This transcript was automatically generated and might contain errors.

[0:00] Samantha Dawn Tuozzolo: Hey Odd Squad, it's me, Samantha Dawn Tuozzolo, your host of Odd Woman Out, a podcast where we talk to women artists about what it is like to be a woman in the entertainment industry, how to embrace our odd, and how we can hold space to lift one another up.

[0:17] Samantha Dawn Tuozzolo: Please enjoy this episode. Tell your friends to tune in, like, subscribe, and follow. And reach out to a woman in your life today and give her some love. Enjoy this episode.

[0:31] Samantha Dawn Tuozzolo: Hi, Kerry. Welcome to Odd Woman Out. We're so happy to have you.

[0:35] Kerry Butler: Thank you. Thank you so much for joining us. I know we were talking, it's been a long road. When I dreamed up this show, you were like one of my first guests that I was like, we need Kerry on the show immediately.

[0:46] Kerry Butler: Thank you. Um, we have so much to talk about. You have such an amazing career in theater and beyond. There's no way we're gonna cover it all. But I want to take it back to the beginning when you were a little girl, or whenever you first got your passion and dream to become an actress. Who was a woman influence in your life, whether that be somebody who was working professionally or somebody in your personal life?

[1:09] Kerry Butler: Well, uh, I grew up in Brooklyn, so when I first saw Annie on Broadway, that was what made me want to be an actress. And then, and no one in my family is in the business. And so then, you know, like they were having all those open casting calls. So my parents let me miss school and audition for the open casting call. And actually, and since then, that's I've been like, you know, in love and knew that that was my dream since I was nine years old. So it was Annie.

[1:36] Kerry Butler: It was Annie. It was Annie.

[1:36] Samantha Dawn Tuozzolo: Yeah. We love Annie. Um, so when you started working professionally, is there an instance of like you were learning the ropes? Is there like a woman supporting woman type of thing? Like somebody that maybe took you under their wings and like welcomed you, you know, because we hear the stories all the time of like women being catty and like this isn't my part, whatever.

[1:57] Kerry Butler: Right. But yeah, no, I haven't really had any experiences like that. Like that. I love that. That's the way it should be. Yeah. Um, I know they do say that, but no, I've had great, great experiences. Um, let's see. I feel like when I was sixteen, I started just doing my own cabaret kind of and cabarets in the city. And it was like I was a kid and then everyone else was grown up. And so I kind of like loved being around them and these were like, you know, struggling actresses, just doing it, just putting on a show.

[2:29] Kerry Butler: And um, and so I kind of definitely got support that they from them at an early, early age. Um, I'm trying to think, but yeah, and then I my first show was Blood Brothers and I did that with Carol King. I did that with um Stephanie Lawrence, who I'd seen in London, and I was like, oh my gosh. I thought she was like the most amazing actress, and so I got to work I got to I was the swing, so I got to watch her every night, and I'd watched that cast every single night and just soaked up, you know, all of because they were such great actors. I mean, can you even like Carol King?

[3:05] Kerry Butler: I'd be like, What? I know, I know. How old were you?

[3:09] Kerry Butler: Like twenty one, I guess. And she was the exactly how you'd want her to be, like so nice. Just I remember like her sitting down in our crappy basement, which was our green room of the theater, and being like, Oh, I'll get up and you can sit down, you know, like exactly how you'd hope for you. You're like, thank you so much. I didn't take it. I didn't take this. Okay. I was sitting on the dirty floor.

[3:33] Samantha Dawn Tuozzolo: Okay. That's amazing. Um, okay, so now think about a time not just specific to the industry, but in life where you've ever felt like the odd woman out.

[3:43] Kerry Butler: Oh. Um, my entire childhood. I'm like currently, right now. Um yeah, it could be now too. No, but I would say it was definitely my childhood. I was, you know, nerdy. I knew that this was what I wanted to do, and the kids made fun of me all the time.

[4:01] Samantha Dawn Tuozzolo: And it was like in Brooklyn?

[4:03] Kerry Butler: Yes. Jeez, you'd think there'd be more artistic kids in Brooklyn.

[4:06] Kerry Butler: No, it was very, very different where I grew up and when I grew up. It was like going into the city was like going to a foreign land. You know, nobody, nobody you're going to the city. You know, it was yeah. That's crazy. I didn't grow up in cool Brooklyn at all. And I was definitely, definitely an outcast. Um, but I always say, you know, that kind of strengthened me.

