Stand-up Comic Wendy Liebman

Ted Bonnitt [00:00:02]:
Welcome to Phil and Ted's Sexy Boomer Show. I'm Ted Bonnitt.

Phil Proctor [00:00:04]:
I'm Phil Proctor.

Ted Bonnitt [00:00:05]:
Hi, Phil.

Phil Proctor [00:00:06]:
Hi, Ted.

Ted Bonnitt [00:00:07]:
How you doing?

Phil Proctor [00:00:07]:
Well, I'm back from the. Back from the high seas.

Ted Bonnitt [00:00:11]:
Or high on the seas.

Phil Proctor [00:00:12]:
Yeah, that too. It was the Big Easy cruise to New Orleans and then down to Cozumel before we came back. Gale force winds, cold temperatures. Not Cozumel. Cozumel was nice, but my goodness.

Ted Bonnitt [00:00:30]:
Did you get on shore in Cozumel for any human sacrifices at the pyramids?

Phil Proctor [00:00:32]:
I did. I went on a submarine trip to Cozumel. Wow. 150ft or 100ft under the sea.

Ted Bonnitt [00:00:42]:
What'd you see?

Phil Proctor [00:00:43]:
Fish that looked at us. There were a whole bunch of fish, these little zebra fish that traveled with us for the entire journey. And then, you know, we saw lobsters and sharks and tourists. And.

Ted Bonnitt [00:00:57]:
You saw tourists?

Phil Proctor [00:00:59]:
Yeah.

Ted Bonnitt [00:00:59]:
At the bottom of the sea.

Phil Proctor [00:01:00]:
Yeah. Dead. They're dead. Oh. But they were part of the tour, you know, And a sunken ship, a mine. Minesweeper that swept a little too closely.

Ted Bonnitt [00:01:11]:
And this wasn't on a track like at Disneyland.

Phil Proctor [00:01:13]:
No. This was a legitimate sub.

Ted Bonnitt [00:01:15]:
Wow.

Phil Proctor [00:01:16]:
And it was. That was fun. I hadn't been that before.

Ted Bonnitt [00:01:19]:
Very cool.

Phil Proctor [00:01:19]:
And I saw some great musicians, many of whom, you know, because you have roots with New Orleans. Cowboy mouth, Little Feet doing one of their last tour performances.

Ted Bonnitt [00:01:30]:
Papa John Gros.

Phil Proctor [00:01:31]:
Papa John Gros. And Cleary.

Ted Bonnitt [00:01:33]:
Is that the John Cleary?

Phil Proctor [00:01:34]:
John Cleary, these incredible pianists. And Samantha Fish.

Ted Bonnitt [00:01:40]:
Wow.

Phil Proctor [00:01:41]:
Swimming. Swimming along with us.

Ted Bonnitt [00:01:42]:
Yeah.

Phil Proctor [00:01:43]:
Anyway, but here we are and we have a wonderful guest today.

Ted Bonnitt [00:01:47]:
Yes. We have Wendy Liebman.

Wendy Liebman [00:01:50]:
That's good enough. That's good enough.

Phil Proctor [00:01:53]:
If they know you, they know you.

Wendy Liebman [00:01:54]:
You know, I dreamt recently that I was doing stand up comedy on a submarine.

Phil Proctor [00:02:00]:
You did?

Wendy Liebman [00:02:00]:
I.

Phil Proctor [00:02:01]:
How did it go?

Wendy Liebman [00:02:02]:
I think I got the bends. That was my opening. Who here has the bends? But no, I thought. So I do this thing on my Facebook page where I will put a setup to a joke, and then I will have all my Facebook friends write in the punchline. And I will give three examples of a punchline. So it's not like I'm taking the person's punchline. So I said, I dreamt. Cause I really did dream that I was a comic on a submarine. And I said, my career has taken a dive.

Ted Bonnitt [00:02:38]:
What is the psychological aspect of that dream? Sinking ship.

Wendy Liebman [00:02:43]:
Or I couldn't breathe.

Ted Bonnitt [00:02:45]:
You're going down.

Wendy Liebman [00:02:45]:
Or my husband was trying to dive.

Phil Proctor [00:02:49]:
How about a captive audience?

Wendy Liebman [00:02:51]:
Oh, I love that.

Ted Bonnitt [00:02:54]:
How far will you sink?

Wendy Liebman [00:02:56]:
I love that. Yes. I just also have to.

Phil Proctor [00:02:59]:
You're a very deep comic.

Ted Bonnitt [00:03:01]:
Not out of her depth at all.

Wendy Liebman [00:03:03]:
Oh, my God, you guys are quick. I just have to tell you that in the elevator coming up here, it smells like weed.

Ted Bonnitt [00:03:13]:
Oh, really? That's the Armenian accountants down the hall. Our guest, Wendy Liebman, if you hadn't figured out already, is a standup comedian. She's performed on the Carson show, Letterman, Leno, Fallon, Jimmy Kimmel, Hollywood Squares.

Wendy Liebman [00:03:28]:
I did.

Phil Proctor [00:03:29]:
I did that too.

Ted Bonnitt [00:03:30]:
And of course, clubs all over North America. And you've done specials for HBO, Comedy Central and Showtime. And today you make your debut on Phil and Ted's.

Wendy Liebman [00:03:40]:
I couldn't be happier. And you know, I have listened to Firesign Theater. I remember the first time I heard it, my friends older sister was listening to it and turned us onto it and we thought we were the coolest.

Phil Proctor [00:03:56]:
Oh, yeah.

Wendy Liebman [00:03:57]:
Because we got to hear it too. And it's my pleasure being here. I met you when I opened for Fritz Coleman.

Ted Bonnitt [00:04:04]:
Yeah. A good guest of our show. And Fritz invited us to come to see his show. And you were hilarious. Thank you. You have a very distinctive style of comedy and it's so endearing and so sweet.

Phil Proctor [00:04:17]:
You know what I call it? Comedy of expectation. Because you will set up a premise and then you'll go an entirely different place than we expected, which makes it for fun.

Ted Bonnitt [00:04:30]:
And then you do Olympic styled acrobatic punchlines, a double flip into a twist into a swing and then splash. And it's like they're all built on one after the other. And it's just.

Phil Proctor [00:04:40]:
I recommend your website to our listener out there.

Wendy Liebman [00:04:44]:
To our listener.

Phil Proctor [00:04:45]:
You've got some wonderful videos and jokes and stuff. It's really.

Ted Bonnitt [00:04:51]:
Yeah. And you publish to Facebook. Kind of a daily gag and joke setup for you people.

Wendy Liebman [00:04:56]:
Yes. And I'm turning that into a deck of cards. And I have. So every day you can pull a card and get the premise and see three of my punchlines and then write your own. And they're also gonna be illustrated by Liza Donnelly, who is a cartoonist for the New Yorker. So very excited about that. We don't have a publisher yet.

