The Era of Sarah with Sarah Rachel Lazarus
Join Sarah Rachel Lazarus as she discusses all of her favorite with all of her favorite people... Everything ranging from but not limited to pop culture, dating, politics, sexy Pixar characters, Ru Paul's Drag Race, that dog who looks like your cousin, trying to convince Jennifer Coolidge to let her be her unpaid intern and much more.
The Era of Sarah with Sarah Rachel Lazarus
Wish We Could Be Camp (W/ Laura Bell Bundy )
This week, we dish about the underrated Spongebob Musical, Shrek Porn, Chita Rivera Cheetoh's and much more. We are joined by broadway icon Laura Bell Bundy. Aside from being a Tony Nominated actress for creating the role of Elle Woods in Legally Blonde and originating the role of Amber Von Tussle in Hairspray, she also produces, writes, and directs music, comedy, commercials, and television shows. She is currently developing ‘Girl Time’ — a women’s history sketch comedy show for Free Form as creator, writer and executive producer.
Watch extra video content on youtube @ Slaz Productions.
Donate to Retaj's gofundme. Sheis transwoman who was arrested for her eyebrows appearing too “feminine” and shaped. She was been obtained by authorities and they are holding her passport from her while she is awaiting her visa to move to the US.
The remaining funds needed will help Retaj have an easier transition moving to the US.
https://www.gofundme.com/f/help-this-trans-woman-escape-yemen
Follow me on instagram to see more content, stay updated on upcoming episodes and send me questions for future guests!
https://www.instagram.com/sarahrlazarus
VHello, hello everyone. Welcome to "Wish U Were Weird".
Vinny:A show where we talk about everything you've always wanted to know more about.
Sarah Lazarus:Including, but not limited to Drag
Vinny:Dating
Sarah Lazarus:Politics
Vinny:Secretary of State Tamisha Iman
Sarah Lazarus:Figuring out if Bailey Hanks was at the Capitol Riot
Vinny:Telling a stoner your caffeine chocolate is an edible, hoping that maybe they'll finally get a fucking job.
Sarah Lazarus:Coping with the fact that your community theater Paulette, a regional theater"Courtney Take Your Break"and a Broadway audience member.
Vinny:Uh Oh, what to do when mom thinks your cocaine box is a Christmas tree ornament.
Sarah Lazarus:How I became Carole Baskin's unpaid intern.
Vinny:I'm spayed and neutered but damn if I'm not horny anyway. Vincent.
Sarah Lazarus:I'm the girl who was accepted by Rosie O'Donnell and rejected by Nathan Lane. Sarah. Everything I said was a fact.
Vinny:Um, I'm sorry, a community theater Paulette, regional Courtney Broadway audience member is hilarious.
Sarah Lazarus:That's like trauma from bullying I received in my college theater program.
Vinny:You don't have to worry about it though. Because I'm a community theater fuckin ensemble member regional and in the audience and in Broadway I got kicked out for sucking dick in the bathroom. So don't worry.
Sarah Lazarus:What show,"SpongeBob"?
Vinny:Yeah, definitely."SpongeBob", there's no better show to suck dick in the bathroom except "SpongeBob".
Sarah Lazarus:That'd be just like, the funniest headline. It's like, "SpongeBob, The Musical" like Shia LeBeouf got kicked out of "Cabaret". Like, that just feels dirty already. But like "SpongeBob", that feels immoral.
Vinny:Although every time I went to see "SpongeBob" I was on drugs so
Sarah Lazarus:Well, that honestly, what am I saying? That show was filthy and sinful.
Vinny:It was.
Sarah Lazarus:That show, like I miss it. Honestly, that show was so good. That was like, the most underrated show I've seen on Broadway.
Vinny:It'll come back.
Sarah Lazarus:It won't. The non equity tour will just float in purgatory. And that's what happened with that.
Vinny:So me and Elektrafyre are currently working on something.
Sarah Lazarus:Oh, really? What is it?
Vinny:We are going to record ourselves doing "I'm a Believer" by Smash Mouth, as ogres.
Sarah Lazarus:Wow. As sexy green ogres. And it's happening this weekend. And then it's premiering on the 30th with that, but in that show without Dot DeVille. I love that. That sounds like something I would click on pornhub, so I'm really happy that that's happening in real life.
Vinny:There's a surprising amount of Shrek porn on Pornhub
Sarah Lazarus:Really?
Vinny:It's not that surprising, but it's like a lot.
Sarah Lazarus:Oh, wow. My, I guess I have not seen the, you know, limits to which Pornhub goes to and
Vinny:That's a lie.
Sarah Lazarus:And I regret that.
Vinny:That's a lie. You've seen every inch of Pornhub. You send me specific screenshots, like conversation appropriate porn screenshots.
Sarah Lazarus:I think it's just the funniest shit ever. I just sometimes, I think people aren't approaching Pornhub with the right mindset. It's a hub of just literature and comedic inspiration. You know, you can find many things on there that'll just inspire you to be a better artist, is all I'll say.
Vinny:I love that. Yup, lemons stealing whores kept me from killing myself in Middle School
Sarah Lazarus:Wait Is that real?
Vinny:Lemons stealing whores? Of course. Tell me you've never seen lemons stealing whores?
Sarah Lazarus:I don't. I don't want to see it. So do not send it to me.
Vinny:I'm sending it to you. It's the part that everyone watches isn't even like the porn part. It's like the beginning. It's on YouTube.
Sarah Lazarus:There's no way that my eyelids will open to that.
Vinny:Wow, I want everyone listening to this to dm Sarah, a link to lemons stealing whores
Sarah Lazarus:And you know what's funny. There's an option on it on Instagram where you can block people. Maybe I'll like take that into effect.
Vinny:Today, me and Sarah will be doing two truths and a lie, Broadway facts edition. Take it away Sarah.
Sarah Lazarus:Okay, here are my facts. The "Mean Girls" musical has undergone a facelift. 66% of Broadway audiences are over the age of 75. Aladdin's flying carpet remains a mystery.