[4:30] Kerry Butler: Yeah. To be like, in your face, people. Yeah. I made it. You're like, Carol King's trying to give me her seat. What now? Iconic. I love that story.

[4:41] Samantha Dawn Tuozzolo: Thank you. That's amazing. Well, look at her now, Brooklyn children.

[4:47] Kerry Butler: Yeah. Um, you've had so many amazing leading lady roles. Like, we are not even gonna be able to touch on half of them from Beetlejuice to Heathers to we're gonna talk a lot about Bat Boy because I'm obsessed. You do with a capital O. Um, but do you have I know it's a hard, but do you have a favorite part that you've played and maybe a lesson you've learned about yourself through playing that role?

[5:12] Kerry Butler: Uh, for sure, my favorite is Penny in Hairspray, just because you know, it was the first time I originated role. That show was so magical. We were all so young, and it was, you know, we I created a show with my friends, and we joke that it, you know, Hairspray was the Hamilton of our day. Yeah. Where every celebrity came to see us, everyone wanted to take pictures with us.

[5:36] Kerry Butler: And so, and we started out of town in in um Seattle, and also because I wasn't the star, you know, Marissa and Harvey were the stars, they kind of just let me do whatever I wanted. So fun. So a lot of what ended up in the script was stuff like Penny sitting under the chalkboard doing a puppet show with her hands. That was just me doing it, or Penny on the side doing bad dancing. And so I feel like I just felt so creative in that moment. And you know, we're all still really, really good friends.

[6:07] Kerry Butler: And talk about women supporting women. Like if you said now, I would be like Marissa and Laura support me. I mean, it's crazy how much we support, we we turn down jobs and pass them off to the each other.

[6:17] Samantha Dawn Tuozzolo: That is so...

[6:18] Kerry Butler: We're like, you know what? Alan knows this. I'm like, I'm not right for this, but Marissa would be really right for this.

[6:23] Samantha Dawn Tuozzolo: That's amazing.

[6:24] Kerry Butler: And that is what I love hearing on this show. A lot of stories like that. I did want to talk about your friendships with Marissa and Laura because you can see it. Whatever you guys are posting on social, it is so beautiful. And especially here I go with Bat Boy again, but during Bat Boy, like you and Marissa, like from the Bat Boy fans, me. I was like, oh my god, they love each other.

[6:42] Kerry Butler: Yes. So tell tell me a little bit about how it feels to work with women who just have each other's backs.

[6:52] Kerry Butler: I would say it's really inspiring. I think like creating our own show made all of us feel so empowered. Yes. And it was never about ego. We could tell each other, like, no, you need to cut that. You need to. And as friends, we would for the most part trust each other. Um, and I think that we, yeah, it's just so great not to have an ego and to really, really be there supporting each other and to know have friends that really know this business and know.

[7:25] Kerry Butler: Oh my gosh, like recently I had a really big heartbreak in the business where like something I was like really, really attached to, and they knew that I really wanted this show to go forward. And it may still, I don't know, but it something bad happened to me, and they like got it. They and they were just so there for me.

[7:47] Samantha Dawn Tuozzolo: I love that.

[7:48] Kerry Butler: And they were crying because they were so invested in me. Like that night we had to do our show, and they were like, Carrie, I just kept thinking about what that person said to you.

[7:59] Samantha Dawn Tuozzolo: Who said it?

[8:00] Kerry Butler: Yeah, we're coming for them. Just kidding. Kind of fuck that person.

[8:07] Samantha Dawn Tuozzolo: That's really cool and beautiful. And that's what again, that's why I like started this show too, to like focus on the good parts of women. That is mostly all of it, but women get a bad rep and bad reputations, same thing. I just was repetitive because we're women, you know. Can you tell us a little bit about how the idea came for the three of you to start your own show?

[8:27] Kerry Butler: Mama I'm a big girl now. If you guys don't know what I'm talking about, on tour now.

[8:31] Samantha Dawn Tuozzolo: On tour now, get your tickets. What's the next stop?

[8:33] Kerry Butler: Oh, our next stop is um Vegas, but that's sold out. I know fun. I know, I'm really excited for Vegas.

[8:40] Kerry Butler: So fun. Then we have Pembroke, North Carolina, and Effingham, Illinois. Hello, everyone listening, go get your tickets.

[8:51] Samantha Dawn Tuozzolo: Um, so how did that start?