Phil Proctor [00:05:19]:
Oh, that's. That's very exciting.

Wendy Liebman [00:05:20]:
Yeah, we're excited about that. So thank you for recommending my website.

Phil Proctor [00:05:24]:
Absolutely.

Ted Bonnitt [00:05:25]:
Which is wendyliebman.com Yes.

Wendy Liebman [00:05:27]:
L I E B M A N.

Ted Bonnitt [00:05:29]:
You are an observational comic. I guess all comment on your observation, but you have a particular take on it. Like miniature golf balls are the same size as regular golf balls. I mean, who knew?

Wendy Liebman [00:05:39]:
Oh, I forgot. I even wrote that. I should put that in my act.

Phil Proctor [00:05:45]:
Very Steven Wright. A lot of you.

Ted Bonnitt [00:05:47]:
Thank you. That's what I thought, too.

Wendy Liebman [00:05:49]:
Whom I love.

Phil Proctor [00:05:50]:
Yeah, yeah, don't we. Don't we all?

Ted Bonnitt [00:05:51]:
Just this droll, steady pace of very funny material.

Wendy Liebman [00:05:56]:
Yes. And I remember watching him on my little black and white TV in college on the Tonight Show. He was making his debut and I thought, this is the funniest thing I have ever seen in my life. And then I was flying home from Boston to New York and he got on the plane.

Phil Proctor [00:06:14]:
Oh, my goodness.

Wendy Liebman [00:06:15]:
But I couldn't, like, figure out where I knew him from.

Phil Proctor [00:06:18]:
Did he come on with his brother, the Wright brothers?

Wendy Liebman [00:06:23]:
No, no. But I thought, oh, that's Art Garfunkel. That's what I thought.

Phil Proctor [00:06:30]:
Oh, I see.

Wendy Liebman [00:06:31]:
And then I was gonna say something to him, but he never got off the plane. And I have since gotten to meet him through other comedian friends. And he wrote a book, Stephen Wright, called Harold, which is just out there. It's so creative. But I love being comparison because I think my jokes are word play. E. And the two comedians that come to mind with. What did you call me? Expectation.

Phil Proctor [00:06:59]:
Expectation.

Wendy Liebman [00:07:00]:
Brian Kiley is my favorite comedian. 

Ted Bonnitt [00:07:03]:
Conan O'Brien

Wendy Liebman [00:07:04]:
We started together in Boston. He has since gone on to write for Conan O'Brien.

Phil Proctor [00:07:09]:
Great.

Wendy Liebman [00:07:10]:
And I just love waiting to figure out where he's going with every setup. And then there's a comedian named Anthony Jeselnick who's a little more nefarious in his.

Ted Bonnitt [00:07:23]:
Jezzelnick.

Wendy Liebman [00:07:24]:
Jeselnik. Wow, Jeselnick.

Ted Bonnitt [00:07:25]:
Birth name.

Wendy Liebman [00:07:28]:
You know what? I don't know. But I do know his Social Security number. I like that kind of comedy, too.

Phil Proctor [00:07:35]:
Good.

Wendy Liebman [00:07:36]:
The bait and switch.

Phil Proctor [00:07:37]:
How did you discover comedy and this.

Ted Bonnitt [00:07:43]:
Life you created for yourself? Continuing education.

Phil Proctor [00:07:46]:
Yes.

Wendy Liebman [00:07:46]:
I took a class at the Cambridge center for Adult Ed. Here's the real story.

Phil Proctor [00:07:51]:
How is Ed, by the way? He's been an adult for a long time. Probably old Ed now, isn't he?

Wendy Liebman [00:07:57]:
This is the real story. Because you've read one story. The real story is I took the mail in from the wrong apartment when I lived in Boston. I was doing psych research at Harvard Medical School, and it was so depressing. I was like, you know what? I don't want to be a therapist. So I need to do something at night to make my life a little more joyful. So I took the mail in by accident from the wrong apartment. And it was this course catalog. How to be a Stand up. Oh, no. Course Catalog for the center. And I found an acting class. And I had always acted growing up. I was in a lot of plays and I took the acting class. But at the break, the teacher quit.

Ted Bonnitt [00:08:46]:
What?

Wendy Liebman [00:08:47]:
The teacher quit during the break.

Phil Proctor [00:08:49]:
That's comedy.

Wendy Liebman [00:08:50]:
I know. So just quit all of it. He had like a nervous breakdown or something during the break.

Phil Proctor [00:08:57]:
I love it.

Wendy Liebman [00:08:57]:
And so they said, take another class. So I'm like, oh, what should I take? And I saw how to be a stand up comedian and I was just in heaven. Now the teacher who taught it lives out here. He should be on your show too. His name is Ron Lynch.

Phil Proctor [00:09:13]:
Ron Lynch.

Wendy Liebman [00:09:14]:
Lynch. And he is just the funniest guy.

Phil Proctor [00:09:18]:
I've heard his name, Ron Lynch.

Wendy Liebman [00:09:20]:
And he was my mentor and he was just amazing to me starting out. So that's really how I started out. You know, I don't know if you can teach somebody to. To do stand up, but talk about fate. Encourage.

Phil Proctor [00:09:34]:
Yeah, how do you teach somebody to do stand up? You know, stand them up in front of a microphone and say, be funny.

Wendy Liebman [00:09:40]:
Basically, you know, I teach it occasionally.

Phil Proctor [00:09:42]:
Yeah, okay.

Wendy Liebman [00:09:44]:
I know I'm like monopolizing the conversation, but.

Phil Proctor [00:09:47]:
Well, that's the point. You might have a guest.

Wendy Liebman [00:09:53]:
I'm part of the Irma Bombeck Writers workshop.

Ted Bonnitt [00:09:56]:
Oh, my gosh.

Wendy Liebman [00:09:57]:
They meet every other year.

Phil Proctor [00:09:59]:
Oh, what a genius.

Wendy Liebman [00:10:00]:
And so I have taught stand up a couple of times. And what I do is I'll take like a bonafide joke from Steven Wright, from Rita Redner, from Joan Rivers, and I'll give one out to each student and I'll have them do the joke on stage because I want them to feel, I want them to get a laugh.

Phil Proctor [00:10:19]:
Right.

Wendy Liebman [00:10:20]:
Because getting a laugh is a difficult thing.

Phil Proctor [00:10:22]:
That's the whole thing.

Wendy Liebman [00:10:23]:
Right, right. So. But I also like, coach people online. I zoom with them. And how do I teach them? I just focus. I try to focus and give them exercises. Not physical, but, but, you know, the telling.

Phil Proctor [00:10:38]:
Telling the joke is what unleashes that talent in you, if you've got it. At the Magic Castle, I used to go to regular luncheons with Mel Tonkin. Was that his name from his show of shows. A bunch of funny people, you know, and we'd tell jokes, make one another laugh, and that's the reward. You know, I've been watching the Mel Brooks documentary.

