendan in the dressing room. Brendan McDonald. This woman Katie did a great job with hair and makeup and. But, you know, I got notes. I got notes from Brendan, I got notes from Sam, I got notes from Steve, my director. And I made some trims. And second show was kind of on fire. I kind of up the sequence and I kind of dropped a joke out. And you know. But, you know, it's a taping. But the sad thing is, is when I realized it and then I tried to do it again and I it up again, you know, I had to stop, not stop the show. The cameras are still running. But I had to tell the audience, like, all right, so we're gonna go back and do that. You know, I kind of this up and then all of a sudden it's not like the fourth wall is broken. But then, you know, something more relaxed happens. And it might have helped for the rest of the set on the second show. The second show is probably the one we're gonna use for the most part. Cause it was like kind of on fire. But I think a lot of it had had to do with. I kind of broke, you know, I broke out of the routine, which is something I do in my live shows all the time, because it's all fluid. But when you're doing one of these specials, you wanna hit all your bits and you don't wanna fuck around too much. So when natural fucking around came because I fucked it up, you know, something was lifted and then I re locked in with a different energy. I got to remember if I ever do a special again or if I'm ever allowed to do one again or offered the opportunity to. Not the kind of guy that's going to put one up on YouTube, but I got to remember that. And I kind of do remember that. But there's a looseness that Gets lost sometimes. But it sort of came back because of. Because of this little fuck up I did, and it made me kind of go, all right. But I hit all the material I wanted to hit. Some of it's pretty challenging, and some of it's pretty interesting. And I just wanted to make sure that between the two shows, we could have stuff to work with, and I think we do. I think it went great. I want to thank all the people that came out to the Bam Harvey and saw the shows. I really appreciate it. After the second show, we had to redo the opening a bit, and then I ended up doing just a half hour, a little bit of material I didn't do, a little bit of Q and A. And then all of a sudden you realize, hey, buddy, you got union guys working. We're running out of time. And that's. That's the weird comedown. So I finished the show. I'm packing up my stuff. We got to get out of the theater. And I was maybe downstairs getting my shit together for a half hour, 40 minutes. My brother came with his partner and some of his step kids. And, you know, there was people. But, you know, as I'm walking out through the top of the room, they'd already kind of like, broke down the stage. And then this, like, this fucking sadness comes over you. You know, like, that was it. I hope we got it. You know, I was. I worked on that thing for a year and a half or more, and that was it. That was what I was working towards. And now, like, the rug for the stage is already gone. The lights are already down. Everything's going away. There's a crew of people tearing it down. And then I'm just kind of like, did I do it? Was it good? And then I get back to the hotel, and it's just this horrendous, horrendous empty sadness that happens when you finish something like that and all your whole life just comes screaming back at you. It's almost like you land back in your life with all the things that were causing you anxiety or problems or all the things you were kind of pushing aside, or. I'm talking about me, you know, leading up to this thing, at least the last week, just to keep the focus, and there's a sadness to it. I feel good about it, but, you know, just now I've got to retire this set. But again, great experience, great theater, great crew, great audiences. I appreciate all of you. You hear me? Do you hear me? This podcast is brought to you by Squarespace. And we've come a long way with our website thanks to Squarespace. Gone are the days when the site doesn't work because we haven't installed an update or something, can't get changed because we can't get a hold of the guy who runs a site. Now we can do everything ourselves thanks to Squarespace. We update the site whenever we want and let Squarespace handle all the additions and upgrades. With Squarespace, you can showcase anything you want with a customizable website designed to attract clients or fans and grow your business. Squarespace has cutting edge design tools so anyone can build an online presence that suits them perfectly. Start with Blueprint AI, Squarespace's AI Enhanced Website Builder to get a fully custom website in just a few steps, using basic information about your industry goals and personality to generate personalized design recommendations. Check out squarespace.com wtf for a free trial. And then when you're all set to put your site out in the world, use offer code WTF to save 10% off your first purchase of a website or domain. That's squarespace.com WTF offer code WTF all right, so, you know, strap in. This is a pretty. This is a pretty beautiful conversation and interesting, but it kind of goes a place and I don't think either of us were anticipating it. This is with Bridget Everett, who I mentioned earlier. All three seasons of Somebody Somewhere are streaming on Max. You can go to Bridget Everett.net to see where she'll be touring this summer. And this is me and Bridget meeting for the first time and talking. I thought I smelled a dead rat. So I was just down in the basement with that. Like, there's something more frightening about finding a dead one than there is about finding a living one. It's just the worst.

[Bridget Everett]

Yeah, it's horror.

[Marc Maron]

It's pure horror.

[Bridget Everett]

I'm not good with small, little fuzzy things.

[Marc Maron]

Well, I mean, you grew up in the Midwest, didn't you have those mice and everything all over the place?

[Bridget Everett]

I mean, not really really, but I just got a house upstate in upstate New York, and I've had to learn about mice. And it's been a real. It's been a challenge.

[Marc Maron]

Yeah, well, I mean, the living ones are dead.

[Bridget Everett]

Both. Oh, yeah, yeah. So I got a pool and there was one floating in it the other day. I was like, I'm not cut out for this.

[Marc Maron]

Yeah, the floating mouse in the pool.

[Bridget Everett]

Yeah. And they're like, get ready for the frogs. I'm like, I can't. I just can't.

[Marc Maron]

Yeah, frogs, toads. Yeah, they'll show up in the filters.

[Bridget Everett]

Oh, geez. Do you pool here?

[Marc Maron]

No.

[Bridget Everett]

No.

[Marc Maron]

I had one when I was growing up.

[Bridget Everett]

Okay.

[Marc Maron]

And there were frogs around.

[Bridget Everett]

Yeah.

[Marc Maron]

And they'd kind of show up.

[Bridget Everett]

Yeah.

[Marc Maron]

Sad business.

[Bridget Everett]

It is. Are we live? Is this live? Or we just. We're just getting warmed up.

[Marc Maron]

No, we're good. We're talking. We're recording.

[Bridget Everett]

Okay.

[Marc Maron]

So it's happening.

[Bridget Everett]

Okay.

[Marc Maron]

You know what will be used? I mean, I think this is pretty good stuff. Oh, yeah, we're doing it.

[Bridget Everett]

I mean, I can tell you about all the dead things I've been finding at the house.

[Marc Maron]

No, really, what else?

[Bridget Everett]

No, it's mostly actually live things. Like, there's, like, possums. There's the bear on the block, there's.

[Marc Maron]

Possums are kind of both cute and horrifying at the same time.

[Bridget Everett]

Well, yeah, I have, like. There's two sort of feral cats. Actually, we're down to one right now. I know that there's another one. I'm praying he comes back. But he's always got, like, you know, the marks on the front. So he's a fighter.

[Marc Maron]

Yeah.

[Bridget Everett]

But right now, one of them. I call him Sweetie and honey. And right now, honey's on the loose.

[Marc Maron]

But they don't live in the house.

[Bridget Everett]

They don't live in the house. They're just. They came with the house. When I bought the house, they were around. They're like, oh, by the way, there are these two cats. I'm like, how come they were never there when I. But I grew up with cats, and I love cats, but I can't let them.

[Marc Maron]

Well, I mean, you don't know what you're gonna do with the ferals. You don't know how they're gonna go.

[Bridget Everett]

And I have a dog, you know.

[Marc Maron]

Yeah, but they're like. They're so tough. It's kind of crazy. In my old house, there was a black, deaf cat, a feral, wild as shit. Couldn't hear anything.

[Bridget Everett]

Oh, yeah.

[Marc Maron]

Lived for years. And that's crazy. How the hell was he. Eventually they got him, but, you know, it's like coyotes.

[Bridget Everett]

It's almost. Oh, God. That's what I'm so afraid of, because there's a pack of. What do you call them? A den, I guess. Or is that what you call them that live? There's all sorts of wildlife up there, and I have a little Pomeranian, and it's just.

[Marc Maron]

Oh, no.

[Bridget Everett]

I'm more worried about the cats because they're out there just, you know, sort of living. But it also makes me Feel good that they're there, kind of protecting. But they do like to kill the mice and just sort of leave them.

[Marc Maron]

Oh, well, yeah. Well, that. But, you know, they're wild animals, feral ones. I mean, there's not a lot you can do other than feed them and almost touch them.

[Bridget Everett]

Yeah, well, they actually let me touch them, but then I leave food out for them. And I have these cameras. Of course you have cameras.

[Marc Maron]

Yeah.

[Bridget Everett]

And that's when I found out I also have a possum because he does a cleanup.

[Marc Maron]

Kind of waddles around.

[Bridget Everett]

The one cat, sweetie, just takes what she wants things. It's sort of just there. And then the possum just comes up.

[Marc Maron]

Yeah. The buffet. Did you see the bear on the camera?

[Bridget Everett]

My neighbor sent me the bears back. Cause I'm new, so they had the bear last night.

[Marc Maron]

Were you just a little upstate somewhere?

[Bridget Everett]

A little upstate?

[Marc Maron]

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Close to the city.

[Bridget Everett]

90 minutes.

[Marc Maron]

That's good.

[Bridget Everett]

Yeah.

[Marc Maron]

Train car.

[Bridget Everett]

I got at least a car.

[Marc Maron]

You know, why not live the life?

[Bridget Everett]

I know, but, you know, then I bought this house, and then I got no job. So, you know, we'll see. But maybe today will lead to something spectacular.

[Marc Maron]

Oh, this is going to be a big day.

[Bridget Everett]

I got a mark as mark.

[Marc Maron]

This is where it all turns around, Bridget.

[Bridget Everett]

Yeah. Okay, good.

[Marc Maron]

It's so funny about your show. Somebody, somewhere, you know, I didn't watch it forever.

[Bridget Everett]

Yeah, a lot of people didn't.

[Marc Maron]

I know. Well, it's just the nature of finding things or what's going to connect you. How it's going to connect you. I don't know that I knew anything about it.

[Bridget Everett]

Yeah.

[Marc Maron]

And then I wanted to talk to you, and I thought, like, well, you know, let's. Let's do it.

[Bridget Everett]

Good. I'm glad.

[Marc Maron]

And I watched all three seasons.

[Bridget Everett]

Oh, you did?

[Marc Maron]

Like, back to back. I couldn't stop watching it. Really?

[Bridget Everett]

That makes me very happy.

[Marc Maron]

Crying. I'm just crying.

[Bridget Everett]

It's. It's one of the. It's.

[Marc Maron]

It's a great show.

[Bridget Everett]

Thank you.

[Marc Maron]

And now, like, I'm. I'm like, how is no one watching this? Like, I'm giving lip service. I'm telling people, like, you got to watch it. And they're like, really? What is it? I'm like, I don't know.

[Bridget Everett]

That's why nobody's watching it.

[Marc Maron]

But it's a very touching, funny, great story with great characters. And so I'm doing what I can.

