Lisa Ann Walter on Cooking for Jimmy, Her Son Dating Her Fans & Filming New Comedy Special in Philly

0:00 Our next guest is an actress and comedian

0:02 you know from the very popular show Abbott Elementary.

0:05 She has her first ever stand-up comedy special.

0:08 It's called It Was an Accident.

0:10 It is coming to Hulu.

0:11 Please welcome Lisa Ann Walter.

0:33 WOW.

0:34 LOOK AT THAT.

0:37 HOW ARE YOU?

0:40 YOU KNOW, SO YOU KNOW WHAT?

0:41 Every Every time you're here, you bring you make me something and I appreciate

0:46 it and then I don't eat in preparation for this.

0:49 Good.

0:49 That's how I like you.

0:50 Hungry.

0:52 If it ever I so happens that you don't make me something,

0:55 let me know in advance because I'll be hungry and mad.

0:57 Okay.

0:58 No, that's what I bring you.

0:59 I bring you food and boobs every time.

1:01 Yeah.

1:01 Yeah.

1:02 Yeah, thank you.

1:03 My three favorite things.

1:07 So, um, this looks like this looks familiar to me.

1:10 This is an a traditional Italian Easter.

1:12 It is.

1:12 It's a We call this one pizza gain.

1:15 The big one.

1:16 And there is You can't really tell.

1:18 You'd have to like raise the tray.

1:20 But there is You're supposed to put like an Easter symbol on it.

1:22 So that's an Easter basket in the middle.

1:24 I did it myself.

1:25 Don't make fun.

1:26 And there's an Is there Is there an egg in there, right?

1:28 an egg in there.

1:29 That's an interesting Yeah, we do remember that.

1:31 My grandmother would put that egg in there.

1:33 Right.

1:33 And Do you cook the egg beforehand or does it cook inside the pie?

1:36 boiled.

1:37 So there's like There's all the meats like the soppressata,

1:40 you know, Genoa, the regular salami, all the different sausages.

1:43 Can we cut it to show everybody what it looks like?

1:46 Yeah.

1:46 Yeah, eat it.

1:47 Give him some.

1:48 Guillermo is Okay.

1:51 Does he got a fork?

1:52 I do.

1:53 I do have a fork, yeah.

1:54 And then you put like ricotta you and and egg and oh, there you go.

1:58 And then on top it's hard-boiled egg.

2:00 That's nice.

2:01 Yeah.

2:01 So, traditionally, what you do is after mass,

2:03 you come home, and and that's already made, and then Yeah, right.

2:08 tune.

2:07 That's right.

2:08 My mom makes this, too.

2:09 And my mother will make like um uh like 75 of these.

2:14 Yeah.

2:15 Yeah, and I'm not joking.

2:16 got one.

2:16 She will make 75 She gave me one.

2:18 Oh, she did?

2:19 Yeah.

2:19 I got one in the dressing.

2:20 You got number 75 or 76.

2:22 because I $60 worth of ingredients that I got on the way home.

2:26 Nobody else ate.

2:27 I didn't cook for Easter.

2:28 These are expensive.

2:29 Only for Jimmy.

2:30 I only made food for him.

2:31 didn't cook for your family?

2:33 No.

2:33 Oh, this looks really good.

2:35 THEY WEREN'T THERE.

2:36 OH, OKAY.

2:37 THERE.

2:37 SO, I just made this for you.

2:39 Where was everybody for Easter?

2:40 They're back east doing living a life.

2:43 Mhm.

2:43 Oh, yeah.

2:43 What do you think?

2:44 Is it good?

2:45 It's good.

2:45 Better than your mother's?

2:52 It's almost as good.

2:54 I apologize to my mother, but it is better than hers, yeah.

2:56 No, it's not.

2:58 In fairness, you made one.

2:59 She made 75.

3:00 That's true.

3:01 That's true.

3:01 them out like like a factory worker or something.

3:04 And what is this one?

3:05 That's grain pie.

3:07 So, I don't know.

3:07 I guess there was a thing like in southern Italy and Sicily.

3:10 They only had stuff like Come on over here and He He wants to.

3:13 I can see it.