[8:53] Kerry Butler: So, me and Laura were doing a concert together, um, just like how you do those Broadway concerts, you know, out of town. And we were like, wait a second, it's the Hairspray anniversary. We should do a show. Like the three of us, we should get Marissa. We call Marissa, we FaceTime her, she doesn't answer. How dare! And so then we leave her this voice message. Laura's like, girl, we have this idea.

[9:07] Kerry Butler: The three of us put on a show. We're gonna call it Mama Big Girl Now. And it's gonna be our childhood. It's gonna be going from being children in this industry to becoming mamas ourselves. Like we pitched the whole idea to Marissa. Six months go by, we never heard from her.

[9:35] Samantha Dawn Tuozzolo: And then she's ghosting, you guys.

[9:39] Kerry Butler: She calls Laura about something, and Laura she about doing a concert together or something. And Laura's like, did you not get our message? We six months ago, we sent you a message, and she looked at it and she was like, I'm in. And then she was more in than us. She just, I don't know, didn't see the message, whatever. And now she wants to tell people that it was her idea.

[9:59] Samantha Dawn Tuozzolo: No, get the receipts of the timestamp of the six months.

[10:02] Kerry Butler: At the end of our show, we ended up posting that video.

[10:05] Samantha Dawn Tuozzolo: That's amazing.

[10:06] Kerry Butler: That's amazing. She just didn't get the notification.

[10:09] Samantha Dawn Tuozzolo: Yeah.

[10:09] Kerry Butler: And then she's like, Oh, I'm in. And you guys have been doing it for a while.

[10:12] Kerry Butler: Um, it was off Broadway, like a year ago.

[10:16] Samantha Dawn Tuozzolo: That's amazing.

[10:17] Kerry Butler: Yeah. And this is something I like to talk about too of like creating your own work. Like in between the gigs, right? So then the heartbreak isn't that bad because you know I still have the platform to perform 100%.

[10:31] Samantha Dawn Tuozzolo: Yes, yes, yes.

[10:32] Kerry Butler: That's right. And I think that it made us all feel empowered just that we co we were funny and that we could come up with things. And because so many people that we sort of idolized or were you know, like role models of us came and were like, no one else could have put this together but the three of you. Like it's so unique to the three of you, and like they loved it. And so it kind of made us um believe in ourselves more. Like Marissa's really directing now, and Laura is really creating her own show. And I think that it definitely empowered all of us to think that we can create our own work.

[11:13] Samantha Dawn Tuozzolo: Give you the confidence.

[11:14] Kerry Butler: Yeah, yeah. Um, I love that. So I saw an interview of you recently, or maybe not recently, somewhere saying that it was a hard transition for you to go from being, you know, ingenue to mom roles.

[11:27] Samantha Dawn Tuozzolo: I don't know if it was hard.

[11:29] Kerry Butler: Um maybe I I'm misquoting it, but I just want to talk a little bit about that.

[11:34] Kerry Butler: It was disappointing. The mom roles are way better in my opinion.

[11:40] Samantha Dawn Tuozzolo: No, they're not.

[11:41] Kerry Butler: I think so. To go from like, you know, starring in Xanadu to playing, you know, the secondary. Not that I don't love like me and girls, I loved I got yeah, you know, if I have a part that like is has really I loved it during me because it was so every part got really good laughs. And to be able to play all three parts and have people not recognize that it was the same person, that was really exciting. So in that way, but it was like boom, you're the teenager, boom, you're the mom.

[12:07] Samantha Dawn Tuozzolo: Yeah, I so I want to talk a little bit about that, especially as women like making that transition and how did you handle it? And then you're just like uh this is where I am now.

[12:16] Kerry Butler: I think more than anything, I feel so lucky. Yes. Because I love performing, and the fact that my career wasn't over when I stopped being the ingenue is something I'm very grateful for. Um it's just like growing and growing and growing even. Or continuing. I'm still here.

[12:41] Samantha Dawn Tuozzolo: Yes.

[12:42] Kerry Butler: And she's not going anywhere, people.

[12:45] Samantha Dawn Tuozzolo: No, I love that because I think there is this like idea that when women turn a certain age, you're no longer working, and it's just not true.

[12:55] Kerry Butler: I do and I do love that I get to play parts that I didn't even think I could play. Yeah. That other people have believed in me for roles that I'm like, what? Why would you eat why would you think of me as Hillary Clinton? Like that seems so far from me.

