The Three Questions with Andy Richter - Bridget Everett

Episode Date: February 1, 2022

Bridget Everett (Somebody Somewhere) joins Andy Richter to talk about creating a show based on her life, performing cabaret, being from a small town and more!

hi everybody uh this is andy richter uh you have tuned in to another episode of the three questions and i am talking today to a a fucking showbiz juggernaut. A force of nature, of showbiz nature. I'm talking to Bridget Everett. Hi there. Man, put that on a poster and frame it, please. I'll send it to my mom. You can now.

I can do it now. It's on the record. How are you doing? I'm doing, you know, great. Never better, as I like to say. You are, to my knowledge, the first person I've interviewed to whom I can say, congratulations on your new show based on your own life. That's got to be nuts. I mean, yeah, it's sort of wild. I kind of feel like I'm just floating in a glass of milk

right now. I don't know what's up, what's down, what's happening. But yeah, I don't know. HBO, I guess, had a little extra cash, so they threw it our way and we took a stab at it. I don't know. Now, what I'm talking about, for who don't know is the show Somebody Somewhere. Correct? Yeah, yeah. I get that because I was looking it up and I was like, someone, sometime? I, you know, but it's Somebody Somewhere. And there's only one episode out so far, which I saw last night.

And it's really great. It's really, it's, and i mean this in the best possible way this is for people who like things that evolve naturally and sort of that sort of unfold at a at a sort of more natural pace this is a great show it's a very naturalistic show things happen at you know kind of like in real life but there's a lot of funny sweet stuff in it it's really great and i i just how did it how did it come about did you say hey i want to do a show about me make it about me let's just call it bridget uh you know with an exclamation point and like a little cutie emoji at the end yeah Yeah, yeah. The hands like, you know, no, no.

I got a deal with HBO and I called Carolyn Strauss. And if you don't know her, she's a TV legend. And I just happened to be friends with her. And, you know, she'd done like Game of Thrones and some other bits and bobs. A few things. A few things. But we're friends. And, you know, she recommended Paul and Hannah, our creators, and

they pitched this idea about like a small town and this choir practice and a sister that's passed away, which I had a sister pass away. And it just really hit on a lot of themes that resonated for me. And for somebody who is not a trained actor, I thought it would be helpful to have a foundation that I could relate to. So that's sort of how it started. And then we all got in the room and just hashed it out. And the closer it came to me, I thought the better shot we would have, or at least, you know, as far as my abilities go. Right, right. Well, and also, too, it's, you know, there I think that you. When you're setting out on an idea for a show like this, it's not at least in my in my estimation, you can't just go with like a gimmick or you can't just go with even like a cast. You need to have some kind of some kind of idea that you sense is like a treasure map,

you know, that's going to, that you know, like, okay, this is, there's meaningful, maybe a little heavy stuff in here, but it's going to unfold itself to us. Like, you're going to discover things about this show and about this character that's you because you know you feel that as opposed to just being like this is something that'll work or this sounds good or this has got you know yeah i think for me like whatever yeah yeah i didn't i wanted to do something we all want to do something that felt like a like a slice of life you know that was because to me life is the most amusing it's sad and it's funny and it's all all those things whatever but you know when i do my live shows

i have this thing i call slam slam slam tenor it's like the banger you do a banger a banger banger and then a ballad you know because it's it's it's about balance i've never been good at like a bump set spike joke you know writing right And we didn't want to do anything that was like, I can't think of the word, but, you know, sort of snarky, snarky is a word. That's it. And I found it and that's what it is. And in real life, I'm kind of like a softie. And it just felt like, I don't know, it just felt like what we wanted to do.

I don't know. And then, and we just like, well, fuck, you know, if it doesn't work, it doesn't work and nobody watches, but we should really try to make something that feels as specific as possible. Now those initial, uh, those initial characteristics of the show that, that paralleled your life, was that just like a coincidence or did they kind of go, since you were pitching the show with these people, did they just, did, were they kind of already starting with you as as a model for this character yeah yeah i mean the show is being developed for me and around me

and i think they they know of me or they've seen my shows and then yeah i've been i've been you know banging around that downtown new york performance world for a long time so i think they're familiar with what a lot of my material and stuff but um yeah you know there's they they really just like the thing especially the thing about the sister like when they threw in like the she had a sister that's passed away and my sister is so closely related to my relationship with with singing and like I never would have thought to put those in a show. I never would have, you know, I went around for many years in Hollywood.

It's like, I don't know what to do with her. So, you know, I just sort of kept picking up bit parts, but they knew what to do with me. And then, I don't know, we put it together. But yeah, I, you know, my sister died like 10 years ago or it's been longer now, but she was like a constant cheerleader so this sort of feels like a love letter to her into singing to me that's great um yeah i mean i want to continue about that but i do want to say because you just said something uh that strikes a nerve

with me um because especially you know like for artists and you know i mean i sometimes like i feel sometimes like to call myself an artist feels a little like it's like you know i mean i struggle with the same thing i know i've been on some pretty dopey stuff you know and you know done too many uh you know commercial voiceovers for reach toothpaste to real air toothbrushes to really feel like, you know, I'm fucking, you know, I don't know, moldy air or something, you know, that's a great gig, though. That's a great gig. Yeah, yeah, no shit. I mean, I got no I listen, I have no personal qualms with it. But and I do think I do think but I do think of myself as an artist. And I do think about what I do as an art, even though, you know, and that there has to be some sort of personal clock of integrity.

