Latest / Jersey Arts Podcast / Comedian Liz Glazer Returns to SOPAC with "Big Waitlist Energy"

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Comedian Liz Glazer Returns to SOPAC with "Big Waitlist Energy" · Jersey Arts Podcast

• 0:03
  Gina Marie Rodriguez: This is Gina Marie Rodriguez, and you're listening to the Jersey Arts Podcast.
• 0:07
  Gina Marie Rodriguez: If you've ever wondered if it's too late to make a change, today's guest may give you renewed faith in Second Acts.
• 0:13
  Gina Marie Rodriguez: Liz Glazer is a former tenured law professor, turned actor, and stand-up comic.
• 0:18
  Gina Marie Rodriguez: Her comedy special, Do You Know Who I'm Not, is now streaming on YouTube, and she has appeared on The Tonight Show starring Jimmy Fallon, Don't Tell Comedy, Nate Fargate's The Showcase, and has opened for renowned comedians including Maria Bamford, Judy Gold, and Mike Kaplan.
• 0:34
  Gina Marie Rodriguez: Liz draws on her unique life experiences as a former lawyer, law professor, a lesbian, a rabbi's wife, and a mother, bringing insight and laughter to audiences across the country.
• 0:47
  Gina Marie Rodriguez: She performs regularly at top comedy clubs and festivals, as well as at law firms, law schools, synagogues, theaters, and corporate events.
• 0:55
  Gina Marie Rodriguez: And she's now bringing her upcoming special Big Waitlist Energy to the South Orange Performing Arts Center this September.
• 1:01
  Gina Marie Rodriguez: I had a blast chatting with Liz, and I think you'll enjoy our conversation.
• 1:06
  Gina Marie Rodriguez: Stay tuned to see if I'm right.
• 1:08
  Gina Marie Rodriguez: Oh my gosh.
• 1:10
  Gina Marie Rodriguez: Well, I am so excited to meet you and to talk to you.
• 1:13
  Gina Marie Rodriguez: You are from New Jersey, is that correct?
• 1:16
  Liz Glazer: It well, yes.
• 1:18
  Liz Glazer: I mean, so here's the thing: like, with, and and you would not have expected that just asking me where I'm from would set off like at least four to ten thoughts over here.
• 1:29
  Liz Glazer: Um, so I think, yes, I am from New Jersey, but I was born in New York City.
• 1:37
  Liz Glazer: Now, to be fair, New Jerseyans, I don't think, care as much as New Yorkers about whether one is or isn't a transplant, just to play into the zeitgeist of recent, you know, about that specifically.
• 1:53
  Liz Glazer: But of course, this has been in our world forever.
• 1:56
  Liz Glazer: So, like I went to high school in New York City, for example, but I always was sure to say, well, I'm from New Jersey.
• 2:04
  Liz Glazer: But the thing that happens if you say you're from New Jersey is then invariably somebody's like, Oh, do you know insert name of town that's probably next door to your town that you've literally never heard of?
• 2:14
  Liz Glazer: And then you're like, no, and it turns out it's like 0.2 miles away.
• 2:19
  Liz Glazer: Who knew?
• 2:20
  Liz Glazer: And nobody really like is, I think, that proprietary about New Jersey.
• 2:25
  Liz Glazer: Whereas if I said I was from New York, people are like, which part?
• 2:28
  Liz Glazer: And then I have to say New Jersey, which is obviously the best part of New York.
• 2:34
  Gina Marie Rodriguez: I find this so relatable because I'm speaking as a geographically challenged person.
• 2:40
  Gina Marie Rodriguez: You can ask me about the town over, and I will have no idea.
• 2:43
  Liz Glazer: Same.
• 2:44
  Liz Glazer: Same, same, same.
• 2:45
  Liz Glazer: Yeah.
• 2:45
  Liz Glazer: I can't even tell right.
• 2:47
  Liz Glazer: No, left from right.
• 2:49
  Liz Glazer: And then it's like I'm looking and I'm like, which one is an L?
• 2:53
  Liz Glazer: And my name is Liz.
• 2:55
  Liz Glazer: So, oh sorry.
• 2:56
  Liz Glazer: This is I have to do the do not disturb.
• 3:00
  Liz Glazer: I recently had, not to brag, an eight and a half hour genius appointment.
• 3:05
  Liz Glazer: And uh literally, like at the Apple store, they're like, we need to get you a shirt.
• 3:11
  Liz Glazer: And they were gonna hire me, like, not for being a genius, just for adversely possessing my seat, I guess.
