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[0:01] Ben Rimalower: Broken records. The albums you wouldn't shut up about. Broken records. The music our guests can't live without like Judy, Barbara, Liza, Bent Patty, Audra Bernadette. We broadcast this podcast with hopes that someday we might get Patty LaPone Broken Wreck.

[0:14] Daniel Nolen: Broken wreck.

[0:28] Ben Rimalower: Broken wreck.

[0:29] Daniel Nolen: Broken wreck.

[0:33] Ben Rimalower: Hello. Oh god, I was waiting for like a um next year's some year's start.

[0:39] Daniel Nolen: Bernadette Patty Intro.

[0:41] Ben Rimalower: Not live and not from well, we are in New York. Uh welcome to Ben Rimalower's Broken Records on Broadway World Broadway Podcast Network. And you heard it first and last here, folks. We are truly on Broadway on Demand. We are not a theory, it is fact.

[0:57] Daniel Nolen: Yeah, it is not fake news. I actually saw them uh interacting with us this week, and I was like, oh, good to know.

[0:59] Ben Rimalower: Good to know.

[1:04] Daniel Nolen: Um, unless they're just like, I don't know who these people are, they always tag me, so I like it. There's also some other guy who always retweets our thing on Tuesday.

[1:12] Ben Rimalower: It's like some actor's boot camp or something, and they oh yeah.

[1:16] Daniel Nolen: Yeah, yeah. I don't know, but uh I I don't know. They've been he's been retweeting us back since the beginning of the pod.

[1:23] Ben Rimalower: Yeah, so I feel like we should add that to the lineup, like Broadway Podcast Network, Broadway on Demand, and Actors Boot Camp. We'll just see how many how many affiliations we can rack up.

[1:35] Daniel Nolen: Um reminds me of on um uh Jeffrey and Cole Casserole. They had this thing that was accidental afcidental accent affect workshop.

[1:47] Ben Rimalower: Hosted by Patty LePone.

[1:49] Daniel Nolen: Exactly. Um, well, speaking of Patty LePone, she was not a part of our quorum stream today.

[1:57] Ben Rimalower: She sure wasn't. A love letter to Liza, Liza Minnelli's 75th birthday celebration produced by Club Cumming, Daniel Nardicio, Matt Berman, and Scott Gorenstein.

[2:10] Daniel Nolen: Friend of the pod, Scott Gore.

[2:12] Ben Rimalower: Not too late, not too late to stream. Those are all friends of the pod, actually.

[2:15] Daniel Nolen: Yeah, they are. Not too late to stream uh throughout this weekend of her birthday.

[2:21] Ben Rimalower: Yeah. It's really crazy that Patty wasn't a part of it because truly everyone else in show business was.

[2:28] Daniel Nolen: Except Bette Midler.

[2:29] Ben Rimalower: Except Bette Midler. Now I was so mad at Patty for not doing it. And I think I even said to a few people, like, what the fuck? Like, all you have to do is like literally like turn on your phone wherever the good light in your house is, put on some lipstick, and be like, happy birthday, doll! You're the top. There's nobody like you. You're the last of the greats. I love you. Have the best. Kiss, kiss, kiss.

[2:51] Daniel Nolen: Yeah literally, that's all. And that message would have been 10 seconds longer than Bernadette's.

[2:55] Ben Rimalower: Well, I have to say though, after watching it, I was kind of like the Bernadette thing, and like I know that people that maybe haven't listened to all of our episodes might be like, there he is again, dishing like uh shitting on Bernadette.

[3:09] Daniel Nolen: No, no, no. We are canonically pro-Bernadette on this pod.

[3:12] Ben Rimalower: I mean, if you recall, I was like jerking off to Bernadette in the Sondheim um uh birthday thing last year, and you know, to the um detriment of uh of Patty and you know I but but Bernadette it felt so hollow to me. Um that I literally was like, well, maybe it's better that Patty didn't do anything. However, it's just that Bernadette is like nobody does insincere as vapidly as Bernadette, you know.

[3:41] Daniel Nolen: Yeah, I mean, she could have been talking, like saluting the the new car dealership in Queens.

[3:48] Ben Rimalower: Yeah. You know, it just was, I mean, all the time. And which is crazy. She knows Liza very well. But it just felt so unfeeling. Whereas I feel like Patty, even just being like, love you, doll, it would have like had more uh oomph to it. You know.

[4:02] Daniel Nolen: Yeah.

[4:03] Ben Rimalower: Well, also it's, you know, back the Sondheim thing was what in May? And then even before uh April, and then even before that, uh Patty, uh, I guess because of the Rosie thing, maybe that's when we first got a glimpse into her basement.

[4:16] Daniel Nolen: Yes.

[4:17] Ben Rimalower: And if you think about that, and like just everyone was just so excited I mean, it was new and exciting, this kind of virtual world we now live in. But now it's like with last night's Liza thing, everyone's been doing this for almost a year now. It's not fun anymore. You know, it's just Well, we would have been very happy to go back to Patty's basement. Although I suppose Liza's birthday was the wrong time to show her like bong and like crackpipes.

[4:41] Daniel Nolen: Although try telling Lily Tomlin that she might I did I was like to say so many of the people, like Jason Alexander, Lily Tomlin, and like these stories they told. Um, what's his face? Uh Full House.

[4:53] Ben Rimalower: Like Candace uh John Stamos, John Stamos.

[4:57] Daniel Nolen: Yeah. Um they were all telling these stories about how much fun they had with Liza and all these adventures they went on. And I've never had so much fun on the stage than I did at the rink, and a lot of I was just kind of like, okay, the elephant in the room, the white elephant, if you will, in the room.

[5:12] Ben Rimalower: Thank you. I mean, it seems pretty clear that almost everybody on this has a great Liza story, and none of them told that.

[5:22] Daniel Nolen: Yeah, I mean, it's all kind of a little like uh hint-hint, like, but that's that's the story for another time.

[5:28] Ben Rimalower: Yeah. Um that's another story. Yeah, but I have I mean, the the common thread throughout everyone is just how generous Liza was and and how um you know fun, you know. She just she wants, oh, come to what who was it, Charles Bush or someone who or no, John Waters, who was like got invited to Paris with Liza, like the first time she met him in that cab.

[5:53] Daniel Nolen: And he was like, I wish I would have gone. I was like, hell yeah. I mean, that's the story Billy told too about you know, that's how their friendship started, is they met and then she immediately invited him to collaborate on that classic. If you enjoyed Billy's fabulous story last night, everybody should listen to our episode with Billy where we corn streamed their concert together, Radio City 92. And it's um he really gives us just a beautiful deep dive into really his his musical love affair, um, lifelong really with Liza or decades long, you know.

[6:26] Ben Rimalower: And um really opened up to us about it, and it was so uh touching and hilarious and inspiring, and it was a great conversation.

[6:36] Daniel Nolen: Yeah, um an important detail he left out about their very first night meeting is that they uh what was the place they they met at Bobos Bobos looking out the front window of Bobo's and seeing Catherine Hepburn fixing a car outside on the street with the hood up.

[6:53] Ben Rimalower: Hell's Kitchen ain't what it used to be.

[6:55] Daniel Nolen: Hell's Kitchen. Um okay, so Liza is 75. Um, I was just beyond excited to to watch. I really was uh the CBD was strong with this one, let me tell you.

[7:10] Ben Rimalower: Yes, honey. I was so stoned on CBD that I came up with CBD is for the in bells are ringing uh in ring them bells, bells are ringing. Where she says, uh I'm normal uh uh are you from New York? That can't be denied. I was like, can't be denied CBD, baby.

[7:29] Daniel Nolen: Oh yes.

[7:30] Ben Rimalower: Oh, that's so smart. That's because I was high.

[7:32] Daniel Nolen: Oh my god, that's like yeah, stoner brain.

[7:34] Ben Rimalower: Stoner brain. But I was like trying to figure out like what to have playing, and I realized she doesn't have enough overtures. Um like there's the over there's a great one from The Winter Garden.

[7:45] Daniel Nolen: Yes, um but that's before New York, New York.

[7:48] Ben Rimalower: So therefore it's before the songs New York, New York, and the world goes round. You know, and um there's uh well, there's the overture of Flora the Red Menace.

[7:58] Daniel Nolen: Sure.

[7:59] Ben Rimalower: Um and there was a great overture in Manelli Manelli, but that's the songs of Vincent Manelli. It's not Liza Minnelli's songs, although some of them overlap. But um, well, one of them overlaps. Uh, but so uh I think we need to speak of Billy Stritch, commission him with no money. Uh there needs to be a grand Liza overture because one thing I really realized listening was how almost more than anyone, her signature songs, because when you think about Liza, she's a career that has nothing but signature songs.

[8:31] Daniel Nolen: Yeah, that's so true.

[8:33] Ben Rimalower: I mean, New York, New York was a flop, and she got two signature songs out of it.

[8:37] Daniel Nolen: Yeah, absolutely, absolutely. I mean, that's that's better than Patty's record with Metal Ark.

[8:42] Ben Rimalower: Um, and uh also just that that winter garden overture, the way that they use maybe this time so blatantly in the role of uh the man that got away.

[8:55] Daniel Nolen: Yeah, I just I'm just like I guess yes, exactly that fucking brass. Yes, give it to me. So that's what I want for Christmas. Is a is Eliza Overture.

[9:05] Ben Rimalower: Yeah.

[9:07] Daniel Nolen: Yeah. Well, that doesn't seem like a too big of an ask.

[9:11] Ben Rimalower: No, I it's so funny because you I was listening to that album because that's one of the um uh they don't have a lot of Liza's live albums on Spotify, and so that's when they had.

[9:22] Daniel Nolen: And that's not good.

[9:23] Ben Rimalower: I hadn't I hadn't ever listened to it all the way through, and so I I did start listening to that right before the concert, and I was like, and also just all the songs on that. It's such she's such in she's in such good uh shape. And and and the songs are so I listened to it again in the shower today, and she's very good vocally, and I can only imagine how good the stage presence was.

[9:44] Daniel Nolen: But yeah, that's another is that uh on video somewhere?

[9:48] Ben Rimalower: No, tragically. I mean, it's that's really just at the height of her powers. I was living.

[9:55] Daniel Nolen: Yeah.

[9:55] Ben Rimalower: I mean, it's it's like overall, I think I'm still more partial to um uh the Carnegie Hall 79, you know, um, and the New Orleans video as we corn streamed. Um, but I mean, she's certainly like younger and with like more career possibilities, especially in Hollywood, and like um she's you know, she's already kind of becoming like a sort of uh different level of different kind of more like entertainment for adults by the time she gets to Carnegie Hall.

[10:28] Daniel Nolen: Whereas like Winter Garden, you know, when she sings um If you could read my mind love, it's only like two years after Barbara recorded that on Stone Ride.

[10:37] Ben Rimalower: Right, right. And only, you know, th three years or whatever since uh Gordon Lightfoot wrote it, you know, and it's like she's still sort of like viable in some way, or at least you could pretend she might be viable in some way as like a pop entity, you know. And um I love some of the stuff, it's like eventually I think with the signature songs and shtick and stuff, it gets to be like she's just adding to the pile. But I love that at that point, I feel like there are things that she did in like Liza with a Z or like at the Olympiad that she would later use all the time in her concerts. But like the Winter Garden, they weren't even recycling those. They were just like gonna keep trying new stuff for a while, you know.

[11:21] Daniel Nolen: Yeah, yeah.

[11:23] Ben Rimalower: Like that song, like um well god, now I can't remember it. The one about like I'm I'm I'm one of those faces or so. What's the one? Do you know what I'm talking about? God damn it.

[11:34] Daniel Nolen: The circle?

[11:36] Ben Rimalower: No, not the circle. Uh exactly like me.

[11:37] Daniel Nolen: Exactly.

[11:37] Ben Rimalower: Exactly like me.

[11:42] Daniel Nolen: Yeah.

[11:42] Ben Rimalower: Um, exactly like me. It has a whole bit to it.

[11:48] Daniel Nolen: Yeah, it's a whole thing, right?

[11:49] Ben Rimalower: And then you just never hear from it again.

[11:52] Daniel Nolen: Yeah, never.

[11:53] Ben Rimalower: They're finally they were like, just do Liza with a Z. I also love um, I mean, it's on Spotify, it's like one of those weird like uh legends of Broadway, and like most of them are just like a like Angela Lansbury is just like random songs she's sung throughout her career.

[12:07] Daniel Nolen: Liz is not Mr. Goldstone, but not Mr. Goldstone.

[12:11] Ben Rimalower: Because you know, I was like, maybe it's on the Legends of Broadway CD. And then part of my brain was like, yeah, they chose what, like two songs, three Macs from Gypsy. I promise you, Goldstone's not one of them. But I was like, I've got a check.

[12:24] Daniel Nolen: I mean, I totally had the same thought. I mean, everything else is on there. But Liza's is like The Legends of Broadway, and it's literally a full concert. Like it's so in incongruous with the other two. Like uh Cheetah, uh Bernadette, Angela.

[12:39] Ben Rimalower: So um, yeah, but anyway, the the Winter Garden, I'm just it just adds another uh credit in my book for why The Winter Garden's my favorite theater.

[12:49] Daniel Nolen: And that's the um that's the one that Meryl Streep has talked about uh how that so shaped her idea of what uh performing on stage is.

[13:00] Ben Rimalower: Wow.

[13:01] Daniel Nolen: Wow.

[13:02] Ben Rimalower: Interesting.

[13:04] Daniel Nolen: The two things Meryl has cited in terms of live performance are that, and then um at the around the same time she saw, or not long after that, she saw Simon and Garfunkel.

[13:15] Ben Rimalower: Um and she talked about Art Garfunkel singing that lyric, I love you, girl, and for Evelyn for Emily, wherever I may find her. And then it just kept repeating, but that there was something so uh emotional and like storytelling in the way that he kept singing those words, and that it really shaped her idea of performance.

[13:38] Ben Rimalower: Oh wow, that's fascinating.

[13:40] Daniel Nolen: Yeah. I'm gonna have to think about that and be like, okay, I see it. Like well, speaking of and Garfunkel, I'm very happy with the way this show began with well, the montage was fabulous, first of all, to start off. But then it was very fitting and made me very happy that the first star was Liza's own Garfunkel, learn a lesson.

[14:01] Ben Rimalower: Yeah, yeah, Ziffer own Garfunkel, yes, please. Um, and and not just telling a story and you know, saying best wishes, but actually giving us a bit of a song. And by the way, that song Liza, I love it. And I um by the way, it's another highlight in those uh early Liza uh overtures. I I love that Liza was still starting off and didn't have her signature songs. So, like the song that had her name that Judy sang to her that she never even sang herself, had to be considered one of her songs. But it's so great because you always hear it as a ballad the way Judy sang it, and of course the way Lorna sang it uh last night, but um in the overture, it's um da da da da da.

[14:44] Ben Rimalower: I love it. And it's often her bow music, anyway. Um, but uh or had often then been her bow music. But so Lorna sang that and um looked great. Yeah, she looked great, and I was I don't know. I I I I wonder when they saw each other last. You know, do they do they keep in touch, do you think, or do you think it's been a while?

[15:05] Daniel Nolen: Well, I know I know their relationship has been extremely rocky on and off for years and years. I don't know what the status of it is in current times. Um I also wonder if Liza is doing all right because I know, you know, I I know that she's like, you know, the situation with Liza is already kind of specific. I mean, she's certainly not at her best physically, she's not well physically, and it's safe to say, you know, she's not at her best mentally, and it doesn't seem like she's really able to perform or even make you know a lot of like sort of COVID telephone type appearances. I think it's been over a year since the last time we saw her even do some sort of like, you know, slight kind of thing along those lines.

However, the fact that Michael Feinstein, who I is the only person I know of that's actually in regular contact with her, the fact that he participated in this and gave it his approval, um, it made me think there was a decent chance that we would see Liza, you know, just like in the black uh Oliver cap, you know, just like sitting on a director's chair in her living room, just being like, I thank you so much, you know. And we didn't get that. So it made me worry that maybe she's really worse off than she even was a year and a half ago or whatever, you know. Um so I think it's, but I don't know, I did kind of imagine that even though Lorna and Liza had been on on and off for so many years, I kind of imagined that in like the Michael Feinstein protecting her in Beverly Hills era, that maybe like she and Lorna still had some contact, you know, through that, because I don't know, I just kind of imagined that they did.

[16:50] Ben Rimalower: But you the video did not give you the impression that they had um or at least that they had well, but most people I knew hadn't. Like I kind of knew that even like some of the people that you know, um, I don't want to say specifically because I think I might be getting it wrong, but I'm pretty sure among the like Billy and Jim and like uh Matt Berman who produced this and was her beloved production manager for so long, I think like a lot of those people, very few of them actually had have had have managed to even talk to her, let alone see her. Um but I kind of thought Lorna was in it was different, not because they were close, because I think they really were at each other's throats for a lot of the time, but just because I think Lorna and Michael have a good relationship.