3:14 Yeah.

3:14 We don't have any plates over there.

3:16 Just hold out your hand.

3:16 It's Yeah, you got to scarf THIS DOWN.

3:20 IT'S FLIPPING OUT.

3:20 IT'S ALL RIGHT.

3:20 EAT IT LIKE A SANDWICH.

3:21 YEAH.

3:24 Give him a All right.

3:25 It's real good.

3:26 Real good.

3:26 Thank you.

3:27 I want to Tastes like a calzone.

3:29 I'm going to tell you what.

3:30 Yeah.

3:31 So, I'm surprised.

3:32 I thought you might eat the egg in the center.

3:34 I'm a little disappointed.

3:35 We'll get to that later.

3:36 Don't worry.

3:37 We like to eat the whole thing and get to the egg last, you know?

3:40 Exactly.

3:40 Eat it in a circle.

3:42 talking while I eat?

3:42 No, go.

3:43 All right.

3:44 So, let me see.

3:44 What do I need to talk about?

3:46 Um what am I doing a comedy special today?

3:48 Yeah, we'll get to that later.

3:49 heard about that?

3:50 We'll get TO THAT LATER.

3:52 LATER.

3:53 WHAT?

3:54 I DID IT.

3:54 THE GUN.

3:55 IF YOUR family had been around for Easter,

3:57 is there besides this, are there other things that you make traditionally?

4:01 Yeah, I mean, like okay, so for you know this, for Italian holidays,

4:05 you have a regular Italian meal, like a big ziti or manicotti or lasagna,

4:10 and then you have like a roast on top of that.

4:12 Like you have the whole American holiday meal.

4:15 Same with Thanksgiving.

4:16 You have the turkey and then ziti or whatever, yeah.

4:20 Yeah.

4:20 So usually I make the whatever the Italian meal is,

4:23 and then I have to do a lamb,

4:24 a leg of lamb, because my kids are weird and they like leg of lamb.

4:28 Kids Even as little kids they kids love the lamb.

4:30 Wow, they heard the song Mary Had a Little Lamb, they got hungry.

4:33 Exactly.

4:34 And it's a whole process because you got

4:35 to you got to soak the lamb in red wine.

4:38 You have to put it like marinate for 3 days,

4:40 and you got to stab it all over and put garlic cloves.

4:43 It's very violent.

4:44 You got to stab the lamb,

4:46 and then you shove with your fingers some like garlic down in it,

4:50 but I see why the kids why it appealed to the children, you know.

4:53 So it's a whole crime scene.

4:55 a nightmare.

4:56 Yeah.

4:57 Do any of the kids seem interested in like carrying

5:00 the torch and taking over the family holiday meals eventually?

5:03 Yeah, three of them out of the four really love to cook.

5:06 One of them does it just cuz he wants my, you know,

5:08 attention and approval, but the other three actually enjoy it.

5:12 it.

5:12 Yeah, but they're nightmares in the kitchen.

5:14 Talk about crime scene.

5:15 Jesus, Jimmy.

5:16 Are they really a nightmare in the kitchen

5:18 or are you the nightmare in the kitchen?

5:19 No.

5:19 Because I know that, you know,

5:21 sometimes parents can be a little bit overbearing.

5:24 You're not doing this right.

5:25 All of a sudden No, I'm not watching how they do it.

5:27 They've watched me their whole lives.

5:29 Right.

5:29 them when they left that you need to learn how to make

5:31 four dishes so that you can go out into the world.

5:33 You got to make a chicken, you got to make a Mexican thing,

5:35 you got to make red sauce, and you got to make like a meat thing, right?

5:40 Okay.

5:39 I taught them.

5:40 I shoved them out the door.

5:41 They went on their way.

5:42 One of them thinks he's a master chef.

5:44 And you understand how everybody thinks they're

5:45 a chef now cuz they all watch The Bear.

5:47 Do you know what I'M TALKING ABOUT?

5:49 DID YOU SEE THE WOMAN on social media make spaghetti out OF SPAGHETTI?

5:52 I'M INSULTED.

5:54 I DIDN'T SEE THAT, NO.

5:55 STOP IT.