[Bridget Everett]

I appreciate it.

[Marc Maron]

To spread the word.

[Bridget Everett]

Thank you.

[Marc Maron]

But no more seasons.

[Bridget Everett]

That's it, but you know, I'm not giving up on a movie or something. A Hail Mary down the road. Oh yeah, we have ideas. I have ideas and I just feel like, you know, I feel like it was a real gift that we got to do it at all on. Honestly, you know, it's such a small show, small characters, blah, blah, blah. And are they small characters?

[Marc Maron]

Some of them are big.

[Bridget Everett]

Well, yeah, that's true. But small moments maybe, you know, you know, not really like no explosions.

[Marc Maron]

That's funny. That's how they should have solved it. Big characters, small moments.

[Bridget Everett]

Yeah, but you know, that's sort of originally like we wanted people to discover it, you know, and that is kind of the case. It is a real word of mouth situation. But you know, it definitely has taken some time for it to get around. But it's the best thing that's ever happened to me. It like changed my life, my outlook. It helped me with my grief, with my. With finding a little more happiness. So it's been really good for me. So I hope other people see a little of that and get something from it.

[Marc Maron]

Oh no. It's completely uplifting and touching and it's like the characters feel grounded and real. The writing's really kind of good. It doesn't, you know, you don't fall into any traps of like, you know, like, well, this couldn't happen or like you're not jumping any sharks or anything like that. It's just a nice sort of arc to the whole thing and the character changes kinda slowly. But you know, that's important.

[Bridget Everett]

But that's also like, you know, when I watch TV and I see people like there's a lesson at the end of the episode and people grow and change. Like for me personally, like I'm a more inch by inch kind of person and really don't make growth is very slow for me.

[Marc Maron]

Well, but it's not like no one really changes but like in the face of tragedy or grief that, you know, it's all consuming, you know, having been through it myself. And you know, when you're in it at the beginning, there's no way to control it and there's no way out. And then as time goes on, you know that what you're going to do is you're going to live with it. Right. So in that grief, all these other parts of your being sort of come forward, you know, the hopelessness, like what's the point? And all that other stuff that's always there but may not be fully part of you, but just the Process of moving through grief is a dramatic change to get to a point where you're not free of it, but you can live with it.

[Bridget Everett]

Yeah.

[Marc Maron]

Right.

[Bridget Everett]

Yeah. And I think this show for me, taught me how to, like, face it.

[Marc Maron]

Yeah.

[Bridget Everett]

And be with it. And either was sort of a. You know, I know you've dealt with grief as everybody.

[Marc Maron]

Sure. Everybody does. It's the most common thing that people want to avoid.

[Bridget Everett]

Yeah. And in my universe, like, it's just not. Not my current circle of friends. They're more.

[Marc Maron]

Yeah.

[Bridget Everett]

You know, they're artists and they're, you know, we talk.

[Marc Maron]

Right. Oh, yeah.

[Bridget Everett]

But where I'm from, it wasn't like, how are you feeling? That's like just something that just wasn't.

[Marc Maron]

Yeah. You know, it's. And if you get that question, it's a one or two word answer and you move by.

[Bridget Everett]

Yeah, exactly.

[Marc Maron]

Great. Good.

[Bridget Everett]

Yeah. Good. Yeah.

[Marc Maron]

Yeah.

[Bridget Everett]

What's for dinner? You know, just all of that.

[Marc Maron]

But you grew up in Kansas.

[Bridget Everett]

I grew up in Kansas, yeah. I'm from Manhattan, Kansas.

[Marc Maron]

The places.

[Bridget Everett]

Yeah, the place that's in the show, we sort of. We were gonna try it in Emporia, Kansas, and then we visited Manhattan while we were scouting and that. We're like, this is where it should be. Because it's, you know, a military town and a college town, and it's where I'm from and you know it and I know it.

[Marc Maron]

So there's a comfort level there.

[Bridget Everett]

There's a comfort level.

[Marc Maron]

And so is it based on you? How did the show come into being? Like, I wasn't familiar. Like, I'm not a big cabaret guy. Surprising.

[Bridget Everett]

I probably can't get in line. Not a lot of people are. I mean, it's a niche.

[Marc Maron]

It's a niche, but I know about it and I would probably enjoy it, but I. I tend to not really do a lot of things that would. I would enjoy. Like, I know they're out there and I know when I've experienced them, I feel, you know, moved and emotional.

[Bridget Everett]

It's too much.

[Marc Maron]

Yeah. You're just getting there. That's the problem with me. It's like, all right, so how are we going to go to the place? And then. Is there parking or all of it?

[Bridget Everett]

All of it.

[Marc Maron]

And then I leave early. We gotta. Gotta beat the crowd. So it's all about what happens on either side. But I didn't know your background. But, yeah, let's talk about that. So you grew up in Manhattan, Kansas. What were you doing there? Regular stuff. Like, were your parents Farmers?

[Bridget Everett]

No, no, no, no. My parents were divorced. My dad was a lawyer. My mom was a music teacher. I'm the youngest of six kids.

[Marc Maron]

Yeah, six.

[Bridget Everett]

Yeah, I was, you know, kind of.

[Marc Maron]

Wow.

[Bridget Everett]

Had a lot of. You know, I have a. I sort of like. Like to say that I was friends with everybody, but friends with no one. I was popular, but I kind of felt like a loner, if that makes any sense.

[Marc Maron]

Yeah, I know exactly what it means. It's like there's. There's the thing that you. That engages with people. Then there's the thing inside going like, they don't like me.

[Bridget Everett]

Yeah, exactly. Which. Which leads to, you know, I don't know. I.

[Marc Maron]

Strange kind of loneliness.

[Bridget Everett]

Strange kind of loneliness, yeah. And I feel like. Yeah, I've always kind of felt lonely, I guess, but not when I sing. And even with all those siblings, you know, I was the youngest and, like, so that, you know, they made. They picked on me. They. It's not like that now.

[Marc Maron]

By the time you were 10, one of them was gone already, or two, right?

[Bridget Everett]

Oh, yeah. You know, they were. Yeah. Because my oldest sister was 14 years older than me. So, you know, my next. My brother, number five of six is five years older. So, you know, I was kind of. I was not an act. Well, an accident. You sort of try to keep the family together. Kind of thing didn't work out. So how's that for yourself, worth? Well, you couldn't keep the family together.

[Marc Maron]

Hail Mary. Hail Mary, baby.

[Bridget Everett]

Hail Mary, baby. But, yeah, so I grew up there, and then I was in show choir and did all that, and I was a swimmer and I went to school. I went to Arizona State on a.

[Marc Maron]

But you knew early on that singing kind of got you out of yourself.

[Bridget Everett]

It just was. It was just the only thing that. That felt real. Do you know what I mean? Like, it was just like.

[Marc Maron]

And it is real. I feel like. Like I was terrified of it for my whole life, you know, And I play guitar and stuff. And the. And it's. And even when I watch people sing, when I sing, I feel like it's the most exposing, vulnerable thing I can do.

[Bridget Everett]

Yeah.

[Marc Maron]

And. And I do not love the feeling. I've gotten better at it.

[Bridget Everett]

Yeah.

[Marc Maron]

You know, but as a comic or somebody who lives on stage to show that part of myself, it feels so fragile and weird. But, like. But like, that's not my. That's not where my showman stuff come. Like, I. I don't sing confidently.

[Bridget Everett]

You know, who cares? I mean, it's not about that for Me, it's about. It's always about connection, you know, it's like singing and music, to me, are the best way to connect with other people.

[Marc Maron]

Sure, yeah.

[Bridget Everett]

It doesn't matter how great you are, you know, I mean, obviously I love to hear, like, incredible singers, but for me, I'd rather go see somebody that is. It's in their heart, you know, you can feel it.

[Marc Maron]

It's so moving, man. If I go to a musical and even watching your show, like, when you finally get up on stage, I'm like, oh, God. You know, again, like, I've just become this, like, crying man. I try to it alone.

[Bridget Everett]

Are you. Are you a crier or are you.

[Marc Maron]

I. I am, but I mean, not in a. In situations that would warrant it. Like, I feel. If I'm. If I'm in a situation with a human and, you know, that feeling comes up, I'll try to keep it down. But if I'm watching a show or a movie, I'll.

[Bridget Everett]

It's all out.

[Marc Maron]

Yeah, it happens.

[Bridget Everett]

Is that. Do you put this. Roll the paper towels here in case I start crying? Is that.

[Marc Maron]

Well, I usually have Kleenex out here. No, I think we. Tom Green was in here the other day and his dog threw up.

[Bridget Everett]

Oh, okay. Well, look, it's. It works for. Works for all holes.

[Marc Maron]

Exactly. Sure. But. But so. Oh, so all your siblings just kind of beat up on you or just kind of the run.

[Bridget Everett]

Yeah, like, you know, hand me down.

[Marc Maron]

Clothes, the whole business.

[Bridget Everett]

Our family is like, the way you show affection is by making fun of each other. And, you know, I didn't really get my skill set, how to fight back until I got a microphone. New York City, you know, like, it wasn't like, fighting back, but it was like a way of sort of having power or having control, you know, like.

[Marc Maron]

Or your space. Like you own your, you know, your space.

[Bridget Everett]

Yeah. And I do talk, like, in my live show, my cabaret stuff. I talk about my family a lot and, you know, similar. I was listening to your. Was it with David Harbour, you know, like the stuff before and everything. Because I was really responding to what you were talking about before, about the long form and the TikTok. And it's something that really, like, eats at me, like, just like the way that everything is in small little bites now. And my cabaret show is. It's about the experience, the beginning to the end, and, like. And to hopefully make people feel unlocked and joyful, but to connect with them, you know, in my own personal way, so.

[Marc Maron]

And have an arc of emotion.

[Bridget Everett]

And have an arc of emotion. And that's really important to me.

[Marc Maron]

Yeah. And they're just training people to, you know, they're breaking people's brains, it does feel like. And they're breaking artists brains who feel like they have to sort of do that. I mean, it was so much better. Like, I'm glad everybody has the freedom to make their own stuff on their phone or on their camera, but sometimes the gatekeepers kind of made it better because, you know, it's like, we want to do the whole show. We're gonna produce the. And people would go see it. And now I don't know. I don't know what's happening. I know it's not good.

[Bridget Everett]

I know I sound like one of those people. Like, now I'm just like, well, yeah, yeah.

[Marc Maron]

I mean, how can you not if you came up in a different time? Yeah, but so when you're growing up, you and you're singing in these different places, when do you realize, like, it's a thing you're gonna do?

[Bridget Everett]

Well, I got a scholarship for, like, a choral scholarship, like, vocal performance. So I went to the choir scholarship, but I got my degree in vocal performance, like, opera singing.

[Marc Maron]

Oh, really? So when you went to college.

[Bridget Everett]

Yeah.

[Marc Maron]

Where'd you go?