Wendy Liebman [00:11:04]:
Fabulous.

Ted Bonnitt [00:11:04]:
Yeah, I just watched it last night.

Phil Proctor [00:11:06]:
And one of the things that he said that really struck me was talking about why we want to be funny. And the reward, which you mentioned, you know, that comes from it. But he said he wanted the laughter of strangers. He wanted the love of strangers. Cause he had a loving upbringing. And he wasn't, you know, suffering and wanting to get love from everybody, but just the love of strangers. And I think that's very much what motivates us. They're not strangers anymore.

Ted Bonnitt [00:11:41]:
What a breakthrough Blazing Saddles was. And it was so divisive back then because it was like the Three Stooges or the Marx Brothers. Which one did you think was funny? Because it was a reflection on your intellect or character. And Blazing Saddles, so many people like to say how coarse it was and crude. I was in high school. I At a movie drive in theater. And Blazing Saddles played that summer.

Phil Proctor [00:12:03]:
Oh, boy.

Ted Bonnitt [00:12:03]:
And it was held over. And I watched it 38 times because I wanted to.

Phil Proctor [00:12:10]:
That explains a lot about you, Ted.

Ted Bonnitt [00:12:12]:
I'd go up by the screen and turn my back to the screen. And I memorized the music and effects, track the dialogue. Because I was studying film. And I listened to all the cues and how they use sound and dialogue to create moments.

Wendy Liebman [00:12:29]:
Fascinating.

Ted Bonnitt [00:12:30]:
It was really fascinating. The same thing with Exorcist. I watched the Exorcist 40 times, but mostly with my back to it. Watching the shock.

Phil Proctor [00:12:38]:
It's a good way to watch that. Yeah, because people scare you.

Ted Bonnitt [00:12:40]:
Because people are in their cars, so they like. Everybody behaves badly in their car because they think nobody sees them. And same thing in the drive in movie theater, believe me. And so I would watch these people's faces illuminated by the screen. And I learned timing. But Mel Brooks really taught me timing.

Wendy Liebman [00:12:58]:
It's interesting that he wanted the laughter from strangers. I've often wondered why I didn't just become a funny kindergarten teacher or a funny advertising executive.

Phil Proctor [00:13:14]:
Or a funny therapist.

Wendy Liebman [00:13:15]:
Or a funny therapist.

Phil Proctor [00:13:16]:
May I lie down? You sit in the chair for a minute.

Wendy Liebman [00:13:19]:
Get over yourself.

Phil Proctor [00:13:20]:
That's right.

Wendy Liebman [00:13:21]:
Here's your problem. But I think part of it is I needed to. I don't know. I think it was like an innate thing. I needed to.

Phil Proctor [00:13:30]:
Did you have a family that encouraged you to be fun? Did you have funny parents or siblings or anything?

Wendy Liebman [00:13:38]:
Both my parents are humorous. Like, everybody has a good sense of humor in my family.

Phil Proctor [00:13:43]:
Me, too.

Wendy Liebman [00:13:44]:
But I loved making my father laugh. And I think he took me to see the Harlem Globetrotters. And I remember watching him laugh. And he had so much joy from that. I think I wanted to make him laugh.

Phil Proctor [00:13:58]:
Oh, isn't that sweet?

Wendy Liebman [00:13:59]:
And so I would imitate Lily Tomlin on Laugh In I would do her Ernestine and her Edith Ann. And I got laughs from my dad to this day. They're in their 90s and I see love making them laugh.

Phil Proctor [00:14:16]:
Well, that's why they're living long lives, frankly.

Ted Bonnitt [00:14:18]:
Yeah. You were a nice girl from Long Island.

Wendy Liebman [00:14:20]:
I don't know nice, but I'm from Long Island.

Ted Bonnitt [00:14:23]:
I think we grew up literally a couple miles from.

Wendy Liebman [00:14:25]:
Where did you grow up?

Ted Bonnitt [00:14:26]:
Huntington.

Wendy Liebman [00:14:27]:
Roslyn.

Ted Bonnitt [00:14:28]:
Yeah.

Wendy Liebman [00:14:29]:
One time, Crescent Lake.

Phil Proctor [00:14:30]:
I dated Rosalyn. I didn't know she.

Ted Bonnitt [00:14:32]:
I read something when I was going through your material. You were reflecting on growing up on Long island and how you remembered the summer nights where you would do barbecues with your family and you heard the cicadas. It really took me back because we. We would go to Jones beach every weekend and we'd come back and we'd go up to West Neck and we'd go to this little phone booth sized red shack on a pier and get a bag of clams and bring them back to the house.

Phil Proctor [00:14:59]:
Ate that a bag of clams and.

Ted Bonnitt [00:15:01]:
Put them on the grill and cook the clams in the backyard. It was exactly the same, right?

Wendy Liebman [00:15:07]:
The summer sound, the sounds of summer.

Ted Bonnitt [00:15:10]:
How remote is that memory now? I mean, when you think about.

Wendy Liebman [00:15:15]:
I have a really good memory of my childhood and not so much between 20 and 40.

Ted Bonnitt [00:15:25]:
I wonder why.

Wendy Liebman [00:15:27]:
The elevator? No. No, I don't. I think you were upset that I brought up that it smelled like weed, but I don't. I don't smoke pot anymore. I stopped when it was legalized.

Ted Bonnitt [00:15:38]:
I wasn't upset. Were you upset?

Wendy Liebman [00:15:40]:
No.

Phil Proctor [00:15:40]:
What's that?

Ted Bonnitt [00:15:41]:
Yeah. No.

Wendy Liebman [00:15:41]:
Oh, okay.

Phil Proctor [00:15:42]:
The phones are ringing.

Wendy Liebman [00:15:44]:
I thought maybe there was a skunk in the elevator. That's what I thought.

Ted Bonnitt [00:15:48]:
No, that's just Phil.

Phil Proctor [00:15:49]:
It wasn't your dog.

Wendy Liebman [00:15:51]:
Was.

Ted Bonnitt [00:15:51]:
It wasn't the dog. Look, if it was a dog, we'd know.

Wendy Liebman [00:15:54]:
First of all, Ted has the cutest dog in the world. If you don't know. I don't know if you know. Talk about Luna.

Ted Bonnitt [00:16:02]:
Never misses a show.

Wendy Liebman [00:16:03]:
And I never had a dog until I met my husband. That didn't come out right, But I was always a cat person. And then we adopted a dog that looks a little like Luna, and he has since passed. We rescued him from Beverly Hills, and when we got him, he was wearing Crest White strips playing pickleball. But now we rescued two dogs from Korea.

Ted Bonnitt [00:16:37]:
Ooh.

Wendy Liebman [00:16:38]:
And this is not a joke.

Ted Bonnitt [00:16:39]:
Oh, this is why you went vegetarian?