But what you just said of not knowing what to do with yourself and kind of waiting for somebody to know what to do with you. I relate to that so much because I mean, I just wasn't built to be like here I you know I'm not fucking Charles Foster Kane you know I'm like I'm like a I'm like a you know a middle child that was raised in a dysfunctional family that's like been concerned about like what do you guys need you know forever so I never wanted to be like here here's the perfect way to showcase myself. And it's taken years for me to be okay with that, to not feel like somehow I wasn't working hard enough or not doing enough. Yeah. I don't know if you relate to that.

I don't know if you relate to that. But, I mean, you do so much of your own thing in a cabaret setting i mean is it by necessity necessity like i you know when i first moved to new york i got a job in a bus and truck tour uh to get my equity card and you know grateful for the experience but for me it was hell you know like i don't want to be riding shoulder to shoulder in the back of a van, you know, driving from state to state, loading out a set. You know, I just didn't want to do that. Yeah. So I started, you know, I was in karaoke bars and that's when I felt most empowered. I was on top of the bar, ripping my shirt off, spitting out, you know, liquor, whatever.

I felt alive. Yeah. And then I met somebody, this guy, Jason Egan, who runs a small theater in New York called Ars Nova. And he was like, I think you should do a show. And I just never even thought about it. You know? So there's been a lot of people that have helped sort of helped me put my one foot in front of the other. And, and I figured it out as I've gone along, because there was, you know, I'm almost six feet tall. I'm sort of a post-athletic build. Um, I'm a foul mouth. What a wonderful way to, I'm going to start, I'm almost six feet tall. I'm sort of a post-athletic build. I'm a foul mouth.

What a wonderful way to, I'm going to start, I'm going to rip that off. I'm post-athletic. Yes. Because I've often heard like a football player gone to seed, you know, like, yeah, that's what it means. Big and lazy is sort of, you know. Oh my God.

I was, I did a show in Australia years ago, and I think they called me fat and wild. And I'm like, well, okay. Yeah. Well, it is one of those things like, why don't you let me say that instead of like you saying that on promotional material? Exactly. On a paper record. But anyway, I can't remember what I was saying. I have no special pretensions.

This guy, Egan, at the theater said you should do a show, and you hadn't thought about it. So around that time, I was discovering this cabaret world, downtown performance scene, and drag queens. And I lived in Kansas, and went to school there. So it wasn't like a wild performance scene in either place. Right, right. to school there is on the state so it wasn't like a wild performance scene in either place right right i didn't uh luckily i fell in love with debbie harry as a kid and barry manilow and bette bindler and i wanted to be where they were you know new york right i moved there and then i

found i've i found all these people like murray hill and there's this drag queen who's passed away her name is sweetie who was just like so connected. Like she would always make me cry singing these like power ballads, but also just make me wet my pants laughing. So immediately from the jump, the things I was responding to were things that made me laugh and cry sort of hand in hand. You know, those are my performance heroes and Kiki and Herb and all these people. So, yeah, I don't know. It's, it's, I'm not like, you know, there's these people during the pandemic that have been, you know, posting every day. They got their social media managers.

They're out there like they're working, working, working, going, going, hustling, hustling, hustling. And that's not really me because I just haven't, I just never saw the path. Like I, I was like, I'm'm just gonna keep sort of stumbling forward and hope for the best because i don't because there's not a mold i'm not like being i there's not like a bridget everett type you know like you know the post-athletic and whatnot yes yes yes yes yeah no i always i i mean i always feel like something about, and I wonder about this now, because I'm a father of a 21 year old and a 16 year old. And I always, I feel like a common denominator of a lot of people that I know who have an ambition or just an idea of themselves, like as like this is who I am and this is what I'm going to project.

I envy those things. And I've noticed it always seems to me like there's somebody they're trying to impress, like they have a father who demanded something like a demanding father or a demanding mother. And like nobody ever demanded anything of me other than like to take care of them emotionally you know they like they were never like you got to go out and conquer the world or get into an ivy league school it was just like um where are you going come back i i started with similar experience i'm the youngest of six kids and so it was just sort of like being noticed was not a thing like they were all funnier than me they were all louder louder than me, you know? And my, my mom was a music teacher. So it was just like, music was like kind of the, the common bond for all of us. And when I was,

you know, little, there'd be like, my favorite memories are standing around the piano. Some, you know, I was, my sister would always give me a little, a little nip of something even though I was a kid we would just laugh and sing and I just sort of was like the little sister and then as I got older

it became apparent that I was the one with the voice and then they started to notice me then but I don't know maybe if anything I could never get the high school the lead in the high school musical so I was just like that sort of drove me but but I'm not like an overtly ambitious person I know what makes me happy so I'm driven to be

happy sometimes not sometimes not actually sometimes I like to just wallow in the misery but but my but my drive is is to do something that makes me happy which is just happens to be singing which just happens to be show business yeah but i'm i'm not trying to like you know i'm not trying to become a household name yeah there's not yeah there's it's not a huge ego attached to it it's just like this is what i gotta do because it's what i like yeah yeah i mean i'm'm like, if I do a show and the audience like is tepid, or they're just sort of, you know, otherwise engaged, I'm just like, I take that personally,

not because I'm trying to get somewhere, but because I want them to enjoy the experience. Yeah. You know, similar to like, you know, sex, I guess. I don't know. You want the other person to enjoy the ride. Yeah. Yeah. That's a, you know, sex, I guess. I don't know. You want the other person to enjoy the ride. Yeah. Yeah.

