Maggie interviews Sam Morrison!
Maggie interviews Sam Morrison!
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00:00I'm Maggie McKay for 94.7 The Wave.
00:02And today we are so excited to have with us comedian
00:06and actor and writer, Sam Morrison.
00:09And we're gonna talk to him about a new production
00:11coming to the Wallace Annenberg in Beverly Hills.
00:15We can hardly wait.
00:17Welcome, Sam.
00:19Thank you so much for having me.
00:20Yeah, okay.
00:21So tell us right off the bat,
00:23is this a debut, the one at the Wallace,
00:26prior to New York on Broadway?
00:30Yes, yes, yes.
00:32So I did the show.
00:35So I've been with the show for a little while now.
00:36I did the show first at 2022 Edinburgh Fringe.
00:41And then I did it a couple more times
00:43and then off Broadway.
00:45And that was in New York in 2023.
00:48And the show is called Sugar Daddy.
00:50I forgot to mention that.
00:52And the show's called Sugar Daddy.
00:53Come to Sugar Daddy.
00:54Of course.
00:56Okay, so tell us a little bit about it
00:58without giving it all away.
01:02Of course.
01:04I lost my boyfriend to COVID.
01:06And so the show is about our relationship
01:10and our love story.
01:12And then all of the ridiculous
01:15and funny parts about grief afterwards.
01:18I'm so sorry.
01:19My God.
01:20And how many years ago was that?
01:23That was, yeah, that was 2021.
01:26Wow.
01:28So what's the most rewarding thing
01:31about this process of creating
01:33and then performing it for live audiences?
01:36Oh boy, great question.
01:38The most rewarding,
01:39I think the most rewarding is when,
01:43so especially towards the end of the show,
01:48especially when the show is going well
01:51and the audience is really great
01:54and down to play and be silly.
01:57And there's just like sort of a feeling
02:00that I've gotten when I've been on stage with this show
02:03that I haven't gotten with any other show
02:04where we're all just really on like the same wavelength.
02:08And we're like, it feels like we're like talking
02:11about very taboo things in a way
02:16that I just don't see very much in society
02:19and laughing about it and having fun.
02:23And when you're just like really tapped
02:26into the audience and the audience feels
02:28like they understand you, it's sort of a euphoric feeling.
02:34I bet.
02:35And what do you hope audiences take from it?
02:37Like when they walk away, they go home, they're driving home.
02:41What do you hope they remember about it?
02:44I mean, it's really like an uplifting love story.
02:46I think, I hope, I mean,
02:49I really want people to walk away from this,
02:51just like understanding how important love is
02:55and how short life is.
02:57Right, right.
02:58Well, that's a good goal.
03:00Have you ever performed at the Wallace before?
03:03No, never.
03:04Oh, have you seen it yet?
03:06Yes, I have.
03:07I got to see it.
03:08It's gorgeous.
03:10It's so big.
03:10So I'm mostly performing at like comedy clubs.
03:13So I'm like a standup comedian mostly by profession.
03:17And so this is like such a different venue.
03:22It's gorgeous, it is.
03:23You know, it used to be a post office.
03:26Did you know that?
03:28Yeah, it was a beautiful old, old, old,
03:31like built, I don't know, 20s, 30s marble.
03:34And they really did a great job with converting it.
03:37But yeah, it was a post office for decades.
03:40Yeah.
03:40Is that how big post offices are?
03:43Well, that was what, that one was.
03:45I guess, yeah, in a big city like LA.
03:48I mean, I just know the post office
03:49from like kind of small town that I grew up in.
03:52And it was just like, you know, it was like a Starbucks.
03:55So you just moved from New York to LA.
03:58Just moved from New York.
03:59How's it going?
04:00How do you like it?
04:02It's been great.
04:03I really like LA.
04:05We were just talking.
04:06I don't know if that was on cam,
04:08like if we were recording yet.
04:09No, it was all on cam.
04:11Oh yeah, well, they're just so different.
04:13And everyone keeps asking me like which one I like more.
04:15And it, like I miss, I love, I'm loving LA so far.
04:20And yet I miss New York so much.
04:22And I tell people I miss New York.
04:24And they're like, oh, New York won.
04:26And I'm like, no, I was just like,
04:27I miss the, you know, the rhythm that I was in
04:30for seven years there.