Wendy Liebman [00:16:42]:
Well, I did for a while, but you know, me and 15% of other people. I mean, 80% of people who turn vegetarian go back. Something like that. But I don't eat red meat anymore. But yes, I stopped eating meat for a while because we.

Phil Proctor [00:17:03]:
Is that because the politics of it?

Wendy Liebman [00:17:05]:
No, because we rescued these dogs from Korea that were going to walk your dog in the meat market. Yes. And it's a very small population of. They're called jindos. And I know three other people who have them, but they're very.

Phil Proctor [00:17:23]:
They taste like chicken.

Wendy Liebman [00:17:25]:
They're very weird breed. And I was saying before that they're a little like cats in that they ignore you. Maybe. Cause I fed them cat food, but by accident. No, they're hunters and they. Something flips in their mind when it becomes dark out.

Ted Bonnitt [00:17:46]:
Oh, sundowner.

Wendy Liebman [00:17:48]:
Yes. Is there a real term like that, a sundowner?

Ted Bonnitt [00:17:53]:
Sit downer.

Wendy Liebman [00:17:53]:
Sit downer. Once it becomes dark, we can't get them into the house, so we have to get them into the house before that because their instincts flip on and they just want to catch stuff.

Ted Bonnitt [00:18:07]:
Your husband says that one of them has a licker problem.

Wendy Liebman [00:18:13]:
Yes, he licks everything. So where are you reading that from?

Ted Bonnitt [00:18:18]:
Oh, I have everything here. I have your whole dossier.

Phil Proctor [00:18:21]:
It has secret sources.

Ted Bonnitt [00:18:22]:
I have people at the Homeland Security.

Wendy Liebman [00:18:23]:
I don't need therapy anymore.

Phil Proctor [00:18:25]:
No.

Ted Bonnitt [00:18:26]:
You once said there's so many community comedians, it's not even funny.

Phil Proctor [00:18:30]:
What was the first time that you actually had the nerve to go, did you feel confident and you could make people laugh and have some fun up there?

Wendy Liebman [00:18:39]:
So it's a lifelong process for me.

Phil Proctor [00:18:44]:
I think everybody's in stand up.

Wendy Liebman [00:18:46]:
I'm still feeling my way and I've changed over the years. I'm much slower than I was and I like myself better on standing stage and off stage than I did when I first started. But it was after taking Ron Lynch's comedy class that we all had to perform. And I went with a friend from the class and I asked him how it was and he said, well, nobody could hear a word you said, oh, no.

Phil Proctor [00:19:13]:
Oh, no.

Wendy Liebman [00:19:14]:
But I still got laughs. So I guess looks helped subliminally.

Ted Bonnitt [00:19:18]:
Did you ever have. Like that? Did you bomb?

Wendy Liebman [00:19:21]:
I've bombed a few times.

Ted Bonnitt [00:19:23]:
What do you do when you bomb? How can you go back out there?

Wendy Liebman [00:19:25]:
Well, bombing is. I've likened it to. I feel the same way that I felt before I did stand up. I felt panicky, alone, scared, misunderstood and fat.

Phil Proctor [00:19:41]:
And that was a joke, but that's a terrible emotion. Fat.

Wendy Liebman [00:19:46]:
Yeah. That's what I felt before I Did Stand up, all those things. And so when I bombed, it just reinforced that. I don't want to say I haven't bombed in a while. I've had a couple of tough shows in the past 15 years, and it's not fun. Wow.

Phil Proctor [00:20:04]:
That's. No, I mean, listen, I was watching Colbert last night, which I do regularly, and John Oliver was his guest. He's always a wonderful guest.

Wendy Liebman [00:20:14]:
Wow.

Phil Proctor [00:20:14]:
But he was talking about. He started in Stand up, and he said that he's bombed so many times, he developed calluses, and he just doesn't feel it anymore. He just does it for himself, which is. I actually. I took a class at Yale, the Philosophy of art. Professor Weitz, Paul Weitz. And his whole premise was, you do art for yourself. It doesn't matter, you know, if anybody. And I'd say, but, Professor, I'm an actor, and we have to work in front of an audience. No, no, you're doing it for you. And to a certain extent, he's absolutely right. Every artist, we have to do it for ourselves. And if we can convey the joy of how we see things. Right. That is funny. It's different from other people. And we want them to realize that we'll feel pretty good in our life.

Wendy Liebman [00:21:13]:
Yeah.

Phil Proctor [00:21:13]:
I mean, regardless of the audience, you know?

Wendy Liebman [00:21:16]:
Yeah. You have to make yourself laugh.

Phil Proctor [00:21:20]:
Yeah. And if you're working with other actors. I know with the Fireside Theater, when we were writing together or doing our radio shows, we would often come in with special material, personal material that we wrote in order to break the other guys up.

Ted Bonnitt [00:21:37]:
Oh, interesting.

Phil Proctor [00:21:37]:
They were, you know, our best. Each of us was our best audience.

Ted Bonnitt [00:21:41]:
I think that's what Jost and Che do on the Weekend Update.

Wendy Liebman [00:21:44]:
Oh, yeah.

Phil Proctor [00:21:45]:
Yes.

Ted Bonnitt [00:21:45]:
I think they do that a lot.

Phil Proctor [00:21:47]:
They surprise one another and have.

Wendy Liebman [00:21:49]:
But art is so subjective. I have a story. My mother once went to an art show at somebody's home. She had to pay a certain amount. It was a charity, a benefit event. And they walked around and all these, like, snooty people were, like, oohing and ahhing. And then they walked into the kitchen and they were oohing and ahhing at this one piece. And the housekeeper leans to my mother and said, that's the bulletin board. So it's like, what do you think is good? Like, what do you like?

Phil Proctor [00:22:25]:
That's right.

Wendy Liebman [00:22:26]:
I like kids art. I have a lot of children's art from the Children's hospital.

Phil Proctor [00:22:31]:
I was just looking at something my daughter did when she was like, seven or something. So charming and Wonderful. You know, the way she saw something.

Ted Bonnitt [00:22:40]:
You know, you said you never say, win some, lose some. When you win, it's true.

Wendy Liebman [00:22:45]:
You only say it when you lose.

Ted Bonnitt [00:22:47]:
So when you get on stage and you do this over the years, do you achieve some sort of Zen mastery where you don't internalize the bad nights because it could have been external forces at work, or you just have more confidence in yourself and it's not a direct reflection on your capabilities.

Wendy Liebman [00:23:02]:
I think when I had harder shows early on, I would hold onto them all day because I had a day job and so I would, like, ruminate and. But now it's more like I try to remind myself I'm not gonna remember this from Adam. Like, it's just gonna be folded into everything else I've ever done. And maybe I got a good line from the night. Yeah, maybe I tried a new joke. And so nothing is a failure. It's all cumulative.

Phil Proctor [00:23:35]:
Cumulative.