And you know, I think they weren't close when Liza was like, you know, um falling off the wagon and going off the rails and acting like a crazy person. But I think that when Lorna when Liza's like, you know, seat belted into a couch in Beverly Hills, watching old movies, chain smoking and like drinking Coca-Cola Classic. I kind of imagine that Lorna and she were like relatively all right, you know.

[17:54] Daniel Nolen: Yeah. But maybe I'm just projecting. I always feel like, you know, in my family, since I got sober, my relationships with the family got less complicated, you know.

[18:02] Ben Rimalower: Sure. Well, no, I'm sure that there's some sort of truth to that. And there is um, you know, I feel like you knowing that part of yourself also can be applied to Liza, and you know what that's like.

[18:14] Daniel Nolen: Yeah. Um, but uh, well, and speaking of me as an uncle in my family, it was wonderful to see uh Liza's niece and nephew or neat and uh all grown up, Vanessa and Jesse. I had seen photos of them like in Lorna's book from you know 20 years ago. But uh they're grown-ups and they look great and they have kids, and that was like really beautiful and touching, I felt. Um, especially the way Lorna said it, introducing it like um, and here's some love from your family.

[18:45] Ben Rimalower: Oh I was kind of like, don't be Joan Collins, don't be Joan Collins. And it wasn't, it was her actual family and best of both worlds, followed by Joan Collins.

[18:49] Daniel Nolen: Followed by Joan Collins, yeah. With um with that big necklace, full makeup and hair. I mean, if I if Broadway opens up again and they announce the Palace Theater reopening with a revival of a Vita starring Patty Lapone, and I go there, first preview, front row center, and the curtain opens to reveal a screen, and on that screen is Joan Collins in her living room talking, and there's no Avita at all. I will go to the boss office and offer them more money.

[19:27] Ben Rimalower: Yeah. Absolutely. Especially if she's gonna tell stories about them all hanging out with these just like random smatterings of celebrities. I mean, just only Joan Collins would bury her own ex-husband like somewhere in the middle of the list and like have it not be weird.

[19:42] Daniel Nolen: Yeah, totally. That was another common thread throughout the night was like like when Jane Krakowski showed that photo of them with Shelly Winters and like just these random old school showbiz uh greats just kind of peppered throughout. It just shows you Liza's reach, you know, truly and her sphere of influence.

[20:01] Ben Rimalower: And the uh what was the other one? Um someone was in uh LA and they moved to LA and uh was it Jim Cruz? I don't know, but they were like Liza said, Well, who do you want to meet tonight?

[20:11] Daniel Nolen: Oh yes, Jim Cruz of the Peck and all this. Yeah, and just like all the people who would come to these parties.

[20:19] Ben Rimalower: Totally. I was like, God damn. Well, I mean, Joe, Joan Collins is the ultimate in that, you know, because she is old Hollywood. I think she was an MGM star at the very end of it, right?

[20:29] Daniel Nolen: Um, that sounds right, and then of course, B movies in the 60s, and then a television icon for Dynasty, and um, you know, still alive and looking fabulous, at least in her north 80s. I don't, you know, maybe I don't know.

[20:45] Ben Rimalower: For sure, I don't know. And uh, I love that she can talk about when Liza was a little girl, you know.

[20:49] Daniel Nolen: Which that's how you know.

[20:51] Ben Rimalower: That's how you know. Uh, but just fabulous. I mean, it was a great way to start it off. Um, and keeping in the like Hollywood show business tradition, next up, Michelle with one L.

[20:55] Daniel Nolen: Michelle with one L standing in front of a Madame Morable mural behind her couch. With a Liza, like can't big Liza candle in her hand. I I knew that they were friends. I mean, first of all, because like, what is the point of being Michelle Lee if you're not friends with Liza? Um, but also because Sandra Bernhard, I know, is really good friends with Michelle Lee and has talked about um on some of her, you know, albums of her one woman shows, how she would be uh hanging out the three of them. I guess Sandra, when Sandra goes to LA, she stays with Michelle Lee. And then they would go out the three of them. Um so I I kind of knew that Michelle and Liza had a friendship.

[21:42] Ben Rimalower: Um the I the Baruchatonai was really special. I guess the full Jewish appreciation for that. Yeah, got a little verclimped. Um show business, Shirley McLean heaven.

[21:55] Daniel Nolen: Oh my god, Shirley McLean, which I gasped when Shirley came up because first of all, the Shirley's opening line is Liza, you and I go way back, which if you know Shirley's history is way, way back. No one knows quite how far back. But uh, you know, in her little hat and just getting seemingly outside at a Starbucks, I would think that's best. Literally outdoor seating with a heat lamp, bundled up, uh barely a stitch of makeup. Thank you, white hair. Shirley McLean in white hair. I am hard. I love it. I loved it. I almost wanted to take off my Liza shirt and put on my Shirley McLean shirts.

[22:30] Ben Rimalower: Yes. Um but yeah, I and that's another thing. It's uh they they they really do go way back. And you see photos of Liza wearing that Shirley McLean shirt at Studio 54 or whatever. And um uh, you know, they were they were besties, and that's that's and then like again, like some of these people Liza doesn't know from Adam, but some of those people are truly, truly her friends who she started out with. Truly.

[22:54] Daniel Nolen: And um, after the Shirley thing, the next montage started, and when the second montage started, I made a note well conceived and executed. Um this was the the playbills. Then I immediately wanted to erase that because the second montage got a little wonky. Um, this is where I I wrote down in my notes at this point. I wrote, where's the singing? Because like, as much as I love a montage and an educational component, and of course, you know, Joan Collins, Shirley McClain, Michelle Lee, I was so tickled to see them pop up. At this point, I'm like, all right, we need like a proper opening number. Even I I was just kind of getting a little weary of just the constant, you know, videos and and needing some sort of uh mix-up with a with a song.

[23:42] Ben Rimalower: Yeah, I mean, I I knew that the ratio was going to favor tributes over uh musical performances, but it was real slim on musical performances. And uh at this point, it started to feel like wow, we're into the second montage and we still haven't had a number.

[24:00] Daniel Nolen: Yeah. Um, so that was kind of buggy on me. And I was watching some of the stuff on social media, and some of the fans were getting like real pissy about it. And I mean, I think my expectations were more um uh right-sized for what we were gonna get because I had had conversations with some of the people that created it, and I, you know, I knew when you when you saw the thing and it said remembrances by a list of 40 people, remembrance and then performances by a list of six people, you know, it was gonna be remembrance heavy.

[24:34] Ben Rimalower: Um yeah, I mean, and and some of them were it was kind of a gray area, and some of them like Lily Tomlin gave us like a full like tight 10, you know, her.

[24:46] Daniel Nolen: Oh, did they?

[24:46] Ben Rimalower: Yeah.

[24:47] Daniel Nolen: Okay, well, I guess that guy.

[24:52] Ben Rimalower: Let me tell you. Yeah, because I was like, oh, she's giving us a little more. But oh, that's funny. I didn't even realize they put her in the performance column.

[25:00] Daniel Nolen: Oh yeah, yeah.

[25:01] Ben Rimalower: That's funny. For sure. Well, I knew when I saw Barbara, I was like, well, whatever list Barbara is on, those are the non-performances.

[25:07] Daniel Nolen: So I mean, non-faces.

[25:09] Ben Rimalower: Barbara's like, I don't, I don't want to get out of my sweats. I'm just gonna do audio. I mean, you know, I it's like, well, we'll get to that. We'll get to that. Um, John Cander, it was wonderful to see him.

[25:22] Daniel Nolen: Yeah, it's so great because he's really one of the greats and truly of the original greats, you know. And he done, you don't when you hear him talk, you don't feel like you're listening to someone that's just like about to like keel over, you know.

[25:34] Ben Rimalower: Yeah. I mean, it's and and indeed, he's been writing new musicals all these years. Well, it's not that many years, but since Fred had passed. I mean, John Cander is just like alive and kicking. And I guess I'm late to tuning in to the fact that his partner is Albert Stevenson, who I guess was like a dancer in the act and other stuff. But like that was like kind of cool to see. I like I enjoyed that little gay private life behind the scenes.

[25:59] Daniel Nolen: Speaking of gays behind the scenes, Lisa Mordente.

[26:04] Ben Rimalower: Oh my god, yes, yes. Cheetah and Lisa, so fabulous together. By the way, I mean, I don't know if this is like an open secret or not, but Lisa was Liza's lover, like for like part of the I don't know, the 70s or the 80s. Um it's truly all in the family, but obviously they're still friends. And actually, now I'm remembering didn't we see Cheetah at 54 Below? And Lisa was her special guest.

[26:24] Daniel Nolen: Yes, she sure was. I forgot what they sang. Or no, Lisa sang alone. That night I was like not, I was like, get off the stage, let me watch Cheetah.

[26:33] Ben Rimalower: Yeah. But on this video, I could have I want them to have a sitcom. I am like all in on Cheetah and Lisa.

[26:39] Daniel Nolen: They really should.

[26:40] Ben Rimalower: That'd be funny. Oh, that's so great. Maybe we should just do the Cheetah and Lisa show.

[26:45] Daniel Nolen: Let's do it, Cheetah Lisa. Um also I've decided that my new favorite thing in the world is Cheetah Rivera's Baritone Harmonies.

[26:54] Ben Rimalower: Yeah, if you can call it a harmony. I mean, it was a little rough. Well, for my money, you know, for my tone-deaf ears. It's very like B. Arthur being like, We'll always be harmonic.

[27:08] Daniel Nolen: But not Rose.

[27:10] Ben Rimalower: Um I just only want it. Like, I really think that every song I ever play should have the option of with or without Cheetah Rivera Harmony track.

[27:19] Daniel Nolen: Yeah, absolutely. We should really, that's another thing we should do on maybe next year, some year is like a celebration of our baritone ladies.

[27:26] Ben Rimalower: Yes.

[27:29] Daniel Nolen: Um, so that uh speaking of baritone ladies, Jason Alexander next.

[27:35] Ben Rimalower: He goes, he really did a did a big chunk. I mean, he talked talked a lot about the rink, he talked a lot about how Liza is quote generous of heart and money. Yes. Um we'd go to dinner or take a trip on Liza, which on Liza, on Liza. Which he took the full journey. Really did. And he was just so sincere and he made me laugh, he made me cry, he made me get bored and go pee and refill my drink.

[28:00] Daniel Nolen: Yeah.

[28:01] Ben Rimalower: The full range of Ben Rimalower emotions. Uh but yeah, I mean, that's another thing that I enjoyed. It wasn't just like, I mean, it did have a lot of showbizy moments, but it a lot of it was like about it wasn't just like, oh well, Liza's a legend, you're so talented, sweetie. Kiss, kiss, kiss, love you. It was like, this is what we did. This is how I know her specifically, and these are specific times where she was super generous with her.

[28:24] Daniel Nolen: I mean, the great Jason Alexander is so ideal for this because he's a huge star.

[28:30] Ben Rimalower: Yeah.

[28:30] Daniel Nolen: And he's somebody who not only worked with Liza, but worked with Liza when he was starting off, starting out, and she was already a huge star. So it's like, you know, I mean, you get he and Jaden Krakowski are both in that category.

[28:44] Ben Rimalower: Yes. That's just kind of, you know, the magic uh the magic uh ingredients.

[28:49] Daniel Nolen: Um they both ride the line between like Broadway stuff and now like you know, really mainstream TV stuff.

[28:57] Ben Rimalower: Yes, totally. Now with that new show Seinfeld, I think it's got legs.

[29:02] Daniel Nolen: I've heard it's great.

[29:03] Daniel Nolen: I've heard it's great.

[29:05] Ben Rimalower: Um, so then we have Nathan Lane giving.

[29:08] Daniel Nolen: The worst thing you can say about Nathan Lane is that he's not Bette Midler.

[29:11] Ben Rimalower: Yeah, exactly. I mean, I always love him so much, but I was like, okay, we don't.

[29:14] Ben Rimalower: I think the time has expired on impeachment material, Nathan.

[29:19] Daniel Nolen: But yeah, I think he might have not understood that Liza's birthday was not in like the end of January.

[29:26] Ben Rimalower: Yeah, yeah.

[29:28] Daniel Nolen: But I do really enjoy him.

[29:32] Ben Rimalower: Right, right.

[29:34] Daniel Nolen: I literally was freaked for like 30 seconds.

[29:37] Ben Rimalower: Yeah, I was like, well, they only announced this like a month ago, so surely it wasn't like that long ago that he recorded this, but who knows?

[29:46] Daniel Nolen: It's like from the Clinton impeachment for Liza's 50th birthday.

[29:49] Ben Rimalower: Yeah, yeah.

[29:50] Daniel Nolen: They're just reusing material.

[29:52] Ben Rimalower: Uh, he's like seeing a new movie, Mouse Hunt.

[29:56] Daniel Nolen: Can I tell you that that was my first exposure to Nathan Lane was seeing Mouse Hunt in the theater.

[30:01] Ben Rimalower: Well, listen, that's another you and I could start the musical version of Mouse Hunt.

[30:05] Daniel Nolen: Oh my god, we should.

[30:06] Ben Rimalower: And who would play the, uh, is it Vicki Lewis who's in that?

[30:09] Daniel Nolen: I think she could recreate the role.

[30:11] Ben Rimalower: Yeah, totally.

[30:12] Daniel Nolen: Um, you know, uh, who would not be available to recreate the role?

[30:17] Ben Rimalower: Bernadette. Bernadette could play the mouse.

[30:20] Daniel Nolen: I mean, one thing you have to give to Bernadette is I don't know what everyone else has been doing for the last year, but Bernadette has got her Zoom game on point.

[30:33] Ben Rimalower: She sure does.

[30:34] Daniel Nolen: I was just the only thing I missed this time was a glimpse of the dog bed in the background.

[30:38] Ben Rimalower: But she's in front of that, like what is it, like a Mexican tile wallpaper thing in her kitchen.

[30:45] Daniel Nolen: It's like designed to complement her hair and skin tone.

[30:49] Ben Rimalower: Yeah, exactly.

[30:50] Daniel Nolen: Exactly.

[30:51] Ben Rimalower: Um, she looked like a hundred zillion dollars.

[30:55] Daniel Nolen: That was Joe Biden's stimulus plan right there on screen.

[30:59] Ben Rimalower: Yeah.

[31:00] Daniel Nolen: You're not getting that $1,400, but here's Bernadette Peters.

[31:03] Ben Rimalower: You're welcome.

[31:04] Daniel Nolen: Right, right, exactly.

[31:06] Ben Rimalower: Um, Joe Biden's stimulus plan was the half of a kind bar that just keeps on giving.

[31:11] Daniel Nolen: Uh, speaking of, we did say Bernadette was Joe Biden.

[31:14] Ben Rimalower: I mean, it just never doesn't work for me.

[31:18] Daniel Nolen: It's always, I mean, we really did the work that that time we were assigning presidential candidates to the school.

[31:24] Ben Rimalower: And look, I know Donna Murphy wasn't thrilled about being stuck with Amy Klobuchar, but I don't give up on Amy Klobuchar.

[31:31] Daniel Nolen: I think one of she's already come out against the filibuster.

[31:35] Ben Rimalower: Next thing you know, she's gonna be starring in Passion at the Ravinia Festival.

[31:38] Daniel Nolen: Absolutely.

[31:39] Ben Rimalower: And God bless her, Donna always takes one for the team with us because I edited her out of that red lady's dress photo to add that Bernie meme, and she retweeted it and said, "No offense taken, Bernie Sanders."

[31:49] Daniel Nolen: So you know, she can all she can take it with a laugh and a smile.

[31:49] Ben Rimalower: With a laugh and a smile and a song.

[31:56] Daniel Nolen: Um, something else that can be taken with a laugh and a smile is our next guest, Stephanie J. Block.

[32:03] Ben Rimalower: Um, looking great.

[32:04] Daniel Nolen: I was, uh, not really laughing or smiling.

[32:09] Ben Rimalower: But she did coin a phrase that all due respect, we will be having to rag on her for decades.

[32:16] Daniel Nolen: I this is the name of my new podcast, Step Into Some Storytelling.

[32:21] Ben Rimalower: Yes, yes.

[32:22] Daniel Nolen: Stefan is Stefan into some storytelling, uh, and the graphic is designed in the style of Liza Minnelli stepping out.

[32:30] Ben Rimalower: Um, it's Stephanie Block, Step Into Some Storytelling with the Liza Step It Out artwork.

[32:37] Daniel Nolen: I'm all about it, and same font.

[32:40] Ben Rimalower: Um, Stephanie, uh, fuck, what's about to say about her?

[32:44] Daniel Nolen: Oh, but I couldn't tell you what she said.