Vinny:These um, these are a little abstract. A little non specific. I guess, I guess you can't really give a facelift to a musical. So that one's false.
Sarah Lazarus:You're wrong.
Vinny:What do you mean? What do you mean I'm wrong?
Sarah Lazarus:That's just an expression they use. They like, change the show.
Vinny:Oh, it's an industry term. Is it?
Sarah Lazarus:Yeah, no, no, it's just like you say you give something a facelift you like change it. You give it a revamp.
Vinny:I didn't know, I didn't know figurative rhetoric were fucking facts, Sarah.
Sarah Lazarus:That's the thing people say. You're living in, I don't know, fucking Brigadoon. If you don't know what that is. Alright, so what do you think is the lie? I mean, a lot is telling you.
Vinny:Yeah, you should just tell me at this point.
Sarah Lazarus:Okay. 66 of Broadway audiences are not over the age of 75. But they are women. 66% of Broadway audiences are women.
Vinny:Oh, that's awesome. Good for them.
Sarah Lazarus:Because women have minds and souls. But Aladdin's flying carpet does remain a mystery. The set designer will not say how it works.
Vinny:Oh, that's badass. Okay, my turn. So fact number one. The first Broadway theater that ever opened had a public pool. Fact number two. Cheetos were actually named after Chita Rivera. And fact number three. Jordan Roth drinks the blood of innocence to stay looking so fresh and youthful.
Sarah Lazarus:I don't know if that was, like the words. You meant to say in a sense, and that's the trick because you spelled it with a "t" like in a sense. That one's false.
Vinny:The blood of innocent people.
Sarah Lazarus:Is that not false?
Vinny:So then Cheetos renamed after Chita Rivera?
Sarah Lazarus:I don't fucking know. She was really popular.
Vinny:I could not find any Broadway facts that weren't like literally like "Lion King" is the second most grossing film or whatever the fuck.
Sarah Lazarus:You have to go the deep depths of Tumbler in the Broadway world chat room to find.
Vinny:Is that where you found out the "Mean Girls" musical had a facelift? Is that where you got that gem?
Sarah Lazarus:No, I found that on Google. So we want to take a minute to talk about an amazing cause. There is a woman named Retaj. She is a trans woman who was arrested in Yemen while being out in public appearing as a man for safety but she was arrested for her eyebrows appearing too feminine and shaped. She's been obtained by authorities and they are holding her passport from her while she's waiting for her visa to move to the US. She needs some remaining funds so that she can get to the US and have an easier transition here and feel safe. Yemen has a huge humanitarian crisis. They have no water, food. They're horrible to the LGBTQ plus community and this is something that's important. She has a GoFundMe. You can find her GoFundMe. It says help this trans woman escape Yemen, and if you just look that up, you will find her. Her name is Retaj and you know we we talked about this all the time, but you know, donating to these smaller organizations or specific people on GoFundMe goes a lot farther than a huge organization that already has a lot of money. So consider donating to a smaller cause. Also, a business I recently visited, I honestly don't go anywhere except for the grocery stores and I went to Trader Joe's and outside of Trader Joe's in the Tower Shops in Davie, Florida, so if you happen to be in the South Florida area, I highly recommend this. There is a food truck that sells doughnuts and these donuts are delicious. I'm pretty sure this is a small business. They're called Change Donuts. You can find them at Changedonuts.com. I think they park around just South Florida, like Miami and Plantation. Different, like hubs, but it looked appetizing from afar. It looks like the Krispy Kreme, like sign with the doughnuts and it was just so appealing and I went there and you can like make any kind you want. And they're like these cute little donuts in a box. Highly recommend. Was delicious. We are joined by an incredibly talented guest. She is an actress, recording artist, songwriter, director, producer and quote unquote natural birth giver.
Vinny:At the age of nine years old she had her stage debut at Radio City Music Hall. Since then she's originated the stage roles of Tina in "Ruthless" Outer Critics Drama Desk nominations, Amber in Broadway's"Hairspray", Elle Woods in"Legally Blonde, The Musical", for which she received a Tony nomination and has played Glinda in "Wicked".
Sarah Lazarus:And has appeared in over a hundred episodes of television, in several films including " Dreamgirls" and"Jumanji".
Vinny:In addition to being an iconic Broadway star, she also produces and writes music and comedy. This includes YouTube hits like "You Can't Pray the Gay Away" and "Cooter County" and "Skitsofrenic".
Sarah Lazarus:She is the creator composer lyricist for Netflix's "Nashville". She's currently developing "Girl time, A Woman's History Sketch Comedy Show" for Freeform as a creator, writer and executive producer.
Vinny:Please welcome, Laura Bell Bundy. (Applause)
Laura Bell Bundy:Hi.
Sarah Lazarus:Hello! Thank you so much for joining us for our pandemic Zoom chat. We are honored to have you,
Laura Bell Bundy:Anytime.
Sarah Lazarus:So we were talking about this before, but you are currently in Palm Springs, right?
Laura Bell Bundy:Yes.
Sarah Lazarus:What is that like? What is the difference between like, LA and Palm Springs?
Laura Bell Bundy:It's drier here. I feel like my lips are cracked, and my boogers were bleeding. That's how you know you're in the desert? Well in it and also I will say it's beautiful. There's mountains and I'm temporarily living between one house we sold and one house we are buying. One was a beach, at the beach in Ventura County and the other one is a farm in New Jersey and the desert, it's really nice this time of year. It's beautiful. But it couldn't be more different than either one of those ways is. But it's, it's ,it's nice. I like it.
Sarah Lazarus:We want to take this all the way. And we want to know where were you born and what was your childhood like?