That's, that's a, you know, that's a, you know, but you can't go down on the whole audience. You know, you got it. I always, I always think about it. Cause you know, like from being on a talk show for years too, people, you know, I would say it's gotta be real. You gotta be your your your real self but it's kind of like a real self of like when company's over like you're not you know like

you're not yourself in your underwear on the couch yeah you're yourself when you're concerned about other people in your space and making and taking care of them and making sure they're having a good time like and that's yeah to me it's just like it's having company over you know and you just want to be nice but you know also they're not fucking they're not the fucking star of this show in this house it's me it's my house yeah well now the show and your it takes place in manhattan kansas which is your real uh hometown and uh yeah and is that like the familiar home for generations or, you know? Well, I was born and raised there. It's called the Little Apple. And they originally, Paul and Hannah had set it in Emporia, Kansas, and we went to visit Emporia and it felt just like a little

too small. And K-State's got, it's a college town, it's where Kansas State is. But it also has the big red one, there's a military base right there. So there's a lot of different walks of life and it's, it's a college town, but it's conservative. I don't know. It just felt like, and I,

I do wonder like what happens, like what would happen to me if I still lived there, if I never left Kansas, you know? So that was kind of part of the, the, the discussion of, you know,

in the, in the room or the writer's room, you know, as we were blowing it up. Yeah. Mapping out. What was what was the town like for you growing up? I mean, what did you think of the town as as a kid and, you know, as a place to grow up? I mean, it's a it's a great place, you know, ride your bikes. You know, all my my best friends were on the block. You know, we played kick the can and all that stuff.

And then you can have a driver's license at 14. What? So I had a car when I was 14. What? Why? Why? Because at 14, you can drive to work and school because I guess because the farm kids. Oh, right.

So they have to, you know, legalize across the car when I was 14 years old. And then in high school, you know, we go to keg parties at the lake and I had good friends and I loved show choir and I was on the swim team and student council sort of. But I also never felt like I fit in. But as far as, you know, just because I was kind of wild and had a blue sense of humor and always got in trouble for being a little too much, a little too loud, a little too this, that and the other. for being a little too much, a little too loud, a little too this, that, and the other. And so, you know, and as that sort of happened, I started feeling like this sort of like,

and just in life, like, you know, I was told be a lady or be humble, keep your head down. So, but the real me is the one that you see on stage that wants to just be loud with my tits going all over the place and just laughing, drinking. And, you know, the girl singing at the piano with the family that you see on stage that wants to just be loud with my tits going all over the place and just laughing drinking and you know the the girl singing at the piano with the family you know that yeah yeah that's the best so i don't know i've totally not answered your question i just no no you know that was a good answer i mean you know because it is no because uh you know your hometown especially if you're even slightly weird, you know, it can go from being a comfortable, safe, sort of, you know, cozy pocket to sit in to like just a too tight sweater that, you know, is itchy and makes you feel like, you know, makes you feel fat because it's like it doesn't fit you know and you just like feel like everyone's looking at you and it's you know i used to i mean

because when i was in high school i used to i used to just have these like just grandiose moments of just despair with what the fuck why am i feeling like this what is that you know yeah and then it just like i got out of town i was like oh i just should have gotten out of that town like i just like that just the sameness of it and the littleness of it and and you know frankly kind of the small-mindedness of it too uh the sameness of it you know like, like, in my town especially, there was no diversity. Everybody was white and mean. Yeah, it was very white

where I grew up, too. And then it's interesting, like, some of the people that have reached out to me since they've seen the show, like, have told me their experiences growing up in Kansas.

I mean, you never know, obviously, what's going on behind closed doors. But, you know, it's interesting to hear. I've really been enjoying it, and it know, obviously, what's going on behind closed doors. But it's interesting to hear. I've really been enjoying it. And it's like very moving to hear what some, you know, other, you know, different people have gone through. Anyway, I was going to say something.

I already lost my train of thought. It's not. I'm just not an intellect. I'm not. You know, my brain sort of just wanders around. It's like little it's like little COVID bubbles. It's just sort of looking for the next place to land that's all right that's all right this this yeah i mean it's just a first of all it's just a fucking podcast it's just a fucking podcast we're just a couple of post-athletic kids out here kicking the ball around the field

right you know this today the main thing this podcast is for me, an excuse to have taken my dog to daycare. So you don't have to hear her barking. Amazing. I love it. And then, you know, and I, you know, and my son actually is here. He passed out here last night after he came over.

He's a college student at USC. Oh, nice. And so whether, when I leave here to be done with the podcast, it'll be a mystery of if he's here and we are going to lunch or if he's disappeared back into his college kid ether. Oh, I love those days. Yeah. You know, I just, I just thought of something that you said about leaving. I just wanted to circle back to, because I think like when I, when I, I knew I wanted to leave. I didn't know where I wanted to go.