[32:46] Ben Rimalower: I don't remember anything she said, but it's really unfair to her that she had to go after Bernadette because Bernadette was literally like, "Liza, happy birthday." Click.

[32:56] Daniel Nolen: Yeah.

[32:57] Ben Rimalower: And then so when Stephanie was like in my feelings and my experience as the journey of my storytelling.

[33:05] Daniel Nolen: And when I got to where you're loose, I was just like talking, talking, talking, talking.

[33:11] Ben Rimalower: I mean, if she had come after somebody long, she would have maybe had a fighting chance.

[33:16] Daniel Nolen: They did not do her a good service.

[33:19] Ben Rimalower: Yeah, yeah, totally.

[33:20] Daniel Nolen: Um, and then, okay, so then we have our first performance of the night, which again, love me some Lea DeLaria.

[33:27] Ben Rimalower: Uh, I was so excited when she came out, but it just seemed like a weird place to put the first number.

[33:33] Daniel Nolen: Well, I felt like after Stephanie Block, they were like, we need something to pick it up.

[33:39] Ben Rimalower: But like also, like, I love Lea so much, and she was so fabulous.

[33:44] Daniel Nolen: And like, I have never been more in the mood to hear Lea DeLaria scat all over my face.

[33:50] Ben Rimalower: Yeah, Lea DeLaria literally saying, I know that Liza loves it when I scat.

[33:53] Daniel Nolen: So let me sing a random old song.

[33:55] Ben Rimalower: I mean, yeah, like Lea DeLaria is such a theater queen.

[33:59] Daniel Nolen: Yeah, do not tell me that she doesn't have a Liza song she could have sung.

[34:03] Ben Rimalower: She should have done Liza with a Z.

[34:05] Daniel Nolen: I mean, she, I mean, that was another thing.

[34:07] Ben Rimalower: Uh, really anything.

[34:09] Daniel Nolen: Like, I would have totally settled for like Liza saying this once in Atlantic City, you know.

[34:14] Ben Rimalower: Yeah, yeah.

[34:15] Daniel Nolen: That happened to get, I mean, the other one was a little adjacent because of Judy, but yeah, I wouldn't have been all she should have just lied and been like, you know, I sang this song in my show at Joe's Pub, and Liza came to see it, and she said it was her favorite thing she ever heard, scattered, you know.

[34:30] Ben Rimalower: Like, yeah, I just, um, I wanted so badly to be more in that moment.

[34:36] Daniel Nolen: Also, like it was as fabulous as Lea was, she did not work the camera in an intimate way.

[34:44] Ben Rimalower: No, no, no, no.

[34:45] Daniel Nolen: It felt like the camera was observing her in her studio.

[34:49] Ben Rimalower: Yeah.

[34:50] Daniel Nolen: And actually, I'm gonna come for Lea a little bit here because I'm a huge fan.

[34:53] Ben Rimalower: I mean, I love Lea's comedy, I love her acting.

[34:57] Daniel Nolen: I think she has a Broadway belt voice as good as some of the greatest Broadway belts in history.

[35:03] Ben Rimalower: And I think she's not just a novelty scatter, you know.

[35:07] Daniel Nolen: You know, I mean, Barbara Cook scats in the middle of Sweet Georgia Brown, but nobody's making a case that Barbara Cook is like a legit jazz singer.

[35:15] Ben Rimalower: But to me, Lea DeLaria sings jazz like Diana Krall or Ella Fitzgerald or Anne, you know, at least Ann Hampton Callaway.

[35:23] Daniel Nolen: I mean, she's the real fucking deal, okay?

[35:25] Ben Rimalower: And I worship her, but I felt this way about her the last couple times I saw her in concert, too.

[35:31] Daniel Nolen: She's like Mandy Patinkin.

[35:32] Ben Rimalower: She's like on her own planet.

[35:34] Daniel Nolen: She does not, she's big, but she is not intimate with the audience.

[35:39] Ben Rimalower: She does not deliver, she doesn't look in your eyes and tell a story.

[35:42] Daniel Nolen: She's just like masturbatory in this way, you know.

[35:45] Ben Rimalower: And I don't mean masturbatory like in a bitchy way.

[35:48] Daniel Nolen: I mean it's literally like not for us.

[35:51] Ben Rimalower: Yeah, I mean, what do you think that is?

[35:53] Daniel Nolen: Do you think it's, it's a lot of people I think the bigger they get, they kind of lose that.

[36:00] Ben Rimalower: Like they kind of get into their own heads or into their own.

[36:03] Daniel Nolen: Yeah, I mean, it's very hard on video.

[36:05] Ben Rimalower: You know, it's like unfair to say this about somebody.

[36:07] Daniel Nolen: But I'm honestly, I felt this way about her the last few times that I saw her live.

[36:12] Ben Rimalower: And I think, um, I don't think it has to do with being a bigger star.

[36:16] Daniel Nolen: Like I think it's a thing that people do or don't do.

[36:22] Ben Rimalower: Uh, and it's, it's separate from being good at singing and separate from being good at acting, you know.

[36:27] Daniel Nolen: And it's, um, unique.

[36:29] Ben Rimalower: Honestly, I'll say this about Luann.

[36:31] Daniel Nolen: I mean, Countess Luann, you know, uh, not an actor, and you know, certainly not a great singer to put it mildly, but you know, she, uh, connected with the audience in her songs, you know?

[36:45] Ben Rimalower: Yeah.

[36:46] Daniel Nolen: Um, and, uh, it's, it, and, but Lea used to do that.

[36:51] Ben Rimalower: You know, she used to be one of my favorite performers I saw in cabaret venues, you know.

[36:57] Daniel Nolen: And, um, so I don't know why she doesn't do that anymore, you know.

[37:01] Ben Rimalower: But it's, it's alienating when she performs, and it's a shame because it's impressive how good she is at the other stuff, you know.

[37:09] Daniel Nolen: Yeah, absolutely.

[37:10] Ben Rimalower: And it was lethal last night when she was the first song after, you know, I don't know, 40 minutes of talking and then it wasn't one that really cut through and made an impression.

[37:20] Daniel Nolen: Yeah, we were just craving something, and yeah, it was interesting, it was an interesting choice.

[37:25] Ben Rimalower: And like I said, and I will say just kind of my overall feelings of the whole thing is I was disappointed there wasn't as many songs, especially not more Liza stuff or big belt, uh, big Liza numbers, but when I finally kind of settled into it by like the end of the evening, I was like, okay, like now I kind of know what this is.

[37:47] Daniel Nolen: It's very, um, I mean it is a tribute to Liza and it's very insider-y at points and storytelling and a lot of its kind of quick little kissy kissy moments, but it's celebrating Liza still, you know, and everyone who's watching it has some sort of love for Liza.

[38:04] Ben Rimalower: This isn't just like some mainstream network TV.

[38:07] Daniel Nolen: No, and this, and this is the only way, you know, if it weren't for a pandemic, and, uh, if it weren't for Daniel Nardicio, this couldn't have happened.

[38:16] Ben Rimalower: You know, if we were in normal times and Liza turned 75, there would not be an NBC TV special about nobody. Liza's 75th birthday would come and go.

[38:30] Daniel Nolen: You know, it's only because the pandemic created an environment when celebrities are willing to like sort of pitch in and for no money do something in their apartment or house, you know, to contribute to a live stream, you know.

[38:50] Ben Rimalower: And in that environment, they were able to create something that's a tribute to Liza that is enjoyable for fans, but it was really meant for Liza, you know.

[38:58] Daniel Nolen: I assume she watched it.

[39:00] Ben Rimalower: But, but it wasn't, uh, you know, I don't, I know this raised money for the actor's fund.

[39:06] Daniel Nolen: I don't know who else made money off of it, you know.

[39:08] Ben Rimalower: But those people were not paid for their work, and I don't think there was any way you were gonna get people more than this to perform songs for this, you know.

[39:19] Daniel Nolen: Yeah, yeah.

[39:19] Ben Rimalower: They couldn't even get Patti LuPone and Bette Midler to say hello.

[39:24] Daniel Nolen: Just say hi, yeah.

[39:25] Ben Rimalower: Totally.

[39:25] Daniel Nolen: Well, and so by the end of it, I was like, this feels special.

[39:28] Ben Rimalower: Like I am, as a super fan, like everyone I'm sure who watched it.

[39:33] Daniel Nolen: Uh, I am, I am so happy we had this.

[39:36] Ben Rimalower: Because, like you're saying, without a pandemic, um, and without kind of everyone at their house in having time to do these things, yeah.

[39:43] Daniel Nolen: I don't think it would have happened.

[39:44] Ben Rimalower: And so yeah, the choice was not between this and the version of this you wish it were.

[39:49] Daniel Nolen: The choice is between this or not having it.

[39:52] Ben Rimalower: Yeah, absolutely, absolutely.

[39:53] Daniel Nolen: So when looking at it through that angle, it does become a lot.

[39:57] Ben Rimalower: I was much more forgiving by the end of the night.

[40:00] Daniel Nolen: Totally.

[40:00] Ben Rimalower: Um, so then, uh, Andrew Rannells, uh, says something about not meeting Liza, but how much he loves her.

[40:09] Daniel Nolen: Well, he told that great Sex and the City story.

[40:11] Ben Rimalower: Oh, right, right, right.

[40:13] Daniel Nolen: Okay, so then Mario Cantone, speaking of Sex and the City.

[40:17] Ben Rimalower: Um, fabulous, fabulous.

[40:19] Daniel Nolen: Love him.

[40:20] Ben Rimalower: Love him.

[40:20] Daniel Nolen: After Bernadette, I was like, now I'm glad Patti didn't do this.

[40:23] Ben Rimalower: But then after Mario, I was like, uh, maybe Patti would have been more like Mario, you know.

[40:27] Daniel Nolen: Yeah, I think she would have.

[40:29] Ben Rimalower: Um, then Jonathan Groff.

[40:31] Daniel Nolen: Mario's great because you feel like he might have planned what he was gonna say, but he certainly didn't write it.

[40:36] Ben Rimalower: Right, right, right.

[40:37] Daniel Nolen: Some people were like literally reading off a teleprompter.

[40:40] Ben Rimalower: Yeah.

[40:40] Daniel Nolen: Yeah.

[40:41] Ben Rimalower: You know, Mario just like turned on his phone and just spoke from his heart.

[40:47] Daniel Nolen: He, you know, he, so everything that he said was so obviously true, and like, you know, and you know, it's like if somebody gets, if I were to get on there and be like, you know, in my one man show, Bad with Money, I some, you know, you'd be sort of like, yeah, okay.

[41:04] Ben Rimalower: You know, but Mario's talking about like his like fucking one man show on Broadway and on Showtime, and like, you know, it's pretty major, you know, and, uh, that his so much of what Mario is really has been a tribute to Liza, you know.

[41:21] Daniel Nolen: Yeah.

[41:22] Ben Rimalower: Um, so I was really touched by it, and it was, uh, he's just so entertaining and delightful.

[41:28] Daniel Nolen: Yeah, I really, I really like him.

[41:30] Ben Rimalower: Um, did we meet him once?

[41:32] Daniel Nolen: Did I, did we meet him before?

[41:33] Ben Rimalower: I think I, I don't know if I've ever met him.

[41:35] Daniel Nolen: I don't think, I think some party that he was at.

[41:37] Ben Rimalower: I don't know if I ever, if I actually met him.

[41:39] Daniel Nolen: Maybe you were without me.

[41:41] Ben Rimalower: Maybe.

[41:42] Daniel Nolen: Um, someone else I recently saw out and about was Jonathan Groff.

[41:46] Ben Rimalower: Um, snack.

[41:48] Daniel Nolen: Yeah, oh my god.

[41:50] Ben Rimalower: I've never really been that into him as like, uh, you know, oh yes, honey, like look at that hot guy.

[41:57] Daniel Nolen: But last night, I don't know if it was the lighting or what, but he looked real good.

[42:01] Ben Rimalower: I, I'm just so in love with Jonathan Groff.

[42:04] Daniel Nolen: And I have been from the very first moment he came into my awareness, uh, back in Spring Awakening.

[42:11] Ben Rimalower: I'd like stays I'd like him to come into my awareness.

[42:14] Daniel Nolen: Woo!

[42:16] Ben Rimalower: I truly, truly have so much love for him.

[42:20] Daniel Nolen: Yeah.

[42:21] Ben Rimalower: I mean, he has, uh, yeah.

[42:24] Daniel Nolen: I mean, even him talking, I mean, he has this sort of like presence that I was just like, whoa, like I feel like he could be like, I mean, he is a big star, but I'm just like the older he gets, yeah, totally.

[42:24] Ben Rimalower: I feel like he has a very rich career ahead of him.

[42:39] Daniel Nolen: Totally.

[42:39] Ben Rimalower: I was thinking that too.

[42:41] Daniel Nolen: I was almost like, you know, to me, he's always just like pure porn.

[42:45] Ben Rimalower: Um, but like, uh, but I was like, could he be like Tom Hanks or something someday?

[42:50] Daniel Nolen: Like, yeah, he has a very likable quality.

[42:53] Ben Rimalower: He's so fucking likable and so likable and fuckable.

[42:56] Daniel Nolen: Um, I just, I love him.

[43:00] Ben Rimalower: I love him.

[43:00] Daniel Nolen: Who has he dated?

[43:01] Ben Rimalower: Who has he dated that I think he dated Gavin Creel and maybe Andrew Rannells.

[43:06] Daniel Nolen: I get it, Mick.

[43:06] Ben Rimalower: I some, I forget what the love triangle was.

[43:09] Daniel Nolen: Somebody else is in that too.

[43:11] Ben Rimalower: Yeah, there is a kind of a little gamut that you run through there.

[43:16] Daniel Nolen: Um, yeah, anyway, I really enjoyed, uh, his moments on the screen.

[43:21] Ben Rimalower: Yeah.

[43:22] Daniel Nolen: Um, I was way too excited when Susan Stroman popped up.

[43:27] Ben Rimalower: Yeah, Stro.

[43:29] Daniel Nolen: I, she is probably the number one person that I'm not friends with that I think I should be friends with.

[43:34] Ben Rimalower: Oh, yeah, for sure.

[43:36] Daniel Nolen: I just talk about likable.

[43:38] Ben Rimalower: Yeah, so likable.

[43:40] Daniel Nolen: Hey, it's Stro.

[43:41] Ben Rimalower: I mean, she's sort of like, um, like I'm, I can't really figure out.

[43:48] Daniel Nolen: She's like a mix of like Laura Linney and Anne Reinking.

[43:52] Daniel Nolen: Oh, yes, please. Yeah, she's just I just want her in my life. I mean she was fun to work with, too. Like, she seems like she'd be that director who just makes work really fun. If I could be like best friends with her, if she was like my best man, my marriage to Jonathan Groff.

[44:12] Ben Rimalower: Or the officiant.

[44:13] Daniel Nolen: Yeah, that would work too. And then Mario Cantone could be my best man.

[44:17] Ben Rimalower: The flower girl.

[44:20] Daniel Nolen: Uh someone else I'd want to have at my wedding, Julie fucking Halston. The one person that actually told the fucking like shit talking Liza story like we wanted. Now, it was shit about Liza and her shit talking Barbara Streisand, but I'll take it.

[44:33] Ben Rimalower: Oh my god, even better.

[44:34] Daniel Nolen: Even better. Just to clarify for any like Karen's that listen to this and get take that the wrong way. No, I did not want people to come on and talk shit about Liza.

[44:43] Ben Rimalower: No, no, no.

[44:44] Daniel Nolen: I just wanted them to come and like tell like dishy stories about their experiences with Liza. You know, I trust me, I have nothing but love for Liza.

[44:53] Ben Rimalower: Absolutely.

[44:54] Daniel Nolen: Anyway, but uh, but yeah, Julie Halston was fabulous. God, I love her. Uh I was like, I was watching her, I was like, she should play Barbara.

[45:03] Ben Rimalower: Like, I think she'd be really funny as Barbara.

[45:06] Daniel Nolen: Um sounds like he's got his own cut out for you.

[45:09] Ben Rimalower: I know, I know, I know. Uh someone who's played many women was Charles Bush uh in his apartment where we've been.

[45:17] Daniel Nolen: Actually, I was I was realizing the one one year anniversary of our going to his board.

[45:21] Ben Rimalower: Yes, he was our very last actual in-person guest on Broken Records.

[45:25] Daniel Nolen: Yeah, he was like, I'm not sure if we should still do this with the um pandemic. And we were like, I'm sure it'll be fine.

[45:32] Ben Rimalower: And then, like the entire interview, I felt like Charles Bush's face was like, it's not fine.

[45:37] Daniel Nolen: The entire interview, I was my allergies were acting up, and I was sniffling the whole time.

[45:42] Ben Rimalower: Every time we sniffled, I was like, damn you.

[45:45] Daniel Nolen: I know. I was so uncomfortable, but we got a good interview.