5:55 They're They're too creative.

5:57 Yeah, yeah.

5:58 little too creative.

5:59 They want One kid wanted to make a potato dish for Christmas.

6:03 He started 2 days before, at the 23rd he started.

6:07 Christmas night at 8:00 p.m.

6:09 we're still waiting for the GD potatoes to come

6:12 out of the oven and I was like, "Dude,

6:14 you don't have to slice every potato 800 times." His hands are bandaged,

6:20 every cabinet's open, the dishes are everywhere, nobody cleans up anything.

6:24 Nobody cleans up, yeah, right, yeah.

6:26 So, that's me.

6:26 And then did he photograph it and post it online?

6:29 No, we ate all of it.

6:30 You ate it, okay, good.

6:31 Good.

6:31 It was actually very good.

6:33 Um If I'm going to be honest, it was very good.

6:35 Your stand-up special, you shot it in your adopted home

6:38 Wait, I got to look cute.

6:39 Okay, there you go.

6:40 Now I look like I'm I'm cosplaying as Charo on your show, okay?

6:45 Should we get you a guitar?

6:47 Cuchi cuchi, yes.

6:48 Later.

6:49 You shot this in your adopted hometown of Philadelphia.

6:52 Yes.

6:52 Which is really You feel MORE GO BACK.

6:56 YOU FEEL MORE AT home in your adopted hometown now than your actual hometown?

7:00 nicer to me.

7:01 They are nicer to you, yeah.

7:02 You did it at the Helium Comedy Club, which is one of the great comedy clubs.

7:05 Yeah, and I I play in Helium a lot all a lot of comedy clubs,

7:08 but you know, I did this 35-plus years.

7:11 It's how I got the invite to come be uh star

7:14 of my own show was doing stand-up and I never did a special.

7:18 I came right out here and started writing and creating the show.

7:21 I had two kids already.

7:22 That's why you don't see a lot of female comics with kids out there.

7:25 There aren't that many people that have somebody

7:27 to help watch them and everything and I

7:29 was back on stage after I had my daughter after 5 weeks leaking and incontinent.

7:34 It was delightful.

7:36 So, I I really didn't have the time to to do

7:40 the show keep doing stand-up and I regret it.

7:43 And when I came back to doing stand-up,

7:45 I wanted the special to be like when you go to the club,

7:48 because it's an experience if you don't do it.

7:49 If you don't go see live comedy, you should.

7:52 Because it's really it's a lot of fun.

7:54 It's truth-telling.

7:55 It's what's you know, you you go, you see it.

7:58 People are in the dark, they can laugh, they can enjoy,

8:01 they don't have to like be worried about stuff, yeah.

8:03 slightly less judgment happening.

8:06 There's still judgment.

8:07 are a little drunk, yeah.

8:08 Yeah, exactly.

8:09 Your kids now as in now that you're that they're adults,

8:12 do they come along with you on tour or anything like that?

8:15 yeah, I mean, my son comes with me.

8:18 And I listen, there's a lot you got to let me have your napkin real quick.

8:21 For some reason, my it's cold in here, so my nose is running.

8:25 I'm not doing cocaine.

8:28 Yeah.

8:27 You would know.

8:28 I'm the last fat actress.

8:30 I'm not doing Wegovy.

8:31 that there in case you need another one.

8:32 I'm doing none of it.

8:34 You guys would know if I do.

8:35 I'd come out here in a size zero like But, um, no,

8:40 I the stuff that I talk about, which is kind of what I've always talked about,

8:44 because when I started it, we're talking the late '80s,

8:47 and it wasn't as popular now, cuz all comedy is funny complaining.

8:51 That's what it is.

8:52 It you Seriously, but if it was your mother,

8:54 she's nagging you, and when it's me, I get paid for it.

8:57 I don't I don't mind doing the same It's very popular now to do lady rage,

9:01 to talk about the stuff women are mad about.

9:03 All the kids are into it.

9:05 It's all over social media, but I was doing it back in the day.

9:08 Okay?

9:08 were angry before anything.

9:10 Before it was popular.

9:12 I was angry when I was thin and popular, too.