Laura Bell Bundy:Well, I was born in Euclid Ohio. I didn't live there very long. My parents met in Lexington, Kentucky and my dad got a job in the Cleveland area, so they moved there. And then about a year and a half later, my father decided to start his own company, moved back to Lexington, Kentucky and so I only really have memories of Kentucky in my childhood until I turned five, six years old and I began to spend the summers in New York City. I won a pageant when I was five and I won a new car. And then we, I had this opportunity to go on the Phil Donahue show in New York City. Now I think you guys are too young to have ever known about the Phil Donahue show. It is one of those panel shows where they talked about issues and the audience got to chime in and stand up and ask questions. And you know back in the day was that Sally Jessy Raphael and Ricki Lake and all this. And so Oprah started that way actually. And it turned into be an expose about children's pageants. Instead of what we thought was gonna be like this amazing opportunity to go to New York City. I remember being backstage, and I had my big poofy pageant dress on and like hair, full of rollers, and my mom's face full of makeup. I mean, I looked like a Drag Queen at five. And there were these other pageant girls there. And there, they were spraying glitter in their hair. Now I want you to know I had a full face of makeup on. A completely rhinestone covered dress. And my mom said, we do not use glitter. We're classy.
Sarah Lazarus:Oh my God,
Laura Bell Bundy:No glitter hairspray because we were classy. So it ends up being this kind of horrible experience. The first time I experienced shame. And my mom was like, we are going to shine this turd. And she pulled me and dragged me all the way to Ford modeling agency. And she walked in and said, I'm here to meet with the children's division. They're like, ma'am, you need an appointment. And she's like, Well, you know, my daughter's Little Miss Peewee Hemisphere. And if you're going to meet her, you're going to need to meet her now. They let my crazy mom and I upstairs. And they signed me to a five year contract.
Vinny:Whoa
Laura Bell Bundy:Yeah, that's how I got started in the business. From that crazy freakin story of winning a new fucking pageant at five. And so I began because I lived in Kentucky. And my parents had a business there and I was going to school there. I couldn't spend the whole year in New York. So there was something called summer kids and I was a summer kid who would live in New York City in just the summer and model. Go on, go on go sees and things. So when I was six, I started going to New York City in the summer, and I stayed at various different apartments in New York City in different areas and locations of New York City. I saw my first hooker at eight. I discovered Gray's Papaya during a, you know, right before a dust storm walking.
Sarah Lazarus:Who doesn't?
Laura Bell Bundy:You know just dirt, dust in my eye and a Gray's Papaya, and I had a terrible headache and I vomited it. So for years I couldn't go past Gray's Papaya without gagging. But
Sarah Lazarus:I feel like that's most people. people's experience with Gray's Papaya though. You're never there when things are going good.
Laura Bell Bundy:And the pina colada drink, you know,
Sarah Lazarus:Oh my god.
Laura Bell Bundy:The salty hotdog. And so there was just you know, first year we lived with this Russian lady named Tatiana, who my mom had convinced to let us stay there at her apartment and Tatiana agreed to the lower rent we were going to pay because we couldn't afford it. She could occasionally come back and stay in the apartment through the summer. So we would find her in the closet. Some mornings we would wake up and she'd be in the hall closet sleeping on a mat on the floor. I've got a good story for ya. One day, I didn't find this out until I was older because I didn't know what this was. Well, one day, my mom, when she first moved there, she was hearing things, a drop from the bed and she looked down and she saw a condom wrapper and she didn't know what that was and she lifted up between the mattress and the box springs and there were just tons of condom wrappers. Now I don't know, we weren't using condom wrappers, but that was there. We had just the wildest experiences and then I, just imagine like a five to eight year old child walking around New York City, thinking that it's like Disneyland. But surrounded by homeless people yelling at you and pimps, rats running across your feet. It was the it's just like walking through with a big smile on my face as this like little like corn fed girl from Kentucky, passing triple x theatres in Times Square. That is what it was like, but I thought it was amazing. And I was like, What is that beautiful lady do? What my mom said, well, she's doing things you shouldn't do until you're married, for money. And I said, that's what I want to be when I grow up.
Vinny:Yes.
Sarah Lazarus:That was incredible. Laura Bell Bundy's"Parasite". That's what your story reminds me of, the movie"Parasite"
Laura Bell Bundy:Oh, yes. Kind of, but not quite. But I, but it was an interesting life. Right. So that's, that's kind of Yeah, I spent half my life between being in Kentucky and being in New York. And the New York portion was just sort of my culture, my culture shock, but also I wasn't so shocked by it. I kind of loved it. And I kind of carried with me these sort of like hometown, Southern girl life, and then this wild and exciting and fully exposed life in New York.
Sarah Lazarus:So how did the arts and theater come into your life and acting?
Laura Bell Bundy:So when so, that's part of that story. I guess, when I was about two and a half, three years old, my mom put me in dance class. And I think around four or five years old, I began to get singing lessons. According to my dance teacher. I would sing along to the songs they were playing in the dance class. Like really loud, like, shush, you know, shush, Laura, people are trying to learn the dance. And so she told my mom and encouraged that I sing. And then when I was about five or six, this dance teacher taught me a song and dance routine. And I started competing and doing talent competitions. And then I also was in the Lexington ballet school. And they did the"Nutcracker" every year. So I did that. And then I did a production of "Annie"I was not Annie. I wasn't even an orphan. I got cast as a girl. All I remember was being in a potato sack.
Sarah Lazarus:Adult ensemble.
Laura Bell Bundy:Yeah. But again, what was happening is when I was five, and I went to New York, and I got that modeling contract with Ford modeling agency. When I went to New York in the summers, my mom would have me in singing lessons in New York, and I was going to Broadway dance center. And I saw my very first Broadway show. That same night, I got the modeling contract, which was Starlight Express. So that was a big night for day for me, right. It began my career, so to speak. And it began my love of Broadway. I think that gave me and my mom that bug. I didn't really enjoy modeling because it was like standing still and smiling. And that was super boring to me. I was definitely, like, more of a spaz. And really, you know, kind of had a lot of energy and liked to use my imagination. So theater was perfect for me. I got most of my training when I went to New York in the summers. And then when it came back to Kentucky, I would still stay at my dance school town and village School of Dance. It was in Paris, Kentucky, which is in Bourbon County, which is a dry County, ironically.