[45:49] Ben Rimalower: Uh, and we got and I got to finally see his uh beautiful, beautiful palace.

[45:53] Daniel Nolen: Yeah. Um, next up was J John Safakis.

[45:58] Ben Rimalower: No, yeah, next up was Dancers Over 40.

[46:01] Daniel Nolen: And I'm sorry, I just have to say this joke. Dancers over 80, more like it anyway.

[46:05] Ben Rimalower: Right.

[46:06] Daniel Nolen: 40 is is pushing it. Um, I made a note to myself to look up Candy Brown because she was fabulous.

[46:13] Ben Rimalower: Yeah, yeah.

[46:15] Daniel Nolen: Um I love that couple. Now I can't remember their names, although she sounded familiar to me, but uh that they told the story of being with Liza on her 25th birthday.

[46:25] Ben Rimalower: Oh, I see I blacked out.

[46:26] Daniel Nolen: I blacked out during this part.

[46:27] Ben Rimalower: I don't remember that.

[46:28] Daniel Nolen: It was extensive. But they they had a good story buried in there. But you know, Candy Brown is fabulous because I actually used emojis in my notes to myself. That's how you know.

[46:39] Ben Rimalower: The C V D what was it?

[46:41] Daniel Nolen: The what is the C V D stand for now?

[46:43] Ben Rimalower: Can't be denied.

[46:44] Daniel Nolen: Yeah, it can't be denied. It was hitting just right. Uh then we do a little, there's a month montage about I'm sorry, I'm sorry.

[46:53] Ben Rimalower: It was dancers over 40 plus one dancer over 12.

[46:58] Daniel Nolen: Yeah, that was Charles Kirsch.

[47:00] Ben Rimalower: Yeah, I was like, they definitely don't fit the bill of.

[47:03] Daniel Nolen: He's like, I've never worked with you, but my grandmother and grandfather were big fans of your movies.

[47:08] Ben Rimalower: Yeah, I was like, could I have sent in a video?

[47:10] Daniel Nolen: Wait. I demand answers.

[47:15] Ben Rimalower: Um, if just any fan is popping up now.

[47:18] Daniel Nolen: Um but the next one was not just any fan.

[47:18] Ben Rimalower: Not just any fan, honey.

[47:23] Daniel Nolen: And if this was uh the second song of the evening, Miss Christy Don Chenowith.

[47:28] Ben Rimalower: My my my my which I knew exactly what she was gonna sing, and I too as well.

[47:32] Daniel Nolen: I was already mad.

[47:33] Ben Rimalower: I was already mad.

[47:34] Daniel Nolen: A giant rhinestone bobblehead.

[47:36] Ben Rimalower: Yeah, I mean I loved what she was wearing. That was my favorite part.

[47:40] Daniel Nolen: Um I here's my thing with Kristen. I love her so much. She is probably she's definitely my top 10 divas.

[47:47] Ben Rimalower: Yeah.

[47:48] Daniel Nolen: Um, you know, that's my Oklahoma girl. She loves her a sonic drink, but I don't like her choices in material most of the time, especially on her albums.

[47:58] Ben Rimalower: And this I think was from her last album, maybe or her previous one.

[48:02] Daniel Nolen: I've definitely seen her sing this live, and I don't like it when she does these ballads or these big numbers.

[48:08] Ben Rimalower: It's funny, I would be with you. Like, I have felt that way for years.

[48:12] Daniel Nolen: Like, my thing about her was that she was Carol Channing, and I loved her when she um was a clown, and I did not like her when she tried to be like an emotional leading lady.

[48:12] Ben Rimalower: I did not like her in Promises Promises.

[48:23] Daniel Nolen: I did not like her in On a Clear Day and Encourse, uh, you know, but I loved her in Wicked, and I loved her in Candeed, you know.

[48:34] Ben Rimalower: On the 20th century, amazing.

[48:36] Daniel Nolen: Yes. Um, and uh then when I saw her show on Broadway last year, um, what was it called?

[48:43] Ben Rimalower: Uh Love Letter to Broadway.

[48:45] Daniel Nolen: No, that was the other one. It was uh for the girls, yeah.

[48:49] Ben Rimalower: I think so.

[48:50] Daniel Nolen: Um, she sang uh The Man That Got Away and Um Um Over the Rainbow, both of which I was like, don't why?

[48:59] Ben Rimalower: I hate you, don't do this to me.

[49:01] Daniel Nolen: I want you to be funny. And then I was like, oh fuck your mother.

[49:05] Ben Rimalower: She really did it.

[49:06] Daniel Nolen: It was really beautiful and emotional. Uh, you know, uh, talking about connecting and really like uh taking us on the emotional experience of the song.

[49:19] Ben Rimalower: She really did it for me that night.

[49:20] Daniel Nolen: And I was so moved, and it really changed my impression of what I thought she could do.

[49:25] Ben Rimalower: So I'm not sure.

[49:26] Daniel Nolen: I guess I knew this was on her album. So as soon as she came on, I was like, oh, she's gonna sing maybe this time.

[49:31] Ben Rimalower: And I was ready to take the journey.

[49:33] Daniel Nolen: And then I was like, oh, she's not doing it. She's just commenting on it.

[49:37] Ben Rimalower: This is terrible.

[49:38] Daniel Nolen: She kind of won me back over, although by the end, because she was so campy and over the top.

[49:43] Ben Rimalower: Yeah.

[49:43] Daniel Nolen: I mean, when she was like, kills everybody, oh everybody, oh, they love a winner.

[49:49] Ben Rimalower: Don't you know it, Liza?

[49:50] Daniel Nolen: Yes, they do. So nobody loved me.

[49:53] Ben Rimalower: I was like, okay, Joanne Worley, fine, you win.

[49:57] Daniel Nolen: Yeah, she really leaned into it.

[49:59] Ben Rimalower: So I liked that she was aware of it, but I was like, why wouldn't I wanted her to do an up tempo, first of all.

[50:05] Daniel Nolen: Like, that's that would have been such a little palette cleanser at this point in the evening.

[50:10] Ben Rimalower: I don't think she does up tempos for free.

[50:13] Daniel Nolen: True, true. Um, but also like the weird, there was some weird editing going on where it was like literally uh cutting away to a different camera angle with different lighting.

[50:24] Ben Rimalower: It was like two hours later in the night that they recorded the second half.

[50:27] Daniel Nolen: And they like realized that she had like like a like wardrobe incident that they hadn't like her tits were hanging out or something.

[50:33] Ben Rimalower: Like, and so it that kind of threw me off and took me out of the moment.

[50:37] Daniel Nolen: Yeah.

[50:38] Ben Rimalower: Um but I I just enjoy watching her.

[50:41] Daniel Nolen: I think she's such a star, and I loved what she was wearing.

[50:43] Ben Rimalower: And like, like you said, by the end, she kind of became her little cute Kristen.

[50:48] Daniel Nolen: Yeah, I mean, and when the song was over and she just was talking to Liza, and she's like, You know, I had to add that.

[50:53] Ben Rimalower: Hi note, Liza, I love you.

[50:55] Daniel Nolen: Like that I don't pardon my accent. Like, that was actually not bad.

[50:59] Ben Rimalower: Uh she was just like, you she's so lovable.

[51:04] Daniel Nolen: Like, I mean, like, I would like sacrifice a lot to save Kristen Shanewith's life, you know.

[51:10] Ben Rimalower: Yeah, me too.

[51:11] Daniel Nolen: Me too. How do you not just like care for that girl?

[51:14] Ben Rimalower: Yeah, yeah.

[51:15] Daniel Nolen: I mean, she's just so uh sweet and bubbly.

[51:17] Ben Rimalower: And uh I I mean, even though she does that at the end of every song, the high note, I don't mind it.

[51:22] Daniel Nolen: I do not mind it.

[51:23] Ben Rimalower: Well, it's like Patty Lapone just like belts a C at the end of every song.

[51:27] Daniel Nolen: Right.

[51:28] Ben Rimalower: Um, and again, I good on Kristen.

[51:30] Daniel Nolen: I have to give her props because she was one of the only people to sing and do a number, but she's also like a huge Broadway star.

[51:38] Ben Rimalower: And so I was glad we had that in the night.

[51:40] Daniel Nolen: Yeah.

[51:41] Ben Rimalower: Whether or not it was a song that I approved of.

[51:43] Daniel Nolen: Totally.

[51:44] Ben Rimalower: Um speaking of drunk people, you can go drunk people going on for five hours.

[51:50] Daniel Nolen: What was happening?

[51:52] Ben Rimalower: Joseph Gray, I I liked uh our friend and friend of the pod, Ryan O'Connor, was doing all these funny stories, and he said, Seriously, if you guys don't follow Ryan O'Connor, what are you wasting your time with us for?

[52:05] Daniel Nolen: He is he and his uh brilliant uh comedy partner Jason Powell, uh had the former and brilliant podcast Lady Watch that inspired us to even have one.

[52:16] Ben Rimalower: Yeah, we're we're the bus, we're the bus and truck lady watching.

[52:20] Daniel Nolen: Um and uh Ryan's Instagram stories last night were no holds barred, really taking taking you moment by moment through the live stream.

[52:30] Ben Rimalower: Yeah, and the thing he said about Joel Gray was he was like, I need to see the raw footage from this interview.

[52:37] Daniel Nolen: Because I mean, he went on for so long, you can only imagine how much they cut.

[52:40] Ben Rimalower: I just, I mean, I wish I hadn't seen it because I've been like really not into Joel Gray for some reason for like most of my life.

[52:49] Daniel Nolen: And um I tried to like be more supportive of him when like he came out of the closet.

[52:55] Ben Rimalower: Because I think part of what annoyed me was like him not being out.

[52:59] Daniel Nolen: Um and uh like I remember I really hated him in Wicked.

[53:04] Ben Rimalower: Like I felt like he seemed like a creepy child molester, and like I wish that it was George Hearn playing the part instead, you know.

[53:11] Daniel Nolen: Yeah, and also does wasn't he like because of him, like the wizard now gets like the penultimate bow in the show, which is just so crazy because that's like he's not like the second lead, you know.

[53:24] Ben Rimalower: Um, I'm not sure, but um someone was talking about that recently.

[53:28] Daniel Nolen: Yeah, I don't know. I just like I but I did, but at the time I got his audiobook of his memoir, and I actually really loved him telling the story, and it was so enjoyable.

[53:38] Ben Rimalower: And so I was like really feeling like pretty pro Joel Gray.

[53:42] Daniel Nolen: Um, but last night kind of knocked me back out of that camp.

[53:46] Ben Rimalower: Um yeah, it was uncomfortable.

[53:49] Daniel Nolen: It was uncomfortable, and um uh you know, and also because it was a wasted opportunity.

[53:55] Ben Rimalower: Like, if Joel Gray had come on and been like, okay, Liza, it's 1974. You and I are in the lobby of the Hilton in Dusseldorf, and the bar closes.

[54:08] Daniel Nolen: Who remembers what we did?

[54:10] Ben Rimalower: Like, you know, that's what you wanted, you know.

[54:12] Daniel Nolen: Yeah, yeah.

[54:13] Ben Rimalower: Or like Liza, do you remember the time that I, you know, I don't know.

[54:18] Daniel Nolen: I just I I guess the underwear, the not having his pants on story was like, I don't think it's as funny as he thinks it is, you know.

[54:26] Ben Rimalower: Um, like I I don't know, whatever.

[54:29] Daniel Nolen: It's fine. It's over. I'm grateful that he's still alive and well.

[54:32] Ben Rimalower: Yeah, yeah.

[54:33] Daniel Nolen: I mean, good news is the one who came after him was the performer who last night uh made me coin the phrase WTF hoomst the fuck.

[54:45] Ben Rimalower: Haley Swindle.

[54:46] Daniel Nolen: Fuck. I meant to Google her before we recorded, and now I just Well, I I did the I did the honors last night as I was watching, and the only credit that popped up was Madam Oh no, sorry, uh Mama Morton in Chicago, which is a credit, all right, but you know, I basically have a credit playing Mama Morton in Chicago.

[55:09] Ben Rimalower: Um, can I say something cunty?

[55:11] Daniel Nolen: Please.

[55:11] Ben Rimalower: Do you know whom she is married to?

[55:15] Daniel Nolen: Who?

[55:15] Ben Rimalower: Jack Tantliff, the casting director.

[55:18] Daniel Nolen: Oh.

[55:19] Ben Rimalower: Oh, and she's George Steinbrenner's granddaughter.

[55:24] Daniel Nolen: Uh I don't know how that is.

[55:25] Ben Rimalower: Uh, I think he was like a I'm not really sure either, but he's I think he owned the Yankees or something.

[55:29] Daniel Nolen: Um it's like when Andrew Cuomo said that he's not in the political club.

[55:33] Ben Rimalower: Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

[55:34] Daniel Nolen: Um Haley Swindall, maybe it's a bit of uh I feel like we all got swindled last night.

[55:40] Ben Rimalower: Yeah, yeah.

[55:40] Daniel Nolen: Look, I I want it to be nice. Obviously, like some of our friends think she's good, so like maybe we shouldn't be like so disrespectful to them if they're friends with her, you know.

[55:51] Ben Rimalower: But like, she is good, actually.

[55:53] Daniel Nolen: I mean, her performance was not bad.

[55:54] Ben Rimalower: She certainly can sing really well.

[55:56] Daniel Nolen: Something I didn't know, I was surprised.

[55:58] Ben Rimalower: Uh my positive takeaway was I always forget how much I love the lyric Mink and Marigold.

[56:04] Daniel Nolen: Yes, so pleasing.

[56:06] Ben Rimalower: Tripping off the tongue.

[56:07] Daniel Nolen: Just Fred Eb Genius.

[56:08] Ben Rimalower: That's a good one.

[56:08] Daniel Nolen: And she loved that song.

[56:09] Ben Rimalower: Such a good song.

[56:10] Daniel Nolen: Maybe my favorite Liza song.

[56:11] Ben Rimalower: Yeah, and she sang the shit out of it, Haleyley Swindle.

[56:14] Daniel Nolen: I mean, I just didn't want her to.

[56:15] Ben Rimalower: You know.

[56:17] Daniel Nolen: That's the uh that's a good one.

[56:19] Ben Rimalower: Can you imagine if Kristen had done that number?

[56:21] Daniel Nolen: How fucking happy we would have been?

[56:22] Ben Rimalower: Exactly.

[56:23] Daniel Nolen: Oh my god.

[56:23] Ben Rimalower: See, that's that's my point.

[56:24] Daniel Nolen: Like But Kristen's next album should be called Say Yes.

[56:29] Ben Rimalower: Totally, totally.

[56:30] Daniel Nolen: I mean, Kristen, not to get back into the weeds, but Kristen's last album for the girls, she sang all these numbers made famous by her fellow uh female performers, but it wasn't, it was like literally Judy Garland, Man That Got Away, Barbara Streisand, the way we were.

[56:45] Ben Rimalower: I was like, why don't you choose like a deeper cut that you can make your own from their discography?

[56:51] Daniel Nolen: We need to call her psychopharmacologist.

[56:53] Ben Rimalower: Mm-hmm.

[56:54] Daniel Nolen: And uh I think that if we change the flavor of bird seed, we might start to hear the song.

[57:00] Ben Rimalower: Maybe maybe we yeah, we'll switch from bird seed to just like that that bright red humming bird water.

[57:05] Daniel Nolen: Yeah, we need we need uppers, not downers.

[57:07] Ben Rimalower: Yeah, yeah.

[57:08] Daniel Nolen: Um, so speaking of downers, another uncomfortable segment was Michael York.

[57:16] Ben Rimalower: Uh again, only audio, but how did he manage to make it uncomfortable with audio only?

[57:21] Daniel Nolen: I know, I know.

[57:23] Ben Rimalower: He's gone to the Barbara Streisand school.

[57:24] Daniel Nolen: It was very cool to know though that that railway shot was the last thing they filmed in the movie.

[57:30] Ben Rimalower: Yeah.

[57:31] Daniel Nolen: I I don't even care if that's true or not. I thought that was really fantastic.

[57:35] Ben Rimalower: Yeah, totally.

[57:36] Daniel Nolen: Because I love that moment.

[57:38] Ben Rimalower: It's one of the things that I forget if it's actually taken from Isherwood or if they just made it up for the movie, but it's not in the play or you know, the musical.

[57:48] Daniel Nolen: Um, you know, and she's like, um, don't you just sometimes scream, just especially, you know.

[57:53] Ben Rimalower: It's such a great, it's such like Liza Sally Bowls, like at her most Liza Sally Bowls ish.

[57:58] Daniel Nolen: Yeah, totally totally and that and that in um oh you got you you got the toothpaste cup well but that's in the script you know I mean that's in the movie in the her line reading is so good yeah totally darling that's toothbrush glass um uh but so I I did enjoy knowing that and then the shit goes crazy honey the shit hits the fan uh Uta Lemper first of all how old is she because she looks like she's maybe barely 40 but I know she's much older.

