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Lauren Graham appeared last week at Seth’s Broadway Chatterbox, as we previously mentioned. Video of her interview is now up! It’s a fantastic interview, and 45-minutes of Lauren’s fast-paced wit (it’s just hilarious)! We also get to learn how Lauren Graham landed the part of Lorelai Gilmore!
The interview is in 5-parts, and I’ll summarize points in each part as best I can:
Lauren talks about how she first called Seth’s radio show, sharing she’s actually really shy! She talks about her childhood and how she was a vegetarian for a time as a child because she wanted to be a veterinarian… until she got bored and ate a salami. She also talks about the theater she did as a kid, as well as her other childhood performances. She credits her father for taking her to lots of Broadway shows, as well as her early enjoyment of performing, with how her career kind of played out.
Lauren re-tells the story of her first taste of theatrical humility, which she also told on Letterman. She also talks about going to school for acting, which she was able to do on scholarship, and her early work in acting (including being a mascot!).
Lauren also shares that she doesn’t really get paid for all those Gilmore Girls re-runs. The scale of payout on cable re-runs and online episodes is not much, I think she’s saying.
Lauren shares her first ‘big break’ was for NewsRadio. Getting the test deal for that gave her the encouragement she needed to move to LA and pursue her dreams. She shares a pilot she worked on, though that pilot isn’t listed on her imdb profile. She talks about her first movie, Nightwatch, and where she first lived in LA.
Lauren talks about how she got involved with Gilmore Girls and how, when she first had the script, she wasn’t available for it. Lauren says she knew what Lorelai should sound like and, when the network still hadn’t decided on a lead, someone made a deal to get her in to test for it (skipped her right past the audition).
“They brought me in with one other person. I tested and got it that day. It never happens like that, PS, and it was my birthday! Come on!”
She admits to feeling “too young to play a mom” once she met Alexis, though her vision of Lorelai was more about Lorelai, and not about being a mom.
Lauren Graham then talks about Kelly Bishop singing “At the Ballet,” and how amazing she is. Lauren shares she is still great friends with Kelly Bishop.
“She’s amazing, she’s still a dear friend…. She’s so professional in the way that I now know Broadway dancers to be, in particular… She never, ever complained. I mean, she bitched, but she wouldn’t complain. She wouldn’t like, ‘Well, I don’t think…’ She would always be completely prepared and always, like, incredibly together and was just an example in her conduct…. it was hard, it was a really hard job… When I say ‘bitched’, I just mean, we’d all just sit around and say ‘Oh, God, this is crazy’ and whatever. But once it came time to ‘Go’, she’d do whatever was asked of her and be amazing every time.”
Seth asks Lauren if she’d seen the MadTV Gilmore Girls spoof, and she said she hadn’t, though she’d lived it. ;)
Finally, Lauren talked about how she got involved in Guys and Dolls. She shares she’d like to do more theater work.
Lauren talks about her pilot, Let it Go / The Bridget Show, which sadly wasn’t picked up by ABC. She could feel that pieces of the show weren’t right and, therefore, wasn’t devastated that the show wasn’t put through.
In the last segment, she talks about Guys and Dolls more and why she was so happy with the revival, even if it wasn’t perfect. She talks about how it took her some time to hit her stride, with confidence, and how she’d have the experience not to do that in future theatrical work. Great advice in her discussion of this aspect of her work. You can also see her perform “Adelaide’s Lament”.
Thank you, Claire!! It was awesome of you to share your experience with Arieanna so we could all hear about it! It’s great to hear stuff like this because I’ve read a few things people have written about how Lauren can be kind of rude to fans sometimes. I actually met her, very briefly, after a show of Guys and Dolls a few months ago and thought she was incredibly nice. Again, she took time to pose for pics, she signed stuff, and talked with the fans!
It sounds like you had an amazing experience! It was fun just to watch the interview so seeing it in person must have been incredible. I was thrilled just to actually see her in person for a few minutes after the show, but you had an experience (and got a picture with her!) that most GG fans only dream about! Thanks again for sharing!
Lynn, It was at a piano bar in NYC – Seth is a famous accompaniest or whatever on Broadway & he does a weekly show on Broadway World radio with stars & rising stars.
I actually found out about it on Twitter & called up really quickly to get tickets – there were only about thirty people there so it was really intimate – it was a $10 charge to get in & a two drink minimum – all the money went to an AIDS charity.
As for taking pics with fans – they don’t usually do this at Seth’s show but since the official camera wasn’t working they said we could take pics at the end & then the manager said that Lauren would pose with anyone who wanted an individual pic for a $5 donation to the AIDS charity – well worth it!
She was really genuine & lovely & took a little time with everyone to thank them for coming & have a little chat – she actually came across as quite shy at this point which was quite endearing after her confident interview!!!
All in, it was a great night!!
OMG! Thank you sooooo much for taking the time for posting all this! I’ve rushed through the interview to see what she talked about and now I’ll watch it once again to enjoy the interview. I wonder how she felt about all the fans she went to see her, I mean, she had quite a gathering every night. Did she mention anything about that?
Anyhow, thanks for posting!!!
Wow,I wish I can watch Lauren inteview’s video but I can’t because I’m deaf. I’m glad heard that she still contact and friend with Kelly Bishop
What an awesome interview, thanks for posting! So much better than the usual 5-10 mins they do on talk shows. They covered so many topics and we got to hear some new stories. She seemed so relaxed and was hilarious! Loved the comment she made when he refered to G&D as ‘Guys and Hoes.’ “Why are only the women sluts?” …so funny!
What was this, you see people at tables being served drinks… how did people find out about this and could anyone attend? And she took pics with fans after? Anyways, very fun to watch, thanks so much for posting!
Thanks for sharing this interview! I had really a good time watching it, LG is full of wit and humor!
Best LG interview/overview I ever heard, thanks for posting the full links. I actually remember the guest arc Lauren did on NewsRadio as the ratioanlly insane efficiency expert and it was this rememberance that made me realize I had tripped over Gilmore Girls during an episode of channel surfing in spring of 04 when I stopped to watch the “young” Lorelai/Chris snippet which fast forwarded to Lauren in the hospital for Rory with Sheri/Gigi birth plotline. Then a couple of weeks later I ran across GG again at the start of what was obviously the pilot episode and I have been hooked as a fan ever since.
Good comments, Cheri! I feel the same way. I love when LG talks about how shy and awkward she is because I can totally relate. Yet she manages to overcome it in her interviews by being extra bubbly, a little rambling (not that rambling is an adjective) and just overall adorable.
I really loved this interview. There was a lot of stuff that I already knew, but there was a lot of new stuff,too. Loved hearing how she felt while doing Guys and Dolls. Felt sad that she was putting so much responsiblity on herself. That had to have taken a lot of the enjoyment out of doing the show for her. Liked hearing how she felt about the pilot. I wonder if there had been more time to work on it and she didn’t have to keep flying back and forth between NY and LA to do it if it would have been better. Well, it is best that it didn’t get picked up if she wasn’t really happy with it. Loved how relaxed she was during this and funny and how long it is. I wish that we could see what is missing from it. Loved the song, but she did seem a bit nervous during it. All in all, it is an amazing interview. Seth is really funny, too.