• 3:20
  Liz Glazer: But uh they did fix my computer, but there are certain like notifications that like I knew how to work my computer as it had been and not so much as it is now, which is better and worse, which I think is like what happens at a genius appointment.
• 3:36
  Liz Glazer: Well, that's my favorite tangent.
• 3:38
  Liz Glazer: I don't even want to cut that because that's no, you you needn't cut anything.
• 3:43
  Liz Glazer: All of this is fair game, including.
• 3:46
  Liz Glazer: I mean, I figured I would I would be scenic about the whole thing and put myself right in front of the washer dryer.
• 3:52
  Liz Glazer: So this, you know, I'm not in New York, by the way, because there's no way that I would have this in New York.
• 3:58
  Gina Marie Rodriguez: Honestly, I couldn't tell what it was at first.
• 4:00
  Gina Marie Rodriguez: It looked like it might be like a mirrored art piece for a second, but you that's we'll go with that, Gina.
• 4:06
  Liz Glazer: Like that's it's it is an art piece, it's uh abstract for sure.
• 4:11
  Gina Marie Rodriguez: For those, for those who can't see Liz right now, it is a very uh aesthetically pleasing washer dryer.
• 4:18
  Liz Glazer: Yeah, it's kind of like the bean in Chicago, uh, but right in my I don't even know what this room is.
• 4:26
  Liz Glazer: Not quite a room.
• 4:28
  Gina Marie Rodriguez: Honestly, I can see the the uh bean comparison.
• 4:32
  Liz Glazer: Are we in a closet or yeah, we are in a closet, back in the closet for me.
• 4:36
  Liz Glazer: Yeah.
• 4:37
  Gina Marie Rodriguez: Okay, all right, but I'm happy to join you there.
• 4:39
  Gina Marie Rodriguez: So thank you for going in.
• 4:41
  Liz Glazer: Thank you.
• 4:41
  Liz Glazer: I usually wasn't alone.
• 4:44
  Gina Marie Rodriguez: I mean, that that is a valid comment.
• 4:46
  Gina Marie Rodriguez: Uh-huh.
• 4:47
  Gina Marie Rodriguez: Um, I so I'm fascinated by your trajectory, let's say, because I know that you began as a lawyer and as someone who maybe was considering, you know, jumping into that uh field.
• 5:04
  Gina Marie Rodriguez: I want to know, firstly, did you ever truly want to be a lawyer or did you feel pressured to go in that direction?
• 5:12
  Liz Glazer: Yeah, I mean, it's a good question because I think it's a complicated question because, you know, it it calls to mind like what really is a want at 18 years old or whatever.
• 5:25
  Liz Glazer: So I I think the simplest way to understand it, going from you know, being a lawyer to being a comedian, um, is I had immigrant parents, they definitely were like really pushing, like you have to have a profession and you know, that kind of thing.
• 5:44
  Liz Glazer: And it was like very much this like, you know, like Holocaust survivor, grandchild um inheritance, you know, that that that was sort of what I was walking in.
• 5:56
  Liz Glazer: And I do think that that played a part, but I think it wouldn't be intellectually honest of me to stop it there because I knew that I wanted to be at the front of the room talking.
• 6:13
  Liz Glazer: I think that's how I got to teaching law, which was the bulk of what I did when I was, you know, a lawyer, like using my law degree.
• 6:23
  Liz Glazer: And I did, you know, when I think back to times when I was practicing and times when I was teaching, there were times that I liked it, you know, like like I do shows now, um, in addition to like comedy clubs and and soap, which of course I'm doing on September 19th at 8 p.m.
• 6:45
  Liz Glazer: And I encourage people to get tickets.
• 6:46
  Liz Glazer: It's just gonna be a great show.
• 6:47
  Liz Glazer: It's called Big Waitlist Energy because I I have it.
• 6:51
  Liz Glazer: I my wait list is huge.
• 6:53
  Liz Glazer: But I think that like I look back at certain times, you know, doing the work of it, and I did really enjoy it.
• 7:03
  Liz Glazer: You know, like writing a paper and I got really into the argumentation of it.
• 7:09
  Liz Glazer: And to be honest, it's not that different from when I'm putting together a set.
• 7:13
  Liz Glazer: Because number one, I think there are a lot of parallels to uh, I mean, really lawyering and a lot of creative work, but like putting together an argument and writing a joke or writing a bit aren't that different because ultimately it's like, okay, what do I think about this?
• 7:32
  Liz Glazer: What's my evidence that I'm bringing to bear that gives people like a way into where my brain is, because ultimately it's just the transmission of ideas, which is the same as teaching, law, or anything else.