Sarah Lazarus:Oh my gosh.
Laura Bell Bundy:And, and I had a great time and I was in troop and I did all the things there. And I had an I did theater there. And then one year when I was nine, I was in New York City for the summer, and I auditioned for the Christmas spectacular at Radio City Music Hall. And that was my very first show. So I ended up getting that job.
Sarah Lazarus:So how did"Hairspray" come about after that?
Laura Bell Bundy:So I've lived in New York City full time, from the time I was nine to 14, I did the Christmas Spectacular. The guy that was developing that show, I'm sorry, the guy that was the musical director for the Christmas Spectacular was developing a new show called"Ruthless". And I ended up staying in New York City to develop that musical and I ended up opening that few years later or a year or two later Off Broadway. So I stayed in New York till I was 14, and then I moved back to Kentucky and just had a normal high school education.
Sarah Lazarus:You got a Drama Desk nomination for a"Ruthless", right?
Laura Bell Bundy:Yes.
Sarah Lazarus:What people don't know is that that is honestly like better than the Tonys because that the Drama Desk awards include all off Broadway and Broadway shows and it's like way harder to get nominated for that. So you were, you weren't even 14, you got a Drama Desk nom and you just head back?
Laura Bell Bundy:I was 11. And
Sarah Lazarus:oh my god
Laura Bell Bundy:I was 11. And my mom was freaking out like, oh my god, a Drama Desk nomination. I'm like, what's that? Like, it's not a Tony, I don't care. You know, I, I didn't know what it was. I didn't know to be excited. I didn't know that you do you know that people even tried to get awards I just did the show and I didn't understand it till I got older. And especially, you know, for doing an off Broadway show, since a lot of the Broadway shows take the spots. Yeah. So that that kind of sucked. And that I didn't understand it. But it's cool it I guess that's a cool thing, right?
Sarah Lazarus:Yeah.
Vinny:Yes.
Laura Bell Bundy:I end up moving back. Oh, simply because they haven't seen the world. And I had, and I couldn't quite forget that I haven't seen these things of the world. Or had my singing teacher die from AIDS, or any number of the things that I experienced. So I tried to acclimate the best I could, I ran track, I did my school play. I really loved track and cross country. And I ended up after high school applying to go to NYU and being accepted to run on the track team there.
Vinny:Really?
Laura Bell Bundy:Yeah. And then I auditioned for a soap opera, the summer right before I began college, and I got a recurring role on "Guiding Light".That sort of was like, oh, do I really want to do this? So I began, oh, two things you asked about "Hairspray". So when I was 17, I think one summer I was in New York, and I auditioned for the movie "Camp".
Sarah Lazarus:I went to the actual camp that it takes place of.
Laura Bell Bundy:Oh, Stagedoor. Yeah
Sarah Lazarus:Yes.
Vinny:Don't get her started on Stagedoor.
Laura Bell Bundy:So, uh, Natalie Portman went to that camp.
Sarah Lazarus:Oh, yeah. There's like so many. There's so many people who went there. Like it's, it's a weird, weird place. I talk about it all the time. They like all these like celebrities and like celebrities' kids went there. And it's like kind of a shithole. But it's a really, it's a great experience. But it's definitely like there's no air conditioning and like no mics. You have to like, scream on stage. You've like Kurt Cobain's daughter there who's just like, I don't know it just like, it's just funny how they like, that exists, that place.
Laura Bell Bundy:That's crazy. So the guy Todd Graf, wrote it, I guess about his own experience there. And just exaggerated a bit.
Sarah Lazarus:Right.
Laura Bell Bundy:And they were going to do, they were just doing a developmental workshop at the time. Danny DeVito was producing the film and they just wanted to workshop it and I got cast as like the bitchy character. I think and Anna Camp was also in it. Leslie Odom, Jr. was in it with us.
Sarah Lazarus:Oh my gosh
Laura Bell Bundy:This was the workshop for "Camp". So here's the deal. Bernie Telsey was casting this and he had done"Rent" and he had done some things. It was my friend John McMahon, who had played piano in"Ruthless". He was playing auditions for Bernie Telsey. And when this came up, he said, "you know who would be perfect for this bitch character, Laura Bell Bundy" and oh laura bell Bundy that sounds familiar. And this is what Bernie Telsey said and John said, "Oh, no, she was that little girl in "Ruthless". And he was like, oh, my God, let's have her in. So I ended up auditioning for "Camp". I get that part. Now. I was 17. When I was 19. The "Hairspray "musical is being put together and they're doing their very first reading and they need a bitch. So who do they call, the girl who was a bitch in "Camp". So Bernie Telsey called me in. I sang for the producers, the creative team, and read the lines. And funny enough, one of those summers I was in New York when I was, I think eight, I watched the "Hairspray" movie that Ricki Lake was in every day at lunch. I loved that movie so much. I was obsessed with it. And I loved the character of Amber Von Tussle. So I told them that. I think they were surprised that I was watching John Waters as a child.
Sarah Lazarus:Weren't we all?
Laura Bell Bundy:And, and so I ended up getting the part so that I was 19. We only had one act when we did the reading. One act and the song, "I Know Where I've Been". Marissa was cast. Linda Hart, who played Velma my mom. Harvey was cast. Dick Latesssa was cast and Jen Gambatese and I think Katie Leonard and then the but a lot of people were different at that point. Then we started to include more cast members on the next readings that we did. So we did, there were total of four readings. I only did three because I was doing "Guiding Light". I couldn't get out for one of them. Then we got this go. We were gonna go to Broadway.
Vinny:Awesome.
Sarah Lazarus:I can't believe you would have been in the movie"Camp". Like I think that's so funny because I would have loved to have seen like Anna Kendrick is the
Laura Bell Bundy:Anna Kendrick!
Sarah Lazarus:Yes.