9:15 And and we were, you know,

9:17 it was a it it was a not a thing that people necessarily supported,

9:23 because back way back in the old days,

9:25 when women were filled with rage and complained all the time,

9:28 they would just burn us as witches.

9:31 So, now I get a Hulu special.

9:33 Oh, yeah.

9:34 Well, it's better, for sure.

9:38 And my son My son comes with me and he he's great

9:43 and I love having him with me because I don't like being alone.

9:45 That's one of the hardest things about

9:46 doing stand-up is your you're by yourself.

9:48 I have a girlfriend who does stand-up and says,

9:50 "When the first thing that you say in the day is how about

9:52 another hand for this guy?" Like you know that you're that's a comic joke.

9:56 Never mind.

9:57 You didn't need to laugh at that.

9:58 That was for me.

10:00 Um but he's a little my son for a while was a little I don't know.

10:06 He was dating people that would come to see my shows.

10:09 Oh, he was poaching your groupies?

10:14 Yeah.

10:13 And how did you feel about that?

10:15 I I did not like it to me.

10:17 Sure, no.

10:18 That's stolen valor is what it is.

10:20 Yeah, no.

10:20 I think I I understood it.

10:22 He was single for the first time in a long

10:24 time and he's a really good boyfriend so he's very loyal.

10:28 Okay.

10:27 was the first time he was single and there were all these, you know,

10:30 good-looking and smart cuz all of my fans are good-looking and smart.

10:35 Right.

10:34 So there were all these great-looking fabulous women

10:37 coming to see the show and and some men.

10:40 I don't know if he dated them.

10:41 He might have.

10:42 I don't know.

10:43 And I have no judgment.

10:44 And and he would go out with them and I said, "Dude, you cannot take my fans.

10:47 That's not cool." Like they I don't know what's going to happen afterwards.

10:51 And he did it anyway, right?

10:53 Yeah, of course.

10:53 Why not?

10:54 They're there.

10:54 Yeah, but now he's got a nice girlfriend.

10:56 Okay.

10:57 All right.

10:57 All right.

10:57 Well, hopefully he'll he'll stop then.

10:59 Yeah.

11:00 Um You have a broad I know we you got

11:04 the Abbi and Ilana commentary season finales coming up later this month.

11:07 Yeah.

11:07 Yeah.

11:08 And you have an off-Broadway show that you are starring in.

11:12 Yeah, so this is like a pretty auspicious month.

11:15 Going from never having done a stand-up special and having this premiere on Hulu

11:20 on May 15th and before that we've got

11:24 Heathers the musical based on that movie Heathers.

11:27 You guys know, right?

11:31 They came to me and said, "Hey,

11:32 do you want to do you do you want to step in and do this role of Mrs.

11:36 Fletcher in in the musical?" And not even asking

11:39 did I do musicals or did I sing or anything.

11:42 And I was like, "Yeah,

11:43 that's actually how I started on stage was in musicals." No.

11:48 No, but when I was a teenager I started with irresponsible producers.

11:53 It's my favorite kind.

11:55 Cuz I figure this way they don't care if I'm any good.

11:57 ask the rest of the cast if they can sing?

11:59 You may be in trouble with this thing.

12:01 Have you started rehearsals yet?

12:03 No.

12:03 Oh, no.

12:06 I'm assuming that they're all fantastic.

12:09 to worst, you make a big pizza guy and you give it

12:11 to you give it to everyone in the audience and everyone goes home happy.

12:14 I'm going to do that anyway.

12:16 Well, it's great to see you.

12:17 The Is it I can I say when the stand-up comedy special premieres?

12:21 Please.

12:21 You can say, "You know what?

12:23 I let everybody know when I came here." Ooh, my ring.

12:27 Um when I came here the last time we kind of let

12:29 the cat out of the bag and I wasn't supposed to.

12:32 And then you were very sweet.

12:32 You were like, "When you have the date, come back." So, that's why I'm here.

12:36 May 15th on Hulu.

12:39 And Heathers is April 27th.

12:41 Heathers is April 27th.

12:42 It was an accident.

12:43 May 15th on Hulu.

12:45 Lisa Ann Walter, everybody.