Lucy Lawless Radio Interview with NY Radio
26 August 1997 at 8:33 am

Transcribed by Virago969/Xena Net Forum

 

PRE-OFFICIAL INT.-
Elvis: Danielle is about to bring Xena in. Is Mr. Leonard in there giving her
hell?
Backround: He really is.
Eliot: Get him outta there! Oh what a mess! Good ole Lucy Lawless is about
to come on...oh there she is.....Lucy Lawless!!! I love Lucy Lawless!!!!!!
I say good ole cause I am from Texas!
(traffic news break)
Elvis(?): Can we go ahead and welcome Lucy Lawless?
Danielle: Please....
(Big applause)
Everyone: HI Lucy!!!!!!!
L.Lawless: Good Morning Zoo!
Elvis: We've been talking about you coming to visit us for awhile. Spit
your gum out Lucy!!!!
Elliot: Give me that gum!!!!
Elvis(?): We've been talking about your pending visit for awhile, people
are very excited about you being on our show.
Danielle: Absolutely....
Elvis: They think that Lucy Lawless, Elvis, & Elliot make a great fit, and
we should have a good time together. It's gonna be wild!
Elliot: Chewing Lucy Lawless' gum with Lucy Lawless' spit
Everyone in the backround: awww eww!!
Elvis: You chewed it?!??!
Lucy: (laughs) Oh you don't understand, I've had this stomach bug
for.......
Danielle: Elliot will have to take a few days off...
Elvis: Infected by Lucy Lawless!!!!
Danielle: This is a guy who won't even let me take a french fry from his
plate, so this is a big deal for him.
Elvis: Chewing your gum..
Elliot: Not anymore!!! I'm not going to get pregnant am I???
Lucy: No, that's not how you get pregnant...it's the toilet seat.
Elvis: It's the doorknob....He doesn't know the real reason, let's keep
that from him.
(break for gossip news....Added where Lucy joined the news)
Danielle: Ok, also a movie that is set to start filming. I Dream of
Jeannie. You know how every TV show is becoming a movie. Well, Lucy you
may
want to keep this in mind 'cause they are looking for a Jeannie.
Lucy: Oh, perfect...
Elvis: John Bell rubs his lamp everynight hoping that you'll come out.
(back to pre-official interview)
Elvis: Now, Lucy, thank you for coming in to see us...we've been trying to
get you in to see us for a long time. You don't know what your publicist's
do. They throw us off. They make up stories, Oh, she's on the moon......Oh
she's in New Zealand visiting. It's like...I'm glad you finally made it.
How long have we been trying to get her in here???
Elliot(?): Honestly, a year and a half.
Lucy: Well, we film in New Zealand.
Danielle: Well, that's a valid excuse....That one we'll accept.
Elvis: Well, can we change that?? Can you move to LA or would you rather
stay in New Zealand to do that???
Lucy: No, we have to stay in New Zealand, we couldn't get those same kind
of scenes, or the same look.
DJ in backround: Oh, Central Park!?!?!
Elvis: Central Park, that's a lot like New Zealand. The "official" Lucy
Lawless interview next!
-Z100 plays the song, Bitch- Meredith Brooks-
Elvis: Lucy Lawless is "officially" in the house!!!!!
-APPLAUSE IN BACKROUND-
Elvis: Thank you for coming in here with us. I'm not going to say thank you
one more time! I've had it with this grace thing going on!!!! Do you love
New York??
Lucy: We love NY
Elliot: How long do you stay when your here??
Elvis: Elliot!!!!
Lucy: (In a southern accent) Well, this time I'm gonna stay about ten and a
half months. <<<Note from Mil - I think Lucy meant 10 1/2 weeks here>>>
Elliot: Well, I wanna make sure you don't loose me in the translation.
Lucy: I'm from NZ and he tries to speak deep southern to me.
Elliot: Well, I wanna make sure you don't loose me along the way.