[58:31] Daniel Nolen: She's not that much older. I mean, if she's 60, she's not more than 60.

[58:35] Ben Rimalower: Yeah, but let me look it up. I think she's probably like in her late 50s.

[58:40] Daniel Nolen: Um, that production of Cabaret in Paris where she played Sally Bowles, like I think that was... and do you remember Scott Whitman when he was another great guest on our podcast?

[58:50] Ben Rimalower: Yes, yes, I... Scott Whitman told us that an early gig that he had was directing her concert tour in Europe, and I think that was the late 80s also. Um, and she seemed... I think she was like in her early twenties at that time.

[59:05] Daniel Nolen: Yeah, so I, you know, I think she's like in her mid-late 50s, but I guess you're finding out right now or no, 57, 57, yeah. Um, but she does look good, albeit extremely plastic.

[59:17] Ben Rimalower: Does she live in New York? Because like if so, like I need to see her.

[59:22] Daniel Nolen: Yeah, yeah, and uh, I love the view from her balcony or what roof or whatever that is. Um, uh, she... they cut her off in the middle of her introduction.

[59:33] Ben Rimalower: I know, I noticed, sort of unceremoniously. I mean, I guess they knew they were giving her like the full like five and a half minute cut of Cabaret. They didn't need her like six-minute introduction.

[59:43] Daniel Nolen: But it was a little like, you know, they could have cut her off maybe more graciously. Um, I have to say, like, I mean, Uda Lemper has always been like that shit balls to the wall, crazy, like, uh, I absolutely loved it, but I do wish that I were watching it with Liza.

[1:00:04] Ben Rimalower: I wish I were watching with Liza, her hand digging into my arm.

[1:00:08] Daniel Nolen: Yeah, like I needed that aspect of it, you know. Um, but I loved it. I mean, and you gotta give it to Uda. I mean, the fact that, like, you know, Patty and Bet couldn't be bothered to do anything, you know.

[1:00:21] Ben Rimalower: She did. Like Barbara and Michael York just did like audio only. You know, most people, if they did anything at all, they just spoke. You know, Kristen had her like live-in boyfriend.

[1:00:32] Daniel Nolen: Oh no, she had Michael Orlin play for her.

[1:00:34] Ben Rimalower: So okay, fine, but whatever. Like, Uda like had a band, you know.

[1:00:38] Daniel Nolen: Uda had a band.

[1:00:40] Ben Rimalower: Several different takes with camera angles edited.

[1:00:43] Daniel Nolen: Yeah, yeah.

[1:00:44] Ben Rimalower: Including outdoor footage.

[1:00:46] Daniel Nolen: Yeah, she was excited. She was not gonna throw away her shot.

[1:00:49] Ben Rimalower: And you know what? She didn't. I mean, if you had said to me like 24 hours ago, Ben, if you had said to me, Ben, you'd said, Ben, how do you feel about Uda Lemper?

[1:01:00] Daniel Nolen: I would have said, Well, you know, Daniel, when I first became aware of her when friend of the pod Ken Russell introduced me to her recordings in the early 90s, I thought, wow, she's really interesting. She's obviously a great singer and a really dynamic performer.

[1:01:14] Ben Rimalower: She's kind of cuckoo. And a lot of times the material she does is a little alienating and like, uh, you know, uh, what's the word? Severe for my taste. You know, you know?

[1:01:24] Daniel Nolen: And then I saw her at Joe's Pub, and that pretty much was how I felt about her. And I kind of started to write her off over the years where I kind of no longer cared, with the single exception being when she starred as uh Velma opposite Ruthie Henschel's Roxy in the London cast of the revival of Cabaret, and they recorded that Chicago—thank you, Chicago.

[1:01:47] Ben Rimalower: They recorded that thrilling London cast album, and there was a thrilling TV documentary on that production with really great footage. And of course, Uda is so beautiful and so striking and dramatic and like, you know, so Brecht vile looking that they used her image on the billboards of Chicago on Broadway for decades to follow, you know, yes, but sort of lost interest in any new work she had to do, and this honestly changed it.

[1:02:13] Daniel Nolen: I am like ready to plug back in. Uda Lemper, mission accomplished. They might have paid you no money, and you might have spent, I don't know, let's say 2700 out of your own pocket to produce this batshit crazy video.

[1:02:27] Ben Rimalower: Yeah, it looks like it worked, it worked, and watching this, I mean, so cuckoo cuchooo, but it makes me want to see her on a stage in a stage. Can you imagine seeing that crazy performance on a stage somewhere?

[1:02:40] Daniel Nolen: Totally.

[1:02:40] Ben Rimalower: I would not trust her with my computer screen for an extended period of time.

[1:02:44] Daniel Nolen: Yeah, yeah, yeah. Uh, but I would like to go see her in a live theater.

[1:02:47] Ben Rimalower: Yeah, me too, as well. Which by the way is a strange way to feel about somebody because normally you'd feel safer at home.

[1:02:53] Daniel Nolen: Yeah, nothing. But I think with Uda, I want other people to be around.

[1:02:57] Ben Rimalower: Yeah, yeah, yeah, to absorb the frequency that she's emitting. On the opposite end of the spectrum, Andrea Martin.

[1:03:05] Daniel Nolen: God, God lover. Um, I think she used her old phone.

[1:03:09] Ben Rimalower: Yeah, I think she used her old flip phone.

[1:03:11] Daniel Nolen: Yeah.

[1:03:12] Ben Rimalower: Like, like has she never done a Zoom before?

[1:03:14] Daniel Nolen: I know I've seen her on Seth Rudetsky's show.

[1:03:17] Ben Rimalower: Yeah, yeah, totally. Um, but you know what? It just adds to the charm of Andrea Martin.

[1:03:21] Daniel Nolen: Yes, it did.

[1:03:23] Ben Rimalower: She doesn't know how to use a phone, or if anyone still has a razor from the early 2000s, it's gotta be Andrea Martin.

[1:03:29] Daniel Nolen: I only wish that when they'd edited this live stream, they had included the five minutes of footage of Andrea Martin trying to like order dinner on her phone.

[1:03:37] Ben Rimalower: Yeah, like screwing.

[1:03:38] Daniel Nolen: Yeah, checking her email, calling her kids. You know, I really need a 24-7 Andrea Martin Cam, is what I'm really missing for.

[1:03:48] Ben Rimalower: Yes, Andrea Cam, yeah.

[1:03:50] Daniel Nolen: Um, that would be great, actually. I would love that. She's another one, just so, so showbusy and just plugged into every, you know, little socket in the biz.

[1:04:00] Ben Rimalower: But a show biz highlight of any live stream she is a part of. Tony Award winner, the fabulous Jane Krakowski.

[1:04:10] Daniel Nolen: Looking like a million thousand bucks in her apartment that also looks like a million thousand bucks.

[1:04:18] Ben Rimalower: And also completely not personal at all.

[1:04:21] Daniel Nolen: And yet also I want to go there more than any other apartment.

[1:04:25] Ben Rimalower: Yeah, very... I mean, I actually watching this, I was like, whoa, like she could sell me on an anti-mame who only has like all white furniture in like a sterile, like, you know, mod type of apartment, and I would live for it.

[1:04:38] Daniel Nolen: I... Andrea Martin, what's her name?

[1:04:40] Ben Rimalower: Jane Krakowski, I want you.

[1:04:43] Daniel Nolen: Yeah, I mean, she first of all, she looks better than she did when she was in Stepping Out with Liza, and she was like funny.

[1:04:50] Ben Rimalower: Um, she looks like a million bucks, but she's also... we don't get, you know, the characters she's played on TV are so cold and withholding and privileged and out of touch, but I thought she was giving off so much warmth last night.

[1:05:01] Daniel Nolen: She was so sweet showing these printed out photos, you know, of her and Liza with Shelly Winters and all these other people.

[1:05:08] Ben Rimalower: And I, yeah, I was sold. I really, I am sold on the idea because we had heard the rumor that the Roundabout wanted her for Mame.

[1:05:16] Daniel Nolen: And um, I was like cautiously optimistic, but last night really put me over the edge because you said it exactly right. She's so not cold and not with lone.

[1:05:24] Ben Rimalower: She does feel so warm and human and relatable, but still just as eccentric and narcissistic and quirky and funny and diva as she does in those characters.

[1:05:36] Daniel Nolen: Yes, and put together and just looking forget. I mean, she seemed to be formally dressed, even though I feel like she was only covering like her vagina and her nipples.

[1:05:47] Ben Rimalower: Yeah, yeah.

[1:05:49] Daniel Nolen: And she was in like... was she wearing like a RuPaul's Drag Race breastplate?

[1:05:53] Ben Rimalower: Yeah, something like that. She was in like her little roly desk chair.

[1:05:58] Daniel Nolen: Um, by the way, it's the same as mine, although I'm sure hers is a better brand.

[1:06:03] Ben Rimalower: And hers is white.

[1:06:04] Daniel Nolen: Yeah, mine is brown. But it was the same chair, which really made me feel proud to be an American woman.

[1:06:09] Ben Rimalower: Yeah, it is a comfy chair too. Thank you. Um, what did she throw a like low-key dig at NBC for no reason?

[1:06:17] Daniel Nolen: No, what was that?

[1:06:18] Ben Rimalower: What was that?

[1:06:19] Daniel Nolen: I caught that at the end, the very end. I was like, like, did NBC like pass on some pilot of hers recently?

[1:06:27] Ben Rimalower: Like a gentleman.

[1:06:29] Daniel Nolen: She's so angry at NBC out of nowhere.

[1:06:31] Ben Rimalower: Yeah, I caught that too. I was really puzzled.

[1:06:34] Daniel Nolen: But then I was like, oh, I'm probably reading too much into it. But I'm glad you caught that. It was like, she was like, love, love, love Liza. Love Shelley Winters, love Tony Award winners like us.

[1:06:43] Ben Rimalower: Love, love, love, love, love, love, love. Remember when NBC had content like this on the air?

[1:06:49] Daniel Nolen: Love!

[1:06:50] Ben Rimalower: I was like, oh my. Like literally biting the hand that fed her for seven years.

[1:06:56] Daniel Nolen: Truly, truly. Um.

[1:06:58] Ben Rimalower: But in any way, it's just another little interesting thing to ponder. Speaking of interesting things to ponder.

[1:07:07] Daniel Nolen: Uh, coming live from Casa Zeta Jones.

[1:07:11] Ben Rimalower: I ain't the only one with the Z in this telecast.

[1:07:14] Daniel Nolen: That's so true. Um, yeah, Desiree Armfeldt herself, Catherine Zeta-Jones.

[1:07:21] Ben Rimalower: Uh, look, I don't... it was... I was a little puzzled. She seems humorless.

[1:07:28] Daniel Nolen: Yeah, yeah.

[1:07:29] Ben Rimalower: It's humorless, and there was something going on with her.

[1:07:37] Daniel Nolen: She made Bernadette look like Joel Gray.

[1:07:39] Ben Rimalower: Um, I was a little puzzled as what was going on with her hair. Like, I was like, is she wearing a wig?

[1:07:44] Daniel Nolen: Or is it her makeup? Was she wearing like a Madonna gangsta grill?

[1:07:48] Ben Rimalower: Something was up with her teeth too.

[1:07:51] Daniel Nolen: Yeah, I mean, I hate to come for her because she's such like the most beautiful woman alive. I was so grateful she was there.

[1:07:56] Ben Rimalower: I mean, honestly, she's such a big star, and I was so not expecting her. But I like, I believe it or not, I'm like really glad she did that, you know?

[1:08:04] Daniel Nolen: Yeah.

[1:08:05] Ben Rimalower: But I was terrified for her, by her, by her, around her. It was not safe space as long as she was involved.

[1:08:10] Daniel Nolen: Yeah, I was definitely.

[1:08:15] Ben Rimalower: Are there mental health issues there?

[1:08:18] Daniel Nolen: There are.

[1:08:18] Ben Rimalower: There are. I think she's come out as bipolar, and she's talked about that.

[1:08:22] Daniel Nolen: Um, I think she might have been somewhere in between the polls last night.

[1:08:28] Ben Rimalower: Yeah, something about the way she said that to that camera just didn't sit right with me. Um, so then okay, so then we have CZJ, and then some other man.

[1:08:39] Daniel Nolen: I can't... his name is Lionel, or no, pardon me. His name is Lionel.

[1:08:43] Ben Rimalower: I actually met him out once.

[1:08:45] Daniel Nolen: Um, mm.

[1:08:47] Ben Rimalower: No, like I think I was maybe I was with Luann, but maybe not. Maybe it was something else.

[1:08:54] Daniel Nolen: But he's definitely like good friends with Liza and like kind of in that like Manhattan Upper East Side, like that weird cabal of like gay men in show business and rich old white people of a certain age.

[1:09:10] Ben Rimalower: Like I don't know why he was part of this broadcast.

[1:09:19] Daniel Nolen: Yeah, I couldn't even... I didn't even see what his name was, and I couldn't be bothered to like.

[1:09:23] Ben Rimalower: I mean, it's funny because I'm like Facebook friends with him because I knew that he was like in Liza's circle, so when I met him, I wanted to like be closer to him.

[1:09:31] Daniel Nolen: What's his name?

[1:09:32] Ben Rimalower: Lionel?

[1:09:32] Daniel Nolen: It's like it's pronounced Lionel.

[1:09:34] Ben Rimalower: Um, what's his last name?

[1:09:36] Daniel Nolen: I don't know. I believe he's my only friend named Lionel.

[1:09:39] Ben Rimalower: Um, he uh, yeah, so I don't know. That was pretty random, but I think it was the random lube to get us ready for the best random sex of our lives.

[1:09:52] Daniel Nolen: Yes, yes.

[1:09:53] Ben Rimalower: Liza's in the oven, Ohio. Miss Pocket Posi.

[1:10:00] Daniel Nolen: Not since Mandy Patinkin stood out in the hills in the snow and sang, uh, what did he sing?

[1:10:09] Ben Rimalower: Uh, no more?

[1:10:10] Daniel Nolen: George.

[1:10:11] Ben Rimalower: No, uh, no, it was uh... yeah, lesson number eight.

[1:10:13] Daniel Nolen: Parker Posey was the Mandy Patinkin lesson number eight of this broadcast.

[1:10:19] Ben Rimalower: Yeah, wearing uh a hoodie that I would pay top dollar for Liza in Palace uh XL black hoodie, which means she bought it at the... she went and saw it and bought that at the theater.

[1:10:32] Daniel Nolen: Yeah, because you know she's not on eBay like us homosexuals, right? You know, she bought it at the merch table. Again, Parker Posey, what a gift. What an American treasure.

[1:10:41] Ben Rimalower: I’m gonna say it. I think the great Sally Bowles that we've never seen.

[1:10:47] Daniel Nolen: Oh, that I love that. I love that. Parker Posey makes me wish that I were uh bisexual.

[1:10:57] Ben Rimalower: Yeah, me too. I love that woman. I love her so much.

[1:11:00] Daniel Nolen: Love her. Like, I don't... I think we spent so much time like drinking the Parker Posey, like indie darling Kool-Aid that we never realized Parker Posey, like she's the show business royalty.

[1:11:16] Ben Rimalower: Uh, she poses quite a threat. I want her to park here.

[1:11:22] Daniel Nolen: Parker Posey in my uh garden.

[1:11:25] Ben Rimalower: Yeah. Speaking of garden, didn't our friend in front of the pod Michael Shulman tell us a story about getting like locked out of an apartment with her uh after he interviewed her for New Yorker magazine or New Yorker, and uh he said she was just as fun as you'd imagine her to be.

[1:11:40] Daniel Nolen: Yeah, totally.

[1:11:41] Ben Rimalower: Which is a lot of fun. Uh, she... I just... I... it's like her in the snow in that sweatshirt.

[1:11:52] Daniel Nolen: Yeah, and the angle of the... even though she was just holding it in her hand.

[1:11:55] Ben Rimalower: Holding in her hand, walking around. That was amazing. Like that was better than anything else I saw all year.

[1:12:04] Daniel Nolen: Right, right. Literally, like, uh, we should... we could do a whole QuaranStream just on Parker Posey's like three minutes.

[1:12:12] Ben Rimalower: Actually, Parker Posey needs to start doing daily like check-ins.

[1:12:16] Daniel Nolen: God yes for internets.

[1:12:18] Ben Rimalower: Yeah, god yes.

[1:12:19] Daniel Nolen: She... I used to see her a lot because I used to work in like the 20s, and she had the 1920s.

[1:12:26] Ben Rimalower: No, no, no, the 20 uh streets, 23rd Street to 9th, and I... before that I worked on 19th Street, and she lives around there.