• 7:47
  Liz Glazer: And so I think there's a lot there.
• 7:48
  Liz Glazer: And also, like, I think about writing law review articles, which was like the real currency of what I did.
• 7:54
  Liz Glazer: I would write these, you know, 80 to 100 page, heavily footnoted about minutia pieces of writing.
• 8:04
  Liz Glazer: And that was what I did when I was a professor.
• 8:07
  Liz Glazer: And when I think about like what it takes to construct like an hour-long set and what it took to construct those pieces, it's the same.
• 8:18
  Liz Glazer: And of course, like, you know, peppering with jokes and all that.
• 8:22
  Liz Glazer: First of all, I would do that sometimes in law review articles, definitely when I was teaching law, and definitely, definitely when I'm doing comedy.
• 8:29
  Liz Glazer: I think the only difference is that now I'm really like mining the sets and listening back and making sure that there's enough of those laughter moments, which of course, like I didn't care about explicitly when I was teaching law or writing about law in the same way for sure.
• 8:45
  Liz Glazer: But like, in order for a piece to be a piece, it has to have the beginning, the middle, and the end, and people have to hook in from an ideas level, not a jokes level, because the jokes, even if you're doing comedy for comedy's sake, are still the applesauce that the aspirin gets put into.
• 9:09
  Liz Glazer: And I think that's a good thing.
• 9:10
  Liz Glazer: Like, I enjoy it when I'm he watching a comedy special, seeing a comedian live.
• 9:16
  Liz Glazer: I love that I laugh at the jokes.
• 9:17
  Liz Glazer: And also I'm like, what is this person saying?
• 9:20
  Liz Glazer: That matters to me.
• 9:22
  Liz Glazer: And I think it matters.
• 9:23
  Liz Glazer: I I honestly do think it matters to everybody.
• 9:25
  Liz Glazer: It's just a question of like how conscious one might be of whether it matters and how.
• 9:31
  Liz Glazer: Um, so yeah, I think there are a lot of parallels.
• 9:35
  Liz Glazer: And in terms of the trajectory, I don't know, somebody I had a crush on told me to do it, and I do what I'm told.
• 9:42
  Gina Marie Rodriguez: Well, you know what?
• 9:43
  Gina Marie Rodriguez: I really appreciate that explanation, but I like that tie-in because I do think that there is some existing pipeline, not just you, but like between actors, comedians, and law school.
• 9:55
  Gina Marie Rodriguez: Um but we so I actually work as um an assistant professor at uh Rutgers University.
• 10:02
  Gina Marie Rodriguez: And that is something that we tell our students often like you can take a theater class and it will help you in any career you choose to move into.
• 10:11
  Gina Marie Rodriguez: If you can understand how to think like another person, if you can learn to speak in a room full of people, that will help you no matter where you are.
• 10:19
  Gina Marie Rodriguez: But I I love that that trajectory has obviously worked to your benefit.
• 10:24
  Liz Glazer: So yeah, no, totally.
• 10:26
  Liz Glazer: I mean, I remember a conversation that I had with an advisor uh at where I went to college, and it was like I designed a major and there was like a theater class in it, which I ended up taking.
• 10:38
  Liz Glazer: And it was great.
• 10:39
  Liz Glazer: And and I don't remember, like I I'm an actor now.
• 10:43
  Liz Glazer: I don't know how much of that, you know, really dates back to and relates to that theater class.
• 10:49
  Liz Glazer: But I remember when I was designing this individualized major, which I was uh convinced out of, which I think was a good idea.
• 10:57
  Liz Glazer: I was a philosophy major and I would then go on to get a master's in philosophy.
• 11:00
  Liz Glazer: Um, and this was like, you know, before law school or whatever.
• 11:03
  Liz Glazer: But um, but I think that the reason I was convinced out of the individualized major was this per this advisor was like, if you are a philosophy major or a linguistics major or a theater major, somebody who might be hiring you or looking at your resume can at least say you were a this major and understand what you are.
• 11:25
  Liz Glazer: Whereas the individualized major is like you're a nothing, which I I did think was good advice.
• 11:31
  Liz Glazer: Um, though, of course, you know, as with all advice, people may disagree.
• 11:36
  Liz Glazer: Um, but it worked out well for for me.
• 11:39
  Liz Glazer: But um, yeah, I think that's right.
• 11:41
  Liz Glazer: Like in terms of learning, if you're learning is applicable to anything.
• 11:50
  Liz Glazer: I really believe that.