I just knew I wanted to get out, right, of my hometown. And I auditioned and I got a scholarship to Arizona State. And I remember my family sort of being like, well, why do you need to leave? But I was like, is it, why do I need to leave or why do I get to leave? You know, I don't know what the thought was. But, and I did, you know, my time in Arizona, that was, you know, fun too, big party school. But it wasn't until I got to New York

where I feel like I met my people, you know? And I finally, and as popular as I was in high school and I had a lot of friends in college, I just never felt like I fit until I found a bunch of these sort of misfits here in New York. So, yeah,

no, I think that is, it's something that, you know, I mean, cause these conversations on this show, you know, they're sort of in a template and something I have heard time and time again

from creative people. And like the most important step in their development is finding their tribe finding yeah i mean that's just what i've ended up calling it um because i definitely had that leaving a small town and then i went into chicago well i started at uh university of illinois big big 10 school then i transferred to film school in Chicago, Columbia College, and felt like, oh, OK, like all these weird kids with black lipstick, like they're they're they're like me. They just had black lipstick and I'm happy to be wearing like, you know, a Lacoste shirt or whatever. But we're but we're basically the same, you know. Yeah. And then even beyond

that, once I was out of school and started doing improv, then it was like, oh, my God, yes, this is. Yeah. Then I really felt and it was such it was like a natural antidepressant for like at least a year, you know, until I did the real thing again. But yeah, it's magical. It's really. It's magic. Yeah. Um, but yeah, it's, it's magical.

It's really, you know, yeah. I remember I, you know, I'm, I'm at Murray Hill, who plays Frederick Coco on the show, but you know, he's one of my long old time friends and he's like, just this, you know, showbiz, you know, bigger than life sort of cats, cat skill style comedian. And I was just like, Oh my God, like this, this is my person. And then I was doing another, I was at another thing. And then this friend of mine his name is Neil Medlin he came out and he was like wearing a sweater and that was it and

I was like it was just singing some sweet country song step touch step touch whatever but I was so like oh my god this these are the people I've been waiting for my whole life like just like a crop a crop sweater with his tallywagger you know, carving around. I was like, God bless. God bless New York City. Yep, yep, yep. In the right context, nothing can be funnier than a

surprise penis. It's often, you know, it's a real risk. It's quite a risk. You really are like, you know are swinging for the fences when you use your dick for comedic effect. But when it works, it really works. Nobody does it better than Neil Bedlam. I tell you, it just blew, they're just tits.

It's just your body. Like who fucking cares? Right. Right. you know whatever but it just to me like bringing the the human body into the human experience of of show business is that one done right is is really fucking funny oh absolutely absolutely i mean but that you know also it's because you know like like it's also like the the beauty and the grossness of the human body are. They're like, I'm I'm putting my fingers together and interlacing them like they are just inescapably connected.

Like the grossness, the gross hilarity of the human body is also kind of the beauty of the human body. And it's kind of why people don't understand how those all can be together. Like, you know, like, you know, like your lover's fart is like, oh, it's the best. I love it. Oh, I kind of actually like to smell too, you know, just all these weird things that happen because we're just fucking apes. We're like, you know, these weird, this weird troop of apes. It's probably too smart for its own good. Yeah. Now, you mentioned your mom because just something, you know, they do kind of a quick little research thing for me. And there was something about your mom packing all your folks are split up and your mom packed all the kids into the car to sort of tail your dad. Oh, well, I wouldn't say all of them because it would be me and my brother brock yeah yeah yeah oh then yeah it was it was the research was pumped up a little no no no well believe me

you know there was uh so we would yeah get in the car and like after my mom was all lit up you know on cutty stark or whatever and oh boy sort of you know bobbing and weaving through traffic but of course you know drinking and driving was still cool back in those days. So we'd always end up back outside of my dad's place and just sort of sitting there while she chain smoked. And then there was one time that, you know, in the divorce, he got like two hutches and a smoker. Like, you know, like an old 70s style smoker. Yeah. Tiny barbecue kind of thing.

And he had it on his back patio. And we pulled up. We sat there for a while. My mom said, all right, Brock, get out of the car and go get me that smoker. So he just goes up there, gets the smoker. It's coming back. You see my dad sort of like peeking out the curtain and just shaking his head. And Brock's like, ah.

Oh, my God. That's what mom says. And Brock's like, ah, I gotta do what mom says. So I don't know. And then we were down at his office one time, stalking him. My dad's law partner came around the corner and was like, Freddie, get out of the bushes. Get out of the bushes.

I mean, you know, those were my formative years. Yeah, there are things to laugh about now, but you know, because I mean, I have plenty of those too. And I do kind of end up being like, yeah, but, you know, because, I mean, I have plenty of those, too. But I do kind of end up being like, yeah, but that's really, really unhealthy. All of it is like so fucking unhealthy and so unfair to children. I know. I spent like a lifetime being like, why can't I trust anyone?

Why can't I be in a healthy, loving relationship? I guess here today, talking to Andy Richter that I discovered the reason why yeah no it's it's it it's like they're being a parent now like there was so much stuff that when I had a kid and it seemed like when the kid was still wet from coming out, like instantly hit with all these sort of like revelations of things that were done. You know, you could say to me or done, you know, that happened to me that I'm just like, oh, my God, that was terrible. Like, I would never do that.

I would. Holy shit. That was that's fucked up. Like, you know, let the kid be a kid. Yeah. just like oh my god that was terrible like i would never do that i would holy shit that was that's fucked up like you know let the kid be a kid yeah yeah i mean at the time i mean was there was there laughter to cope with this kind of stuff i mean the the and was the turmoil of the house breaking up was it i mean it sounds angry but i mean ugly or, I mean, and we also don't have to talk about it at all. No, no. Yeah, it's okay.