[1:12:34] Daniel Nolen: So I would always see her walking around on my lunch break, and she was always just like she was last night in that hoodie, she was always wearing some sort of statement outfit.

[1:12:45] Ben Rimalower: She was never just in sweats or jeans or like a ratty old sweater. She was always in some sort of like weird uh combination of uh fashion pieces on her person walking down uh Madison Avenue.

[1:12:58] Daniel Nolen: Um, I think you should design a Parker Posey in Cabaret sweatshirt, and we should sell them.

[1:13:07] Ben Rimalower: We could get Broadway World to add them to their gift shop.

[1:13:10] Daniel Nolen: Totally.

[1:13:11] Ben Rimalower: That's not a bad idea, actually. And it also made me that, and then this is not about this, but last week I saw Bridget Everett posted a video of her in a Hello Dolly hoodie, and I was like, mmm, you know, I've been paying so much attention just to sweatshirts and t-shirts and tank tops over these past few years that I've really really missed out on the hoodie thing. There's all these hoodies I wish I now had, which I can't. Like, why didn't I buy a Hello Dolly hoodie when I had the chance? The problem is like, you know, even if you're somebody who wears a tuxedo to work every day and goes out every night in like a three-piece suit, you still want like a t-shirt for when you go to bed or whatever. But you really only wear a sweatshirt in quarantine.

[1:14:02] Daniel Nolen: Totally.

[1:14:02] Ben Rimalower: And maybe that's why I'm now realizing that I missed the boat, was because now I wear those type of clothes more than ever because I'm home all the time. You know, that Fire Island hoodie I bought last summer, I wear like every day.

[1:14:16] Daniel Nolen: Yeah.

[1:14:17] Ben Rimalower: Like me with my track suits. Like when I was buying these all a couple years ago, I was like, I don't know why I'm like compulsively wasting money on these random fucking tracksuits. Like, I don't need this in my life. I'm not, I don't even go to the gym, you know.

[1:14:32] Daniel Nolen: Right, right.

[1:14:33] Ben Rimalower: And yet somehow the universe stepped in and killed 500,000 Americans, and I made use of my wardrobe.

[1:14:40] Daniel Nolen: Right. You know, they say what art comes out of tragedy. I mean, the same can be said for fashion.

[1:14:44] Ben Rimalower: It's my fashion embrace, embrace the track suit.

[1:14:50] Daniel Nolen: True. Someone honey that I'd like to see bloom out of tragedy. John motherfucking Stamos, um, so hot. I like to imagine he this is the kind of duo that I like. Whenever Liza goes up with someone like this, I easily enjoy it.

[1:15:14] Ben Rimalower: You know, totally. I don't care what anyone says, I must believe that he took that framed autograph down from the wall and will put it back on the wall after.

[1:15:26] Daniel Nolen: Yes, yes. That brought me so much joy knowing that he has that frame. I'm not even mad that he didn't tell the story about how they left Promises, Promises, and Intermission.

[1:15:34] Ben Rimalower: Yeah, again, just barely teasing us with that info. They left to like go on an adventure or whatever he said.

[1:15:40] Daniel Nolen: I was like, drugs? Is that what you mean? Um, speaking of drugs.

[1:15:48] Ben Rimalower: Oh, next up, Jolie Fisher and Ava, something. I'm assuming that's her daughter.

[1:15:52] Daniel Nolen: I assume so.

[1:15:55] Ben Rimalower: Um again, I was a little pissed. Not even a Liza song. Not a Liza song. And frankly, kind of a slap in the face because we associate it, I mean, sure, with Judy, but we associate it with Barbara.

[1:16:05] Daniel Nolen: Well, I mean, Judy and Liza did sing that also, but I always felt like that was a slap in Liza's face.

[1:16:11] Ben Rimalower: Yeah.

[1:16:11] Daniel Nolen: Yeah. And it was sort of like, you know, by s I don't know, it was just it was weird. I mean, the daughter had a good voice, and Jolie like got through it. And like, you know, I don't care about Jolie Fisher, but I understand that she is an actual celebrity.

[1:16:30] Ben Rimalower: Yeah.

[1:16:31] Daniel Nolen: And like, she did the work. You know, it's the work. She's in that category with like Rita Wilson of sort of like B plus B plus by Association list stars who like can't really sing, but like want to sing, and because they're a B plus list, they like get to try in a way that like, you know, someone who's like their level of talent could never make it on Broadway, you know.

[1:16:59] Ben Rimalower: Right, right. The only performance of this song I've seen that's weirder was when I went over to this guy's house for a date.

[1:17:07] Daniel Nolen: And this story is delightful.

[1:17:10] Ben Rimalower: He asked me to watch a video of him singing Happy Days Get Happy with his dad.

[1:17:15] Daniel Nolen: Oh my God, oh my God.

[1:17:16] Ben Rimalower: His sister's wedding.

[1:17:18] Daniel Nolen: I was like, oh my God, I love that song.

[1:17:20] Ben Rimalower: I don't like when you talk about our first time getting together. I was like, oh yeah, I love that song. Let me see it. So I watched it. He and his dad were singing Happy Days Get Happy, and I was like, oh my God. I was like, well, that's such a great song to sing at a wedding. I love that. And I love knowing you're such a Judy Barbara queen.

[1:17:36] Daniel Nolen: And he was like, what are you talking about?

[1:17:38] Ben Rimalower: And I was like, Judy and Barbara, you know, like the song. And he was like, what do you mean? And I was like, that's when that first premiered on the Judy Garland show when Barbara Streisand was a guest and they sang that song together, both their signature songs put together. And he was like, oh, I didn't even know that. I just know it's a song from Glee.

[1:17:58] Daniel Nolen: Uh and that's when I knew that he was sex.

[1:18:02] Ben Rimalower: He was not a keeper.

[1:18:03] Daniel Nolen: Yeah.

[1:18:04] Ben Rimalower: Not even sex. I will watch some porn about people that with someone that's supposedly in their family. But I think a person and his father singing the Judy Barbara duet is disgusting.

[1:18:16] Daniel Nolen: Disgusting.

[1:18:17] Ben Rimalower: Yeah. I just I could not get over that. Like, oh, I just thought it was from Glee. That's not right. That's the problem with TV these days.

[1:18:27] Daniel Nolen: That is truly. Um, anyway, so something next step we get a little bit of some people.

[1:18:34] Ben Rimalower: So enjoyable.

[1:18:35] Daniel Nolen: So enjoyable.

[1:18:37] Ben Rimalower: Honestly, the most enjoyable performance of the night.

[1:18:40] Daniel Nolen: Yeah.

[1:18:41] Ben Rimalower: Although this is, you know, we've had this debate before. Like, this is from the New Orleans concert.

[1:18:47] Daniel Nolen: Yeah.

[1:18:47] Ben Rimalower: And I really prefer her cracky because I like when she's like, and here she's very like, goodbye. And like it's a little too like by the bookie. I like her when she completely rewrites the tune.

[1:18:59] Daniel Nolen: Yeah.

[1:18:59] Ben Rimalower: And I and she doesn't talk to the girls in this one. I like it when she's girls.

[1:19:04] Daniel Nolen: Yeah.

[1:19:04] Ben Rimalower: No, I want to hear, like, I've seen you give more than that to guy that goes next door to do the track. I like it when I can imagine, like, I've been watching the leftovers, and you know how in the leftovers, like, even after spoiler alert, he killed or Anne Dowd kills herself.

[1:19:18] Daniel Nolen: Yeah.

[1:19:18] Ben Rimalower: She's still like this specter, like haunting his every move. I think like in that moment, whenever Liza says some people, like there's actually a person standing in front of her that she's talking to. And we just can't see them. Uh anyway, so I was so happy to see some people because it's my favorite. Another people that I was happy to see. And then Billy Maestrich coming in with his Liza story that I could hear every night for the rest of my life and never get tired of it.

[1:19:44] Daniel Nolen: Every night.

[1:19:44] Ben Rimalower: And then he sings Teach Me Tonight. And he killed it.

[1:19:46] Daniel Nolen: He was so good.

[1:19:49] Ben Rimalower: I mean, the opposite of Leah Delaria. I mean, Billy was eye-fucking the camera. Making love to the camera.

[1:19:55] Daniel Nolen: I took all my clothes off. I got naked. I was in the moment. It really made me want to watch his live stream show, Billy's Place. Um, because like he just Billy really knows how to take cabaret to your living room. He makes you feel like you're at the club.

[1:20:11] Ben Rimalower: He really does. I was like, I half expected to see a waiter walk by and let me order a martini, you know? I mean, few people can really like come to you from the piano the way that Billy can.

[1:20:26] Daniel Nolen: Like, you know, like I love Rufus Wainwright, and like I love how well he plays piano, but I always just wish he would have somebody else play, like Friend of the pod, Jason Hart, um, so that Rufus can come stand at the mic and look at us. I mean, not that even at the mic, Rufus really like connects with the audience that much, but he wrote the songs, so you feel like he means it, you know. But like, you know, I mean, Tori Amos like really can like do a lot of like dancing at that keyboard, but still it's not like Billy Stritch, who really like it, it's like the piano is not an obstacle. It's literally like he has a different brain in his hands, yeah, and he has a different brain that he's using to communicate with you.

[1:21:06] Ben Rimalower: Totally like he's like, that's exactly it. Billy can like truly play the piano without his face involved.

[1:21:12] Daniel Nolen: Two separate people, yeah.

[1:21:14] Ben Rimalower: Uh I so impressive, so impressive. Um, then we get another jazz great uh Harry Connick Jr., who I haven't seen in a while, and I'd kind of honestly forgotten about him.

[1:21:26] Daniel Nolen: Not me.

[1:21:26] Ben Rimalower: I still want to suck that Connick Jr.

[1:21:29] Daniel Nolen: Oh he looked, well, I'm not gonna be mean, but say it, I'll defend him.

[1:21:36] Ben Rimalower: I looked weird.

[1:21:37] Daniel Nolen: I thought he looked a little he looked like he's put on a few pounds.

[1:21:40] Ben Rimalower: He has.

[1:21:40] Daniel Nolen: It's COVID, baby.

[1:21:42] Ben Rimalower: I love it.

[1:21:42] Daniel Nolen: Yeah, that COVID-19. But Harry, if you're listening, I love you the way you are. Gain another 10 pounds. I don't care. You just come on over here and like you call me baby, and we'll have some.

[1:21:54] Ben Rimalower: Yeah, baby. Give me give give you that Harry Connick Jr.

[1:21:59] Daniel Nolen: Uh okay, then the next one again, just I was so shocked to see John Waters because I know I mean, I guess it makes sense that they know each other, but uh he just doesn't really fit in with well.

[1:22:10] Ben Rimalower: I felt like he knows Daniel Nardicio, and like he's like obviously like so famous, you know.

[1:22:15] Daniel Nolen: Yeah, so famous. Um, I just love him so much.

[1:22:18] Ben Rimalower: Oh, did you catch him calling um Jim Caruso and uh the rest old chorus boys?

[1:22:25] Daniel Nolen: No, that's I mean, I heard him say that, but I didn't realize he was.

[1:22:28] Ben Rimalower: I was talking about Liza's at the palace.

[1:22:30] Daniel Nolen: Oh, right. That's so funny. I did I love that he said he named out Billy Stritch, though.

[1:22:35] Ben Rimalower: Yes, I love that so much. The fact I want to live in the universe where John Waters is like a fan of Billy Stritch.

[1:22:42] Daniel Nolen: Well, and I thought about it. Didn't we we all when we were in Provincetown two summers ago? Uh you were there doing Luann, and all of us went to Dina Martina together.

[1:22:54] Ben Rimalower: Yes, including Billy. And Luann and John Waters. And I remember John Waters was across the aisle. And now I'm thinking back, I'm like, I bet they talked.

[1:23:03] Daniel Nolen: I think they did.

[1:23:03] Ben Rimalower: I think you're right. Um actually, did Billy introduce us to John?

[1:23:08] Daniel Nolen: No, no, no, no. I wish.

[1:23:10] Ben Rimalower: I would have loved to meet John. Um anyway, but uh, but yeah, of course they would be friends because Billy does like, you know, basically these residencies in Provincetown. And uh, you know, and John Waters is a uh a resident.

[1:23:26] Daniel Nolen: Um speaking of which, I can't wait for us to be in Provincetown this summer.

[1:23:30] Ben Rimalower: I know. I mean, this little doing some kind of a live performance we haven't figured out yet.

[1:23:35] Daniel Nolen: I know. This really did this all the time. It's a good thing, another good benefit of COVID is it give us another year to figure out what the fuck we're doing in Pete Town.

[1:23:43] Ben Rimalower: Totally, totally. And I have yeah, this we need to talk because I have some interesting thoughts.

[1:23:48] Daniel Nolen: Oh good. So as I was saying about Catherine Zeta-Jones, um did you see her in night music?

[1:23:56] Ben Rimalower: I know you did.

[1:23:57] Daniel Nolen: You know I did. Did you like her?

[1:24:00] Ben Rimalower: Um, I did not like her very much, but I did not hate her the way Patty LuPone did.

[1:24:07] Daniel Nolen: Oh, did Patty hate her?

[1:24:08] Ben Rimalower: No, I don't think Patty saw her, but Patty shit talked her on Watch What Happens Live. Um, I feel like a lot of people hated her. Like, I thought she was okay. I thought Bernadette was only okay too. Like I didn't think either one of them was that.

[1:24:20] Daniel Nolen: I have gone to the archives to watch night that revival, but I watched the Bernadette Elaine version, which is three and a half hours long because of Elaine.

[1:24:29] Ben Rimalower: Yeah, seriously, that's all liaisons. Like, yeah, I couldn't even finish it. Like there was still like 10 minutes left, and they like closed down the link to their library.

[1:24:38] Daniel Nolen: Yeah, it was just like 15 minutes of Elaine vamping uh trying to remember the line.

[1:24:44] Ben Rimalower: Yeah, literally like the villa of the Chevy's freshmax.

[1:24:52] Daniel Nolen: Yeah, people trying to feed her lines and her just like stubbornly not taking the bait.

[1:24:56] Ben Rimalower: Yeah. Um, anyway, but this is not about a line. Nobody'd see it.

[1:25:04] Daniel Nolen: Absolutely.

[1:25:04] Ben Rimalower: And I'm here for that.

[1:25:06] Daniel Nolen: Same.

[1:25:06] Ben Rimalower: Um.

[1:25:08] Daniel Nolen: Okay, so Kathina Jimmy's next.

[1:25:11] Ben Rimalower: And uh what a lovely warm apartment she has. I just was like, I would love to like roast marshmallows in that fireplace and like the roast marshmallows on the neon sign in her window.

[1:25:22] Daniel Nolen: What is she across the street from?

[1:25:24] Ben Rimalower: I don't know. I was trying to think that I was like, I think she lives at 42nd Street. Well, I was like, it looked, it looked like such a house to me, like the living room. It looked like it was some someone's property in like upstate Connecticut, like upstate or Connecticut.

[1:25:39] Daniel Nolen: Um but it was like an apartment because you could see the city outside, and I was like, wow, like I just really enjoyed the vibe. I mean, I also hurt her the thing she said was fine, but I was mostly focused on the furnishings and the decor, and it just seemed like a lovely warm place.

[1:25:54] Ben Rimalower: I loved when she showed her boobs.

[1:25:56] Daniel Nolen: That was funny.

[1:25:57] Ben Rimalower: That was so funny at the end.

[1:25:59] Daniel Nolen: Yeah. She seems like a good time gal.

[1:26:01] Ben Rimalower: Yeah. Do you know her? Have you ever worked with her?

[1:26:04] Daniel Nolen: Uh no, I met her a couple of times, but I have never worked with her. I really love her so much.

[1:26:09] Ben Rimalower: Um.

[1:26:11] Daniel Nolen: And then, okay, then Annette McLaughlin, McLaughlin.

[1:26:16] Ben Rimalower: Your guess is as good as mine.

[1:26:17] Daniel Nolen: Oh, one thing Kathy said I wanted to touch on was I love how everyone, not everyone, but a lot of people talked about Liza's legendary Friday night parties.

[1:26:26] Ben Rimalower: Yeah.

[1:26:27] Daniel Nolen: And that, oh god, that's an that makes me so sad that.

[1:26:31] Ben Rimalower: Oh, yes. No, no, no. I don't know. The number one regret of my life.

[1:26:35] Daniel Nolen: I mean, like, I have stolen, I have hurt people. You know, the number one regret I have is that I never got to go to Liza's apartment.

[1:26:45] Ben Rimalower: Yeah, I mean, uh, Jim Caruso talks about this later, but whenever, you know, they talk about, all right, it's time to go to the piano, and then they'd have a little impromptu talent show. Like, can you imagine just the songs that were sung?

[1:26:59] Daniel Nolen: Yes.