• 11:52
  Liz Glazer: So anyway, yeah, that's the trajectory.
• 11:56
  Gina Marie Rodriguez: I'm also of the belief that some of the best actors, some of the most talented comedians are the smartest people and the most well educated because you have a wealth of knowledge to mine from, right?
• 12:11
  Gina Marie Rodriguez: And I I'm thinking right now, I'm going way back to George Carlin, who I was not into politics at all, but I was actually able to learn through his humor about politics.
• 12:25
  Gina Marie Rodriguez: And I I wonder if, in the same way, like you have a knowledge, an existing knowledge of the legal system.
• 12:30
  Gina Marie Rodriguez: And has that ever I mean, we were talking guess about how you write it influenced that, but I don't know.
• 12:38
  Gina Marie Rodriguez: I guess I don't know what my question was.
• 12:40
  Gina Marie Rodriguez: Sure, sure.
• 12:41
  Liz Glazer: I mean, I I always hesitate to put myself in any kind of a camp where it's like, oh yeah, I'm of the smartest or whatever.
• 12:48
  Liz Glazer: Because I I just don't think that about myself for me.
• 12:51
  Liz Glazer: Um, you know, uh I I'm really trying my best, like in all ways.
• 12:58
  Liz Glazer: Um, yeah, so I'm always like cautious about that.
• 13:01
  Liz Glazer: And then I mean, you know, whether some of my comedian colleagues are or aren't of among the smartest.
• 13:08
  Liz Glazer: I mean, the ones who'd believe that they are are definitely not.
• 13:11
  Liz Glazer: Um, and the ones the ones who don't might be drunk and passed out.
• 13:18
  Liz Glazer: And so, you know, it's it, I don't know.
• 13:20
  Liz Glazer: Like, I'm not here to say that anybody is or isn't anything really, but like um, I get what you mean.
• 13:27
  Liz Glazer: And I think that in order to like it's interesting because the reason that you said it is because there's sort of this background knowledge.
• 13:34
  Liz Glazer: I actually think of it, it might, it might subsume some parts of why you said what you said, but I think it's that like there is something uh perhaps inherently smart about the person who is taking in the world, everything around them, and being like, wait, that's funny though.
• 13:54
  Liz Glazer: And I do think that there is a smartness that inheres in that practice about the thing that is noticed, observed, processed, written about, delivered in such a way that causes an entire room full of people to have an involuntary response at the exact same moment.
• 14:17
  Liz Glazer: So I think that what goes into the work of making that happen requires intelligence for sure.
• 14:24
  Liz Glazer: And of course, like the commitment to devoting one's life to the pursuit of that, you know, every 10 seconds for an hour.
• 14:32
  Liz Glazer: Yeah, that it's hard work and and it's fun work, but it is also intense work.
• 14:38
  Liz Glazer: And it does require um, it requires intelligence, but a lot of things do, you know, like I I'm not a surgeon, I'm not an architect, I'm not even really a lawyer.
• 14:50
  Gina Marie Rodriguez: Well, uh yes.
• 14:52
  Gina Marie Rodriguez: I mean, what is that joke?
• 14:53
  Gina Marie Rodriguez: I'm I'm not a comedian, so I'm gonna butcher the joke, but uh, you know, even the guy who graduated at the bottom of his med school class is still a doctor, right?
• 15:00
  Gina Marie Rodriguez: Is still a comedian.
• 15:02
  Gina Marie Rodriguez: Yeah.
• 15:02
  Gina Marie Rodriguez: But I I get what you're saying, and there is a spectrum of like imposter syndrome to Dunning Kruger, and you know, we're all somewhere in the middle of the buttons you may not want to uh speak, you know, or or tout your your own talents, but I can.
• 15:18
  Gina Marie Rodriguez: I can do that for you.
• 15:19
  Gina Marie Rodriguez: So that's that's what I believe.
• 15:21
  Gina Marie Rodriguez: I'll do yours after.
• 15:22
  Gina Marie Rodriguez: Okay, great.
• 15:23
  Gina Marie Rodriguez: I'm looking forward to it.
• 15:23
  Gina Marie Rodriguez: I was secretly fishing for that.
• 15:26
  Gina Marie Rodriguez: But I do want to talk to you about you mentioned the title of your upcoming show, Big Waitlist Energy.
• 15:33
  Gina Marie Rodriguez: So can you tell me where that title comes from and what folks can expect?
• 15:38
  Liz Glazer: Yeah, totally.
• 15:39
  Liz Glazer: I mean, everything in my life I I have gotten has been through a wait list of some kind.