[13:11] Samantha Dawn Tuozzolo: And then you just crush it.

[13:13] Kerry Butler: Well, I don't know about that, but I did it.

[13:15] Samantha Dawn Tuozzolo: Yeah. Uh we spoke to Katie Lowe's yesterday, actually, and she was saying sort of the same thing of like things come to me that I don't even ex think that I can do, and then I do it. So it's really cool.

[13:27] Kerry Butler: And uh and just being able to have the opportunities as women continue.

[13:31] Samantha Dawn Tuozzolo: Yes.

[13:32] Kerry Butler: And in a fierce way, is just so cool and just so telling of the times and how we won't stand for the bullshit anymore.

[13:41] Samantha Dawn Tuozzolo: Okay, I have to talk to you about Gilmore Girls.

[13:43] Kerry Butler: I am like, I'm from Connecticut. Um I like pretend that I am a Gilmore girl.

[13:48] Samantha Dawn Tuozzolo: I do.

[13:49] Kerry Butler: Yeah, yeah.

[13:49] Samantha Dawn Tuozzolo: Well, you really you are a Gilmore girl.

[13:51] Kerry Butler: Yeah, but I loved it before I was on it.

[13:54] Samantha Dawn Tuozzolo: Oh my god.

[13:54] Kerry Butler: So wait, I have a story you're gonna die for.

[13:56] Samantha Dawn Tuozzolo: Tell me.

[13:57] Kerry Butler: Okay, so I also loved Gilmore Girls. But I was going to name my daughter Laura Lorelai. And then, but then I adopted my daughter and she came with her own name. So we could decided not to change it.

[14:10] Samantha Dawn Tuozzolo: Okay.

[14:10] Kerry Butler: But I was gonna name her Laura Lorelai. And call it. Like we I have I have a pic, yes, I have a picture frame with Lorelai on it, like ready for when I was adopting my daughter.

[14:19] Samantha Dawn Tuozzolo: I am so obsessed with that.

[14:20] Kerry Butler: We love Lorelai Gilmore. Shout out Lauren Graham.

[14:23] Samantha Dawn Tuozzolo: Yes, yes, yes. You're an absolute fucking icon, just like you are.

[14:26] Kerry Butler: So yeah, so I remember watching that reboot, and I was like, oh my god! Kerry Butler's in Gilmore Girls! Like that is amazing. And it was a good part too. You were on for like some pretty juicy scenes.

[14:38] Kerry Butler: Yes, so wait, I didn't even I didn't even tell you the story. That wasn't the story.

[14:41] Samantha Dawn Tuozzolo: Yes.

[14:42] Kerry Butler: Okay. Oh embarrassed. Okay, I thought that was the story.

[14:45] Samantha Dawn Tuozzolo: Tell me the story.

[14:45] Kerry Butler: Tell me the story. I could talk to you about Gilmore Girls the whole time. Hi.

[14:49] Samantha Dawn Tuozzolo: So you knew I was obsessed.

[14:51] Kerry Butler: I heard that Amy Sherman Paladino was filming a TV show in Brooklyn. Amy Sherman Paladino created Gilmore Girls, for those who don't know. So I started secreting. I don't know the book, The Secret. I never did it, but I knew what it meant.

[15:05] Samantha Dawn Tuozzolo: Yeah, yeah.

[15:05] Kerry Butler: I started secreting meeting Amy Sherman Paladino.

[15:08] Samantha Dawn Tuozzolo: Obsessed.

[15:09] Kerry Butler: One day, my agents called me. I'm doing Xanadu at the time. One day my agents call me and they're like, some producer wants to meet you. I don't know if you want to meet them. Um, but they've seen the show like 12 times. They're obsessed with the show. Would you mind meeting them after? And I was like, yeah, of course. Who it was? Amy Sherman Palladino.

[15:26] Samantha Dawn Tuozzolo: Guys, I'm about to start doing The Secret. How long were you like manifesting it before this call came through?

[15:32] Kerry Butler: I would say maybe six months.

[15:35] Samantha Dawn Tuozzolo: Okay, so what was the meeting?

[15:36] Kerry Butler: To do Gilmore Girls or to No, no, no, no, no. She just wanted to meet me after Xanadu. Like I she'd already seen the show 12 times.

[15:43] Samantha Dawn Tuozzolo: 12.

[15:44] Kerry Butler: Yes.

[15:44] Samantha Dawn Tuozzolo: Oh my gosh.