[Bridget Everett]

Arizona State.

[Marc Maron]

Oh, in Tucson.

[Bridget Everett]

Tempe.

[Marc Maron]

Yeah, Tempe.

[Bridget Everett]

Yeah.

[Marc Maron]

Oh, that's right. Yeah. The University of Arizona is in there. Yeah, I've been to Tempe plenty.

[Bridget Everett]

Yeah. There's a comedy club there.

[Marc Maron]

Yeah. And I have a lot of history. I had an ex wife from there, and my brother had a wife from there.

[Bridget Everett]

Oh, geez.

[Marc Maron]

A lot of. A lot of Arizona in my past.

[Bridget Everett]

Yeah.

[Marc Maron]

Yeah.

[Bridget Everett]

Well, I. I did. I loved it there. I haven't been back since I left, oddly enough, but. But yeah, I just. I knew I wanted to be a singer, but the only real singing I was doing there was like. I worked at the original P F Chang's, so I would. I met a lot.

[Marc Maron]

The first PF Chang.

[Bridget Everett]

The first one, thank you very much. It's in Scottsdale, actually.

[Marc Maron]

In Scottsdale.

[Bridget Everett]

Fashion Square there.

[Marc Maron]

Sure. So that was when it was like kind of a. This is a great new restaurant here.

[Bridget Everett]

It was hot. It was like Charles Barkley and all his friends, and he brought in all these people. And so I got to know a lot of professional athletes, and they would have me. They asked me to sing, like, the national anthem at some of the spring training games and, like, different. So that was the only singing I was doing.

[Marc Maron]

And opera, too.

[Bridget Everett]

I would sing, you know, like in a classical style voice.

[Marc Maron]

Sure, but did you ever do opera?

[Bridget Everett]

I mean, yeah, but like that's. That's what I, you know, I did. You have to do your, you know, concerts and all that shit. But I would go wild on the weekends and go to karaoke bars and that was my passion.

[Marc Maron]

What were your songs?

[Bridget Everett]

You know, you ought to know, A Piece of My Heart, the classics.

[Marc Maron]

But I mean, I was always terrified of karaoke.

[Bridget Everett]

Oh, really? Well, terrified people hate it. But I.

[Marc Maron]

But I know that like, you know, people do it cause it's fun and they don't necessarily sing well, but it's just fun, fun to do. And everybody knows that's the score with karaoke. But in my brain, it's like, if I don't sing well, I'm gonna walk off of that fun thing and just be like, oh, fuck. Why the fuck I'm terrible.

[Bridget Everett]

All those people that are there to just like fucking, you know, vocally masturbate. Nobody cares. Like, I know that you love the guy or the woman that are just. They're going for it. And it gives me so much joy. I go with my friend. We used to go to this place called the Parlor every Sunday night when I moved to New York. And my friend Zach used to sing, you know, creep by Radiohead. And just like every single time, it was like the first time he sang it, there was so much passion. And I just. I just. I just love that. I love the way that music lights people up. It's, you know.

[Marc Maron]

Yeah, it's great. But like, I remember there. There's one guy in our communities. I don't. I haven't seen him in years, but they would have parties or we would. They have a little thing at a karaoke bar with comics and stuff. And this guy could sing and he would just go like, nail this fucking Zeppelin song or something. And I'd just be like, nah, fuck him.

[Bridget Everett]

Yeah, I feel that way too, you know, I mean, give me the show. Where's the show? I mean, like. Like I used to rip my shirt open. I. I was like in. It was passionate. You know, that's. I still do that. But, you know.

[Marc Maron]

So when you finished college, you went back home? Yeah. Well, you know, sometimes it works, right?

[Bridget Everett]

You'd be surprised how many times it does work.

[Marc Maron]

I'm sure.

[Bridget Everett]

Wait, what? No, after college, I moved. I used to do this. I worked at this resort in Maine called Kwisasana. It was like sort of Bar Harbor. No, it was. It's Lake Keys art, sort of inland. But it was a beautiful lake.

[Marc Maron]

Maine's pretty and weird.

[Bridget Everett]

So beautiful. And Stephen King lived on the lake. And it'd be like, every summer you would hope to see either a moose or Stephen King, and it was just, like, so stupid. But did you meet him? I did. I met him. Like, you know, I didn't meet him. I saw him at, like, the little country store in the parking lot once, and he just. He was polite, you know.

[Marc Maron]

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[Bridget Everett]

I'm sure, you know, people. He moved to Maine for a reason. Like, get away from me people.

[Marc Maron]

Right. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[Bridget Everett]

But anyway, that was like, sort of a Dirty Dancing style resort. And so he would sing in shows at night.

[Marc Maron]

And so you were there as a singer?

[Bridget Everett]

Yeah, you know, it's like, you know, I would do shows but wait tables during the day.

[Marc Maron]

Right, right, right, right.

[Bridget Everett]

Yeah. And then I moved to New York. I was like, fuck it.

[Marc Maron]

But you never. You never went back? Like, how did your family react to it?

[Bridget Everett]

To what? To singing and to.

[Marc Maron]

Yeah, I mean, to you pursuing that life.

[Bridget Everett]

I think they just thought that I was like. I don't think they thought too much of it. I thought that they just thought I was kind of, like, you know, fumbling through life and, like, because I was waiting to. I was a waitress for so many years. I think they just. You know, they didn't. I'd be like, oh. You know, when I started to do cabaret shows, when I started performing, they didn't know how exciting it was to, like, get up on a stage in front of real people that bought a ticket, you know, like.

[Marc Maron]

And did they ever come to New York?

[Bridget Everett]

No, I mean, later, like, my. I don't think, actually the only one that's seen me is my brother Brock, who's been to see me in New York. But, you know, at one point, I finally made it into People magazine. And they're like, okay, that's.

[Marc Maron]

The expectations are crazy.

[Bridget Everett]

Yeah.

[Marc Maron]

You know, you could be working for 20 years, doing just fine, and your parents are like. You know, my dad used to say things like, you should talk to, you know, Bill Maher. He seems to know what's going on.

[Bridget Everett]

Okay.

[Marc Maron]

I'm 30 years in. Like, there's some ticket.

[Bridget Everett]

Yeah.

[Marc Maron]

You know, and now it's impossible because no one knows where to watch anything.

[Bridget Everett]

Yeah, it's true.

[Marc Maron]

And, you know, you're excited about a show, and people are literally like, I've never heard of it. And you're like, what do you mean? It's a big show. Well, where do you watch it? It's like, it's so annoying.

[Bridget Everett]

Wait, no. Temu's not a show that's like that where you buy clothes, isn't it?

[Marc Maron]

I don't know.

[Bridget Everett]

I don't know.

[Marc Maron]

It sounds like it could be a network.

[Bridget Everett]

I can't remember all of them.

[Marc Maron]

So when you went to New York, what were your expectations?

[Bridget Everett]

You know, I wanted to be on stage like a Broadway singer.

[Marc Maron]

Okay. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[Bridget Everett]

And I got my Equity card right away doing some, you know, bus and truck thing.

[Marc Maron]

What is that?

[Bridget Everett]

I played the, you know, the mother and Hansel Gretel traveling show. We were all on a bus. And you would load the set out. You go to school.

[Marc Maron]

Okay.

[Bridget Everett]

You put the set back in and you'd drive to the next place.

[Marc Maron]

That was an Equity gig.

[Bridget Everett]

It was an Equity gig.

[Marc Maron]

So did you get representation?

[Bridget Everett]

No, no. I mean, I made like $180 a week or something.

[Marc Maron]

Would you get it through a children's theater audition?

[Bridget Everett]

Yeah, that's exactly. I went to the Actors Equity building. I stood in line, I auditioned, and I got it. And that happened. Like, that was, like, right away.

[Marc Maron]

Was it, like, from that paper? Where'd you see the audition?

[Bridget Everett]

Backstage.

[Marc Maron]

Backstage, right.

[Bridget Everett]

That's what it was.

[Marc Maron]

Really.

[Bridget Everett]

Yeah. But then after that, crickets. Crickets, Crickets. For so long that I lost my Equity card because I never worked again.

[Marc Maron]

And back to waitressing.

[Bridget Everett]

Back to waitressing in New York City. Yeah. But. Oh, God, I worked at the. The majority of the time, I worked at this place called Ruby Foos.

[Marc Maron]

Yeah. Oh, yeah, I know Ruby Foos.

[Bridget Everett]

Yeah. But there's place Rain before that in Main Street. That was another resume.

[Marc Maron]

Chang help you at Ruby Foods?

[Bridget Everett]

It did. He saw that on my resume. He's like. He circled. I remember he's single. He's like, oh, pf Chang. Okay. And because you had to be like, it was for this.

[Marc Maron]

Ruby Foods was good.

[Bridget Everett]

It was good. It was fun. You know, I opened it and I closed it. I was there for a very long time. Like I said, I waited tables for, know, 25, 30 years.

[Marc Maron]

But what year are we talking when you get to New York?

[Bridget Everett]

Like 97, something like that.

[Marc Maron]

Oh, I was still around.

[Bridget Everett]

Oh, were you?

[Marc Maron]

Yeah. Like, I went back. Was I like, I went back? Yeah, I mean, 95, 97. When did I leave? I mean, I didn't really leave till 2001. Yeah. So I was. I'd moved to Queens. I was living in Astoria. Doing comedy. Was there. So where. When you're working and you do the Hands on GR show, then you, like, you didn't work for, like, a year.

[Bridget Everett]

I just didn't work at all. Like, I was just karaoke.

[Marc Maron]

Were you miserable?

[Bridget Everett]

Yes, but not on Sunday nights when I would do karaoke. Like, that was my lifeline. Like, I know it sounds.

[Marc Maron]

You had a place.

[Bridget Everett]

Yeah, we went to this place every Sunday night, the Parlor. And I was really, like. It was it for me. But luckily, you know, and I was starting to go to see a lot of shows. My friend Zach, that I mentioned before, he took me to see Kiki and Herb, which is a very legendary duo in New York, and Murray Hill, who's on my show as Pepperoco. He's funny.

[Marc Maron]

They're funny.

[Bridget Everett]

So I went to. I met him, and he put me on his show.

[Marc Maron]

On a cabaret show.

[Bridget Everett]

On a cabaret show. He used to do these shows, like at Mo Pickens. Do you remember Mo Pickens? It was in the East Village. Maybe that was just after that.

[Marc Maron]

I kind of remember.

[Bridget Everett]

But so I started to get up and do, like, songs. I. You know, I was doing these dumb.

[Marc Maron]

Original songs with, like, piano accompaniment.

[Bridget Everett]

Yeah. With this guy, Kenny Momon. And we sort of started.

[Marc Maron]

So you were writing songs?

[Bridget Everett]

We were writing songs. But, you know, like, the first song. Some of the first songs were like, at least it's Pink, which is, you know.