• 15:46
  Liz Glazer: And so I I believe that the title arose when I was doing a show for lawyers, actually at a law firm.
• 15:54
  Liz Glazer: And I was like, you know, I had a variety of stories.
• 15:57
  Liz Glazer: Usually for me, that's where things begin is I'll have like, oh yeah, that happened and this happened and that happened, I'll put them all together and write them out, punch them up, you know, for the the laugh lines and stuff like that.
• 16:09
  Liz Glazer: But then as I'm trying to construct something, often a theme will emerge and and big wait list energy was that because I was like, I was like thinking about, you know, how I got into college and how I got into law school.
• 16:23
  Liz Glazer: And then I mean, I don't, you know, some of the the stuff is a little like meta and show business-y, which may not make it into the final show, but like how I got my manager, you know, which whatever.
• 16:33
  Liz Glazer: But everything really is a function for me of like, and I I'm I consider myself sort of like scrappy and ambitious, where it's like a wait list is an invitation for me to prove myself.
• 16:47
  Liz Glazer: Um, and I do think that also, you know, I've been to too much therapy to not see the connections with like, you know, making my parents proud and my grandparents and like making it worth, you know, the wait list of getting into America from Europe, uh, you know, off of a literal boat, um, in order to make this all worth it.
• 17:09
  Liz Glazer: So I think what people can expect from big wait list energy from my show, from seeing me, you know, at SOPAC or or otherwise, is that kind of an energy of like, oh yeah, this person's like working hard, there's a lot of energy there.
• 17:25
  Liz Glazer: And then the stories in particular that I'm focusing on for this hour relate to, you know, getting off wait lists and things like that.
• 17:33
  Liz Glazer: And and it's stuff that I started thinking about, and I think this is relevant for what people can expect as well, um, as I started parenting, because I have a three-year-old daughter.
• 17:41
  Liz Glazer: And so as I think about, you know, like getting her into which schools and and that kind of thing, I think back to how obsessed my parents were about those types of decisions.
• 17:56
  Liz Glazer: And they came at that obsession because they were like, well, how are we gonna make it in America?
• 18:01
  Liz Glazer: You know, this new country for us.
• 18:04
  Liz Glazer: Meanwhile, I mean, I'm like getting my Latvian citizenship because that's the the current thing that people can do is, you know, if you have that available to you, um, to do that.
• 18:18
  Liz Glazer: And I just started thinking.
• 18:20
  Liz Glazer: I was like, okay, what kind of parent do I want to be?
• 18:23
  Liz Glazer: And how do I transmute this like, I don't know, that the stick toitiveness and the obsessions that I have in getting to wherever I've gotten to, this closet and laundry room, um, specifically to my daughter, in order to help her make the best decisions, and how can I make the best decisions on her behalf?
• 18:51
  Liz Glazer: Uh, and I did get her into daycare off the wait list, literally.
• 18:55
  Liz Glazer: So it all comes, you know, it is intergenerational.
• 18:59
  Gina Marie Rodriguez: I love that.
• 19:00
  Gina Marie Rodriguez: But you just brought up um, I guess the immigrant experience to a degree.
• 19:04
  Gina Marie Rodriguez: And I did want to ask, what was the experience when you said, you know what?
• 19:08
  Gina Marie Rodriguez: I'm not gonna do the law thing anymore.
• 19:10
  Gina Marie Rodriguez: I'm gonna become a comedian.
• 19:11
  Gina Marie Rodriguez: How did your parents react to that?
• 19:14
  Liz Glazer: Yeah.
• 19:15
  Liz Glazer: I mean, well, my mother was like, What are you gonna do for money?
• 19:18
  Liz Glazer: I told her I could prostitute, and you know, she didn't take that well.
• 19:21
  Liz Glazer: Um uh, and I don't, you know what's funny is I don't think I ever actually told my dad in true, like, I guess, I don't know, immigrant family, heteronormative, I don't know what element of it it is.
• 19:37
  Liz Glazer: Like my mom eventually told my dad, and that was how he found out, as he found out about everything.
• 19:45
  Gina Marie Rodriguez: That is interesting.
• 19:46
  Gina Marie Rodriguez: I I guess I wouldn't have expected that, um, only because it's not my personal experience.
• 19:50
  Gina Marie Rodriguez: Um both of my parents were from this country.
• 19:54
  Gina Marie Rodriguez: So I just kind of barked things at them and uh was constantly called a disrespectful child.
• 20:00
  Gina Marie Rodriguez: Uh-huh.
• 20:01
  Gina Marie Rodriguez: Okay.
