411 Movies Interview: Teresa Strasser

Posted by Tony Farinella on 12.20.2008

411's Tony Farinella sits down with Teresa Strasser for an exclusive interview!

Teresa Strasser has worn many hats in her career. She has been a radio personality, a television personality, and also a writer. Needless to say, she doesn't have a lot of free time to just sit around and do nothing. Oh, I also forgot to mention that she recently got married. Yes, her plate is quite full these days. Right now, though, she is probably best known for her work on The Adam Carolla Show. In my interview with Teresa Strasser, we talked about her personal life, her professional life, and a whole lot more. I hope you enjoy my interview with Teresa Strasser.


TONY: This is a very busy time in both your professional and personal life. How are you handling it?

Teresa Strasser: Well, you mean two jobs and getting married? (laughs) That little thing? I'm learning that I can sustain myself on not as much sleep as I used to think I needed and kind of counter-intuitively I stopped drinking coffee and now I'm a lot more awake. But definitely getting up at four in the morning is a challenge. On the other hand, being unemployed is a much bigger challenge, so I try to allow myself one complaint per day about how early I get up and that's it. I'm on a complaint diet. One per day.

TONY: What has it taken for you to get to where you are today? What kind of struggles and roadblocks have you had to overcome?

Teresa Strasser: That's a good question. Oh my god, do you have time? Because this is going to be longer than the history of the pain and suffering of the Jews. Well, a lot of failure, a lot of bad career decisions, a lot of pain and suffering and here I am. When I first started out, I was a newspaper writer and that came pretty easily to me. Then I moved to Los Angeles and that was tougher. I can't complain about the roadblocks, other than the ones that I've provided for myself. Like I said, I started as a reporter, and then I became a comedy writer. And there were mostly men doing that, but I can't say that it was a roadblock. I think, in some ways, it was an advantage, because if you wanted the female perspective, there weren't many places to get it or at least people didn't think there were. I can't really look back and say how hard it was. I think most of the obstacles were of my own making. I would get bored at a job and quit. I would get frustrated and feel like it's time to move on. I've learned now don't quit a job in show business until you already have your next job. So I had a few lean years. I used to work on Good Day New York, which is the Fox local news in New York, and it was a great job and I liked it, but I thought, ‘Okay, local news, I should move on.' So after a year, I asked to get out of my contract. Well, after that, I didn't work at all for a year. I was in danger of losing my house, and in order to play my mortgage, I had to take in, at one time, three foreign exchange students, two Japanese girls and one French, and cook them dinner and breakfast. It was like the international house of despair. I really thought, ‘I can't work at the yogurt store, because then people might think, well do I want chocolate and vanilla side by side or twisty? Hey, you're the girl from While You Were Out!' So I was sort of limited. I was freelancing and writing for the Los Angeles Times and some other papers, but journalism is a rough way to pay the bills.

TONY: For you, personally, what do you get out of writing?

Teresa Strasser: Well, I've always been a writer. When I was little, I just spilled journal after journal. I didn't have very many interesting ideas other than, ‘I hate my mom. I like this boy. I can't wait to go see my grandma.' But somehow I managed to fill journals with that kind of crap. When I was a teenager and in my early twenties, it was really the only thing that I ever got a lot of positive reinforcement for, and it was the only thing I was good at. It really was and always has been my identity. As of now, I work in radio and deep, deep cable, so even though I don't write as much as I used to, if somebody asked me what I am, I'd say a writer. Even though, in some ways, my writing is simple and it's nothing fancy, it's what I'm best at.

TONY: You are always so open and honest in your writing. Is that ever a bad thing? Do you ever regret anything that you've written?

Teresa Strasser: When I'm writing, if I look over a couple of paragraphs and it doesn't sound right, I ask myself one question, which is: how can this be more true? And if I can make it truer, I do, and usually that involves something that will be embarrassing or personally humiliating. But I find that, as a reader, the truest things are the most engaging. I don't have an MFA, and like I said, my writing isn't anything fancy, the only thing I have going for me is I'm pretty willing to be revealing.

TONY: Are there still things that you're working through as a person?

Teresa Strasser: Well, I never thought I would write about my stepmother, who I really hated. She was evil. And I never thought I would write about her, because she's sort of like The Great Santini in that she was so evil that it wouldn't even be believable. Pat Conroy always says he had to make The Great Santini less evil than his dad, because no one would believe that anyone was that cruel. So he had to tone down the character. So, I never thought I'd write about my stepmother, and then she died, and I was thrilled that she died. So I thought, ‘Well, this is an interesting experience, because I'm really euphoric that this person is gone, and I really can't share this with my dad, because he's in mourning. But I have to investigate this, because I can't be the only person who has lost somebody that they really hate and had to make sense of it.' So I interviewed a bunch of people and wrote about my own experience. And that was one area that I never really thought I was going to explore, because it was just too ugly and painful, and I didn't think I could make it funny. And maybe I didn't. (laughs) But it's a good piece, I like it.

TONY: How do you feel about the state of women in comedy here in 2008?

Teresa Strasser: Two words: Tina Fey. I mean, if you ever doubted whether a woman could be funny or carry a show or create a show or do anything, then Tina Fey is taking away all your doubts. I mean, she was the comedian of the year. Especially with the election and her impression of Palin and 30 Rock, she is such a phenomenal talent. And it's nice to see Chelsea Handler have a late night show. I think this is a great time to be funny and female.