[Marc Maron]

Yeah.

[Bridget Everett]

And then Can Hole, which is. I still love. It's about butt sex. So stupid. I mean, but it was fun. Like, it was just like. To me, like, some of these things were kind of base, but they were also. It made me laugh, so I didn't care.

[Marc Maron]

Well, what was the audience? Who was the audience?

[Bridget Everett]

You know, largely gay men, queer people. And I was just thinking today. Cause I was on the plane, you know, flying here, and the crew happened to be, you know, a couple gay men. And I was like, man, I'm so happy. Like, they changed. They saved me. They saved me. They changed my life. They gave me an audience. They gave me support. They made me feel like what I was doing was worth something. And it changed my life.

[Marc Maron]

Well, they're a great audience if they take you. You know what I mean? Cause there's certain. There's certain comics. There's a certain type of female performer that resonates.

[Bridget Everett]

Yeah. I always try to think of, like, what it is, like, that appealed for me specifically to, you know, to a gay audience or to a queer audience. I've never really been able to put my finger on it, but I think that there is something about being exactly who you are and not giving a shit. Like, do I feel that way in my day to day life, probably not, but like, on stage, I feel, you know, when I used to go to the grocery store with my mom, she would never wear a bra. She was just very sort of like she had done like the socialite, you know, Manhattan, Kansas, socialite thing. But by the time I came around on the divorce and all the kids, she did not give a fuck. So she was walking around town, we called them her beaver tails with her fucking tits hanging out and just, you know, and she just didn't care. And that really sort of shaped me as far as, like, my body and. And how people accept me, like. And so for me, part of the stage stuff I was doing is really just kind of like it was born out of her going to Food for Less, you know, with her nightgown on with no bra and slippers. I don't know.

[Marc Maron]

No, that makes sense. There's a freedom in it, you know?

[Bridget Everett]

Yeah. And also watching her progression from growing, being like a wound up sort of Midwestern school teacher, whatever, to just, you know, her favorite cuss word was motherfucker, shit her ass. Or by the time she just got. She just didn't give a fuck anymore, you know.

[Marc Maron]

She angry. Oh, always.

[Bridget Everett]

Till the day she died. But also very, very funny, you know, and like. And probably kind of a narcissist, but I guess I like that. And boozy. Oh, yeah. She was a major drinker until she went to, you know, rehab. She like, you know, my. My brother and sister took her to rehab and she just cleaned. She went because she was ready. I mean, she was like. It was bad.

[Marc Maron]

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

[Bridget Everett]

It was like, lock your. Lock all the doors.

[Marc Maron]

Oh, really?

[Bridget Everett]

Don't go to work and. Yeah, yeah, that kind of vibe.

[Marc Maron]

Yeah, well, that's like, that's. That's a heavy thing to grow up with, I guess. Yeah.

[Bridget Everett]

I mean, is. But there were bigger problems, you know. Well, were there? I don't know.

[Marc Maron]

Well, it just becomes. If it gets to the point. Well, maybe you were. You were older, but, like, when the erratic behavior starts, we just didn't know what you were going to get. It kind of creates a sort of like, pensiveness.

[Bridget Everett]

Yeah, that's true.

[Marc Maron]

A slight fear of, like, what's gonna happen. And you kind of carry that with you.

[Bridget Everett]

Yeah, you just bottle everything up and until you can find a place to put it. Some people put that. And they work on themselves.

[Marc Maron]

Sure.

[Bridget Everett]

Some people work on that with other people and connect to other people. And I just connect with strangers.

[Marc Maron]

Yeah, no, me too. I can be more intimate and vulnerable with a room full of strangers than I can in my personal relationships.

[Bridget Everett]

Yeah.

[Marc Maron]

It's a fucking nightmare in a way. I mean, for some reason, when I'm just with people that I'm building relationships or with or whatever, the vulnerability is too frightening somehow.

[Bridget Everett]

Yeah.

[Marc Maron]

Like, I'm gonna be pummeled.

[Bridget Everett]

I agree. I mean, and there is a moment in my TV show, like, where we put in the script, I was like, this feels too on the nose, you know? But Carolyn Strauss, who was our producer, I know her. Yeah. And she's great godmother, you know, sort of like, she'd be like, you say that because that's what you mean. And, like, it's just like, I just don't want you to leave me. And I feel like that is. You know, I could cry because that's the way I feel about everybody. Yeah.

[Marc Maron]

And sometimes. Well, then, you know, the fear of leaving will stop you from engaging. Yeah, right. Yeah. It's the fucking worst.

[Bridget Everett]

Yeah. I walk in a room sometimes with some of my closest friends, and I feel like I'm back to one because I. I feel like I pull myself back constantly.

[Marc Maron]

Yeah.

[Bridget Everett]

And they're not doing anything.

[Marc Maron]

Yeah.

[Bridget Everett]

It's me.

[Marc Maron]

Yeah. Yeah. You're projecting all kinds of shit. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I've worn these people out.

[Bridget Everett]

Yeah. You know, whatever. Whatever it is, I'm like, well, they love their partner more than they love me. Or, you know, not even that. It's just like, I can be replaced or I can be forgotten about, you know, and it's. It's a. And so there's a lot of that erased in the show, which, you know, I think. I think you asked at some point, like, you know, is it based on me or whatever, but. But everything I do is really just born out of fear and how I'm trying to protect myself. And I think my live show, the cabaret stuff, is like. I mean, I sing songs like, what I Gotta do to get that dick in my Mouth. But I also always. When I'm with my band.

[Marc Maron]

Classic.

[Bridget Everett]

Yeah. Classic. But I also always, like, there's a big chunk in the middle of my show about my family and.

[Marc Maron]

Yeah.

[Bridget Everett]

And my sister and my. And my dad and all these things and my mom now, and. Because they're all gone and, like, I cry probably 75% of the time when I'm singing the song because I'm just like. You know, I allow myself. I give myself the permission to. Because even though there's a room full of people there, it's like, I. I feel safer there, as you're mentioning before, like, more.

[Marc Maron]

Well, it's your. It's. It's your space.

[Bridget Everett]

Yeah.

[Marc Maron]

You. You know, you kind of own it.

[Bridget Everett]

And they're not gonna leave because they just spent however much money to buy a ticket. They're like, well, I'm in.

[Marc Maron]

Yeah. I just. Well, that it's interesting because I know in. In the show, you know, people who grow up with that, like. Because I have it, too. There's. I know I have this neediness that I've, you know, kind of boxed up.

[Bridget Everett]

Yeah.

[Marc Maron]

And it lives in me. Cause I've learned from experience that, you know, I could be an exhausting friend because.

[Bridget Everett]

Why?

[Marc Maron]

How?

[Bridget Everett]

Like, what do you mean? Well, just.

[Marc Maron]

I mean, like, I was always the kind of guy that, like, you know, I'd get one friend, and that relationship on my side was sort of, like, totally engaged, but I just needed that one guy. And if that started to wobble, I'd be like, what the fuck is happening? What am I doing? Like, I remember that. But at some point, I killed that part of me.

[Bridget Everett]

Good. All right. So I'm just myself. A little lipstick. It's a tic.

[Marc Maron]

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[Bridget Everett]

So do you. So now do you parse it out a little bit more?

[Marc Maron]

Well, I think over. As I get older, you know, I have friends for many years now, but it's still. I used to do a joke about it. I used to do, like, you know, I don't know how when people say they have a lot of friends, I'm like, no, you don't. Because. And I say, you know, you only need two friends. You need the main guy, and the guy you go to. When you drain the main guy, you're like, hey, man, can I talk to you? He's like, well, I'm kind of busy right now. I'll call the other guy, you take a break. That kind of thing.

[Bridget Everett]

Well, see, I feel like I need to keep a little bit of a deeper roster in case, you know, one leaves me. Like, I think that they all will.

[Marc Maron]

So you're carrying a few?

[Bridget Everett]

I'm carrying a few.

[Marc Maron]

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[Bridget Everett]

But also, like, long phone list they put in the work. Like, I. You know, when I grew up in Kansas, like I said, and what. You know, I. My mom used to say, you know, she said a lot of things, but one was like, you can't trust anybody but yourself. And I guess that does sort of stick with you if you hear it enough times.

[Marc Maron]

Yeah.

[Bridget Everett]

And so. But my friends in New York really have. You know, they're all therapized and, you know, they.

[Marc Maron]

And that was not something you grew up with.

[Bridget Everett]

I've never been to therapy, except for when I was.

[Marc Maron]

To this day.

[Bridget Everett]

Well, I went in grade school, like, when they made us, like, they had us, like, when we were all fighting too much, which was probably my fault, you know, because I was from a, you know, a chaotic household and I was probably lashing out too much. And so we all had to go see a child psychologist. But not in my. Not in my adult life, really. Yeah, I should.

[Marc Maron]

Yeah. I've gone sporadically, you know, sometimes for long periods of time, but as you get older, you're like, that was another bit I did. When you go to a therapist as an older person, you kind of know yourself, you know, why you're going. So it's sort of like, look, I know there's some things we're not going to be able to unfuck. I'm having these specific things, so maybe give me some perspective on that. Yeah, yeah. And sometimes it helps. I just started again, actually.

[Bridget Everett]

Well, I sort of liked, you know, what David was saying about the sort of the old school style where you go and you don't really look at them.

[Marc Maron]

Oh, yeah.

[Bridget Everett]

And you lay on the thing and you sort of never see them.

[Marc Maron]

Yeah, he's doing real old school. Yeah.

[Bridget Everett]

Yeah. I mean, I think that could work. But there's something about me, too, that's also afraid of, because I feel like, you know, I have so many emotional tripwires, which is sort of helpful in, you know, when writing and creating and singing and all that. Like, it helps me feel, like, very. They're just all right there. They're sort of just so. They're. So I can grab them, you know, I'm afraid, like, if I get fixed, does that mean I'm not gonna be.

[Marc Maron]

Able to, like, oh, you're never gonna get that fixed.

[Bridget Everett]

That's true. I mean, there's a lot that needs to be addressed.

[Marc Maron]

Those wired in resources are always going to be there.

[Bridget Everett]

Yeah.

[Marc Maron]

You just might have a little more control over them.

[Bridget Everett]

Yeah, yeah.

[Marc Maron]

I'm talking about that right now in my act about, like, how. Because I'm trying a very specific medication. And there's the fear, like, does all my creativity come from that place? And then I say, am I just mining for gold in a river of panic?

[Bridget Everett]

You like that one?

[Marc Maron]

I do, yeah. It's not a big laugh line, but it's an interesting image.

[Bridget Everett]

No, I love it. And also, you know, One of my favorite things is that my friend Larry does this and my friend Zach, like, when they make themselves laugh. I just. I'm so delighted by people that can recognize their own when they've really. When they've said something cute.

[Marc Maron]

Yeah. Yeah. Well, sometimes it's sort of. You're trying to prompt it.