You know, my family has like this absolutely brutal sense of humor, like making fun of each other until somebody would cry. And it would usually either be me or my sister, my oldest sister, Britton, who's now passed away. But, you know, and we all had these like my nickname was fang because i had one front tooth but like it was just like always and they called me lurch because i had these broad shoulders from swimming but they like we just always always making fun of each other and it's just even now we have a family zoom that we started um you know during the pandemic or at the beginning of pandemic because my because my mom went to a nursing home. So we, even now, it's just like the brutal humor. And I have like, I'm like very sensitive, you know, compared to my brothers and sisters who can laugh at anything.

When my dad died, we went to the chapel, whatever, and he was cremated and they were trying to put him in the wall, whatever the fucking thing is there. And they couldn't get him in. So they were like sort of hammering him in. And my dad's, you know, third wife and their family, they're just weeping. And my family is laughing so hard and people are wetting their pants because they're laughing so hard.

So like laughter has always been the coping mechanism. And I guess drinking, too. Can't you tell my love's a-growing? What, are you a homecoming queen or something like that? Yeah, but nobody thinks that's cool. You know, it's not cool to be a homecoming queen. I was prom king, and it's all that I think is cool about me.

But I do preface it by saying, you know, prom was in the spring and everyone who had been on homecoming court was disqualified from prom. Yeah, I was always like it made me the sixth most popular boy in school. You know, it's not like it's not like I was the king of spring. I just was like, no, no, they got the other five out of the way and then it was you'll take what's left yeah yeah well my you know my brother brock is like closest to me in age he he was also a homecoming king and he we're very similar in the way that we're kind of like friends with everyone and friends with no one in a way you know like just that and you know i think and because of what we were going through at home, it was just sort of keep everything surface, try to make people laugh and just spin spinning plates, spinning plates, spinning plates.

And and so, yeah, you never really get you don't get too deep with that many people. But you you have a lot of friends and they're like, oh, I know Bridget. I'll check her name. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah, I think I was I was just kind of the same way I got along with everybody. Like there was, you know, when there were divisions in our school and I went to a tiny school, relatively speaking, and there was a division, especially among jocks and burnouts. Like that was that was the huge one was like you either were a jock or a burnout. And I could sort of, you know, I was like a diplomat. I could go back and forth between the groups.

Sort of, you know, I was like a diplomat. I could go back and forth between the groups. Yeah. Well, because I came from a house of conflict, I always wanted to everybody to get along and to get along with everybody. I didn't want any any problems. Yeah. Yeah. I think that was probably just easier to to be friends with everybody.

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. to be friends with everybody yeah yeah yeah now uh the one thing about the show that um that is really sweet but it also makes me go like is this true is this like kind of wonderful loving inclusive uh inclusive uh like queer community in the little town in your show. And does that exist in Manhattan, Kansas for real that you know of? Or is that part of the fantasy just because it's a TV show? So it's like, let's make everyone have a happy place. Well, I think that there are, you know, communities, obviously, in small towns across the country

that are very, you know, that are obviously in small towns across the country that are very, you know, that are welcoming in that way. But I, this, in my case in Manhattan, there's not a gay bar as far as I know in Manhattan, Kansas, that is. There's, you know, I have friends from home, you know, there are people that are, that I didn't go to school with, but that have, you know, landed in Manhattan, Kansas. And I just listened to their experience. I don't go to school with, but that have landed in Manhattan, Kansas. And just listening to their experience, I don't think that something like choir practice as it exists in somebody somewhere exists there. But I think it's also just important to think about,

well, what if it did? You know, kind of. Yeah, no. And I do think that people find each other, obviously. And I do think that, you know, people find each other, obviously. So it's it's yeah, it was a little bit of a fantasy, you know. Anyway, blah, blah, blah. But why not? I mean, why not have it be, you know, I mean. You know, because the story is obviously going to take place in Manhattan.

So you need a place for the character to be happy because you're the character's not going to arizona state you know the character exactly the character's not moving to manhattan so you know i think no i think that like i i'm always been a big prop i've always been a big proponent of especially in comedies too like and it drives me nuts sometimes watching movies where people think oh the comic relief is that these people are arguing all the time or insulting each other all the time whereas like i'm always like well how about we see people being nice to each other we mean we we said we actively did not want to do something snarky we actively wanted to do something like because, again, like coming from the sort of home life I had and and the background I had, it's it's the people that I found in New York, like the warm fucking email, you know, in touch with their feelings. And yeah, that saved my life, you know.

And so I want to I want to show like a little slice of we all want to show a slice of what those people can do for you. And the central relationship in the show, I didn't want it to be like, this man falls in love, changes life. I wanted it to be as we all wanted it to be. It's she finds a friend. finds a friend and you know like when you when you first meet and fall in love with a friend like that free fall and and letting go and sort of trusting that person I had a friend like that in New York and and and he really like I met him I was just like oh my god this you know I just was so in love with him and in complicated ways sometimes too because I'd never felt like somebody that like just he just was so open and he, and he loved me. And like, when I was being so mental and like trying

to grow through some of my emotional challenges, like he, he stayed and I was like, but why, like, why do you still want to be my friend? Um, so I wanted to, to there, to be that relationship. And as the series progresses, you know progresses should you continue to watch we'll see some of that but I don't know I just I love watching a comedy with great joke writing and whatever that's not my

strength I don't think that's the strength of our particular team we just wanted to just unfold a very naturalistic real slice of life with a few fantasy elements dropped in. Sure, sure, sure. No, I think it's really, because it is like,

it's exciting for the character. Because the episode up until that point is, you're kind of getting a list of like the strikes against the character and then at the end we get this weird little secret conclave that's like oh this will be you know this is the light shining through the darkness i and it's like it's definitely i'm excited to see just all the you know all the kind of beautiful weirdness that'll happen with those people. So I think it's I endorse it. I think it's great.

