Julie Klausner, comedienne and author of I Don't Care About Your Band , hosts How Was Your Week? , a weekly podcast that features her own thoughts about the most important cultural events of the week as well as hilarious and insightful interviews with folks like Joan Rivers, Ira Glass, Sandra Bernhard, Amy Poehler, and Patton Oswalt, to name a few. Klausner, though, is at home on the stage, having performed at the Upright Citizens Brigade Theatre and several other venues in New York, so it was natural for her to bring her podcast to a live audience at The Bell House in Brooklyn.
Last night Klausner welcomed three hilarious guests: Fred Armisen, who showed off his musical talent by looping together a full-band Clash cover, Billy Eichner, who discussed with Klausner his casting ideas for the Lifetime remake of Steel Magnolias ( a topic very dear to our hearts ), and Paul F. Tompkins, who pulled out a British accent as he and Klausner read the correspondence between Andrew Lloyd Webber and Maya Angelou (introduced by author Rachel Skukert dressed as Fran Leibowitz. And there was a bonus interview with Jackée Harry, who beamed in “live via satellite.”
Klausner also called upon the help of her pals John Gemberling, Anthony Atamanuik, and Jessica Chaffin, as well as her three guests, to participate in a roast of filmmaker Miranda July. On the dais, which was lead by Klausner in character as the ghost of restauranteur Elaine Kaufman, were Vincent Gallo, Lorraine Bracco, Chubby Checker, Neil LaBute, and Human Centipede director Tom Fix. And scoring the night’s festivities was Ted Leo and the Pharmacists (Leo also wrote and performed the podcast’s theme song).
We spoke with Klausner via email to see how she got this shindig together, and what she plans for her podcasting future:
BlackBook: What steps did you take to transfer the podcast to a live show? Did you think it’d be generally seamless?
Julie Klausner: Ted Leo and I talked about it a while ago with Chris Spooner, my podcast producer. Then, once he and I decided we were on board, we met with Marianne Ways, who produces live comedy shows like Hot Tub and the Rejection Show, and my pal Alex Scordelis, who’s my comedy partner on stuff like Cat Whisperer and other things related to John Lithgow and not related to John Lithgow. And then we started booking guests and putting together the pieces. We wrote and cast bits; I arranged that Jackée video shoot with the help of a DP named Mike Pessah, who shot Cat Whisperer 2 & 3… It worked out nicely. But I couldn’t have done it without Ted and his band, and Marianne and Alex. And Spoony, who has never not been the hero behind this entire endeavor.
BB: We loved the sketch element of the show. Did you feel like you were getting back to your roots by incorporating your sketch-writing skills?
JK: Thank you!! I was wary of doing too many different things, but I was also just being super ambitious. I wanted to try a lot of different things in the course of the night, not only to give people bang for the buck, but also to take advantage of the talent we had on the show… Paul is one of the few comics who’s as good at sketch as he is at standup, and Fred is just astonishingly funny on SNL and Portlandia week to week. The characters he turns out consistently and prolifically actually startle me, they are so funny and brilliant. Furthermore, Billy’s Chubby Checker impression is something that I would have been a fool not to make good use of, plus I was able to call in favors from Anthony Atamanuik and John Gemberling, my two bearded brothers from UCB, Rachel Shukert, who wrote the Andrew Lloyd Webber/ Maya Angelou bit with me, and Jessica Chaffin, who plays Ronna in Ronna & Beverly. It takes a village to make sketch comedy. And to torch a Frankenstein!
BB: Are you planning to do another live event?
JK: Yes! I think we’re aiming to do this quarterly? We’re talking about doing the next one in February. I will only do it if Ted Leo will be involved! And I want him to play more music than he did last night. I regret not giving the band more to do. I also have more regrets, but you’re not my shrink so I’ll spare you.
BB: Finally, what two people do you most want as guests on your podcast, in the sense that they would be SO BIG that you’d be able to say, “OK, podcasts, I won. You can all retire now”?
JK: That’s what podcasting is all about. FORCING OTHER PODCASTS TO GO OUT OF BUSINESS. That said, I want Liza. I want Liza, I want Stephen Colbert, and I want Fran Lebowitz. And to some extent, Mandy Patinkin, although he seems cagey.
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