[Bridget Everett]

It let them know that you're mental.

[Marc Maron]

Yeah, that's the funny part. I'm bored. Yeah, it's a trick. And I don't. I don't really like when I do it on stage, you know, because, you know, you do the same. Like, you do the act over and over again and you find yourself laughing in the right place, like. Yeah, okay, so you're uncomfortable there. Just let them have it. You don't have to. You have to shield yourself.

[Bridget Everett]

I was like, some. There was, like, one, like, thing in my show. I can't remember what it was like, my live thing. And I just like. And then I started. Just put it in, like. I just started, like, would make myself laughter. I was like, stop. Like, Yeah. I don't like anything that feels false. So I just got rid of it. But.

[Marc Maron]

Oh. I put things in my show that never get laughs, but I'm. But I like them.

[Bridget Everett]

Yeah. There's one thing I keep that I can't get rid of. I'm like, that one's for me. I just say that after a second. That one's for me.

[Marc Maron]

Yeah, take it. It's yours. So, but when you start, what's the evolution? I don't know. The cabaret scene was there. Were there comics around that I might know in the cabaret scene? Stand ups ever?

[Bridget Everett]

Well, like, somebody who's killing it right now is Cola Scola. Do you know? It's Omar on Broadway. They just got nominated for a bunch of Tonys today. I'm trying to think of who else you might know in that world, but.

[Marc Maron]

Did Schumer, like, did you know Amy Schumer?

[Bridget Everett]

I met Amy, so I went to the. I went to Just for Laughs.

[Marc Maron]

Oh, okay. With your show.

[Bridget Everett]

With my show, yeah.

[Marc Maron]

Yeah. When was that?

[Bridget Everett]

I'm gonna. I can't really remember, honestly.

[Marc Maron]

Well, that's interesting. So you got into the festival.

[Bridget Everett]

Yeah, like 2011, maybe.

[Marc Maron]

Okay.

[Bridget Everett]

Give or take.

[Marc Maron]

Yeah.

[Bridget Everett]

Actually, you were there. I remember because I was talking to somebody and you were coming off the. You know, the Hyatt. You were coming off the elevator.

[Marc Maron]

Yeah.

[Bridget Everett]

And I remember seeing you. But anyway, that's sort of where Amy and I connected.

[Marc Maron]

Okay.

[Bridget Everett]

She had seen me perform at this small theater in New York. Called Ars Nova.

[Marc Maron]

I know that place. Yeah.

[Bridget Everett]

And we just hit it off. We both like chardonnay. We both have sort of a filthy sense of humor. And she took me on the road with her.

[Marc Maron]

Oh, really? So you did songs?

[Bridget Everett]

Yeah, I went to.

[Marc Maron]

Oh, that's great.

[Bridget Everett]

I used to open for her and then I started closing for her because it is hard to follow a singer, you know, and like. And I like do the Airplane at the end. I go out and I'm in the audience, sing alongs and all this shit. But yeah, she's been really great to me. For me. She's really helped me along the way. She's very generous and paid me so I could keep going. Keep going and quit waiting tables.

[Marc Maron]

Yeah, that's great.

[Bridget Everett]

She'd be super generous because there were.

[Marc Maron]

So many scenes in New York.

[Bridget Everett]

Yeah, my scene is more like performance art cabaret. But you know, I started a band in around. We just would have. We're just celebrating our 15 years together. And I don't know if you know how much you know about my situation, but one of the founding members of my band, the Tender Moments was King Adrak, Adam Horvitz from the Beastie Voice. He played the bass and he was somebody else who was very helpful to me. Like, I was writing these songs or, you know, one of my more well known cabaret songs is called Titties. And like. And I was. I told him about it and I was like, this is. This is Dummies, right? He's like, nah, sounds like a hit, you know, and. But he validated me, you know, and like. And then he helped. They had their studio, the Beastie Boys had oscilloscope. And so he.

[Marc Maron]

In New York.

[Bridget Everett]

In New York, yeah. So he's like, you have to write songs so you can do an album. We recorded it there. So I had my first album.

[Marc Maron]

He produced it.

[Bridget Everett]

He produced it.

[Marc Maron]

Oh, wow. So when was that?

[Bridget Everett]

Oh, that's been years ago.

[Marc Maron]

Yeah. Yeah.

[Bridget Everett]

But I'm still singing those same tired songs. But people like them. But anyway, he. So the kind of people that have helped me out along the way have been, you know, a variety of different, you know. Then my friend Scott Whitman, who's from the Broadway world, was. He's helped me and. But as far as standups, I knew a lot of them, but it wasn't really my world. And so going to just for laughs to me was so much anxiety. I was up in my room hiding and Amy's like, come down. Cause they have those huge parties and everybody's there. I'M like, I would rather jump out the window. I do not want to fucking go talk to a bunch of comics and business parts, you know, and then biz types or whatever. But she encouraged me to do it.

[Marc Maron]

And I always thought that, like, it was. That they are sort of compatible. I mean, like, so many cabaret acts are hilarious. I mean, there is, like, comedy all the way through it usually.

[Bridget Everett]

Yeah, I mean, I think my. My show is meant to be funny. Like, I think of myself as a singer first, but. But I. But I want people to. To laugh and let go.

[Marc Maron]

So. But like, when. When you're doing like these karaoke nights and then you're doing bits on other people's shows, when. How do you put together a whole cabaret show? When does that happen?

[Bridget Everett]

So my friend Jason Egan, who was founding or. Well, he's an artistic director at. He's just now leaving Ars Nova after many years. So it's a theater for emerging artists. And he saw me sing karaoke and he's like, I think you should do a show. And I was like, what are you talking about? I just did a show. You saw me. I was on top of the bar. That was so good. But he encouraged me to put together a structured show there at Ars Nova, and I did. And so he is kind of the first person that, like, saw something beyond like, just getting up and singing a song on somebody's show, but really thought that I could do something. And that night, the John Steingart, who. He and his wife own Ars Nova. He's like, we have to. This is something. And we should do something with her. So he came to LA and knew Michael Patrick or met Michael Patrick King from, you know, Sex and the City and the Comeback and everything. And. And he's like, I have somebody I think you should see. And she's raw, but there's something there.

[Marc Maron]

Yeah.

[Bridget Everett]

And so Kenny and Michael and I all did this show called At Least It's Pink. And it just. I've slowly. Just every night I was just out fucking doing something. Cause I loved it. I would wait tables and then I would go sing on somebody's show. You know how it is. You take whatever you can. The gigs. Yeah, the gigs. And then it just kept going.

[Marc Maron]

And you have a composer that you work with.

[Bridget Everett]

Well, now I. I've written songs with all different kinds of people. I've written with Adam, I've written with, you know, I wrote with Kenny at the time. I wrote with Scott Whitman and Mark Shaiman. I've written with a lot of songs with My band. Matt Ray, Mike Jackson, Carmine Cavelli, and. And Danton Bowler. Like, I brought it.

[Marc Maron]

Is it a. When you do the band, is that like, just. Is it just an extension of the cabaret where you're doing stuff in between?

[Bridget Everett]

Well, yeah, like I said, it's kind of a rock show with talking in between, and so my mainstay is Joe's Pub in New York. But I'm gonna be in LA this summer. I'm playing the Wiltern, which will be exciting. I've played Largo and El Rey here with the band, but this will be the first time. We're going on a little mini tour, but it's a ride.

[Marc Maron]

What's the name of the band?

[Bridget Everett]

The Tender Moments.

[Marc Maron]

Yeah. Big following.

[Bridget Everett]

Yeah, I mean, yeah, sure. I mean, we played the Beacon last year, so I guess that's.

[Marc Maron]

That's good.

[Bridget Everett]

That's, you know.

[Marc Maron]

Yeah.

[Bridget Everett]

We're not at Madison Square Garden, but I think we're doing good. And whenever I sell, people really like to see me at Joe's.

[Marc Maron]

And you were at Joe's a long time, right?

[Bridget Everett]

I've been there a long time. And people. That's kind of like a thing. People really want to see me there. But I. I wanted to try something else, so I did the Beacon. Yeah, but.

[Marc Maron]

Yeah, that's a big change. What's. It was Joe's seat. A couple hundred.

[Bridget Everett]

A couple hundred?

[Marc Maron]

Yeah. Beacon's like 2200.

[Bridget Everett]

It's almost 3. Like, it's bigger.

[Marc Maron]

Yeah, 26.

[Bridget Everett]

But I was like, fuck it. And it was great.

[Marc Maron]

Well, you're a big act, you know?

[Bridget Everett]

Big enough.

[Marc Maron]

I don't know. Yeah, it's just a matter of whether you can fill the space.

[Bridget Everett]

Yeah, it is.

[Marc Maron]

You know, and you feel it, you.

[Bridget Everett]

Know, And I wasn't sure.

[Marc Maron]

Yeah, but you did it.

[Bridget Everett]

Yeah, so.

[Marc Maron]

But in all this, that's a whole life that you're living. So how does the show happen?

[Bridget Everett]

So I was at Largo with my band and HBO came. And so ultimately they gave me a holding deal.

[Marc Maron]

But Caroline wasn't there still, was she?

[Bridget Everett]

No, but she's independent. She was sort of an independent producer or whatever.

[Marc Maron]

Cause she was the head at HBO years ago. I've known her for my whole life, it feels like.

[Bridget Everett]

So, first thing I did was with Carolyn and Michael. Patrick King and I, we had this, and we did it with Bobcat Goldtheyt. A pilot for Amazon that didn't end up going.

[Marc Maron]

Bobby directed.

[Bridget Everett]

Yeah. Him and Michael together.

[Marc Maron]

Yeah.

[Bridget Everett]

And that didn't get picked up.

[Marc Maron]

Was it the same story?

[Bridget Everett]

No, this was different.

[Marc Maron]

What was that one?

[Bridget Everett]

I worked in a home with, like, down syndrome kids, and Lonnie Anderson was my roommate, and he sounds wild, but it was actually really sweet. I love Loni Anderson. I think, like, I just, you know. You remember Loni Anderson?

[Marc Maron]

Of course.

[Bridget Everett]

Yeah, I love her. I was just on ebay looking for a autographed picture of her today. Did she pass away? No, no, no, no, no. She's around. She.

[Marc Maron]

You could probably ask her for an autographed picture.

[Bridget Everett]

I know. I guess I could. I have her number. But she's so great and she's still like. She's a fox.

[Marc Maron]

Yeah.

[Bridget Everett]

Anyway, so that didn't go, but I got this holding deal, so I called up Carolyn and I was like, I just. I got this deal. Would you want to do something? Like, not really realizing I was asking. She's pretty legendary.

[Marc Maron]

Totally.

[Bridget Everett]

She's like, if you want me, I'm in. And then we connected with Paul Thuring and Hannah Boss, who are from kind of the same scene as me, Ars Nova World. And they pitched the idea for the show. They jumped up a world. And then we all just sort of. I'd say the four of us are kind of the creative center of the show.

