Many thanks to Danielle Kerns & Joseph Connell for the transcript
Transcript of Lucy Lawless’ interview on WTJM
(105.1 FM New York - Host: Jay Thomas),
Friday, June 22, 2001Transcribed from recording by Joseph Connell
THOMAS: …”Xena: The Warrior Princess”.(Xena yell) Good morning. How are
you this morning, Lucy?LAWLESS: Ah, I’m rockin’.
THOMAS: You must be exhausted, because you’re calling stations, talking to
people, because tomorrow is the final episode…LAWLESS: Yeah.
THOMAS: …of “Xena: Warrior Princess”.
LAWLESS: I’m not exhausted. This is the easiest part of my job. I love
this.THOMAS: Now, do you do your own stunts on that show?
LAWLESS: Uh, not all of them ‘cause…well, do I want to die? No. It’d be
absolutely lethal. Um, no. I do the acting and the fights and some of the
horse riding, but there’s a lot of stuff I’m just not qualified to do. I’m
a total klutz. Have you not heard that?THOMAS: No, I have not heart that. No…
LAWLESS: Uh?
THOMAS: You know, I thought you were an Olympic athlete.
LAWLESS: (snickers)
THOMAS: No, I’m not kidding.
LAWLESS: I know. That’s the power of editing and fine stunt work, my
friend.THOMAS: Well, you’re in terrific shape though, aren’t you?
LAWLESS: Oh, yeah. I’m a bit of doughball now. I’ve spent two weeks since
“Xena”…THOMAS: You’re not a doughball.
LAWLESS: …sitting on the couch eating chocolate for breakfast. (laughs)
OTHER ANNOUNCER: Well, you deserve it. You’ve really been working hard on
this show for six years.LAWLESS: I choose to believe you.
THOMAS: This is destroying my image of you. I imaged you rock hard at all
times. Uh, Xena, by the way. In every newspaper, you’re getting four
stars…LAWLESS: Oh, I know.
THOMAS: …from all these hard-bitten, you know, TV writers who use...
LAWLESS: God bless their little cotton socks!
THOMAS: Now, now…now let me ask you a question. There have been all sorts
of rumors that you and the…you and the…who’s the little blonde girl in the
show with you?LAWLESS: The little blonde girl is, uh, “Gabrielle” played by my dear friend
Renee O’Connor.THOMAS: Now do you guys when you were doing it…were you just having fun, uh
making…making light perhaps there was a little love affair between you two
because that has made all the, uh, all the papers. And each one of these
papers is saying ‘Are we going to see, uh, the side-kick Gabrielle and of
course Xena get it on in tomorrow night’s episode?’ I mean, are we going to
see anything that’s really, um, titillating?LAWLESS: You know, I, um, I don’t know about titillating, ‘cause we never
treated that subject as…we never intended it to be titillating…THOMAS: But you had fun with it, didn’t you?
LAWLESS: Oh, yeah yeah yeah.
THOMAS: Yeah.
LAWLESS: But, um, I have to say I saw the final cut, all edited together two
nights ago…THOMAS: Right?
LAWLESS: …and it’s just my opinion, but I think they ‘outed’ my character!
(laughs)OTHER ANNOUNCER: Really?!
THOMAS: You character has been ‘outed’! I think that’s great!
LAWLESS: Yeah yeah, I think it’s fair to say…that, well, you know…just my
opinion. You make up your own mind.THOMAS: Well, that’s good.
LAWLESS: That’s on WPIX, Saturday at 8.
THOMAS: That’s right. Channel 11. By the way, speaking of you being a
klutz, uh, you were riding a horse on the Tonight Show…LAWLESS: Enough of this sexual innuendo.
THOMAS: No, that’s fine. You were riding on the Tonight Show and during
rehearsal…is it true the horse fell on you?LAWLESS: No.
THOMAS: No it isn’t?
LAWLESS: No, no. We were filming the skit and, um, and going across
concrete and it was a western horse and I ride English and it just not a
marriage made in heaven, and as I pulled the horse to a stop, uh, its feet
skittered out from under it on the concrete and I was thrown clear.
Otherwise I would, um, maybe not be walking.THOMAS: And what happened to you?
LAWLESS: I broke my pelvis.
THOMAS: Oh…
OTHER ANNOUNCER: Oh, that’s…
LAWLESS: Oh, that old thing.
THOMAS: How long did that take to heal?
LAWLESS: You won’t be needing that thing anyway.
(everyone laughs)
THOMAS: How long did your pelvis take to heal?
LAWLESS: Oh, not too long. It was only eight days before I stood up because
I refused to use a bedpan. (laughs)THOMAS: Oh, god.
LAWLESS: And I was…you’re on this heavy-duty Percased or I don’t know what
the hell I was taking, but, um, so anyway after eight days…THOMAS: You walked.
LAWLESS: …I walked.
THOMAS: You walked because you refused to use a bedpan. I have heard a lot
of people’s inspiration for getting up out of a wheelchair. I’ve never
heard this one before.OTHER ANNOUNCER: That’s one of the most honest one’s we’ve heard.
THOMAS: What happened to the horse? Was it injured?
LAWLESS: No. The horse was fine, I think.
THOMAS: The horse was fine. What about Jay Leno?
LAWLESS: We took it out anyway.
THOMAS: You took the horse out anyway? Killed the horse anyway. Damn
horse.(everyone laughs)
THOMAS: Did you, uh…
LAWLESS: They just don’t respond to anything else.
THOMAS: Ha, ha. Well, listen. Thank you so much for being with us. Xena,
Warrior Princess!LAWLESS: My pleasure.
THOMAS: And what are you going to be doing after this? I mean, I mean
you’re not just going to you know stop doing stuff. Are you going to do a
movie?LAWLESS: (singing) I’m going to go sing in show business…
THOMAS: Hey, by the way, you did Rizzo on Broadway in “Grease”, right?
LAWLESS: Yeah.
THOMAS: Do you remember your song from that?
LAWLESS: “There were worse things that I could do.”
THOMAS: Could you sing that?
OTHER ANNOUNCER: Oh, yeah.
LAWLESS: Can I sing it, a la Xena?
THOMAS: Okay, sure.
LAWLESS: (‘Xena’ voice) “There are worse things I can do/Than go with a
girl or two/Even though the neighborhood/Thinks I’m trashy and how good/I
suppose it could be true/But there are worse things I could do.THOMAS: Ladies and gentlemen, Lucy Lawless, thanks for being with us.
Everybody will be watching Channel 11 in New York tomorrow night. “Xena:
Warrior Princess”, the final episode…LAWLESS: “Xena” comes out for Gay Pride weekend.
OTHER ANNOUNCER: Cool!
THOMAS: And then, Xena comes out for Gay Pride week. Thanks for being with
us.LAWLESS: My pleasure.
THOMAS: Okay, thanks a lot.
LAWLESS: Bye-bye.
THOMAS: Bye.
(Note: I have attempted to transcribe this interview word-for-word,
including all pauses and stutters, and hence, seeming a bit disjointed)