Laura Bell Bundy:Not Anna camp. Oh my god.
Sarah Lazarus:Yeah.
Laura Bell Bundy:Anna Kendrick. Oh my god, I'm pitch perfecting,
Sarah Lazarus:Although I could see both of them in that movie, honestly,
Laura Bell Bundy:Oh my god. Anna Camp I did "Perfect Harmony" with. What a terrible mistake.
Sarah Lazarus:Oh my gosh. Well, I feel like I could have seen her in the workshop for it though, which is honestly makes total sense. But like she rips her off the stage during "Ladies Who Lunch". I would have killed to have seen you and Anna Kendrick in that scene. I cannot believe that we I'm sorry. We missed out on that. But I'm still happy we got "Hairspray". So that's, that's totally fine.
Laura Bell Bundy:Yeah, so when we were it's funny, because there were a few of us that had done "Hairspray" that were in"Camp". And we were doing"Hairspray" at the time when it was filming.
Sarah Lazarus:So y'all like, that was the talk, the hot goss.
Laura Bell Bundy:We just knew it was happening. Like, I think it was non union. So we couldn't have done it. I couldn't have done it anyway.
Sarah Lazarus:So then, okay, you did a little show that nobody knows about called"Legally Blonde", where you were Elle Woods and bringing up Stagedoor. Like, can I just say, you as Elle Woods. You were, like your shrine at Stagedoor for theater kids there. Like everybody always, like would make jokes about like, you know,"So Much Better" when the cast list would come out and like you were revered at theater camp. Can I just say so?
Laura Bell Bundy:That's hilarious.
Sarah Lazarus:I don't know if you know how much like Elle Woods is such an icon. I mean, I'm sure you do. But in theater kids. But I want to know how how did that audition process go like and how did that come about?
Laura Bell Bundy:So I had done"Hairspray" with Jerry Mitchell who is the choreographer of"Hairspray". And at the time, I was doing "Wicked". I was Kristin Chenoweth's standby. And I had like two weeks where I was going to go on. And I sent out notes to people saying, Hey, I'm going to be going on if anybody wants to come and see the show. So Jerry Mitchell said, I want to come and see the show. I was kind of surprised by this, you know, all right. All right. Awesome. Cool. And then you know, bunch of other friends, but not often you get someone like Jerry Mitchell wants to come and see you do a show. But he came backstage, it was lovely. And then I guess six months later or something there was this announcement that"Legally Blonde" was going to be made into a musical and Jerry Mitchell was directing it. And I sent him a note because my experience of working with Jerry Mitchell in "Hairspray" was that he was, he worked so closely with Jack O'Brien, the director. They almost worked as one unit. And I knew he was going to be a great director. I mean, he deserved to be a director. And I sent him a note and I congratulated him and said he really deserved it. And then I added, I know someone who would be really great for Elle Woods, wink, wink. And he wrote me back and he was like, honey, why do you think I came? why did why do you think I came to see you and"Wicked"? I wanted to see if you could carry a show. Then he said when the time is right, I'll have you in front of the creative team. So I mean, another year goes by. I don't really think about it. And I was living in LA at the time. I decided to move there and do TV audition for things. I also had a boyfriend that lived in Southern California, you know.These are the things. I was just making it easy for myself. And I I went to Connecticut to do some plays. And I happened to be there when I got this call that they were having an audition for the very first official reading of "Legally Blonde". I was sent three songs to prepare, 12 pages of lines out on a Friday and my audition was 12pm on a Monday and I had shows that weekend. I had four shows. So I was like trying to cram this material in in between shows. I took a train from Connecticut to New York City, which felt like an eternity. I stayed with a friend who had a baby and I couldn't sing the songs at night. So I went to the West Side Highway and I sang them literally by myself at midnight on the streets by the former former World Trade Center. I mean, I mean it was just it was crazy. And then I walked back and woke up the next day and went an audition for this thing. And and so I was offered the role for the first reading. Now what happens is when you do a reading, which is not an audition guys. I was auditioning for a reading.
Sarah Lazarus:Right.
Laura Bell Bundy:A reading is like a 29 hour reading. Is where you cast a group of people to play these characters. We learn the scenes, we go over the scenes, but we're still on book and we learn the songs and we go over the songs. We learn the harmony parts and we essentially present at the end of 25 hours, 26 hours. And we present it to either the creative team, creative to team and investors and various theater owners and things like that to kind of get the show up. So I did this.
Sarah Lazarus:You booked it eventually.
Laura Bell Bundy:Well, so yeah, so I did a few of these. I did two of these. And then we did official workshop where we actually staged the show. Every step of the way, it was essentially an audition for me.
Sarah Lazarus:Right.
Laura Bell Bundy:Because if I, if I really shit the bed, they weren't gonna or if I was difficult to work with, they weren't going to keep me. But I think you do sort of realize what your value is, as an actor, and you lean into that. And that's what I did. And I kind of knew this was my part. I felt very connected to Elle. I felt very connected to her story and her journey and who she was, as a person and a spirit. It just felt very natural for me. And I wasn't that afraid. I just kind of felt like it was gonna happen, you know. You have those feelings in life.
Sarah Lazarus:Right.
Laura Bell Bundy:That was one of those feelings.
Sarah Lazarus:I mean, you just like how you play Elle, you're like, not basic at all, which is I feel like how somebody could approach that role, you know, like, or how they could cast that role. And you just you are, like, so funny and relatable and like human as the role. An Elle is such a hard role, especially like you're following Reese Witherspoon, who is also iconic in that role,.So and you were in it in the beginning. So I just think that is so cool. Was there anything about Elle that like wasn't written into the script that you just improvised that became like a part of the show?