[15:45] Kerry Butler: So I met her. We became best friends. Lucky. And yeah, I know. Because she knew how much I'd loved Gilmore Girls. And like she would text me, and our text would be like Lorelai texting me.

[15:56] Samantha Dawn Tuozzolo: I'm so jealous.

[15:58] Kerry Butler: And so then she told me she was gonna put me in Gilmore Girls.

[16:04] Samantha Dawn Tuozzolo: So had you met Lauren or Kelly ever?

[16:08] Kerry Butler: No.

[16:08] Samantha Dawn Tuozzolo: So you were just going in as like, I love Gilmore Girls so much. How did you and I think I was doing I was doing a show at the time, so I had to do it on a Monday. I think I might have been doing Disaster.

[16:18] Kerry Butler: Okay.

[16:19] Samantha Dawn Tuozzolo: If that seems like right time frame. I don't know. Um, and so yeah, they flew me in and they just did it on my day off. And I had a recurring role, so I had to come back a few times, but I think I always did it on a Monday, maybe.

[16:30] Kerry Butler: Were you like normal when you walked in? You're like, I'm just here to do my job, or are you like a half school and I love this so much?

[16:35] Kerry Butler: I also went on the tour, I got to see the gazebo. And I was with Sutton Foster because she was on at the same time. She was freaking out too. Stars Hollow musical is so iconic, you guys. If you haven't watched Gilmore Girls with a Year in the Life, go.

[16:50] Samantha Dawn Tuozzolo: Yeah.

[16:50] Kerry Butler: Yeah, because they start therapy, I think, in the end of the first.

[16:54] Samantha Dawn Tuozzolo: Yes.

[16:55] Kerry Butler: Yes.

[16:56] Samantha Dawn Tuozzolo: Yeah.

[16:56] Kerry Butler: And so me and Sutton were both freaking out, like going around. She was freaking out as well.

[17:00] Samantha Dawn Tuozzolo: Oh yeah, she loves Gilmore Girls too.

[17:02] Kerry Butler: This is so good. And so, you know, to be sitting in the makeup chair next to, you know, Miss Patty or whoever.

[17:11] Samantha Dawn Tuozzolo: Bye bet.

[17:12] Kerry Butler: Oh my god, I'm obsessed. So did you like say guys, I just have to tell you, I love Gilmore Girls before we start, or were you just like, okay, I'm gonna be normal and two by two. And Amy, the sweetest, was you know, talking me up to them. And so um Lauren had already done Broadway, so she knew who I was, and so they were so, and of course, um my scenes were with Lauren and Kelly.

[17:35] Samantha Dawn Tuozzolo: Lauren and Kelly.

[17:37] Kerry Butler: And of course Kelly. A fucking Broadway legends. Chorus line. Did you read her memoir?

[17:41] Samantha Dawn Tuozzolo: No.

[17:42] Kerry Butler: Her memoir is stellar, I highly recommend.

[17:44] Samantha Dawn Tuozzolo: Okay.

[17:44] Kerry Butler: You can borrow mine if you're. Anyway, they both were very, very nice to me and respectful because they loved it. Broadway too.

[17:49] Samantha Dawn Tuozzolo: Yeah.

[17:50] Kerry Butler: I'm this is my favorite story I've ever had on this podcast. Sorry to anybody else who's been here. But this is amazing. I love that so much.

[17:57] Samantha Dawn Tuozzolo: Okay, I have to talk about Bat Boy.

[18:01] Kerry Butler: Yes.

[18:01] Samantha Dawn Tuozzolo: Because I also think it's so amazing that you got to be in it as Shelly and then come back how many years later?

[18:09] Kerry Butler: Uh I think 24, maybe.

[18:11] Samantha Dawn Tuozzolo: 24 years later as Meredith.

[18:13] Kerry Butler: So tell me a little bit about going back into this show as a new character. Did you ever like get confused over to like your body like wanting to be Shelly?

[18:24] Kerry Butler: Confused. I felt so bad for Gabby because I would constantly take her lines. Especially in the songs. I would always want to go to her harmony.

[18:34] Samantha Dawn Tuozzolo: Well, I can imagine it's in you.

[18:36] Kerry Butler: Yes. And you know, New York City Center is only two weeks. If we had a longer time, then I definitely would have been better, I would say.

[18:45] Samantha Dawn Tuozzolo: Um you were stellar.