But I mean, it'd be weird if I didn't. It would be a real conversation killer. The notion that choir practice thing sucks. Can we do you mind talking about your sister that passed and just telling us a little bit? Because you mentioned her being your inspiration for music and just. Well, you know, my mom was also like a big inspiration for music. She's a music teacher. She was like, always thought that I was special, like when it came to singing and things like that.

So she really encouraged that. But the thing about my sister, Britton, who passed away from, she had cancer. She actually died about 2008. But she, when I was like floating around, waiting tables, doing karaoke, but starting to like make these small appearances in New York, she was so happy for me and she was so thrilled. And she really encouraged me. And I started doing the show at that theater called Ars Nova called at least

it's pink. And like, some of the songs were just filthy, you know, like about butts and gut and vaginas and whatever else. And she was just so thrilled, but I wouldn't share them with her because I, I, I would just be crushed if she thought they were stupid, you know? And then, and then it became, and then it became too late. So, you know, that's difficult for me, but yeah, I just loved her. She was, she was the sweet one in our family that really loved him. Super funny, but just like,

you know, because we all had this like sort of aggressive, you know, attack sort of sense of humor. She always made sure I was OK. So she's oldest and I was the youngest. And I just just adored her. Yeah. Yeah. How well, how much of an age spread? 14 years.

Wow. Yeah. Well, no wonder your mom went to the grocery store in her nightgown. She was too fucking exhausted to get dressed. Oh, my God. She just wiped out. And Brittany, you know, she was like shorter than all of us. And she had like one B cup and one C cup. And she had these like skinny little legs. And my brothers called her nine irons. And, and you know it's just this constant like emotional warfare but she was really something special yeah when you when you leave town when you go to your first time out i guess is arizona state i mean is

even though you're happy to get out and you're aware at that time of getting out are you i mean does it scare you like is it still like leaving that sort of safety area that you know like your nest does it kind of scare you too much or yeah well first of all i barely had the money to scrap scrap together to sort of live there you know moment to moment but yeah yeah but there was also like the my mom and i were super codependent. I didn't know anybody. I just went, actually I knew one friend, my friend Angie Reed went there, and she was in the school of music too. So she sort of kept an eye out, but it, yeah, it was

really scary. I'd never been, you know, other than like the surrounding States around Kansas, I hadn't really been anywhere. So it was like, it was like sort of like a big European vacation, only it was Arizona and it was sunny and the guys were super hot. And it was party time. And my dorm had a pool. I was like, oh, what? Oh my God. That's fantastic. Yeah. That was good. That was good. The only, the only thing I know about this is just, it's a party school. That's all you ever hear is that it's a party school, you know? Yeah. And that's and that's that's that's a that's a wonderful thing to take away well you know what it's like it's you know i mean it it's it's better than being like a boring you know like a not you know what i mean i'm i'm just sure i was like i'll be getting calls

oh she just thinks it's a party school but it it was. And that's a great thing. And I, yeah. Yeah. Anybody that goes there that doesn't know that it's kidding themselves. Right. Exactly. And also, you know, I left college feeling like the main thing I had accomplished was like gotten to know myself as an, as a separate entity out in the world, like a baby grown up.

And then the other thing was figuring out drugs and alcohol like just like you know like how much could take what was good what was bad what was right for me and then i because i felt i literally had the feeling like the summer i got out of college like i'm actually kind of ready to learn something now like i'm actually ready to kind of like look at different read a book now you know as opposed to just be like can you take three hits of acid let's find out you know i don't know you can you can but it makes it hard to move furniture the next day when you for your job good to know yeah yeah um And you were in the music school, right?

Yeah, yeah. I studied vocal performance, like opera. And it paid for my degree. I'm so happy that I had the opportunity. But, you know, you have to take all these different languages, French, German, and Italian, and I just couldn't retain anything. I was out partying um and my voice is the kind of voice that you know i can't drink or it won't sound crystal clear you don't have the crystal clear tone so basically i found a career that suited my lifestyle because cabaret there's nobody telling me like if my voice doesn't sound good

nobody gives a fuck they're just like right you know just make us laugh or whatever. But my friend, I have a friend that's in this, what are they called? Il Divo? Is that the name of the band? Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah, those hunky guys. Those hunky guys. Well, my friend David is the tenor in that group. And he can drink and smoke.

And he still has just the most incredible, clearest, beautiful tenor in the world. Probably the most impressive voice I've heard standing in front of me. And then he can just, you know, smoke a cig, drink a martini. And if I do that, you know, I'm on the sidelines for six weeks. Yeah. Yeah. I don't even sing, but I have to talk for a living, and I'm the same way. Like, I had to quit.

Yeah. When I finally quit smoking, it was just because it was interfering with my work. I couldn't speak. Cold and flu season at least two or three times a year while I was smoking cigarettes, I would lose my voice. And then it was amazing. I quit smoking cigarettes.

Not so much of a problem anymore. What a surprise. I never smoked, but I did like to go to bars and just literally the smoke inside the bar, I would lose my voice from that. Of course. Of course, yeah. I'm a sensitive baby girl. Oh.