Lucy: OK, talk slow
Elvis: Something tells me, by the end of this day, Lucy is gonna kick your
ass!!!
Lucy: Just a feeling, just a kind of feeling
Elvis: In character she may....out of character she's a soft little lady.
Elvis(?): On the show, Xena, She loves to kick ass, =let's be honest. When
you are off the show, you are the opposite, do you like ... sit in a warm
bath with bubbles everywhere?
Lucy: Oh no, don't go for that much. Not that much of a luxury hound, but
um, people aren't that intimidated when they meet me one on one.
John Bell: Well, not without the leather.
Elliot: Well, you're frightening me, you're gonna kill me before the day is
over.
Lucy: Maybe they are??
John Bell: Ya know what is facinating about this though. Lucy was
apparently not up to all the martial arts and stuff when she started doing
the show. She wasn't that kind of person growing up. In fact, she had a
nickname, they use to call her "unco"
Elliot: Why is that?
Lucy: Uncoordinated
(all laugh)
John Bell: As a kid, they used to call her unco.
Lucy: All through my teenage years, I was a tripper...uhhh I would run
everywhere, I would just fall, I was clumsy and um....
(awwww--- in the background)
Elliot: Was it the drinking?
Lucy: I was the last person picked on every team.
Elliot: Were you really?
John Bell(?) So at school it was like, oh we don't want her.
Elliot: So at school it was like.....Let's see..... I'll pick Billy and oh
and ya know what? Give me that dead dog in the corner, and oh and all
right fine...I'll take Lawless.
Lucy: Ya know what? I was second to last everytime. Then the dead dog
would come last.
Elliot: ya know, months ago Bell was telling us that ...about a year ago...
Bell was telling us Look guys, I'm telling you Xena Warrior Princess was
going to be the biggest thing on the planet earth.....
Bell: Absolutely
Elliot: Let's jump on this bandwagon before everybody else does. DiD you
guys know that it would be such a huge show over here? Was it huge over
there before here?? I'm assuming that it was...
Lucy: No,no, no It started airing in NZ a long time after here. It was
made for here.
John Bell: It was on here long before it was on in NZ.
Elliot: Really, see I didn't know that
Lucy: I could walk down the road in my costume, and people would just......

- -all laughing-
Elliot: People would just offer you cash.....Hey baby!!!!!!
Lucy: Take it off!!!!!!!!
Elliot: What's up with that!!!??!!
Lucy: yeah
Elliot: Really so that's amazing that you would base a show in NZ, and say
I know the united States people would buy this.
Lucy: NO, NO, this was made by Universal
Bell: Yeah, Yeah
Elliot: Really, do they go there just to do you...um I mean just to film
you...um just to tape you?
Lucy: I mean, they would, they should,,right no? In fact they were filming
Herecules there and the girl who originally cast, the actress who was cast
was training for this, and fell ill. A whole lot of actresses refused to
come down during pilot season. While at that time it was a 3 part episode.
Elliot: You poisoned her coffee didn't you? You poisoned her didn't you?
Lucy: Die, die die......No um....
Bell: You actually played a couple of characters before you became the
warrior princess.
Lucy: Right, so they said why don't you get that kiwi girl, and uh ...the
studio said what are you outta your mind...we just used her...here's the
list of 5 other actressess. So they all didn't want to leave during pilot
season. So I bless them.
Elliot: All right fine, enough with the softball questions are you and
Gabrielle....um Xena and Gabrielle lesbians?
Bell: Yeah, they gotta problem with this.
Elliot: Lesbians...yes or no?
Bell: Lucy, They've gotta problem with this.
Lucy: What kind of problem does this pose for you?
All: They wanna know!!!!!
Elliot: Cause I've got this fax, you want me to read the FAX?
Bell: They call this the Sapphic Sub-Plot.
Elliot: She's bathing....
Lucy: Subtext..
Elliot: Here's the FAX... Dear Elvis and Elliot please ask nicely...Ask
Lucy Lawless about the major lesbian undertones on Xena. I love the show,
I am gay. I'm trying to figure out what's going on. ----Michael from Conn.
