Lauren Weedman is one of the funniest people I know.
An award-winning comedic actress,
Lauren made her mark in TV with "The Daily Show,"
"Looking," "Arrested Development,"
and more recently, "Abbott Elementary" and "Hacks."
But Lauren began her career in theater, writing
and performing hilarious and brutally honest
one-woman shows.
And she is returning to her theatrical roots
with the world premiere of "BLOWS."
Here's Lauren with the lowdown.
-"BLOWS" is about...
my life, generally and specifically.
I was trying to write this musical --
It started about four years ago -- about bankruptcy.
'Cause it felt like there's not enough
musicals about bankruptcy.
And when you see that hole, you run to fill it.
And so I was starting to write that.
And then the last four years,
it's been completely impossible to finish anything
because of just this constant survival mode I'm in
and the single-mother survival mode.
And any time I even start to get creative,
if my son has any needs at all, like,
"Oh, I'm choking," or, you know, "Oh, feed me,"
I'm like, "Oh, there go my dreams again."
So it's taken me a long time to try to finish this musical.
So this is another attempt at trying to finish it.
It's called "BLOWS"?
Oh, God, how awful. That sounds kind of --
That sounds gross.
It's called "BLOWS" because of this line
in this movie "Blue Jasmine,"
where Cate Blanchett's character, who's losing it,
is like, "How many blows can a woman take
before she starts screaming in the street?"
When I heard it in the movie, I started clapping,
and I didn't realize I was clapping.
Like, it's so -- I was like, "How many blows
can a woman take before she starts screaming?"
Yes, that's exactly how I...
And then, you know, I like a one-word title.
And we're like, "Oh, 'BLOWS.' How fun.
It says all sorts of things."
[ Laughs ] I don't know.
No, I've had some polished, finished shows.
I was like, "Polished and finished?"
No, I...
No it's a -- "workshop" seems too loose
and "polished" seems too tidy.
It's a little of both 'cause it's going to be some stuff
that is material I've been working on that is rehearsed,
but I also want to try out new stuff.
It's always a process, right, with the live performance.
That's like another added step to getting the show
where I want it to get is the audience reaction.
Yes, "BLOWS" is 100% based on true stories
from my own life, completely.
In fact, I say that and then I realize there's one --
there's one part of the show where I did research,
where I live in Santa Monica, and that's a part of the show.
And I looked up to see who Santa Monica was
and, you know, what the city was founded on, that kind of stuff.
That's -- That's the only part that's not completely about me.
And I think that part's getting cut out of the show
'cause I got bored even trying to tell you about it.
Totally.
They're very small people, I hope.
What is with that? There's a band.
I'm playing with this guy, Tim Young,
and he is a Seattle person who now works
with Reggie Watts' band on "The Late Late Show,"
and he's helping me with the music.
So they're gonna be stage with me, which is great.
Broadway.
I do hope that. I hope that we can do a little tour.
Get out and just go, you know?
I would love to just tour a bit, you know, for a year or so.
And then it'd be great to do --
to sort of take that show and develop --
take the information, whatever I've learned
from performing and go back, re-rehearse it,
and then put it in a more sort of staged,
sort of classic solo theater show.
I'd love to do that and do a short run of that.
And then turn it into a big comedy special.
And then all these women over 50
will start wanting to get into solo theater
and be stand-up comics and stuff.
So get ready for that nightmare.
Catch "BLOWS" at The Triple Door February 25th and 26th,
Saturday and Sunday, two shows a night at 5:00 and 9:00.
Ticket information is at thetripledoor.net.
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