Ted Bonnitt [00:23:37]:
I was gonna say don't say it's a learning experience.

Wendy Liebman [00:23:39]:
No, no. It's cumulative, though. Like, I can't hold on to any one good or bad show. I should have said that the other way around. Bad or good show.

Ted Bonnitt [00:23:48]:
I watched the videos on your website. You were headlining, I think, at the Improv. I mean, first of all, you're headlining, so a little pressure there, but it must feel good too. And I wondered. It was a 30 minute routine. 32 minutes.

Phil Proctor [00:24:02]:
And I'm wondering, those last two minutes really must have rubbed you wrong or something. Is she finished yet? Wait a minute.

Ted Bonnitt [00:24:08]:
I was just watching you. I was like, what you do is, like, you don't tell long stories. You have segmented rapid fire humor jokes. And, you know, how do you commit that to memory? Have you ever blanked where you're like, oh, God, I've got, you know, I'm 15 minutes in.

Wendy Liebman [00:24:26]:
As I've gotten older, I cannot remember. And, you know, I never. I used to do everything by rote. Like, I would write it down my set, and then I would do it. And then I heard a comedian called Jake Johansson, one of my other favorite comedians, just kind of like jazz it up and flip the words. And I thought, oh, I could do that. And so that's when I started becoming freer. That was still in the 80s, but now I don't want to say I wing it, but the show you saw with Fritz, I sort of know what I'm opening with. Although I now have like 25 opening jokes, and I never know which one to use. And then I sort of know what I'm ending on. And in between. I just want to talk to the audience now. And while I'm talking to the audience, I will weave in my jokes when they're appropriate.

Ted Bonnitt [00:25:24]:
So it's almost like your jokes are more like front loaded stories where something makes you think of something.

Wendy Liebman [00:25:30]:
Right. But I do wish, Ted, that I could have stories to tell about my sister's wedding or like something about the spider in my shoe. Like, I wish I could, but I've never been able to. My brain just doesn't work like that.

Ted Bonnitt [00:25:49]:
Yeah, but you know, it's so refreshing. So many people do that. But to be able to just like a danger field routine where you can just fill out a full act with nothing but funny twists.

Wendy Liebman [00:26:01]:
Speaking of pot. No. He used to show up in a green room in comedy clubs before pot was legal and be smoking a joint indoors.

Ted Bonnitt [00:26:12]:
Rodney?

Wendy Liebman [00:26:13]:
Yeah, I just outed.

Phil Proctor [00:26:16]:
There was another story about Rodney. He always traveled with, like a little, little, like, suitcase. And he said, don't. No, don't touch that. No, you know, Rodney's suitcase. And one day, one guy who, you know, was working at a club that Rodney had played at quite a bit, Rodney left his little suitcase in the dressing room. And the guy, curiosity sake, he opened it. It was a sandwich, you know. You know, when you're working on the road, you go to the hotel and there's nothing open. Right. He had his emergency sandwich with him.

Wendy Liebman [00:26:53]:
I thought it was going to be pot.

Phil Proctor [00:26:58]:
Also. Who told me this story anyway? The advice of a older actor to his daughter basically was, okay, I want to get into show business. What is the best advice? And he said, always order a bacon, lettuce and tomato sandwich because you know what's in it. Okay.

Ted Bonnitt [00:27:25]:
You're listening to Phil and Ted's Sexy Boomer Show. Our special guest today, Wendy Liebman. Stand up comedy genius. Now, you got married later in life.

Wendy Liebman [00:27:36]:
Yes.

Ted Bonnitt [00:27:37]:
And you married Jeffrey, who is one of the sons of the Sherman brothers, the famous composers.

Phil Proctor [00:27:43]:
It's a small world after all.

Wendy Liebman [00:27:45]:
He's not the sons of the brothers.

Phil Proctor [00:27:47]:
He's the son of brother.

Wendy Liebman [00:27:48]:
He's the son of brother.

Phil Proctor [00:27:49]:
One of a brother.

Ted Bonnitt [00:27:50]:
Thank you for clarifying that.

Wendy Liebman [00:27:53]:
But he's a writer and a musician himself.

Phil Proctor [00:27:55]:
Oh, wonderful.

Wendy Liebman [00:27:56]:
Like he was. I met him. I say I met him online at Ralph's.

Phil Proctor [00:28:01]:
What kind of a light did he use?

Wendy Liebman [00:28:03]:
I should have shopped at Whole Foods. No, I met him on. I met him. He was hired to write a sitcom for me.

Phil Proctor [00:28:10]:
Oh.

Wendy Liebman [00:28:11]:
And that never worked, but it was love at first sight for us both.

Phil Proctor [00:28:15]:
Oh, that's right.

Wendy Liebman [00:28:16]:
And now we're not so sure. But no, seriously, it was love at first sight. And I was 38 when I met him. 42. And I got married. I thought I was going to be an old maid, but then I got married, so now I'm a maid. But I'm just trying to get my jokes in there.

Ted Bonnitt [00:28:34]:
Speaking of which, you said that you became mother to his two sons and became a stepmother.

Phil Proctor [00:28:40]:
What does that mean, Stepmother? You have to step over the children.

Ted Bonnitt [00:28:42]:
When they were my stepsons used to say things like, I don't have to listen to you. You're not my mother. Cause they heard my husband saying it to me.

Phil Proctor [00:28:51]:
Yeah, that's.

Wendy Liebman [00:28:52]:
That's my favorite joke.

Phil Proctor [00:28:53]:
That's a great joke.

Wendy Liebman [00:28:54]:
That's my favorite joke to say because it takes the audience a second to get it.

Phil Proctor [00:29:00]:
There you go. Expectation, you know?

Wendy Liebman [00:29:02]:
Yeah, I love that joke.

Ted Bonnitt [00:29:03]:
And the other one about your husband that I loved was one time that your husband asked you to dress up as a nurse, because that was his.

Wendy Liebman [00:29:08]:
Fantasy, that we had health coverage. You know, that's my other favorite joke. So you picked out my two favorite jokes. Actually, I have one other favorite joke.

Phil Proctor [00:29:18]:
Okay.

Wendy Liebman [00:29:20]:
That I was gonna go to my class reunion from kindergarten, but I didn't wanna go because since kindergarten I've put on like, £100.

Ted Bonnitt [00:29:30]:
Yeah.

Phil Proctor [00:29:31]:
So where do these jokes come from?

Wendy Liebman [00:29:33]:
I don't know.

Phil Proctor [00:29:35]:
I know that's the way it always will to me.

Ted Bonnitt [00:29:37]:
I just assume you're sitting there for a moment on a street corner or something and you see something and it just clicks sometimes.