What's the deal?!?!?!?!?
Lucy: Well, this is how it first came about. About 3 eps. into it, we
started getting sent to us posters from the MEOW MIX, and a few other
lesbian bars with Xena nights. We thought oh isn't this funny because we
are two female characters and we've been given this label. So we kind of
went with it, and we thought it was ya know... amusing and um....
Elliot: Well, the part when Gabrielle bathes you is the....
John Bell: Classic Episode
Lucy: Well, ya know, ya might if your living in a pre-Helenic world or
Helenic world, and this is the only person to scrub your back, and your
grimy and you've been sweating from a long days fight.....

Elliot: Grimy, oh you're making me hot keep going...
-ALL LAUGH-
Lucy: You gotta get somebody who can get the scungy bits off ye back.
Bell: Ya know what amazez me is... nobody ever asked if Butch Cassidy &
the Sundance Kid...If they were gay.
Elliot(?): Did they bathe together??
Bell: If you got two people named Butch and Sundance....
Lucy: (laughs)
Elliot: I have their video at the house.....
-All Laugh-
Elliot: Seriously, so what is your answer when people ask you this
question?
Lucy: Ahhh
Elliot: What do you say?
John Bell: Who cares!
Lucy: Well... but...
Bell: Well.. back then...
Lucy: Kind of ...who cares... we've moved on from that whole business.
Bell: yes
Lucy: And the show is the audiences'. Everybody sees the show whatever
way they want to, and WE allow them to I have to admit.
Elliot: I understand you were quite the hit the other night when you showed
up at he MEOW MIX....
Lucy: YEEAAHH!! We went along... I was embarrassed because they umm....
they were having a student benefit for that Hatian guy who got roughed up
by...
Elliot & Bell: Yeah ..yeah..right...right
Lucy: And uh....This poor woman..Alegra..was um.. very embarrassed that
there were so many guys there cause...I turned up with a journalist. We'd
just been having an interview. My friend Gav (?) who is here today... He's
a focus...on the crew.
Elliot: Right.
Lucy: And uhh.. and signed some T-Shirts. I just wanted to see where it all
first started to happen.
Elliot: Right..right..
Lucy: Ya know,... these people kind of had a big helping hand in making the
show...
Elliot: Yeah..
Eliot: I'd like to know the journalist...yeah.. come over to the
hotel...We'll do an interview...Then I'd like to take you down to a lesbian
bar for Xena night....
Lucy: It was just an... Then I said why don't we go??
Elliot: Did some big lady by the name of large Marge try to pick you up
while you were there?
Lucy: No
Elliot: Did you dance...did you dance all night long with Marge?
Lucy: No, it was full of skinny women.
Elliot: What happened?
Lucy: Nothing, we sat quietly...we uh...just moused in. Nobody recognized
us for quite sometime. And uhh... and uhh... Then the owner did, and came
up to us. Then I signed some T-Shirts.
Elliot: VERY COOL !!! GOOD FOR YOU!!!!!
John Bell: Yeah...yeah. They have a good time every second Tuesday of the
month..I think they have Xena night at MEOW MIX. They come in and
discuss the show.
Elliot: Bell's there every....Bell puts on a dress...
Bell: It's a big deal..It's a big deal. Can I check something with you
Lucy? You know you get these biographical thing, and you never know how
much of it is true or not.
Lucy: Yeah ..yeah
Bell: Somebody told me that you were Ms. New Zealand
Lucy: Oh Yeah!
Bell: Way back in 1989..or 1990?
Lucy: I was... and it's not something that I'm um ... um.. ya know that I
go around screaming ...
Bell: Bragging about.
Lucy: yeah ..Bragging about (laugh), but it was a really interesting
experience because it was everything you ever heard about these things. It
was true. (laughs) It was just crap!
-ALL LAUGH-
Lucy: Don't let your daughters do it. Don't let 'em.