[Marc Maron]

So you did, like, you had a deal. So you were working with these showrunners like Michael, Right?

[Bridget Everett]

Well, that was the first one. That was the first one. And so the second one was Carolyn and then Paul Thureen and Hannah Boss.

[Marc Maron]

Okay. So they were the writers.

[Bridget Everett]

They were the writers. So they came up with the idea of somebody. Some.

[Marc Maron]

But you were telling them your life.

[Bridget Everett]

Well, I think they knew a lot about my life because they'd seen my shows and they knew my deal and all that. And so they knew I had a dead sister. Check. They knew that I love singing. Check. And then the only they wrote a part for Murray Hill is Fred Rococo, who had been a longtime friend of mine. And I heard those three elements and I was like, you know, shit, this is.

[Marc Maron]

It's great.

[Bridget Everett]

Yeah.

[Marc Maron]

So when. When you cast it. Because I don't know Jeff Hiller, but I know he does some pretty wild stuff.

[Bridget Everett]

He's great.

[Marc Maron]

Yeah. In terms of, like. I think my girlfriend knows him from horror stuff.

[Bridget Everett]

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. That's, like, very different, Jeff.

[Marc Maron]

No, I know, but, like, you know, that sort of. It seems to me that, you know, that relationship that you guys have in the show, it's so sweet. But it's also, you know, he's not going to let you push him Away. Yeah, yeah. Which is kind of like what we were talking about before.

[Bridget Everett]

Yeah. There's like, to me, like he's sort of an amalgamation or whatever the right word is of my friend Zach that I was talking about and some of my other friends that like, really, Even if I would fuck up and I was like, well, that's it. They'd be like, no, I'm mad and I'm really fucking pissy right now. But that's. This is not it. You know, we're. We're in this. I'm like, what do you mean?

[Marc Maron]

Let me go.

[Bridget Everett]

So let me go. Let me just. Let me do this again to myself.

[Marc Maron]

Let me fuck it up.

[Bridget Everett]

Yeah, let me fuck it up. But the thing about Jeff when he auditioned was that he. There's something so sweet and undeniable about him.

[Marc Maron]

So were you part of casting?

[Bridget Everett]

Oh, yeah. I was the one that suggested Jeff because I'd known him from around the scene. He was like in the upright, you know, citizens were great. So he was sort of like in that world. So kind of we're just like, our circles were sort of crossing. And he was a guest on the show I used to do. It just called Our Hit Parade. But anyway, he auditioned. He was incredible. And I feel, you know, he's definitely like the sort of special sauce like he is. He is such a big part of the foundation of why the show is successful. Yeah, he's funny and sweet and complex.

[Marc Maron]

And yeah, he's great. You guys are great together. But like, where did you get the. Did you feel. Were you nervous about the acting?

[Bridget Everett]

Yes, very nervous.

[Marc Maron]

Yeah.

[Bridget Everett]

Yeah. Like not his. Because I'm not a trained actor. I mean, I'd done some stuff. I did this. I'd done like little. I did the Sex and City movie. I did like small things. I did this movie called Patty Cakes, which really helped me. It was like a Sundance kind of situation. And the director, Jeremy Jasper was like. He saw me on Amy's show, you know, inside Amy Schumer. I used to close the season with a song.

[Marc Maron]

Yeah.

[Bridget Everett]

And I think he saw me singing what I gotta do to get that dick in my mouth. And he's like, she should be. She should play the mother in my movie. And I did.

[Marc Maron]

But a no brainer.

[Bridget Everett]

Yeah. But he took. He had a lot of patience with me and Danielle McDonald who played Patty Cakes. They were very gentle with me and sort of helped me because I just am constantly wracked with fear and self doubt. Like, I'm just like the reason I like to do my live show is because I'm in control and I don't have to worry about anybody being like, well, you're not doing it right. Because if I hear I'm not doing it right, then I'm like, ooh. But, yeah.

[Marc Maron]

Did you get a coach or anything?

[Bridget Everett]

No, I just was like, figure it out. I'll just figure it out. And then, like, I knew we. You know, Paul and Hannah and Carol and everybody created such a. And Jay Duplass directed our pilot. Everybody created such a warm environment. It was like you couldn't fuck up because you felt so cared for.

[Marc Maron]

Yeah.

[Bridget Everett]

And we just took our time, even though we shoot, like, you know, a thousand scenes a day. But I don't know. How did you feel about acting at first?

[Marc Maron]

I knew.

[Bridget Everett]

I knew I was. I had it.

[Marc Maron]

No, no. I don't know that I have it, but I do, you know, I can do it. You know what I mean? But I don't feel like I have a lot of range necessarily in terms of character, But I know that I can listen and I know I can be present, and I know that I can emotionally engage.

[Bridget Everett]

Yeah. That's it.

[Marc Maron]

With a scene. But I knew also when I did my show on ifc, that just from seeing other comics, I knew that there was going to be a learning curve and I would probably suck for about a season or two.

[Bridget Everett]

Yeah.

[Marc Maron]

And I just. Because I don't know how to be in my body that way.

[Bridget Everett]

Yeah.

[Marc Maron]

And I did. I thought. But it was fine. It was on ifc, and I knew it going in. It was one of the first times I was like, dude, you don't know how to do this, and the stakes aren't that high, so just figure it out. And I think I figured out something, you know, and I feel better about it. But when you do some version of yourself, which I think everyone does.

[Bridget Everett]

Everyone mostly does. Unless you're, like.

[Marc Maron]

Right. But then, like, in terms of getting jobs, I'm sort of like, am I being creative? Is it worth all the time I'm spending in the trailer? You know? Is it satisfying?

[Bridget Everett]

Yeah.

[Marc Maron]

You know, it's hard for me to judge, you know, but when you're like. Like. Like you. And like, I. In my show as well, and. And. And I just recently did a little film where I'm the. The lead. If you're that busy, it's great.

[Bridget Everett]

Yeah.

[Marc Maron]

But if you don't. If you have time to sit in the trailer and be like, what the. What the are they doing?

[Bridget Everett]

Yeah, exactly. I've been here Since I've been here since six.

[Marc Maron]

Yeah. What's going on? What do you mean?

[Bridget Everett]

You're having lunch.

[Marc Maron]

Yeah. What could be going on? Yeah, but, you know, I'm looking for challenging things that will. Will make me feel like I'm making very distinct choices. And I'm sort of like, well, that's not really me. And I've done some. You know, I think I did okay on glow.

[Bridget Everett]

I think you did great.

[Marc Maron]

Well, thanks, but I'm not. I'm not. I'm not. I. I'm more confident now because I give less of a fuck, I think.

[Bridget Everett]

Yeah, that helps.

[Marc Maron]

Yeah. I think in terms of everything, because you get to a certain age where you're like, what the fuck difference? You know? You know you did it. You know? Yeah, but I can't. I still can't watch myself.

[Bridget Everett]

I don't like it either, but there's something about doing the. Cause we edited everything, so there was. That forced me to kind of get over a lot of stuff.

[Marc Maron]

Yeah, yeah, yeah. Cause you were in the room.

[Bridget Everett]

Yeah. And the thing with the acting was, like, first season, I had some good moments. I had some bumpy moments. But I think by season two and season three, I felt really comfortable.

[Marc Maron]

Well, that's interesting. Cause I didn't notice any. So, like, you know what we notice from being in it.

[Bridget Everett]

Yeah.

[Marc Maron]

And then watching it, and you're like, I could have. Why didn't they go with the other.

[Bridget Everett]

Well, honestly, like, I thought, like, especially, like, in the last season, like, I was so in. In love with everybody on the show.

[Marc Maron]

And, like.

[Bridget Everett]

And I. Like, there were scenes I was doing with Mary Catherine, who's my. Who played my sister Trisha.

[Marc Maron]

She's so fucking good.

[Bridget Everett]

She's so good. You know, we used to be roommates. We were in New York. We lived together. And she was like, on Broadway. She was killing it.

[Marc Maron]

She's so funny.

[Bridget Everett]

But she's. She's always been one of my favorite actors, but she. I was just like, sometimes you watch her in the scene, I'm like, wait, I gotta. I'm the other part of this. I gotta just stop, like, fangirling over here.

[Marc Maron]

Oh, that happens to me all the time. It's fucking nuts. Yeah. Because who am I? Like, in this movie, I did a scene with Sharon Stone. I was like, what the fuck is happening?

[Bridget Everett]

Why? Like, how am I here?

[Marc Maron]

Yeah. And I really couldn't. Like, we did two takes for a master, and I went back to my trailer and I was like, get me out of this. I can't what am I doing? I'm not an actor. That's Sharon Stone in there, and she's all in. And it was just one of those weird moments where I'm like, dude, you better pull it together. Look at the little points that you learned from Al Pacino. Why are you there? What are you doing? Go to the character and fucking and that.

[Bridget Everett]

You're there for a reason. You have to remember that. That's the hardest thing to remember sometimes. They want you there.

[Marc Maron]

Yeah, I don't believe that.

[Bridget Everett]

I don't either.

[Marc Maron]

That's why. Who turned this down? I don't even have that many Instagram followers. What do you think you're gonna get out of me on the promotional side?

[Bridget Everett]

I know, I know. Oh, my God, that's so true.

[Marc Maron]

It's so fucked up.

[Bridget Everett]

God, that hurts.

[Marc Maron]

Yeah. But you are undeniably a thing, so you have your own thing. I know. I do, too. But sometimes I think the thing that they think I am is limited, you know? Like, you know, I'm not just some cranky fuck. You know, I'm sensitive. I run deep, man. Let's get to the deep part.

[Bridget Everett]

See, there's your next. There's your next show.

[Marc Maron]

Oh, I know.

[Bridget Everett]

Marc Maron.

[Marc Maron]

I'm deep. Yeah. I'm always doing some version of that. I think this special is going to be called Panicked.

[Bridget Everett]

Oh, my God. I just got myself some. Not Propofol. What's it called?

[Marc Maron]

Yeah, Propofol. The beta blocker.

[Bridget Everett]

The bit. Is that what it's called? The beta blocker?

[Marc Maron]

Yeah.

[Bridget Everett]

I just got that. And I'm afraid to take it because.

[Marc Maron]

It doesn't last long.

[Bridget Everett]

I'm afraid it'll, like, take the thing off of me. But why'd you get it? Because I get, like. When it's outside of somebody's somewhere. Like, I did something last summer, and I was so. Like, I already had food poisoning. So I was having a lot of issues, and I just could not get out of my head. I was like. But I was afraid to take it because I didn't want to not be. It was an emotional scene, so I had to be emo.

[Marc Maron]

Right? Right.

