Laraine Newman tackles ‘SNL’, survival in memoir
Laraine Newman’s new memoir is called “May You Live in Interesting Times” for a reason. Several reasons, actually.
There is the interesting irony that comes from being vaulted into the spotlight as the youngest member of the first “Saturday Night Live” cast while also contending with drug addiction and an eating disorder.
There is also the historical-accuracy factor. As a co-founder of the influential Groundlings improv group, an “SNL” pioneer, and a busy voice actor on dozens of animated series, Newman has often found herself in the middle of the everexpanding (and always interesting) pop-culture universe.
The third reason Newman wanted her audio-only memoir to reflect the good, the bad and the scary aspects of living an interesting life is us — the listeners on the other side of her microphone.
“From my perspective, if the book was going to offer anything to anybody, I had to be honest,” said Newman, who will be talking about her book and her life during Saturday’s installment of the virtual San Diego Writers Festival.
“When we read people’s autobiographies
and everything works out great, I don’t think that’s really life. I think that makes the reader feel like, ‘What is wrong with me? My life is not that perfect.’ I wouldn’t want anyone to feel that, especially since it’s rarely true.”
Which is not to say Laraine Newman hasn’t been lucky.
Born and raised in Los Angeles, Newman caught the showbiz bug early. At the impressionable age of 4, she got the studio audience to laugh while bantering with TV host Art Linkletter, and she was marked for
life. After graduating from high school, she went to Paris to study with master mime Marcel Marceau for a year.
Upon returning to Los Angeles, Newman (along with older sister, Tracy) became one of the co-founders of the Groundlings. The influential improv company launched when Newman was just 20.
After seeing her perform with the Groundlings, producer Lorne Michaels cast Newman in 1975’s “The Lily Tomlin Special.” Later that year,
Michaels recruited her to join Dan Aykroyd, John Belushi, Chevy Chase, Jane Curtin, Garrett Morris and Gilda Radner for the latenight experiment that became “Saturday Night Live.”
At the not-advanced age of 23, Newman was given the gig that would define her. For better, for worse, and forever.
“The pro of being so young then is that I didn’t know what I didn’t know,” Newman said during a phone interview from her home in Century City. “The cons had to do with not having enough experience under my belt to have the confidence I needed. It would have been better if I had been more developed as a performer and more mature. There was really no advantage to being so young then.”
Newman was with “SNL” through 1980, playing such iconic characters as Connie Conehead and Sherry, one of television’s first Valley Girls. It was only five years, but like everyone else in the show’s pioneering cast, Newman has had a hard time getting out from under its massive zeitgeist shadow.
Since leaving the show all of those decades ago, Newman has amassed voiceacting credits on hundreds of episodes of such animated favorites as “SpongeBob SquarePants,” “American Dad!” and “Doc McStuffins.” While she has never stopped working and learning, Newman has also never gotten used to the fact that people assume her professional life ended more than 40 years ago.
“Honestly, it can be very daunting because people think I’m not working anymore,” Newman said. “There are times when I’m either a cultural icon, or I’m being shoved aside so that someone can get a photo of someone else on the red carpet. I feel like I have a very sober perspective on all of it.”
For the people who want to hear about the crazy, cocaine-fueled days and nights of “Saturday Night Live,” Newman devotes a big chunk of her memoir to an unflinching, but still affectionate look at the high-wire show that vaulted the unknown cast into the oxygen-depleted entertainment stratosphere.
She also dives into her wild L.A. kid life, which found her hanging out with older musicians, taking in shows at the just-opened Comedy Store and setting herself up for a future that would include rehab.
But there is also the joy of being a parent (with ex-husband, actor/director Chad Einbinder) to two TV performers: Hannah Einbinder (“Hacks”) and Spike Einbinder (“Los Espookys”); the thrill of perfecting new voices for new shows; and the pride that comes from finishing an autobiography that has been in the works for decades.
Because one of the best things about living in interesting times is surviving them.
“I don’t know if it was fortitude so much as it was optimism,” Newman said with a big long-distance laugh. “Even though I can be very negative and very gloomy, there was always a part of me, even when I was in the throes of my drug addiction, that felt like each day was a new chance to do better. Those times were interesting because they weren’t all great, and they weren’t all bad.”
Laraine Newman will be in conversation with Marni Freedman at 10 a.m. Saturday for the free virtual San Diego Writers Festival. The event continues on July 31. RSVP at