TONY: What have you learned about comedy from working with Adam Carolla?

Teresa Strasser: Here's one thing I've learned: If guys like you, they make fun of you, they find any weakness or insecurity you have and exploit it, they bust your chops, they bust your bulls, and they mock you mercilessly and give you nicknames, flattering and unflattering, and basically assault you. And that means they like you, which can be confusing for a woman. Because when I first started working there, I thought, ‘These guys hate me.' So somebody had to pull me aside and say, ‘No, no, no. You should be worried if people don't bust your chops.' So I learned that. And when I first started working with Adam, I didn't say a whole lot and during the commercial break, I think it was my second day on the job, he said, ‘Don't worry so much. Just keep talking and something funny will come out.' That's truer for him, because he's incredibly fast on his feet. But it was good advice.


TONY: You've also conducted a lot of interviews on different shows. What's your approach to doing interviews, and who have been some of your favorite people to interview?

Teresa Strasser: I try to take an Oprah approach. There's only one Oprah, but I try to ask the questions that the audience will want to hear and that I'm genuinely curious about. Charles S. Dutton, he has an amazing story, and he's a great interview. George Takei, to me, really blew my mind, because he's somebody who has really seen the best and worst of American culture. His family was interned during the war and everything was taken from them, and then he became a huge successful television star in this country and got married in California and then, of course, Prop Eight, repealed the right to marry and now he's been a big activist. He's got an amazing story.

TONY: You've worked on TMZ in the past, so I want to ask you, what is fair game in terms of celebrities and what is off limits?

Teresa Strasser: It's really tough to get on my high horse about it, because, although, I chose to leave TMZ because I really wasn't comfortable making that kind of television, I do read US Weekly and I do read In Touch. Personally, I didn't want to be a part of making it, but I understand why there's a hunger for gossip. One thing that really bothered me: The drama around suggesting Jennifer Love Hewitt is fat, and Mischa Barton is fat. There was a lot of stalking women at high noon in their bathing suits when they were not going to look their best and then celebrating, oh, look, our pop culture heroines are fat. That, to me, was a very ugly moment. This weird gleefulness like, ‘Oh, Jennifer Love Hewitt has cellulite.' Whoever is gleeful about that really needs to focus their energies elsewhere.

TONY: Does your family understand your profession for the most part, or is there a lot of confusion?

Teresa Strasser: As far as explaining what I do, my dad is a mechanic, he has been for thirty years, and I remember when I was nominated for an Emmy for writing on Win Ben Stein's Money, they call you up at six o clock in the morning. I call my dad and say, ‘Dad! I was nominated for an Emmy!' ‘Teresa, that's great.' Long pause. ‘What's an Emmy?' So they are a little confused. But my dad listens to the radio show, I think, mainly because he loves Adam. Occasionally, I ban him, because the content is too racy, and I don't want my dad listening. But I think he does not respect my ban, because sometimes he'll mention something that I've only said on the air, and the jig is up. So I just let him listen.

TONY: How do you make time for your relationship when you're so busy all the time? How do you balance it?

Teresa Strasser: Let's see. I've only been married five months, so I guess I can coast on the jubilation of being a newlywed for a while. In five years, it will probably be more difficult. But it's all the clichéd stuff that you hear: You have to make your marriage come first. Put your partner first before anything else. But it's true.

TONY: How do you feel about the impact that the Internet has had on writing? On one hand, it's a great way to get your name out there, but, on the other hand, it can also be taken for granted and used for negative purposes.

Teresa Strasser: In some ways, I think it's exciting, because I feel like most of us have something to express and the urge to get it out there. And it's nice that anyone can do that. On the other hand, there are some websites that are troubling in as much as they don't check their facts and they don't follow journalistic standards. We all make mistakes; I do news on the radio and make mistakes regularly, I'm sure. Say what you want about TMZ; they do their research and they check their facts and they double check their facts. That is a source that's used by CNN, Fox, and everyone, because they know that TMZ's information is accurate. That's not true for every website, especially gossip websites.

TONY: You have been on a number of different shows, so I have to ask you, when you're looking to appear on a new show, what do you look for? What needs to stand out?

Teresa Strasser: I look for something that takes D-list celebrities and hooks them up with ballroom dancers. (laughs) It seems like a good idea. Now, please don't run away with that idea because it's kind of mine. I just came up with that. But it's just a thought, I don't know if I can sell it. (laughs)

TONY: What are some of your favorite reality TV shows?

Teresa Strasser: If it has anything to do with addiction, I'm there. (laughs) Celebrity Rehab is one of my favorite shows. Intervention on A&E is phenomenal. It is so well-shot, well-edited, the storytelling is riveting. I'm addicted. I hope they don't intervene on me. But if they do, I hope Jeff VanVonderen shows up. I love him.

TONY: Finally, what are your plans for the future and what are you currently working on?

Teresa Strasser: Well, I keep planning on being the next Andy Rooney, but, fortunately, he's still with us. That spot is filled. I think I'm a ways away from that. Otherwise, my two jobs are keeping me pretty busy. I would like to write a book like everyone, but I do that thing where I get up at four and go to one job and then go to the second job and then I promise myself I'm going to write for an hour. Then I negotiate myself down to ten minutes and then that becomes two minutes and then that becomes I'll write tomorrow and then that becomes I'll start next month and then that becomes I'll start in 2009 and then that becomes what happened to my youth? And then that becomes why didn't I ever write that book? It's a shame spiral is what it is.