[Bridget Everett]

So I just went there and I sucked really bad the first couple times. And the director came in. You could see that. He was like, we've made a mistake. I mean, I know that look. Cause I've had it on my face before. What were we thinking? But was it, though? But I got there. But I'm just like. That's part of my process to really fuck it up a Couple times.

[Marc Maron]

That's part of my life. I've gotten better at it. But now, like, what I do when I'm nervous or, like, I have to travel and I got to do this special next Saturday. Is that, like, you know. God damn it. I hope I don't get a cold sore. I hope I don't get sick.

[Bridget Everett]

Oh, yeah.

[Marc Maron]

Is my hair okay? I mean, what the Is happening? Why did I choose this shirt? Like, anything to undermine myself. And it's like, I can't fucking figure out why is that happening at this stage?

[Bridget Everett]

At this stage.

[Marc Maron]

Just, like, you know, and I have to shut it off. That's why I got on this medicine. I got on.

[Bridget Everett]

Yeah, I just had this similar thing. Like, I did just a little a run of shows earlier this month, and I, like, went to the sound check, and, like, my top note just, like, was not there. And from there, I just fucking spiraled.

[Marc Maron]

Broke it all down.

[Bridget Everett]

I've never had this happen before. Like, I was like, should I cancel the show? I can't cancel, because I know people.

[Marc Maron]

Yeah. Yeah.

[Bridget Everett]

You know, they're making an effort to be here and everything.

[Marc Maron]

Did you get all the way to. Was I ever good at this?

[Bridget Everett]

No, I just, like. I just. You know. But I was having such bad anxiety that it felt like that there was a foot on top of my soft palate and the roof of my mouth, like, pushing out. So I had to go to this ear, nose, and throat doctor, and he gave me a Xanax. Cause, like, I couldn't. I've never experienced this before. And I was like, what the fuck?

[Marc Maron]

Yeah.

[Bridget Everett]

Because it's like. And I'm like, why is this happening? After all these years? I have sung in my underwear in front of Gloria Steinem. Like, what the fuck is my problem? You know what I mean? But it wasn't the thing. My. Whatever was just off. So now I'm like, is this what it's gonna be like from now on? But, like, I just went to another doctor who. Because since then or after that, I had, like, this incredible, like, neck and jaw tension.

[Marc Maron]

Yeah.

[Bridget Everett]

So he ended up shooting lidocaine in my jaw and neck. And I feel much better now. And I think it was just an episode, but, like, I cannot live that way. Like, I can't.

[Marc Maron]

Yeah. And Xanax worked.

[Bridget Everett]

It did help me.

[Marc Maron]

Yeah.

[Bridget Everett]

I'm not a. I'm not a pill.

[Marc Maron]

Popper, so that's a relaxing one. The beta blockers, Like, I don't. It's hard to feel what they even do. Like, I I was prescribed them once because I was in a very kind of high drama, codependent relationship, and I didn't want to get angry, so someone gave me beta blackers. I don't know if it did, but knowing I was taking them sort of helped because she would do things to just make me mad to get the drama going. And I'm like, and I'm going to Al Anon and shit. And I'm like, I gotta detach, dude. You just gotta fucking. You know, this is not your problem.

[Bridget Everett]

Yeah.

[Marc Maron]

And then, like, you know, I needed the beta blockers too, you know, Enforce my Al Anon.

[Bridget Everett]

Whatever it takes.

[Marc Maron]

Well, yeah. Well, it took getting out of the relationship.

[Bridget Everett]

Well, that'll do it. We all find our way eventually.

[Marc Maron]

Yeah, but. But, yeah, the stuff. Well, that was another reason the show is so good is because there are very, you know, strangely real moments that are. That are very. Not based. But the vulnerability of just, you know, bodily functions and that kind of stuff. There's something about the scene where your sister's on the toilet and it burns when she pees that. I don't know who wrote that line, but that line of sort of like, well, sometimes it burns. It burns a little bit. You're lying. It happens.

[Bridget Everett]

That might have been. Yeah. I can't remember if that was written or improv, but it's like, it's such.

[Marc Maron]

It's a strange thing to, like, as a sexually active person that. To have gone through that moment of sort of like, oh, I don't know. Well, maybe it's all right. I'll wait a couple days in the Indian. It's fine. But to me, it was such a profoundly real moment. And then when you go look at it, it's just too funny.

[Bridget Everett]

Well, I think, like, you know, the point of that was obviously to show their growth, you know.

[Marc Maron]

Yeah, sure, sure.

[Bridget Everett]

But that's also like sisters. Like, I remember when I was little, my. My one sister's like, all right, get over here. I'm gonna show you how to put a tampon. And I'm like, I'm eight. Yeah. So she's just on the toilet, and I'm like, okay, now, you know, just like.

[Marc Maron]

Got it.

[Bridget Everett]

Yeah. Okay. I will not forget this. Thank you.

[Marc Maron]

Well, I guess that's the benefit and the downside of having so many older siblings.

[Bridget Everett]

Yeah, exactly.

[Marc Maron]

So your sister passed away, though. How long has that been?

[Bridget Everett]

2008.

[Marc Maron]

Yeah. Wow.

[Bridget Everett]

Huh. So my dad was 2006, she was 2007, and then my mom died, like, I think three years ago. Now two. So on Monday, it'll be three years.

[Marc Maron]

Wow.

[Bridget Everett]

Yeah.

[Marc Maron]

That's a lot. Yeah, I guess it happens. And is it. Was it similar to the story in the show that your sister got cancer?

[Bridget Everett]

My sister did get cancer, but her story was different. It was really, you know, she. She did get cancer. And at that time, I was waiting tables. That had, like, no money.

[Marc Maron]

Yeah.

[Bridget Everett]

And, like, you know, there was, like, this thing, like, you know, I should go back see her. She was in California at that point, and I. Yeah. And I didn't have the money. I didn't get there in time and, like, you know, have. My last conversation with her haunted me for years, you know, like, wailing. Why me? And just, you know, she was a sweet one. Like, you know, my brothers and sisters. Like, my oldest sister Britton, was very sweet and, like. And really always looked out for me and believed in me.

[Marc Maron]

Yeah.

[Bridget Everett]

You know, she was. In season one, there's a thing, like, where I bring, like, my tape to her graveside, you know, because. And part of that was born out of, like, she always wanted to hear what I was doing. And I was singing these songs, like, fucking canhole. And at least. And I was like, she's gonna think these are stupid. She wouldn't have. But I was too embarrassed to share it with her, and I never did. And then, you know, she was very supportive, and so was my mom. But, like, I. Early on. And so it was just. There was a lot of, like, my shame about how I handled the end of her life. That's in the show. There's a lot of grief. There's a lot of me.

[Marc Maron]

Right.

[Bridget Everett]

And a lot of sort of. It's. You know, I loved her, and I did not do right by her at the end of her life. And so to me, this is kind of a way of honoring her. That sounds like such a shitty thing to do, like, after somebody's gone. But I think about her all the time. I talk to her all the time. Even though it's been this many years. And, you know, it's. My mom and I were very close. And when she died, it was really hard. My dad, you know, when we weren't close. And that's hard for its own.

[Marc Maron]

Sure.

[Bridget Everett]

But, you know, there was something about her who was, like, kind of sweet and, like.

[Marc Maron]

And too young.

[Bridget Everett]

Probably 50 when she died. And to me, like, she had, like, this really vulnerable, helpless. She was so funny. But, like, she was kind of, like, an easy target kind of thing. And a lot of bad things happened to her and. And I just. I just, you know, I just. So when I sing about her now, I still cry because it's just. It's just. It's so much.

[Marc Maron]

Were you able to, like, in doing the show, were you able to process it differently?

[Bridget Everett]

Yeah, yeah, absolutely. I had a lot of loss during the show and a lot of loss leading up to the show. Cause, you know, we had like, sort of each season, first season, my dog died in the middle, like, of the middle shooting. And Poppy was like, she was the love of my life. Like, literally the love of my life. And then season two, right before we shot it, Mike Haggerty, who played my dad, he died. That was very difficult because we had a very special connection. And then my mom died before season three. And so it's like when you're doing a show that's sort of about dealing with grief, but you're going through it yourself, it was really overwhelming. And I felt like everything that I was also putting of myself in the show about the way I feel about myself and self worth and love and how I have a hard time connecting to other people and all those things. It was just so much.

[Marc Maron]

Yeah. And that was all going on.

[Bridget Everett]

It was all happening. But once we finished, I somehow have a sense of peace about that. I acknowledge some of my grief finally. And I'm able to kind of like, not just beat up on myself for about not maybe having the right kind of relationship with my dad or failing my sister. Like, I just feel like I. I don't know, there's something about, like, finally facing it and, you know, like you said, you know, I don't know. When you're not somebody that doesn't. If you don't go to therapy, like, get yourself a show. Cause that'll help you. I don't know. Sure.

[Marc Maron]

Well, I mean, it's. Well, I mean, there's definitely that thought that, you know, you did get through it and it did bring it back to the surface in a way that was contained in some way. You had to show up to do the work.

[Bridget Everett]

Yeah.

[Marc Maron]

But those emotions were able to work within what you were doing.

[Bridget Everett]

Yeah.

[Marc Maron]

And so on some level, to be able to sit with. With grief in a way that's supported is a big deal.

[Bridget Everett]

It's a huge deal. And I think.

[Marc Maron]

And be seen, you know.

[Bridget Everett]

Yeah.

[Marc Maron]

Yeah.

[Bridget Everett]

I feel really lucky to have worked with the people that I did who really cared. Cared about me, cared for me, cared about the show.

[Marc Maron]

Yeah. Yeah.

[Bridget Everett]

I don't know.

[Marc Maron]

It's great. It's like, you know, because I Talked about that in my last special, that. Because it's uncontrollable when you get into the zone of it. But there were two things that kind of were in my mind, which was like, this isn't unusual. It happens to everybody. This is part of life. But there is a sense that you can't. You want to keep it to yourself somehow. Yeah. But it's uncontrollable. So you have that moment where you realize, well, people are built to deal with this. This is part of the human experience. And once you cross that threshold to have those feelings in a public way, it's a big relief.

[Bridget Everett]

It is a relief. But I feel like after anytime somebody. When my mom died, my friend's like, I'm coming over. I was like, don't come over. I couldn't even bear to see somebody. I couldn't bear to. I couldn't bear it like this. When my dog Poppy died, Carolyn's like, do you want people to say something to you, or do you want everybody to. Cause I put her down on Sunday, and I was back at work Monday, 6:00am yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. And so the word went out and nobody said anything to me, but, like, I couldn't even. I can't face people when I've hurt that much.

[Marc Maron]

Yeah.

[Bridget Everett]

And the show has kind of helped me, you know, like, the stuff I did with Jeff. It's like some of the scenes when you've. Like, it's always going to be better when you have. When you let somebody catch you. But for me, that is so hard. I know it's so hard to let somebody catch me, because it's. And there's. Why. Why do you feel any shame around grief? Like, why do I feel that way sometimes? Or why?

