Marissa's Musings: Gettin' Busted With Lauren Weedman

Wednesday, 11 May 2011 11:02 | Written by Byron

Lauren Weedman in her hilarious one-woman tour de force, BUST. Directed by Allison Narver. Photo by Owen Carey.

PDX OR BUST: A one-woman play written and performed by Lauren Weedman, BUST, currently playing at Portland Center Stage, can be summed up in one word: phenomenal.

Sitting down to interview Weedman on Tuesday afternoon, I tell her I caught the play on Saturday night and that not only did I think it was hilarious, I actually can relate to a lot of what she’s saying. Weedman reminds me of me, or if not me, my best friend.

She’s animated, loud and disturbingly honest. She also tells me that Saturday night is the best night that she’s had here in Portland thus far. She and the audience really connected. She goes on to say, “Either (people) immediately relate or they’re super superior. It’s like, I know it’s bad, that’s why I’m telling you!! I’m sorry it’s not about my trip to India…”

Then she apologizes for being crabby.

The thing about Weedman, is that everything she says is pretty much good old fashion sarcasm. To someone like me she’s freaking hilarious. I can sense her sarcasm in most things she says, but also realize when she is being serious. Like when talking about the public, and message boards on blogs and other such forums, where people can go off with totally anonymity. "It’s hard for me to embrace," says Weedman. "I have some friends that are all Rock N’ Roll and all, ‘This is offensive. Deal with it!’ I’m wimpier than that,” she says. “But it’s like, truth gets truth and I want to connect with people on another level deeper than just comedy. It’s more complicated than that, I’m not a hero and it’s not just a comedy.”

Weedman’s BUST candidly looks at a very dark time in her personal life, and focuses on her present day non-theatrical work where she is volunteering at a woman’s prison. She talks about a lie she told when she was first starting college. It’s an awkward time for most women and she was in need of attention. Her lie was big. Soon after, her parents took her out of school because they sensed she was not doing well. It’s only years later that she can joke about it. In her play. Night after night. Subsequent to Glamour magazine publishing it.

-----To learn what the lie was and how it set the tone for that period of her life you are going to have to see the show...No spoilers here.

Have you always been a writer first, actor second or vice versa?
Lauren Weedman: Actor first - child actor from like 3rd grade on, I did community theatre. I wasn’t a shy a kid. I grew up in Indiana, then went to theatre school at De Paul in Chicago (where the big lie took place), then onto Amsterdam, to Seattle where I did a local show called Almost Live!, then to NY for the Daily Show, then to LA.

To read Marissa's interview with Lauren click on "read more" below:

Now run me through a day where you’re on the road performing.
It’s different now. I used to exercise a lot, shop a lot, eat a lot. I wrote a pilot on the road. Now I have a kid. He’s one and a half. Portland is great, but it’s always a little lonely on the road. I like going places because being at home all the time can get boring. Right now my husband is here, but he goes to Alaska. He works on a fishing boat, which sounds really manly, but he’s the cook so he’s really kinda faggy. So I’ll have to have someone watch my kid, which is always a little scary. I always tell people my two rules are: don’t drop him and don’t molest him. And when people go, “Really, I would never,” then I know we’re not going to get along.

Is it really as tough as you make it seem in LA? The pressure to be young, beautiful and thin?
The two pretty friends I have are miserable, whenever I talk to them they’re on their way to a treatment of some kind, or they’re worried about not getting enough sleep. I never have to worry about those things. Not to sound cheesy, but I get to worry about my insides more.

Before I saw BUST my most vivid memory of you on television is as Horny Patty on Hung. I kind of hate the character, but you’re so damn likeable in what I’m going to call “real life” because BUST is based on truth. Is it hard for you to play an unlikeable character or is it just fun?
Unlikable rolls are fun because you get to be as extreme and nasty and disgusting as you can. I looked horrible. In the nude scene I did in HUNG, I had just had a baby, but I didn’t want to say no to being nude. When I look at it from a distance I can think it’s great that all women have different body types and that’s great. But it was to date the most traumatizing experience I’ve had acting. After that episode came out I did have a flurry friend request from black men…so I knew that I looked good. I’ve also had men stop me on the street and say “um, excuse me, Horny Patty, I just want to say, that I love what you’re doing on Hung, as an artist, you’re really talented, like I’m performing Shakespeare or something."

Last question, I read your Q and A with Portland Center Stage…why are you trying to stop making poop jokes, they’re totally funny!
It’s a lie! I don’t know why I said that, I always think that’s funny and I don’t get when people don’t think it’s funny. So no, I’m not going stop!

Phew, because those are my favorite kind of jokes, I’d hate to see those go untold.

For a hilarious video of Weedman talking about rollerblading, being a psychic and how things are in LA go to: http://www.pcs.org/bust/ (you can get ticket info there too!)

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