[18:46] Kerry Butler: But I I mean better in terms of like not stealing those lines during rehearsal. Um because I think I hadn't even touched on Three Bedroom House, and I thought I knew it, but we hadn't really touched it until like the next day we were doing it for the press. And I was like, Oh my, oh my god. And I had to drill it that night like crazy because I constantly wanted to go to Gabby's parts.

[19:12] Samantha Dawn Tuozzolo: Yeah.

[19:13] Kerry Butler: That is so hysterical.

[19:15] Samantha Dawn Tuozzolo: So it came to you through Alex Timbers.

[19:18] Kerry Butler: Yes.

[19:19] Samantha Dawn Tuozzolo: Who's a good friend of yours, right?

[19:21] Kerry Butler: Shout out to Alex Timbers. Alex Timbers saw Mama. Let's call Nick. Let's call let's cold call him. I'm just kidding.

[19:26] Samantha Dawn Tuozzolo: I would love to imagine.

[19:27] Kerry Butler: Alex Timbers saw Mama Big Girl Now, and afterwards he said, Carrie, I'm gonna find your next role. And then it was Meredith.

[19:34] Samantha Dawn Tuozzolo: And then it was Meredith. But how cool that you got to do both. So it came to you through Alex, and were you like immediately yes?

[19:40] Kerry Butler: A hundred percent.

[19:41] Samantha Dawn Tuozzolo: You were like, no questions.

[19:43] Kerry Butler: Yeah, I had like this doesn't happen very often my career, but I had other um offers and big, big offers, like for a lot of money and big great people who I definitely would want to work with.

[19:54] Samantha Dawn Tuozzolo: Yeah.

[19:55] Kerry Butler: But I just knew in my gut that I had to do this with Alex.

[20:00] Samantha Dawn Tuozzolo: Can I say that like just like you said, City Center's a two-week rehearsal process? It felt like a full Broadway production.

[20:05] Kerry Butler: I know, and I knew Alex would do that.

[20:09] Samantha Dawn Tuozzolo: It is okay.

[20:11] Kerry Butler: It was so stellar. Do you have a favorite memory from that process that you can share with us?

[20:16] Kerry Butler: From City Center? Yeah, just from doing Bat Boy at City Center. Oh, okay. Yeah. I mean, I might start crying. But like Alex Timbers built in um this entrance applause for me in the beginning, and I was so nervous because I was like, what if nobody applauds?

[20:32] Kerry Butler: Like this is a big moment that he's setting up for me. And so the first time I did it, and it was like this huge applause, and I was like, oh my gosh. And also like after I did Three Bedroom House, like the it stood in the house. The show and it was like unbelievable. It was like something I never experienced. To be back like in the world of Bat Boy all the time. And just later, like the love that I felt because it's so many people and hearing that like love for you was overwhelming. I was crying from that, from the response that we got.

[21:10] Samantha Dawn Tuozzolo: I mean, do you have any tea? Like, will we see Bat Boy again?

[21:13] Kerry Butler: I hope. There's Tom.

[21:16] Samantha Dawn Tuozzolo: Is there?

[21:16] Kerry Butler: Yeah.

[21:17] Samantha Dawn Tuozzolo: Can you give us some tea?

[21:18] Kerry Butler: That's the tea. That's the tea. That they're trying to make it happen. If anybody's listening right now, can you please bring Bat Boy back? Because the people want it.

[21:25] Samantha Dawn Tuozzolo: They do want it.

[21:26] Kerry Butler: The people want it very, very badly. You know, for two weeks and we got on all these like best of 2025 lists.

[21:35] Samantha Dawn Tuozzolo: Yes.

[21:36] Kerry Butler: No, and it was such a hit. And like I had friends involved in the production, so I came multiple times, but I genuinely loved it. I'm not even just like trying to support my friends, you know. I'm like, I need to be here as much as I can, and I was. Seeing it on Halloween was fun. Also.

[21:54] Samantha Dawn Tuozzolo: Well, congratulations on that. I mean, on everything, but like fresh in my head.

[21:59] Kerry Butler: Yeah, no, it was an experience of a lifetime. Even if I hope it has a life, but even if it doesn't, like I will cherish that memory forever.

[22:10] Samantha Dawn Tuozzolo: Yeah.

[22:11] Kerry Butler: It was like a career highlight. Shout out to Bat Boy.

[22:15] Samantha Dawn Tuozzolo: Okay, so you said your favorite memory was definitely being Penny.