Elliot & Bell: Really?!
Bell: Oh yeah... It's ridiculous...
Elliot: I mean..backstage is it like with cat-fighting? The Mothers?
Lucy: No, No, No, The women were like the best thing about it. No the
women were the best thing about it. But it's ..ya know.. I just find that it's
the reasons the people run that sort of a show are not altruistic.
Elliot: Right.
Lucy: Ya know they aren't doin this for..
Bell: Believe it!
Elliot: Well, I guess it is safe to say that little Daisy will not be
growing up...
Bell: Ms. New Zealand.
Lucy: She can make her own decisions.. but uh...
Elliot: Well she's eight! she can't make every decision
-ALL LAUGH-
Lucy: Well, she certainly won't be doing any shows at the moment..
-ALL LAUGH-
Elliot: All right...Wait till she's ten..Then let her loose..
Lucy: Yeah right..(laughs)
Elliot: All right we are hanging out with the one and only Lucy Lawless!
Bell: Yes..

(Break into the Spice Girls "When 2 become 1" song)

Elvis: It's Lucy Lawless!!!She's still here. We have not run her off yet!
Lucy: (In one of her voices) I'm kind of spicy..
Elvis: You kind of go into these weird voices every once in awhile. Do you
ever use any of these voices in any of your work? Or is this something you
just do?
Lucy: Oh yeahh!!! They turn up, and I try to keep them from incorporating
them into the show too much, unless I'm playing a completely separate
character.
Danielle: Ya know it works out when you've got dueling Xena's, and there's
the evil Xena....
Lucy: Yeah..
Danielle: And the ditzy Xena, and then we get to hear that voice.
Elvis: Ditzy Xena?
Lucy: Oh, we got another one like that...
Elvis: It's a new doll from Mattel.....Ditzy Xena..
Lucy: Yeah ...laughs
Jon Bell: I think you must have an ear for language anyway, cause you can
speak some German, French, and Italian..
Lucy: Yeah, I lost a lot of that now...
Jon Bell: Really?
Lucy: Yeah..
Jon Bell: And I notice when you switch from the accents, it's very easy for
you to pick up the sound of an American accent. You just go back and froth
very easily..
Elvis: Yeah, how do you do that? You have to do that in GREASE! right?
Lucy: No, it's fine. Everytime I perform I.. uhh.. everytime the camera
rolls, I automatically go into an American accent. Sometimes if I'm playing
myself, I have to pull myself up short because.. uh... I've done it in an
American accent. It's not going to cut it if I don't....
Elvis: How the hell did you end up doing GREASE!? By the way we have to
tell you, Lucy Lawless is joining the cast September 2nd. You'll be in
GREASE!
Lucy: Yes..
Elvis: You're doing Rizzo right?
Lucy: Yeah....Another tough chick
Elvis: Yeah...A gum chewing...cigarette smoking.....
Jon Bell: Tough New York chick
Lucy: ahh... Beer swillin'
Elvis: I mean, it's outta control. Ahh Debbie....
1st caller/Debbie: Yes...
Elvis: You have a question for the one and only Lucy Lawless?
Debbie: Absolutely...
Lucy: Hi Debbie
Debbie: Lucy, I'd like to say first off that I think that you are
absolutely gorgeous.
Lucy: Thank you very much
Debbie: And ...ummm.. I'd like to know how you unwind from all the physical
demands of your show?
Elvis: Yeah, how do you unwind after a day on the set?
Lucy: Ahh.... ya know, I come straight off the set, go home, have a shower,
jump straight into bed, and I read a little bit and uh...fall dead asleep.
So...
Elvis: Really, so can we get a little personal? Do you... How's the home
life? Everything's fine there? I mean ahh..OK I guess this is as far as we
go...
Jon Bell: I don't know, I don't think he was asking about Daisy though
Lucy. I think he was asking...