Little baby chick. I'm an artist. Well, now, were the music people, did you feel like a kinship to them? I mean, were they sort of your type, you know? I mean, I liked them, but they were the music people, did you feel like a kinship to them? I mean, was were they sort of your type? You know, I mean, I like them, but they're just pursuing something that was I'd never I felt out of step with it. You know, I I again, like I like people get along with people, but they want to do like opera, music, theater. And I thought that I did because that's where I was and that's what I was telling myself. And I'm still friendly with a lot of those people, but

they just weren't my peeps. They weren't my peeps yet. My peeps are a little weird. Yeah, yeah. I kind of fucked up. So, when you get out of school, do you stay

there? I stuck around for a couple years. I was a waitress at the original P.F. Chang's. Sorry to brag. You mean the first one in the country? Yeah, at Scottsdale Fashion Square. We had a lot of

sports regulars. Charles Barkley was a big regular there and he would bring in all these sports stars from different I remember one night he brought in a table and this other regular there and he would bring in all these sports stars from different you know i i remember one night he brought in a table and this other waitress like she didn't want to take the table because they were it's just she was too intimidated so she's like do you want i was like sure it was it was larry bird michael jordan charles barkley pain stewart imad rashad um i'm forgetting somebody else it was just like all like yeah you know sports heroes or

whatever yeah yeah legends and and anyway charles barkley became a regular and then so did um some baseball stars because they did their you know their spring training there um i got to know a bunch of the st louis cardinal guys mark mcguire and then dusty baker was also a regular there so i started singing the national anthem at some of their games, which was like, I was like, this is, this is the shit, you know,

I felt really cool. Yeah. Um, and then, and then the summertime I went to work, um, for about, for many years, uh,

at this resort in Maine called Quisasana, which is sort of like a dirty dancing kind of style of resort. And you would wait tables during the day and singing shows at night. And that's where I started to meet, um know these uh young adults that were like from conservatories across the country you know they would come there like from oberlin or from eastman school of music or uh cincinnati conservatory music and they're like just stars and like they come and sing in these shows and we just like summer camp so they had these goals and aspirations of moving to new york and i was like well i've always kind of want to do that what am i doing in arizona i'm really only singing

at karaoke bars and sometimes the national anthem in a spring training game there's there's probably more out there for me if i just tried so one summer i just fucking did a quiz on i went right to new New York and I just sort of landed there. Yeah. Again, because I wanted to be where Debbie Harry was. Oh, wow. Wow. Have you gotten to meet her since?

Yeah, a couple of times. And she is probably the most beautiful, one of the top five most beautiful specimens in the face of the planet. Like her bone structure is just, and she's just so cool. It's like, I don't deserve to be near you. She just, you know, and I did a show and I remember I heard that Debbie Harry was going to come and I was like, whatever you do, nobody,

just don't tell me, don't tell me that she's coming. And anyway, we had audience plans for this particular show at Ars Nova. It's called Elisa's coming. And anyway, we had audience plants for this particular show at Ars Nova. It's called Elisa's Pink. And the audience plant goes up to take a seat and he comes running back down.

He's like, holy shit, Debbie Harry's here. Let's have a great show. And I was just like, places. He didn't get the memo. Yeah, he didn't get the memo. But you look at us,

it's a 99 seat theater and she has a shock of, you know, platinum blonde can't miss her you know yeah even in the dark she sounds like a diamond right right right and it's probably better than i think like somebody like that if you spot them in the audience while you're like in the middle of singing something that's probably i think think that's more flexing than getting it a shot of it right before, you know, which, which has happened to me. I was floating around an audience one time and I'm singing, singing, singing. I have a song called titties where I'm singing about all different kinds of tits. And, you know, I turn it and I'm, you know, motorboat people or whatever.

And I like turn around, I go to motorboat somebody and it was fucking Gloria Steinem. And I was like, cut the track, cut the track, cut the track. Gloria Steinem is here, cut the track. And nobody, I didn't know that she was coming. It was like, Kathy and Jimmy had brought her and Kathy and Jimmy was a big enough deal to me too. It was just like, what the fuck is happening? So, you know, for all, what are you going to do? Showbiz, right? You just roll with it and keep going. What are those first days in New York like when you land there? I mean, do you know anybody? I knew these people from Quistisana. Oh, just from camp, yeah. Yeah, just from that sort of summer job situation. But not really. And I just floundered. And I just, I met my friend Zach Zach the one I was speaking of a little bit ago that you know this like emotionally available friend and I met him pretty soon after I

moved to New York and I was like oh this is who I've been looking for you know and he took me he was the one that took me to see Kiki and Herb for the first time you know and Murray Hill and some of these other shows and Sweetie, my favorite drag queen. And he showed me the world.

And it makes sense because the things that make him so happy are the things that make me happy. So he was just sharing with me, like, look at all these bright, shiny colors. Yeah, yeah, yeah. So thank God. It's sort of like new york had been waiting for me and i and he had been waiting i mean i know that that's not true but you know just like i just it just i was like what the fuck am i doing moving to new york you know i was there for a month sort of just like this huge city no money i moved with like you know maybe 500 dollars

or something ridiculous what neighborhood did you move to and how did you pick it? I just, I, a friend, my friend, Troy Cook, who was an opera singer, had got a gig and was like, do you want to, you know, sublet my apartment for a month? So I did that. And soon after that is when I met Zach because I went to a party with my friend, a Carnegie Mellon alum. And we were looking for an ex-boyfriend of mine that we used to call Can of Corn, because he had these big, thick fingers. It's a long story. I bet there's a song about that.