[1:27:00] Ben Rimalower: Oh god. Anyway, so and then Annette McLaughlin, who knows?

[1:27:03] Daniel Nolen: Then Kathy Griffin by her pool.

[1:27:05] Ben Rimalower: Yes, motherfuckers. Yes, that is how you do it.

[1:27:11] Daniel Nolen: That is how you do it.

[1:27:12] Ben Rimalower: And Kathy, always good for a story, always giving us what we want. Everything, everything, everything.

[1:27:19] Daniel Nolen: I was I've never been so happy.

[1:27:21] Ben Rimalower: I have never been so happy. And it's also something that connects for so many of us. And she mentioned it. I remember when Liza was on her show, My Life on the D-List. And that was such an exciting, fun moment in that show. And Kathy was just such a, you know, an up-and-coming kind of gay icon at that point.

[1:27:41] Daniel Nolen: Yeah, we don't give her enough credit, I don't feel.

[1:27:43] Daniel Nolen: Yeah, I mean, especially she's she's kind of gotten the short end of the stick these past couple years. But I love her so much. Listen, I wanted to be on her side with the whole thing with like Andy Cohen and Anderson Cooper and everything. I certainly was not against her with the um Trump head, you know. And I wanted to be on her side with the whole Andy Cohen thing, but when I watched her video explaining it on YouTube, she was like, Wait, what happened with that? I forget. I still don't understand, but she seemed like batsh oh well the short story is just that she did the thing with Trump's head, and so she kind of got like a little bit like canceled, yeah. And then Andy Cohen and Anderson Cooper, and then Anderson Cooper CNN fired her from New Year's Eve.

[1:28:26] Ben Rimalower: Yeah.

[1:28:26] Daniel Nolen: And so I guess she was mad or hurt that Anderson Cooper didn't have her back, and Andy Andy Cohen didn't have her back when he replaced her. And the thing is, like when she I was ready to be on her side, but when I watched the video of her talking about it, she seemed so fucking crazy and unlikable.

[1:28:44] Ben Rimalower: Right.

[1:28:45] Daniel Nolen: I I do remember watching the video now, and she talks about like was there something she talked about, like cocaine or like subscribe. First of all, yeah, she was throwing all this shit at Andy Cohen that was not at all relevant. She was just like randomly trashing him, you know.

[1:28:59] Ben Rimalower: Yeah, and then she was like, she was also like not just talking about the situation with Anderson Cooper, but she was railing against, I guess, like different agents and like mutual friends that none of us have ever heard of. And so it made her seem more crazy, and she just seems so like she seemed crazy.

[1:29:19] Daniel Nolen: Yeah, I do remember this. Crazy and unlikable, you know.

[1:29:22] Ben Rimalower: Yeah, yeah.

[1:29:23] Daniel Nolen: I I mean, it was very I so then I sort of was like, eh, and I kind of tuned it out. And like I had watched like her uh, was it Hulu or Amazon Prime? Her like what happened to me when I got canceled and tried to have a comeback, you know, and I loved it. Like I'm just a Kathy fan of her work.

[1:29:38] Ben Rimalower: Yeah, I've always been.

[1:29:41] Daniel Nolen: I I need to watch that. I I've always been a fan, and um, and anyway, this moment last night really made me glorious.

[1:29:48] Ben Rimalower: Yeah, yeah.

[1:29:49] Daniel Nolen: Still, you know, she's stealing slowly stealing her way back into our hearts. And honestly, uh she, you know, it's just like Joan Rivers. Joan Rivers had her ins and outs of show business, and she had her times when she was can't, you know, not canceled, but she was definitely blacklisted by Johnny Carson, and she had to work and fight tooth and nail to you know get back on top.

[1:30:10] Ben Rimalower: And yeah, you know, that's that's show business.

[1:30:13] Daniel Nolen: Well, another another woman in show business who always gives me exactly what I want is Jim Caruso.

[1:30:19] Ben Rimalower: Yes, yes.

[1:30:21] Daniel Nolen: Um, it's Jim Caruso or What's Left of Him. I was like, I love you, I worship you. I mean, Jimmy.

[1:30:30] Ben Rimalower: I'm much less of Jim.

[1:30:31] Daniel Nolen: You know, he he just understands what the assignment is.

[1:30:35] Ben Rimalower: Totally. Totally, absolutely. Just and and he and Billy both uh, you know, their their time on camera in the show. I was like, okay, this feels like it fully embodies like the show biz that is Liza Minnelli, but that's also like uh it's not just the movies and the huge uh you know, star, the movie star that you know, households across America know. This is like the kind Liza who throws these parties and invites everyone over and like meets you at Boba Legends and asks you to music direct her show. It's like all the behind the scenes kind of stuff.

[1:31:16] Daniel Nolen: However, you know, I mean, obviously, we know Billy and Jim and we're friends with them and whatever. But like, I think if I was watching this and I was a Liza fan, you know, let's say I was in high school or I was, you know, or I lived in in Scotland or something, you know, let's say I'd never heard of Jim or even never heard of Billy, you know. What they did in this uh live stream, I would have still been able to really enjoy and appreciate.

[1:31:40] Ben Rimalower: Absolutely, absolutely. It it was just, you know, uh, although I did make a game, we should do a bump every time Jim Caruso says Elsa Peretti.

[1:31:49] Daniel Nolen: Please, please. Um I mean, just you know, Jim Crusoe's stories are tight. Like, yeah, you know, Jim Caruso, when he tells you a story, you don't worry that he's gonna get like derail into some tangent. Like he knows where the story's going, the beginning, middle, and end, and it pays off, and it's the exact amount of time you want it to be, you know.

[1:32:08] Ben Rimalower: Yes, honey.

[1:32:09] Daniel Nolen: Yeah, old school show biz, babe.

[1:32:11] Ben Rimalower: Yeah.

[1:32:12] Daniel Nolen: Speaking of old school showbiz. Old school showbiz. Ben Vereen and the the dancers.

[1:32:18] Ben Rimalower: Dancers of the Fossy Verdin Legacy.

[1:32:20] Daniel Nolen: Yeah. Ben Vereen has still got it. And if you thought Billy Stritch was eye-fucking the camera, Ben Vereen was eye-rimming the camera. I mean, that camera was doing things to me that I usually need dinner first.

[1:32:33] Ben Rimalower: Uh didn't we? I I feel like we saw we were out. I think we saw Cheetah maybe whenever we were seeing Cheetah, he was there or something.

[1:32:41] Daniel Nolen: Because I remember seeing him.

[1:32:43] Ben Rimalower: Yes, I think you're exactly right. Definitely, we definitely saw him at 54 Below in the audience. I think it was Cheetah, but maybe it was somebody else.

[1:32:52] Daniel Nolen: Yeah, and I remember being like, oh my god, it's Ben Vereen. And uh, but the only thing my only complaint about Ben Vereen was that when he referenced that Washington Square Park story with Liza.

[1:33:02] Ben Rimalower: Uh huh.

[1:33:02] Daniel Nolen: I was like, tell that fucking story, Ben.

[1:33:05] Ben Rimalower: Yeah.

[1:33:06] Daniel Nolen: I want to hear that story. I mean, you want to know who's got. I mean, speaking of people that were Liza's lovers in the 70s, Ben Vereen. I believe she used to like go below him during like in between shows that she's the Chris superstar.

[1:33:17] Ben Rimalower: Oh, wow.

[1:33:19] Daniel Nolen: Yeah, maybe he knew her. I don't know. I don't mean to be too specific. Who's to say? Um, okay, then we have Neil Marin. Uh I wrote a bad joke based on Neil Maron's presentation. I I blacked, I again, I don't remember. I blacked out. When he was like, you know, and we were having lunch with Liza, and she told me and Craig that she had the negative Soliza with a Z. I was like, there are no negatives to Liza with the Z. Ha ha. That's all I got.

[1:34:46] Daniel Nolen: Um, speaking of negative, next up Barbara only audio. Uh it was still nice that she came.

[1:34:52] Ben Rimalower: No, it was it was still nice.

[1:34:56] Daniel Nolen: It was still nice. And I was so and and honestly, no one does an audio clip like Barbara. I remember one time being at Club Coming, uh, and it was I don't remember what the occasion was, but there was all I know was there was a big uh foam cutout of Barbara Streisand's album cover walls. And um Barbara, I don't know, she didn't even call in. She had like her her agent or Jason or someone send like an audio file over uh and they played it on the loudspeaker at Club Coming and Hello L G B T Q I A frequency. Thank you so much for celebrating my new album, Walls. And I hope you're having a wonderful night at Club Arnold.

[1:34:58] Ben Rimalower: Right.

[1:34:59] Daniel Nolen: She's elbow deep in a box of triskets. Um anyway, so yeah, I was just glad she glad she uh participated. I mean, because at least she could be bothered and when Patty and Bet couldn't.

[1:35:11] Ben Rimalower: Um, next page.

[1:35:14] Daniel Nolen: Performance of the night.

[1:35:16] Ben Rimalower: Yeah, coming from the rain.

[1:35:17] Daniel Nolen: I just wrote yes, honey. I will say yes to this anytime. It made me think of you talking about um Judy Collins' later recording of um both sides now. Because like I know Melissa Manchester's original of this song so well, and I know the song so well because I love Liza's version and Barbara Cook's version and Diana Ross and Shirley Bassie. I mean, I just love this song. This is a great song. Who wrote this song?

[1:35:42] Ben Rimalower: No, it was Club Coming.

[1:35:45] Ben Rimalower: Melissa Manchester wrote it together.

[1:35:46] Daniel Nolen: Oh, she did write a Sager. Oh yeah. Wonderful. Um, yeah, so good. And she uh, but she sang it different last night. I mean, she she made it shorter and she changed a lot of the notes, and it just felt and she changed some of the words to make it you know more specific to be for her singing to Liza, and it just it really made me cry. It was so moving, it just really felt magical and special.

[1:36:13] Ben Rimalower: Yeah, this was my favorite performance as well. But since Melissa didn't, I want to share her Liza Minnelli story that she told me.

[1:36:20] Daniel Nolen: Oh, please, please.

[1:36:22] Ben Rimalower: Um I met Melissa. Um, I'm she would not remember, but I was with my uncle, and we went to see um his friend Lorna do her uh show Songs My Mother Taught Me when she was doing it when she was still really at the peak of her voice, and she was doing a run of it at the um Canon Theater in Beverly Hills, which unfortunately is no longer there, but um it's a beautiful theater, and it was a fantastic performance. And also in the house was uh Nancy Reagan.

[1:36:55] Daniel Nolen: Um so we waited in the hallway with Melissa Manchester to go in to see Lorna until Nancy Reagan, until Mrs. Reagan had been escorted out. And then we went in, and then we went out with Lorna and Melissa Manchester afterwards. Um and Melissa Manchester told us this Liza story. That one time Liza have I never told you this.

[1:37:18] Ben Rimalower: You probably have, but I don't remember it.

[1:37:19] Daniel Nolen: That at one time Liza was getting honored by Mothers Against Drunk Driving.

[1:37:25] Ben Rimalower: Oh my god, I about spit out my Coca-Cola.

[1:37:27] Daniel Nolen: Not the punchline. Um and uh Liza uh called Melissa to ask her to um perform at the tribute. And Melissa said she would be happy to, and she was available. And and Liza said, now I I was thinking you could you could sing coming from the rain. And um uh Melissa said, uh, yeah, sure, that'd be wonderful. And Liza said, you know, and when you get up there, I want you to say that you were a fan of mine before you got started in the business.

[1:38:03] Ben Rimalower: Yes, I remember that.

[1:38:04] Daniel Nolen: And that um when you were writing this song, you imagined my voice, and then what a thrill it was for you when you you finally made it, and then I recorded the song. And Lysa said, uh, okay, that that sounds great. I will say that. And so it's her time, and she's introduced, and she goes, you know, ladies and gentlemen, I just want to share with you that, you know, when I was starting off as the songwriter, um, there was an iconic, you know, voice that was in my mind. Uh, when I uh was writing this, and you know, it was a thrill later to hear my song Come In From the Rain sung by the one and only Liza Minnelli. And Liza stands up in the audience and goes, Oh my god, I had no idea. I'm just what an honor. Thank you. I'm so surprised.

[1:39:05] Ben Rimalower: Yeah, I was waiting so long and hard for him and never came.

[1:39:05] Daniel Nolen: Never came.

[1:39:11] Ben Rimalower: He did he wasn't coming.

[1:39:12] Daniel Nolen: Wasn't he actually on the bill?

[1:39:14] Ben Rimalower: No, I think they just said club coming so many times that the I substitutes.

[1:39:14] Daniel Nolen: Club coming.

[1:39:19] Ben Rimalower: Yeah.

[1:39:20] Daniel Nolen: Um he was not in the club.

[1:39:22] Ben Rimalower: Oh, weird, weird.

[1:39:24] Daniel Nolen: Um but we did have Tony Hale.

[1:39:27] Ben Rimalower: We did have Tony Hale, which I I I were telling a rest of development stories, which I actually have heard him tell a story that's uh I was hoping he would tell, but he didn't, which is uh he and his wife, like Liza befriended him and his wife when they were in that show together, and he tells this story about them sharing a cab together, and Liza and them saying like they had never seen Liza with a Z or something, and so Liza was like, Oh, you haven't seen it, and so she proceeds to like perform like a quick version of it in the backseat of this cab for them.

[1:39:52] Ben Rimalower: Oh my god.

[1:39:56] Daniel Nolen: Doing what Liza does best, which is just rewriting history. I love how she just lies.

[1:39:59] Ben Rimalower: I love how she just lies.

[1:40:01] Daniel Nolen: Speaking of which, where the fuck was Alan coming?

[1:40:01] Daniel Nolen: Oh my god.

[1:40:02] Ben Rimalower: Just like trying to catch them up. Anyway, um, but just like Jason Alexander, I love you know that these type of people love Liza and have a connection to her. You know, they're not just like theater fags.

[1:40:16] Daniel Nolen: No, totally.

[1:40:17] Ben Rimalower: Speaking of theater fags, next up, Kathy Lee Gifford sitting at a piano but never playing it.

[1:40:23] Daniel Nolen: The piano was a threat. I had such blue balls by the end of the night. I at it by the end of her segment because I was like, oh, is she gonna play? Is she gonna sing something? What's she talking about when she said, Liza, I just picture you with your top hat.

[1:40:37] Ben Rimalower: Yeah, it's like what?

[1:40:40] Daniel Nolen: Kathy Lee, Kathy Lee probably had a few glasses of Chardonnay.

[1:40:43] Ben Rimalower: Yeah, uh, but I was happy she was there.

[1:40:46] Daniel Nolen: I was happy she was there. I make actually it made me like her a lot. I don't really watch that show, so I don't I haven't really seen anything from her since I saw Carolie Carmelo in Scandalous. And um Kathy Lee, I was like, oh, she's she seems fun.

[1:41:00] Ben Rimalower: She's I really want to find Kathy Lee, and I want to make her play Dolly Concert Kill with Nancy Lamotte, Carole Carmelo, and Florence Lacey.

[1:41:09] Daniel Nolen: Wow, that'd be hard for her.

[1:41:11] Ben Rimalower: It would be hard for her.

[1:41:12] Daniel Nolen: Um who do you think she would speak of someone who's hard for her?

[1:41:18] Ben Rimalower: Hoda copy.

[1:41:20] Daniel Nolen: Speaking of people I love. I love, and I love that she did it like from the Today Show desk. My only Hoda copy story, because I've actually never seen their show.

[1:41:29] Ben Rimalower: Um but we've got to be.

[1:41:30] Daniel Nolen: The only one I've seen is the Elaine Stritch one that we've all seen.

[1:41:32] Ben Rimalower: Yes.

[1:41:33] Daniel Nolen: Yes, that's true. Uh we did her audiobook when I worked at Simon and Schuster. And um, I didn't work on it, but at one point they were like, Do you mind just going downstairs and waiting for her car and just bringing her up? And I was like, sure, no problem. So um I I'm waiting on the street. The SEV pulls up and she gets out of it, and I'm like, hi, I'm Ben with Ben Rimelar with Simon and Schuster. And she goes, Hi, Ben. And she gives me this big hug and like puts her arm around me with like her hand resting on my shoulder as we like walk into the building together and proceeds to like literally everybody in the lobby is security guards, random people walking by. She somehow like talked to them all.

[1:42:19] Ben Rimalower: Because I was very like, hi, I'm here because you're a star and someone has to help you, and I hope that you don't get mad.

[1:42:27] Daniel Nolen: And she was like, We're friends, honey. We're all friends.

[1:42:31] Ben Rimalower: Oh, that's sweet.

[1:42:32] Daniel Nolen: Yeah, she seems very warm. And honestly, like maybe she should play Mame.

[1:42:36] Ben Rimalower: Yeah, or she could play Vera and Kathy Lee could be...