[22:18] Kerry Butler: Yes.

[22:19] Samantha Dawn Tuozzolo: But give me another one. So we have Beetlejuice, Heathers. You have so many amazing. Xanadu. Can you tell us why? And like maybe a nice like a woman supporting woman story from Xanadu, or not even that, or just like a fun memory you have from that process.

[22:37] Kerry Butler: Um, well, again, it was something that I was petrified of and really wasn't sure I could do because I'm the most uncoordinated person that you will ever meet. Can I tell?

[22:48] Samantha Dawn Tuozzolo: Yes, you can.

[22:49] Kerry Butler: Anyone could tell from any dance number you see me in. Um, so and then when they called up to offer me the part, I had already done like a reading of it, and actually the role was gonna go to Jane Krakowski because they wanted a star, and then she turned it down, and so they came back to me and they called me, would you want to do it? And I was like, Yeah, and they like, and do you know how to roller skate? And I'm like, Yeah. And my husband, my husband got a phone and he was like, Did you just tell them you know how to roller skate? And I was like, Yeah, I used to go to roller disco parties all the time when I was little. So four, yeah, but I did have that in the show too. Yeah, so it was okay.

But I so I thought for sure, but I didn't know I had to do tricks. And so I started, I started right away, and we didn't have the set, so I couldn't practice. So I'm practicing in Central Park on the bumpy pavement, and then I'm practicing in, you know, like dance studios. And I thought I was in really, really great shape. And I go into rehearsal, and it was like I it wasn't acting while I was skating. So all I could think of was like, okay, push off on my right foot, stop with my left foot, all this technology, and I couldn't act, I couldn't sing for like the first two weeks. Let's talk. And Chris Ashley, he said I was almost fired.

[24:06] Samantha Dawn Tuozzolo: No, seriously.

[24:08] Kerry Butler: Because yeah, they were scared. Yeah, I couldn't do it. And I would have skating lessons on my lunch break. I would just I worked so, so, so hard. And I knew that I was in trouble, and I didn't, I just kept going every night. I would go home and rehearse everything that we did during the day until late at night. And uh, and then it ended up being like, you know, the highlights of my career.

[24:32] Samantha Dawn Tuozzolo: Yeah, that's amazing. It just goes to show you like when you want something bad enough, yeah. You can do it. And if you work hard enough, yeah. Pra how do you get to Carnegie Hall? Practice.

[24:39] Kerry Butler: Practice, practice. Practice, practice, practice.

[24:43] Samantha Dawn Tuozzolo: So, how do you keep you've been doing this a long time? How do you keep your passion alive for the arts and how do you juggle it all?

[24:53] Kerry Butler: Um, so my passion is alive for the audiences. I think that um, especially when the world is so divided, theater is the place, and I really found this during COVID, like, and it did it for me, where I felt like, you know, you're in a room with a bunch of strangers and you're laughing at the same things and you're crying at the same things, and it's like how that's how we connect and how we see each other's humanity. Right. So it doesn't have to be a show that's like, this is what you should believe. It's it could be anything. Yeah, it could just be a comedy, just laughing against us next to a stranger. And so I think getting that gift when I go to shows and giving that gift is something that keeps me going and makes me want to keep doing it. And also I just I love the family of being in a theater. That's my favorite thing.

[25:45] Samantha Dawn Tuozzolo: Yeah.

[25:45] Kerry Butler: And I'm still very connected to that little girl with that dream. Every time I go into a stage door, I say thank you. I always make sure I do that. Every time I open the stage door for a Bradley show, I say thank you.

[25:59] Samantha Dawn Tuozzolo: I'm crying.

[26:00] Kerry Butler: That is so beautiful. It's because it's so important to remember like what brought us here in the first place. We didn't just like wake up as an adult and say, I mean, I'm sure some people do.

[26:10] Samantha Dawn Tuozzolo: Some people, yeah.

[26:11] Kerry Butler: But I feel like a majority of people existing in this community are theater nerds and grew up loving theater. Had the mean kids in Brooklyn.

[26:19] Samantha Dawn Tuozzolo: I hate those kids.

[26:21] Kerry Butler: I hate those Brooklyn kids. Um, I think that's so beautiful, and thank you for sharing that. So, what advice would you give to any of our odd women listening that might have, you know, their insecurities in the way of an audition or feeling like they're might not be good enough, or they're not standing up to expectations that are drilled in society for women to look or be, and it's changing a lot.