Laura Bell Bundy:Oh, a lot. Yeah, I drink Red Bull. And I used to come to rehearsal like finishing my morning Red Bull. And when we were going over"Chip in My Shoulder", there was a lot of stuff between Emmett and Elle that really wasn't written in the script initially. Like we really, really had to work to make that relationship make sense. make their love story makes sense. At what point are these two friends that now feel like they might be more than friends. And we need to build that and know you know, where those specific spots are. I remember saying like, you guys, like if people are studying clearly, we're showing the passage of time. They're getting to know each other, because they spent night after night after night studying. So they should have a shorthand. They should be like having caffeinated beverages. They should be finishing each other's sentences. They should be just a casual quality to the way that they hang out and respond to each other. She should feel completely comfortable with him, which is very different than she feels with Warner. She should feel like she could be in sweats around him and it doesn't even matter. And that's what we because that's what we wanted her to feel like with Emmett, right. So we were trying to build all that Christian and I would talk about it a lot and try to come up with things. And so then they added the Redbull part. And he totally made up that line. "I am loving it". And then there was stuff at the end of "Whipped into Shape" about getting Brook's alibi and that scene at the time didn't feel like it was working, and didn't feel like it was transitioning enough into the I'm going to take you to shop now. You've given me advice for months and now I'm going to give it to you. And also we kind of wanted to show that the relationship that Emmett and Elle have is a relationship that can get into a fight and then can recover with laughter. So we were in San Francisco trying the show out. We still had this old scene that we were doing, or we were we were doing in tech rehearsal. And we're kind of coming up against it. And so we all the creative team met and Jerry Mitchell's hotel room to kind of figure out what the scene was going to be and Jerry's like, Well, what do you think it should be guys? And I was like, well, it should be like, I say to him, bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla. And then he goes, Yeah, and then I say da da da da. And they were like going back and forth. And they're like, Can you say that again? And they literally just wrote down what we said added a few extra funnies. And that's the scene. Was an improv. And there's a bunch of that. Ton of stuff like that. I mean, stuff, Leslie Kritzer came up with a ton of stuff that Christian Borle came up with. I mean, half the shit, he said, you know. He put his own spin on or rewrote or whatever znd when you're an originator of a role, you should come in with your own ideas. You have your own ideas for whether it's blocking or jokes or the way to play a joke or bits, all of that. So there's ton of bits that we all that were the original cast came up with and found together and also that part that was like love where he puts his hand on the door.
Sarah Lazarus:Yeah.
Laura Bell Bundy:I never mentioned love. That was not there. At first I sang the"Legally" ballad completely by myself. Then they added him. I'm not sure he was even singing anything. Then they added him singing but it wasn't didn't feel right. And they added that"Love"right before we opened in San Francisco. Right around that time that we did. And when they did that, I was like, I felt that in my heart. I welled up with tears when I heard it. it was like what! Now they're pulling our heartstrings.
Vinny:Wow
Sarah Lazarus:Lawrence O'Keefe, like his music is so amazing too. I mean all of his shows and I listen to "Legally Blonde" all the time. It's like, especially when I'm down. It gets me pumped and like it, It is positive.
Vinny:Since "Legally Blonde", since fame, you are now like this creator, Boss woman. When did you transition from being a performer, to writing music, comedy, producing, directing, all the things that you do now?
Laura Bell Bundy:It was a slower, kind of a slow process that really sort of began to manifest in the last few years. I always had ideas. And I always had ideas for things on a creative level. I think that's kind of what I do in a rehearsal room with a character is I come in with a bunch of ideas. Well, when you when I don't have a character to put my ideas into, I start coming up with other wild ideas, like sketch comedy shows, or ideas for a musical or women's history sketch comedy show, and then I am naive enough to try to put that shit together and go sell it. And sometimes I get lucky. And there's been a lot of ideas that haven't worked or didn't see the light of day did get pitched and got sold and didn't see the light of day. But as a songwriter, I've been writing music since since I was a teenager, I had a little bit of a dual life. When I was doing musicals in New York, I would on my day off go and do country music shows when I was doing"Hairspray" like I would literally have a two show day on a Saturday and then go downtown and play a gig. And because I heard Bette Midler had done that, you know. Streisand, you with the roof sounds like well, I could do that. And then I moved to Nashville, I lived in Nashville lived in Nashville for five years, right after "Legally Blonde". I had a record deal with Universal Music Group. And then with Big Machine. They had Taylor Swift and a number of awesome country artists. When I was there, I had to do music videos. And so I would, I would write a song, and then I could see what the music video was. So I began to conceptualize all my own music videos, and I would collaborate with directors. And then eventually, my label allowed me to direct my own music videos. I did a couple of them with my friend, Becky Fluke, who's also a director of photography. We did four while I was simultaneously doing the sketch show called "Cooter County". And there was something about that time living in Nashville that that really cultivated my creativity, and my process as a creator, and I would just like try anything, right? You know, whether it was like a character that I was putting together, I would just throw it out there. And I sometimes I got lucky. And something went viral. Before viral was even a thing. This, this label really empowered me to come up with my own content and to direct my own music videos, I think I left that experience in Nashville, feeling like I had a new set of skills. And when I went to LA, I began to direct other people's music videos and understand how to make something. So now I was taking these ideas I had for television shows, but also having the awareness of what it takes to produce and direct them. So it's kind of been a slow, just a process of learning, right? You learn a little step on the way. It's like you're on the yellow brick road, and you're like, I've learned these things from this stop. And I'll take this on my journey. And I learned these things from this stop. You know, so finally have some skills when I get to the Emerald City.
Sarah Lazarus:It's so cool. I literally want to be you. I love people who do it all. I feel like there's like a lot of those female creators right now. Like, I mean, you and like Issa Rae and Amy Schumer, who does everything you know. You can create your own stuff and I think it's so cool that you also you were on a commercial, right for Bare Minerals?
Laura Bell Bundy:Oh, Barefoot Wine. Why did I say Bare Minerals?I'm like thinking about this that's my makeup . That's a good one.
Sarah Lazarus:Barefoot Wine, which is so cool.