But I didn't find Can of Corn, but I did meet Zach. And so Arizona State led me to Quistisana, which is that summer job, which led me to New York, which led me to Zach, which led me to to all the, you know, the downtown performance and cabaret world. So it just took me a while to find it. But eventually I got there. Yeah. Yeah. Now, when the guys the guy from Mars Nova says you should do a show. What what do you think? Like what what do you think? Like, OK, this is what I'm going to do. Or, you know, what do you think like what what do you think like okay this is what i'm gonna do or you know what do you mean yeah yeah so you know and he it was a new their their whole thing is um like billy eichner was there at the same time and lynn manuel miranda i don't know if you've

heard of either one of them i don't yeah i don't know them i don't know them lynn was doing freestyle love supreme and billy was doing creative uh creation nation and then i was doing at least it's pink it was sort of just it's for emerging artists the theater's for emerging artists and they sort of help give you resources to help you figure out what your thing is yeah and so i was trying to figure out what my thing is. So initially I was just telling stories and singing some covers and some really bad original songs. And, but I, after I did my first show, I remember Jason running down the stairs into the green room. I was like, oh my God, like he saw in me what I couldn't see in myself. And I just sort of was like, well, I guess there's something there. I should keep at it. It's like, well, I guess there's something there. I should keep at it. That's great. Yeah.

Well, now I just got a little note that you got to get going. So I'll move on to like, what is it? I got a little time. It's okay. Okay. No, but I mean, I'm not going to hang up on you right now, but I mean, we're, you know, but I'll head towards it because i'm going to switch to the second of these questions which is where are you going and i mean i guess you're it's you know to ask someone in your situation which is brand new show very much imprinted with your identity i mean do you just kind of feel like you're in a holding your breath kind of space or do you have like concrete plans what goes on after this no no no plans literally no plans yeah yeah i am i have

you know i it's sort of like this feels like well i've i'm done i'm doing this now you know it's always just the way i've done it just like well i'm doing this now. It's always just the way I've done it. Just like, well, I'm doing this now. And then what's next? But I hope I get to do this for a while. I hope we get another season. I hope that. And other than that, I'm going on the internet to petfinder.com and looking for another rescue Pomeranian. That's how my, I've got five goals, I think, for 2022. And one of them is to, you know, because I lost my dog last June June and I want to get a I want to hop back up on the horse, fall back in love before it all before it all goes and unlock again.

Right, right, right. Yeah, no, they make they make a huge difference in your life. Yeah, huge difference. So so you've never been somebody that's like, like, here's my game plan. Here's my you know, it just like there's not, yeah, I'm kind of the same way. I mean, I want to. Planning always falls apart anyway, so you might as well just remain reactive. Yeah, exactly.

You know? It's like the more I care about it, the less chance is that it will thrive and survive. Yeah, yeah. I mean, I don't know. You know, we've recorded songs so I could put it on the album. You know, I just, I, you know, I just want to do things,

I mean, that sounds so, well, of course I'd love to like cash in and make some money. Yeah, yeah. Of course I'd love to like cash in and make some money. Yeah, yeah. Of course, I'd love to do that. But ultimately, I have so much self-doubt and so much just, you know, all those sorts of things and struggle with, you know, self-confidence, self-worth and those things. So I really have to do something that feels right and that feels like I I'm going to succeed. Otherwise it's a house of cards in every way. So, so probably not a cool, good answer, but that's, those are the facts.

No, I, I, it's, it's, it, it makes sense to me. Cause it's, I mean, if you asked me the same question, it would kind of be the same. It would be like, I don't know, I guess kind of do more of the same, but get paid more for it. You know, that's pretty much it, you know, and die a long time from now. Happy, you know. Exactly. So what do you what do you think? What do you think somebody looking at the Bridget Everett story, what do you think they'll take away from it?

What would you like them to take away from it? Like, what's the point of it all? Big tits, money nose, trim ankles, can't lose. It's not bad. Look good on a T-shirt. It's not bad. Look good on a t-shirt. I think, you know, the more you are yourself, the better.

You know, just, I don't know. I feel like I've just been tumbling along the way and figuring it out as I go. But the right turn is always the one where I take a chance on myself. So I think that's the ultimate takeaway from the Bridget Everett story. Take a chance on yourself. What's think that that's, that's the ultimate takeaway from the Bridget Everett story. Take a chance on yourself. What's the worst that could happen? Yeah. Well,

I like it. I, and that's a great place to end this. Thank you so much for, for taking time to talk to me. And, and good luck on the show. Everybody check it out.

Somebody somewhere it's on HBO Max. I don't know. Regular HBO? Yeah, both of them. Yeah, come on. Come on. But it's really a sweet show, and I really enjoyed it, and I look forward to watching more. And I hope to see you around campus someday soon, Bridget. Yeah, why not?

Yeah, yeah. Alright, we have a good one. And thank all of you out there for listening to another episode of The Three Questions. I'm Andy Richter. I will be back next week. I've got a big, big love for you. The Three Questions with Andy Richter is a Team Cocoa and Urolf production. It is produced by Lane Gerbig, engineered by Marina Pice, and talent produced by Galitza Hayek.

The associate producer is Jen Samples, supervising producer Aaron Blair, and executive producers Adam Sachs and Jeff Ross at Team Coco, and Colin Anderson and Cody Fisher at Earwolf. Make sure to rate and review The Three Questions with Andy Richter on Apple Podcasts.