Lucy: Life is divine
Elvis: Ok...ahhh
Danielle: That's a nice answer
Elvis: Life is divine. In other words, shut-up, I'm not telling you
anything else. (laughing in background) That's all you're gonna know...you
pig. That's all you're gonna tell me...Ok I'm not going to ask you anything
else..fine. No more personal questions. I mean...was he intimidated by you?

Lucy: Who's that?
Elvis: The man..assuming there is one.
Lucy: Ahhh no, no,no
Jon Bell: Or guys in general? Do you find now that you're Xena..
Lucy: Not when they're drunk. Funny enough, I went out the other night...
Jon Bell: Not when they're drunk
Elvis: As long as they're drunk..
Lucy: the first time in months...the other day in New Zealand, and I was
approached relentlessly by drunk..
Jon Bell: drunken men..
Lucy: all males..
(laughing)
Elvis: Congratulations! You're obviously doing something right.
Lucy: That's incredible, cause you know they'd never come up to me when
they're sober. But ya know, I'm too....
Elvis: Well, they're afraid of you.
Lucy: Well ahh..
Jon Bell: Why?
Elvis: Cause, you know the warrior princess. I mean ...ahh... Lucy of
course uh as you know...Xena has taken off out of control here in the
United States of America.
Lucy: Oh I didn't know that.
Elvis: No, it has taken off...It's outta control...
Jon Bell: C'mon.. Don't be so modest. Xena conventions, Xena dolls...
Elvis: Maybe you should come out from under that rock!
Lucy: You see, I think that this is all perfectly normal...(laugh)
Bell: Really?
Lucy: I have nothing to compare this to....so oh ..yeah, this is what
happens when you make a television show..
(all laugh)
Lucy: You get to go on a Larry King interview
Bell: Ask Arsenial Hall...He'll tell you it doesn't always happen like this..
Elvis: Yeah.. he's gone. Well so what about the celebrity part about it?
Does it bother you to be recognized all the time when you're in public and
you're walking around on the streets of New York?
Lucy: Ya know, people are pretty nice. Or I can dress down ya know, and
nobody would look at me twice.
Elvis: Really? Cause I know you're you.
Lucy: Yeah, well, ya know. You see me in my normal really scrungy clothes.
These are my mid-liberal clothes.
Danielle: I like that sweater.
Lucy: People wouldn't really look at me...
Elvis: That's a really nice sweater...I like that...ahh
Bell: Oh, I don't know. I'd think I'd notice her whether she wore leather or
not.
Elvis: Yeah, I have a feeling you would too Bell...That's cause you're a pig.
Lucy: Some people do, but ya know, I get left alone.
Elvis: Lisa are you there?
Caller #2/Lisa: Yeah...I am....
Elvis: Lisa ..say hi to Lucy Lawless..
Lisa: Lucy!!! Oh my God!! I love you!!!
Lucy: Well, thank you Lisa.
Lisa: (giggle, giggle) Um, Elliot...Elvis..Thank you sooo much for letting
me be on the air.
Elvis: Absolutely...send us cash!!!
Lucy: Now whadda ya want?! (laugh)
Elvis: Yeah, now what do you want? Go ahead...
Lisa: Well......I wanna tell her that.....um....I'm her number one
fan....and I'm a very loyal watcher..
Elvis: Right...
Lucy: Oh that's great..
Lisa: Ummm, I'm so happy that you're having her on the show...um...and
Lucy...I want you to know that you're very talented, beautiful, and
sweet...and you're like my biggest role model.
Bell: There you go..
Lucy: Well, thank you, I'm... I'm frightened now..
Lisa: (giggle)
Lucy: you put a hell of a load on my shoulders and um...
Lisa: I want your autograph
Elvis: There's alot of pressure. Do you like the role model aspect that has
come along with being a celebrity?
Lucy: Ahhh.. I've accepted it..and um..I don't find it a burden.
Elvis: Right
Lucy: I feared it really would be, and I thought, oh God now people are
going to be trying to copy me. And umm... they really don't. They're
encouraged to go out and do what they always wanted.