Laura Bell Bundy:Barefoot Wines. I was reached out to to see if I could write a pop song, slight comedy for Barefoot Wines that was going to have all of these Elizabeth Banks and Cecily Strong and all of these incredible women. You know, funny women. I wrote this first song. It was about like a can of wine. And it's called crushing it. And it was like a fake girl group. And then they came back to me to ask to do the Christmas song. But I ended up directing that video as well, co directing it. It was kind of fun. You know, I think it was different. It's like you're doing a commercial but you're not. Because you're actually doing a music video.
Sarah Lazarus:Right.
Laura Bell Bundy:And you're actually writing a full song that like real deal comedians on SNL are going to do
Sarah Lazarus:I feel like people would never, like realize that you did that either. Which is like amazing that that's just like a part of the things that you've done. So what is your dream? Do you have a dream role to you haven't played already?
Laura Bell Bundy:I do. It's so funny. I think that the you know, it's I think I didn't realize that when I played charity in "Sweet Charity" that that actually was a dream role. I didn't realize it till I was in it and going
Sarah Lazarus:Yeah.
Laura Bell Bundy:Wow, this this is you know checking all the boxes for me. That was awesome. I'd love to do that again and I kind of feel like there's going to be another original musical that I have no idea to even be prepared for because I really do like originating characters. I like the empty canvas.
Vinny:Do you have any
Laura Bell Bundy:I want to be Momma Rose because I was raised my Momma Rose.
Sarah Lazarus:I would love to see like a southern twist on Momma Rose, Like full pageant like with some Tammy Faye Baker like flavor.
Laura Bell Bundy:That's my mom.
Sarah Lazarus:She'd wear the blue eyeshadow.
Laura Bell Bundy:She wore all the colors.
Sarah Lazarus:We have a listener question. Is there another movie based musical that you would want to be in? Like that's not existed yet?
Laura Bell Bundy:Yes. I don't want to talk about it because I'm working on it.
Sarah Lazarus:Any any hints? any hints?
Laura Bell Bundy:I always really wanted to do the life story of Doris Day.
Sarah Lazarus:Oh, wow. I so see that.
Laura Bell Bundy:I love I've always loved her and her work, but she was a complicated person and I thought it would be amazing to do a show about her life.
Sarah Lazarus:Totally. I could so see that too. You'd be amazing in that role. Move on to a little like game fun section.
Laura Bell Bundy:Okay.
Sarah Lazarus:We have a mad lib
Laura Bell Bundy:Okay
Sarah Lazarus:We don't want to tell you what we Yeah, we don't want to tell you what it is.
Vinny:We're not going to spoil anything. We're just going to start by asking for a couple of words. Could I please have a plural noun?
Laura Bell Bundy:Uh, boobs.
Vinny:Yes. Starting really strong. Can I please have another plural noun?
Laura Bell Bundy:Vaginas. You have to get dirty Mad Libs, right?
Vinny:Yes.
Sarah Lazarus:Of course.
Vinny:Whenever people are like, they're like airplanes. I'm like, absolutely not give me. Okay, three. I need a verb.
Laura Bell Bundy:Munching.
Vinny:Munch, munching munch munch the ings
Laura Bell Bundy:Right right. Oh god, oh, wow, I gotta go back to elementary school.
Vinny:I , I will conjugate. Don't worry. An adjective ending in" er". I don't know if those are technically adjectives. Like a word ending in "er".
Laura Bell Bundy:Yeah, I don't know an adjective.
Vinny:Like stronger.
Laura Bell Bundy:Oh, like that.
Vinny:Yeah, I don't know what they're called.
Laura Bell Bundy:Prouder.
Vinny:Prouder.Can I have another one of those.
Laura Bell Bundy:Grosser.
Vinny:Great, and then a verb.
Laura Bell Bundy:Run.
Vinny:Run. And then I need four of those, like words that end in"er".
Laura Bell Bundy:Harder, faster, stronger. shittier
Vinny:Shittier. Okay, so this is a Madlib to "So Much Better".We would love if you could please perform this Madlib. We're gonna drop it in
Sarah Lazarus:You can read it. You don't need to sing it if you don't want
Vinny:You don't need to sing it, but we would love, love a reading or reading so to speak.
Laura Bell Bundy:Oh, oh. I'll even dress in boobs and vaginas. See I have not begun to munch and you'll go oh, much prouder and oh much grosser and soon all y'all gonna run much harder cuz I am so much faster. I am so much stronger. I am so much shittier than before. (singing)
Vinny:Yes. (Applause)
Sarah Lazarus:Yay. (Applause)
Laura Bell Bundy:Because I started the song an octave too high.
Sarah Lazarus:it's okay, Seth rudetsky is not here. There are no ellipticals. I'm assuming you've seen, oh, you were in"The Search for the Next Elle Woods". A little
Laura Bell Bundy:Yeah, I did a run in I run it ran in and did something and then left a couple times. I had to do my show.
Sarah Lazarus:Was that like weird? Was that awkward to I don't know that, that was happening to
Laura Bell Bundy:Well, it's certainly not normal. Right? It doesn't normally happen like that. So I guess it is kind of weird. I think the thing is is that part was is such a an undertaking right for any person. Any person is dedicated to doing the part justice. So I didn't have the time to worry about or really be that much involved in the reality show except for the little bit that I was because there was just no way for me to actually do the show if I was.
Sarah Lazarus:Right.
Laura Bell Bundy:But I thought actually it's funny because as a from a producer standpoint, it was a brilliant idea.
Sarah Lazarus:Oh yeah.
Laura Bell Bundy:The show had done really well on MTV. It was like a no brainer. Once I gave my notice I was gonna leave after that next contract. They had to figure out who who they were going to have and since the show had done so well it made sense to do a reality show.
Sarah Lazarus:Two more very quick games. We have "Marry, Marry, Fuck, Kill "
Laura Bell Bundy:Oh it's "Kill, Fuck and Marry".
Sarah Lazarus:Is that how you play it, okay. yeah
Vinny:So "Kill, Fuck, Marry". First we've got, I will say these are a little more abstract than your typical Kill, Fuck Marries.
