How is it possible that Lisa Ann Walter never had a stand-up comedy special before now? Well, consider that rectified today. Especially with her Abbott Elementary co-star Sheryl Lee Ralph in her corner as both an Executive Producer and the person bringing her to the stage for this lively hour shot at Helium Comedy Club in, where else, Philadelphia.
The Gist: As Walter reminds us in the opening montage, she was a stand-up comedian before any of the TV and film credits that her fans know and love her for, most popular among them playing second-grade teacher Melissa Schemmenti on the current ABC sitcom, Abbott Elementary, and the 1990s cinematic remake of The Parent Trap, where she played Lindsay Lohan’s nanny.
Before that, however, her stand-up career had earned her two separate sitcom deals with her in the leading role: My Wildest Dreams on FOX in 1995, followed by Life’s Work on ABC in 1996-97.
Cut to now, where for her debut comedy special, she’s reflecting on life as a mother of four grown children, how their upbringing was so much different from hers and that of Generation X, and what is was like for her trying to date again, both before Abbott and since.
What Comedy Special Will It Remind You Of? It’s very much akin to the Funny Women of a Certain Age showcases that aired in recent years on Showtime, or if you need a specific woman, you can also refer to Sommore’s recent catalog.
Memorable Jokes: With an opening onscreen disclaimer that reads: “No Skims were injured in the making of this comedy special.” Lisa Ann Walter loves Skims. She is actually very jealous of the Kardashians. This was just for the jokes.” You best be prepared for some jokes, and some show-and-tell, involving Skims.
Which involves lines such as this observation about our current geopolitical climate: “If I had known we were heading toward The Handmaid’s Tale and I was going to be wearing that big red cape? I wouldn’t have cut out carbs.”
On motherhood, she seeks out fellow mothers in the crowd to commiserate over things such as the smell of teenaged boys (“it’s like ball skank, and wet dog, and meth lab, and Cheeto’s”) and how they’ll keep coming back home, if only for the “free food and wifi.”
She waxes nostalgically about her own generation’s childhood, when parents sent kids out until sundown, allowing them to roam wild, regardless of whether they were in the car with their parents or going on janky carnival rides. But her age now isn’t stopping her from being horny enough to “find some hunky grip named Thor” on the set of her next acting gig. Just maybe not in a right-wing state. And she scores multiple laughs with a bit in which she imagines what euphemisms women could get away with using for masturbation. Among them: “I’m teaching Sign Language to my downstairs neighbor.”
Our Take: Who’s she kidding, though?
As she confesses to us, she’s much more likely to be staying in than going back out on first dates. She jokes you can find her watching “Dateline, or as I like to call it Why I Don’t Dateline.” Even though she’s getting many more offers from men now that she’s TV famous again.
You can see just how much fun she’s having onstage in this hour. Never you mind if she has to keep some notes onstage. “I just have these because I’m old and I can’t remember shit,” she cracks. She spends more time just riffing anyhow. At multiple points, she has to stop after chuckling at something she just said, realizing it’s the first time she’s actually said it. With most comics, that’s a gimmick. With Walter, it comes off so sincerely. As she put it in her opening voiceover, gushing about stand-up: “I love the medium. I love the communication with the audience and having that experience be a singular event that happens right there and everyone knows it.”
And with the help of Sheryl Lee Ralph in this hour (and of course, Quinta Brunson for hiring her on Abbott), Walter is enjoying earning her comedy flowers here.
It must feel even more special having her son, Jordan Baum, onstage with her performing a musical number together to close out the hour, titled “It Was An Accident,” where mother-and-son can remind us how Walter inadvertently became a queer icon with her role on The Parent Trap, didn’t necessarily mean to become a mother herself, portrayed a woman who couldn’t stop orgasming on Nip/Tuck, and once played a Psycho Stripper in a Lifetime movie. It takes a pro to play those parts, and a professional comedian to know how to laugh about it all.
Our Call: Your enjoyment will be greatly enhanced if you’re already familiar with Walter from Abbott Elementary or The Parent Trap. For you, it’s a definite STREAM IT. Mileage may vary if she’s unknown to you, though.
If you’re new to Hulu, you can get started with a 30-day free trial on the streamer’s basic (with ads) plan. After the trial period, you’ll pay $10.99/month. If you want to upgrade to Hulu ad-free, it costs $18.99/month.
If you want to stream even more and save a few bucks a month while you’re at it, we recommend subscribing to one of the Disney+ Bundles, all of which include Hulu. These bundles start at $12.99/month for ad-supported Disney+ and Hulu and goes up to $32.99/month for Disney+, Hulu, and Max, all ad-free.
Sean L. McCarthy works the comedy beat. He also podcasts half-hour episodes with comedians revealing origin stories: The Comic’s Comic Presents Last Things First.
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