Lisa Lampanelli is On a Spiritual Path, But Don’t Piss Her Off

Lisa Lampanelli and Ron Bennington at the 92Y

Lisa Lampanelli and Ron Bennington at the 92Y

Monday night Lisa Lampanelli appeared at the infamous 92nd Street Y in conversation with radio host Ron Bennington, to promote her new special, Back to the Drawing Board. It was an important and meaningful night for Lisa, not only because of the history of incredible speakers who have sat down in conversation at the 92Y, but also because it was her first time speaking frankly, in front of a live audience about everything that’s happened in the past two years.

Lampanelli walked out on stage looking stunning with pink tinged short hair, and pink heels, and she’s kept off all 100 plus lbs of her weight loss. She talked with Bennington for an hour about the major changes in her life.  The title of her special refers to those changes — she’s starting over in every sense of the word.  Losing 100 lbs,  fresh off a divorce, embracing spirituality, talking about her vulnerabilities and working on her anger issues have all been part of Lisa’s ‘drawing board’.  She’s not shedding her queen of mean persona entirely– as she said in a short video that kicked off the evening, “brand new body, same old cunt.”

92yIt’s hard to see her as the same old anything.  She talked with Bennington about things you never would have heard Lampanelli say in the past, and you would never have suspected were a part of her life, like being angry all the time, or having difficulty connecting to people off stage. “On stage I was always comfortable,” she shared, “but get me one on one and I’m horrible” she said referring to confrontations and shame in her personal life. While she was always able to take a joke on stage (during Roasts for example), insults on social media, or from friends in the press were devastating.  She suffered from self hate, self loathing, and there was a lot of crying.

But now a new person has emerged, with a policy of no more secrets.  Lisa said she pursues peace as a life goal and shared a desire to be of service to others.  She wants to share the issues she’s struggling with now. “If you keep it a secret” she says, “you’re not helping anyone else with their issues” so she’s opening up.  Lampanelli admits says it’s been personally freeing to her, to share shame and its helped her to move forward. Part of the new Lisa also means apologizing to people she’s offended in the past.  “Now when I go to hotels,” she said, “I will go ‘hi, how are you, did I yell at you last time? Because if I did I’m really sorry.”  She told a story about a time she was at the Ritz Carlton and they had sent up the wrong food, and she went “gangster idiotic” on them.  “I would be like “hi yeah where am I calling? and they’d be like ‘Ritz Carlton’, and I’d say ‘oh yeah? Cause I thought it was a Super 8 cause the fucking order is wrong.'”

What does this mean for her comedy? The insults are all still there, and as un-censored and unapologetic as ever.  “I don’t apologize” Lisa explained, “because I say it with love” distinguishing her comedy from some comics who use those same words, with racist intent.  “You can tell when comics mean it” she said.  And when necessary, Lisa can still bring on the anger.  Like at a recent show in Vancouver where she spent seven minutes berating a woman who heckled her.  She told this story Monday night, unaware that the 92Y  audience would have a chance to experience that side of Lisa first hand later in the hour.

When Bennington asked Lisa about her 5 year plan, she surprised some audience members, talking about wanting to help women and men struggling with self hate and body images with a play she’s working on called “Fat Women Interrupted.”  Then she’s planning a new special called “Spiritual Gangster,” covering the time in her life from when her father died, through her spiritual growth. She also said she’d love to move on past comedy and maybe even do a Ted Talk about service. When someone in the audience let out a laugh, Lisa let him have it.

“I know that’s really funny to you. Why is that funny?” she said. “That’s the reason people don’t change by the way. Is that you stupid in that stupid fucking beard you dirty fucking heeb? Let me tell you about you.  The reason you’ll never change is because you laugh at people who want to change.”  The Queen of mean added, “That’s negative. Ha ha ha ha ha, really? Why don’t I tell you I was date raped so you’d have a real big laugh for yourself you fucking moron.  See how I can go on when I secretly have love in my heart? I don’t. I hate him.”

When you tell people what you want to do, people will laugh at you. So in 5 to 10 years, I’ll think of this guy but he’ll spur me on to show people everybody can change.

She explained to the audience, “When you tell people what you want to do, people will laugh at you.  So in 5 to 10 years, I’ll think of this guy but he’ll spur me on to show people everybody can change. You can still be funny and have a message.

In her upcoming special, Lisa expertly mingles her past and present selves, continuing to deliver the mean that she is queen of, while also going off in some bold new directions.  “In this special I’m going to come out with the truth and tell people everything they want to know,” she said, and that truth includes going deep about where she feels she’s gone wrong in her life up until now- anger, crying, hating how she looked. It all comes out.

Screen Shot 2015-06-24 at 9.15.45 AMShe and Bennington also talked about Cosby (“he’s a raper I guarantee it”), Seinfeld’s statements about PC (“I’ve been complaining about PC for years but it takes Seinfeld to get the conversation going”) and why she asked Bennington to moderate her 92Y talk (“your show is nothing like other people’s shows and if you guys don’t listen to him you’re out of your mind”).

In his closing, Bennington referring to Lampanelli as a spiritual warrior.  You’ll see why on Friday June 26th when “Back to the Drawing Board” premieres on EPIX.

Bennington is an award-winning radio host who broadcasts internationally on SiriusXM radio.  You can hear him daily on SiriusXM’s Raw Dog comedy channel 99 from noon to 3pm, and also through his two critically acclaimed interview shows, “Ron Bennington Interviews” and “Unmasked.”

 

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