[26:47] Samantha Dawn Tuozzolo: Yeah.

[26:48] Kerry Butler: But it still exists. Yeah. So what is your advice to the odd woman for the odd squad?

[26:53] Kerry Butler: I would say once I started embracing the things that I'm insecure about, that's when my career took off. So I love that. You are special just the way you are. Don't try and be the next me. Don't try and be the next Kristen Chenoweth. Just find the thing that is unique about you. And it's probably the thing that you're embarrassed about. Once I embraced my inner nerdiness, my inner dorkiness, that's when I found my comedy, and that's when I started working.

[27:26] Samantha Dawn Tuozzolo: Yeah.

[27:26] Kerry Butler: And also, like, you know, I have a crooked tooth. I never fixed.

[27:30] Samantha Dawn Tuozzolo: I have one too.

[27:33] Kerry Butler: I'm a terrible dancer. And I still had done 12 Broadway shows. I'm a terrible dancer. There's no reason I should be on Broadway. Except for when you made the dance moves for Penny. You created the character up with being.

[27:45] Kerry Butler: I've done that for all of my parts. It's a character trait in all of them. And it works. You gotta you gotta find what works and you gotta keep it moving.

[27:56] Samantha Dawn Tuozzolo: Yeah, yeah. I love that advice. That's so good. We haven't had that yet.

[28:00] Kerry Butler: Oh good. You're the first one to give that one.

[28:02] Samantha Dawn Tuozzolo: Um, so you just finished your run in Heathers.

[28:05] Kerry Butler: Yes.

[28:05] Samantha Dawn Tuozzolo: Just let everybody know why they should go see Heathers.

[28:08] Kerry Butler: Um, I mean, the kids love it. It's so fun. The music is so great, and the cast is incredible.

[28:15] Samantha Dawn Tuozzolo: Yeah, and it they are amazing.

[28:17] Kerry Butler: This is so good. So I feel like so many people out there love Heathers. And so go see a professional company do it off Broadway. You won't be disappointed.

[28:28] Samantha Dawn Tuozzolo: And what was your favorite part about that character?

[28:31] Kerry Butler: Um, my favorite part was actually being backstage with the girls. We all shared a dressing room, which I was very nervous about. And it was like less than these two tables. That's how big it was. If I moved my chair, I would bump into somebody, and I was nervous, you know, being like old. Talk about being the odd man out. I'm like so much older than everyone. I was nervous being in the dressing room that I feel out of place.

[28:55] Samantha Dawn Tuozzolo: You literally look the same age, but I'm not.

[28:59] Kerry Butler: And so I would be I was nervous when I started, but they kept me young, and I would always joke, you guys are keeping me young. It's like Mean Girls, isn't that your line of Mean Girls?

[29:08] Samantha Dawn Tuozzolo: Did it was it?

[29:09] Kerry Butler: I don't know.

[29:10] Samantha Dawn Tuozzolo: I don't know, but for sure it wasn't Heathers because I'm way older than I didn't wing girls.

[29:14] Kerry Butler: Carrie, thank you so much for coming on Odd Woman Out. This has been so much fun. I have to tell you, like, I'm a huge Broadway fan, obviously, and your amazing Broadway resume, but I was so excited to talk about Gilmore Girls.

[29:26] Kerry Butler: Thanks.

[29:27] Samantha Dawn Tuozzolo: I mean, yeah, shout out to the therapist.

[29:29] Kerry Butler: And I know.

[29:30] Samantha Dawn Tuozzolo: What's what was her name?

[29:31] Kerry Butler: Claudia.

[29:32] Samantha Dawn Tuozzolo: Claudia, that's incredible.

[29:34] Kerry Butler: No, it was Claudia.

[29:36] Samantha Dawn Tuozzolo: A hundred percent was Claudia the therapist. And shout out to Gilmore Girls and shout out to Amy Sherman-Palladino. We'll see you on Odd Woman Out soon. Thank you, Carrie. You're the best. This is so much fun.

[29:49] Kerry Butler: That was fun.

[29:50] Samantha Dawn Tuozzolo: Hey, Odd Squad, it's me again, Samantha Dawn Tuozzolo. Thank you so much for tuning into this episode. Please like, subscribe, and follow. We will be releasing new episodes on most Fridays. So follow us on social media to keep up at Odd Woman Show on Instagram and TikTok. And you can follow me at Sammy Tutz. And I'm done.