Wendy Liebman [00:29:42]:
Yes, but. And then back in the 80s, when I was first starting, a friend of mine gave me a premise, and he said the premise was bowling alley. And I added that it was a Japanese bowling alley. We had to get the shoes, but we weren't allowed to wear them inside. You know, we had to leave them on the mat. So, like, we. I actively thought of that one. But, like, I will just be writing. And I wrote down that I have a little black dress with spaghetti straps and then a bigger black dress with lasagna straps.

Phil Proctor [00:30:24]:
I love that joke.

Wendy Liebman [00:30:25]:
I don't know where that comes from. It's just wordplay. I get it is.

Phil Proctor [00:30:29]:
It's wordplay.

Wendy Liebman [00:30:30]:
So I had a joke stolen recently. Oh, well, I do coaching, as I mentioned, with some students online, and this one woman is in a couple of short movies. So I watched one of the movies, and in the movie, I saw somebody else doing a joke of mine. And I was like, what?

Phil Proctor [00:30:50]:
That happened to me too. With a big movie.

Ted Bonnitt [00:30:53]:
What?

Phil Proctor [00:30:54]:
Procter and Bergman. We did a special for PBS called the World of Procter and Bergman. And one of the jokes was I was playing Abraham Lincoln and I had a terrible hangover. I've been drinking the day before, and some guy and guy comes in with the newspaper and I open it up and I go, I freed the what? Well, that joke was in a big movie that I saw. And I realized I can't do anything about it.

Wendy Liebman [00:31:22]:
Kentucky Fried Movie, huh? What movie was it?

Phil Proctor [00:31:24]:
I can't remember the name of it. That's terrible. It's just my mind, but I remember, you know, sitting in the audience, that's me. I wrote that joke, you know, but what are you gonna do?

Ted Bonnitt [00:31:35]:
Everything's stolen and borrowed, right? I mean, that's just sort of the evolution. I mean, not verbatim, though.

Phil Proctor [00:31:42]:
That's not it.

Wendy Liebman [00:31:42]:
I mean, I've written jokes that I heard. Like, I wrote a joke once that my boyfriend put me on a pedestal. Cause he liked to look up my skirt. And then I heard Steve Martin do something similar. So there are similarities. And then I was doing a joke once for years, and then this woman said, you know, that's my joke from the 80s. And I. I probably heard her do it and I thought it was mine. And so I stopped doing it.

Ted Bonnitt [00:32:06]:
Yeah, I wonder if that's part of that, you know, where it goes into your collective memory and you don't sort. Because I've had not jokes, but ideas that come out of my friends mouths a month later. It's like, as their own and that.

Wendy Liebman [00:32:22]:
You'Ve told them that?

Ted Bonnitt [00:32:23]:
I told them, yeah. At first it was a little unnerving, but then I realized, no, that's actually. It's a compliment. They listened. Yeah. You know, it's not intentional. But I'm not saying stealing jokes verbatim.

Wendy Liebman [00:32:36]:
Well, I just go, well, I should write a better joke then. But I had done it on tv. The joke was, I was standing online at a bakery, waiting my turn, and this cute guy asked for my number. He was flirting with me. He asked for my number, I gave it to him. And then I had to take a new one. Well, the joke was almost verbatim. And so I contacted the writer and then apparently it was the woman performing it who just borrowed it from me. She asked me if I would like to swap jokes with her. And I'm like.

Phil Proctor [00:33:12]:
To make up for it.

Wendy Liebman [00:33:13]:
Not really. So I just figure, you know what, at some point, like, AI is going to just have everybody's jokes. And so what can I do? I can just perform it better.

Phil Proctor [00:33:26]:
That's right.

Wendy Liebman [00:33:26]:
Right.

Phil Proctor [00:33:27]:
That's right.

Wendy Liebman [00:33:28]:
You can just be the best performer of jokes or music. Yeah. I don't feel like AI is going to take my job any moment. Are you guys AI, AI, AI.

Phil Proctor [00:33:44]:
A number one check now. Number one with a bullet.

Ted Bonnitt [00:33:48]:
Some of the wisdom you've imparted. You have said or wrote. I've never gone to sleep or woken up at the same time.

Wendy Liebman [00:33:54]:
That's not wisdom, that's just true.

Ted Bonnitt [00:33:59]:
And you have friendship advice for boomers. I think we should share it. Yeah. And this is earnest. These aren't jokes necessarily. You might make new friends in your 60s. Yes, you might make new friends.

Wendy Liebman [00:34:10]:
I do.

Ted Bonnitt [00:34:11]:
I mean, that's a real issue. Right. Because I had the blessing of wonderful friends and lots of friends. In fact, when I got to Hollywood, I had almost within two months, 60, 70 new friends because of a party. That was a really tight group.

Phil Proctor [00:34:25]:
Well, that was the time he spent in jail.

Ted Bonnitt [00:34:26]:
That's right. Women's penitentiary. But then people die. People retire. Even when your greatest value in life is friendship and you're wealthy as a result, that still erodes away as you get older, just by attrition. As you get older, you just don't go out as much. You don't meet people as much. It's not necessarily because you've become a different person, though. You have. It's just you don't have the opportunity.

Phil Proctor [00:34:52]:
I can't see to drive.

Ted Bonnitt [00:34:54]:
Yeah. I'm sure that our listener has the same feeling as you get. You become a boomer. Damn. It is just hard to make friends.

Wendy Liebman [00:35:01]:
Well, it's like finding somebody in the world who speaks the same language as you. I think it was that woman who has the let them theory. Mel. Somebody who says it's easy to have friends when you're younger because you go to someone school with them every day. It's about spending time with people. So when you're older, you have to make more of an effort. You know, I was telling you about my best friend, Monica Piper. I didn't. I knew of her, but I didn't really get to know her until my 60s. So it's just been the past five years. I am now on Medicare as of yesterday. Two days ago. I'm very excited about getting sick. Yes.

Phil Proctor [00:35:48]:
What's holding you back?

Wendy Liebman [00:35:49]:
I know. I've put so much in health coverage. Okay.

Ted Bonnitt [00:35:53]:
You said also when somebody says you've already met them, go with It.

Wendy Liebman [00:35:57]:
Yes, because I have met people and they think that they've met me and I should just go with it.

Phil Proctor [00:36:03]:
Yeah, it happens. If you're a public figure, you know, people feel like they know you because they see you in various contexts or you made them laugh or something. And in my case as an actor, primarily when I started doing summer stock and doing Broadway and off Broadway and all that, I would be in short lived, you know, or sometimes a good run in something. And then years later, somebody come up to me and say, phil, oh my God, I slept with that person. Honestly, it was like, oh, because you're in a.

Ted Bonnitt [00:36:36]:
He was very promiscuous.

Phil Proctor [00:36:38]:
You're in a. I'm sleeping with people in my family. That's really what theater is like, in a way. No. Isn't that terrible? But. No, but the fact is, you're working closely with people.

Wendy Liebman [00:36:47]:
It's intense.