04:31It's like, it's such an insanely different rhythm.
04:35But I'm really enjoying.
04:36I just feel like everything that people say
04:38about LA is true.
04:39Like the, there's more space and the weather are,
04:44and like, you know, and everyone's in the industry.
04:48And stereotypes are pretty,
04:52have been pretty accurate so far.
04:54Well, Sam, I'm so happy to hear you say positive things
04:57about LA, because I'm a native.
04:58And usually you ask people from anywhere other than LA,
05:02they're like, oh, the earthquakes, the traffic, the crime.
05:06So I am very happy to hear you say all that.
05:09I gotta say, I experienced my first earthquake,
05:12which was the most recent one.
05:14And my group chats were going off
05:17and we're like, that was crazy.
05:19And I was like, I don't think it was.
05:21Yeah, it's not, it wasn't that big.
05:23I was, it was not that big.
05:26Yeah, it wasn't, I know.
05:28I think because people are anticipating
05:32a bigger one to come after that.
05:34That's why I think they're like, whoa, it's a 4.5.
05:38So not to be naive, but how do you go through the process?
05:43Like, how did you get this show from being a comedian?
05:49Yeah, really great question.
05:50Um, because, you know, it's one more thing.
05:58And you've also done other things.
06:00Like you were a writer for the Bravo show,
06:03Dating Blind or what is it called?
06:06Blind Date.
06:07Blind Date.
06:08Yeah, so how do you go from that to this and to Broadway?
06:12I mean.
06:13Yeah, I think it's like, I mean, honestly it's weird
06:16because now it's a little bit more of a carved out path
06:20than when I, even when I started doing it.
06:23And before that I was doing solo shows.
06:26Cause like when I first started,
06:27I was into theater before I was into comedy.
06:29I like did theater a lot, you know, throughout college
06:33and like loved solo shows and like loved John Leguizamo
06:38and like Brickfiglia and like all the solo show people.
06:42And so I always knew I wanted to do like a solo show.
06:48So my first solo show I brought to the fringe in 2019
06:52and it was even like more theatrical
06:55and weird than this one.
06:58And, you know, my career just sort of went
07:00the standup direction.
07:02I mean, it's not like solo shows,
07:04there's not a lot of money to be made usually.
07:08And like, you know, especially like niche,
07:10very gay solo shows.
07:14But yeah, it seems like now there's a lot more.
07:18I mean, when I did it back when I first,
07:21I don't want to seem a little too much.
07:23Like I was actually the first one.
07:25I was doing it before it was cool.
07:27But when I first started doing it,
07:29other comedians were like, you know,
07:31like comedy club comedians were like,
07:33what is, what do you, you just like,
07:36they just thought I like didn't have an hour of jokes
07:38or I don't know what sort of insecure projection
07:41I was putting onto them actually.
07:42But it was not as heard of as it is now
07:47where I feel like comedians are like really
07:49making solo shows pretty often
07:51and taking them to the fringe
07:54or, you know, trying to do runs of them.
07:57So yeah, I guess for me,
08:00I was always just like came from a place of like,
08:02I like theater and I like standup
08:03and this is the way to combine them.
08:05That's awesome.
08:06And so maybe we'll see you on Netflix
08:07with your own special.
08:09You think?
08:10I hope so.
08:11I hope so.
08:13Okay.
08:14Just in closing, anything else you want to add
08:16about Sugar Daddy coming to the Wallace?
08:19Yeah, it's, you know, this, you know what it's about,
08:23but it's very, very, very silly and stupid and fun.
08:30And I think the subject scares a lot of people,
08:33but I just, I love performing it
08:36and I hope that comes across.
08:37And like if the audience,
08:39the audience having a good time
08:40is like my number one priority.
08:43And we need so much more of that in theater,
08:45if you ask me.
08:46So I'm excited to see it.
08:47I mean, you know what,
08:48with all the stuff going on in the world and the news,
08:51we always need to be uplifted and laugh
08:54and just have a release.
08:55So thank you for making this.
08:57I can't wait to see it.
08:58It's going to be at the Wallace
09:00in Beverly Hills, September 20th through October 13th.
09:03Tickets are on sale now at wallace.org.
09:06Thank you so much, Sam.
09:09Thank you so much for having me.