• 20:01
  Gina Marie Rodriguez: Um yeah.
• 20:02
  Gina Marie Rodriguez: Yeah.
• 20:03
  Gina Marie Rodriguez: So I love that you mentioned your daughter, but you also mentioned uh your wife.
• 20:08
  Gina Marie Rodriguez: And I kind of wanted to ask you about what is it like to be married to a rabbi?
• 20:12
  Liz Glazer: Mm-hmm.
• 20:13
  Liz Glazer: Yeah, I mean, it's it's intense um for sure.
• 20:18
  Liz Glazer: Like I think there's nothing like having a clergy person as a spouse when you're a comedian to make it's like I'm figuring out like what can be funny about sneezing or you know, something like that.
• 20:33
  Liz Glazer: And she's literally, I think there was one night where like I had to do a show, like a set in the city or something, and my wife had to marry people in a hospital room so that their dying parent could witness it.
• 20:51
  Liz Glazer: Like just, you know, the gravity of like what she does versus the inanity of what I do uh is present to me at all times.
• 21:02
  Gina Marie Rodriguez: Yeah, I mean that there's definitely a different uh weight or a magnitude to that.
• 21:08
  Liz Glazer: Yeah, yeah, yeah.
• 21:09
  Gina Marie Rodriguez: But I also think of, and I say this as someone who is not Jewish, but has been to Temple a number of times and always had a lot of fun at Temple.
• 21:18
  Gina Marie Rodriguez: I always thought, not to disrespect the Catholic priest that I grew up with, but like I thought that rabbis were just so much cooler and so much more entertaining.
• 21:27
  Liz Glazer: Uh-huh.
• 21:27
  Gina Marie Rodriguez: Um, and I know that there's a lot of work and effort that goes into uh I don't know the proper like names for anything, but the speeches that they give uh at temple as well.
• 21:37
  Gina Marie Rodriguez: So I wonder if you ever sit and write together.
• 21:42
  Liz Glazer: We do.
• 21:42
  Liz Glazer: Um, so my wife is really funny and uh and I like to think that I don't know that I'm like good at writing a sermon specifically, but I feel like my favorite type of of speech is a sermon.
• 21:56
  Liz Glazer: Like I love, I love, you know.
• 21:59
  Liz Glazer: I mean, being taken to church, like that type of experience where I feel moved, I feel inspired.
• 22:08
  Liz Glazer: Like that's really what I always want.
• 22:12
  Liz Glazer: And I try to do that comedically as well.
• 22:17
  Liz Glazer: You know, like it's always my desire to say something meaningful that somebody can take with them to feel better.
• 22:25
  Liz Glazer: Uh, and I of course want to make people laugh, but I feel like, you know, there's a lot of talk in comedy about kind of the athleticism of comedy, like, you know, make them laugh every so and so seconds and that kind of thing.
• 22:37
  Liz Glazer: I think that's important.
• 22:38
  Liz Glazer: And I also really do want to say something meaningful.
• 22:43
  Liz Glazer: Um, and I think that comes from just, I don't know, like, yeah, like I love a graduation speech.
• 22:48
  Liz Glazer: Like, I love that kind of stuff, you know?
• 22:51
  Liz Glazer: And so, yes, we definitely go through material together before, and my wife is a very funny person, she's an amazing person, she's a very thoughtful person and a great writer.
• 23:02
  Liz Glazer: Um, so I take full advantage of her and that.
• 23:07
  Gina Marie Rodriguez: I think, yeah, I think that's really admirable.
• 23:10
  Gina Marie Rodriguez: And I I wonder, I've asked this of people before, and I don't know if you see it the same way, but like to be in a relationship with someone where you both have similar skill sets, uh-huh.
• 23:20
  Gina Marie Rodriguez: Is do you find that that serves your relationship or that it causes you to butt heads more often?
• 23:26
  Liz Glazer: I don't think for us that it causes us to butt heads.
• 23:29
  Liz Glazer: Um, I mean, not that we I'm not here saying we never do.
• 23:33
  Liz Glazer: Like, you know, of course we do.
• 23:35
  Liz Glazer: I I I feel like I never know where anything is in my house.
• 23:39
  Liz Glazer: And that's like a big source of tension sometimes for us.
• 23:42
  Liz Glazer: So I'm not here saying like we never fight or anything like that, because I just always find it annoying when people say that.
• 23:47
  Liz Glazer: But um, but I don't think it causes us to butt heads specifically.
• 23:52
  Liz Glazer: Well, my notes on her sermons can cause us to butt heads.