Phil Proctor [00:36:48]:
Yeah, it's intense. And you want to make friendships, you want to have intimacy, you want to have, you know, a life with these people.

Ted Bonnitt [00:36:55]:
And do you feel like as you get older, you feel.

Phil Proctor [00:36:57]:
And they're talented and beautiful and, you know.

Ted Bonnitt [00:36:59]:
Well, that's just it. You feel like as you get older, you're somewhat diminished as you are.

Wendy Liebman [00:37:04]:
Well, I'm getting shorter.

Phil Proctor [00:37:05]:
But your nose is getting longer.

Wendy Liebman [00:37:06]:
I know, and my ears are growing.

Ted Bonnitt [00:37:08]:
But maybe that erodes your self confidence a little bit and maybe that affects your outgoing. I'm not talking to you specifically. I'm just saying someone in our age group, you know that you feel a little less self confident or encouraged to put yourself out there because, like, Jesus.

Wendy Liebman [00:37:25]:
Yeah. But you also have the other side of that, which is, I can't swear on this, but eff it. Like.

Ted Bonnitt [00:37:33]:
Yeah, well, you do get that it's fun. And that's why people do feel happier as they age. Because I think that's a big part.

Phil Proctor [00:37:39]:
Of a lot of. Yeah. Stuff that you can't control. I've been with this company, the Anteas company here in Glendale for many, many, many years. And I can't really do any plays anymore because I can't drive to the rehearsals and drive back.

Wendy Liebman [00:37:54]:
What about Waymo?

Phil Proctor [00:37:55]:
Yeah.

Wendy Liebman [00:37:56]:
Well, does your listener.

Phil Proctor [00:37:57]:
It costs Waymo. It costs Waymo to do that than I can afford.

Ted Bonnitt [00:38:02]:
Do you notice that Waymos are becoming much more confident? I'm serious.

Wendy Liebman [00:38:07]:
Is that true?

Ted Bonnitt [00:38:07]:
Yeah. No. They did the initial research in our neighborhood. I mean, we've had Waymos for years. And they're always very careful, slow, very gentle. And as they have built up the Data. They've kind of like turned the dial. They come down, they hit the brakes, they wait, they turn right. Much more assertive, I should say. I don't say.

Wendy Liebman [00:38:28]:
See, I've only been in a Waymo that had a student. Student driver plaque on the back. No, I've never been in a Waymo, actually.

Ted Bonnitt [00:38:35]:
So how do you tackle comedy in these wild and woolly days of political upheaval and hostile?

Wendy Liebman [00:38:41]:
Yeah, we do. Sometimes I'll get on stage now and say, I know the world is crazy, but I finally found a good bra.

Phil Proctor [00:38:50]:
Okay.

Wendy Liebman [00:38:50]:
So that just kind of deflects like that. I'm bringing it back to me that I'm not unaware that there's so much going on.

Phil Proctor [00:38:58]:
But come to the cabaret, right?

Wendy Liebman [00:39:02]:
And then people want to know, what bra.

Phil Proctor [00:39:05]:
Of course. Now let me ask you, because you're an actor as well. Not really, no. You don't think of yourself as an actor?

Wendy Liebman [00:39:13]:
Okay, Phil. I was an actor when I was young. I was Dorothy and the wizard of Oz. I was Eliza and My Fair Lady.

Ted Bonnitt [00:39:22]:
I was not the original production.

Wendy Liebman [00:39:24]:
No, no, no. I was Viola Olivia in Twelfth Night. Like, I did my stuff, you paid your dues. And for the life of me, I now can't act my way out of a paper bag. I just. I get so self conscious. So given that, maybe you know how there are child actors.

Phil Proctor [00:39:47]:
I was child actors.

Wendy Liebman [00:39:48]:
And then they just go, well, you've continued, but. And then they just quit and become real estate agents or whatever. Maybe I'm an actor in my 70s. Like, maybe I'll start acting in my 70s.

Phil Proctor [00:40:01]:
Yeah, well, that's it.

Wendy Liebman [00:40:02]:
Because I'll lose like some self consciousness.

Phil Proctor [00:40:05]:
As long as you.

Ted Bonnitt [00:40:06]:
Oh, you mean like onset dementia? Yeah. Freewheeling comedy show you've been on. Carson, that must have been obviously in the first part of your career, very thrilling.

Wendy Liebman [00:40:19]:
91.

Ted Bonnitt [00:40:20]:
Okay.

Wendy Liebman [00:40:21]:
May 10th.

Ted Bonnitt [00:40:22]:
Wow. Back in 1990, the network still ruled. You still had a huge audience. And it was Johnny Carson.

Wendy Liebman [00:40:29]:
Right.

Ted Bonnitt [00:40:30]:
I mean, talk about legacy.

Wendy Liebman [00:40:32]:
Some guy saw me. The guy, the booker, saw me performing.

Phil Proctor [00:40:35]:
Yeah, that's the way it used to work.

Wendy Liebman [00:40:37]:
So, you know, it's interesting. Cause I had an uncle that just always thought of me as not nothing, but I was just like the kid after I did the Tonight show. He was. He couldn't have been prouder, more interested in me. Like, it really changed things. Just in my family. It's surreal to me that I was on the Tonight Show. I remember flying back to Boston because I still had a day job at the time. And Thinking I couldn't die now because I have been on the Tonight show with Johnny Carson. Now I'm glad I didn't die because as I've gotten older, my. My desires or my aims, my goals are different. Like now. Yeah, I'm glad I survived.

Ted Bonnitt [00:41:20]:
I mean, was it like a five minute bit? Yeah, five minutes.

Phil Proctor [00:41:23]:
It's on your website.

Wendy Liebman [00:41:25]:
Yeah.

Ted Bonnitt [00:41:25]:
Back in those days, that would jumpstart your career and you'd be a national act.

Wendy Liebman [00:41:29]:
I got a lot of work out of that.

Ted Bonnitt [00:41:31]:
How wonderful. And then you did Letterman and Leno.

Wendy Liebman [00:41:34]:
Letterman, Leno and Kimmel.

Ted Bonnitt [00:41:37]:
How has those generations progressed in terms of the experience? I mean, is it all the same to you?

Wendy Liebman [00:41:43]:
It's just all terrifying.

Ted Bonnitt [00:41:46]:
Is it all still.

Wendy Liebman [00:41:47]:
I get nervous thinking about being on tv, but I have a really fun story. Okay. So when I first started, I was with William Morris and they booked a lot of music acts so they would have me open for Julio Iglesias, Ann Margret, Sheena Easton, Ray Charles at Caesar's palace in Las Vegas. So I was all by myself in this huge dressing room and I befriended the waiter over the year and two years, and he was so nice. And then 15 years go by, I don't work there anymore. I'm gonna be doing the Jimmy Kimmel Show. And who walks into my dressing room but that waiter.

Phil Proctor [00:42:34]:
No kidding.