[Marc Maron]

Because it's a. It's a vulnerability you can't control.

[Bridget Everett]

Yeah. Yeah.

[Marc Maron]

Like, usually, you know, even when you're singing, you know, the emotional depth you have control over.

[Bridget Everett]

Yeah.

[Marc Maron]

But, like, grief, it's just like.

[Bridget Everett]

It's just there.

[Marc Maron]

You're not. You can't. You can't stop it.

[Bridget Everett]

You can't stop it.

[Marc Maron]

And so that feeling of not having control of these emotions, it's hard. But, like. Like. Like I said, like, once it's out and you see, it's okay. It's like a fucking gift.

[Bridget Everett]

It is a gift. And there's something that's so wonderful, like, about connecting with people who have your same specific kind of grief.

[Marc Maron]

Yeah.

[Bridget Everett]

Like that. Or maybe, you know, like, I felt that. I just was so grateful to have people to talk to that were like, I've lost my sister, too, or, I've lost my. You know.

[Marc Maron]

Or like.

[Bridget Everett]

You know, my friend said to me, this is something after my mom died that I thought was so. And it was something I'd never said out loud, but it's because I felt embarrassed about it.

[Marc Maron]

Yeah.

[Bridget Everett]

But he was like, nobody's ever gonna look at me the way my mom. My mother looked at me because she. I was her. You know, I was her favorite. She loved me. And I was like, that's it. Like, that's the thing for. Like, I can't even. Like, nobody's gonna look at me. Like, my mom looked at me because I was so special to her. And like. And you think about going through life, I'm in it for the rest of my life. There's nobody that feel, you know, that that has. And like, that is. You grieve your mother and you grieve the loss of that. And that feels like kind of like. I had a lot of shame about that.

[Marc Maron]

But what's interesting, though. I don't know if you found this, though, is that you can get there. You can still be seen by your mother.

[Bridget Everett]

Yeah.

[Marc Maron]

And, you know, it's emotional. Like when I did that scene with Sharon Stone, you know, Lynn, who was my girlfriend, and she was a director, and she was always very supportive of my acting. Really was like, you gotta do. You gotta do. And to get to a place of emotion that I needed for the scene, like, I knew I wanted to sort of tap into that, but I didn't know how. You can't just, like, walk into, like, someone passing. But I walked into how much she believed in me. And that's always there for you.

[Bridget Everett]

Yeah.

[Marc Maron]

Like, whatever. That dynamic with your mother, you know, the way she looked at you, you can get there pretty easily, right?

[Bridget Everett]

Yeah.

[Marc Maron]

And that's what it is. That's what living with it is and integrating it into your being and the gift that it was. But it still is, you know, there's no other way to put it into perspective.

[Bridget Everett]

I think you're so right. But to me, it's almost like, too painful.

[Marc Maron]

I know. I know. Because. But that pain, like, even when I just felt it. Yeah, it's pain, but it's also like.

[Bridget Everett]

Like they're there.

[Marc Maron]

Yeah. But also like, it's. It's like it's honoring them.

[Bridget Everett]

Yeah.

[Marc Maron]

Like, it reconnects you with them. Like, it's not the pain of loss, it's the pain of missing.

[Bridget Everett]

Yeah.

[Marc Maron]

And that's different. Like, they're already Gone. But it's okay to miss people. Do you know what I mean?

[Bridget Everett]

Yeah.

[Marc Maron]

I don't think it's like a trauma of like retriggering the moment they go away or they die, but it's sort of like reconnecting with the feelings that were good, but it's a missing thing. And I think that's okay.

[Bridget Everett]

Yeah.

[Marc Maron]

Okay.

[Bridget Everett]

Fucking. Fucking Barbara Mark Marin Walters. But I'm happy to hear that because I do feel like there's so many things and I do believe this, like taking the things that people have given you, that have made you, that made you special. I do sort of talk about. I've just started talking about on my show a little bit like, you know, that my dad was the funny one and my sister was the heart and my mom was the music. And like. And I know that they are probably the three most. They built me.

[Marc Maron]

Yeah.

[Bridget Everett]

You know?

[Marc Maron]

Exactly. Yeah.

[Bridget Everett]

And I do. I know that I am like them. You know what I mean?

[Marc Maron]

Those are the good things.

[Bridget Everett]

Those are the good things. But like, thinking about some of that, I mean, it's so overwhelming what you're. That feeling you're talking about.

[Marc Maron]

It's so overwhelming when there's so much too like, you know, my parents are still hanging on. You know, I have had to put a couple of cats down that I loved a lot.

[Bridget Everett]

Yeah.

[Marc Maron]

You know, and Lynn's gone, you know, and I. It's just fucking life though, you know, and it's like, you don't have to live in those spaces. And usually, you know, when they come up and I'm closing my show with this now about this, about when it comes. It's triggered by something. Is that the thing that I focus in on is that you let it happen as much as you can. And it's almost like a check in, man. It doesn't. You know what I mean? It doesn't have to be like, why? You know, because you're through that.

[Bridget Everett]

Yeah.

[Marc Maron]

You know, but it's just sort of like a. It's like a check in. And I think if you frame it around reconnecting with. With your feelings for that person, then it becomes something different. You know what I mean? I don't. But the problem is like, even that little bit that came up for me, like, you know, then when it comes up, it's still pulling at you. It's like, why don't we just. Let's go. Let's go in. I can't. I have things to do.

[Bridget Everett]

Do. I don't know. It's.

[Marc Maron]

We're okay.

[Bridget Everett]

Who needs to do therapy when you just do a podcast?

[Marc Maron]

Oh, well, it's great talking to you.

[Bridget Everett]

Yeah.

[Marc Maron]

You feel all right?

[Bridget Everett]

Oh, yeah. Can you go back to the hotel and cry? I might. I like that. I like laying in a cold hotel room. Just. Just bond lightly. Not even rocking back and forth. Just sort of rolling back and forth.

[Marc Maron]

Yeah.

[Bridget Everett]

With a couple.

[Marc Maron]

Yeah.

[Bridget Everett]

I don't know. I was. I feel like. I don't know, Like, I'm always worried to, like, talk to somebody when it's gonna be for more than 15 minutes, because it could go.

[Marc Maron]

Yeah, yeah. No, this is great. We talked for a while.

[Bridget Everett]

I feel like we did pretty good.

[Marc Maron]

We did great.

[Bridget Everett]

I didn't even, you know, I only had to spritz three times.

[Marc Maron]

All right, well, it was a great deal of emotional fun talking to you.

[Bridget Everett]

Yeah. Thank you for having me.

[Marc Maron]

Yeah. Oh, my God. Right? Got. Got it. It got it. Got to a pretty place. Got pretty. Pretty heavy. Somebody somewhere. Streaming on Max. Hang out for a minute, folks. Eating well sometimes feels like it can break your bank. You want to be healthy, but it can feel like there's no price difference whether you're eating out or staying in. And then if you want to save money, it's always the unhealthy options that are the cheapest. That's why we recommend Home Chef, which will save you money and help you to eat healthier with their fresh and delicious meal kits delivered straight to your door. Users of leading meal kits have rated Home Chef number one in quality, convenience, value, taste, and recipe ease. And why wouldn't they? With more than 30 options to choose from each week across a variety of dietary options, just this week alone, there's jumpin jambalaya with sausage. But Baja mango shrimp tacos with guacamole, creamy polenta topped with ratatouille, and so much more. For a limited time, Home chef is offering WTF listeners 50% off and free shipping for your first box, plus free dessert for life. Go to homechef.com WTF that's homechef.com WTF for 50% off your first box and free dessert for life. Homechef.com WTF and you must be an active subscriber to receive free dessert for life. People, we love la. And I'm saying we because I already love it. And I know that when you visit here, you'll love it too. Whether you're looking for the best taco trucks or a standout Michelin star restaurant, la's got you covered. I just went down to Joy On York in my old neighborhood of Highland park, which I love. For the authentic Taiwanese food, you can go to Bodmash up on Fairfax across from Cantor's kind of hot rotted Indian food, or go to Cantor's. I actually go now for a vegan Reuben. And of course LA is known for entertainment, but this place is also a world class hub of art, music, museums and live theater. Check out the European art collection at the Getty center. Go to hear the LA Philharmonic at the Walt Disney Concert hall. And you can also come here and do all those LA things you've heard, heard about. Go to Universal Studios, check out the Griffith Park Observatory, see the view from Mulholland Drive, check out the Hollywood sign. You can't pass up all the classic LA stuff. Find more ways to love Los Angeles at discoverla.com okay, as I mentioned, I just did my HBO special taping at the Bam Harvey Theater in Brooklyn. And 10 years ago this month I was at the Bam Opera House to record a live episode with Fresh Airs. Terry Gross. So you knew how to have fun? That's a good question. Do I know how to have fun? Did you then? And do you now? Sure. Let's expand it. Yeah, it's not my. It's not, it's not probably what I'm most famous for, you know, I'm probably, you know, in some ways better at working than I am at like relaxing. Right. But do you know how to have fun? Yeah, maybe. What do you do for fun?

[Bridget Everett]

I go to the movies, go to concerts.

[Marc Maron]

How are you with me? How you do? Listen to me.

[Bridget Everett]

Thank you.

[Marc Maron]

I listen to you a lot. I think you're wonderful. I listen to your podcast, I watch your show, I have your comedy album. No, I think you're wonderful. I'm so glad for this opportunity to talk with you. I'm flattered and humbled and. Can I get a chance to ask you a question? In a minute. In a minute. I know how that goes. I'm trying to hold the line, Terry. These are professional boundaries. I'm the, I'm the questioner. Okay, but, but like I'm sort of. So how are you with Joy? Do you, how do you. I'm asking this because this is all I know. Look, you know, we do, you know, I came, I became an interviewer for, for reasons that had nothing to do with interview interviewing. I ended up there. And you know, I know what my emotional. Why I do it and how I ended up here. So like right now, personally, I'm wrestling with. And I don't know if you feel this way, you call it. You say you work all the time, but you talk to people professionally and, you know, you elicit things from them and you draw people out and for the reason you said before is to make lives better by kind of letting people tell who they are. But do you get something out of that emotionally? Because I find in my life that I'm capable of almost deeper intimacy with. That was the question I was gonna ask you. Well, I'm asking you first. Okay. Yes. That's one of our greatest episodes, and you can listen to it for free on whatever podcast platform you're using. It's episode 604 with Terry Gross. To get every episode of WTF ad free, sign up for WTF. Just go to the link in the episode description and go to wtfpod.com and click on WTF Plus. And a reminder before we go, this podcast is hosted by Acast. This guitar. I tried to lay down a track. It got a little confusing somewhere about a third of the way through, but I. I like it. All right. Okay. Boomer lives Monkey and La Fonda Cat Angels everywhere.