• 23:57
  Liz Glazer: That's true.
• 23:58
  Liz Glazer: That's definitely true because I really love a sermon and I love, I know exactly what I like in a sermon.
• 24:05
  Liz Glazer: I feel like I had this experience at my bot mitzva, which I plan to talk about on stage on September 19th.
• 24:11
  Liz Glazer: I mean, it is the week between Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur.
• 24:14
  Liz Glazer: So you definitely don't have to be Jewish to enjoy the show.
• 24:17
  Liz Glazer: And and certainly there, I know people who are coming who are of you know different religions and denominations and and all kinds of things.
• 24:24
  Liz Glazer: That said, it being that week between, you know, arguably the two holiest days of the year.
• 24:30
  Liz Glazer: And if you're listening and you're like, but Shabbos, then you're annoying.
• 24:34
  Liz Glazer: But um, anyway, but so of course, in that time, you know, there there is a certain weight, like a high holy day weight that will be part of the show for sure, thematically or otherwise.
• 24:48
  Liz Glazer: But um, but I have a story about my Bot Mitzvah speech, which I will tell at the show.
• 24:55
  Liz Glazer: And I think because I had that origin in like Jewish speaking, I guess, I really care about sermons.
• 25:05
  Liz Glazer: And so, you know, we really talk a lot about her sermons, and over the years we've gotten to a point where she'll only bring me in at a certain point, because otherwise, like we'll fight in a way that's undesirable for everybody.
• 25:20
  Liz Glazer: But yeah, like I think it's a great marriage.
• 25:25
  Liz Glazer: I mean, I guess literally, but also like you know, comedian and rabbi because it's not like we're in the same field, you know, because we're not like I'm not seeing her at clubs when we're you know what I mean.
• 25:40
  Liz Glazer: Like, so I don't think I don't think it has that yet.
• 25:44
  Gina Marie Rodriguez: Yeah, true.
• 25:45
  Gina Marie Rodriguez: But no, I I love that.
• 25:48
  Gina Marie Rodriguez: I just I'm always fascinated by uh other people's relationships, which I guess I shouldn't really be asking about.
• 25:54
  Gina Marie Rodriguez: But um, I I appreciate you placating me.
• 25:57
  Gina Marie Rodriguez: And thank you for teaching me the word sermon.
• 25:59
  Gina Marie Rodriguez: I can't believe I couldn't remember that.
• 26:01
  Liz Glazer: Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah.
• 26:02
  Liz Glazer: Totally, of course.
• 26:03
  Gina Marie Rodriguez: Now now I remember, but I I also am a fan of a good sermon.
• 26:07
  Gina Marie Rodriguez: And I agree that you know, comedians, often actors who have to give speeches at like award shows or whatever, tend to lean towards the sermon-esque approach.
• 26:18
  Gina Marie Rodriguez: Yeah.
• 26:19
  Gina Marie Rodriguez: Yeah.
• 26:20
  Liz Glazer: It's it's great.
• 26:22
  Liz Glazer: Like, it's like, I don't know.
• 26:24
  Liz Glazer: I mean, you have a microphone, say something, like something, you know?
• 26:30
  Liz Glazer: So I always think about that because it's like, it's like whenever, whenever I'm like starting to construct a set, I'm just like, what am I saying?
• 26:38
  Liz Glazer: And sometimes, you know, comedian friends of mine are like, well, I don't know, like, but that's funny, and that's funny.
• 26:43
  Liz Glazer: And I'm like, right, but like, but what am I saying?
• 26:47
  Liz Glazer: And I really care like a lot.
• 26:49
  Gina Marie Rodriguez: Well, I'm grateful that you do.
• 26:50
  Gina Marie Rodriguez: And I think that it's a of course, it's a common, I don't know if I should call it a complaint or just um a realization today that people are saying, if you have a platform, use it.
• 27:01
  Gina Marie Rodriguez: Yeah, and in the same way, if you if you have a stage and you have an audience, you should want to say something.
• 27:07
  Liz Glazer: Yeah, totally.
• 27:08
  Liz Glazer: Right.
• 27:09
  Liz Glazer: And and I don't mean like, you know, coded politics or anything like that.
• 27:14
  Liz Glazer: I just mean like, you know, what have you learned?
• 27:17
  Liz Glazer: What do you believe?
• 27:18
  Liz Glazer: What can you impart, you know, that feels earned from your life, like that kind of thing.
• 27:26
  Gina Marie Rodriguez: Yeah.
• 27:27
  Gina Marie Rodriguez: I think any and all kinds of art should make us think to some degree or analyze ourselves.