Wendy Liebman [00:42:34]:
But he wasn't a waiter anymore. No, he was in the band because his son Cleto is. Cleto.

Ted Bonnitt [00:42:42]:
His dad's still in the band. Yes, because Cleito just passed away.

Wendy Liebman [00:42:45]:
Right. I know. So Cleto Sr. Was the waiter. And that is my favorite Hollywood story.

Ted Bonnitt [00:42:54]:
But Jimmy seems to be a wonderfully loyal man.

Wendy Liebman [00:42:57]:
Yes. Oh, he was just so nice. And he had seen me perform at a club, Jimmy. And have me on the show.

Phil Proctor [00:43:06]:
I was on Jimmy's show too, but I played the Pope for a skit.

Wendy Liebman [00:43:10]:
I could see that jumping up and.

Phil Proctor [00:43:12]:
Down on a mattress. Don't ask. My favorite show business story. I came out here with a show called the Amorous Flea, which is a musical based on Moyer's School for Wives. Very funny. And we played at a sweet little theater, the Las Palmas Theater. Opening night we go to this party. Ray Bradbury was in the audience for our opening night, and I got to meet him.

Wendy Liebman [00:43:36]:
You remind me of him a little bit.

Phil Proctor [00:43:38]:
Oh, that's wonderful. Cause he was a great idol of mine. And I did get. I knew him right up to the end of his life. Or is he dead? I'm not so sure. He lives on really Anyway, so I go to this opening night party, and the first person who comes up to me in my first show in Hollywood comes up and he says, hello, I'm the Incredible Shrinking Man. And I said, oh, you look so much bigger on screen. And it was. It was the actor who played the Incredible Shrinking Man.

Wendy Liebman [00:44:10]:
Oh, my goodness.

Phil Proctor [00:44:11]:
That was the first person I met in Hollywood.

Wendy Liebman [00:44:14]:
That's so wild.

Phil Proctor [00:44:15]:
I know. I love it.

Wendy Liebman [00:44:17]:
That's a great story.

Phil Proctor [00:44:18]:
Well, that's why we're in the business.

Ted Bonnitt [00:44:20]:
You say television frightens you, but then you starred in specials for eight. Showtime, Comedy Central. So were these your own solo shows?

Wendy Liebman [00:44:29]:
So when I turned 50, I decided to, instead of having a party, perform and record a show, a special. And so my husband produced it. And it's called Taller on tv because that's what everybody says to me when they meet me. And because I guess I look six feet tall on tv.

Ted Bonnitt [00:44:55]:
Because you're slim.

Wendy Liebman [00:44:57]:
Because I'm standing on a TV so, well, thankful saying I'm slim. But. So anyway, my husband produced Tall rntv and then he sold it to Showtime. But I think with HBO and then other Showtime specials, I was just a participant. But it still makes me nervous.

Ted Bonnitt [00:45:18]:
Really?

Wendy Liebman [00:45:19]:
Yeah.

Ted Bonnitt [00:45:20]:
So these days.

Wendy Liebman [00:45:21]:
Yeah.

Ted Bonnitt [00:45:22]:
What are you doing?

Wendy Liebman [00:45:23]:
So I perform around town. I work with Fritz, Fritz Coleman. It's my favorite show. I love his audiences unassisted, living at the El Portal every. The last Sunday of every month at 3pm, which is like perfect.

Phil Proctor [00:45:39]:
Yeah, right.

Wendy Liebman [00:45:40]:
I get to open for him. And he also has Laurentides, who was Paul McCartney and Wings. Guitar player. He plays a couple of songs. Brilliant.

Ted Bonnitt [00:45:49]:
Beautiful.

Wendy Liebman [00:45:50]:
And this last weekend, I worked at the Comedy and Magic Club a couple of shows.

Phil Proctor [00:45:55]:
That's a great place.

Wendy Liebman [00:45:56]:
Then I did an Elks Club in Thousand Oaks, and then I did a temple in Valley Village. So it's like I ran the gamut and made a couple hundred dollars. And we're all happy about it.

Ted Bonnitt [00:46:08]:
So you were such a standout on Fritz's show. I just.

Wendy Liebman [00:46:11]:
Thank you so much.

Phil Proctor [00:46:13]:
Standout. Stand up.

Ted Bonnitt [00:46:14]:
Yeah, Standout.

Phil Proctor [00:46:14]:
Stand up.

Ted Bonnitt [00:46:15]:
That's a great show to go see. Fritz's show is terrific.

Wendy Liebman [00:46:18]:
It's the best.

Ted Bonnitt [00:46:19]:
Yeah. And it's a nice afternoon and you all come out and hang out after the show. And that's how we met.

Wendy Liebman [00:46:24]:
That's right.

Ted Bonnitt [00:46:25]:
It only took you, what, a half a year to come on the show after we invited. That was pretty good.

Wendy Liebman [00:46:29]:
I got back to you, though.

Ted Bonnitt [00:46:31]:
Yes, you did.

Wendy Liebman [00:46:31]:
When I found your card, when I was cleaning everything out.

Ted Bonnitt [00:46:34]:
It was nice to hear from you. Absolutely. Unassisted residency at El Portal. Go to the El Portal. Just go to el portel.com in North Hollywood.

Phil Proctor [00:46:43]:
Good.

Wendy Liebman [00:46:44]:
Actually, where I shot Taller on tv. That's where I shot.

Ted Bonnitt [00:46:47]:
Oh, the next show is going to be March 1st.

Wendy Liebman [00:46:50]:
No.

Ted Bonnitt [00:46:50]:
Is it January 25th? March 1st and April 26th.

Phil Proctor [00:46:55]:
Talk to your booker.

Wendy Liebman [00:46:56]:
Yeah, let me write that down because it's usually the last Sunday, but maybe because there are February20.

Phil Proctor [00:47:02]:
I want to throw a name out to you and tell me what your response is.

Ted Bonnitt [00:47:04]:
I think it's only 27 days this year.

Wendy Liebman [00:47:07]:
28.

Phil Proctor [00:47:08]:
Huh?

Ted Bonnitt [00:47:08]:
Oh, is it leap year goes the extra day, then my calendar's all messed up. Never mind.

Phil Proctor [00:47:13]:
All right.

Wendy Liebman [00:47:14]:
Thank you so much for having me on this show.

Ted Bonnitt [00:47:16]:
It's a pleasure. Pleasure to have you. Go to wendylebman.com to learn more. It's such a delight to meet you and hang out and thank you for joining us. We'll be back next week with Ben Vaughn and and the week after that. We have a really interesting show about authoritarianism because it can't be all laughs.

Phil Proctor [00:47:32]:
If we're still here.

Ted Bonnitt [00:47:35]:
All right.

Phil Proctor [00:47:36]:
Thank you.

Ted Bonnitt [00:47:36]:
Great to see you. Take care, everyone. Bye. Bye.