[1:42:39] Daniel Nolen: Kathy Lee's got the drinks.

[1:42:41] Ben Rimalower: Yeah, that's right. Well, and I can't...

[1:42:42] Daniel Nolen: Kathy Lee's like, we can't have drugs.

[1:42:45] Ben Rimalower: Well, and I have to say, I've always respected Hoda because please.

[1:42:49] Daniel Nolen: No, I'm leaving that in. That's gonna be the clip I post on Insta.

[1:42:54] Ben Rimalower: Um I always think like I want to go on a pub crawl with Kathy Lee Gifford and Leslie Jones.

[1:43:00] Daniel Nolen: Absolutely. I would pay big money for that.

[1:43:03] Ben Rimalower: Yeah, and I don't know if this is a good thing. I'm sure Kathy Lee's Kathy Lee seems fun, but I also imagine I'm sorry, I missed it. I also imagine like she's probably had her difficult moments, and working with her, I imagine it's not a complete walk in the park.

[1:43:22] Daniel Nolen: So um, I don't know, I've always respected Hoda.

[1:43:25] Ben Rimalower: Oh, totally. I feel like that's what like Hoda stands for.

[1:43:28] Daniel Nolen: Yeah, their collaboration has always seemed to be uh sustainable.

[1:43:32] Ben Rimalower: And I feel like I think Hoda stands for like hard other, don't act like an asshole.

[1:43:39] Daniel Nolen: Hard other, don't like I act like an asshole. That's my new motto.

[1:43:43] Ben Rimalower: Um another great sidekick. Well, a star in her own right, but a great sidekick to the great Jane Fonda is Lily Tomlin.

[1:43:49] Daniel Nolen: Yes, oh my god. I at first I had a little bit of whiplash because I didn't realize she was gonna be performing like her famous characters. And then she kind of just started, she just walked right into the first one, and I was like, wait, what is happening? Am I on drugs? Like I didn't know what's going on.

[1:44:04] Ben Rimalower: And then I realized, like, oh, she's like doing her thing. I mean, I kind of like wasn't feeling it, but like I was I understand that like it was like great art given to us as a gift.

[1:44:18] Daniel Nolen: I loved it so much, and I mean, first of all, she looked crazy, and and her weird bookshelf behind her with like Jane Fonda's book. Jane Fonda book, like a photo of RuPaul like thumbtacked up on the wall, like she didn't forget.

[1:44:31] Ben Rimalower: Yeah, she forget. Uh and then when I finally I think there should have been some sort of like Liza, I brought a few people to say hi to you, you know, from my past. I hope you enjoy it. I it was just so like throwing us into the deep end. I didn't it took me a while to realize what she was doing.

[1:44:50] Daniel Nolen: And then when she did the Edith Ann one, I was like, oh, okay. I get it now. But I was a little confused for a bit.

[1:44:57] Ben Rimalower: Um anyway, but yeah, I love love Lily. I I I I mean I made me like, I don't know what it reminded me of, but I felt like it was like somebody being like, Well, I loved it too, and you know who else loved it? There's someone here that wants to say hi. Hold on.

[1:45:11] Daniel Nolen: Hello, fool, it's Mr. T.

[1:45:16] Ben Rimalower: Wow.

[1:45:18] Daniel Nolen: Yeah.

[1:45:19] Ben Rimalower: Um. I mean, maybe she does she smoke pot.

[1:45:22] Daniel Nolen: I mean, I'm sure. You know who else smokes pot? Wait, hold on, my friend is here.

[1:45:27] Ben Rimalower: Hello, darling, it's Carol Channing. By the way, speaking of surprise anal, um I had my uh iTunes on Shuffle as I was walking the other day. And um Carol Channing came on singing um glory glory, hallelujah. Wonderful.

[1:45:50] Daniel Nolen: And um it was I felt like it was like surprise Carol Channing is the new the new surprise.

[1:45:57] Ben Rimalower: Surprise anal.

[1:45:58] Daniel Nolen: Yeah. I'm hoping to get some surprise Carol Channing tonight.

[1:46:02] Ben Rimalower: Um anyway, uh Sharon Osborne, what's there to say? Then Whoopi Goldberg just phoning it in.

[1:46:10] Daniel Nolen: And yet perfect.

[1:46:11] Ben Rimalower: Just yeah, perfect, but like I'm doing my Liza dance, uh happy day. Like, didn't you feel like Megan McCain was like blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah?

[1:46:22] Daniel Nolen: And Whoopi was like, h hold on, let me do this. Hold on. She turns on the phone. Liza, it's Whoopi.

[1:46:29] Ben Rimalower: Yeah. Yeah, literally, just in the middle of whatever else her day consisted of.

[1:46:35] Daniel Nolen: Yeah.

[1:46:35] Ben Rimalower: Um, she's like, she's like, because I have learned that you gotta do these things when you think of it, or you're gonna forget.

[1:46:42] Daniel Nolen: Yeah.

[1:46:42] Ben Rimalower: So if something pops in my mind, I go with it.

[1:46:45] Daniel Nolen: Yeah, go with the flow. That's that's Whoopi's motto. Wearing those weird shoes that she makes, just smoking that pipe.

[1:46:52] Ben Rimalower: Um then Sandra Bernhard, Bernhard, which uh eh, she like sang happy birthday, and then everyone kind of tried to sing Liza with a Z, and I don't think anyone actually They all got it right.

[1:47:03] Daniel Nolen: They were all saying it's Liza with a Z, not Liza with an S.

[1:47:07] Ben Rimalower: Yes, yes. Look! That's the point is that it wouldn't be Liza with an S.

[1:47:12] Daniel Nolen: God damn it.

[1:47:13] Ben Rimalower: God damn it. As Carol Channing said, you have to double your pleasure and listen to the lyrics.

[1:47:20] Daniel Nolen: Um, I mean, you know, I just love Sandra so much, so I'm always happy to see her. And uh I love uh that she quoted her own Liza tribute that was from I forget which of her shows it's from, but where she's like, what becomes a legend most you do, lady, love you, Liza.

[1:47:40] Ben Rimalower: I love it. I love it. It was literally word for word.

[1:47:44] Daniel Nolen: Um, then Craig Ferguson, uh Carol Burnett. I've never really understood who or what Craig Ferguson is.

[1:47:53] Ben Rimalower: Me neither.

[1:47:53] Daniel Nolen: Or isn't.

[1:47:55] Ben Rimalower: Yeah. Um but I I am I I did like seeing those those photos of Liza and Carol together on the show.

[1:48:03] Daniel Nolen: Totally. I was so young, and she said, uh Carol said she was one of the first guests, blah, blah, blah.

[1:48:08] Ben Rimalower: Um, then Coco Peru, who, you know, interviewed Liza in in her conversations with Coco. The eyebrow story.

[1:48:17] Daniel Nolen: Coco also tells a really funny story about again, Liza just like taking people into her wing. Liza first met Coco and then like immediately invited her to see Barbara Streisand the next night.

[1:48:30] Ben Rimalower: So so Coco sat next to Liza Minnelli and watched Barbara Streisand sing. And then they all went backstage. Uh apparently someone told Liza to put out her cigarette and she like just ignored it.

[1:48:43] Daniel Nolen: Um, then Nicholas King question mark. Oh by the way, I loved that actor's fun commercial with Anne Hirata.

[1:48:50] Ben Rimalower: Oh yeah, that was great. And uh Michael Uri, Marcy Taylor, and what's his name? Ariel Stashel.

[1:48:56] Daniel Nolen: Yeah. Yeah, that was uh and uh and Kate Baldwin.

[1:49:00] Ben Rimalower: Kate Baldwin. Uh I just all Anne Hirata on my TV means I'm having a good day.

[1:49:06] Daniel Nolen: I know. I I feel like she should she really should. She has a series actually that's coming out. It's like a musical, it's a musical series. I forget the stars are like big stars. I forget who it is, but it's kind of cool.

[1:49:20] Ben Rimalower: Um Nicholas King, Nick Zio Bro, people I don't know.

[1:49:24] Daniel Nolen: Well, Nicholas King, I know. I've heard of him and seen him sing in a couple of like bigger, you know, like what do you call it? Like, you know, I've seen him be on the bill of some things.

[1:49:34] Ben Rimalower: Um, and uh it was weird that he didn't sing, he had the earpiece in. They must have cut it. Um I was like a little bit charmed by him, a little bit like really bitter and jealous that he would get like delivery Chinese with Liza.

[1:49:50] Daniel Nolen: Yeah, that's that sounds like a real familiar territory.

[1:49:54] Ben Rimalower: Yeah. Um and a block. Yeah, I don't know who the other two were, no clue.

[1:50:00] Daniel Nolen: Uh then we get someone we do know, Seth Sykes. Uh our friend, and and famously lived right next door to us in Fire Island all summer.

[1:50:08] Ben Rimalower: Yes. Uh I guess he lived next door to Liza the summer before.

[1:50:12] Daniel Nolen: Yeah. Um introduced, you know, and it was so conf I was so confused because he's he talked, and then I was like waiting for his video to play. I guess I missed the part where he was like at the end. But um Yeah.

[1:50:27] Ben Rimalower: Um, and then Alexis um with her, yeah, with her Liza Warhol's, uh, you know, her Liza Warhol Prince, or I guess all Warhols are Prince, but you know, whatever.

[1:50:27] Daniel Nolen: Her Liza Warhols.

[1:50:38] Ben Rimalower: And I love the Judy Neon sign.

[1:50:41] Daniel Nolen: Um and then Michael Feinstein.

[1:50:44] Ben Rimalower: Michael Feinstein. Um I realized that when he mentioned that he had talked to Liza, it's like the ultimate humble brag, because like truly, like no one is like allowed to speak to her.

[1:50:53] Daniel Nolen: So he's like the he's like so special.

[1:50:56] Ben Rimalower: Yeah, the only one. I'm like, I want to talk to Liza.

[1:51:00] Daniel Nolen: Oh no, I know.

[1:51:03] Ben Rimalower: Um, but he sang that song I love from I'm getting my act together and taking on the road, old friend.

[1:51:08] Daniel Nolen: Oh, which I loved.

[1:51:11] Ben Rimalower: And although I realize when you hear a gay man sing it, even though I've sung it all the time, but I've never listened to myself. When you hear a gay man sing it and says, and especially when he was talking about the old days of him and Liza meeting in the 80s and everything, he's like, every time I've lost another lover, I'm like, oh, to AIDS.

[1:51:29] Daniel Nolen: Um, but uh, but I was proud of him for not changing the pronouns because sometimes when Michael sings those old those, you know, when he sings I won't send roses, but he didn't. Even when he got to like um and she we wonder at my taste in he was like men. I was like, yeah, baby.

[1:51:47] Ben Rimalower: Yeah, maybe. Although he really wasted an impression because um uh and we ponder this is how this is how I would do it if I were doing it, okay. Uh and she wonders at my taste in men, and we ponder why I do it, and the pain of getting through it, and she laughs and says, Oh, darling, you'll do it again.

[1:52:07] Daniel Nolen: Well, I mean, how do you sing? How do you sing a song about Liza that quotes her and not do Liza?

[1:52:14] Ben Rimalower: Totally. What a waste. But it was a wonderful performance.

[1:52:18] Daniel Nolen: And uh I like the key change that Liza gave him uh to add to it. It really uh gives it a nice oomph at the end.

[1:52:25] Ben Rimalower: Yeah, yeah. A little, a nice little zoom in right up close to the face at the end.

[1:52:30] Daniel Nolen: Yes.

[1:52:30] Ben Rimalower: Um then we zoomed in on Seth in Pretovayarna. Zoomed into Seth and Twitter went crazy.

[1:52:38] Daniel Nolen: Twitter ain't crazy.

[1:52:40] Ben Rimalower: Uh and this was during the credits, I guess. Um so Michael, I guess, was like the final number, but then Seth was the the final, final number.

[1:52:43] Daniel Nolen: Final number.

[1:52:51] Ben Rimalower: Uh Seth was literally the like the final shot before Cut to Black and like all our computers went dead was Seth on the beach. I was like, whoa, that's that good for you, Seth.

[1:53:02] Daniel Nolen: Good for you, Seth.

[1:53:04] Ben Rimalower: Uh anyway, but yeah, overall, like I said, at the beginning I was a little like annoyed because I was like so desperate for a song, and then the songs that they were giving me like weren't hitting the spot.

[1:53:16] Daniel Nolen: But by the end of the night, I was like, okay, that's not what this was about. Like, like it was called what was it, like a love letter to Liza? Or yeah.

[1:53:23] Ben Rimalower: Uh and that's what it was. You know, it was people expressing their love for her.

[1:53:27] Daniel Nolen: And uh again, we wouldn't have gotten this in any other year.

[1:53:30] Ben Rimalower: So in any other year. I mean, also the other thing is like with performers, it's weird. Like, you know, you want people of all stripes to come and sing a Sondheim song or a Kander and Ebb song or a you know, Paul Simon song, or whatever, you know.

[1:53:44] Daniel Nolen: But like with a you kind of you don't really want people that much to sing Liza's songs, you know?

[1:53:49] Ben Rimalower: Yeah, yeah. Like, what if like you had like a million dollars to produce this? Like, can you really imagine getting like, you know, Patti and Bernadette and like you know, Gaga or whoever the fuck you want, you know, sorry, a hundred million, like to come like you know, sing like the world goes round. Is that that's not really the tribute that you had in mind, you know.

[1:54:09] Daniel Nolen: Right, right. And they were just so I mean, just so many people, like literally everyone talking about Liza. So I can't be mad at that.

[1:54:17] Ben Rimalower: Yeah. Well, now we've done our own tribute.

[1:54:20] Daniel Nolen: We've done our own tribute, the gift that keeps on giving.

[1:54:23] Ben Rimalower: Uh yeah, if you guys haven't watched it, you I don't know when this is going out, but you might still have a chance.

[1:54:30] Daniel Nolen: So um so please do, and um and continue to catch up on any uh Ben Rimalower's Broken Records episodes you might have missed.

[1:54:38] Ben Rimalower: Yeah, and there are a lot of companion episodes to this one.

[1:54:42] Daniel Nolen: I mean, for sure.

[1:54:43] Ben Rimalower: Yeah, I mean, basically every episode is a companion episode.

[1:54:46] Daniel Nolen: Basically, everyone is, but one specifically Liza uh in New Orleans, and we do Liza at Radio City with guest Billy Stritch.

[1:54:53] Ben Rimalower: Yes.

[1:54:54] Daniel Nolen: Um, so we have a lot of and make sure to watch our weekly live stream next year, some year, Tuesdays at noon Eastern, but streamable all the time on Broadway World's Facebook page or Broadway Podcast Network's YouTube page.

[1:55:09] Ben Rimalower: You can also get to the link from Broadway on Demand.

[1:55:12] Daniel Nolen: Yeah, and uh we're currently playing a really fun game there, uh, where we are a fun game called Roses and Daffodils, where we are polling our fans on who sings their favorite recordings of each song in Gypsy that Mama Rose sings from the different cast albums.

[1:55:33] Ben Rimalower: And then our next podcast episode in April is going to be us having a tombudic discussion to pour through the results of all the polls and really figure out which ones we settle on and then creating a Spotify playlist of it.

[1:55:50] Daniel Nolen: Yeah. I mean, if you think this episode has been long, like just wait for that one, honey. Because I mean it's like uh the worst edging of my life.

[1:55:58] Ben Rimalower: We just haven't we've we purposely not discussed our favorites, our you know, ranking of all the songs, and and and the listeners, you know, voting, that's all we've really seen.

[1:56:08] Daniel Nolen: So we're really good, it's gonna be a full day's work.

[1:56:12] Ben Rimalower: Quite true.

[1:56:13] Daniel Nolen: Anyway, all right.

[1:56:14] Ben Rimalower: Love you, everyone.

[1:56:15] Daniel Nolen: Love you, Liza.

[1:56:16] Ben Rimalower: Yes.

[1:56:17] Daniel Nolen: Now go out and ring them bells.

[1:56:18] Ben Rimalower: And wear a mask.

[1:56:21] Daniel Nolen: Thanks for listening to Ben Rimalower's Broken Records on Broadway World.

[1:56:25] Ben Rimalower: For more episodes, visit Broadway World, iTunes, Stitcher, or wherever podcasts do be.

[1:56:31] Daniel Nolen: This episode was edited by me, Daniel Nolen. Thanks to Emmy winning composer and lyricist Lance Horn for the broken records theme song.

[1:56:38] Ben Rimalower: Follow us both, Ben Rimalower and Daniel Nolen on all y'all's socials.

[1:56:42] Daniel Nolen: That's Ben Rimalower. B E N R I M A L O W E R.

[1:56:48] Ben Rimalower: And that's Nolan with an E, not Nolan with an A.

[1:56:50] Daniel Nolen: Because Nolan with an A, isn't it?