• 27:33
  Liz Glazer: Right.
• 27:33
  Liz Glazer: I get that. ...
• 27:34
  Gina Marie Rodriguez: I will, I guess, take this opportunity to just let you say whatever you'd like to say to audiences who may be interested in coming to see you at SOPAC.
• 27:43
  Liz Glazer: Oh, totally.
• 27:44
  Liz Glazer: Yeah, please do.
• 27:45
  Liz Glazer: Definitely, please do.
• 27:46
  Liz Glazer: I mean, listen, I'm not saying it counts as services, but like if you haven't gotten your ticket to High Holy Days, I feel like it's a good substitute and honestly a great deal.
• 27:58
  Liz Glazer: Um, and uh I think you know, if you if you enjoy fun comedy, like New York City style comedy, like in your hometown, you don't have to pay congestion pricing, you don't have to pay a toll.
• 28:15
  Liz Glazer: I mean, there might be eight closed roads between your house and so pack, but that's just, you know, it it it would be worse if we held the show at 3 30, because then you'd also have to battle the school buses.
• 28:28
  Liz Glazer: So I think I think it's a great time.
• 28:31
  Liz Glazer: It's a great show, and it's a lot of fun.
• 28:34
  Liz Glazer: You know, let's bring in fall together.
• 28:37
  Liz Glazer: I think there's a 10% off that you get if you have dinner at, I believe it's Arioshi and also BGR across the street.
• 28:46
  Liz Glazer: So like take advantage of that.
• 28:48
  Liz Glazer: An opportunity to park in the parking lot at Soapak, um, and not pay, you know, as you would when you're taking the train because it's nighttime.
• 28:58
  Liz Glazer: So all of those are reasons to come.
• 29:02
  Liz Glazer: Saturday, September 19th, 8 p.m., Soapak.
• 29:07
  Gina Marie Rodriguez: What does it say about me that free parking is what really sold it?
• 29:11
  Liz Glazer: I'm with you, Gina.
• 29:13
  Liz Glazer: That I mean, it's yeah, it will be a pretty like already, it's not quite sold out yet, but like it's getting there, and I do expect it will.
• 29:22
  Liz Glazer: And so, you know, you might have to park in the New Jersey transit station attendance spot.
• 29:28
  Liz Glazer: And I cannot guarantee that that's legal, but I do still have my law license.
• 29:34
  Liz Glazer: So in the event that you do get a ticket, I can advise you to call somebody else.
• 29:41
  Gina Marie Rodriguez: Great.
• 29:41
  Gina Marie Rodriguez: At least your law degree is still coming in handy.
• 29:44
  Liz Glazer: Exactly.
• 29:45
  Gina Marie Rodriguez: You've been fantastic.
• 29:46
  Gina Marie Rodriguez: Thank you so much for course, Gina.
• 29:49
  Liz Glazer: Thank you so much.
• 29:50
  Liz Glazer: Thank you, thank you for having me.
• 29:52
  Gina Marie Rodriguez: As she said, Liz Glazer will be at SOPAC on September 19th at 8 p.m.
• 29:57
  Gina Marie Rodriguez: in South Orange.
• 29:58
  Gina Marie Rodriguez: Tickets are selling fast, so if you don't want to end up on the wait list, make sure to buy your tickets now.
• 30:03
  Gina Marie Rodriguez: For more information about Liz Glazer's big wait list energy, be sure to visit soapacnow.org.
• 30:10
  Gina Marie Rodriguez: If you liked this episode, be sure to review, subscribe, and tell your friends.
• 30:14
  Gina Marie Rodriguez: A transcript of this podcast, links relevant to the story, and more about the arts in New Jersey can be found at jerseyarts.com.
• 30:21
  Gina Marie Rodriguez: The JerseyArts Podcast is presented by Art Pride New Jersey, advancing a state of creativity since 1986.
• 30:27
  Gina Marie Rodriguez: The show was co founded by and currently supported by funds from the New Jersey State Council on the Arts.
• 30:32
  Gina Marie Rodriguez: This episode was hosted, edited, and produced by me, Gina Marie Rodriguez.
• 30:36
  Gina Marie Rodriguez: Executive producers are Jim Atkinson and Isaac Serna-Diez.
• 30:39
  Gina Marie Rodriguez: And my thanks, of course, to Liz Glazer for speaking with me today.
• 30:43
  Gina Marie Rodriguez: I'm Gina Marie Rodriguez for the Jersey Arts Podcast.
• 30:46
  Gina Marie Rodriguez: Thanks for listening.