Laura Bell Bundy:Okay.
Vinny:First first one we've got Laura Bell Bundt cakes, matching lingerie, but it's made of fish and raisins that fell on the floor.
Laura Bell Bundy:Okay, we're gonna kill the matching lingerie made of fish because that's just gross. We are going to fuck the raisins. And we're going to marry the bundt cake.
Sarah Lazarus:Yes, that's something you could definitely sell. Laura ball Bundt cakes. I would love to
Laura Bell Bundy:Paul Canaan, who was one of the judges. He calls me Laura Bells undies and I think I need a brand. Laura Bell's undies or Bundies undies.
Sarah Lazarus:For sure. This next one. Victor Garber telling you that you'll never be a lawyer, "Courtney Take Your Break" and a threesome with Orfeh and Andy Karl.
Laura Bell Bundy:Okay, wait.This is my Kill, Fuck, Marry?
Sarah Lazarus:Yeah, think of them as concepts. Each of them.
Laura Bell Bundy:They're all kind of delicious It's kind of hard to choose which one is going to kill. I guess I'm going to kill Victor Garber telling me I can't be a lawyer. But I do love him. He played my manager or agent in a movie I did when I was 10 called "Life With Mikey", and then I guess fuck would be Andy and Orfeh. And then what's the other one? Oh, Courtney. I'm gonna marry"Courtney Take a Break".
Sarah Lazarus:Yes, yes.
Vinny:Okay.
Laura Bell Bundy:I'll be laughing forever.
Sarah Lazarus:Absolutely.
Vinny:We've got 12 BuzzFeed articles about your personal life, the green Elphaba paint as salad dressing and Broadway completely relocating to Cleveland, Ohio.
Laura Bell Bundy:That sounds like a "Would you Rather". Now that's like I want to kill all of those.
Sarah Lazarus:You can do that.
Laura Bell Bundy:We're gonna kill 12 buds buzz feeds about my life. I'm kind of a private person. I like my anonymity. And what were my other options?
Vinny:Elphaba paint as salad dressing.
Laura Bell Bundy:That sounds awful. We're gonna fuck that. We're gonna marry Broadway moving to Cleveland, Ohio.
Vinny:Great,
Sarah Lazarus:Amazing. This last one. "Ghislaine Maxwell, the Rusical", Laganja Estranja, Laganja Estranja monetizing off of your catchphrases and South Florida dinner theater.
Laura Bell Bundy:Wait go back and what was the first one?
Sarah Lazarus:"Ghislaine Maxwell, The Rusical" as in a RuPaul musical about Ghislaine Maxwell. Laganja Estranja from"RuPaul's Drag Race" monetizing off of your catchphrases and South Florida dinner theater
Laura Bell Bundy:Ooh, you guys are giving me awful options. I guess I will kill Laganja, will
Sarah Lazarus:She kind of did take your catchphrase because you kind of I feel like you were the one who came up with" okurr".
Laura Bell Bundy:I did have a character that said "okurr" Yes.
Sarah Lazarus:Yeah.
Laura Bell Bundy:And it just sort of became, everybody started saying it. But it was sort of in the vernacular of our theatre community for years. And I just happened to say it for the character that I did, then it became wildly popular beyond our Broadway community. But and now Cardi B thinks it's hers, so
Sarah Lazarus:Right. And, and RuPaul has, I think credited you on the show with it, too.
Laura Bell Bundy:Yeah, he did. I had fun working with him. We did his show "AJ and the Queen".
Sarah Lazarus:Oh, my gosh,
Laura Bell Bundy:So I love him. So we'll marry whatever he's doing. And maybe maybe we maybe will kill this dinner theater and then we'll just fuck Laganja I cuz I don't have nothing against Laganja. Look, I'll just great.
Sarah Lazarus:Okay, perfect. Okay, last last . "Would you rather?" last game." Would you rather?". And we have Ted Moseby from "How I Met Your Mother" or Mr. Moseby from "Suite Life of Zack and Cody".
Laura Bell Bundy:I never watched that, guys. I'm too old for that. I don't know who the fuck that is. "Secret Life of Zack and Cody". I, do you know how old I am? How old do you think I am? But I really am flattered. I'm very flattered.
Sarah Lazarus:I love that.
Laura Bell Bundy:I'm sure he's a dilf. We're gonna, we're gonna do well fuck him. We never met him. It'll just be like a blind one. And then you didn't give me a third.
Vinny:This is "Would You Rather?"
Sarah Lazarus:"Would You Rather?"
Vinny:Pick one.
Laura Bell Bundy:Oh no.
Sarah Lazarus:Perfect.
Vinny:So now we have, Would you rather move to Canada alone, or have everyone you know, move to Canada without you?
Laura Bell Bundy:Well, this is hard when you're a mother to answer this question.
Sarah Lazarus:Right.
Laura Bell Bundy:Do I get to bring my family?
Vinny:Yes, yes.
Laura Bell Bundy:I'd rather move to Canada and everybody else stay.
Vinny:Uhum definitely. Healthcare, hey healthcare,
Sarah Lazarus:Exactly.
Laura Bell Bundy:Healthcare. Although I'm feeling like the turning of the tide, and I'm going to might be happy to be here. But if you had said this to me, in January of 2017, I would have said, I'm getting my ass out. And if this election had gone differently, I might have actually seriously considered it and I've been in Canada by myself a lot shooting things and I love it there. And I love to be by myself there.
Sarah Lazarus:We want to leave who you leave you with a quote. It's not relevant. We're just gonna say it anyway.
Laura Bell Bundy:Okay.
Sarah Lazarus:"I'm a tough chick. I'm a girl that grew up in public school" Orfeh. That's it.
Vinny:Follow us on Twitter@wishuwereweird1 ! That is the letter U not the word you and if you come across that bitch ass Twitter that has wish you were weird. report them
Sarah Lazarus:This episode of"Wish U Were Weird" was sponsored by nobody. Please sponsor us. Thanks.