Elliot: By the way..if you'd like to copy her, she does buy her
underpanties at Victoria Secret.
Lucy: (laughs)
Elvis: Now how do you know that?
Elliot; Because when she was signing a poster in the kitchen, she was
bending over and I could tell..
Lucy: OHHHHH!!! YOU SCUMBAG!!!!! (laughs)
Elvis: You were looking at Lucy Lawless'...
Elliot: I'm not lying! Aren't I tellin the truth?!
Elvis: Well, I can't believe that you were looking at her pants!
Lucy: Do you know what? I ...when I looked at .... cause today I was
brushing my hair, and I saw my ya now..top come out..and I thought..I'd
wonder if anyone would notice? nah....
Elvis & Elliot: NAH!!!
Lucy: or am I just being paranoid!! (laughs)
Elvis: No, just some scumbag on the radio...ahh....Arlene how are you?
Caller#3/Arlene: Hi there..
Elvis: Arlene....you've always wanted to know. She buys her undergarments
at Victoria Secret.
Arlene: Oh good for you. I can't afford it. But anyway, Lucy, I'm looking
forward to seeing you in GREASE! I'm seeing you on September 4th.....
Elliot&Elvis: WOW! All right
Arlene: Yeah, so I'll be in the nosebleed section..so..
Elvis: The $30 tickets..
Arlene: yeah, I know.
Elliot: That's all right. Every seat in the theatre is good.
Elvis: Yeah, let me tell you something about the EON theatre there
Arlene..it's not that huge of a theatre.
Elvis: The way it's spread out everyone has a good seat there.Bell:
yeah..yeah..
Arlene: Well, actually I was there when Rosie was there, and I was in the
front orchestra. And Actually, my girlfriend bought me the ticket. So
anyway, I'm looking forward to seeing you....
Lucy: Oh that's great..Thank you
Arlene: and kudos to the crew and the production crew, and to you the
actors, you're really doing a great show. and I think that you'll be the
best Rizzo ever...
Lucy: Oh, well thank you, I'll make sure that I'm at least fullfiling everyone.
Arlene: Well more power to ya...well, I guess I'll be at the next Xena
night at MEOW MIX.
Elvis: Well, Arlene's all over the place....
Arlene: yeah I know..
Elvis: Arlene, thank you for listening..we appreciate you calling in...
Arlene: No problem...thank you
Elvis: Bye Arlene!!
Arlene: Bye-bye
Elliot: I'd like to meet you back at your hotel...
Elvis & in backround: NO! Noooo noo, Cut it out!...Ya know what Elliot
...you're a pig! Not only do you look at her underwear....you're just being
a pig!
Elliot: All right...well


Elvis:Well, listen, we really appreciate you coming in. We can't end the
interview on such a downer! Thank you Elliot!
Elliot: What's so down?!?!
Elvis: Chew some more of her gum!
Elliot: Naah... No...uh uh
Lucy: Look, I'm freshening one up for ya!
(All Laugh)
Elvis: How long will you be in GREASE!? How long is you run there?
Lucy: Only seven weeks...that's all the time I have..
Danielle: Oh, we gotta run!
Bell: Hurry up and get your tickets!
Elvis: You're here in town for a long time.
Lucy: Yeah!
Elvis: Let me give you the number to call so you can buy some tickets. It's
tele charge, ahh ..if you don't have a credit card, steal one! You want to
see this show! It's 212-239-6200. That's Lucy Lawless playing RIZZO in
GREASE! All of New York is listening, do you want to say anything before
you walk out the door??
Lucy: New York is Xenaville! And I love it!!!
All: (Applause)
Elvis: There you go! Lucy Lawless!! Thank you Lucy. Can I chew this last
piece of gum? Come here I'll take this piece. Come here...spit it into my
mouth! I love her gum!!!
(all laugh)
Elvis: Ohhh...!!! She's spitting gum!!! What is worse? You looking at her
underwear or her spitting gum?!?!? Get her outta here!!!!